The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

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Why Play The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

Games Workshops original Dwarfs of middle earth, though not as fancy looking as Erbor or the Iron Hills, they still shine in their own way, being cheaper to collect and with the most units to pick from you can create a fair few different lists. Not to mention that your army list can gain more Heroes when you take Balin as your leader.

Pros

• Plenty of unit options
• High Defence all round
• good amount of long range options

Cons

• no spears for standard infantry
• Poor design, some of these dwarfs designs look straight out from GW'S own fantasy warhammer not something youd imagine from tolkien world.

Army Bonus

The Wealth of Moria lay not in gold or jewels, but Mithril: Any Dwarf with the Moria or Khazad-dum keyword may re-roll to wounds roll of 1 when fighting in close combat.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Durin, King of Khazad-Dum: 160 points for a Dwarf King on steroids. Strength 4, Defense 9!, 3 attacks, 3 wounds, 3 might, 3 will, a two handed axe (that doesn't take the penalty for two-handed axes) that gives him a reroll to his duel rolls, 6+ save against wounds, a reroll to 1 Priority roll each game, a War Horn AND terror. Woof, he's got a list of special rules a mile long and he can wreck almost anything in combat, but beware of his only 1 Fate point, that 6+ will only take him so far. Keep him away from guys with higher Fight Value than him, and he'll be fine.

• Mardin: A Dwarf Captain with 3 points of Might, a Spear that gets +1 to wound against Monsters and does D3 wounds to Trolls. Also has the Sworn Protector rule for Durin. He's 75 points, 15 more than Dwarf Captain, so he's only really worth it if you're expecting to run into a lot of Trolls.

• Dwarf King: 15 points more than a Dwarf Captain for 1 point of Will, 1 higher Fight, 1 higher Courage and 1 higher Defense (although he looses the option to take Shields) and Heroic Resolve. Honestly, if you want a budget hero, you should probably grab a Captain and if you want a more powerful hero, you should be looking at named characters or maybe a King's Champion.

• Kings Champion: 140 points for 3 models, 2 of whom come with Banners (so keep that in mind when you take your Dwarf Warriors), the ability to increase their defense when in base contact with each other, giving them the option of up to Defense 9. The Heralds can spend their Fate to protect the Champion and the Champion has a pretty badass statline (3 attacks, S5, Fight 6) so as long as you're willing to spend the points up front (and be don't get any more Banners in the Warband, these two should suffice) this could be a pretty brutal up wedge for your battle line.

• Dwarf Captain:

• Shield Bearer:

Troops

• Dwarf Warrior: The Original dwarf warriors, they come with a few more options but have no access to spears, they do make up for it however by being the only dwarf warriors that can bring a (dwarf) bow. They all come stock with an axe so every dwarf will get piercing strike and of course they all wear Dwarf armour making them D6 before even equipping them with shields.

• Dwarf Ranger: An odd option but not one without merits, they have the mountain dweller special rule and although they aren't equipped with dwarf armour they still haves axes, they can be equipped to have throwing, two-handed axes and also Dwarf long bows, this gives them greater range than the average dwarf warrior but the bow is now strength 2 instead of 3, so even though the Dwarf ranger has a shooting value of a +3 it will be tougher to land a wound on some of the heavier armoured units.

• Khazad Guard: The Golden Boys, Heavy dwarf armour with two handed axes and axe's at strength 4, these guys can cause some major damage to your opponents best and armoured units and if you ever fell like they're in trouble you can have them use their average axes so they don't get a -1 modifier to their duel roll. they have the bodyguard special rule so make sure to stick them with a strong Hero unit to lead them. Don’t forget about the Hearthguard upgrade that you can unlock by taking Durin, giving them Burly for +2 points each, which removes the -1 penalty for using a two-handed weapon. AMAZING.

• Iron Guard: for a staggering 15 points you get an armoured warrior with 2 attacks and throwing axes. As tempting as they might be they're very expensive and when you can get other units that do the same job as them but for cheaper points. The one thing you can take them for is that these guys would be very good at taking on trapped units--4 attacks at strength 4 will hurt. Their real problem is that D6 doesn't cut it. Take shielded warriors instead to hold enemies up while your hearthguard do the killing.

• Vault Warden Team: Your number one choice for holding the line, coming at a pricey 25 points but this unit always comes in twos so try to look at it 1 guy coming in at 13 points and another at 12. in this team one Dwarf carries the Iron Shield, this massive shield makes the bearer defence 9, it also stops enemies from using the Barged, Hurl or Rending brutal power attack. This makes the Iron shield very anti-Monster (trolls and ogres mainly). The other Dwarf is carrying the Foe Spear, the foe spear works exactly like a spear but when it supports a unit with an iron shield that's in a fight with a monster then the foe spear gets +1 to wound. If at any time the dwarf with foe spear does not support the Dwarf with the iron shield then that dwarf will receive a -1 penalty to their duel rolls. even when shielding.

Artillery

• Dwarf Ballista:

Kingdom of Moria

A subarmy, unlocked by taking Balin, taking a Kingdom of Moria also limits your alliances down to nothing and lets you take a bunch of other named Heroes from other armies. All of the named heroes associated with Moria are examined here, but the generic heroes and troops remain the same.

• Floi Stonehand: Dwarf Hero with some pretty decent stats, but that isn't the reason you take him. The reason you take him is he can use one point of will (he has 3) to turn off an enemy's special rule or piece of equipment, other than the one ring. Turn of Aragorn's Might regeneration? Imrahil's Banner Ability? Hasharin's "Never Trapped" ability? The possibilities for gimping an enemy's lynchpin character are endless, and he regains a point of Will any time a friendly Dwarf kills a Hero or Monster. If you're taking Moria, he is DEFINITELY worth a look.

• Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria: Essentially a miniature Durin for only 110 points. He keeps Durin's Axe but loses the horn, terror, the crown, and an attack, a defence, and a wound . However he gains the Longbeard special rule that lets him reroll the priority D6 for a single point of will. Interesting choice, definitely worth taking in lower point games.

• Ori the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:

• Oin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:

• Gimli Son of Gloin:

Building your Army

Great army for scaffolding. Start at 400pts with Durin and 18 Hearth Guard, then build to suit. Kings Champion + Heralds is a good beginning for a second warband. A third warband with a Captain gives you heroic march.