“NAZGÛL TACTICA

As an Evil player it is always worth

Considering including a Nazgûl in

Your force. They are simply too

Valuable and versatile to overlook. I’m

Convinced of that fact, because I use them

And do well with them myself. What better

endorsement can there be?

So, what makes them so good? What

makes them so versatile? Well – I’ll show

you! Behold my four-fold principles of

Ringwraith warfare – Dominate, Destroy,

Terrify and Command.

Dominate

This is all about making the enemy do

what you want, and just as importantly

stopping him doing what he wants. In a

nutshell, your Nazgûl has the power to

force enemy Heroes out of the game

completely – often in a very fast and brutal

way. The best examples of this are Transfix

and Compel. These two magical powers,

which are both relatively easy to cast, both

have the effect of preventing an enemy

Hero from further action that turn, as well

as rendering him almost useless in a

fight. It doesn’t matter who you are –

you’re going to get hurt badly when

you’re surrounded by Orcs intent on

clubbing you to death with twohanded

weapons and you’re only

rolling one dice (with a Fight value

of 1) in combat.

Dominate stretches further than just

helping you kill Heroes in combat though.

It also covers tactics such as forcing Banner

Bearers away from the models they are

supporting, dragging models off of

objectives and even preventing Heroes

from making Stand Fast! tests.

In terms of magical chicanery, the

Undying stands supreme – 20 Will points

and the ability to recover them so easily,

sits the Undying at the top of the

“Dominate” list.

Destroy

Oh the fun of it all. “Destroy” is simple

and effective: select a target, say “I am

casting Black Dart” and roll some dice (I

recommend three). Job’s a good ‘un. Of

course, there’s a little more to it than that,

and in fact there can be quite a lot of

finesse involved in using your Nazgûl to

destroy effectively. Choosing the right

target is the first, and most important step.

Use Black Dart against Banner Bearers,

models with high Defence, models that are

defending key areas of the battlefield, and

to whittle down enemy Heroes. Once

you’ve cast the power, make sure it works.

Generally you’ll only need a 3+ to wound

your target, so if you fail to wound

consider using a Might point to ensure

success. There’s nothing worse than

wasting 3 Will points to cast a spell and

then failing to wound. The other warning

I’d apply to this power is that it drains your

Nazgûl quickly, so use it when it’s going to

make a significant difference to the

outcome of the battle, but don’t just cast it

willy-nilly, or you’ll lose your Ringwraith.

Instead, stick your Nazgûl on a Fell

Beast, pairing your Nazgûl’s magical

prowess with the destructive power of a

big, flappy killing machine. Because

Nazgûl cause Terror and have the

Harbinger of Evil special rule, they’re very

hard to counter charge, so throw them into

the heart of the enemy force, singling out

the finest enemy warriors and Heroes.

Transfix your target on the way in and

smash them to pieces in combat. Excellent.

The Witch-king of Angmar is clearly the

baddest, most combat-focused Nazgûl on

the block, although the Dark Marshal and

Khamûl are both hot on his heels.

Terrify

Yes, we all know that Nazgûl cause Terror,

and I imagine we’re all aware of the effects

of Harbinger of Evil… but it’s the long term

consequences of those powers that will

serve us best. Consider, for example, how

hard it is for an enemy force that has

broken to make Courage tests with a

Nazgûl on the scene. What about enemy

models trying to get onto an objective

when there’s a massive Fell Beast blocking

their path – the Terror test combined with

the Courage penalty for Harbinger of Evil

can stop most models in their tracks.

Then, if all that isn’t enough, you can

really get to work at depleting an enemy’s

resolve with the Drain Courage power. On

the face of it this is such an unimpressive

power that most players (myself included)

won’t bother spending any Will points to

resist it. It’s a rather different story when

your force breaks and suddenly your

bravest model finds himself with a Courage

value of only 3 or 4.

The Tainted is especially good at this

little trick. If your enemy is broken, and the

Tainted is in amongst their formation,

they’re in very, very big trouble.

Command

With a minimum Courage of 5 and a

bucketful of Will points, the Nazgûl are not

likely to fail many Courage tests, and that

is why they are the perfect leaders for an

Evil (especially a Mordor) army. When your

Ringwraith finds himself running low on

Will points pull out of the fighting and take

up a position close in the heart of your

army, preferably with a screen of Orcs

between you and the enemy. It’s not rocket

science, but it’s really, really handy to have

a Nazgûl calling the shots when your army

is hard-pressed.

Obviously, this is not a tactic you can

rely on with the Tainted – but all of the

other Nazgûl are great at it.”