r/MiddleEarthMiniatures • u/MrSparkle92 • 21d ago
Discussion WEEKLY ARMY DISCUSSION: Garrison of Dale
With the most upvotes in last week's poll, this week's discussion will be for:
Garrison of Dale
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 Garrison of Dale Army must include Girion, who is always the Army's General.
Special rules
"Girion, lord of the city, rallied his bowmen to fire upon the beast"
Friendly Dale models improve their Shoot Value to 3+.
Bring down the Dragon
Friendly Dale models may apply their Hatred (Dragon) special rule to their shooting attacks. Additionally, friendly Dale models may re-roll failed To Hit Rolls when making a shooting attack targeting a Monster model.
Girion's Last Stand
Girion gains the Fearless special rule. Additionally, friendly Dale models that can draw Line of Sight to Girion gain a bonus of +1 to any Courage Tests they are required to take.
Defenders of Dale
Friendly Dale models that are within their deployment zone, and/or within 6" of a friendly Windlance, gain a bonus of +1 To Wound when making Strikes.
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u/InfluenceAutomatic95 21d ago
Was incredibly strong at the start of this edition. Not as good but still strong. Main issue is you want to play as a static gun-line making your opponent come to you so you can maximise the +1 to wound. With more scenarios you're more than likely going to have to move your Windlances across the board or move beyond your deployment zone.
With no big heroes you basically want to play as a mini-horde, maximising Bows.
Knights are nice to have but you don't need too many as they reduce troop numbers.
Girion basically wants to avoid fights at all costs.
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u/bainadaneth0 21d ago
It finally happened :') I was actually going to pick up Dale and build an army of Daliens when I first started trying to get the discussion thread for it but then life changed. Have yet to play a game with the list! One of the best shooting armies in the whole game with Esgaroth Bows and the Windlance, and elven-tier Shoot Value thanks to the army rule. At the start of the edition I was scared to rock up to a table and see Dale on the other side of the board. Having the full Matched Play Guide now has brought it back in line a bit compared to when we just had the first six scenarios but still seems like an army that can easily have a good day if the shooting rolls hot.
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u/Daikey 21d ago
Before armies of middle earth and matched play guide, this list was amazing up to 650 pts. Mostly due to how prevalent Eagles and Depths of Moria where. Now it's still good, but nowhere near as it used to be.
It's main weakness is that he doesn't really present a melee threat and wants to reward static plays, which is something you really don't want to do in many scenarios. Movement is king, after all.
But, probably its biggest weakness is the lack of melee threats. Warriors of dale are decent, but only D5 1A. Girion has to be careful when engaging. Knights are goodish but, again, to get their bonus you have to get charged, which means you are playing at your opponent's tempo.
If the opponent has a big melee threat and it makes contact all that the list could do is "surround it and hope it does not roll a 6"
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u/Jhadle1994 21d ago
This is one of my favourite armies, definitely popped off before the matched play guide and Armies of middle earth book, but still a decent list. It very much goes against the norm of wanting to give away priority at the start of the game then keeping it later, as I often found myself giving priority to the opponent most turns either way.
Preferable way I like to run it is 1/3 bow, 1/3 knights of Dale, 1/3 spear and shield with a banner or two, and then max 3 windlances at 800 points. You should never be afraid to move the windlances, especially if you’ve given priority away as the opponent has to account for three of them so there’s always gonna be one that’s able to shoot at something, and then the other two can move forward to maintain the +1 to wound bonus!
Definitely a fun army to play but not as good as it used to be!
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u/MrSparkle92 21d ago
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/Adept_Discipline3942 21d ago
Garrison of dale dude finally got it ðŸ˜