The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Army of Thror

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Why Play Army of Thror

Because you can't afford an iron hills army and you don't like the old Kazad-Dum Models, these dwarfs are just as tough as their iron hills cousins but only have two units to choose from, and with no range options, but they do have a few more heroes on their list that you can use.

Pros

• Good selection of strong Heroes.
• High Defence for all units (even without shields).
• Standard troops can bring spears, something the Dwarven Holds army struggles with.

Cons

• Only two unit options
• No ranged units (just throwing weapons).

Army Bonus

"Thror ruled with utter surety, never doubting his house would endure" - Friendly Erebor Dwarf models treat Thror as a banner if he is within 6 of them.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Thror, The Last King Under The Mountain: at 120 points Thror is in all case and purposes a small but very dangerous tank, his defence 9 is enough to shrug of most attacks with ease and with the ring of Durin (as long as he posses it) he has the fearless special rule. He also has the Arkenstone which enable him to pass fate rolls on a 3+, if you roll 4+ or more then you get the fate roll for free. Thror can also make any Grim Hammer a part of his royal guard, this gives the Grimm Hammer +1 strength which is a massive bonus to have when they're armed with weapons that can deliver a piercing strike. Finally with the army bonus he can give everyone around him the chance to re roll a single dice in the combat phase.

• Thrain:Coming in at the same price as his dad, Thrain isn't the best hero to bring for most of your games. Having a unique stand fast where all friendly dwarves on the battlefield, including heroes, are automatically affected can be very good in large games, but you really want to take him when you know your opennent is brining Azog. Thrain has the special rule blood feud which gives him the ability to re-roll all failed to wound rolls against Azog and any other model in the army that is brinig Azog. This can be devastating for your opennet so make sure to bring him to ruin any Azog's hunter or Azog's Legion players.

• Young Thorin Oakenshield:Your go to choice for leading your army, Thorin is an all round hero with good stats and equipment. he has only one option and that's to equip him with the oakenshield which you will be bringing in every game, this is because when you choose to use the shielding rule in a duel and win Thorin gets to make a single strike back. His other special rule enables him to increase the strength of all Dwarves within 3 by 1+ for the fight phase. this can be used to great affect if thorin is with a group of grim hammers or even better near Thain and Dwalin. With this rule you could effectively take down some of you opennets bigger or more armored units., the catch is you can only use it once per game so pick your moment wisely.

• Young Balin The Dwarf: Paying ten points more for his younger self, Balin has the same rules and weapon as his older profile, but gains +1 attack.

• Young Dwalin The Dwarf: Young Dwalin prefers using two axes than one. He's got the Weapons master rule but now he has the dwarven fury rule, this allows him to reduce is fight value by D3 for the ability to re-roll all failed to wound roles.

• Warriors of Erebor Captain: No special rules, he's given +1 to almost every attribute except movement and shoot value, He can also bring a shield making him defence 8.

• Grim Hammers Captain: Again no special rules, just a grimm Hammer with +1 to almost every attribute except movement and shoot value.

Troops

• Warriors of Erebor: Standard Dwarf troops, as to be expected they have dwarf armour so even without shields they have Defense 6, so bring shields to make them even harder to kill. let your enemy charge them while your Grim Hammers and heroes attack from the sides. of course you could just bring dwarfs with spears to support your Grim hammers since they are already defence 7.

• Grim Hammers: These guys are your shock troops, Equipped with heavy dwarf armour, throwing weapons and a two handed pick-hammer, that can use the bash or Piercing strike rule, they can deal with almost anything your enemy throws at them, make sure to get the charge for these guys. if they can take down even just one or two guys on the charge, it can make all the difference for how long they'll be in the fight for. side note, give them a banner and have Thorin lead them. when he uses his "To Arms" rule all dwarves (this works for you iron hills cousins too) get +1 strength for that phase.

Allies

Historical Allies

Garrison of Dale: Allying with Dale brings you some much needed shooting and some slightly faster soldiers to secure those objectives, it also gives you the option to bring the whindlance and snipe your enemies monsters and heroes.

Iron Hills: This gives you cavalry, shooting and siege weapons. The only downside is their cost.

Convenient Allies

Thranduil's Halls:

Rivendell:

Lothlorien:

Impossible Allies

Arnor

Minas Tirith

The Dead of Dunharrow

Numenor

Rohan

The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

The Fellowship

The Fiefdoms

The Shire

The Misty Mountains

The Wanderers in the Wild

Fangorn

Thorin's Company

Radagast's Alliance

The White Council

Thranduil's Hall

Army of Laketown

Survivors of Laketown

Erebor Reclaimed