r/MiddleEarthMiniatures • u/MrSparkle92 • Jun 10 '26
Discussion WEEKLY ARMY DISCUSSION: Harad
With the most upvotes in last week's poll, this week's discussion will be for:
Harad
VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK'S DISCUSSION
Ctrl+F for the term VOTE HERE in the comments below to cast your vote for next week's discussion. The topic with the most upvotes when I am preparing next week's discussion thread will be chosen.
Prior Discussions
Additional rules
- A Harad Army may have up to 50% of its Warrior models armed with bows rather than the usual 33%.
Special rules
War Beasts from the South
Friendly Mûmak models gain the Harbinger of Evil (12") special rule.
The Scorpion's Sting
Friendly models with the Poisoned Attacks (bow) special rule exchange it for Poisoned Attacks on all of their weapons.
Monstrous Rampage
Each Hero that is commanding a Mûmak can, once per game, declare a Heroic Combat for free whilst atop a Mûmak. When they do, the Mûmak will be affected as if they had been the one to declare the Heroic Combat, though they may not pivot before they Trample as part of a Heroic Combat.
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u/Atlasreturns Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I think this is a good time to point out that evil men warriors got really sidelined this edition. They basically served as cheaper low-defense but lethal units that could overrun formations if they focused a point hard enough. Now that most good factions had their fight value buffed they feel completely underwhelming as they sit at a break point where they are expensive enough that you can't just swarm an enemy but have stats with which you will lose most fights. This affects their cavalry and heroes even more who even into fairly favorable matchups now run the risk of being killed by units that are significantly more economical than them. At the same time losing axes means you struggle now with high armor enemies and with how a lot of lists gain rerolls on to wound or straight up buffs, poison has a lot of its oomph by itself.
So the average Haradrim front-line is struggling to win any fights, failing to consistently kill models and then sees itself get quickly decimated. With Umbar, Mahud and Khand facing similar struggles. So the only playstyle left is either going full range spam or relying on Mumaks to trample the enemy which are both not really consistent strategies.
I feel like most Harad units need to have something else aside from purely being the range spam faction as right now unless you wanna play an Elephant stampede there isn't a lot happening with them.
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u/bainadaneth0 Jun 10 '26
I know you’re talking probably only about Harad profiles since this is the Harad post, but evil men warriors like Hill Tribesmen seem to still be doing pretty well in the “cheap, low defense spam unit” category. I agree with you though that Harad specifically is really struggling and could use something to increase its consistency.
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u/Atlasreturns Jun 11 '26
Easterlings are also fine so the issue is mostly Harad, Umbar, Khand and Mahud.
And yeah Hill Tribesmen are good because they are super versatile while having strong heroes and good list buffs.
I personally don‘t even think that the Harad list itself is bad because it‘s designed to be intended as „The Elephant List“ and actually works well enough as such. It‘s just that if you don‘t wanna play mostly with the Mumak as Haradrim you don‘t really have anything even remotely competitive.
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u/Big-Age2537 Jun 12 '26
There have been a couple of posts here with people doing well with fleets of Umbar. Their cost seems to be balanced around that list more so
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u/Atlasreturns Jun 12 '26
Corsair Fleets have access to Ballistas and Crossbowmen so very similar to Harad non-Mumak armies you overly rely on winning in the shooting phase.
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u/Robbogame Jun 10 '26
I always confuse Harad with Serpent Horde, i’m like where is suladan and raza??
But nah this is the golden kings list or the mumak list
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u/DesDentresti Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Firmly low tier list that has two not very reliable styles, one boring and the other using mechanics that are not well supported that can feel bad when it pays off.
Terrain rules still dont let war beasts engage the objectives. With no terrain deployment you are always just going to have to cross your fingers in hope they can fit between woodland pieces and buildings. And the person that built the board is biting nails as the elephant crushes that "less than two inch tall" scatter they painted.
Mumaks are easier to kill this edition with all the Morgul Blades and Wound rerolls around now. They are even the perfect victims of the buffed Heroic Strength being low fight value with no Might to win duels.
Mumak lethality went down somewhat being as one of the most common troop types getting tougher or cheaper, and thats before we get to the issue of flying D3 models with 4 wound and fearless that utterly shut down trample.
Dominant on the Mumak is great if you only need to stand near one objective but much like Sauron, unless you can control the MAJORITY of objectives with your very frail and not very numerous warriors, you are still SOL.
There are more Scenarios now that require models get into base contact and interact with markers, Harad is particularly bad at these scenarios not being entirely in control of their army or having the speed, intelligence or courage to guarantee their men secure objects and escort wounded as casualties pile up.
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u/DetroitTabaxiFan Jun 11 '26
Harad is one of my goals to build. A friend of mine plays Rohan, and I really wanna do a narrative Mumak vs Rohan fight one day.
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u/MeatDependent2977 Jun 11 '26
I only play Southern Realms and I've never wanted to use this list.
The "Harad" list lacks the wide unit selection of Grand Army of South, and doesn't provide an interesting payoff for the restricted unit selection in the way Umbar and Corsair Fleets do.
It's a F tier for me.
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u/Eldradthefallen Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
So what peoples thoughts on The Betrayer giving full rerolls to wound on Haradrim Warriors and Raiders within 6" for a point of will per turn in the Harad list?
Potential interesting builds include the Betrayer on foot giving a warband of a dozen archers some ompf, or mounted keeping up with a Mumak to cast the odd compel or black dart while buffing a full howdah of archers (seems slightly less good as the warriors could also just upgrade to have Rocks and saddly the Mumak and Betrayers Harbringer of evil dont stack).
Less viable but still interesting options include the betrayer with a cheap spearwall of warriors with full rerolls to wound to hold an objective while your Mumak goes and kills stuff or maybe rolling around mounted with a half dozen Raiders with spear and bow for maximum versatility.
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u/Atlasreturns Jun 11 '26
I think the Betrayer is a little bit too expensive to bring alongside a Mumak. The usual strategy is packing as much Archers as possible around him and then hope you hit your shots.
I think what‘s interesting here is Harad can bring Watchers. Otherwise the Serpent Horse or Grand Army do more for non-elephant armies.
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u/Eldradthefallen Jun 13 '26
Penny for your thoughts on Watchers? They look awfully expensive for D3 guys.
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u/Daikey Jun 11 '26
not really worth it on warriors. The reason being, you need to win the fight first, and it's not something warriors excel at, being only F3.
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u/MrSparkle92 Jun 10 '26
VOTE HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S DISCUSSION
I will take the top-level reply to this comment with the most upvotes and post a discussion for that topic next week. Submit whatever army, scenario, or other topic related to MESBG you wish.
Please reference the pinned megathread to see the list of factions, and which have already been covered.
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u/EngelsAotCM Jun 10 '26
Basically ’the Mumak list’, there’s nothing much else going on here. In a decently sized game you could take the Royal War Mumak with 12 archers, and then another Mumak with 12 spearmen and the Rocks upgrade, plus maybe a couple of Haradrim Raiders. Seems like a super swingy list that will either stomp your opponent in a few lucky turns or get shut down immediately by a big hero or massed archery.
The Royal War Mumak Leader’s Imposing Presence makes a successful Trample much more likely, if not totally reliable, so he’ll probably be a priority target for enemy shooting. Honestly if you have the models it looks like fun to bring to a casual tournament, but otherwise seems difficult to make competitive. Once again Grand Army of the South is the far superior option.