Depths of Moria v Mordor/Serpent Horde battle report

The Balrog tears through some Mordor troops

Astride his horse, the Witch King of Angmar watched his forces assemble on the plains of Gorgoroth. An observer would have noteda sharp contrast between the sable-clad Morgul warriors and their flamboyant Haradrim allies. Orcs and fell Númenóreans alike were grim-faced and disciplined, standing steady in neatly dressed ranks, while the Haradrim chattered and boasted atop their high-stepping stallions.

The Witch King saw none of this trivia; his fell sight looked beyond the mundane world to the spirits shrieking across the shrouded plain. The land was disturbed by some force that was not his master's, some evil that was foreign to these parts. Something deeper, something older.

Suddenly, a burst of colour and heat drew his eye, as well as the more ordinary attention of his troops. From a flaming chasm stretching from one outcropping of the mountains came a creature of fire and darkness, shadow and flame. It pulled itself through the gap and straightened itself up, letting loose a roar of expected conquest. Behind it came an endless tide of small creatures, all blades and glinting armour.

As the sound of beating drums filled the choked air, the Witch King and his captains were already springing into action. Lines were reformed and warbands began to move, converging on this new and unexpected threat. This field belonged to his master, and he would suffer no foe to tread it. After that, the march would continue, and the world of men would fall at last.

Today’s battle report is covering a particularly interesting matchup: the current meta hotness of Witch King/Suladân, clashing with an old contender in Depths of Moria. Mordor with an allied Suladân is obviously a powerful list, but the Depths do bring some interesting counters to it. Immunity to Terror, a battlefield-wide banner and the utterly unstoppable force that is the Balrog all contribute to make the fight more challenging for Mordor than they’d really like.

So who will win? Can the raw efficiency of Mordor outpace the battering ram of the Balrog? Read on to find out!

 

The lists

 

Mordor/Serpent Horde

Witch King 3/10/2 on horse with Crown (Army Leader)

Suladân on armoured horse

Mouth of Sauron on armoured horse

Zagdush

19 Black Númenóreans

19 Morannon Orcs with spears and shields’

Orc Tracker

Serpent Rider

44 models, 11 Might, 4 fast models, 1 bow

4 efficient heroes leading 40 efficient warriors. Just good, solid stuff

This list has it all. It’s got a really solid infantry line, with D6/F4 troops backed by S4/D6 spears and a 6” banner. It’s great against low-Courage armies thanks to a Terror frontline and Harbinger of Evil. Enemy heroes don’t feel awesome about facing double casters, and all four heroes can mix it up in combat quite comfortably. The numbers are quite high for their quality, and there aren’t many weakpoints for an enemy to target. Overall just a solid, efficient list. There’s a reason that lists like it have won vastly more tournaments than any others in the last year.

Depths of Moria

Balrog

Goblin Captain

2 Blackshield Shamans

Goblin Drum

38 Goblins, with 2 bows, 18 spears and 18 shields

44 models, 4 Might, 0 fast models, 2 bows

A lot of Goblins, a couple of tricks and one very big combat piece

This list, on the other hand, has one absolutely insane centrepiece, backed by the cheapest infantry possible and some sneaky magic. Goblin Warriors aren’t great, but with a battlefield-wide banner and various buffs around the Balrog they stick around a lot longer than you’d expect. Even when they don’t, the list can’t be Broken thanks to the Balrog doing its best Sauron impression, and enemy heroes are generally terrified of having their weapons Shattered. Finally, the Balrog is the mother of all wrecking balls, ready to shred whatever it touches and keep moving. Noticeably, it’s entirely unbothered by the magical threat of the Mouth and Witch King, and it will tear through any of Evil’s heroes as soon as it can get its hands on them.  

 

Scenario Selection and Deployment

The three scenarios drawn for veto were Command the Battlefield, Seize the Prize and Hold Ground. Moria immediately vetoed Seize the Prize, knowing that the March and cavalry of the Mordor force would allow them to screen off the relic in the first turn and probably hold onto it all game long. That left Mordor with a choice of 2 Maelstrom scenarios, with Command the Battlefield being selected because it allowed for the most spreading out (and thus the greatest chance of avoiding the Balrog!).

Moria ‘won’ Priority on the first turn, but made up for this poor luck by rolling well on maelstrom to bring in the Balrog and two other warbands right next to each other. One Shaman had to burn its Might to do so, but that was well worth it to avoid being picked off by a swarm of Mordor troops. The other Blackshield Shaman failed to arrive, which was probably good for Moria really.

The Balrog in the centre, ready to head off any threats to its Goblin horde

Some mixed rolling from Mordor saw the Mouth and Suladân come on together in the north-west, while Zagdush’s warband mirrored them in the south-west. The hope was that by pincering the Moria lines they could force the Balrog to go either north or south, leaving the other half free to clean up some Goblins. The Witch King failed to arrive, which was useful as a way to maintain a threat for the next turn.

Does the Balrog go north or south? A real dilemma

Turns 2-3: Initial engagements

Winning Priority, Mordor flung the Mouth and Suladân into combat, hoping to get some early kills before the Balrog could redeploy over. Otherwise the Mordor battlelines advanced from both sides, sweeping in to box in Moria. Unfortunately the Witch King again failed to arrive, creating a potential issue for Mordor. They really needed his combat ability and the troops in his warband, but couldn’t justify spending 3 Might to make sure he showed up in a useful spot. With a sigh, Mordor let him wait for next turn.

For their part, Moria was torn as to where the Balrog should go. Suladân and the Mouth were by far the juiciest targets, but the Balrog’s path to them was obstructed by a large rock feature, to say nothing of the hordes of Goblins underfoot. Instead, the Balrog spun around and stomped towards Zagdush, hoping to dispose of him before turning back to the centre.

The Balrog lining up a whip into Zagdush while the Mordor heroes get in some early kills

That got off to a good start with a successful whip, dragging Zagdush into combat with the Balrog. The Balrog rolled the critical 6 to win the fight, but only managed to do two Wounds to the Orc, who burned Might to pass his Fate test and survive. Not only did that keep Zagdush alive, but it also meant the Balrog wouldn’t get a chance to Heroic Combat into his warband this turn.

Heroic stand from Zagdush here

Elsewhere, the Blackshield Shaman rolled a 1 while attempting to Shatter Suladân’s sword, allowing the two Mordor heroes to hack their way through a trio of Goblins. 

The Blackshield Shamans getting off to a great start

Finally, the other Blackshield Shaman came in on the opposite side of the board, hoping to contest the two eastern corners.

Just 7 Goblins, hanging out in their own board half

Moria won Priority on the third turn and swiftly flung a Goblin into Suladân and the Mouth, tying them up for the turn (although another Shatter attempt saw another 1 rolled in what was fast becoming a trend). Zagdush had called a Heroic Move to escape the Balrog and had gotten into a pair of Goblins, while a brave Morannon took on Durin’s Bane. That went as well for him as you’d expect, although all the Balrog could do off the Heroic Combat was mince another Morannon.

Zagdush survives another round and the Goblins start to fall

The Mouth called a Heroic Combat as well, propelling him and Suladân into more Goblins. Suladân slew his but the Mouth was beaten back in his fight, in what would also become a bit of a trend.

Mordor's F5 mounted heroes struggle to hack their way through some basic Goblins

Mercifully, the Witch King did arrive this turn, burning a Might to show up in the centre of the north board edge. That allowed him to peel off half his warband to chase the Blackshield Shaman in the east (alongside the Serpent Rider already sprinting that way), while he led a sizeable thrust of troops towards the centre of the battlefield, aiming to continue boxing in the Goblins that were racing east.

Reinforcements arrive for Mordor at last

Across the rest of the combats quite a number of Goblins fell, with the kill tallies at the end of the turn landing on 10 Goblins slain to 3 Mordor infantry. Moria would need the Balrog to really turn it on to outpace the pressure here.

A solid start for Mordor 

Turns 4-5: Clash of lines

Moria won Priority on Turn 4, and more importantly won the Heroic Move-off between Zagdush and the Goblin Captain. That allowed the Goblins to pin down the Mordor forces on that flank, all while setting up a great Heroic Combat avenue for the Balrog to get into Zagdush. 

The Balrog about to show off what a F10 monster with free Heroic Combats can do

Elsewhere, they pinned down the Mouth and Suladân with Goblins, while facing off against the growing Mordor forces racing around the north-western rock formation. 

A lot of Mordor forces massing on this flank

The eastern Blackshield Shaman continued to lead his warband south, hoping to avoid a clash with the advancing troops from the Witch King’s warband, while the western Shaman rolled a third consecutive 1 to cast against Suladân. 50 points well spent!

The Blackshield Shaman continues its remarkably cold streak

For their part, Mordor mostly was just hustling to get their troops into combat, sending their heavy infantry clambering over rocks to flank the Goblins and bring their growing numerical advantage to bear.

Mordor dominating the north table half, ready to swarm south

In combat, the Balrog went first and shredded its two opponents, before Combatting into Zagdush. This time the Orc Captain’s luck was up and he was torn apart by his monstrous foe. Elsewhere, the Mouth again botched against his foes, but several more Goblins fell to the Mordor battleline.

I did expect that whoever the Balrog chose to target would be dead pretty quickly

Mordor was moving first on Turn 5, and started by pinning down the Balrog again. It would just get to Heroic Combat and move anyway, but at least it would only be moving once this turn! The Witch King swooped in on the eastern front and Black Darted an isolated Goblin Drummer, while Suladân plowed into the other. 

One Goblin Drummer down and the Drum is getting quieter

A swarm of Mordor infantry accompanying the Witch King slammed into the nearby Goblins, but the outnumbered Goblins gave as good as they got against their much-superior foes. Suladân slew two more Goblins as the Mouth botched again (being dismounted this time, awesome), but Moria's numbers were starting to run thin in the western clashes. That wasn’t helped by the Balrog losing the fight to a lonely Black Númenórean, who I imagine was feeling very lucky to be alive after that.

Chaos across the western edge, with scrappy fighting on three fronts

Finally, the Blackshield Shaman accomplished something at last by fighting off 3 Mordor warriors. He didn’t hurt any of them, but even surviving was a good outcome here.

 

Turns 6-7: The drums fall silent

Mordor won another clutch Priority, and also the Move-off between the Goblin Captain and Suladân. That allowed Sulâdan to swing back around behind the Mordor troops along the board edge, preventing the Balrog from easily getting into him and shutting down (read: obliterating) his banner. The Witch King also struck again with a Black Dart to kill the last Goblin Drummer, turning off Moria’s banner effect starting the following turn (the Drum rules are weird). 

The second Drummer falls

The Witch King then cantered south, aiming to take out a pair of Goblins running to contest the south-east corner.

Elsewhere a horde of Morannons and Black Númenóreans smashed into the surviving Goblins in the centre of the north-west quadrant, overwhelming them and putting most to the sword. Suladân and the Mouth both bounced off their opponents, while the western Blackshield Shaman survived once again.

Moria overwhelmed on this flank, starting to crumble under the pressure

The eastern Blackshield Shaman had spent two turns attempting first to Shatter the lance of the nearby Serpent Rider, then to Tremor him to death when he came closer. He rolled a 1 both times, so this clearly just wasn’t the game for the Shamans.

Very cagey play on this flank, as the second Shaman botches yet more rolls

Almost the sole bright spot for Moria was the Balrog, which killed the Númenórean it was facing before smashing through another Morannon on its way towards Suladân. Still, by the end of the turn Moria had taken 22 casualties to a mere 8 for Mordor, putting them far behind on tempo and making it very hard to hold table quarters.

The remains of Zagdush's warband continue to struggle on and tie down the superior Moria force they're facing

Moria won Priority on Turn 7 and slammed the Balrog forward into two more Mordor warriors, determined to carve a path through to Suladân before the Serpent Lord could get away. But (as is so often the way with the Balrog) it lost its fight against two shielding opponents, being pushed back and slowed down for the turn.

The Balrog has swung across to this flank, but there are just a few too many Mordor warriors here

By this stage there was carnage across the board, but perhaps the most impactful combats were the Witch King, a Black Númenórean and a Serpent Rider combining to take out two Goblins racing for the south-east. That was made possible by the Blackshield Shaman rolling a 4 to cast a Tremor onto the Serpent Rider that would have gone through both combats. The Shaman had spent its Might on a Maelstrom roll earlier, meaning that the two Shamans between them had successfully cast no spells!

Yet another failed cast from the Blackshield Shaman. 0/6 there 

Turn 8: The Balrog awakened, but Mordor ascendant

Moria was scarily close to quartering, but still weren’t Broken thanks to the Legendary Legion’s bonus. Winning Priority on Turn 8, they went all-in on one final attempt to take out Suladân with the Balrog, hoping against hope that the surviving Goblins could hold out long enough for it to turn the tide.

Mordor responded firstly by swarming Black Númenóreans into the fray, leaving the Balrog facing 4 spear-supported opponents. It also managed to wedge one more model in to screen off the Balrog, ensuring that even if it slew all its foes it couldn’t get into Suladân without being peeled off.

The Balrog is nearly alone on this flank, but I'm about to discover that there's never a safe way to take on a Balrog

The Balrog was enraged by this show of cowardice and promptly massacred all four of its foes, before slamming into two more warriors and killing them both as well. 6 warriors dead in a single turn: if the Balrog had performed like this all game then Mordor wouldn’t have had a chance!

Suladân is saved by the bell

Ultimately, however, it was to no avail, as the Goblins elsewhere were quartered. Most devastatingly, the Witch King managed to ride down two more Goblins in the south-east, flipping that table quarter to majority-Mordor on the very final turn!

Just enough kills here to flip this table quarter for Mordor

The other table quarters were no better, with Mordor having more than double Moria’s models in the north-east, north-west and south-west quarters. That gave Mordor 7 VPs (although the points for Breaking Moria and Wounding the Balrog were entirely out of reach), while Moria was still some way off Breaking Mordor in return for a total score of 7:0 to Mordor!

A lone Tracker holds down this quarter single-handedly

Game analysis

That game was pretty brutal, with combat in 3 quarters of the board across many fronts. In the end it came down to the Mordor warriors being so much better than their Goblin counterparts, such that they could carve a path through faster than the Balrog could catch up.

Overall, the Mordor strategy of pincering the Moria lines to prevent the Balrog efficiently bouncing between targets paid off, as by the end it had still been unable to get to Suladân. The Moria response to it (going after Zagdush instead of Suladân and the Mouth) may have been a mistake, but it’s also hard to say for certain. If it had stomped north then it would have had several turns of doing nothing while Zagdush and his warband chopped through Goblins in the south, and after that the Mouth and Suladân may have just disengaged anyway. It felt like there were no right answers for Moria there, but I’m not sure that they picked the less-right option.

Does the Balrog go north or south here? Neither option is great

Ultimately, the game exposed both the strength of the Mordor list and the weakness of the Moria one. For Mordor, the ability to pivot back and forth between the punchy combat heroes and the grindy battleline was crucial here, as Moria could only neutralise one with the Balrog while the other wreaked havoc. And for Moria, the Legendary Legion’s single-minded focus on the Balrog definitely hurt them here. The Balrog actually did okay this game, killing 12 warriors and Zagdush. That may not be 350-points worth of kills, but it’s certainly a good effort. Unfortunately, where things fell apart was that the Goblins killed exactly one Mordor model between them, across the whole game. One!

Exactly one of these Mordor casualties was slain by a Goblin

This Legion really only functions if the Balrog absolutely carries the team, and at least for me that seems optimistic. If your opponent is smart enough to screen off their important heroes from the Balrog then it will really struggle to do damage fast enough to outpace the crumbling Goblins, and I struggle to imagine that working any better at low points.

The Balrog is terrifying, but there is exactly one surviving Goblin in this screenshot 

The flames recede…

The Witch King brought his blade down one more time, shattering the helm of the Goblin he was facing. He wheeled around his horse, looking for another foe, but already the Goblins around him were melting away, transforming from a frenzied war host into a chittering rout. The Witch Kings troops were amongst the horde, blades rising and falling as they corralled them back towards the mountains.

Over in the distance, the fire and fury of the great demon were undimmed, and the Witch King knew he had not the power to face it without his master. But it too was turning, following after its defeated minions and cloaking itself in shadow once more.

As silence fell on the bloodied battlefield, the Witch King raised high his blade in victory. This field belonged to his master once more, and the hosts of Morgul would march onwards. At their hands, Gondor would fall.

 

I hope you enjoyed this battle report; I really get a lot out of combining the narrative and competitive aspects of this game, and I hope that came through in this report. Let me know if the ‘backstory’ distracted from the game too much, or on the other hand if you’d like less of the competitive analysis and more of the narration.

Until next time, may your spellcasters roll better than these Shamans!