Fall of the Necromancer Legendary Legions: Hot Takes

While the gods of pre-order have yet to grace us with our supplement books, the tireless work of some Youtubers have revealed the secrets of the new Legendary Legions. So how do they hold up? Are they going to dominate the metagame, crushing all before them? Or will the fact that they all inexplicably require you to field Bill the Pony hold them back from tournament success? Most importantly, how accurate was my wishlist? Let’s dive in and find out.

 

Rangers of Mirkwood

Lots of bows on these beautiful models

These guys have a pretty simple army list, identical to the one I proposed in my version: Mirkwood Rangers and Sentinels, Legolas, Tauriel and Mirkwood Captains. With a 100% bow limit, this is a truly brutal shooting force already.

Thankfully, their buffs relate to close combat, not range. They all gain reroll 1’s to Wound, and pick up the option to shield (at the expense of their Knife Fighters/Blade Mistress special rules), which could be critical for locking in that second Attack when not outnumbered. Legolas picks up Knife Fighters for a neat little combat boost, and everyone gets Hatred (Spiders) because spiders are gross. All warbands also get to use Madril’s special deployment rule, which makes life generally a lot easier in Maelstrom games, and everyone gets a 6+ ‘Fury’ save while close to a tree.

 

Competitive Rating

High. This list has an enormous amount of shooting power, some sneaky tricks, and special rules to cover a lot of its weaknesses. Its warrior models are a little less efficient than Rangers of Ithilien, but its heroes are much more so, especially without any of the Hobbit ‘tax’ that the FAQ has saddled the Ithilien Legion with. It’s a list with definite weaknesses, especially mobility, and one that will probably work best at low points levels. But Rangers of Ithilien were always pretty oppressive at those levels, and I could see these guys taking up that mantle. Yay. What a great outcome.

Exactly the kind of list we wanted to see more of

Design Commentary

This pretty closely matches my idea for how this Legion would play. I appreciate that GW didn’t give them any rules to boost their shooting (they don’t need it) just some buffs to incentivise close combat play. I personally preferred my ‘bows as throwing weapons’ special rule, but it was also maybe a bit too strong, so rerolling 1’s to Wound and shielding are probably safer bets. The deployment boost was a great call I think, and very fluffy, so kudos for that. Overall, this Legion is always going to struggle with limited design space, because everyone has a bow and that can so easily become oppressive. Honestly, this has probably fallen foul of that, but time will tell.

 

Vanquishers of the Necromancer

This, but no Glorfindel and no horses. Just one huge sleigh if you want it (u/srbandrews) 

As anyone who read my last article on this topic knows, this was the army I was really excited for. And boy, did it live up to the hype! While it’s pretty limited in model choice (you must take Saruman and Galadriel, then can bring Gandalf, Elrond and Radagast on/off his sleigh), but it gets a whopping nine special rules, starting with the basic +1 to Resist rolls when friends are nearby, then immediately jumping up a notch with the ability to cast spells while in combat. That alone makes the Legion of fragile spellcasters vastly more challenging to deal with, able to spam Sorcerous Blast/Nature’s Wrath to knock down enemies and prevent you being overwhelmed. On that theme, the Wizards all treat their Attacks as equal to their Wounds, so A3 Saruman and Radagast here we come. And they all deploy as one warband, lead by Saruman.

Each hero then gets their own cool little special rules. Galadriel can target non-Spirit models with her Banishment power, turning it into basically Chill Soul, although when she does so they get a free dice roll to Resist. This is a sneakily powerful ability that really, really adds a lot to the Legion. She can also do a super smite once per game, casting a Channelled Banishment that can’t be Resisted. Admittedly this then knocks her prone (although she can just stand up again if she’s not engaged in combat), drains her Will and loses her mini-Harbinger and free Will point per turn, but the capacity to just straight up pick a model and put D3 Wounds onto them, whenever you want, is incredible. Don’t sleep on this one. Saruman gets a similarly potent buff, getting to cast two spells per turn (not the same spell, and on different targets) and giving out a reroll casting rolls aura to nearby models. In a Legion of spellcasters, that is absolutely sick, and the extra spell will be useful too.

EDIT: Galadriel also becomes unarmed after she goes nuclear, which makes it much less appealing in the midgame. Save it till the end then smite their leader from the face of the earth.

EDIT #2: Galadriel also gives all friendly models within 3" Resistant to Magic. So if Fortify Spirit, +1 to Resist rolls, and a heap of Wizards wasn't enough for you, you get that as well. The odds of Saruman getting a '6' without spending any Will or Might is better than 80%. Cool.

'Hey Sauron, your Army Bonus stops you Breaking until you've taken three Wounds right? Well, now you have.' 

After that excitement, Gandalf gains… Fearless and immunity to Courage debuffs for nearby friends. Given this Legion is largely Courage 7 with 6+ Will, this is absolute trash. Boooooooo. He is admittedly your second best fighter and second most durable model, and he benefits a lot from Saruman's aura, but still. Elrond has things much better, getting free Heroic Strikes to take on enemy heroes and a banner effect for nearby friends (although not himself, it appears). And Radagast hands out a bubble of ignoring difficult terrain, as well as being able to heal models in the Move Phase by moving into contact with them. On an all-hero list, being able to heal multiple models per turn is a really powerful benefit, especially when your Attack stat is tied to your Wounds. Good, clean fun.

 

Competitive Rating

Shockingly high. I’ve playtested a very similar version of this Legion a lot recently, and you would be surprised by how powerfully these models can stack together. The official version is arguably more powerful than mine in a lot of ways, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this does sneakily well. It’s still only 2-5 models, so objectives can be tricky, but you’ve got a lot of tricks to deal with that. Instil Fear enemies off one objective while a couple of models clear another, then rely on Sorcerous Blast and Banishment to pick off dudes from a third and you’ve got a win. And massed healing and Nature’s Wrath makes actually doing damage to these guys a nightmare. They’ve got weaknesses, but don’t be surprised if these guys do better than you’d expect.

In fact, since writing this I've played two games with the new Legion and it has handily won both. In the first, it killed Azog in two turns before shredding his army behind him without taking a Wound. In the second, it killed Aragorn in ONE turn before shredding the Army of the Dead so fast they almost ended the game too soon and lost on VPs. Thankfully the enormous magical capabilities were able to keep the Dead from, uh, dying again too quickly at the end. Takeaway from this, it's a scary little bundle of joy. 

A pic of these guys brutalising some unsuspecting Corsairs

Design Commentary

I love it. Pretty much every one of these rules is beautiful, and it all comes together in a really cool and exciting way. Of course, I would say that, because its fundamentally extremely similar to the version I wrote. They even use almost exactly the same name for the ‘you may cast spells while in combat’ rule!

The one missed opportunity I see is with Gandalf. At the moment he seems like the clear weakest option to me, by a long way. His spells aren’t that important here (you can already access everything useful except Strengthen Will, and everyone else casts more easily than him) and his special rule is clearly the weakest. I think he needed a lot more to justify including him over the other casters, and I’m pretty disappointed there. Onscreen he does some pretty awesome stuff in this movie, like teleporting, revealing hidden enemies and shattering so many buildings. Some of that energy would have been nice, rather than ‘he really brave’. I also wish Elrond got a free Will point, but free Strikes are pretty cool too.

Overall, very happy with this Legion, and I plan on taking it to my next tournament.

 

The Rise of the Necromancer

This picture built a lot of hype for me 

This Legion is pretty simple in its participants: The Necromancer, the Nazgûl of Dol Guldur, and Castellans (who may take their Morgul Blades). The Castellans are a pleasant surprise, but with the Necromancer along I imagine you’re going to be focussing on the Nazgûl a lot.

The special rules really put the spotlight onto the Necromancer, with him retaining his extra dice when casting and picking up the ability to cast twice per turn like Saruman, along with an extra Attack. Otherwise, you basically just get Resistant to Magic on everyone and can deploy as one warband.

 

Competitive Rating

Medium. The special rules here really aren’t anything special, and are honestly a little disappointing after reading the Vanquishers. A couple of buffs for the Necromancer are good, and Resistant to Magic is neat when its relevant, but I was really hoping for more. The base models themselves aren’t too bad, and their near-invulnerability means you’ll have a lot of good matchups, but you’re going to struggle with mobility and numbers for objectives. And if the Necromancer starts getting tied up, things could go south pretty quickly.

 

Design Commentary

A lot of the excitement in this army comes from the interaction between the Nazgûl and the Necromancer, and honestly I just wanted more of that. Their Resurrection special rule is incredibly cool and unique, and I wanted things that tied in with it. I wanted something to make the Nazgûl more exciting, I wanted ways to address the mobility issues of the list, I just wanted more! After the slam dunk of the Vanquishers, I feel like Evil really got the short end of the stick here, and I’m pretty sad about that. Guess I’ll just have to Banish these wraiths instead.

 

Pits of Dol Guldur

Azog's face when he hears he gets free Heroic Combats every turn

Thankfully, our final Legion is some more good, clean fun. It centres on Azog, who can take his Warg but no armour or flail (or Signal Tower I guess, if you’ve somehow converted one of those up) leading Hunter Orcs, Gundabad Orc and Fell Wargs, plus Hunter Orc Captains, Gundabad Orc Captains and the Keeper of the Dungeons. Noticeably absent are the more exciting and eclectic models from the Azog’s Legion and Dol Guldur lists, as well as the named Hunter Orc Captains from Azog’s Hunters.

In exchange for losing those options you gain some pretty cool bonuses. Azog gets free Heroic Combats (with 6 Might!), which is undeniably awesome, although he loses Master of Battle for it. And in exchange for the archery boosts to Hunter Orcs you get to pretend to be Lothlorien with Resistant to Magic on everything. More excitingly, once per game you get to automatically seize Priority and prevent Heroic Moves being called that turn! That is absolutely bonkers good, and if you leverage it well it can win you games.

 

Competitive Rating

High. Free Heroic Combats on Azog are neat, and Resistant to Magic is pretty useful. Neither does much more than make up for losing Master of Battle and the Azog’s Hunters boost for your archers, but they definitely seem a decent tradeoff. Really though, this Legion will turn on that free turn of moving first. This is a whole new effect that is crazy, crazy good, and I think it potentially elevates the Legion to competitive levels. Losing out on Goblin Mercenaries, named Hunter Orc Captains and War Bats/Berserkers are some definite downsides, but not fielding them also means you can fit in a lot more Gundabad and Hunter Orcs to swarm your enemy with. I think this is a strong Legion, and if you’re looking to include Azog its' likely to be your best way to do so.

 

Design Commentary

Good stuff. This army really clearly embodies the design philosophy behind Legendary Legions: it’s got a more limited set of options, with some solid special rules to make up for that. Best of all, the buffs are fairly proportional to what you’re giving up, in that they’re solid but not eyewatering (except for the once-per-game effect) to reflect the fact that the models you’ve got can actually form a decent army without buffs anyway. The only small critique is that I think something about being harder to spot from a distance would have been more thematic than Resistance to Magic, given that magic is ultimately what reveals them. Still, it gives the Legion a better matchup against the Vanquishers, and reduces the vulnerability of Azog, so it’s a very defensible choice.

I'm so excited for these guys! (edhellin.tumblr.com)

Overall, I like three of these Legions a lot. The Rangers are a little bit concerning to me, but I think they threaded the needle well by not buffing their shooting at all. Pits of Dol Guldur is classic Legendary Legion design and looks really well-balanced, if quite strong, and the Vanquishers… These guys are now what I live for, and I can’t wait to line them up at a tournament. They’re even an easy list to paint and assemble if you don’t take the sleigh! Only the Necromancer Legendary Legion is a bit disappointing, and I’m sure the inherent synergy between the models will still make it a fun army. I’m extremely excited for this supplement, and can’t wait to dive into some of these scenarios!

 Until next time, may your Channelled Banishment always inflict three Wounds!