Hi all,

I'm slowly getting an Isengard army together, but my gaming experience is limited, so I figured a little advice would be helpful.
I've put together what I think is an ok 750pt list for a non-tournament, (relatively) friendly game.

My list goes as follows:

Saruman
Grima
Uruk-Hai Captain (Heavy armour, Shield)
20 Fighting Uruk-Hai (10 with pikes, 10 with sword&shield)
2 Berserkers

Sharku (With shield)
5 Warg Riders (With shields)

Mauhur
8 Mauhur's Marauders (6 with shields)

The way I figure it, I've got a big hard phalanx with Saruman hiding inside acting as a very scary "anvil", and two highly mobile (if slightly fragile) flanking units, with heroes to help keep them in the fight with a few judicious heroic moves and so on.
The only thing I seem to lack is ranged options, mostly because I don't see the point in bows on warg riders, and because I don't have any crossbows in my collection.

I'd appreciate any ideas on what sort of tactics I should go for or avoid, and maybe some things I should do to stop my opponent preying on any weaknesses. I'm quite happy to get advice on army composition too, though I am limited by what models I've got available.

As far as I know, the friend I'm playing my next game against uses a Rohan list, possibly with Dol Amroth cavalry allied in.

Thanks!

Get a Shaman in there and some crossbows. If you have them the warg riders are rarely worth the time.I'd add more to Mauhur's warband.

Unfortunately, I have no crossbows, though I'm working on remedying that. I thought about cutting the Warg riders, but won't that leave me without a fast-moving unit? Though I suppose Mauhur's lot move pretty fast, and I do have a lot of scout models...

Why the shaman? I was under the impression that shamans were only useful for orcs and moria goblins?

Saruman needs to lead, to save points. Max out your warbands. I would also drop wargs: they seem to die before becoming useful. Crossbows...meh. Under certain conditions, OK, but movement limits them so much. Consider:

Saruman
6 Pike
6 Shield

Grima

Sharku
6 Pike
6 Shield

Mauhur
10 Mauraders with Shield

and either an Isengaard Troll OR (my vote) Orc Capt with 11 Orc Spears.
Having Monster Hurls against Cavalry is deadly...though 50 units is very tempting...(adjust shields abit)

go 4 shields/8 pikes rather than 6/6. Go for the double support

get crossbows. even a line of 4 of them will make your opponent worry.

And berserkers or ferals are always worth squeezing in.

_________________
I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...

This sounds good...unless you opt for the extra Orc Spear warband, then you can alternate Orc Spear and Double Pikes, avoiding the auto trap (Orc spear can move aside) --and still maintain a 12 unit Shield Wall --usually against 12 enemies. An 8 unit Shield Wall leaves you more flankable...

[\quote] get crossbows. even a line of 4 of them will make your opponent worry. [/quote]

I agree: psychological effect can better than actual, sometimes. Crossbows can also have Pikes... That forces defense tactics, as they cannot move and fire, but also keeps them useful.

[\quote]And berserkers or ferals are always worth squeezing in.[/quote]

Yes --especially at this points level. I vote for Beserkers, as an ordinary S3 enemy needs only a 5+ to kill a Feral (a 1/3 chance of killing instead of 1/6 with Beserkers)

I do have a few berserkers, and I love the models, so I'll definitely add them in. The crossbow situation should be fixed soon, I'm working on a few conversions - will something like 4-6 crossbows work? Thanks for the tip on giving pikes to crossbowmen, Rozinante!

I do have an Isengard troll (converted MoM cave troll), so I might see if I can squeeze him into the list too - I'm a little cagey about trolls in an Isengard list, but monsters are a lot of fun...

I'd rather not have orcs in my phalanx, just for the way it looks, though I agree that double support with the pikes is the way to go, so thanks for that, rumtap.