This boxed set contains a plastic War Mumak of Harad, 12 Warriors of Harad (6 with bows and 6 with spear) and 1 Mûmak Champion. Main article: Tolkien and race Tolkien related the Haradrim's mûmakil in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to Pyrrhus of Epirus's war elephants in his invasion of Ancient Rome, as depicted here in an 1896 book by Helene Guerber. [6]

Weakness #1: A low model count (and by "low," I mean " loooooooow"). Having been experimenting a lot recently with the Grey Company, let me caveat this by saying that all-hero armies will have lower counts because (a) there's no option for them to add a few cheap bodies here and there, and (b) most all-hero armies don't have unnamed hero options, so at some point, the list ceases to grow any more. With this legion, you do at least have the option to pad your numbers a bit: you're probably looking at 10-12 Haradrim Warriors with bows anyway, which means even at 500 points on the Mumak War Leader, you're probably looking at 12-14 models at a minimum, which is more than, say, the Broken Fellowship legion will have at that points level, and probably in the same ballpark as elite Hero-Warrior legions like The Return of the King(don't let that fool you, though; both of those legions are reallybadmatch-ups for this one, especially at low points levels). southward lay the Ethiop's land, parched hill-slopes and a race burned brown by the heat of the sun." More troubling, if we do have to send a rider off to do objective capturing or to run off the board edge, that's a much riskier proposition without a second hero to help them out. Yes, 8 Serpent Riders can probably cut through most infantry ranks at 600 if the conditions are right. But the absence of a mounted hero anda banner means the conditions have to be right (no losing priority, no botched duel rolls, and no enemy hero with Might in the section of the line we plan to charge). It can still work, but our margin for error has shrunk quite a bit. Strength: Army Bonus. We've hit on this already, but it bears repeating. A 50% bow limit on an army that can take cheap foot/mounted bows is phenomenal. A special rule granting your core warriors (Haradrim Warriors and Raiders) poison on all their weapons, in an army where poison can mean rerolling all failed to-wound rolls, is also phenomenal. Having them both together: extra-phenomenal. Some army bonuses you can live with, but this one, I think you try to take every time. a b Lee, Stuart; Solopova, Elizabeth (2016). "Völuspá". The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien. Palgrave Macmillan. pp.66–67. ISBN 978-1-137-45470-6.Mahud Raiders. Mahud Warriors with blowpipes can kite most infantry pretty easily, but they'll have trouble with fast-moving cavalry with bows (aka, Rohan or mounted Rivendell). If they're posing trouble for you, you'll want to give your warriors their own war camels. This does two things for you. First, it allows you to skirmish with infantry even easier: instead of 3"/5" moves plus 12" blowpipes with 4+ shoot (depending on whether you called a Heroic March), you now have 5"/7.5" moves plus 12" blowpipes with 4+ shoot, which makes you nigh uncatchable. Second, it makes it much easier to skirmish with enemy cavalry archers, especially if they win priority (plus you'll have poisoned blowpipes to reroll 1s to wound, great against enemy horses in particular). Third, if you catch the enemy's horses and are able to charge them, your own cavalry do Strength 4 impact hits (which, for almost all mounted cavalry archers, means a 4+ to wound the horse, before we get to the rider). If the mount (or rider) survives, you have a Strength 4 warrior with a war spear (4+ to wound Defense 5-6, 3+ to wound Defense 3-4), which is fantastic. Just make sure they have banner support (or help from friendly Serpent Riders, or preferably both) to help them win as many fights as possible. Iron Crown Enterprises produced a series of books for their tabletop roleplaying game Middle-earth Role Playing containing information about Harad and content allowing games to be set there. Key publications included the setting books Umbar: Haven of the Corsairs (1982), [36] Far Harad (1988), [37] and Greater Harad (1990), [38] as well as the adventure books Warlords of the Desert (1989), [39] Forest of Tears (1989), [40] and Hazards of the Harad Wood (1990). [41] Games Workshop have produced miniatures and rules relating to Harad for use in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, including for mumakil and Corsairs of Umbar. [42] [43] See also [ edit ] Rorie, Matthew (17 July 2006). "The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Walkthrough". Gamespot. Weakness: Low defense. With all that emphasis on killing power, I guess something had to give (don't tell that to Iron Hills Dwarves, though). Apart from a few heroes, the Serpent Horde caps out at Defense 4 (or Defense 3 on your Watchers of Karna). That's usually okay in the fight phase (Strength 3 models usually still need 5s to wound you, and you still have average-to-above-average Fight value to win combats), but it can make impact hits in the move phase (Khand, Iron Hills, Far Mahud) and prolonged shooting wars (against crossbows in particular) bloody affairs. Speaking of which... The model encourages you and your opponent to think carefully about the placement of not just individual troops, but the whole army. Having a Mumak in the game is like no other. It is a powerful creature with exciting rules that make for a great game. Plus it looks amazing on the gaming board, being the biggest of all miniatures in MESBG. It looks so good that its always tempting to get more…

Wow! What a sight to behold! The War Mumak of the Haradrim is the largest model in the whole of Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. It is truly the most impressive. I brought one of these when I was 13 and adored making it. It’s still a very special model to me today, 17 years later. I brought another very recently. The process is just as fun and I enjoy having another model that I will likely keep and love for many years. Unboxing & Component Quality Rappelling Lines: One of the coolest and most cinematic options available to your War Mûmak, this upgrade allows those in the howdah to disembark and help out in combat, or capture objectives in matched play games. One of my favourite things to do with Rappelling Lines is to place a few Half Trolls of Far Harad in the howdah, then have them drop down and swing into action! Weakness #7: Low points levels are just a struggle, period. For all the above reasons. Tiberius makes a valiant effort at a 500 point list for this legion at the end of this post (and I've built a few at 600), but at the risk of stating the obvious: with a 375-400 point legion tax, playing this legion at anything under 500 points is going to be... well, probably not competitive. In-game, the Mumak does as much damage as you would expect a giant elephant to do. It’s a steamroller! Get it running in the direction of enemy warriors and it can trample them in the Move Phase. It is particularly good for dismounting cavalry units. It can then fight off more determined enemies in the Fight Phases. Your 12 Haradrim Warriors can also shoot your opponent from cover. This moving platform also allows you to sneakily shoot into combat. You might be the Evil side, but you wouldn’t hurt your high defence Elephant! With 12 shots, you are also dealing oppressive damage in the Shoot Phase too. Basically all Phases of the game deal significant damage.

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Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 519647821. Going the Mumak War Leader route actually presents more challenges for building a "complete" list, because (1) he has no banner, and (2) because he's just a single hero, you're looking at just 3 Might if he's your only hero option (and to be perfectly frank, at 600 points or under, it's very hard to swallow taking a second hero). Yes, you can make him work ( Imposing Presencedefinitely helps), but at low points levels, I'm not sure he's the play. Anyway, here's what I came up with, so you can decide: That said, there are problems here, too, starting with just 3 Might in the list. At 600 points, most standard enemy armies will have 3 heroes (so 7-9 Might), and even elite armies probably have at least 2 (who are probably bigger, 3 Might heroes). Yes, Imposing Presencemeans your Mumak may still get to move first. But your cavalry are unlikely to benefit from the War Leader's Heroic Moves (if they can benefit from them at all), and without any other Might on the table to power them, they'll be at the mercy of your priority rolling skills unless your War Leader can do some real magic.