So I am going to Historicon next week and am having a bit of trouble creating a good list to enter into the doubles with. The doubles is 600 points (per person), with the following restrictions: Only two factions, and if you take an ally you must take at least one full warband of that ally. There are exceptions, like the three Trolls, but I won't get into all those, as I (likely) won't be using them. I know my doubles partner, will be running Isengard, though I am not sure of what he will bring in his list, so I've essentially designed a list that I think will be strong on its own, but still complement an Isengard force. I also wanted to build a list using what I've painted/have, so that did limit options greatly. But anywyas, without further ado, here's the list:

Warband 1: Eastern Kingdoms
Amdur, Lord of Blades (Leader)
- 4 Easterling Warriors w/ Shield
- 2 Easterling Warriors w/ Pike and Shield
- 4 Black Dragons w/ Pike and Bow

Warband 2: Eastern Kingdoms
Easterling Captain w/ Elven Blade and Shield
- 4 Easterling Warriors w/ Shield
- 2 Easterling Warriors w/ Pike and Shield
- 4 Black Dragons w/ Pike and Bow
- 1 Easterling Warrior w/ Shield and Banner

Warband 3: Eastern Kingdoms
Easterling War Priest on Armoured Horse
- 4 Black Dragon Kataphrakts

Warband 4: Eastern Kingdoms
Easterling Dragon Knight on Armoured Horse
________________________________________
600 points, 28 models, 8 might

So, the idea behind this list is a Phalanx, supported by a flanking force. Amdur and the Captain hold the line with the warriors, while the Dragon Knight and the Kataphrakts run around one of the flanks to encircle the enemy troops. The Pike/Bow support the Warriors, while the Pike/Shield support the heroes. With 4 attacks on the charge, at F5 and S4, the Dragon Knight should crush the flank pretty handily, and can take on heroes if he must, while Amdur, the Captain, and the rest of the Phalanx just hold the line. The War Priest then basically just makes sure to keep fury up, and maybe Bladewrath one of the characters for a key combat (such as versus a troll or some other tough target.) The bows on the Black Dragons are meant to give me tactical flexibility, allowing me to sit back, either in the Phalanx, or on objectives, and shoot at my advancing foe.

The missions to be played at Historicon are To the Death, Domination, and Storm the Camp, in that order. The first two are straight out of the book (with some minor victory modifications, if I remember correctly). The last one, Storm the Camp, we have no information on at the present time, so anyone's guess is as good as mine as to what this mission will entail. I've taken the first two into account when building my list, including the Kataphrakts as mobile objective grabbers for Domination, a defensive wall to deny my enemy kills during To the Death, and some beafy characters in Amdur and the Dragon knight to wrack up kill and drive people off objectives.

Now I'm not looking for drastic changes to this list; I want to be able to bring an all-painted force (cause, you know, I kinda have to) without borrowing any models from friends or purchasing anything between now and the tournament next week. That means I have a limited model selection. I also intend to keep the list as WYSIWYG as possible. The models I have at my disposal are the following, mounted variants where noted:
- Amdur
- Easterling Captain w/ Shield and Halberd
- Dragon Knight (foot and mounted)
- War Priest (foot and mounted, mounted version converted to work as Khamul if need be.)
- Mordor Troll Chieftain
- 2 Orc Captains (Hunter Orc models)
- Tom, Bill, and Bert
- Burdhur
- 8 Easterling Warriors w/ Shield
- 8 Easterling Warriors w/ Bow
- 4 Easterling Warriors w/ Pike and Shield
- 1 Easterling Warrior w/ Banner
- 4 Easterling Kataphrakts
- 1 easterling Kataphrakt w/ War Drum
- 8 Mordor Orcs w/ Shield
- 8 Mordor Orcs w/ Spear
- 4 Mordor Orcs w/ Bow
- 4 Mordor Orcs w/ 2-handed Axe

I understand its not a lot, and probably not optimal, but if you have any suggestions for the list, try to keep them within the boundaries of the models I have. I thank you for you time.

Okay the first major problem here is you can't take bows and pikes together. You can have shields and pike but not pikes and bows. Secondly although you do have furry the pike block offers a small front line which means you'll get surrounded and trapped before to long. Third having a banner in an all Easterling force when Amdur counts as one already in unnecessary.

I would recommend sending a full warband of Black Dragon lead by Amdur and then a full warband of orcs with spears lead by a troll chief to back them up. Amdur and the Troll Chief will do the killing while the Easterling hold the enemy in place. You should still bring the Horsemen and Priest if you can though.

_________________
"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Actually, you can carry a pike and a bow. There are no rules stating that you cannot; the only rule of similar function is the rule that states that if you shoot, you cannot support. I have talked this out with several rules-lawyery people at my local shop, some of which will be judges at Historicon and NOVA. If you still don't believe me, I can direct you to a discussion thread on this matter:http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=30723&p=394402&hilit=Pike+and+bow#p394402

Also, this is a doubles tournament. I'll have an ally, so the worry of being surrounded is minimal, unless I'm facing something like a horde army. This is especially of little concern as Ill be alongside Isenguard, and so long as my partner brings the sort of list he usualy does, then we will liely be setting up in a combined phalanx. And the banner is in there to cover the parts of the phalanx that Amdur doesn't (and possibly part of my ally's force, if need be). In fact, I had some easterling players reccomend the banner.

However, I do like you suggestions of an all BD front, with orc spear support, and Amdur+Troll Chief. That sounds very killy, and I'll likely try it out, if I have time, or at least run it by my friends and see which list they think is better.

Is your opponent going to be able to easily identify the upgraded easterling vs the normal ones? May I suggest a thin strip of blue painters tape on the base or placing stripes of paint on the base. Not being able to identify the black dragons would drive me crazy in a tournament, and it will since I will be there.

This is my analysis, you may or may not agree.

Storm the camp is basically this: your camp is a 12 inch area in a corner. Your team MUST have more models in the camp than your opponent. If you don't, game ends suddenly and you lose. It is in Legions of Middle Earth.

I would drop the horse on the Priest, he only has one might and is f3, he will not be great at leading the cavalry. Give a horse to Amdur, he acts as a banner and has 3 might, much better to lead the cav and then leave the other banner with the foot troops. I agree, your front line will be pretty small, only 13 supported models, in domination you essentially line up in the middle and duke it out, not having a longer frontage will mean you can be flanked easily, whether you have cavalry or not, from players with a more numerous front line. Those are deadly cavalry though. Looks like f5 is the new f4.

Although I would not bother with a full black dragon warband, sprinkle enough pike support hear and there to win the fights and save the points to make a bigger warband.

_________________
richmondwarmancers we play Lord of The Rings, Battlefleet Gothic, Infinity, some board games, and really whatever tickles our fancy..

Coincidentally all the Black Dragons are the guys with Pike/Bow, so they should be identifiable by that, but the tape suggestion is nice, I think I'll do that. Oh, and I hope to see you there!

Storm the Camp sound scary...

As for Amdur on a horse...well, I don't have Amdur on a horse (some lost parts and a broken model lead me to convert it into a War Priest on horse.) Additionally, I tried him on horse before and I personally like him better as an anchor point for the phalanx then as a Calvary captain. However, removing the War-Priest from the horse was something I was considering. If I do that I could, say, put a war drum on one of the Kataphrakts, which could help with Domination and Storm the Camp. I could also add in a regular Kataphract in his place. As I said in my opening, I'd rather like to stick to what models I have. While it probably won't make the best list, its what I got. And there isn't much time between now and the tournament to get anything else, especially with my busy work schedule...

And lack of frontage...well perhaps it could be a problem. I do think my ally will help prevent some of that, but its the name of the game when it cones to phalanx. But I am playing a pretty elite force, so that will be expected. However, any suggestions to fix that would be great.

Ok, no horsie for amdur. I think you may be able to get away without any bows, with the new deployment you only really get one round of shooting in anyway. Although they would be useful for storm the camp. Things I would think about doing to bolster my numbers in an elite force such as this.
Drop that horse on the priest
Drop that banner since amdur already acts like one
Drop the bows
Maybe one less kataphract if you can get the dragon knight to go with the remaining after deployment

Use all those saved points to get more foot units, easterlings with pike or shield.

Something like this, where you could always just replace those black dragon shields with bows if you can not like without them. This is 35 models.
Warband 1 12/12
Amdûr, Lord of Blades
6 Easterling Warrior with Shield;
3 Black Dragon Warrior with Pike;
3 Black Dragon Warrior with Shield; Pike;
----
Warband 2 12/12
Easterling Captain with Shield;
6 Easterling Warrior with Shield;
4 Black Dragon Warrior with Pike;
2 Black Dragon Warrior with Shield; Pike;
----
Warband 3 7/12
Easterling War Priest
2 Easterling Warrior with Shield;
2 Black Dragon Warrior with Pike;
3 Black Dragon Kataphrakt
----
Warband 4 0/0
Easterling Dragon Knight with armoured horse;
The problem with Easterlings, being a clone of minas tirith, is the lack of real cheap heroes to help bolster your numbers. Maybe you should drop the dragon knight and just go full black dragons. Choices choices.

_________________
richmondwarmancers we play Lord of The Rings, Battlefleet Gothic, Infinity, some board games, and really whatever tickles our fancy..