Hey guys just to give you some background, i'm an old LOTR player, who started back when the first book came out with the fellowship and played through the movies and made the switch to Warhammer fantasy, the player base took a huge dive after the movies ended ='(

So i waited it out and low and behold WoTR released, i know i'm a little late but after a Bizzare I am an idiot, i got a Mumakil and mounted Easterlings for 25 bucks!, has forced me to play harad and easterlings. I'm excited as i've never considered playing an evil army other than isengard, and i was really hoping to only be playing an army of Arnor focusing on the Grey Company, but since this was such a sweet deal i couldn't pass it up.

I have a few questions, mainly, whats are the unit upgrades worth taking? Like under the easterling kataphraks there's captains, and dragon knights, and a wizard, banner bearer, and a blower O.o I know the banner bearer is incredibly usful for charging cavalry, but what about the others? Do Ringwraiths count as Allys?

Here's a quick 1k list i'm building up too. The orginal plan was to have an all Cav easterling and Harad hoard, with a Mumak as well as a Wraith on a Fell Beast. But i realized that Cav can't enter buildings that i might have to capture to control buildings to win the scenario!!!!


Amdur Lord of Blades - 165pts

Easterlings Kataphrakt Cohort - 140pts.
3x Companies
-Banner

Serpent Riders - 140pts.
3x Companies
-Banner
-Bows

Haradrim Raiders - 90pts.
-3x Companies
-Bows

Haradrim Raiders - 90 pts
-3x Companies
-Bows

Mumak -250

Right now i'm hanging out at 875pts. I'm using the raiders as harrassing and flanking units, the kataphraks and serpent riders for my heavy cav. I'm thinking about adding in a big formation of Easterlings with pikes to be more of a solid line and capture objectives.

help and thanks in advance! I'm also considering dropping all the easterlkings from the force and going strictly Harad for the Mumak because the model is sweet.

Captains tend not to be a good idea, as they're easy victims for a Heroic Duel.

As you said, a banner for your cavaly formations is a must. Getting some Might in there would be nice as well, to call Heroic Charges. Perhaps Suladan?

The Shamans (I think Easterlings have a War Priest instead) are really bad choices. For 25pts more you can ally in a Nazgul (you can spend 25% of your total points on allies). I would recommend Khamul the Easterling or the Betrayer; both fit the theme of your army and both are capable of increasing the "deadliness" of the formation they're in.

Including infantry to capture buildings might be useful, but it's not essential. The Mumak will be able to deal with any enemy formations hiding in a building.

And one more thing I've just noticed. I would increase the size of your formations to four companies.

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

Upgrades to units that you shouldn't take are hornblowers and drummers. Never. Ever. Period. A waste of 15 points that can be better spent on more bodies For Easterlings, I would recommend taking a Dragon Knight: they are cheaper than a Captain, have a higher fight value and still come with a point of might. Banner bearer's can be useful (particularly since they can help to prevent you from becoming disordered).

As to your list, it looks okay, but the formations are all to small. Haradrim are very squishy, so I would say 5 companies each is best (unless a unit is ridiculously tough, then 4 is the best formation size IMO. The lower defence, the more companies needed). The cavalary could do with at least one more company each as they are likely to attract a lot of shooting and, although they have a higher resilience, they have lower numbers of models: 4 hits is a lost company compared to 8.

Bows on cavalry are likely to be a bane more than helpful (unless they have skilled or expert riders [I don't have the book to hand], but I don't think that they do), as you'll have to move at half-rate to use them. Spend those 15 points elsewhere

As great a deal as it was, it may be worth considering dropping the Mumak to take Khamul/the Betrayer and some more companies (or just both Ringwraiths). As for allies, there are 6 ringwraiths that are a part of your army and 3 that would be allies (although any on a Fell Beast count as an ally...).