It came from the East

Amongst the armies of Middle-earth, the Men of the East are certainly one of the strangest. Unlike the Orcish hordes that spew forth from Mordor, or the rabble of warriors from Harad, the Easterlings are a disciplined, well-trained fighting force equipped with some of the best weaponry available to the forces of the Dark Lord. The key message here: don't mess with the Easterlings.

For the most part, everything in the Kingdoms of the East army list is covered head-to-foot in heavy armour - only the Easterling archers have a Defence of 5; everything else is 6 or higher. For those of you new to The Lord of the Rings, 6 is the magic number when it comes to a good Defence - only the strongest foes can breach it (Uruk-hai and Dwarves for the most part). This means that an Easterling warhost is always going to be tough opposition unless you've got something suitably nasty to take them down.

First among these deadly warriors is Amdûr, Lord of Blades (when it comes to intimidating titles, he certainly takes first prize). Not only is he a very powerful fighter in combat, but he also has the Blood and Glory special rule, which means that when he slays an enemy Hero he regains a Might point for his efforts - very nasty. If that wasn't enough, his dedication to the Dark Lord Sauron, combined with his penchant for excessive bloodshed, is particularly inspiring to his troops, meaning that he also counts as a banner to all nearby Easterling Warriors. What a guy!

And then there's Khamûl the Easterling. Unusually for Ringwraiths, Khamûl is not that good at spell casting. However, he does have the irritating habit of not dying when he should. Normally a Ringwraith will lose a Will point every time it fights in close combat or casts a spell - eventually they will run out, and when they do they dissolve into nothingness. Khamûl has the advantage here in that every time he kills a foe in combat he regains a Will point. He can also boost his combat prowess, giving himself more attacks or a higher Strength. His ability to cast spells may be slightly compromised, but he easily makes up for it with raw power.

The mainstay of the army is made up of Easterling Warriors and Easterling Kataphrakts, though the army list also has access to Khandish troops, too. While their stat-line is the same as the Men of Gondor (their most-hated foes), they have the added advantage that they can use pikes and shields at the same time. As only one of four unit types that can use pikes (Fighting Uruk-hai, Elves of the Galadhrim Court and Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth being the other three), they are the only one with this ability, they are tough, durable, and they can stab you in the eye from 16 feet away - not a nice combination.

To complement them, you then have the Kataphrakts - the heavy cavalry of the Eastern Kingdoms. The fact that the new plastic kit for them contains parts to make a warrior with a war drum, one with a banner and one as a Captain, is great news as now you can build a really hard-hitting force much easier than ever before.

To find out more about the Easterlings, make sure you check out the army list that I constructed on Monday, and be sure to check out February's White Dwarf where Amdûr leads a force of Easterlings and Orcs against an army of Gondor led by Aragorn. It gets messy... very messy...