Angmar Army Part Tray

[BaronDeSade]

OK, I have taken some brutal beatings with this force, and I realized that it needed an overarching strategy to go along with its dirty tricks. Silly me for not thinking of that sooner!

And so, the main strategy will be to form a foundation of two warbands of Orcs, mainly with bows, led by Wights.

Wight
4 Orcs with shields
8 Orcs with Bows

These two warbands can link together to perform volley fire, or they can direct fire from behind the cover of the Orc shields in front of them, more or less. If the enemy charges them, the Wights can knock out the enemy heroes while a Shade moves in and makes my Orc troops much better fighters.

Meanwhile, the other two Orc warbands will move up on each flank and attempt to encircle the enemy. The two warbands look like this:

Orc Captain with Shield
1 Orc Specter
4 Orcs with spears
7 Orcs with shields mostly, but a few with 2H weapons

And the last to hit the table is the Shade.

...with the small detail that one of the warbands has shields on its spearmen, because I had four points left over.

And so, my primary strategy will be to use my large number of Orcs to envelop the enemy. Envelopment is a good strategy because trapping models is the most efficient way to kill them. My secondary stratey will be to shoot up the enemy, as 16 bows is a decent amount, and my shooting warbands can be moving at a half-step while my flanking warbands can move at full speed. My tertiary strategy is to incapacitate enemy heroes with the Wights and then gain local superiority of force with the power of the Shade. The Shade is the last to hit the table, as he might serve better on one of the flanks instead of in the middle, depending on the tactical situation. The Orc Specters have always proved very useful with their magic and spectral blades.

Now, to find a live victim, er, opponent!

BdS

[Smeagol]

What seems to be the problem with the force? Since I haven't been able to come out to play the last couple of Fridays I don't know what happened or what you were facing. I will not be available for the next two Fridays either. I'll be out of town.

[BaronDeSade]

It should be obvious what's wrong; it's filled with crappy Orcs! mostly, I hadn't been playing it that well, and I had been spending too much on figures like the Dwimmerlaik, who didn't really have that big of an impact on the game for their cost. The Wights haven't been very lucky for me, either. Orcs die very quickly, I have found. I do like the idea of the army, though, and it will be better, I expect, as I practice a little bit more with it. Hopefully, having a better strategy will help out, too.

BdS

[Smeagol]

I was trying to see why it was you didn't have sixty orcs on the table, then I finally saw the Shade. I know you mentioned it in the text, but I haven't read that post in a couple of days.

Personal personally I would drop the Shade more centrally both to protect it as well as to bolster your center. Your flankers aren't the decisive point of your line, but they do need to be responsive to your needs so I'd probably set the orcs captains on the flanks. I'd seriously consider putting orcs with spears with the archers OR put spears onto the orcs archers. Of course I have those models already converted so it's easy for me to do. Your center is only defense four so you will want to maximize your chances at winning fights. Two attacks plus the Shade bonus should make your center much harder to beat down and buy your flankers time to do their jobs.

As you say you need to work out tactics with your force.

[BaronDeSade]

I played a couple of games last Friday, and here's what I gathered:

Shades are terrible. His effect is not worth his cost. I would get a similar effect from an Orc with a banner for less than half of the points. I can't understand why this model costs so many points.

Wights are terrible squad leaders.

My strategy would work on an open field, but in the terrain choked places we choose to fight in, my warbands need to be able to function independently.

What to do with you, Angmar?

First change: upgrade one Orc in one warband to a Cave Troll. This gives my army a very solid punch, which it has lacked. The Cave Troll is especially good if I can paralyze an enemy hero with the Wight. Who wants six S6 punches?

Second change: transfer Wight from warband leader to army general. The Wight has a very useful spell, but my squads needs Might and the fighting hero to be able to function indpendently. As an independent character, the Wight can go where he is most useful to either cast spells or to inspire the army with his extremely high courage.

I'll work with these changes and post an army list later.

Cheers,

BdS

[Smeagol]

Wights only have one wound and no Fate. They make for a lousy force leader.

[BaronDeSade]

perhaps, but then, his troops are pretty lousy, too .

Revised list:

Orc Captain Abgog the Red with Shield:
4 Orcs with shields and spears
7 Orcs
Cave Troll

I haz a cave troll! This squad has a lot more punch than my former squads!

Orc Captain Dugog the Blue with Shield
4 Orcs with shields and spears
5 Orcs
3 Orc Specters

By focusing the power of the specters in one warband, I can get a better chance of success on any one target. Also, Specters make very good frontline troops with their armor-piercing attacks.

Orc Captain on Warg with shield
4 Orcs
7 Warg Riders with Bows
Warg Rider with Banner

Everything is better on a warg.

1 Wight. Good spell, good C value.

600 points exactly. 40 models, which I am sure I will hear "is not enough," but the Wargs and the Troll count as more than one, often, so it's not so bad. Anyhow, in the last couple games, my Orcs got ground up because I couldn't move through terrain quickly enough to encircle my opponents. So, I'm going to try for a troll-led spearhead and see how that goes.

Cheers,

Bds