Okay, so we come to the Eastern Kingdoms. Since I have no experience with Khand, I will be talking about Rhun exclusively, which I think is decidedly the better force. While with Harad and Umbar I talked just about which troops are good, I will go a little more in-depth into the actual composition of what IMO, is a good Easterling force.

Easterlings are a very maligned list in SBG. This is not readily apparent; their heroes look okay, they get a Nazgul and solid Def 6 troops. So why is this one of the least competative and I think difficult to use lists in the game?

THE CONS OF EASTERLINGS

The problem with Easterlings is they are very un-meta. While they are balanced point-wise, they have a bad combination of stats which leads to a weak profile.

Take, for example, the standard Easterling Warrior. While he is costed as he should be, his Fight 3 means he is neither an effective hoard troop nor high enough to be an elite. Likewise, his average courage means Fury is more wasted than on a courage 2 troop, but not high enough to guarantee he passes important tests. This, compounded with Strength 3 means he is also not a good shock troop.

This is the exact problem with Easterlings- they do not excell at anything. While being all around solid is handy, the most effective lists rely on troops who are great at one particular thing. The men of Rhun cannot hoard as effectively as Gondor, shoot as well as Harad, fight as well as Elves of wound as well as Uruk Hai. As a result, every army they face with outnumber, outshoot, outfight or outwound them. They are stuck in a limbo of mediocrity.

The heroes are similar. They lack truly solid heroes defensively, (a shield captain comes close, but still not quite there), they have no 3/3/3/3/3 hero (Amdur and the Dragon Knight can come close, though) and their Wraith is one of the hardest to use effectively.

So basically, Easterlings suck. Well, not exactly. There are a couple of tricks up this lists' scale-armored sleeves.

More later...

They have a 50% bow limit. Though, in all honesty, I have not been able to use it to great effect. I find they work best at a lower point game (no more than 500) and if you do play in a larger point game, they should be an ally, not the main show.

That being said, as you mentioned, no one plays Khand. I am willing to bet if Khand were used with Easterlings they would perform better. The chariot is pretty sweet, and the Khand king has a decent profile to boot.

I don't think you're being fair to Easterlings. They're not as forgiving an army as, say, Isengard, but they're not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

Every Easterling warrior is either FV4 or has the option of being FV4, that's a pretty big deal. As any Dol Amroth player will tell you, FV4 S3 pikeblocks will not struggle to get kills, even against D6+

If you don't want to play a pikeblock, that's fine. You have access to cheap and effective cavalry in Khandish Horsemen and can harass your opponent with them quite nicely.

As for the heroes, Khamul is my favourite Ringwraith to use on a Fell Beast, and I find him to have the best longevity out of any of them if you use him well. Otherwise, you have two FV6 heroes with Elven Blades (very good) and a basic Captain with Elven Blade (also very good). You also have the option of S6 heroes for a few turns (thanks to the War Priest), which can be absolutely massive.

Like any other army, use it well and it will be successful. Use it poorly and it will, as you said, suck.

There is also fury, but that was already mentioned

I partly agree with the original post. More detailed info if anyone wants, you can get in this video:

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I like to use Easterlings as a counter-cavalry. In good vs evil (which is the way the game is played over here) most good cavalry has either F4 and/or lances. When upgraded, the Easterling Cavalry is still a cheap option compared to others and allows to put F4 into the fight and removing bonuses. Plus, they all have armored horses, making them slighty harder to kill.
The Khandish King on Chariot is expecially good at this, since not only he removes other's, but keeps his own bonuses and has a Fight Value high enough to put the fear of Morgoth into those annoying Rivendell Knights. A normal chariot is, however, almost certainly a point sink, seeing how easy it is to kill the rider, either by bow or strikes.


Easterling have a 50% bow limits but, honestly, they are hardly a threat. While harad may bother you with 3+ bows and poison arrows, Easterlings archers are just average. And since their defence drops from 6 to 5, they are easy to kill.

Amdur is good but, when compared to other heroes in his points range, he appears to be lacking. His biggest sin is that he is not very durable. With only 2 wounds and D6 you are pretty much guaranteed that he will be the target of your opponent's archery, being easier to kill than a captain with shield. He has a rule that allows him to regain might when striking the killing blow against a hero, but let's face it...everything above a standard captain on foot will probably be a problem for this guy.

I just like their appearance

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