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So, I have been a long time Warhammer / 40k player (going on 20 years) and I've even played some off shoot games (blood bowl, necromunda, etc) but I've never even really paid much attention to LotR's, which surprises me as I am a die hard fan of the books and have a deep respect for what Tolkien gave us in the fantasy genre, so I've finally decided I am going to give it a gander. Now, I've been told by my local staff that it requires more finess and tactics, and is smaller scale. Each unit is its own unit, so turns take longer but more mayham and action can occur. Also I am a fan of the random turn order thing, that really spices things up. ANYWAY!

I wanted to make an army themed around Minas Morgul and Angmar. I hear that Mordor is an all round "average" army, but can I make an elite fighting force utilizing spirits & ringwraiths almost exclusively? Or do I need to add orcs and trolls to keep things competitive? If YOU were to make a 500 point army with this in mind, what would you do? How good are the named Ringwraiths? Let me know what you guys think!

Thank you!

Ringwraiths are indead strong but going totally elite characters means you are going to be heavily outnumbered.

To balance it out you could go a Named Ringwraith with abilities that match what you want to do with some Black Numenoreans either on Foot or Mounted. You are still going to be outnumbered but then again you are going to equal or be better than any good force...

I am okay with the prospect of having a small, hard force as opposed to a sprawling horde force. I would love to make people fear the Nazghul as they should!

So long as I don't get stomped on every time. Sometimes its hard to find a balance of theme and competitive compositions. I am just hoping I can make it work with the advice I garner here.

Thanks DA.

Named Ringwraiths + Black Numenoreans = AGONY

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
Named Ringwraiths + Black Numenoreans = AGONY

Now that is something I can get behind. Mind elaborating on what makes them so dangerous? Also what are your impressions of the other spirit units like the Knights, or the Barrow Wights / Shades/ Marsh Spirits etc?

They cause Terror, for a start. High Fight, Defence and and courage as well. Put them on a horse, and you've got a Morgul Knight, who will truly screw gak up. Don't bother too much with spirits - keep a few in your force, but don't spam them. You'll be wanting to spam Ringwraiths and Numenoreans.

Any suggestions on which Ringwraiths to use? I fully intend to get them all anyway, but where is the best place to start?

Additionally, could you give me a rough framework for 500 points? Anything will help!

I like where this is going because I am hoping to avoid using Orcs or other non-spirit chaff until really large point games. At least to start. So yeah, Nazgul and Numenoreans is where it is for me.

Get the Ringwraiths you like the look of. They're all decent, in my view. The Witch-King is the best of the lot, in my opinion, but the others are all about on part with each other.

I don't have my army book with me now, but your list could look like this:

Ringwraith 1
Ringwraith 2

Mouth of Sauron on horse
Retinue of Morgul Knights (maybe 4?)
Black Numenorean Warriors (the rest of the warband)

Thanks Nacimur! That is pretty much what I wanted to hear!

So the main strengths of a small force like this is the psychological effect they have on their enemies... love it.

Oh yeah. If you think about it mathematically, the average good warrior has a courage of 3. There's a 39% chance that they'll fail their courage test, rendering them useless for a turn. Against Hobbits, possibly one of the best good armies out there . . . they're stuffed.