Does anyone have any advice on improving this 400 point army or any useful ideas for playing with it? (I'm aware the list is 402 points but at my gaming club we are allowed 2 points over.)

Far Harad:

Mahud King with shield: 80 points

6 Mahud Warriors with Spear: 72
4 Mahud Warriors: 44

The Corsair Fleets:

Corsair Captain: 50 points

6 Corsairs of Umbar with Shield: 48
6 Corsairs of Umbar with Spears: 48
6 Corsairs Arbalesters: 60


Numbers: 30
Bows: 6
Break Point: 15
Might: 4

My general tactics are to just advance as fast as i can toward the enemy lines with Corsairs with shields infront of Mahud which are backed up with Corsairs with spears; the extra spears are because the battleine often gets very crowded. I will hopefully use terrain to my advantage to suffer minimal casulties before smashing into the enemy lines. Once in combat I pair Corsiars together if I can but try to make sur the Mahud are being supported so I suffer less casualties because of my poor numbers.

The Corsair Arbalesters will provide some hard hitting heavy armoured support, and should hopefully attract my opponents attention so the warriors can advance easier.

Once I'm broken the Mahud King is easily enough to keep the Mahud fighting and the Corsair's have average courage so should hang around long enough to mop up the rest of the enemy; the Arbalesters should have done their work by now so it isn't a great loss if they leave the board.

Thanks.

_________________
Sun is by sea-men always hoped for,
when they fare away over the fishes' bath,
until the brine-stallion they bring to land.
OERP

Seems O.K to me, and tactics are pretty well tough out too. Are you sure though that you will have enough terrain... ?


What scenery BTW?

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I am the Mouth of Sauron, here him speak'

Just the usual...plenty of trees and a couple of hills here and there. We try not to use too much or else it will favour one person , but there is usually enough to take some cover behind while you advance.

_________________
Sun is by sea-men always hoped for,
when they fare away over the fishes' bath,
until the brine-stallion they bring to land.
OERP

Have you uses this army? If you have how did it go?
This is more a matter of personal choice but I would drop the arbalestiers and take more warriors, camels, or maybe another hero, like a bo'sum. Since you don't have any other archers and they are so immobile, while it seams that rest of your army needs to get into combat as soon as possible, in my opinion they don't really fit and with only six of them it wouldn't take too long for you opponent's archers to finish them off. But the distraction they cause could be worth it so it is all up to you.

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“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

It looks good. The only problem, in my opinion, is your low Defence, but there isn't much you can do about that.

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

I have not used this army yet, but I have used plenty like it to try and get a good balance. Using these troops, and also sometimes some Mordor Orcs, I have managed 4 wins and 2 losses, but my 4 wins were absolute routs, and my losses were very close. This list seemed to me pretty ideal so i will test it out once i have some time.
About the Arbalesters, I have tried using armies with no range whatsover (infact, that was where 2 of my wins came from), but there a numbewr of flaw with it, and my opponents tend to get annoyed at me for just hiding behind terrain and covering the MAhud with cheaper troops as I have nothing to shoot back with. I think the Arbalesters should be OK as they have high enough defence to make sur they last a while, are relitively cheap for what they are; and people tend to get intimidated by them so they attract missile fire anyway, which in a way is their job.

I have Bo-sun aswell, so do you think its better for me to swap the captain for a Bo-sun with a piece of equipment?



Yes, nothing you can do about that, but thats the thing with Harad, you have to live with it because that is what keeps the cost of the units down, and they make up for it in fighting skill (all my list has F 4). So you just have to make sure you don't get shot to pieces on the way in, and try to win as many fight as you can by ganging up on enemies if it is possible. Mahud can easily take on 2 men at a time so there isn't a problem there, and then you must just remeber to use the Corsair's throwing weapons and you should be right as rain.

_________________
Sun is by sea-men always hoped for,
when they fare away over the fishes' bath,
until the brine-stallion they bring to land.
OERP