These intruders from over the mountains were on Buhrdur’s
territory. They marched with the arrogance of those who have nothing to fear,
who feel nothing but disdain for the lands around them. Buhrdur would teach
them a lesson in respect.
Yells and the clash of blades drifted down the wind from the front of the column, and Burdur smiled grimly to himself; it seemed the interlopers had stumbled upon his main host. Time to spring the trap.
Last article, I tested out the Army of Carn Dûm against my
Pits of Dol Guldur, to see whether they were better than the initial analysis
had predicted (read here to see how that went). This time around I’m repeating
the experiment, but with the appendicised Buhrdur’s Horde Legendary Legion.
This list appeared, on face value, to have more potential to
it than the Army of Carn Dûm. Buhrdur is a solid beater hero, and his list has
plenty of numbers and some cool tricks to give it punch. Moreover, the models
it’s using aren’t inherently overcosted, which already makes it look better
than Carn Dûm. Some quick listbuilding showed that it could fit in multiple
monsters and a good model count at 550, so it seemed worth a test.
Can Buhrdur do what Aldrac couldn’t? Can he defeat the
mighty Pits of Dul Guldur? Let’s find out!
Lists
This list probably isn’t quite optimised. Much though it
pains me, the Hill Troll should probably be a Wild Warg Chieftain, or frankly
just a dozen Orcs. That version of the list would be better in almost every
situation, because Trolls of any kind are awful.
However, part of the point of this series is to actually
test out models and Legions that look bad on paper to see whether they do
better in practice. So, in goes the Hill Troll to back up his buddy Buhrdur.
The rest of the list is pretty standard: a Shaman to deal
with the low Courage of all the Orcs, 2 mounted Captains for March and a bit of
killing power, and as many Orcs and Wargs as would fit. The model count ended
up being pretty solid, although it is wholly unclear to me why this Legion
can’t field Trackers. If any list should be fielding them, it’s the one that hunts
in the wilds and killed Arathorn with bows! In their absence, I’ve wholly
foregone shooting, because Orc Warriors with bow are embarrassingly bad.
Overall, the list has some good punch from the monsters and
heroes, plus a heap of mobility to try and leverage them. What it doesn’t have
is a better way to address enemy heroes than ‘throw Buhrdur at them and hope’,
which is always a concern.
Speaking of which…
I won’t go into this list at all, save to refer you to my last battle report and say that the list is awesome. Azog is super fun to play, and Hunter Orcs rock. Onwards to the scenario!
Scenario and deployment
The scenario here probably favours Angmar, because Buhrdur
is much happier fighting on the frontlines when he doesn’t give away any points
for being wounded, and his Ambush rule means that Angmar has great odds of
killing Thrain and claiming their terrain piece.
To that end, Angmar (secretly) picked Thrain to assassinate,
a nice big forest behind where the main clash would likely occur to claim, and
the Shaman (the only hero who wasn’t going to be on the frontlines) to protect.
In return, Pits picked one of the Captains to kill, the White Warg to protect
(super sneaky Azog tech!) and a nice midfield rock formation to claim. Very
standard, classic picks all around.
Deployment was also pretty standard, with limited shooting on either side. The one exception was that Buhrdur deployed in Ambush, waiting to pop up behind the main Pits force to try to assassinate Thrain.
Turns 1-2: Thrain goes mad
The first two turns were understandably quiet, with both
sides shuffling up to position for the big clash on Turn 3. Pits moved first
and surged forward with Azog, using his threat range to control the centre of
the map. This forced Angmar to move cautiously, as they really didn’t want Azog
speeding in and starting his rampage on the second turn.
With Angmar ‘winning’ Priority on the second turn, they
faced the same conundrum of being unable to advance far without getting stomped
by Azog. As such they moved cautiously again, actually shuffling backwards in
places to limit where Azog could get to after two turns worth of movement. In
return, Pits marched up, with Azog nosing into range of a number of juicy
targets.
The highlight of Turn 2 was actually Thrain failing his Broken Mind check, charging a Warg, losing the fight and getting wounded! That already put Angmar 1 point up, and is an example of the risks Thrain poses in games where I need to protect him against faster armies (or those with Ambush mechanics).
Thrain, buddy, I know you're having a bad day, but this just isn't helpful
Turns 3-4: Ambush, and Surprise Attack!
Turn 3 opened with Thrain passing his Courage check and running
back to try to catch up with the main group, sheltering behind the Warg that
had just wounded him. It’s a weird relationship, alright?
Otherwise, the main Pits force moved up, with just a few
diverted to try to protect Thrain. Azog, meanwhile, hurtled straight into some
Orcs, hoping to Heroic Combat away off them to threaten the Troll and constrain
Angmar’s heroes.
Angmar shut this down, however, by simply charging three
more Orcs into Azog. He’s terrifying, but not even Azog can kill 5 Orcs in one
combat! The Troll also tried to join in, but failed his Courage check. The rest
of the main battleline spread out to try to hold off the Pits right, while one
mounted Captain charged into a lone Fell Warg to hopefully Heroic Combat back
from there to the Pits backlines.
And speaking of those backlines, they were suddenly filled
with Orcs as Buhrdur’s warband arrived! They took up position within 1” of the
ruin Thrain was sheltering next to, with Buhrdur himself arriving mere inches
from the Dwarf. Scary!
In the fight phase, Azog had to burn 2 Might to win the
combat, but promptly slew three of his foes. In exchange, the Orc Captain
Heroic Combatted off his Warg into a Hunter Orc, riding him down and nearly
evening the kill tallies.
Unfortunately, after a quick measure, it appeared that this
had put the Captain within 10” of Azog– albeit with plenty of models in the way.
Moreover, unbeknownst to Angmar, this Orc Captain was the Pits target to kill.
As such, Azog promptly declared Surprise Attack to auto-win Priority, moving
the Hunter Orcs out of the way then slamming into his prey.
Elsewhere, Thrain kept hold of his senses and ran from Buhrdur
as fast as his little Dwarf legs could manage, using two Wargs and a couple of
nearby Hunter Orcs to scrap together a wall against the Troll. The rest of the
Dol Guldur left went snarling in to face Buhrdur’s warband, while their right
hurtled into the main Angmar line.
In return, Buhrdur stalked forward but couldn’t make it into
combat, while the Hill Troll went into the flank of the Dol Guldur right to try
to hurl down the line. That backfired, however, with the Troll losing its fight
(with backup!) to a single Hunter Orc, before taking a wound back as well! That
wasn’t a good sign for this flank, which saw the heavily-outnumbered Angmar
losing 4 models for a single dead Hunter Orc in return.
The other clash went better for Angmar, however, with their banner proving crucial and a number of Hunter Orcs falling. The trapped Orc Captain facing Azog was brave to the last, calling a Heroic Combat (and winning the roll-off) to successfully pin Azog in place and stop him Combatting into the Troll. Still, the Captain was properly minced, putting Azog back in the lead for VPs.
Turns 4-5: Literally running away with the VPs
Angmar won the following Priority, but Pits managed to win
the crucial Heroic Move-off between the Hunter Orc Captain and Buhrdur. Thrain
also retained his questionable sanity, allowing him to join in the Heroic Move.
What Pits realised on this turn is that almost all the VPs
were tied up in 5 models: Azog, Thrain and the Hunter Orc Captain (potential
targets for Angmar to assassinate, and the confirmed points for protecting the
White Warg), and the Orc Shaman and Captain behind the main Angmar battleline.
As such, by moving all of their heroes towards the main Angmar line, Pits could
both protect their heroes (away from Buhrdur) and hopefully hunt down the two
Angmar heroes that might be targets to protect.
They did this by first moving Thrain down to a safer
position, then slamming Azog and the Hunter Orc Captain into the wounded Hill
Troll. They also erected a valiant rearguard effort, using a Fell Warg to pin
Buhrdur in place while the nearby Hunter Orcs and Gundabads tried to hold back
his warband.
Importantly, the positioning of the Wargs pinning Buhrdur
meant that Azog could still Heroic Combat into him from the Hill Troll. This
forced Buhrdur to Heroic Strike to avoid getting slaughtered by Azog, wasting
his Might point and promptly losing his fight to the lone Warg, being trapped
and wounded twice! An unfortunate display for the big Troll.
Azog, on the other hand, happily rode down the Hill Troll,
before Heroic Combatting into the rear lines of the main Angmar force. The
bloody turn that followed saw this flank reduced to only three Orcs to protect
the Shaman and final Orc Captain, although a number of Hunter Orcs were slain
across the two fronts as well.
Angmar won both Priority and the Heroic Move-off on the
following turn, using it to tie up Azog with an Orc and sneak the Shaman (their
target to protect) away through the ruins to survive another turn. This did
require leaving the Orc Captain behind to block the way, however, and Azog
predictably Heroic Combatted into him and eviscerated another hero. That left
just the Shaman on this flank, with the resulting carnage being enough to Break
Angmar as well.
Pits weren’t having it all their own way, however, with Buhrdur smashing down two of the Fell Wargs that had been pinning him down all game, while his warband continued to whittle down the Gundabads and Hunter Orcs on this flank. This still left Pits 5 models away from Breaking, however.
Turns 6-7: The collapse
Pits won Priority on Turn 6, and Buhrdur opted to counter
with a Heroic Move using his last point of Might. This wasn’t ideal, but the
alternative was Buhrdur getting tagged and the rest of his buddies running away
from failed Break checks.
As it happened, however, Buhrdur promptly failed his own Break check (by one) and then ran away, and then all bar a handful of the Orcs on that flank disappeared into the mists.
One of the survivors did manage to
get into the Angmar terrain piece, so if the game ended this turn then that
would at least be worth some VPs.
Elsewhere, Pits swarmed models onto their designated bit of
ruin, while surrounding the Orc Shaman with 3 Hunter Orcs and the Hunter Orc
Captain. Unsurprisingly, he got shredded.
If the game had ended this turn then the outcome would have been a 12:4 win to Pits, with Angmar having wounded their target (Thrain) and secured their terrain piece. Unfortunately, it kept going another turn, and this was sufficient for Azog to kill the remaining two Orcs to table Angmar for a 12:1 victory to Pits!
Strategy review
As with the last game, this one appeared to be going well
for the Angmar Legendary Legion before Pits came back to stomp them in the
second half. Angmar’s strategy of bring Buhrdur in behind the Dol Guldur lines
to disrupt them and threaten Thrain worked quite well, and it meant that Pits
wasn’t always able to leverage their superior hitting power in the way that
they hoped. And if Thrain had failed a couple more Broken Mind checks, then
Buhrdur could have taken him out and gained a heap of benefits from doing do.
However, a couple of small errors and a good strategic play by Pits allowed
them to run away with the game.
Starting with the errors, Burhdur probably shouldn’t have
come in exactly where he did. If he’d deployed on the other side of Thrain then
he would have been forcing Thrain back away from his battleline, and ensuring
that there was no safe spot for the Dwarf to go. This would have run the risk
of Azog barrelling straight into Burhdur and plausibly just killing him, but I
think Angmar should have taken that risk. If Buhrdur dies then it’s not the end
of the world, but if he wins the fight against Azog then he can do awful things
like Hurl him off the White Warg, which may well have won Angmar the game in
one fell swoop.
Following that, the Orc Captain on the right flank should
have stayed more than 10” away from Azog. This was just a measurement error,
and a classic failure to consider the impact of Surprise Attack in making some
plays much more terminal.
Finally, the Pits play of prioritising all the non-leader
heroes worked excellently. It kept Thrain and the Hunter Orc Captain away from
Burhdur, while ensuring that there was no way for the last Angmar Orc Captain
or the Shaman to escape. As it turned out, Angmar collapsed anyway, but even if
they hadn’t then Pits had done a great job of ensuring that all the VPs were in
a section of the board that they controlled.
Army reviews
Starting again with Pits, this was one mission where I would
have preferred a Gundabad Captain over Thrain and a Hunter Orc Captain. Thrain
can be a liability in Fog, but only against lists that can threaten deep into
your backfield. That’s absolutely true here, and meant that I had to keep him
with my main force. And when doing that, there’s always a chance that he goes
mad and either kills a friendly model or gets himself hurt– as he did here,
conceding the only VP that Angmar ended up getting. I still think Thrain is the
better choice for the list as a whole, but in this specific matchup/scenario
combo, I’d have preferred the Gundabad Captain.
Otherwise, the Pits list was awesome, as it always is.
On that theme, it definitely felt like there was some
promise in Burhdur’s Horde. Being able to bring a whole warband and its Troll
leader in within an inch of a terrain feature on Turn 3 felt excellent, and
quite tricky to play around or neuter. It would obviously be even better in a
scenario like Destroy the Supplies, where that warband is almost guaranteed to
burn some supplies in your backfield. Coupled with the solid numbers (which
could have been excellent numbers in a more optimised list), it feels like this
LL could work okay at low points.
Unfortunately, the iconic way of running it (with lots of
Orcs flowing around the feet of several Trolls) is not great. That was ably
demonstrated in this game by the Hill Troll, which failed a Terror check, lined
up a good Hurl, botched its rolls, and then got flashkilled by heroes in
classic Troll fashion. On the one hand, there was some poor luck there: the
Troll should have beaten that lone Hunter Orc, and then killed 2-3 of
them with the Hurl. But at the same time, fielding a combat piece with no Might
brings with it the inherent risk that your opponent will roll a six and you
just… won’t.
And even if the Hurl had gone off, the Troll would
still have been killed by Azog on the next turn, and there was frankly nothing
much that Angmar could have done about it. Trying to screen a large-based,
slow-moving model that needs to be on the frontlines to do damage is a recipe
for frustration. Even Burhdur suffered a fair amount for his lack of mobility,
getting pinned out of the fight quite easily and menaced by Azog’s Heroic
Combats. Unfortunately, the time has not yet come for things like Hill Trolls
to be viable. Next edition.
Also, it should be noted again that having access to Trackers would have improved this Legion competitively. Why is that not an option GW? Why?
Burhdur cleaved through the last Warg, his pick finally
connecting to smash apart his nimble foe. He roared his triumph, but even as he
did so he felt the blood leeching from his side where the wolf had dived under
his guard.
As he raised his eyes from the immediate melee to look
over the field, he saw the day was lost. The Pale Orc had just ridden down
another of his captains, and the main body of Burhdur’s Orcs had collapsed
entirely. The Orcs around Burhdur’s feet were still fighting grimly, but it was
clear that no victory was coming today.
Buhrdur cursed in his thick, brutish voice. But he was
patient. He could raise more Orcs, gather another Horde and return for his
revenge. Next time, the Pale Orc would know the sting of Burdur’s blade.
Calling to his warriors to follow, Burhdur turned and disappeared back into the forest.
I hope you enjoyed another Rise of Angmar battle report,
with a little bit more love for the new Legendary Legion than last time around.
If you’ve had experiences playing with or against the new Angmar Legendary
Legions, I’d love to hear them. And generally, what are your thoughts on the
book? Is it a fitting sendoff to a great edition, or just another money-grab?
I’d love to hear from you.
And until next time, may you never forget about Surprise Attack!
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