4/26/2024 - Lurtz's Scouts

 

Hey Everyone!

Now that we have covered all the profiles in Isengard, the time has come to start delving into the armies Isengard can field, starting with the Legendary Legion, Lurtz's Scouts.

Lurtz's Scouts represents the Uruk-Hai force sent to ambush The Fellowship along the river Anduin, led by Lurtz and his lieutenants, Ugluk and Mauhur.

The Legendary Legion can field the following profiles: Lurtz, Ugluk, Mauhur, Uruk-Hai Scout Captains, Uruk-Hai Drummers and Uruk-Hai Scouts. As you'd expect, Lurtz must always be included in a Lurtz's Scouts army, and must always be the leader.

For taking this smaller troop roster, you gain 3 benefits:

Relentless March: Relentless march upgrades all Scouts to Marauders for free, normally costing 1 point and restricted to Mauhur's warband, upgrading your Scouts to 8" Move Value, as long as you take Mauhur in your army, increases the Move Value of Lurtz, Ugluk, Scout Captains and Drummers to 8" rather than their normal 6", and finally gives all friendly models the Woodland Creature special rule, allowing them to move through woodland terrain without penalty.

This upgrade is the core of both Lurtz's Scouts and Ugluk's Scouts. Upgrading your movement to 8" is pretty massive, allowing your army to more easily run around lines and flank, and allows your archers to be more mobile while still shooting. Keep in mind that this stacks with Drumming and Heroic Marching, allowing your troops to run a whopping 14" at their fastest, faster than Cavalry! This upgraded movement speed is super important, since the list lacks spear supports, so you must maximize your flanking power and bows in order to even the odds.

A Worthy Foe: A Worthy Foe allows Lurtz to declare Heroic Challenges against any Hero, regardless of their tier. It also will return Lurtz's expended Might, should the challenged model decline the challenge.

This is a so-so rule. Often Heroic Challenge is the least seen Heroic Action, since most of the time it is restricted to heroes of Legend. Lurtz being able to call it with more flexibility it does make it an interesting tactical choice against smaller generic heroes, but often he will be fighting troops since too many heroes can shrug him off due to higher defense, fight value, or more consistent dice.

Shield Throw: Shield throw provides Lurtz with a once per game strength 4 throwing weapon, which will knock any man-sized (25mm base) model hit prone, however once used, he loses access to the shielding special strike. Interestingly, Lurtz's defense does not drop to 5, as since he comes with a bow by default, he was never benefiting from the shield's +1 Defense anyway. This puts him in a very elite group of heroes that actually have Defense 5 base, usually restricted to the named Numenoreans, Aragorn or tough Dwarf heroes.

This one can be pretty useful, since Lurtz having a 3+ Shoot Value means he will hit fairly reliably. Lurtz often is outclassed by opposing heroes, so a knock down as he charges in can really let him get the jump on heroes that usually would eat him alive. I would see this rule being better as a base rule for Lurtz, to be used outside the legion so Saruman can also support his endeavors with magic, transfixing the hero Lurtz is trying to kill.

Army Composition: Lurtz's Scouts is pretty straightforward to build. You start with Lurtz, Mauhur is a real necessity, grabbing a drummer as soon as you can, Ugluk shortly after, and Scout Captains from there. You tend to max out your bows, since lacking spear supports, you want to have more ability to take out opposing spear supports from range before engaging fast with your 8" movement. The drummer can help you accomplish this by letting you move 5.5" and shoot (8" base + 3" Infantry drum). All your heroes having Heroic March can bump it up even further if you need to run 7" and shoot, faster than normal infantry can fully move, and faster than Cavalry can move and shoot.

Example lists:

400: A bit below where the legion shines, not being able to take a third hero in Ugluk, but you have bows, a drum and a fair few bodies.

600: Ugluk enters the fold, and your numbers really shoot up, along with your bows. This is about the strongest the legion gets, but there is a bit more room to grow.

650: Holding the same bodies as 600, you add in a Scout Captain with a 2-Handed Weapon (usually taken as an Axe). This captain gives a bit more might to preserve might for your strikers (Lurtz and Ugluk), and gives a big killy model to send in with Lurtz for nasty Heroic Combats that you get to move 8" after.

800: 800 is a bit of a rougher spot, as while most lists really start pumping big heroes and numbers, all you add are more bows and a bit more might. 51 models is respectable, and very comparable to most evil armies, however you still do not have spear supports, where most others will, and your bodies start hitting a point where some may get blocked out due to terrain. It definitely can be effective in the hands of a good pilot, but there are some weaknesses it can't overcome.

Lurtz's Scouts tends to be it's most powerful around the 650 point level, which makes it a very good list for a lot of events, and since Scouts are so cheap to purchase, a very good beginner army. 

Things to watch out for when playing the list include: magic, as your heroes have minimal will to resist, fight 5/6 3 attack heroes can really munch through your troops, along with all mounted lists with either tied or more fight, elf shooting, since it is often accompanied by blinding light, and terror, as while Courage 3 is good, you still are only charging 50% of the time, which can be problematic when you have no spear supports, allowing opponents to gang up on models that did manage to charge, and ignore ones cowering in fear.

What the army excels at: fast movement, allowing you to cover distances and catch split armies in maelstrom and movement scenarios. Being able to rush towards your opponent to hold them off objectives can be very good in objective scenarios, and you are very good at running to grab objects from the ground. 

A neat trick I picked up, playing this army in addition to Isengard in general, which can really put opponents in a bind: When a Hero Heroic Marches, they do not declare At the Double! until they are moving, impacting models that start within 6" of where they called the Heroic from. This means that models can move before the hero, and while not benefiting from the added movement of the March, not being restricted by an inability to charge, or ending within 6" of the Hero. This can make some opponents charge in, knowing that at least your hero calling won't be engaging, or try and run away, in which case you move to position yourself to get a good charge next turn, taking advantage of your 11" to reposition, and the further 8" you will have the following turn, outranging most infantry. Note that the Drum does not work the same way, and impacts models for the entire turn, preventing all charging, and adding the movement as soon as the drum is called at the start of the move phase.

That about does it for Lurtz's Scouts. Next time we will cover Ugluk's Scouts, and start mixing in filthy Orc Maggots. Maybe they will have some meat with them...

See you!

-Scott