In the Mind: How to Play The Great Eagles Tactics MESBG

The Misty Mountains

Today we are going to look at one of my favorite armies in the game of Middle Earth. The eagles. Specifically the Misty Mountains and Radagast's Alliance. We will go over allying 1 or 2 eagles into lists in a future episode but today we are going to be looking at the list pure or with minimal allies. First we will focus on the Misty Mountains List. Well on the bright side it is a simple list... you have 2 possible choices. Gwaihir and Great Eagles. Looking at the points values we see it must be an odd points value to run this list pure. Generally as a rule of thumb eagles are better at lower points value when running pure of having small allies added. 650 is about the highest i find it comfortable to run as at that point it turns from enemy heroes having plenty of resources to take out your army to you have the advantage as they will only have 1 big piece at 650 or lower. this means it comes down to dice when they start getting traps. you roll a 6 you are safe. But this isn't the strategy. The best strategy is lining it up so whichever fight u have u can hurl into an adjacent combat making all models in that fight be knocked prone and take strength 3 hits while your eagle takes one s6 hit. If you can set up several of these and execute several in one turn it will drastically lower the opponents numbers and keep your army safe. you need to treat it like a cavalry force kiting around until you lose priority they move then you charge in and wipe out a captain and get some hurls or something similar. 350-550 is the ideal points value for a pure list but the best points value overall has to be 500 points. For this list we take:

Gwaihir 150
3 Great Eagles 300

Alliance: Green/Yellow Thorin's Company
Balin on Pony 45

495pts 5 models 4 might Longbeard 

Now you will notice the alliance seems odd. green/yellow? well here is the thing. depending on the event you may want to run the eagles portion from Radagast's alliance so you can make Balin the leader and go hide him on a board corner and use his longbeard effect to massively help your eagles. This is the way i would always suggest to play this alliance as with the pony Balin can keep away from most things while still effecting the battlefield and protecting easy points. Brutal Power attacks are the jam of this list. You have nearly infinite options for each and every combat and keeping your opponent guessing is so so massive in the game since they need to try to prepare for every option. At higher points I would consider either allying Gwaihir and 1 eagle into a list such as Khazad Dum with plenty of banners OR running Radagast's Alliance. 

Radagast's Alliance

This may be my favorite army list outside of LL's. It has so many options (and by that i mean literally 4) and brings all the fun in the world to the tabletop. Radagast may be my favorite spell caster in the game although his spells are odd since about half work well with eagles and half do not and would prefer to be in an alliance. His spells are mostly defensive but have this offensive edge as well. He has renew which is insanely powerful with you d8 three wound Eagles. Beorn... i wouldn't ever really suggest taking him as his berserk rule is quite limiting. Allying in Gandalf is my favorite way to run the list in its more pure version. at lower points i run the above list and at higher i run this. Gandalf on horse with Radagast on eagle and filling out your remaining points with as many eagles as you can is what works perfectly. The sorcerous blast opens up so many possibilities as Gandalf can sit behind your line and start the chain reaction of blasts into your eagles combats to make sure your eagles cannot be harmed. Another option is Saruman, it all comes down to preference and both work. It it is a 750 point list then taking Gwaihir is definitely a good idea as he is excellent and in this list his might affects all models! This time you have the advantage of nearly every list has to come to you. you have strengthen will with Gandalf (hence why i suggest him over Saruman) and can easily get Radagast to about 8-10 will before combat if kiting goes will. then if you can continue to kite and throw out compels constantly to weaken enemy heroes will and when they finally fail and they have already moved that turn jump on that hero and one shot him. it may be a good idea to throw one normal eagle to a flank that turn and hurl through the army. never split your eagles completely up until late game. having them close means protecting Gandalf and having you hurls is quite easy. The best tip i have for allying is ally into either high defense, horde lists, or into cavalry forces. Those lists are the ones that function the best with Eagles. But that is for another day. For now focusing on the current list of  Radagast's alliance is the focus. I would encourage playing around with the sleigh as it is loads of fun especially at 400 point events with 2 eagles and Sabastian. Remember Radagast always has line of sight which means he can be on foot behind a way and cast at your enemy and importantly can charge from behind a building with his eagle which NO ONE ever sees coming. Other then that get practice always focus on attacking parts of the army (normally one flank where a hero is even if its small) and try to avoid getting your entire force surrounded. Another thing to note is you army ignores control zones so double, even triple, teaming compelled models is quite easy which is why its important that you do this in a turn they had priority and moved first. Movement is you friend. You can access any portions in the battlefield realistically in 3 turns. You should always be able to fight where you want and that means you have an advantage. 

Thanks for reading, thats all I have today for you in todays: In the Mind. Next time we will be discussing the tactics behind different styles and ways to bait your opponent (one of my favorite strategies ever). See you soon, this has been the Minds of Moria and eagles are fun!