Army review – Depths of Moria

Hey Reader!

I hear drums… drums in the deep. That’s right, today it is time to talk about what in my opinion is one of the coolest armies in middle-earth, Depths of Moria. Currently, it’s the only way to play Moria (evil) and I’m glad this is the army that we still have available. Don’t get met wrong I’m still itching to get back into “normal” Moria, but there is something about the Balrog which is just so Lord of the Rings, and this is definitely the army which you play him in.

Army bonus:

Old edition – “Shadow…” – Shooting attacks that target the Balrog will only ever hit on a 5 or more.
“…and Flame” – Once per game, at the start of any Shoot phase, the Balrog may select a single enemy model within 3″ of it and roll a D6. On a 2+, that model is immediately Set Ablaze. This is an Active ability. After the Balrog has used this ability, it no longer benefits from the ‘Shadow…’ ability provided by this Legendary Legion.
“Drums in the Deep” – The effects of a Moria Goblin or Moria Blackshield Drum are increased from 18″ to battlefield wide. Additionally, so long as the Drum and at least one Drummer are alive, then the Drum will count as a banner for the purposes of Victory Points in Scenarios that award Victory Points for having a banner left alive.
“Dominion of the Balrog” – Friendly Goblin models within 6″ of the Balrog gain a bonus of +1 to their Fight value. Additionally, this army will never be considered Broken so long as the Balrog has 6 or more Wounds remaining. Should the Balrog have 5 or fewer Wounds remaining, then the army will Break as normal. If the Balrog is slain, the army will immediately count as Broken.

New edition – Shadow… – Shooting attacks that target the Balrog will only ever hit on the roll of a 5+.
…and Flame – Once per game, at the start of any Shoot Phase, the Balrog may select a single model within 3″ of it and roll a D6. On a 2+, the model is immediately Set Ablaze. This is an active ability belonging to the Balrog, and after it has used this ability, the Balrog no longer benefits from the ‘Shadow…’ special rule.
Drums in the Deep – Enemy models suffer a -1 penalty to any Courage Tests they are required to take, whilst friendly Moria Goblin models gain a bonus of +1 to any Courage Tests they are required to take. Additionally, friendly Moria Goblin models always count as being in range of a banner.
Dominion of the Balrog – Friendly Moria Goblin models within 6″ of the Balrog gain a bonus of +1 to their Fight Value. Additionally, so long as the Balrog has at least 6 Wounds remaining, a Depths of Moria Army can never count as being Broken. Should the Balrog have 5 or fewer Wounds remaining, a Depths of Moria Army will Break as normal. However, should the Balrog ever be removed as a casualty, a Depths of Moria Army will immediately count as being Broken.

Shadow….:

No changes to the Shadow rule. This rule does not come up a lot (because why would you even want to shoot small arms at a D9 Balrog), but it is occasionally useful when your opponent decides to bring a siege engine. Or in the case of Dale, several. Still not a great match-up, but maybe you can bare the barrage of bolts coming your way even though you are a large target. Because this used to be the only big scary in your army list, making him the obvious target, however now there is something lurking in the water…. more on that later.

…and Flame:

This also works the same as before. One interesting thing to note is that the Set Ablaze special rule does not do the initial S9 hit. This used to be a pretty reliable way to get that big hero knocked of his horse to buy another turn. Especially when they did decide to pile in on the Balrog you could use this as a defensive tool to blunt their charge. It’s a bit of a nerf, but nothing too major.

Drums in the Deep:

The iconic drums of the deep which start banging rapidly when somebody drops a rock or skeleton somewhere in the mines. They are now integrated into the army itself, which is nice because it saves you 75 points. However, there is no model now so it would be a bit unfair to give them banner vp’s for it so they removed that. With the current 6 scenario’s available and no more access to black shield shamans (more on that later) there is no reliable way anymore to get rid of enemy banners, which is kind of a big deal if you can’t have one yourself. It’s true that the army just wants to run forwards and kill stuff, but we all know that 5″ goblins are not gonna get anywhere too quick and that the Balrog can have a hard time if he rolls poorly. I think this will be fixed when we get the other 18 scenario’s added. They can’t all have banner vp’s right…. right?

Dominion of the Balrog:

Again, completely unchanged. Still incredibly strong in my opinion. It basically says: “Come fight my big scary Balrog or you won’t ever get army break VP’s.” It also helps the goblins to stick around when you’re running low on numbers at the end of the game. You don’t ever want to rely on goblin courage, believe me.

Unit profiles:

Heroes:

Do I even need to introduce this guy? It’s the Balrog, we all know him and what he does. He did receive a little nod of appreciation, 2″ got added to his move value making him move 8″. He still can’t use his wings though (let’s not get into that). But GW giveth and GW taketh, for his Goblin mastery special rules got it’s range cut in half and is now 6″. He got assigned an intelligence of 5+ (very nice for those key hurls) and a whopping dominant 10! Let’s be real though, if anyone is getting dominant 10 it’s this guy. He also received Large target, but again, no questions from me about that.

While these buffs are certainly welcome I doubt it will fix the issues that the Balrog suffered from in the previous edition. He is still a 350 point beefcake who only rolls a 6 statistically 55% of the time. With no might to back him up, you really can’t rely on this guy making important plays happen. Now I’m not saying give him might, I like that he is unique in the fact that he costs so much and still has no might to show for it. However, something like Monstrous charge or a Lord of the Depths (reroll 1d in duel and to wound) would have been welcome. Seriously, why does this dude not have Monstrous charge…

The humble goblin captain has not seen that much change. Though you can now only take a bow option on them so they are locked on D5 without a shield, eh… For this small but relevant nerf they received a points increase of 5pts making them 40pts base now. Yeah, I also have no idea where this came from. They went from being a super efficient captain to one of the worst in the game, in my opinion. I don’t mind them being D5, but at least give them the option for a shield, even their underlings have that option. The price increase also doesn’t really feel justified. I am a bit biased though, so take it with a grain of salt…

The model which I have hinted at before is the Watcher in the Water! Yes, it actually got added to this army. It does make sense from a lore perspective since he is one of the nameless things lurking in the depths. From a gameplay perspective it is a different story though. The Balrog already comes in at a whopping 350 and does not bring any might with him. You want to spam some goblin captains with full warbands to make up for the lack of that and models. The Watcher in the Water is 200pts, if you want to take them both that already is a 550 point buy-in. I just don’t see them taken together in a list below 800pts.

The Watcher in the Water also does not have a bat swarm to combo with in this army list. To note, when the Watcher grabs another model and places it into base contact with himself he does not pull it into combat with other models anymore. So no more cheekily setting up a kill box, you actually have to actually charge with the bat swarm during it’s activation. Which is certainly a nerf, but in my opinion a fair one since it did feel kind of lame when it happened. By all means, setting up a kill box to trap enemy models is still a valid strategy, just not as effective as it used to be.

While it might not be as effective, it is easier now. You can actually choose exactly where you place an enemy model when you pull it, which is only fair when you’re grabbing it with tentacles. You also don’t receive a penalty for moving an shooting.

The Watcher got an intelligence value of 7+, pretty rough, but he does not look to be the sharpest tool in the shed, so it fits. He does not have the beast keyword so he can still pick up and carry objectives. He also received Dominant 6, yeah 6. The Watcher is all about having the number 6 in it’s stat line, so it only makes sense.

Wait, that’s all? Yeah kind of. When the black shield shamans were put into legacy I was a bit worried to see how this list would hold up. I foresee that it will really struggle with taking out banners, which is oh so important with the current 6 scenario’s. Like mentioned before, this might change to a minor inconvenience when the other 18 scenario’s are released.

Oh yeah, the black shield captain and Moria goblin shaman also can’t be taken. They both felt kind of pointless in this army list anyway. On second thought, now that the Balrog’s Goblin mastery is reduced to 6″ the Moria goblin shaman might have had a place in Depths of Moria, oh well.

Warriors:

Let’s start with the horde. Not much to say, they might now be the best spam troop in the game since they are still only 4pts, 5 with a war gear option, which you must take. They can choose from a shield, spear, or bow and can only take 1 of these options now. There is no way I’m ripping all the shields from my spear dudes, but it’s pretty clear that if they have a spear then they can’t have a shield anyway so they are not carrying it. I’m not gonna fuss too much over it. The local Dutch community is also very nice so I don’t think it will be too much of a problem.

But enough about that, these warrior still hold up great and they are so convenient to build a list with now. A captain with full warband now comes in at exactly 100pts (crisp), and the list practically builds itself. All in all, the Moria goblins did not change much and did not need to. They also have an intelligence value of 8+, which was to be expected.

They also have a cave troll! To summarize, this handsome fellow lost Burly, gained +1 to his shoot value and now has a baked in troll chain. He is still 75 points so it’s a bit of a trade of. He also does not come standard with a spear anymore, you now have a choice for a Troll spear (5pts) and a hand-and-a-half hammer (5pts). In the old edition, you took the hammer without a second thought, but now that the guy does not have burly anymore, you might want to reconsider.

The hammer is still just that, a hammer. Still not a bad option, especially with the changes to two-handed weapons. The Troll spear makes your to wound rolls of a natural 6 count for the double. Note that this still only counts if the wounds are not prevented in any way. Both options have the potential to make your cave troll killier in very different ways. If you would ask me which one is better, I really would not have an answer for you, which I think is great! I think the game only becomes more fun when there is no “right” choice, and everything can be viable depending on the situation you use it in.

It’s a shame to say, but just like in the last edition, I don’t see this guy getting much use in this army list. He just simply does not synergize at all and for 75 points I would rather take 15 goblins.

And that’s about it…. The list certainly feels empty. No drum, no blackshields, no ever important and amazing prowlers. The lack of unit options might be fixed with the upcoming Armies of Middle-Earth book. We will just have to see and wait.

Army list ideas:

A list I considered taking to a 500pts event. Yes it has almost no might, but you get to take a Balrog at 500 and still push 24 models, not bad. Also I was expecting a lot of eagles (and I was right), and the Balrog has a realistic shot at taking that list down. This is just to show you that, even on low points, you can still consider taking the Balrog.

Goblins goblins goblins… 45 Models at 650! Here you can really see the value of the humble goblin. 4pts (5 with war gear) when most other warrior models in the game, and the horses of heroes, got more expensive, is simply amazing. Plenty of lists “struggle” with model count now, but this one held up firmly.

I gave the captains bows because I had the points lying around with maxed warbands. Though if you wanted, you could just drop the bows on the captains and 6 goblins to put in another captain. Might be a good idea because of…. well, might and I think this to be the stronger list. You want enough might to be able to call moves and get your Balrog where he needs to be, even in the late game. I simply wanted to show the insane model count you could get too at these point levels. I also took some honesty bows, which feel even more powerful in this edition. Being able to potentially snipe 20pts worth of horse from under a big hero is a chance I don’t want to pass up on.

Just to show how much you would need to drop to put a Watcher in. Don’t get me wrong, the watcher is still amazing, I just don’t see him working well in this list. You would have to get up to a 1000pts to make him work I feel like. With goblins your really want to spam and overwhelm your opponent, otherwise they won’t do much, and with a 200pts point sink, I just don’t see that happening.

Conclusion:

In our local community there was an uproar when all the new army lists where released/leaked. Lists were getting called broken or useless left and right. This was one of the lists which people believed would break the game. I am not one of those people. Although the list is definitely strong, it seems to have lost more than it gained, only ever so slightly. It always used to be a very scenario dependent and swingy list and still looks like it is. That’s why I think it will do very well in some scenario’s and very poorly in others, just like before. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to putting it on the tabletop again!

Let me know if the comments what you think about Depths of Moria!