Winners and losers of Armies of Middle Earth

 

New book, hell yeah!

It’s that time again! With a brand new book fully leaked (alongside all 24 scenarios from the Matched Play Guide), there is so much to discuss. This isn’t going to be a full rundown of every single change (you can’t spell exhaustive without ‘exhaust’!), but it is going to touch on some of the most impactful changes that I’ve spotted.

Without further ado (because this article is already going to be on the long side), let’s dive right into our first winner from the new book…

Winner: Moria

Some big glow-ups for everyone's favourite lizards (the Easterling War Drakes are no one's favourite lizards)

We’re starting off on a high note for me with my beloved denizens of Moria! Starting with the super-faction’s army rules, the new Moria list has received some noticeable glowups from last edition. In particular, they’ve picked up free Mountain Dweller (surprisingly clutch on Goblins, who will now have a 5/9 chance of getting a six on a jump/leap/climb test) and a buff to Durburz, on top of last edition's rule and a wide spread of available profiles.

Moreover, basically all of those profiles have seen noticeable boosts. Starting at the top, Durburz now has multiple powerful once-per-game abilities, changing him from last edition's ally-matrix-tax to a really versatile buff-bot. Druzhag has gotten cheaper, benefited from new Channelling, and received access to Writhing Vines on a 4+, all of which are huge news for everyone's favourite Goblin hippy. He has suffered somewhat from the nerfs to the Mirkwood Hunting Spider (previously Giant Spider), which is much less scary at F3 now. But he has been made much more appealing by being the only means of accessing Bat Swarms, who are arguably better than ever thanks to the power of the new Swarm keyword. I really expected a nerf to the Bats, and while I guess technically their Beast keyword qualifies for some scenarios, they still look terrifying.

In terms of Goblin warriors, Prowlers will enjoy the changes to two-handers and access to Stalk Unseen, while Goblin Drums giving banner VPs is a long-overdue change. They're probably still a little too expensive for what they do, but at least they have a place now.

Shifting track to the monsters gets us to the really good stuff. Cave Drakes look crazy now, with genuinely insane stats for their cost. A F7/S7/D7/A4/6W monster with Monstrous Charge for 150 points is insane, and in a world of unreliable Strike they’re going to be a real problem to deal with. And their big siblings the Dragons have the potential to be genuinely oppressive. Going down a whopping 50 points was one thing, but the buffs to Wyrm Magic and Breath Fire, alongside the addition of Superior Intellect, is quite another. From a combat perspective, their new 130mm bases do severely limit them, and probably make Fly even more mandatory than before. But the ability to throw fireballs every turn for the entire game is… somewhat concerning. If anything busted comes out of this book, this could be a contender.

Arguably the only sour note from a Moria perspective is that Dragons of the North is comically bad. Not being able to take warriors is already a big weakness, but having to avoid duplicate upgrades for the Dragons is a significant enough downside that I could see pure-Dragon lists being better in generic Moria instead. And the upside of getting a free wound reroll after killing ~6 models, on monsters that already throw out 10 S7 hits on the charge, is just laughable. Why even bother with rules for what happens when you kill an average of 36 enemies with a single monster? If you've killed 36 enemies with one monster then you don't need one VP, you've probably tabled your opponent! Bonkers design here, very weird.

Mixed bag: Easterlings

On the plus side, every hero here is F7 now

Sticking with the Dragon theme, the Easterlings have had some quite interesting changes. On the one hand, their killing power is improved noticeably by access to two-handers and the various damage buffs from the Dragon Emperor and his Host, and their key special rules were largely kept the same. Amdur looks very cool now (even if he can't bring along any of his named character buddies anymore), and his list gets some fun new special rules for when you opt to leave the Emperor at home.

On the other hand, there are some reals nerfs hidden in amongst the gloss. Model counts are down for the Dragon Emperor version in particular, which is shedding 36+ points from the free Black Dragons, 10 from Rutabi, and 10 from the war drum, on top of the Emperor's post-FAQ pricetag sticking around. That is a sizeable reduction in model count (probably 8-10 models from release), and it transforms the list from a medium-sized one with elite profiles to an elite list with elite numbers. Building on this, while the list has retained its big banner and access to F5, both are much more constrained than before, with the F5 in particular tied to Black Dragons within 3” of either the Emperor, Amdur or Dragon Knights. Dragon Knights getting more expensive and losing access to Strike makes them a really risky proposition, given that they’re now weak to shooting, magic, enemy heroes and monsters (e.g. literally everything that isn’t a basic warrior). But if you opt not to field any, then you are left with only a single 3” bubble of F5, forcing you to either sacrifice your coverage or keep your centrepiece combat model in your backlines. Awkward either way, especially with less warriors to make up the difference.

Overall, I feel like Easterlings are in a similar place to last edition, with a little more raw power but a bit less flexibility and staying power. Not how I would have done it, but they probably aren’t going to be anywhere near as oppressive as they were on release.

Losers: Fiefdoms

The Grief of Eomer probably isn't a great list, but it is very cool

Speaking of swapping flexibility for +1 to wound bubbles, the Fiefdoms have had some very odd changes. Previously, they made up for some noticeably-overcosted troops by stacking buffs from different heroes, most especially the undercosted Imrahil. Now Imrahil is fairly costed, they’re still reliant on stacking buffs from heroes, and the troops are still overcosted. So… that’s not a great start.

On the plus side, both of the new army bonuses are genuinely quite powerful. Games don’t often go many turns past break, so ignoring the first turn is a real benefit. And I hope it’s obvious why 6” bubbles of +1 to wound is a dramatic increase to the killing power of a list. Axemen of Losarnach and Clansmen of Lamedon with +2 to wound and reroll 1’s is a scary combo, especially with Forlong’s new once-per-game Terror bubble (although bear in mind that Terror bubbles that you trigger on your activation are much worse than ones that trigger at the start of the turn, because Terror is at its weakest when you’re moving first). This could be a list that hits really hard, particularly until the army bonus maybe stacking when multiple Dol Amroth Captains charge in is FAQ’ed.

There is real power here, and I don’t think Fiefdoms players should entirely despair. From a game design perspective, it probably makes it easier for the list to do well at low points, because it’s less reliant on assembling its whole ‘kit’ of different buffing heroes. And even thematically, it maybe makes more sense to have the leaders of the different Fiefs buffing their own little warbands, rather than helping out the army as a whole. After all, this isn’t one cohesive army, but a collection of different groups from across the southern fiefs.

In saying all that, it’s hard to look at these changes and feel happy. Swan Knights remain bafflingly overcosted when compared to other elite cavalry (except for Morgul Knights, who GW have hilariously increased in price to match their Fiefdoms equivalents despite very few Mordor players ever fielding them last edition), and now they don’t even have the discounted Imrahil to effectively subsidise them.  They also don’t benefit from the army bonus at all, and are the biggest losers from Imrahil’s banner getting reduced in range.

Ultimately, I think the Fiefdoms end up feeling worse than they really are. Most Fiefdom players played them either for the interesting buff-stacking mechanics, or to unleash a glorious charge from Imrahil and his Knights. Both of those identities are significantly weakened, and I think that will make dedicated Fiefdoms players feel like some of the biggest losers from the update – even if the faction is just as powerful as ever, and still has an interesting mechanical identity.

Winner: Lothlorien

Tell me, where is armoured Celeborn, because I much desire to field him (DeathWatch Studios)

From a faction that had a significant redesign, we jump to one that hasn’t really had many changes but is feeling excellent about it. Lothlorien were already in quite good shape leading into this book (see Kylie’s run at Clash with them, for example), and none of their ‘new’ profiles really had many changes from last edition. Galadhrim Knights lost the ability to go shield/bow, there was no new Celeborn profile, and Guards of the Galadhrim Court were entirely unchanged. Rumil probably took a net nerf, and Orophin stayed about where he was before. Sentinels did get a cheeky buff to let them pick a 3” Terror bubble as their song (alongside Eldramar Madrigal being unchanged, surprisingly), but that timing is again quite annoying. Given the relative lack of change, it’s hard to see what the hype is here.

Fundamentally, it’s because Lothlorien pre-Armies-of-Middle-Earth had an efficient core but lacked their key support pieces. Celeborn and Galadriel were both excellent, and a block of either Lorien or (ideally, in my view) Galadhrim Elves gave them excellent support. That’s all stayed the same, and now the list gets cavalry (letting it compete for objectives while playing defensively), incredibly efficient F6 pikes and a pseudo-third-spellcaster. It can also tech in different brothers to fill different roles, which is a nice flexibility to have.

Lothlorien lists will probably have a few less models now than before this book, but the power of a F6 pikeblock with +1/2 to wound is truly not something this game has seen before. It’s a list with counters, but one that will be very hard for some factions to deal with.

Loser: Rangers of the North

The changes to the Twins are fun though, I will say (MichaelHanns.com)

Speaking of lists that will find Lothlorien miserable to face, the Rangers remain a bit mediocre. I don’t even really have anything to say here, they just stayed identical to last edition. The Grey Company list is marginally improved by the non-Ranger parts of it getting better, and by not having to take overcosted armour on their Rangers, and by ignoring difficult terrain I guess… But as a whole, the list is still built around Rangers of the North profiles that have been a little left behind by the game. While I don’t think we should compare them too much to the Beornings (who, as we’ll see below, remain undercosted), it’s hard not to look at a whole range of profiles across the game and feel the Rangers are being hard done by.

I’d had high hopes that this book might address some of the issues with the Rise of Angmar supplement, and it just hasn’t. And speaking of which…

Loser: Gûlavhar

Someday my boy will be able to actually charge competent players again

Come on GW, it’s been six months and two books and Gully still moves 6”. This is one of the most ‘obviously a typo’ typos in the game, and it has entirely kneecapped an iconic centrepiece of a faction beloved of its playerbase. Yes, Stalk Unseen is nice, but do you know what’s much, much better? Actually being able to get into combat without being zoned out by every player that bothered to invest in a tape measure. Gully lived and died on his movement flexibility, and currently he has none.

My last vestige of hope is that maybe this will be caught in the general FAQs for the new book, seeing as they were evidently unwilling to touch it in the last FAQ because it was part of a temporary PDF. But come on, this was the moment for the change. Very disappointing stuff.

Winner: The Shire

This ability was pretty weak when it was on an army that collectively lost to 15 WoMT, but now it's genuinely cooked

One list that would be hilariously good into poor Gully (as if he needs the insult added to his injury) is The Shire, and (to a lesser extent) the Battle of the Bywater list. Many of the heroes in this faction received excellent buffs in the edition transition, and were only held back previously by being in a list that lost to anyone with D5 warriors. Now, though, those powerful buffing heroes can be layered onto actual warrior profiles (admittedly, not great ones), and I think there could really be something here.

Imagine Lobelia shutting down your heroes, but now there are actually warriors to fight you. Imagine Hamfast giving out full wound rerolls to an actual army, or Maggot and his dogs not being your cheapest source of model count, or Gandalf’s crazy cart not needing to carry the whole list on its back. I still don’t think this will be the strongest list in the game, because it will suffer with both objective play and being massively out-fought by Goblins. But relative to both last edition and its pre-Armies lows, this must be one of the most-improved factions in the game.

Losers: Sharkey’s Rogues

You need a Ven diagram to work out how these rules function together

In contrast, their perennial foes in the Ruffians are about as awful as ever. Arguably the worst faction in the game last edition, they have received the mildest of buffs, including Courage boosts that are directly incompatible (letting Ruffians use Sharkey’s Courage and also boosting their own Courage stat, which they will almost never use unless they’re broken and Sharkey’s dead, at which point the bonus ceases to apply. Nice). Some of the supporting heroes received mild buffs, but frankly all of this is just papering over the enormous gaping wound that is the Ruffian profile. A Ruffian is actually the same price as a Mordor Orc, which will have more Fight value, better Defence, and better wargear options, on top of dramatically better army bonuses almost everywhere it can be found. Minas Morgul Orcs get Blades of the Dead and auto-pass Terror checks; Ruffians become marginally more likely to pass Terror checks. Fair and balanced, yay!

These guys needed all the help they could get, and instead they received a gentle pat on the head and a ‘do your best, old chum’. I never expected them to be great, but it’s disappointing seeing how much thought went into boosting up most of the Hobbits and how little attention was paid to these guys.

 

Mixed bag: The Beornings

Back, and as boring as ever. Great

Moving onto another quaint faction of undisciplined, simple folk, we have the ludicrously up-jumped Beornings. I was really quite confident that the basic Beorning profile would drop to F4 (probably in exchange for Dominant (2)), but alas they remain just as bonkers as ever. Remind me why untrained woodsmen are better duellists than Guards of the Fountain Court, or Knights of Dol Amroth that aren’t cuddling up to Imrhail? They did at least have their 6” banner turned to a 3” one, but with multiple bears running around that’s barely an issue. Said bears also now have Dominant (5) and a pseudo-Harbinger, because what people really wanted from Terror checks was to have another roll earlier in the turn to slow things down a little more.

In any case, I think the list is about exactly as good as ever. It will still probably haemorrhage models against lists with F6 heroes, and will still dance on the corpses of most Evil lists in non-objective games. I know these guys were popular last edition, so I expect to see them around a lot now, but I’m quite disappointed by this rework. There were so many more interesting directions they could have taken the faction, and instead they did this. Great.

Winner: Khazad-dûm

The Fight value boosts to these warriors makes them very interesting now

Speaking of actual reworks and battlelines that are surprisingly F5, the Dwarves of Moria are back! Well, not Balin’s expedition to Moria, that’s unfortunately still exploring the Legacies PDF. But Khazad-dûm at its height has received some powerful new buffs across the board and is looking really strong.

Starting from the top, Durin himself isn’t the most exciting, with F7 being somewhat outweighed by a hefty pricetag. I have heard the argument that he makes it into lists as the only good way to deal with enemy threats in the faction, but he’s still not the most exciting for his cost. Mardin probably also feels a little underwhelming, but he at least can point to a significant number of buffs, including access to Strike (admittedly from F5) and free Heroic Combats.

Things rapidly pick up with Dwarf Kings, who are just as excellent as they are in the Erebor lists. The Khazad Guard that they can lead (if they’re your leader) have also had a big glowup, getting the prized F5 that probably puts them ahead of the other elite infantry choices in the faction now. Warriors, Iron Guard and Vault Wardens are all in a similar place to last edition (the latter mildly nerfed in a way that doesn’t impact too much), but Dwarf Rangers now have Elven bows and +1 to wound in combat when within difficult terrain! Those are two very powerful buffs, and I expect all Khazad lists to start with 1/3 Rangers with longbows.

Layered above all this are some excellent new army bonuses. They’ve retained the existing (quite powerful) reroll ones bonus, and added on top a trio of flashy new buffs. Unconditional Dominant (2) for Captains, Warriors and Rangers is excellent, and gives the list some powerful objective play in most scenarios. The Mirrors are great, giving handy bubbles of -1 to be hit for friendly models and -1 Courage for some enemies. In concert with the new Dwarf Rangers, this will allow the army to outshoot most opposing lists with ease. And finally, they get a pseudo-board-wide-banner, triggering whenever the Dwarf player is rolling less dice in the fight. Having played against this with my Goblins already, it is a remarkably annoying buff, and one that’s really hard to mitigate without sacrificing an advantage in numbers or not taking spear supports.

These are huge buffs all up, and while they don’t entirely resolve the problems with the list (namely ‘how to cross the board at pace’ and ‘who left all the spears at home’), they do a lot to up the efficiency and mission play of the list as a whole. Khazad-dûm has always been a popular faction, so expect to see them camped out on many a tournament table near you.

Mixed bag: WotR-era Erebor and Dale

Fielding these guys over Nori, or Gloin, or Thorin II is not appealing

Closing out the article with some more Dwarf and Dwarf-adjacent lists, the Good-aligned Defence of the North lists were quite varied in their updates. On the one hand, Defenders of Erebor (the mixed Erebor/Dale list) has barely changed, with a few minor buffs to some profiles (particularly Thorin II) being the only real change. And Army of Dale, similarly, has picked up a cool-but-hard-to-use new rule that lets it Piercing Cry itself for a turn to get Dominant (2) and wound rerolls, which feels like it will be hard to get value from in most circumstances. Overall, neither of these has really improved at all, and neither competes well with their earlier versions in Erebor Reclaimed or Garrison of Dale.

Nor with the Army of Erebor, which has received a comical level of offensive buffs. It no longer has a 6” banner aura for Old Dáin (who ends up feeling a little left-behind as a result), but has instead picked up a +1 to wound buff for all spear supports, free Heroic Combats for all heroes, and free wound rerolls for Gloin and Gimli when close to each other. That’s a hilarious amount of extra damage output for a list that’s innately very durable and grindy, and that can access crossbows and cavalry (admittedly with 8” move) to mitigate its mobility issues. Lack of access to Ori does weaken some of the hero-hammer potential a little, and the hero-focussed bonuses do pull in the opposite direction to the spear support buff. But as a whole, this list looks extremely powerful, and will easily be in competition with Erebor Reclaimed for the title of Best Dwarf List this edition.

Winner: Everyone playing the new scenarios

This man's hands are going to be a big part of my MESBG experience until my own copy of the book comes

I’ll save a full analysis of the new scenarios for later articles, but damn was I ready for the Matched Play Guide. And these scenarios look excellent, with positive changes to all the worst aspects of existing scenarios, and 6 new ones that look very exciting and different. I’ve already had one game of Escort the Wounded and loved it, and I’m looking forward to trying out all five of the others in the coming weeks. So for right now, we’re all winners. Isn’t that a nice note to end an article on?

One sad casualty of his success last edition. A F5 combat hero just doesn't hit the way it used to

There’s obviously so much more I could say about a release the size of this one, and I expect to have lots more content out in the coming weeks discussing it all (or at least the bits I’m interested in: if you’re waiting on my hot analysis of how to mix Knights of Dale into your Garrison of Dale list to win even harder then keep waiting). But for now, it’s time to dive into some more practice games!

Until next time, may your army always be the one that gets the cool new rules!