After reviewing the army lists for evil, I don't know what faction to pick. I'm leaning towards Moria because it seems that they're a good, cheap-but-effective starting faction. Their stronger than goblins, more common troops than Angmar, far less expensive than fallen realms, and have better heroes than Isengard.

That being said, they don't have much courage, armor or attack and are rather slow, would there be a way to modify this?

I've also taken the liberty of making a 500 pt list:
heroes:
either shadow lord, undying or dark marshal 125pt
warriors:
4 companies morannon orcs (w/ shields) 100pt
rare:
2 companies Morgul stalkers 90pt
legendary:
2 companies grishnakh’s trackers 105pt
allies:
durzhag 100pt

480pts - 66 characters - 4 might points

Shadow Lord for defense, Undying for will and is a great anti magic trooper, or Dark Marshal for the banner effect
Durhag if only because he can use wilderness spells and my brother's army (elves like in hide in trees)

Also I'm not the best strategist, so any tips on the actual play is welcome.

Please give suggestions

i'm assuming you ment that you have chosen Mordor.

_________________
When Isengard marches to war their is no stopping them.

I do support the army choise but I lack any kind of knowledge on WotR so cannnnnnot commmmment on this army

_________________
I am the Mouth of Sauron, here him speak'

Bane o' 666

Mordor are a very tough list and if you like them, you should definitely go with them. As your base troops you get the choice of either 25 pt def 7 heavy infantry (probably the best foot soldiers in the game, pt for pt) or hordes of 2HW orcs.

Courage is generally provided by Epic Heros leading the troops. Either directly in the formations, or the appropriate 'inspiring leader'. It is impossible to go wrong with any Ringwraith - it's more a matter of them starting at way too good and ranging down to just right for their points (the Witchking) - so you could get an 'inspiring leader' from them. My book is loaned out, but the Dark Marshall is 'inspiring leader'? In anycase, any Wraith gives its courage of 5 to the formation it leads.

In terms of your list, it is a little light on the bodies, but the spellcasters are nasty and Druzhag will spam out more than his points in free extra units alone. However, 4x Morranons is a good solid unit to put the leader in while they fire out the spells. So I'd say you are good.

Isn't that the Beast-master?

_________________
Can't touch this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uztj3vp-RI

I haven't chosen anything yet, I'm just leaning towards mordor because I found this list as an SBG list and made a couple changes to it. If you can think of another list that is good, for any evil faction, please give it to me.



So what ringwraith should I go with, because the three I chose would fit the simple strategies I came up with. Or if you can, may you please make up a couple anti-elf strategies. (I agree with you, Durzhag is worth a lot more than 100pts against elves)

Since I think any Ringwraith but the Witchking is a good deal, I'd take the one who most appeals. FWIW, aside from the three (Khamul, Betrayer, Knight of Umbar) everyone seems to take because they are far too good for their cost - the ones I'd most reccomend are the Tainted and the Dwimmerlaik. One synergises well with your dismay spells and terror, the other makes life sheer misery for you opponent when it comes to the crunch and they want to start stacking up the heroic actions. You seem more defensively orientated, so the ones you have selected all have advantages. Why not just get the Ringwraith model you like for looks and try all three statlines?

Whatever you do, if you are going to take that many heroes in 500pts, lose the legendary formation. IMO the best strategy vs Elves is simply to outnumber them with good value melee troops. 'Wings of Darkness' gives you huge movement when you need it. Even if you fail terror vs them (and they pass terror vs you) they just don't have that much punch vs def 7 troops.

Say they get 6-7 extra dice per base, their better value (Galadrim) troops are def 6 max, so Morrannan strength 4 vs def 6 is hitting on 5s, while their str3 hits your def 7 on sixes. Sure they get more dice, but not enough to outweigh you hitting twice as often per dice and that is the worst case scenario from the front. The key thing is not to let them push flanks. I'd sugest whatever utility/shooter unit you may want but also look at getting a few formations of Morranans in three coy blocks, 75pts each. Then you bounce around the Epic heroes to get the ability to double where needed and focus on grinding the elves down. They just don't have the numbers to rely on outflanking an army with the combination of mobility and low price that Mordor has. Just stay out of defensible terrain and their magic will not be able to inflict too many casualties.

You can do spell damage through first Transfixing, then using 'strength from corruption'. That is murderous vs high cost troops.

_________________
http://www.roughwotr.blogspot.com

What ranged group should I go with? I could choose goblins and use extra points that i save to add to the morannon orcs, stick with mordor and get orc archers, or get some fallen kingdom figures.

As for the ringwraith, I've decided just to get the normal one so I can go with anyone I choose. Also I think its the coolest one by far (and easiest to paint). I'll just choose the one to counter my opponent's strategy.

Also will i want to get some wargs in the future, or are they so bad tha I wouldn't use them at all? your Wings of darkness sounds cool, but how will it compare against Galadhrim Knights?

A couple boxes of Morannon Orc will definitely server you well as the core of a Mordor force. I agree that they are too cheap in points and with a Nazgul and perhaps a good combat Hero in there, a 5-6 Company Formation is a very deadly core.

The Wings of Terror spell is probably one of the best tactical advantages Evil has. We use it regularly in our local group and it's a killer. If you have 2-3 Formations that can access it you can practically decide where combat will take place, and if the scenario is one of Objectives they you have an amazing advantage. Against Siege weapons, heavy-hitters or enemies in defensible terrain Strength from Corruption is a great way to thin them out. As mentioned, be sure to hit them with Transfix first if there's a chance they may charge you or you could find it backfire.

If you already have a solid group of forces like that, then some cheap Orc archers will let you get 2 Formations of 2-3 Companies each. They're not great but they can get the job done. Archery isn't a critical factor in WotR as it could be in SBG anyway. My Wood Elf army is 100% bows and they only manage to soften up a serious foe ( Uruks or Mornnon) a bit before melee must start anyway.

It's going to cost you a lot of money to get that many Stalkers unless you already have several to start with. You may be better served putting that money and points into a Troll Chief. He looks good and plays good, especially if you may want to add another Troll or two later.

In WotR the Warg Riders are good units. Two boxes ( 6 Companies ) would be strong. Be sure there's a Captain or other Hero in there to At the Double them. If you Wings of Terror your Mornnon orc into the front of a foe and then At the Double the Warg Riders into the flank or rear you will have one very devastated enemy.

_________________
Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

Do you mean castellans?

_________________
Can't touch this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uztj3vp-RI

A good idea for any army, but especially an evil army, is captains. They cost fifty points a pop whether they be orcs, uruks, or gobos. When I started I never took captains because they were fifty points and at the time I thought they did close to nothing except up the formations fight and courage one.

I play with moria (mainly) and a captain in a five company block can go a long way. Especially with archers. A captain in a block of archers can call Heroic shoot (or shot) and that allows his formation to shoot, even if they've moved At The Double!. Not to mentions, when you charge a terrifying enemy, a point of might may be what it takes to pass the courage test.

Playing as Mordor, don't ever get shamans. They're 100 points each, and you could spend an extra 25 points for a nazgul, which has Dismay AND Darkness magic and gets 2 more points of spell mastery, plus whatever special rule it gets.

And the witch king does seem a bit overpriced, but not too overpriced. You can try talking with the person(s) you're playing with about bringing his price down to 150. Or maybe decide on another FAIR rule you can give him, or upping his courage or fight, etc, etc, and leave his price alone.

And trolls will help too, just don't spend too much buying them. I would say depending on what army you're playing against 1 troll for every 1000 points. 3 companies of elven archers will butcher troll since they can pretty much shoot across the table and have 24 attacks. And a good captain in a formation of any archers can quickly escape you're trolls grasp and still shoot at it in the following shoot phase.

_________________
What's the gold coins?!?!

No, Morranon orcs.

_________________
"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Bane o' 666, a ranged unit is not essential, esspecialy if you are trying to sort an army for 500 pts first. Spellcasters can do a little of that for you now.

If you do want some, then 20pt Orc bow companies or 50 pt Siege bow units are very good choices. If you can hide it in defensible terrain (for the 360 firing arc), then artillry is very good. However, hiding in defensible terraion is no-go vs Wilderness casters, like Elves.

The spell I mean to type earlier is of course 'Wings of Darkness'.

_________________
http://www.roughwotr.blogspot.com