The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Angmar

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The Witch-King Marching with his Forces.

Why Play Angmar

Pros

• Powerful heroes and units.
• Well costed units across the army, nothing is OP as hell (shades still maybe?)
• Magic, terror and a lot synergies can be planned to make this army perform well.
• If you play with a well planned strategy, you can even win Ardacon if you run this list. This army has a huge potential.

Cons

• Those shades UGH...nasty and powerful units to take into account even with the nerfs* he got.
• Gûlavhar is a high risk/reward model, use it carefully. And remember that orcs are simply that: orcs, even with the benefit of the army bonus.
• The current rules designer lost to this army in Ardacon final in 2019 so...Nerfs to the shades and possible allies for this list, and maybe even more in the future...I wonder if he will dare to nerf Azog, Bolg or other stupidly OP Hobbit era profiles...Maybe if he losses to them in a tournament next time? He did it again with the winner of the Grand Tournament 2020 demolition team-suicide tactic...

Army Bonus

Any Angmar Orcs within 3 of a spirit hero gain the terror special rule, especially effective against low courage armies.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

<tabs> <tab name="Nazgûl/Ringwraiths">

One of the most versatile units in the game, there is a Nazgûl for every occasion. Each individual entry is covered here, but they all share common rules and features which will be covered first:

• All Nazgûl cause terror, but despite their high defence, Ringwraiths are not durable, with only a single wound each, best to avoid contact and stock up on their fate points. All Ringwraiths must spend 1 point of will at the end of every fight phase that they are involved in, and disappear from the battlefield if their will reaches 0. Be very careful of this, as a canny opponent will likely maneuver your guys into protracted fights that will sap their usefulness and eventually kill them.
• Any model wearing the ring does not become invisible to the Ringwraiths as they do to others, and fighting against the ring bearer does not oblige the Ringwraith to spend will to fight (even if they don't direct their attacks at the Ringbearer).
• All Ringwraiths can choose a Horse, Armoured Horse, Fell Beast or Armoured Fell Beast for their mount. All are good choices, with the Fell Beast variants really boosting the combat potential of the wraiths. Do be careful though, taking them on Fell Beasts against a list that has a Strength 7 Monster is a waste of points. They're going to get charged (or kept so far away from the Monster that they'll be inefficient), they will be knocked off the Fell Beast, and it will flee the battlefield immediately, costing you 50 points (and leaving your Nazgûl vulnerable).
• All Ringwraiths are spellcasters and can seriously mess with an opponents force through incapacitating their enemies or causing direct damage with their Black Dart spell.

Now with that out of the way, Angmar cannot take unnamed Ringwraiths, so if you want them you'll have to choose between the Witch-king, the Tainted and the Dwimmerlaik, who are covered in their own tabs. </tab> <tab name="The Witch-king">

Leader of the Ringwraiths, and a Hero of Legend in an Angmar army. Base cost of 70 points will buy you a potent spellcaster with a reserve of 10 will points, however his actual base cost is 125, since buying him the Crown of Morgul, as well as his Might and Fate points are essential. Afterwards you can buy him some more Will if you want him casting spells more often (aim for 15 Will, making him 150 points if you plan to be casting a bunch). Without Might, Fate and the Crown a single bad dice roll can mess you up horribly, and the Crown of Morgul also boosts his abilities as a spellcaster by allowing him to re-roll a casting or resist test. The flail is a decent enough upgrade, it's situationally useful but you don't exactly need it. The Morgul Blade is also a good upgrade, but it's not essential; the Witch-king can kill most heroes without it (especially if his mount knocks them prone, giving him 8 attacks on his To Wound rolls against them), however you will find it useful if you know you're up against one of the heavy-hitting heroes like Aragorn or Ents. Make sure you Transfix them first though, you don't want to be losing the Witch-king if you lose the duel and they swing back. A thoroughly solid leader for Angmar, make sure to give him a mount, a good bodyguard unit (ideally Orcs on Wargs so they can keep up with either his horse of Fell Beast) and he'll do well.

• Over the course of the game, consider casting Drain Courage with the Witch-king, and especially channeling it on enemy Heroes and Monsters. The reason why is because it combos with your army bonus: Terror for your Orcs. A few casts here and there go a long way, and soon you'll be seeing enemy Heroes and Monsters flat out refusing to engage with your weak Infantry. Not only that, but this also combos well with the Dead Marsh Spectre's test, which will allow you to run those Heroes/Monsters away from their Warriors, making it far easier to crumble the enemy when they hit their Break Point since those Heroes won't be there to use Stand Fast! GW will release an AWESOME new plastic kit for him, so you can have him with the blade of Morgul in his Shire attire or with the flail and crown of Morgul that he wore during the battle of Pelennor Fields.

</tab> <tab name="The Tainted">

The Tainted's two gimmicks are first to cause non-Spirit models (friendly and enemy) in base contact to suffer a wound on a D6 roll of 6, which is significantly better in an Angmar list than a Mordor list since you have non-Ringwraith Spirit models, but it's still not very good. His other ability is great however, spending a will point to deny Stand Fast! and Heroic Actions to all Warrior models within 12" of him. This combines with his Harbinger of Evil rule to brutal effect, making it so that most Warriors have even odds (or worse) of fleeing. The Tainted is one of those Ringwraiths to consider if you want one going on foot, since his ability is a late-game one and in the meantime you can use him to support fights since he's got a good casting roll for Transfix (needing only 3+ where some Ringwraiths need 4+).

• Do be aware that his ability to cancel out Stand Fast! does affect every Warrior model around him, including your own. It's something to keep in mind because you do not want your regular Orcs suffering a panic attack in the late game... normally anyway. If you're already ahead on Victory Points and you want to bring the game to an end immediately, you absolutely can use his ability around a bunch of Orcs, causing enough Orcs to flee that you pass the 25% threshold for ending the game.
• While you're waiting for the enemy to hit their Break Point, consider casting Drain Courage rather than using the Tainted to help out in combat. The reason why is because it combos with your army bonus: Terror for your Orcs. A few casts here and there go a long way, and soon you'll be seeing enemy Heroes and Monsters flat out refusing to engage with your weak Infantry. Not only that, but this also combos well with the Dead Marsh Spectre's test, which will allow you to run those Heroes/Monsters away from their Warriors, making it far easier to crumble the enemy when they hit their Break Point since those Heroes won't be there to use Stand Fast! so you might even end up saving some Will points on the Tainted, and only using his ability if the board is crawling with Heroes (or your opponent saves all of their Will points for the Courage tests).

</tab> <tab name="The Dwimmerlaik">

Another debuff Ringwraith, and the Ringwraith most hated in Rohan, The Dwimmerlaik comes with no might points to assist him in difficult situations, but he has a powerful ability to double the cost of every Might, Will and Fate point spent within 12" on the roll of a 4+. You don't have to stop with just one however, if you're feeling lucky and your opponent spends another point of Might/Will/Fate, you can then spend another Will point and do the same roll (and keep spending Will to keep trying to neutralize the opponent). This allows his side to successfully end Heroes who survived by passing Fate rolls, win fights by stopping Heroes from using Might to win, and prevent Heroes from staying on the table with Will when they're broken and roll badly. He's the second best debuffer next to The Tainted, but try to save his ability for when it really matters, or you'll notice his Will points vanishing quickly (despite starting with 16).

• While you're draining enemy Heroes of their Might/Will/Fate and if you've still got a decent chunk of Will, consider casting Drain Courage rather than using the Dwimmerlaik to help out in combat. The reason why is because it combos with your army bonus: Terror for your Orcs. A few casts here and there go a long way, and soon you'll be seeing enemy Heroes and Monsters flat out refusing to engage with your weak Infantry. Not only that, but this also combos well with the Dead Marsh Spectre's test, which will allow you to run those Heroes away from their Warriors, making it far easier to crumble the enemy when they hit their Break Point since those Heroes won't be there to use Stand Fast! not to mention using Drain Courage will encourage your opponent to burn through their Will points even faster (and the Dwimmerlaik can nullify them if they save them for the Dead Marsh Spectre's test).

</tab> </tabs>

• Gûlavhar, The Terror of Arnor: Gûlavhar is one of the most polarizing models in the range. If you use him well, he's amazing and you'll completely table your opponent (as much as you can until they get to 25% casualties anyway) and if you use him wrong you'll have pissed 200 points away. The reason why he varies so much is because his Strength is 8, enough to Knock to the Ground Mordor Trolls so that he can rip them apart (and statistically he will kill a Mordor Troll Chieftan in one round on the charge, so long as he still has at least 3 Wounds left) however he also only has a Defence of 5, with no Fate. This means that your opponent will shoot him out of the sky with bows, and even Infantry will wound him on 5's unless you're fighting Hobbits. Because of this, taking him is a gamble; he's one of the best duelists in the game, and he can shred Aragorn (and prevent getting hurt himself with Heroic Defence) but the worse your opponent's general army is, the worse he'll perform. He is not worth it to try and break down a Gondor shield wall for example, but he can do decently among Warg Riders hunting down Rohan Cavalry/characters, so save him for more elite matchups where he'll shine.
  • Even though Gûlavhar can only regain Wounds with regular attacks and Rend, the other Brutal Power Attacks aren't useless for you, and you shouldn't be scared to try them out if you're in a bind. His Strength 8 gives him incredible Hurl distance for most Infantry models, which will knock enemy models prone so that your Orcs have an easier time, and Barge is still great. Not only can you fly him over to somebody to push them off a cliff, but you can then Charge again at a different target and this time use your regular attacks/Rend to regain some Wounds (or Hurl to knock more models prone). Barge can also be used defensively, since Gûlavhar can use it to get himself out of a bad combat and then use the D6" to fly away to safety, which will save you more often than regaining wounds if he's starting to get surrounded.
  • Do remember that Gûlavhar is technically a Spirit Hero, which means he gives nearby Orcs Terror. This will rarely come up and Gûlavhar shouldn't be used to reinforce your battlelines, but you shouldn't forget it exists. Even if it only results in one less charge for your opponent because some Orcs just happened to be near Gûlavhar randomly, that's still Orcs you might've lost and now haven't.

• Buhrdûr, Troll Chieftain: Buhrdûr is a sad case. He has a lot of useful skills (Heroic Strike, Strength and Challenge) but he's let down by his stats. He's 35 points more than a Cave Troll (costing nearly 50% more), but with near-identical stats, and lacking the more useful gear like a Spear and a hand-and-a-half hammer (not to mention a decent throwing weapon). About the only thing he does get right is a good store of Might, and his special skill isn't very good either. In short, he fights about as well as a Cave Troll, his banner effect is too conditional, his Courage of 4 can be gained by getting Golfimbul, and so there's no real reason to take him.
  • If you do plan on taking him anyway, make sure to keep him behind Orcs until it's time to fight. It's very easy for him to be Knocked to the Ground by other Monsters (Mordor Trolls and even Shelob will absolutely destroy him in a fight, and Shelob costs less) so you want Orcs in front of him to prevent him from getting charged by those types of threats. Be smart, like Buhrdûr.
  • Even though he has a pick, never use Piercing Strike, it won't work out in your favour. The last thing you need is to roll badly on a duel roll, and be faced with Infantry attacking your Defence 3 Buhrdûr. If you need the Strength, then just use Rend instead, and if that's not enough because he's up against a stronger Monster, then you shouldn't have put him in that fight to begin with. Buhrdûr isn't a Monster killer, he's good against everything Rend works on, so just pretend his pick doesn't exist.

• Golfimbul, Orc Chieftain: Despite being killed by a Hobbit (an act which invented the game of Golf at the same time), Golfimbul is a decent-to-good choice for an Angmar army. He costs the same as an Orc Captain, swapping a point of Fight for a point of Courage and Will (honestly it's a good trade seeing how badly Angmar struggles with Courage tests) and swapping his Fate point for essentially unlimited Fate, tested on 5+ instead of 4+ (statistically it's better than having a regular Fate point). Heroic Strike also allows him to beat most Warriors and his Mace lets him break down shield walls, so it's worth taking him just for how much your regular army lacks Heroic Strike and decent enough Courage/Will. Note that he does also have Heroic Challenge, which is a bit of an odd choice for him. He's not going to be winning fights against a lot of other characters, though you do still have an advantage many of those don't: Golfimbul can ride a Warg. Always put him on it, and then do what Orcs do best: pick on somebody weaker than you. Make sure you charge him into Infantry Heroes when you want to use the Heroic Challenge, or deliberately kill the mount in the first round; you'll knock his opponent over and gain an extra attack in the process, firmly putting things in Golfimbul's favour. Also, make sure to use your Challenge against isolated targets; Captains that are around soldiers without another Hero nearby are an ideal example of this because if your opponent declines, they cannot use Stand Fast! to keep their Warriors around when their army is broken. This way even if they decline the challenge and you can't get the Might point back, you'll still have done a decent amount of harm to your enemy's force. To this end, consider saving his Might points for later in the game so you can use this to your advantage.
  • Do remember to keep Golfimbul behind something more threatening. His Defence is only 5, so everyone except Hobbits will be wounding him on 5+ at minimum. Because of this try to keep him away from spears, you want to minimize the amount of damage Golfimbul takes. Even with his 5+ not-Fate roll he can go down surprisingly quickly if the enemy is allowed to stack up attacks against him. Buying him a Warg will also protect him from Elf and Dwarf bows since they'll have to randomise between him and his mount, and even if they hit and wound him he has his special save.

• Shade: Nerfed in a FAQ but still quite good, Shades are one of the few tools at your disposal to win Duels. Chill aura should not be underestimated, and with the high Defence of your Spirit models, they'll prevent your opponents from winning Duels, and two-handed weapons to wound them, while also giving your Orcs a much better chance at winning their fights (which is essential since you have very few ways of boosting Fight values, so you have to rely on these tricks). One look at their statline should make it clear that they should not be allowed in combat though, keep them around your Warriors and use your debuff to help your Orcs win.
  • Don't be afraid to put your Shades up front. Unlike your Ringwraiths, they have 3 Wounds and are in no danger of dying thanks to a lucky strike from some lucky opponent, so they can eat charges from opponents and prevent damage from arrows better than your Orcs can since if they get hit with an In the Way roll they're less likely to be wounded, and it's not like they'll stick around in the late game anyway, which brings us to the next point.
  • Never send Shades without a babysitter. Have a Barrow-wight by them (or at minimum an Orc Captain) so that when your force is broken you can keep your Orcs around. Unfortunately your Shade(s) will likely run away with their mighty Courage of 1, but by then you've ideally used up all their Will with Chill Aura debuffs, so they'll have already done their job.

• Barrow-Wight: The only model in the game with access to the Paralyse power (no, they cannot Channel it, so the Channeled version of Paralyse can never be used by anyone). Don't let that get you down however, they're really good at supporting a fight with Paralyse; casting it on a Hero in range of a few Orcs, or better yet, a troll, basically deletes that Hero from the game. On top of this their excellent Courage and high Defence means they can hold up enemy troops, not to mention the fact they have more Wounds than a Ringwraith. Don't expect them to kill models though, they have only one attack that you cannot boost, and with no Might and a Fight of 3, they're not going to do wonders in a Duel.
  • Note that even if you don't plan to use their Paralyse power, Barrow-wights are very good in an Angmar list thanks to a Courage of 6 and 5 Will points, meaning they're going to keep your Orcs around far longer than any Captain could hope to, so it's a real shame they have no Might and you need to rely on regular Captains for their Heroic Actions. Try to get at least one or two Barrow-wights just to make sure your models don't start vanishing at a rapid rate once you hit 50% casualties.
  • Barrow-wights have really good synergy with the Dwimmerlaik; if you cast Paralyse on an enemy Hero then 9/10 times your opponent will try to resist it, and in the event they succeed you can use the Dwimmerlaik's ability to cancel that out on a 4+, forcing them to spend an extra Will point (if they have it) which he can also cancel out on a 4+.

• Angmar Orc Captain: Standard captain stat line but with low courage of 3, and is only going to be chosen for their access to Heroic Actions and/or you want a generic character on a Warg. There's not much else to say about them really, aside from try not to get them in combat against enemy characters. There are a lot of Good heroes they lose to, and if you have to choose, Orc Captains will serve you better as a Stand Fast bubble than as a duelist (especially with your army bonus and combined with a War Horn).
  • Note that these guys are your only access to Heroic March (aside from Wild Warg Chieftans who can only affect Wild Wargs). Thankfully in an Angmar list it's not too necessary, you can get around your need for Heroic March by using Warg Riders and Chieftans instead, and if you plan to go that route then make sure to get Barrow-wights to watch over your Orcs since Warg Riders and Chieftans are more effective taking the fight to the enemy than holding down objectives.
  • Because of their higher Fight and Strength, as well as their Might and lower cost, you could use these guys as linebreakers if you really wanted to. They have the ability to break down Shieldwalls better than regular Orcs do, not to mention the Might to boost their score, so if you're not investing in Spirits for some reason (or you want to support the Captains with the Shades) then you can use them to as mediocre beatsticks. If you're interested in something a little more elite however then you're going to want the Wild Warg Chieftans instead; they cost twice as much, they can't get involved in as many fights at once as two separate Captains, but their stats are so much better.

• Angmar Orc Shaman: Angmar Shamans are a lot different to most Evil Shamans, in that they do not have access to the usual spells of Fury and Transfix. Instead they have a unique one, Wither, and Instill Fear. Instill Fear is a heavy gamble, however it does help to break up enemy battlelines (it royally screws over Gondor's shield walls), just make sure to Channel it if you're going to cast it, and keep a model with the Harbinger of Evil rule within range to make it that much more likely they'll fail. You can't use this power to force War Beasts off the edge of the board, however you can use it to force enemies to jump off buildings or cliffs, which they'll happily do, so when, where and if you use it is highly situational, and you're not likely to get it without pouring every Will Point the Shaman has into it. Unfortunately his other power isn't much better, and it's actually quite deceptive at first glance. Just looking at it you'd think Wither is a fantastic spell for an army, and in any other army you'd be 100% right. Unfortunately, this is Angmar, where the average Defence is 5, and the average enemy Hero is Strength 4. What this means is that casting it once on an enemy Hero will not change the roll they need to wound the vast majority of models in your army. The only models that actually benefit from this to a significant degree are Orc Captains with shields, Trolls... and that's literally it. It can still work fine if you Channel it first, but otherwise you're going to want to Wither down a single enemy Hero over a few turns rather than focusing on using the same Shaman on multiple targets. Don't use Wither on enemy Warriors, it's not a good way to make your points back and there's better ways of dealing with them than spending 50 points on a Shaman (like spending 25 more to get a Troll). The only exception there is if the enemy has the Blades of the Dead rule, in which case lowering their Strength so that they don't saw through your Captains or Shades actually is useful.
  • Despite its sad use against enemy Heroes, Wither does have a rather notable utility against very specific enemy Monsters. The main reason is because it helps neuter Monstrous Charge; one cast on Shelob/Dragons/Cave Drakes for example, and they can no longer push over your Cave Trolls, Buhrdûr or Wild Warg Chieftans. One cast on an Ent, and suddenly Gûlavhar can barrel into them, knocking them over and shredding them apart. Don't count on it to prevent these Monsters from wounding you however, since even if you get them down to Strength 5 they'll just use Rend or Hurl.
  • Since Angmar Shamans lack Fury, heavily consider getting Barrow-wights to make up for it. With Courage 6 and 5 Will points they're not going to be running off anytime soon, and are more than capable of babysitting your Orcs.

• Wild Warg Chieftain: Your designated combat character, Warg Chieftans are practically made for ripping apart heavier armour. They're not so good at dealing with named Heroes as they lack Heroic Strike, but otherwise they'll rip apart whatever you put them up against. Do be aware however that the Warg Chieftans are Infantry, not Cavalry, so they will not Knock to the Ground any enemies and will not gain an Extra Attack on the charge, not that they need it. Incidentally you do not need to get them Wild Wargs, it's perfectly acceptable to take them alongside your Orcs and charge them into shield walls to rip them open before your Orcs strike. They function as perfectly acceptable hammers to the Orcs' anvils, and you can use their 2 Will to keep themselves around when your army breaks.

Warriors

• Dead Marsh Spectre: The premier unit for Angmar, Dead Marsh Spectres specialise in ruining your opponent's battleplans. They can move models out of formation, make them run away from the fight leaving their comrades vulnerable (which combos well with a Barrow Wight's Paralyse for the now exposed enemy Heroes) and they disrupt shield walls. Do note while they cannot normally make models hurt themselves, they can make models run into water and possibly drown via their Swim test (and they'll then light candles of their own). On top of this, they disable Active abilities that your opponent might be using, so long as enemy models fail the Courage tests of course. To make sure that happens, combo them with a Ringwraith or the Witch-king, spam Drain Courage, and you'll be able to control plenty of your opponent's models. This is also a decent way of dealing with enemy Monsters if your own aren't up to the task (or are dead) since a few casts of Drain Courage plus the Harbinger of Evil rule will ensure that Monsters of all shapes and sizes will be running around under your control. Even if you don't intend to use Dead Marsh Spectre's alongside Ringwraiths like this, with their great Courage of 6, Dead Marsh Spectres are also useful in holding far off objectives without Hero support keeping them there once your army breaks.
  • One important note, if you intend to use Dead Marsh Spectres on models with banners so that you can pull them to an easy position to kill them, make sure the enemy banners aren't in base contact with their allies when you finally end them. If you move them even 1" away then they can no longer pass the banner along when you do kill them, either in a Duel or by shooting them.
  • Unfortunately Dead Marsh Spectres, while they make for great disruption units, are pretty poor in a fight. Despite being Spirits, they have poor Defence, having a base of 3 with Heavy Armour for 5, and their fighting ability is abysmal: one attack at Fight 2. If you are going to use them, either keep a spear Orc/spear Troll near them to help out if needed, or keep them tucked behind your Orcs.
  • Note that Dead Marsh Spectres with Ringwraith support function as the ultimate roadblock for War Beasts, and especially Mûmakill. Once you've drained the driver's Courage down a little bit you can use two or three Spectres to keep using their ability on the beast to make sure it never comes anywhere near your battleline.

• Angmar Orc Warrior: One of the worst Warriors in the game; low Courage, Fight and Defence means that these guys are not going to be around for very long, but that's not why you take them; you take them because they're cheap. One Orc Warrior costs as much as a shield for one of your Leaders, and the sheer number of dice that they can roll make them a dangerous threat. Buy them in blobs for holding positions, providing spear support, meatshields for your Spirits (march them in front so they soak up the arrows) and don't spend too much on them. Normally six Orcs are better than five Orcs with shields, though with Angmar you might want to consider the shields since sometimes keeping a character or enemy warriors away from your characters (or objectives) with Shielding is more important than trying to kill them with your paltry Strength 3, and you don't have better Orcs to back them up like Mordor does. They can also be a surprisingly effective speed bump when a blob is paired with an Barrow-wight who, thanks to his Courage 6 and 5 Will points, will ensure they aren't going anywhere when your army breaks.
  • Try to pair up your Orcs with Wild Warg Chieftans or Cave Trolls to crush the models your Orcs have caught. Don't go with numbers, it doesn't work out well for Angmar and only serves to lessen your natural advantages.
  • Note that since your army bonus is Terror on all of your units, you'll likely find it coming into play around your regular Orcs rather than your Monsters since these are what's going to get charged the most over the course of the game. To make the most of it, stand a model with the Harbinger of Evil rule nearby, Ringwraiths are ideal, and start using Drain Courage. After a few casts, even Aragorn, Ents and Eagles will be struggling to charge your Orcs, and in that way you can mitigate how impactful they are on the game, even if you can't manage to kill them yourself. Just remember they need to be within range of a Spirit Hero to gain the bonus, such as that Barrow-wight you want to buy to make sure they don't run away.

• Angmar Warg Rider: Evil Cavalry extraordinaire, the Wargs are brutal, hard hitting and versatile. Low courage and rider Defence is bad, but again they are cheaper than their good side equivalents. These are a very good buy with throwing spears and shields, coming to 13 points in total. This paired with the changes to thrown weapons and charges, really makes them quite nasty. Unfortunately you don't have any real ways of boosting their damage output, so if you think you're going to be up against an elite list with plenty of armour then consider giving these guys a pass a Warg Chieftan.
  • Before you charge Infantry with your Wargs, try to whittle them down first. Your movement and the range of your throwing spears means you can keep heaping attacks onto Infantry without worrying about taking a charge from them, and in this way you can kill spears and the like before you charge into combat. If you get caught in a poor engagement against Infantry with your Warg Riders, it's almost always your own fault.
  • Note that Angmar Warg Riders can gain the Terror rule so long as there is a Spirit Hero nearby, and fortunately you do have Ringwraiths to keep up with them on horseback if that's what you want to do. It's going to be situational however, since Terror is meant to be used defensively and you're going to want to keep your Warg Riders on the offensive. This doesn't mean it's useless on them, it just means you're going to have to pick your targets for Drain Courage smartly; go after models that can keep up with them such as other Cavalry, and especially those with lances. Monsters with a lot of movement are also a good target, as are Monsters with the Monstrous Charge rule since anything those creatures knock over is usually dead.

• Wild Warg: Wild Wargs are in an awkward spot; they're infantry, so they do not get an extra attack or Knock to the Ground infantry models when they charge, and that alone makes them significantly weaker than Warg Riders. That being said they do offer quantity over quality, since you can nearly get two of them for one Warg Rider, but in general they're not worth it. They also have relatively poor synergy with the Wild Warg Chieftan (surprisingly) since Warg Riders are much better at killing things and he only increases their Courage to 4, which is okay but not great.
  • If you do plan on using them anyway, don't send them into the front of the enemy. Run them around the back of targets to either get at lightly armoured bows, or run them into the back of enemy models to make it significantly easier to trap your enemies.

• Cave Troll: At 25 points cheaper than a Mordor troll you still get a scary Monster that can do most things its big brother can, but he is slightly weaker with Defence 6, Strength 6, Fight value 6 and Courage 3. This is still impressive, however he will get Knocked to the Ground by Monsters like Shelob or a Cave Drake, and then murdered, so keep him surrounded by Orcs so that he won't get charged, or back him up with a Shaman using Wither on those Monsters to make it so they can't knock him over. To his credit, he has access to a few different weapons, coming stock with a spear, which is one of the few ways you can give support to your Spirits and Orcs, boosting the Fight value in their combats. He can be upgraded to bring a troll chain, which is classed as a throwing weapon that has a range of 3" and hits at strength 5, and given its price there's little reason not to get it. Of course he can also be upgraded to bring a good old hand-and-a-half hammer if you really want to make things dead, and with the Burly rule he won't even suffer for using it two-handed. For the price you can get them for, Cave Trolls work in small games and you can comfortably bring two for the bigger 700 point games.

Allies

Convenient Allies

Moria

Smaug

Impossible Allies

The Serpent Horde

Far Harad

Corsairs of Umbar

Isengard

Sharkey's Rogues

Variags of Khand

Mordor

The Eastern Kingdoms

The Nazgul of Dol Guldur

Azog's Hunters

Azog's Legion

Goblin Town

The Trolls

Building your Army

A good starting point for an Angmar army is the mordor battlehost box, as it contains 24 orc warriors, six warg riders and the Witch-king on an armored horse. With this, you already have the core of your army. The battle on the Pelennor fields starter box is also interesting if you want the Witch-king on an armored fellbeast, don't mind playing the morannon orcs as normal orc warriors and sell the remaining models to recoup some of your expenses (it also comes with a rulebook). The warriors of the dead from this box can be used as proxy models for dead march spectres and Barrow-whights. If you want to get creative, kitbash three of them together with green stuff and put them on a cavalry base to improvise a shade, for the model is currently hard to come by.

For expansion you should concentrate on the most important heroes first. An orc captain gives the list heroic march and two additional points of might, put him on a warg to enhance his mobility. For this you can use the mordor orc commando box, which also contains a banner, but unfortunately not a captain on a warg (simply use a warg rider model or modify one). To take advantage of the armies strengths, it's also a good idea to invest in two Barrow-whights, which give the orcs the terror special rule via the army bonus and help fight enemy heroes and monsters with paralysis. Team them up with a cave troll, as it can kill previously paralyzed heroes with its strength of six. You should play at least one dead marsh spectre in your list, two or more if you have enough points left.