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I'm getting my Isengard army out of retirement and was wondering at the pros and cons of certain units, and also whether they were worth taking, their uses.etc. Here are the units I was wondering about, and I'd appreciate any useful feedback very much :

-Fighting Uruk-hai Pikemen.
-Fighting Uruk-hai Swordsmen.
-Fighting Uruk-hai Crossbowmen.
-Feral Uruk-hai.
-Uruk-hai berserkers.
-Lurtz.
-Scout Uruk-hai (archers and swordsmen).
-Orcs (mixed weapons).
-Warg Riders (mixed weapons).

Hey, Isengard was my first army too.


-Fighting Uruk-hai Pikemen - Great support for basically anybody.

-Fighting Uruk-hai Swordsmen - Great strength, when fighting elves, the elves usually win more fights, but don't kill. Uruk-hai get all of the kills! (Back these guys up with 1-2 pikemen each)

-Fighting Uruk-hai Crossbowmen - Powerful, but not as good as the Corsair Crossbowmen. I prefer to substitute with goblin archers, or scouts.

-Feral Uruk-hai - YES!!!!!! But I recommend using these guys to replace your Swordsmen.

-Uruk-hai berserkers - Great Hitters, though I don't usually like to risk two-handed weapons (I forget that they have special rules)

-Lurtz. - Awesome hero point and stat wise (Isildur still reigns supreme). Useful, especially with scouts, but a standard captain can be more useful in some cases. If you're going to run an all scout army, take Lurtz.

-Scout Uruk-hai (archers and swordsmen) - I like to just take the archers with shields, so that if they end up in combat, they can use the shielding rule and be saved for shooting. Unfortunately, orc bows are horrible. Save the points and get 2 goblins instead or use the new wild men with bows (only 6 pts, have normal bows, and hit on a 4+)

-Orcs (mixed weapons) - I prefer goblins, but a warband of orcs makes a good meatshield. Morannon Orcs are better.

-Warg Riders (mixed weapons) - Calvary are great for holding points. I like to equip them with throwing spears and get them into combat or give them all bows and have them run to a control point and camp there. If you choose that, watch out for elves! They can shoot you without being in your range!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And you forgot one major unit:

Saruman! - at 170 points, he is WAAY to expensive to field in basically any force. Grima is really useful to help stop enemy heroes from trying to turn the tide of war.

Cheers Dr What, this info will come in very useful when I'm structuring my force (just began stripping the paint off my Lurtz, having realised how badly I painted 5 years ago ).

Is this for the SBG or WotR?

I only play SBG so I'll comment on that.



Pikemen and Swordsmen: They have excellent synergy together.


I suggest looking up historical pike formations like the Tercio or the Phalanx for an idea as to the formation layout.



I usually run a couple blocks of Uruk-hai as follows.

S = Sword and shield
P = Pikemen
C= captain
B= banner

S-S-S-C-S-S-S
S-P-P-P-P-P-S
S-P-P-P-P-P-S
S-P-P-B-P-P-S

And then I have extra swordsmen and pikemen following behind to fill in casualities.

The Captain's heroic actions will effect the whole formation and so will the Banner.


Obviously you can expand or shrink the formation to accomidate more models.

Thanks for the tactics Grey Templar, they're pretty useful . I remember using a phalanx-style formation which was almost impossible to destroy. Also, what should I equip my captains with ( I have the captain from the ballista crew and another from a blister. Both have swords, although I could claim that they used them two handed possibly (?). Should I also get one with a shield or is this unnecessary?

I would just give them shields.


They are primarily there for their heroic actions effecting the entire unit and they really don't need a 2 handed weapon to kill stuff.



Bezerkers and Feral Uruk-hai should skirmish along your flanks to prevent you from getting surrounded.

They are good for pulling enemy models apart from combat.

If one of your guys, even with Pike support, is fighting 2-3 of the enemy the Bezerker can charge in and pull on of the enemy combatents away and make it a fairer fight.

Scouts with shields and Warg Riders can do the same thing.


for shooting support you probably want a mix of Crossbows and Uruk-hai scouts. if points are tight you can use Orks instead and also can give you some numbers.

Orks are a good way to get some cheap 2 handed weapons into your force. They can shadow the Uruk-hai and support them(don't have them fight alone, you need the Uruk's superior statline)

Cheers for the advice. What advice would you give about using orcs as an anvil unit? I have a fair few and thought they might make an apt unit for this considering they're cheap and don't need to hold formation as uruks. Also are trolls a viable option for this and if so what should they take?

I like goblins over standard orcs, though Morannon Orcs are pretty good. Goblins can actually be decent archers (sheer number) and can hold lines very easily.

Cave Trolls are great, especially with a captain to call a heroic combat with the troll.

I have a fair few Gobbos, I suppose it's time to put them to good use, thanks for the advice Dr.What. What role to Wargs riders fullfil; direct charge cavalry or skirmishers? I've always been perplexed by this, as while they have high strength, they're also not as tough as the knights of other armies (like Dol Amroth or Morgul).

Depends on the game type that you are playing.

If you want to charge into fights. Give the riders throwing spears and charge in.

If you want to get them to a point that you need to hold. Give them bows and let them sit back and shoot.

Alrght then, cheers man