Men of the East- Middle-earth Easterlings Tactica

For what is the last of my current Middle-earth tacticas I'm now covering the last of the armies I own and play- the Easterlings. The gleaming horde aren't the strongest army around but they certainly are nice looking and fun to play with a very unique playstyle sitting somewhere in between Gondor and Isengard without the shooting strengths of either army. They're also unique in Evil in that their magic outside of standard Nazgul magic is entirely buff-based and can turn the targets into killing machines.



Army Rules
The regular army rules for the Easterlings are interesting and slightly disappointing in that none of them trigger until the game is as good as over. Your Easterling models get +1 to their courage after they break meaning they're harder to run away and also more likely to pass Terror once they're broken. Ideally you won't break and can't benefit from this (and with Easterling special rules they're hopefully surviving easier) but they do also always get to choose to reroll the dice to end a game once per game should it end sooner than they want. This has recently been errataed to only work if 25% of the army is from the Easterling list (something which was a bit of an odd decision IMO but obviously necessary) although if you're playing themed lists this is likely to have not been an issue anyway.

Models

Khamul the Easterling- Like all the other armies of the Fallen Realms the Easterlings get a named Nazgul, but with the special fact that Khamul is one of only 2 wraiths to have been a character from the books (alongside the Witch-King). Although his stats are the same as the majority of the named Nazgul, except for his lower end Will as a combat wraith, he has some great rules to help him out with what he wants to be doing. Although he has none of the Easterling standard rules, he does have Harbinger of Evil, Terror and Will of Evil like the other Nazgul which makes him harder to charge but at the penalty of his own Will points if he is involved in fights and once he loses all 12 Will he dies. He does however have Essence Leech which regains his Will for every wound he deals and lets him spend a point of Will to increase his Attacks, Fight or Strength by 1 but cannot be used on mount stats. This is only relevant on the Fell Beast (as only the Fell Beast's strength is higher than any of Khamul's stats) but in any case is still useful because it can get him up to Fight 6 or 2 attacks before charge bonuses or Heroic Strike (which he does also have). The best method of using him in his best build is on a Fell Beast (as opposed to with armour or either kind of horse) because it gives him increased movement, Fly and access to monster special attacks plus the Fell Beast's Strength of 6 in addition to Essence Leech. Even if he does lose a fight he is still difficult to wound at Defence 8, and also has some good magic to mess with an opponent even if it is a lot less reliable than other Nazgul. His best spells are Transfix (on a 4+) and Compel (on a 5+) but his spells tend to be on the harder side to cast compared to his fellow ringwraiths and some of them are just not worth casting (Black Dart especially) or very situational. Because of this I would use his magic sparingly in situations it wins you fights quite easily and will get you Will points back anyway. Last thing of note is that he has Heroic Channeling (obviously for his magic) and Heroic Challenge which can come in handy when they need to. 

Amdur, The Lord of Blades- The un-subtle named hero of the list, Amdur is a pure combat beatstick through and through. He has a very good heroic statline but the most important ones are his Fight 6, 3 attacks and 3 wounds so he is a pretty great combat model. Otherwise he has fairly standard rules for an Easterling in Phalanx and Gleaming Horde, plus Unyielding Combat Stance to ignore being Knocked Down on a 4+ (not always relevant but still really nice) and Blood and Glory to regain Might when he kills heroes which is really nice considering he has a great package to win fights. Fight 6 and 3 attacks is just the start, but his weapon is also Elven-Made to help him win draws and he is counted as a banner for all Easterling models (including himself) so he will always benefit from the reroll in duels, and he has the always-good Heroic Strike and Heroic Challenge for more niche situations. In addition, if enemies declare Heroic Strike against him, he may also immediately declare it without spending Might meaning he can get a certain degree more versatility in fighting enemy heroes. As this is his main role, he gets the extra bonus of not only regaining Might if he kills the enemy leader via Blood and Glory but he also gets to increase the range of his banner effect to 6” which is a huge bonus to the army. He is best used on a horse for obvious reasons (extra damage and increased banner effect from bigger base) but otherwise he is a really great option to take in your army.

Easterling Captain- The baseline hero of an Easterling army, they are also the cheapest heroes available at 50 points. They come with a hand and a half axe (great because it's one of the few easy ways to crack armour in Easterlings) and heavy armour, plus the Phalanx and Gleaming Horde rules which I will discuss more below with the Warriors and Kataphrakts. Their armoured horse upgrade comes with losing the glaive and replacing it with a sword so is a loss in reliability for mount bonuses, but still worth taking. The shield upgrade makes them D7, possibly 8 mounted and as such is somewhat useful, but the 5 point bow isn't so great. Their stats are fine for a Captain and won't disappoint for their cost, but they're mainly a cheap way to bring in good amounts of troops and get access to Heroic March.

Easterling Dragon Knight- A generic combat hero, Dragon Knights are really efficient blenders for their cost. In effect Captains that replace access to troops and March for pure combat power, the Dragon Knights also have a big downside in that they are Minor Heroes and can only have warbands of Black Dragons so require heavy investment to take regular warbands outside of them. That said they are very good fighters for their cost with Fight 5, Heroic Strike and 2 Might (although they also have no Will or Fate so are prone to being one shot or shut down by magic) while packing Blood and Glory and Unyielding Combat Stance like Amdur with all that entails. They can benefit from the Shielding rule even without shields, but with 3 attacks and a decent fight value they probably won't need it too much. They pay a premium for an armoured horse at 15 points, but it makes them so much better so it is something I would almost always take. 

Easterling War Priest- These are the heroes I would never leave home without. Although the mounted model is incredibly rare and expensive, for 75 points as a Hero of Fortitude you get good value out of it already. Unlike Captains or Dragon Knights getting bonus attacks and defence, they are basically 2 wound Warriors with 1 Might, 1 Fate and 3 Will. Their only Heroic Action is Channeling which obviously leads into their magic, and their role to either buff the army around him to pass all courage tests (Fury on 3+, or the channelled version for an extra save) or to pick one specific model and give them a great strength boost (Bladewrath on a 2+). The Easterling Battle Stave carried by War Priests are pretty great weapons too counting as your choice of either a spear or a two-handed axe which like the Captain lets you pierce armour if you need to (not that you should with a War Priest). Their biggest downside is not having Shieldwall or Phalanx which means they are more vulnerable than the rest of the army but as a backline support caster that isn't huge anyway as they won't be wanting to be on the front lines. 

Easterling Warrior- the army’s core, Easterling Warriors are based solely around being the most efficient pike block in the game (that isn’t to say most consistent, that belongs to Uruks). They have the Phalanx rule which lets them benefit from both shield and pike which is excellent, and they also back away in 3 ranks instead of 2 which means you can double support and not get trapped. These together mean Warriors should pretty much always be running in 3-deep formations (I prefer sword/shield, pike/shield, Black Dragon/pike/shield as my ranks) and it looks really good on the table too. They have fairly average stats overall (they’re basically evil WoMT and Fight 3 especially hurts) but they can benefit from a lot of buffs across the army particularly from War Priests, banners and drums.

Easterling Kataphrakt- The cavalry option for Easterlings, they have a few quite amusing tricks but ultimately are very low output when it comes to damage. The same statline as a Warrior with shield but mounted (including Phalanx which really only helps them backing away) plus they get a horse and the Gleaming Horde rule for 6 points extra (1 for Gleaming Horde, 5 for horse). Gleaming Horde is a pretty neat rule because it gives them the bonuses of Shieldwall while mounted and it affects the horse too which is a great way to protect them from shooting, plus it even benefits heroes with Gleaming Horde while they don't have shields. It means you very often if not always want to run a couple Kataphrakts at minimum just to give Shieldwall to your mounted heroes for the added protection it gives. Their stats are not great for shock cavalry and as such are much better used for flanking forces or objective grabbers, as with their stats they will not reliably be wounding much even if they win fights and get knock down bonuses. They do have great wargear options though in the War Drum and Banner which are great support pieces I would never go without in armies 500 points or higher (although from about 500-700 the Banner isn't mandatory if you run Amdur). The drum gives you options for some insanely high movement speeds in the army (just not charging) as with a Heroic March you can hit up to 20" movements on the Kataphrakts, 11" on the foot troops and 22" on Khamul if he is on his Fell Beast. The ability to completely dictate engagement from this is a really good boost to the army for pretty cheap. 

Black Dragon upgrade- both Warriors and Kataphrakts can take this upgrade, which for 2 points per model gives them +1 to their fight and courage values. The courage bonus is largely irrelevant given the other bonuses Easterlings have, and 2PPM is expensive for +1 fight, but in the pike block it does the job well. Think of it like a bow where you only need to give it to 1/3 of the formation, but everyone can benefit and the Black Dragon can sit safely at the back giving his benefits. On Kataphrakts it’s a bit different because there’s no support, but it’s still a decent option to get around their fight 3 and attempt to mitigate their weaknesses on the combat front (average fight and strength). 

Example Lists
In all of the examples at every points level below I will mention an Amdur option and a Khamul option, as I think the 2 shouldn't be seen together until at least 600-700 points, and then at 750 a list with Amdur only and a list with both. I don't think either option is necessarily better than the other because they both bring very good things to the table, but they do require very different uses

400

Amdur

Amdur, Lord of Blades

-Armoured Horse

Warband

5 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

This list is a fairly no-nonsense pike block with Amdur as a beatstick and the War Priest for support. Simple, effective combat list that at this points level you don't necessarily have the big weaknesses of the Easterlings in wounding models (as there won't be a huge amount of higher defence models so you can probably just out-dice them) 

Khamul

Khamul the Easterling

-Armoured Horse

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Warrior

-Banner

-Shield

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Same as the last list, but with Khamul so you have magic control and shutdown instead of all out fighting. Everything still works the same otherwise, just with more magic to hit the opponent with to shut off any bigger hero that they have until you can deal with them.  

500

Amdur

Amdur, Lord of Blades

-Armoured Horse

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

5 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

2 Easterling Kataphrakts

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

Same idea as the 400 point list, just using the extra points to fill warbands out. It has a bit more cavalry and a War Drum to go with the phalanx this time so it can be a bit more all-rounded in its approach.

Khamul

Khamul the Easterling

-Fell Beast

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

5 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

Easterling Kataphrakt

-Banner

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Like all the other point levels taking Khamul over Amdur hits the model count, but in this case you have a magic using hero that is a decent fighter and also on a Fell Beast backed up by some fairly consistent troops and a great support hero.

 600

Amdur

Amdur, Lord of Blades

-Armoured Horse

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

2 Easterling Kataphrakts

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

Easterling Captain

-Armoured Horse and Sword

Warband

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

2 Easterling Kataphrakts

Adding in an extra warband over the 500 point list, this one again does the same job just with a Captain. The potential for Heroic March+War Drum combos as well lets you move very quickly up the table and threaten objectives a lot sooner so you can dictate your terms to the opponent. 

Khamul

Khamul the Easterling

-Fell Beast

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

5 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

Easterling Kataphrakt

-Banner

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Dragon Knight

-Armoured Horse

Only slightly changing the 500 point list, this focuses on increasing the model count in your warbands and then adding a good mounted combat hero in the Dragon Knight to help you fight out other enemy heroes where needed (especially with Bladewrath). It’s a grinder list that focuses on heroes, but that’s almost any Easterling list. 

750

Amdur

Amdur, Lord of Blades

-Armoured Horse

Warband

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

Easterling Kataphrakt

-Banner

4 Easterling Kataphrakts

Easterling Captain

-Armoured Horse and Sword

Warband

2 Easterling Kataphrakts

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Captain

-Armoured Horse and Sword

Warband

2 Easterling Kataphrakts

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Other than the magic from the Priest this list can be handwaved as a fairly historical list which is great fun, and using historical tactics in it is the way to go. It's a fairly good pike block led by some great combat models and it has good support (2 banners and the Priest) so you should be able to get work done with it even with their traditional lack of armour piercing. It all moves very quickly, so put it up to objectives before your opponent and play the defence game. 

Khamul

Amdur, Lord of Blades

-Armoured Horse

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Kataphrakt

-War Drum

4 Easterling Kataphrakts

Easterling War Priest

-Armoured Horse

Warband

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

2 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Khamul the Easterling

-Fell Beast

Warband

4 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

3 Easterling Warriors

-Shield

-Pike

-Black Dragon

Easterling Warrior

-Banner

-Shield

Like all the other list variations, lowering the model count for Khamul adds some offensive magic at the expense of versatility through Captains and the extra models. This list does bring the Fell Beast though to make Khamul a real threat and alongside Amdur can take out any high level hero between them. The other 750 point list is overall a lot better, but getting in Khamul with your pike blocks and Amdur is still a good thing.