4/9/2024 - The Dunlending Hordes

Hey Everyone!

Last week we covered the Leaders of Dunland, so now we are going to cover the mass hordes of strong, angry men from the hills of Dunland.

Burn every village!

The base level, fodder unit for Dunland is the Wild Man of Dunland. At only 5 points, these come in at Fight 3, Strength 3, Defense 3, Courage 3, and are armed with either Axe or Sword, with the option to purchase Two-Handed Axes. Wildmen have Hatred (Rohan), making them exceptionally good at killing the cowardly, oppressive, tyrannical, evil, land-grubbing... ok I am getting carried away. Combining their cost with the pierce special strike, Wildmen can easily take down S6 models for very cheap, trading only 5 points in return. Combining with the Wildman Oath Maker, they get the Isengard keyword, making them stick around longer in the battle (if they survive that long), and with his 6" fearless bubble, they make very cheap ways to charge big monsters, minimizing the monster's return of value for killing models. I have enjoyed pairing these with Orc Spears recently, making a super cheap battle line that surrounds and murders models that cost more.

Loud screaming

Dunlending Warriors are the standard infantry of Dunland. Coming in at 7 points, Warriors are Fight 3, Strength 4, Defense 4 and Courage 3. They can purchase a shield or two-handed axe or swap their one handed axe for a dagger and bow for 1 point a piece, and a banner for the typical 25. While they don't have the fight prowess as Uruk-Hai, Dunlendings are just as strong, and sometimes stronger, having access  to axes normally, being able to pierce up to Strength 5 to wound dwarves on 5s, or 4s when two handing and piercing. These guys are nutcrackers. While they are not very armoured, dying to most things on 5s or even 4s, they trade that to be able to dish it back out just as easily, and usually for a cheaper cost.

Forgeworld intensifies

Dunlending Horsemen. Dunlending on a Horse. Same thing. These incredibly expensive models (as of today $48.50 for two Forgeworld Resin models, the most expensive $ cost to point cost model in the game) are 12 points a piece, and have the same stats as a typical Dunlending Warrior with Shield, but losing access to other wargear purchases in return. Re-reading the profile, I also noticed they have daggers, though the opportunity to feint is pretty low, and stabbing as Cavalry is a bit nutty. How riding a horse and holding a banner are mutually exclusive here, I do not know, but apparently it is too complicated. Dunlending Horsemen have the Slay their Horses! special rule, allowing them to re-roll 1s To Wound against mounts while they remain mounted. Interesting rule, but very underwhelming, as most Cavalry do not want to fight other Cavalry, unless you have a lance, and Dunlending Horseman will lose against most Cavalry. Interestingly, this special rule does work against the Royal Palanquin of the Dragon Emperor of Rhun, as it is still considered a mount.

To the chief!

Dunlending Huscarls are Dunland's elite warrior unit. At 11 points, they have a similar stat line to normal Dunlendings, at Fight 3, Strength 4 and Courage 3, but come as Defense 5, wearing heavy armour. Huscarls have a couple very good special rules, along with a vitally important special weapon. To start, they have the Bodyguard special rule, allowing them to automatically pass all courage tests while the hero (of the highest tier) they are bodyguarding is alive. Their second special rule is Favour of the War Chief, giving Huscarls +1 Fight when they are supporting a fight within 3" of a Dunlending Hero. Now, you might ask, how do they support? Their Dunlending War Axe is a special weapon that can be used as either a two-handed axe or a spear. You'll notice that none of the other Dunlending profiles have spears. This makes Huscarls the only source of spears for Dunland, unless you are mixing them into normal Isengard. I won't go too far into the Army of Dunland Legendary Legion, as that is a topic for it's own article, but to summarize their impact, Huscarls act as a backline support line to provide dice and fight, bodyguarding Thrydan so that later in the game when the line starts to crumble, you are left with a bunch of very strong fearless models to drive home the battle. While most tend to view them as 1 point too expensive, and their fight bonus as too situational, I just think they haven't experimented with running an entire backline of Huscarls. My typical Dunland runs an entire 1:1 frontline mix of Wildmen and Warriors to backline Huscarls. When you have that many of them, and 4-5 Dunlending heroes, you get your +1 fight almost every fight, and if you happen to be fighting F2- or F5+, you don't even have to worry about it, and then you just have more dice for each fight. I will get into more list building theory for Dunland when I cover their legion, but to suffice to say, this profile is very commonly undervalued for it's impact.

Thank you all for reading as I go over the Dunlending warrior profiles. Next time I will be covering the monsters, beasts and siege equipment of Isengard, then it is on to the Legendary Legions and list building guides and theory.

-Scott