I can't seem to find any pure discussions about them, so let's dive into it! What do you think of them? Which one(s) is/are your favourite? What strategies and combos have you found success with? What armies do you tend to put them in?


I just bought myself a set, so I haven't actually used them yet. I'm most excited by the Abyssal Knights, that rule seems so powerful with a lot of flexibility. Again, can't say how or why if I've never used them, but potentially teleporting across the board to assassinate key targets seems like a lot of fun.

I do not think these guys are very common outside of larger tournaments due to their cost and that of the rest of the Dul Guldor models. I have seen them once but have never played against them myself. They seem like they would be troublesome to deal with in the same way that Bombadil and the Watcher in the Water are. Just so odd that no one has the right counter half the time.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

If you randomly pair elves you're in trouble. Even just armies with lots of shooting. But Elf blades + magic in a list would be a real nightmare. My friend is gonna collect these boys soon maybe so I'm keen to find out how hardcore they are.

Fun fact. Tom Bombadil is banned from our local tournament. Too much of a meme rather than a contributor.

He tends to be banned from my local tourneys as well, much to my disappointment because he's my favourite Good model to use.


Anyway, just used a few NoDG today. It was a 1000 point game, I had two Abyssal Knights and the Lingering Shadow (along with other Dol Guldur goodness: ie the Necromancer, Keeper of the Dungeon, Castellans, and a bunch of both kinds of Orcs).

First thing I noticed is that, if you're looking for a big choppy guy, Keeper of the Dungeon has to be your first pick. Heroic Strike is huge, it's the difference between a hero killer and an annoying distraction. The Nazgul don't have it which makes it harder to deal with heroes. They can be harder to kill, but if you're looking for something that can tie heroes up and annoy them, Castellans do it better. Having said that, The Abyssal Knights have Elven Blades. That's huge to have in your corner for Heroic Strike-offs.

So yeah, for pure combat, I would take the Keeper of the Dungeon before the Slayers of Men or the Dark Headsman. I'd probably take him ahead of the Witch King too.

As for the teleporty guys, I didn't get to make any huge plays with their abilities, but I was able to have one of the Abyssal Knights hold a flank for a little while until just before it crumbled, then teleport to the middle of the table to throw his weight around there. The real value looks like it's the flexibility of completely shifting where your heroes are going. You can pull them out of a dangerous situation relatively safely, or put them into a dangerous situation where they're needed (again, for the sudden Elven Blade).

I didn't get to do much with the Lingering Shadow. Spent a couple of turns trying to get in behind to attack a banner, but he does effectively have a 9" charge range, which is scary. He'd be fun to try in objective-capturing scenarios (this was Contest of Champions, so most of my plays were built around the Necromancer and making sure he gets his close combat kills/nullifying the opposing champion).

It was errata-ed that Nazghuls of Dol Guldur have Heroic Strike now.

That's very interesting. May change things. Then again, it may not, Keeper of the Dungeon is still a really solid pick for combat. NoDG do need to be careful with their might in case they flub a resurrection roll.

I am really intrigued by the Dol Goldur nazgul and dream of one day field an army with all their models and the Necomancer ^^
Well basically only thing in the way is the high price tag of Forgeworld xD

I like the idea of having an evil all hero army and would not want to have regular troops in my Dol Goldur list, although i am aware their use would be limited and it had to be a high points game.
But the mechanics and aesthetics just too cool =)

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https://castellan-of-the-ring.blogspot.com/

Yeah, all 9 plus the Necromancer and the Keeper of the Dungeons becomes a 1000 point army. It's a unique army to play, I've never gone all-hero with them so I don't have much to say there. I think the Green Dragon Podcast has done a show about the army, it's a good listen.

I agree with you, they're such great looking models, and the way they play is so interesting. The teleporty boys (Abyssal Knights and Lingering Shadow) give you such interesting movement options, I really enjoy using them in particular. I'll have to spend more time with the others, I'm an especially big fan of the Dark Headsman despite never having used him. The Necromancer is just a beast, great magic and auto-kill. To me they're some of the most flavourful heroes in the game, and I also really enjoy the warrior selection (I know you said you'd prefer all hero).

In the meantime I managed to get the Nazgul as a 2nd hand buy =)

So my plan is to get the necomancer as the army leader and to add two Castellans of Dol Guldur to scale up the army to 1000 points.

I am really looking forward to play this army =D

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https://castellan-of-the-ring.blogspot.com/