Tournament List Analysis: The Entmoot

The annual Entmoot tournament will be taking place this Sunday in sunny New South Wales, and the army lists competing have just been announced. Seeing as it’s a 500-point tournament (my favourite point size!) and just a little too far away for me to justify attending, I figured I’d write up some quick and unasked-for analysis on the lists to share with you all.

If only I had the time to travel... Next year, NSW

The tournament has a relatively standard format, with a few twists detailed in the Player’s Pack here. Of note, the scenarios are fairly randomised, although there is only a 1/6 chance of playing a straight killing scenario like Lords of Battle. That probably gives a slight edge to horde armies over all hero forces, although this is potentially counterbalanced by the Ambush bonus point for killing five models before losing any of your own. There are also some neat bonuses in the form of a Strength/Defence/Fate boost to your lowest-tiered hero, and a free boost to one of Strength/Defence/Fight for models around your general on the turn they declare. The only likely impact on listbuilding is probably the desire to include a Hero of Fortitude or lower to get the buffs, there’s otherwise nothing too warping here.

So when looking at these armies, the only metric we really need to be assessing them on is how well they’re likely to do in an ordinary 500 point meta. As discussed here, this points limit tends to incentivise hordes over elite forces, and is fairly unkind to magic in general. Also, apologies for the lists being a little difficult to read; I don't know why Blogger loves blurry photos, but I'm too much of a luddite to fix it. Edit: I decided to just type up all the lists manually, let me know if you have any questions. Without any further discussion, let’s jump right in and see what the NSW scene thought would succeed! 

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Witch King with Crown, horse, 3/12/2

Captain of the Black Guard, S6 from Ent Draught

7 Black Guard

9 Morannons w spear/shield, 1 banner

5 Orcs with bows

6 Warg Riders with shields, 3 throwing spears

First up we have a solid looking Mordor list that seems to cover all bases quite well. It’s got a very scary frontline, with F4 S5 Black Guard being backed up by S4 Morannons, although I am a little worried that an 8-model front is too narrow for 500 points. It’s got some honesty bows to threaten a dismount, and a shockingly large cavalry contingent to take advantage of it. The S6 Black Guard Captain is entertainingly scary, and the Witch King is well-suited to switch between magical harassment and raw offense as needed. The army is a little low on Might overall, but 5 isn’t an appalling number for this points level. It could make getting the bonus point for calling three different Heroic Actions a little trickier, but you’ve still got the free one from the tournament bonus, so that shouldn’t be an issue. Overall, this is just a solid list, with very little to critique.

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Dain on Boar

2 Iron Hills Captains on Goats, one with S5 

Bard with all kit except Windlance

I am a little less sold on this one. If it ends up in Lords of Battle or Contest of Champions, it’ll be in a great spot. But it’s almost certainly going to have to play at least one objective game, and likely several; that’s where its incredibly low numbers are going to hurt it. Moreover, I’m not sure its heroes have the punch to carry it either. Dáin is an absolute monster, and Iron Hills Captains are decent for their price. But Bard is paying so many points for his ability to buff Laketown troops, none of which he’s brought along. And without his daughters or Alfrid to buff him, I struggle to imagine him killing 155 points worth of enemies. The Captains are good for their price, but only A2 is really going to hurt when you’ve only got 4 models. I’d have been much happier to see an Erebor Reclaimed list with Thorin, Dwalin, Fili and Kili leading a handful of Iron Hills Dwarves, for example. It would have had a similar vibe, but much more offensive and defensive power outside of Dáin. This list looks fun, but I think it’s the wrong approach here. Of course, that almost guarantees that it’s going to go undefeated!

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Theoden with everything

Eomer with everything

Elfhelm with +1 Defence

9 Riders, 4 spears

4 Royal Guard, 3 spears

This list, on the other hand, makes hero-heavy really work. It’s a fairly conventional Riders of Théoden list, with the only noteworthy points being the inclusion of Éomer and Elfhelm instead of Gamling. I think that’s entirely defensible at 500 points (at least post-nerf), but I would have been tempted by Dernhelm instead of Elfhelm to add a little more killing power. She would have really benefited from the Ent Draught bonus to her Strength as well, and still has enough warband slots for a list like this. I’m also surprised that no room was made for a banner, the three heroes in particular would benefit a lot more from it than another two Riders. In saying that, the list is solid, and I imagine it will do great stuff. It’ll also benefit from the ability to get a 3” bubble of +1 Strength around Théoden on a key turn, letting them really amp up the damage on a non-Death! turn.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Theoden with everything

Elfhelm

Gamling with banner and 2 Fate

8 Royal Guard with spears

5 Riders, 2 spears

Well, I suppose there really aren’t that many different ways to write this Legendary Legion. The Gamling v Éomer choice is still defensible, although I do think I prefer the heavier hitter at 500. Gamling does love an extra Fate though, and he lets you bring along a few more throwing spears and Royal Guard. Again, I’d be tempted by Dernhelm over Elfhelm, especially in the context of Gamling’s banner, but Elfhelm is still pretty great. The inclusion of both him and Gamling does mean that Théoden is your only character with Strike, which could be a real issue in some matchups. But again, this is just a solid list that’s proven it can win tournaments.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Amdur with horse

Captain

Dragon Knight with S5

Kataphrakt with drum

16 Easterlings with shields, 8 spears, 4 Black Dragon upgrades

3 Acolytes

This list has a lot to like, but a few weird misses as well. An 18 model shieldwall is a respectable size, and the War Drum and Captain will make it much more mobile than you’d otherwise expect. Amdûr is a bit of a monster, and the Dragon Knight with S5 could be very scary. The Dragon Cult Acolytes will also be interesting as flankers to keep the pressure off your pikes, although they may be a little fragile to do it by themselves. However, I think that the 15 points to get the Dragon Knight a horse would be totally worth it, and I would absolutely contemplate dropping a model to do so. Unfortunately the way the points work here is a little tricky, as while the army is apparently 5 points under it’s also underpaid by 4 points on the Black Dragons. The other unexpected miss is a few bows, I think their total absence makes life a little too easy for the opponent. A list that can kite well could find it a little too easy to score the bonus point off Ambush by not losing any models. Overall, I think the army is about as good as Easterlings can manage at 500, but I do worry that its frontline isn’t really up to withstanding the lists we’ve seen so far. And if it can’t win a shieldwall-shieldwall clash, it’s got limited alternative options. It does have some nice heroes though, so hopefully that’ll save it.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Durin

Shieldbearer with S5

5 Hearthguard

4 Vault Warden Teams

3 Iron Guard

5 Warriors (4 bows, one shield and banner)

Now this is a list I wouldn’t want to face. D7+ almost everywhere, with some really scary combat troops and a terrifying leader makes for an intimidating list. The Shieldbearer with S5 could be surprisingly scary, while those Vault Wardens make an excellent little frontline. The four Dwarf Bows give the list a ranged edge over basically everyone we’ve seen so far (maybe excluding the Riders of Théoden), which could force a reluctant enemy to engage. As ever, the issue is mobility, and I think I’d probably prefer a Captain in place of the Shieldbearer for that reason. Free Heroics are great, but there will definitely be games where this list wishes it had access to March. Overall though, it looks absolutely rock solid, so if it draws the right missions it could be in for a shot.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Suladan on horse

Betrayer on Fell Beast

Black Numenorean Marshal with everything, S5

5 Serpent Riders

5 Raiders with bows, war spears

From one extreme to another, this list will have absolutely no troubles with mobility. 7 Might and nothing slower than M10 will see it zoom around the table, and once it charges it will be brutal. War Spears rerolling to Wound is a scary combo, not to mention the banner rerolls and F4/5 bubble that Suladan can get from the tournament bonus. All three heroes are fairly scary, although Suladan won’t like being the only Striker if that becomes important. That model count is scary small though, especially with such fragile models. I would honestly have been tempted to ditch the Marshal, excellent though he is, to just buff out the model count a bit more. You’d be losing your Ent Draught model, but probably boosting your changes of winning the scenarios a good bit. Still, when this army gets off its perfect charge, there are going to be a lot of dead enemies.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Durburz

Groblog

Watcher in the Water

2 Marauders

Bat Swarm 

17 Goblins with kit

Now this list is one that I love. How could I not, when I’ve written a fair amount about a list just like it? This army basically revolves around the Watcher grabbing enemy heroes and yanking them into combat with his friend the Bat Swarm; that combo is absolutely filthy, and as long as your Goblin wall holds, you can do it as much as you like. Unfortunately, the numbers are looking a little low here, so I’d be worried about how long that wall will in fact hold. Groblog and Durburz are both good value, but I’d wonder whether replacing them with generic Captains and taking a few more models might not be a better idea. Swapping Groblog for a Captain gives you three more models, and Durburz could easily turn into either two Captains or a Captain and a Marauder. That gives the list  March and a few more models, at the expense of a better Stand Fast and the chance for F3 Goblins. Swaps or no, this list is terrifying, so don’t underestimate it. The Warg Marauders are hidden gems, and the D7 on that Watcher will make it vastly harder to stop than normal. Overall, I like this list a lot, and I could easily imagine it atop a podium.

 

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

The Twins on horses, with armour and bows

3 Captains with full kit

Up next is another hero-heavy list that will probably be hoping it doesn’t draw the Watcher. It’s got a lot of Might, excellent Fight value and a heap of lances, and those bows will actually be shockingly relevant in some matchups. In particular, they mean that Liam is almost always going to get the VP for Ambush, which will help a lot in tight games. It’s also gonna hit real hard on the charge, and the Twins can do a decent job of duelling any big stuff they face. Something like the Serpent Horde list we saw earlier would hate to get matched up into this, I imagine. However, as is always the case with all-hero lists, the lack of models means there is no room for error or a bad scenario draw. I think this list is a really fun concept, but I’d be worried in at least half of the possible scenarios. It’d also be a bit scared of any hero big enough to smash through the Twins, as they’re really its only hope against one.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Aragorn King on horse

Hurin on horse

14 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields, 4 spears

6 Rangers with spears

And right away we are onto a very hard matchup for the Elves. Aragorn is well and truly capable of killing either Twin (or maybe even both at once!), while Hurin’s Strike will give him a huge edge against the Captains. And they’re both backed up by a shockingly respectable wall of shields, especially for the points size. I actually really like this list, and think it has play against almost anything we’ve seen today. A shieldwall like that will last quite awhile, and the Hurin/Aragorn combo will massacre almost anything. It’s got endless Heroic Marches for mobility, some decent shooting, and a huge amount of Might. Where it would probably struggle is against something like the Mordor list we saw first, where the Witch King could harass Aragorn while the superior frontline slowly whittled down the men, or against the Moria list where the Watcher could eat Hurin and Aragorn real quick. Otherwise though, I think it has real play into this field, as long as there’s nothing specialised in killing big heroes…

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Witch King with 3/10/3, Morgul Blade, horse

4 Ringwraiths with 2/9/2, horse (one with D9)

Ah. Like that. Maybe Aragorn is a few too many eggs in one basket.

In saying that, I’m not sure how well the Black Riders do at 500. Only five Wraiths means that the Harbinger stacking isn’t too outrageous, and there’s a little less in the way of big heroes for them to prey on. I’ve only used this Legion a handful of times, but it seems like one with a very high skill ceiling (as in, I didn’t do well when I used it…). If Andrew gets to take on some of the hero-heavy lists we’ve seen then he could be in great shape, but otherwise he will have absolutely no room for error. Also, the flex of leaving points unspent in this list is real, and I’m sure he’s eventually going to regret someone not having that extra Will.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Ugluk with +1 Defence

Mauhur

Scout Captain with shield

Grishnakh with shield

8 Orc Warriors with shield, 7 spears

20 Scouts with 7 bows, 13 shields, 1banner

There’s nothing too fancy about this list, it’s just good, clean fun. 32 models is a lot, at least 50% bigger than most of the lists we’ve seen so far, and these are solid models with a lot of power. 4 Heroes is also a lot, and it gives the army an impressive 10 Might to keep it moving. The M8 on most of the list will be great in objective games, as will the plentiful March, while the Animosity and spears of the Orcs gives it ways to concentrate damage. The one thing I think it’s missing is more bows: 7 bows is a fair amount, but I’d love to see the full 9 for a list like this that can kite so effectively. Even with just 7, that still makes it probably the strongest ranged force we’ve seen so far, which gives it an important angle on the killing scenarios and even maybe opens up Ambush VPs. Overall, I like this list a lot, and it’s well-suited to the 500 points level. Definitely a contender.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

3 Khandish Kings, 2 on Chariot, 1 on horse, 1 with S5

1 Chariot

1 Warrior on foot with bow

11 Khandish Horsemen

Andrew is one to watch regardless of what he’s bringing, and this list looks mean. 3 mounted A3 models, two of which are on Chariots, and all of whom bring banner effects is great already. Back it up with another Chariot and a heap of F4 skirmish cavalry and you’ve got yourself a list. It’s got a heap of bows, it’s the fastest thing around and anything charged by it is going to really suffer. Even those all-hero lists we’ve seen will be absolutely dreading a Chariot charge, as they’d probably be unhorsed and knocked down before even getting to fight. Andrew is a menace with cavalry, and I would be totally unsurprised to see him take the title with this list.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

Captain with shield

Captain with D7

Demo team with 1 brand

Ballista

20 Uruks with 8 shields, 8 pikes, 4 crossbows and 1 banner

I’ve said before that 500 points is great for big lists, and this one is impressively chunky. 28 models is a solid amount, and Uruk-hai are very intimidating models to boot. Combined with the bomb to spike out enemy heroes, and you’ve got a really grindy list that no one will want to engage. Not that they’ll have much choice, as 4 crossbows and a Ballista is a lot of ranged firepower to dodge. I find the use of the Ent Draught to get the unshielded Captain to that key D7 an entertaining one, although I’d be very tempted to swap two Uruks for a Berserker and just give him a shield anyway. That’d let you make him S6 if you wanted to, which would let both of your heroes punch through troops at a respectable rate. I’d also just be tempted to drop the Bomb for another 8 Uruks, to be honest; there aren’t that many heroes you can kill with the Bomb who could otherwise take out 8 Uruks, and 33 models would give you the numerical edge against every list. Regardless, this is a scary army, and another of my favourites to win it.

 

Summarised list for ease of reading:

It's three Ents, you can probably work it out

Our final list, fittingly enough, is Fangorn. I’m assuming that this is here to play anyone who’s missing an opponent, and it’s great. Obviously it’s gonna struggle in objective games, a lot, but Valar preserve anyone who draws this for Contest of Champions. A fun, fluffy list to finish.

 

So, after looking at 15 lists, what’s my predicted podium? I think a lot will obviously depend on matchups and scenarios, but making a random stab in the dark without the benefit of any of that, I’m going to go with:

Wildcards: Jarrod Mikhael, Besiegers of Helm’s Deep, and Luke Marziano, Gondor

3. Daniel Scognamiglio, Ulguk’s Scouts

2. Jack Stockton, Moria

1. Andrew Colman, Khand

 Lots of fast Uruks is a great foundation for a list, the Watcher/Bat Swarm combo is mean, and Chariots are awesome in the hands of a good cavalry general. You heard it here first folks, it’s a clean Evil sweep.

Edit: Literally as I was getting ready to post this article, I realised pairings for round one had been released. So how do these affect my predictions? 

Game one will be interesting, the Black Riders v mounted hero Rivendell. On balance, I think the Elves have the edge, with much better close combat and the D7 that the Ringwraiths will struggle to penetrate. Plus, their archery gives them game if the Nazgul try and sit back with magic. Clever use of spellcasting will be needed if Andrew is to topple the Elves here. Prediction: Rivendell win

Game two I think is going to come down to numbers. The Dragon Knight and Amdûr can both credibly threaten Adam's big heroes, and they'll be backed up by a massive numerical edge in every combat. I think Adam will need to play a cagy and careful game if he doesn't want to get overwhelmed here. Prediction: Easterlings win

Game three will again demand some careful play from both sides. If Jack allows his Rohan to take many turns of Isengard shooting, he'll lose pretty quickly. On the other hand, if Jarod lets that devastating Rohirrim charge hit home then Rohan could win on the first turn of combat. On yet another hand (the third hand. Yes. This is a normal number of hands), if Jarod can take out Théoden or Éomer with the bomb then he can probably grind out the Rohirrim with his superior numbers. It's almost too close to call, but the scenario wildcards are likely to hurt Jarod more than Jack, so Prediction: Rohan win

Game four is probably a better matchup for Isengard, as this time they have a bit more raw numbers and a lot more Might. Théoden himself is the only Rohan counter to the three Uruk-hai Captains, which is hardly a situation you want to be in, and Daniel can match Paul Might for Might until the lategame. If Paul can make sure the Captains are consistently charged by F5 Royal Guard then he should be fine, but otherwise I worry they'll rampage and need Gamling or Elfhelm to tie them up. This is definitely a matchup where I'd rather have Éomer or Dernhelm along instead of the two support characters taken here. Prediction: Isengard win

Game five is the clash of my personal titans, and it could go down to the wire. The Watcher will be really hard to stop in this game, and can easily munch a King if they get close enough. However, from my experience running this Moria list, it really hates being kited, and Khand is the king of the kite. I imagine that Andrew won't let an engage happen until the Goblins are whittled down, and at that point I don't imagine that the Watcher will be able to save the day. Prediction: Khand win

Game six is a matchup I literally discussed when assessing Luke's list, and I think it has to favour Mordor. The Witch King will be in his element against Luke's heroes, and Matthew's superior numbers and troop quality means that those same heroes are really going to need to pull their weight. If Aragorn rolls well on Resist checks early then he can bust this game right open, but otherwise I think it has to favour Mordor. Prediction: Mordor win

The final contest of round one is between our polar opposites of the Serpent Horde and Khazad-dum. Harad has all the tricks here, and can hit so hard on the charge, but that Dwarven battleline is a tough nut to crack. I worry here that Jon won't be able to do enough damage to the Dwarven heroes or troops in that first round and will be whittled down, but he also doesn't really have the ranged power to kite against the Dwarf bows. A favourable scenario means that the matchup is always an open one for Harad to win, but anything that's not Reconnoitre could swiftly turn into a decisive Dwarven victory. And I'm reliably informed that Dwarves aren't even bad at Reconnoitre either! Prediction: Khazad-dum win

So that's our round one sorted, and I for one am extremely excited to see how it all turns out!

Come back on Sunday for some mid-tournament discussion (if enough stats are uploaded), and then eventually some after-action analysis. In the meantime, drop a comment down below: who do you have your (hypothetical) money on?

Until then, may your lists always get good matchups!