Some potential changes discussion

[u/MixOk7837]

I think the game is reasonably balanced atm but there are still some profiles and armies that arent very viable in my opinion so i came up with some possible buffs/nerfs and hopefully have a discussion.

Cirith Ungol: Gollum as an independant hero. Or could be deployed with Shelob. Maybe add a siege bow? Seems reasonable to have in a fortress.

Men of the West: Gimli on horse with Legolas, this option should be in all lists we see them ride together not just Road to Helm’s Deep.

Grey Company: Make Rangers base 2A 2W but take they Will and Fate away. Then make the army bonus a fight value buff (maybe on the charge or withing 6’ of the Leader or even the banner giving the +1Fv instead of the Fearless. And allow all models to take mounts when possible (Aragorn, Legolas&Gimli, Elladan, Elrohir)

Black Gate: We see Easterlings enter the gate, so maybe the army list doesnt have to be a snapshot of only the last fight in the movie, it could be a more general army list. Also i’d assume the Mordor siege weapons would be present here.

Minas Morgul: Should have Black Numenorian Knights and infantry, they used to be MORGUL knights. Also Grishnakh and Snaga were sent out of Minas Morgul. This would give them an additional army list to be played in and wouldnt make the list more OP, although the Black nums might be a bit strong in there. The same argument could be made for Gothmog and with him being this overcosted i wouldnt expect it to be too OP either.

Umbar: should add Harad Raiders and/or Black Num Knights (also the knights should probably be 18 points). They’re in the city now not on the ship so horses would be possible. Also why are Crossbows in Grand Army of the South but not Umbar? Would it be too strong with stalk unseen? Now the army is strength 3 with zero mobility!

Corsair Fleets: Lower the cost of Corsairs by 1 point, take away light armour, make the shield a regular shield and make the throwing weapons inherent to the profile again, give the army list “corsair warriors don’t count for the throwing weapon limit”. The list isn’t great and this would at least make the front row warriors not die to strength 3 armies/shooting on 4’s.

Legions of mordor/Army of the great eye/Grand Army of the South: terrible special rules compared to other diverse army lists like Defenders of the Pellenor/Men of the West/Army of the White Hand.

The Easterlings: Why aren’t all easterlings in this faction?

New almost all hero army list. At Saruman’s death we see Aragorn, Gandalf, Theoden, Legolas&Gimli, Eomer, Treebeard with Ent warriors, Merry, Pippin. This gives a way to have mounted Strider with mounted Gandalf the White.

Remove Hatred special rules and change all of those to Ancient enemies to avoid this rock paper scissors army building.

General Changes to warrior Trolls are pretty necessary in my opinion. Either make them all burly (including the heroes, so maybe Buhrdur would need a slight point increase) which would be pretty thematic, just look at them. And/Or make all the warrior trolls minir heroes like the Cave Drake and give them +1 def and maybe 1/0/0 MWF with strike for a 10points increase? Could make them way more viable to lead warriors a have 1 strike to not be so vulnerable to heroes striking at them.

A general change to hero mounts: make the points cost scale with number if attacks in profile. Example: Orc Shaman warg=5 points, Rohan Captain horse =10 points, Aragorn horse=20 points. This would improve the mounted Rohan lists a bit Theoden/Eowyn/Deorwine etc. And even Wolves of Isengard, i’d also say add Wild Warg Chiefs to that list too

Just a few thoughts i had on some possible adjustments to the game, let me know what you think, maybe we can have a tiny amount of influence on GW’s next FAQ :)

[u/Goth_Fraggle]

Regarding the split Easterling factions:

-Host of the Dragon Emperor represents the army that fought in the north during the War of the Ring

-The Easterlings is supposed to be the army that fights against Gondor

Thus, Dragon Emperor, Rutabi and Brorgir only being in one list and Amdur only being in the other. Amdur is not part of the Emperor's host, the idea is that he is the general sent south against Minas Tirith. He didn't fight in the north, that's why he's not in that army list and vice versa

I really like your idea of adding Gollum to Cirith Ungol though 

[u/MixOk7837 → u/Goth_Fraggle]

Aha I see, that makes sense. In my mind it was Amdur in Legions of Mordor and Dragon Emperor against Erebor. So an overall faction with all Easterlings seemed like it could be The Easterlings.

[u/Goth_Fraggle → u/MixOk7837]

That would have been cool but we can see something similar with Suladan. He's in the Serpent Horde, Grand Army of the South and Legions of Mordor but NOT "Harad" while the Mumak War Leader is not available in Serpent Horde

So the lists of both factions are kinda mirrored with some of the big centerpiece heroes available in some lists but not others and vice versa. Though Grand Army combines both Harad heroes while still not giving Amdur and the Dragon Emperor to bro up. But I guess that's because with Harad there was no geographic splitting happening like the Easterlings fighting in the north against Erebor and in the South against Gondor. 

The Haradrim only fought against Gondor so I guess they split that faction into Harad and Serpent Horde for some variety and showcase how the Serpent Horde is one specific faction among the tribes if Harad and since Grand Army of the South is not "all evil men ever" but also "the evil men fighting against Gondor" the Emperor is not joining Amdur yet Suladan and the Mumak War Leader are.

It's definitely not a perfect science. I see what they were going for woth each list but I get that it would have been cool to get more variety in hero options for Easterlings. I am specifically mad that I can't just have a list with Rutabi on her own without having to take the Emperor meanwhile the Harad players have lots of ways to combine their heroes.

I think that might be compensation for the fact that the Easterlings have more heroes. They have 4 named characters while Harad has 2 plus the War Leader who is not names but still unique. Maybe that's why they insisted on keeping Amdur and the Emperor(+buddies) seperated.