Hey,
New to the site and I'm trying to make a 1000pt army on the cheap, I was thinking something along the lines of:
Galadriel (the scary one with -1 courage)
Saruman
Forlong
6x warriors of the dead with shield
5x warriors of the dead with spear and shield
1x warriors of the dead with spear, shield and banner
Captain of Dol Amroth
6x warriors of the dead with shield
6x warriors of the dead with spear and shield
Captain of Dol Amroth
4x warriors of the dead with shield
4x warriors of the dead with spear and shield

I've got 12 points left to spend if my maths is right, I'd like to add some riders of the dead, but it adds drastically to the costs.
I'd like to know if this army could cope at a competitive level, I'm not hoping to win every tournament but i'd like the army to be able to hold its own.
Although the force is very static its got saruman as anti shade/ big hero and it should be able to do well against most spearwalls, they may struggle to win fights but they're incredibly durable and hit hard, their terror rule will hopefully stop them getting mobbed.
I'm not the most experienced player and I'm hoping to try and take it to a couple of the Hobbit tournaments, however i struggle to get games consistently so if anyone has got any other ideas for relatively competitive armies that are cheap than please say.
regards,
Billy
p.s apologies for the wall of text
p.s.s galadriel will be a "queen of the dead" while saruman will be some kind of "adviser of the queen" or some other excuse to one dice sorcerous blast

to the best of my knowledge, no matter what the warriors of the dead are posed with, they still only count as hand weapons. therefore, no spearwall.

_________________

No isildurhh they can be given spears and shields at the cost if +1pt each.

I like the list alot, but id swap both captains for angbor and duinhur. I think it would do well in a competitive setting and would like to face it one day

Do you think those two are worth it?? I can understand Angbor perhaps but with courage 6 and saruman's stand fast his courage doesn't seem that necessary and with Duinhir you seem to pay 10 points to lose two defense and a point of courage in return for one fight and a shooting ability that will almost never come into play and with saruman and blades of the dead monsters aren't too much of a threat.
I could be completely wrong of course and missing something??

I could of sworn there were some plastic army of the dead however they seem to of disappeared of the GW website. Have I imagined this or were there never any plastic ones, does anyone know where to get the plastic ones if they do exist??

Doesn't matter found them was just being stupid

Its more that you will be getting 2 more might, by swapping the captains. Although if you mount the captains they may prove to be of more worth.

Both Angbor and Duinhir only have 2 might in the sourcebooks unless they've been changed somewhere??

And would you replace the 8 warriors of the dead with 6 riders of the dead??

I had never noticed they only had 2 might each. How strange although they arn't the first named heroes to only have 2. Grimbold, Dwalin, Theoden & Mahur all lack that extra MP.

_________________
12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Yeah all the fiefdom hero's are a bit odd in that they don't gain a point of fight and courage. The captains are good at staying alive with def 7 though I could mount them up and they could get reasonably killy on the charge?? do you think it would be worth dropping a couple of guys to buy horses and lances?? any comments if the riders of the dead are worth it??

With the number of monsters around at the moment I honestly think it'd be worth taking the Duinhir guys. Potentially popping a Fellbeast/Troll in a single shot is nothing to be sniffed at.

the king of the dead although with no might, hes a good will based heroe and he can absorv damage quite well like a nazgul.

I can see the merits of using Duinhir as a deterrent to monsters and taking pot shots and his fight 5 helps guarantee wins against transfixed trolls/captains.
However I'm struggling to see the merits of the king of the dead, for 45 points your paying to gain 2 fate in exchange for a wound which even each other out,.
whilst you do gain 5 will you lose 2 might and I'd much rather have the might. In regards to his drain will ability it will almost never come into play as he really struggles to win combats with f3(4?) and one attack, and even if he does win he'll still normally need a 4+on one dice and then there's fate etc, in a game he's most likely to just be ignored due to the lack of damage he can do.
Can anyone comment on if the riders are worth it??

I wouldn't advise riders, your numbers are low enough as it is and taking cavalry warriors will just cut into your already low numbers.

And yes king of the dead is a total waste.

The Army of the Dead in the GW game is just too puny. It should be allowed more capability but within defined bounds, say only within the border of Gondor. It is supposed to be able to scare almost everything it encounters but that is not how this plays out. Yes, if the AOTD gets a boost in ability then the points value goes up, but the opposition would have to be very careful in their force selection to face it and survive, yet alone win. As it stands (floats, whatever), it is below par and the KOTD is just not up to the job at all.

_________________
Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

Dorthonion if they had rules to represent them like they were in the book and movie they wouldn't be very fun to play against as either everyone would run away or there would be a stalemate as neither force could hurt the other. I don't think the rules do too bad a job at representing them and although I would like to do a more Tolkien-y force this ones cheap and reasonably effective, although I'm open to other ideas if you've got any ??

SuicidalMarsbar do you not think the increase in mobility and increase in attack power is worth the loss of two guys??

I can answer that a bit. Cavalry are almost never worth it, unless you really know how to get the most out of them. You are correct that the extra speed and attack is nice but as you just mentioned you have lowered the number of wounds your army can take. Also cav, with their larger bases are a liability when charged as they become basically an infantry unit that can have even more enemies get into base contact with them.

_________________
Commission Painting @FB http://www.facebook.com/squyrepainting
Commission Customers include:
GBHL Youtube Channel
MiniWargaming

And the kotd horses are normal horses for some reason, and not ghostly ones and so they have a puny defence. If anyone wins a combat against them, the horse is gone and you just have a very expensive warrior of the dead. Apart from that, though, they're okay I guess.

Yeah I was confused as to why the horses only have def 4. If it wasn't for their low defence I wouldn't mind them losing the fight as at def8 the riders can suck it up, but the horses are easy to put down. I just wanted some models who could skirt around the flanks and ride down any models making a run for it in reconnoitre or just trying to stay alive.