8/24/2023 - The Scout Captains of Isengard

 

Hello everyone!

This week we are going to be talking about the Uruk-Hai Scout Captains: Lurtz, Ugluk, Mauher and the generic Uruk-Hai Scout Captain.

"Find the Halflings! Find the Halflings!"

Lurtz is the only Hero of Valor for Isengard. At 90 points, he is a big expensive compared to other Isengard heroes, who usually average 65 points. He has the standard fight 5 for Uruk captains, with a better than average shoot value of 3+. Strength at standard 5, defense is at 6. I have seen the often question about Lurtz's shield and defense value. Note that if a model is equipped with a bow, they gain no defensive benefit from a shield, but do get the ability to use the shielding rule. Lurtz is a bit of a game-breaker here, as the defense from the shield is actually baked into his profile, since normally, a hero with light armor is defense 5. This also comes in handy when playing the Lurtz's Scouts legion, as if he throws his shield, he maintains defense 6. Being an angry Uruk, he has 3 attacks, so is particularly good at killing things, 3 wounds to stick around longer than the other Uruk captains, and heroic stats of 3 might, 1 will, 1 fate. In addition, Lurtz has an uncharacteristic courage of 5, making him much more likely to stick around.

His special rule, Find the Halflings, is one of the few special rules that function while Lurtz is off the battlefield, allowing him to arrive when and where he wishes in Scenarios that require a roll, being Maelstrom scenarios and Reconnoitre (note that he will still have to come in during the 4th round of Reconnoitre if he hasn't yet).

Lurtz also comes with a great line-up of heroic actions, with March, Strike, Strength and Challenge. He also has a funny formatting misprint that lists him as having Heroic actions as a Heroic action, rather than titling the section in his profile as such.

He doesn't technically come with his shield by default, but you pay 0 points for it, so there is no reason not to take it. Another interesting interaction, circling back to the no defense bonus for shield when you have a bow, is that if Lurtz finds his bow removed, the only spell doing that being Shatter, he actually goes up to defense 7! I have personally never seen it, but it could happen.

Generally, most agree Lurtz is expensive for most Isengard armies, only really showing up when you are playing Lurtz's Scouts or when allying and not taking Saruman. His special rule is pretty good, but if you aren't playing Maelstrom/Reconnoitre, it is useless, and he really just becomes a more expensive and more resilient Uruk-Hai scout captain, having a bit more meat on his bones.

"Looks like meat's back on the menu boys!"

Ugluk in the books was the leader of the Uruk-Hai who ambushed the fellowship, however in the movies he was downgraded in favor of Lurtz, who was not in the books. He rises back to prominence after they capture Merry and Pippin, leading the remaining Uruks, along with orcs they pick up along the way back towards Isengard. Ugluk is present in the Lurtz's Scout legion, and usually the third take hero, and also has his own legion, Ugluk's scouts.

Ugluk comes in at 65 points as a hero of fortitude and sticks with the Uruk-Hai theme of fight 5, strength 5, defense 5, 2 attacks, 2 wounds, courage 4, and 3 might, 1 will, 1 fate. 

Dropping to courage 4 is not that big of a deal for Ugluk, because of his Head Taker special rule. When Ugluk's force is broken, this lets him kill a friendly Warrior model within 2" to automatically pass his courage test, and buff his stand fast to 12", which hits both Heroes and Warriors. This is a very strong ability in the scout legions, less so in regular Isengard. Ugluk has been FAQed to be in a bit of an odd place regarding the Isengard army bonus of not taking courage tests on Isengard models untill the army has suffered 66% casualties. It was FAQed that Isengard heroes can opt to take their courage test within that 50%-66% window where they normally wouldn't, a useful thing if you are mixed with Dunland and Orcs, however they limited Ugluk's Head Taker to only be usable on tests he would normally take for being broken, so never when he opts during the window. In open Isengard, it makes his rule not as effective, however in the scout legions, it is great, as they break and take tests as normal.

Ugluk brings along similar heroics to Lurtz, in March, Strike and Strength, a pretty great lineup. His biggest weakness usually is his 2 attacks, making it much harder for him to fight heroes.

As stated, he is the third hero to take for Lurtz's Scouts, so almost always present, and must be in any Ugluk's Scout lists as the leader (duh). He is not often seen in open Isengard, but some lists of mixed forces can use him. He also is pretty decent when you are in an convenient alliance, as his Head Taker can be used on models outside the Isengard army lists.

"We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinken days!"

Mauher, or as I call him, Angry Uruk, is a strong 60 point hero that brings speed to Isengard infantry and the scout legions. He also hates maggoty bread.

Mauher is 60 points, as a hero of fortitude, his stats differ from most Uruk-Hai. He does still have the fight 5, defense 5, 2 wounds, courage 4, however his move is 8" rather than 6", has 3 attacks, and only has the generic captain's heroic stats of 2 might, 1 will, 1 fate. 

His heroics aren't the greatest, only having march and strength.

Mauher is one of the few heroes in the game that provide individual unit upgrades (usually) at cost of a point or two. In this case, Mauher can upgrade Uruk-Hai scouts to Marauders for 1 point per model, which gives them a move value of 8". In addition, in Lurtz's or Ugluk's Scouts, this bonus extends to all Uruk-Hai scouts, even including Lurtz, Ugluk, Scout Captains and Drummers, and becomes free. So he makes Scouts very fast, as you can march and drum to have them moving 14" a turn. I recently played a match against Lurtz's Scouts in Reconnoitre, and had very poor luck arriving with Army of Thror. By the 4th turn when the last of my forces forcibly came on, he was 12" from the edge of my table with 54 uruks.

Mauher is naturally the second hero taken in any scout legion. In open Isengard, he tends to lead a warband of marauder scouts with bow, letting them shoot after moving 4", or 5.5" on a march, and tends to be an objective grabber. He is very good at kill warriors, but as he does not have strike, most heroes can contest him if they get locked in melee. He is also a good heroic combat launcher, as he can cross distance fast off one to catch opposing models unaware on flanks or rear. He is often a good pickup in and out of the legions, but some times has to fight for space with Vrasku and crossbows (while Vrasku is a scout captain technically, he does not find himself in any of the scout legions, so I chose to leave him for a future post).

Lastly for this week, the Uruk-Hai Scout Captain.

Scout captains are 55 point heroes of fortitude, with standard fight 5, shoot 4+, strength 5, defense 5, 2 attacks, 2 wounds, 4 courage, heroic of 2 might 1 will 1 fate.

Their optional equipment are 5 points each for Uruk-Hai Bows, Shields and/or Two-Handed Weapons. Notably, because the Two-Hander does not specify what type, you are free to choose what type. The current model for the Scout Captains does have a Two-Handed axe, which is typically the best two-hander to take.

As with almost all generic captains, they also come with Heroic March, helping speed models forward.

My favorite way to take Scout Captains is with a bow, as I find having might-able bow shots very useful, and in this case, a little more useful given the small distinction between defense 5 and 6, if I were to take a shield. 

Generally, Scout Captains are only for the Scout legions, at points where you no longer have named characters to take, however I use them in my Burning of the Westfold themed lists, where It is just generic character spam, as they fit better than fighting Uruk-Hai captains.

I am going to skip on some listed armies this week, as I plan on touching on each Legendary Legion on their own post in the future.

I appreciate everyone reading! Join me next week as I go over Vrasku, the Fighting Uruk-Hai Captains, Uruk-Hai Shamans and Uruk-Hai Drummers.

See you!

-Scott