So I have almost finished my Great Beast and wanted to use it. Oddly enough, I've never played a Mordor army before, though I am quite familiar with Goblins. So here's my 500pt Mordor list. I don't have Warbands but hopefully this might be accurate?

Mouth of Sauron
12 Orc Warriors (2 Spears, 2 Shields, 4 Orc Bows, 4 2H)

Orc Captain w. Shield
12 Orc Warriors (6 Spears, 6 Shields)

Orc Captain on Warg w. Shield
5 Warg Riders (1 Shield, 2 Bows, 2 Throwing Spears and Shields)
Great Beast of Gorgoroth

Total 498pts
I've never used the Mouth of Sauron before which is why he's in there. Thinking Shagrat w. Shield (if still an option in the Warbands books?) might be better for the same price. Also think it might rely too heavily on the Great Beast, because that's its only real hitting power. It has support but if it goes down, I'm vulnerable to heavy hitters (partly why I tried the MoS).

I'd be most welcome for any suggestions on improving the list (as long as they're not something frustratingly annoying like add another Orc Warrior which would require another box set ). I'm not trying to utterly streamline it, but I do want it to be able to hold it's own.

I think you should rop the 2-handed and bow-armed Orcs, and have 2 warbands with 6 Morannons w/ shields and 6 Orc Warriors w/ spears. And drop the bows from the Warg Riders as well.

Shagrat w/ shield is still available, even though they no longer sell that model, its not a bad pice reallly but harly used as most people would pick the big War Leader version if they want to take him. And I like the MoS.

_________________
"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

i agree, IMO magical support is needed in any army, its always helpful to immobilise an annoying good guy hero. I would also suggest morannon orcs as they will give you slightly more hitting power with S4 and heavy armour.

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Mouth of sauron is a solid choice, keep him. No idea what a great beast does, i assume it's like a nerfed mumak though? If you have magic, numbers and brute force (which you do) you should be fine.

I don't actually own any Morannons and I must admit to being rather sceptical of them. Not that I think they're bad, I just rebel at every Mordor army being told to take them over standard Orcs. It's probably just me being old fashioned, back in the day when they were metal elites that no one could take. It's not just that though. I dislike the models. Anyone know any alternatives? I doubt standard Orcs would be acceptable stand ins?

You're right, I'll drop the bows from the Warg Riders. I should know not to mix weapon loads . Might convert the 2H Orcs into more spears. Shame they're not that good any more. I might keep the Orc archers though. My Great Beast has 12 of them, so an extra 4 can't hurt too much. Maybe if the Great Beast dies it'll allow them to volley? Not that I would probably want to at that stage of the game...





I was slightly worried about the Mouth being stranded foot slogging, as being mounted enables him to flee and also to cast magic easier. But hopefully he'll be ok? Shagrat's the only alternative that comes to mind as a leader without damaging my army too bad. The Great Beast is a nerfed Mumak. Half the price, but also a bit weaker and far easier to kill.


Thank you for your replies!

With a tough d6 line of morannons to hide behind he will be ok on foot but with regular orcs a horse would be wise!

Actually, the Great beast has only 10 archers, but I get the idea, though m,ost of tehm would probably die falling off.

As marsbar says, the MoS on foot is fine if protected by Morannon Orcs. Also, they're not acually as overpowered in SBG as they are in WotR. If you don't like the offivail Morannon Orc models, you could do what people used to do before the metal ones came out, which is to convert 'Orcs in Scavenged Armour' using componants from Mordor Orcs and Warriors of Minas Tirith.

_________________
"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

Has anyone actually had any experience with the Great Beast? I haven't used it, but I can't see how only one trample attack could work effectively.

_________________
"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

Just to say its actually only 9 orcs with bows on the great beast (though there is one other with a spear). Also personally i would never take orc with bows over trackers, if you don't want to spend xtra on tracker models you could just paint orc with bows with no metal and use them as trackers (what i did). Also i wouldn't say that orcs with 2HW are bad all the time, they have proved well when paired up with Black Numernoreans . I once used a great beast, wasn't hugely impressed, but i would say it still is a good choise

_________________
"My master, Sauron the Great, bids thee welcome... "