Rise of the Necromancer LL Review

The "Fall of the Necromancer" expansion from autumn 2021, saw four new LL releases. Two of them were hero-only LLs. One was the infamous "Vanquishers of the  Necromancer" - mixing up the tournament scene and stirring up quite a turmoil and discussions about how far a LL should go and if this is not the complete opposite of what the game stands for. While the other LLs (Rangers of Mirkwood and Pits of Dol Guldur) were frequently covered and discussed in podcasts, blogs, YT videos etc, the fourth one was notably absent from all this  or received only a fraction of the time- The Rise of the Necromancer LL.

This one was actually the only LL and the only thing of the expansion I was interested in. I had my eyes already set on a Dol Guldur hero-only army for quite some time. And now I received the perfect LL for my needs. 

I want to share with you my experience with this force and what I think about it in detail. Let me take you on a journey to the dark paths of Dol Guldur and the dangerous secret of undead heroes in MESBG...

Profiles

Named Heroes

The Necromancer of Dol Guldur - Hero of Legend

Sauron in his spirit form at Dol Guldur - a vastly different version not only in appearance but also in profile. He is neither a combat beast nor as survivable as his form from Barad-Dur. He is however one of the most potent casters in the game.

With a profile of high values (nearly) throughout, you might wonder how he can not be a good fighter. After all, most combat oriented heroes can only dream of those values. Well that is until you see his only one attack and one wound. While the single wound can be mitigated to some degree (as we will see later), the single attack sees only a minimal improvement later.

So obviously the Necromancer won't be hacked to pieces easily but he also should not seek combat situations and will be quickly overwhelmed if multiple enemies engage him. Now add the hefty price tag and the fact that he has the Will of Evil rule, which effectively kills him if he gets into combat too often... You might be left to wonder how he can ever dream of bringing back in his points.

There are several things you must know about the Necromancer. He is not a straightforward hero. First of, you must adept your expectations away from him killing a lot of things because well... he won't. But that is also not his purpose.

Second, he has rules that make it harder for models to attack him - this is his first protection against getting engaged in combat and an important thing for the rest of the LL. Enemies will have a hard time charging when having reduced courage and having to do a courage test.

Third, his rule to allow him using will points as fate points coupled with the fact that he has a huge storage of will! 

Fourth, another rule allows him to kill any model which receives a wound from the Necromancer - even heroes (although they are still allowed to use their fate)!

Fifth, him being the master of the Nazgul is very important - but more on that in the next section.

And last but not least - the Necromancer is one of the best casters in the game! He is your wizard in this LL.

Another rule defines that you cannot have the Necromancer and Sauron in the same army, since they are the same being. Quite a border case but nonetheless it should be noted.

The Necromancers has a good Might storage and while his heroic actions are ok. While channeling can be quite important for a caster, the rest is... weird and you will probably never use them.

But now to the most important part for a caster - will and magical powers. I already mentioned his big Will storage. While having a lot of Will is good for him, they can melt down much faster than you might think. After all, you not only need them for casting - which you should try every turn if possible, since else you have a pretty expensive model just standing around - but also to endure combats, resist spells and ultimately survive.

The Necromancer has a whooping amount of  nine spells available and all of them have good range and casting values. Now that is quite an arsenal and the only other caster in the game coming close to such a big array of spells, is Gandalf the Grey with eight of them and Gandalf the White with nine spells too...

Some of this spells are pretty rare like Chill Soul and Your Staff is Broken.

The rest of the spells show you what the actual purpose of the Necromancer is: To weaken heroes or key models and make it easier for the rest of the army to kill them off.

Last but not least he is the crucial center piece of the LL since he improves the Nazgul and provides the much needed weakening of enemies.

The Nazgul of Dol Guldur - Hero of Valour

One of the few good things to result from the Hobbit movies - the handsomely looking Nazgul of Dol Guldur! They are also the main reason why I wanted to play Dol Guldur and later this LL. And most probably also the reason why you read this post^^

Their profile looks rather modest and a little bit weak for their 75 points - especially a MWF of 2, 1, 0 and S 4. But you do not take them for their profile values ;)

Regarding special rules - they reduce courage and have Terror + some logic for border cases: You can only one DG Nazgul per army if it is not stated otherwise AND there can only be a maximum of nine Nazgul in your force - this includes also ringwraiths from other armies.

The most crucial rule for the Nazgul and in my opinion this LL, is the Unholy Resurrection - Every time a Nazgul is slain, a marker is placed and he does not count as casualty. In the next priority phase you roll a D6 and on a 3+ the Nazgul comes back into play and can even choose where he wants to appear in a certain radius of the marker! This is a recipe to some nasty surprises for your opponent ;)

I mentioned earlier the Master of the Nazgul special rule of the Necromancer and it is super important for this guys. As long as the big boss is alive and on the board, they receive a +1 bonus to their Unholy Resurrection rule! This is a massive boost and means even if the Nazgul receive a malus to their resurrection roll, it is now at worst a 3+. Among other reasons, this is the most crucial one to keep the big boss alive!

In following I will go through all nine Nazgul and write about what makes them special.

The Witch-King of Angmar

Even though he is the leader of the Nine, the Witch-King is rather unspectacular. He has +1 Might on his profile and is armed with a sword. However the additional Might offers possibilities like declaring a Heroic Movement, Strike or Combat in key moments. This makes him basically an auto-include for me.

Khamul the Easterling

Khamul changed my opinion of him over time. What makes him special is his third attack. But he also wields a two handed mace and therefor suffers the -1 to his combat dice. 

First off I have to note that his miniature clearly wields a one-handed mace xD And in the older version of MESBG that was also in his profile. Only with the current version they nerfed him to have the drawback of a two-handed weapon. 

So this was the reason why I never used him when I started playing this LL. Having anyway much fewer models on the battlefront, I thought I cannot afford to have one of them being worse in winning duel rolls. 

However this changed a lot after I played with him more often in the Tabletop Simulator. The third attack more than compensates the -1 on the duel roll AND I underestimated that wielding a two-handed weapon also means a +1 to my wounding rolls.

All this elevates Khamul to my second auto-included. 

The Dark Headsman

The coolest looking model out of the Nine in my opinion but sadly his ability makes him only a filler choice for me.

Equipped with an axe, when rolling a natural 6 to wound, the Headsman inflicts D3 wounds instead of one. However this only comes into action if the opposing model does not prevent the wound with fate or fails to do so. 

This means in the rare case that you roll a natural 6 AND it is against a multi-wound model AND it has no fate or fails to use it AND you then manage to roll a D3 with the result of more than one wound... than this ability paid off.

The Headsman can still make use of the special strike of his axe but in the end all this makes him 

 only a nice to have model and nearly every other Nazgul has a more useful ability.

The Forsaken

The worst looking model out of the Nine in my opinion (the armour and the weird looking spear make him standout negatively...) but one of the best when its about useful abilities.

His Trident Spear acts as a spear weapons-wise, so in theory he could support another model. I personally never tried to do that since it adds only one attack were in a direct combat it could be two + most of the time you will be outnumbered heavily so the opponent won't have a hard time to draw you out of the support role. Maybe when fighting another hero-only list, this is an option.

But that is not the reason you wanna take the Forsaken. It is because his Trident Spear also requires him to re-roll all failed to wound rolls. Quite neat and the reason why he is another auto-include for me.

The Lingering Shadow

Another one of my favorite Nazgul both in look and because of his ability. First it should be noted that even though he clearly wields two swords, his profile only mentions one and does not relate to anything special weapon-wise.

Second, you will quickly discover that your army is slow as an infantry only force. The teleport after resurrecting is awesome but not a reliable source of speed. This is why you should always bring the Lingering Shadow. He has the Unnatural Speed ability which allows him to teleport within 3" of his location to another one (does not count as movement and you cannot have base contact with an enemy). Nice!

Even when you lose priority, at least with this teleport you have a say at the beginning of the next turn. This makes the Lingering Shadow my fourth and last auto-include.

The Abyssal Knight

 

These good looking knights are not unique and you can have up to two of them in your force. And if you do decide to play this profile, you always should bring a second one. This is because of their ability - in the priority phase it is possible to remove one of them from the board and place him into base contact with the other (but not in contact with an enemy model). This can come in handy e.g. if you want to distract some models with the first knight and just before the game ends, you teleport to the other which could hold an objective and so gain the upper hand.

The other interesting thing about these knights is that they wield elven-made swords which will give the upper hand when having to do a roll-off against enemies with the same Fight value.

Their main ability is situational and you have to plan its use or hope for an opportunity to show up AND it is only working if you have two of them in your force. So this is just a bonus in my opinion and its rather their equipment which makes them worthwhile choices but not a priority.

The Slayer of Men

Another Nazgul which you can be featured twice in your force. Where the AKs require planning and opportunities to work, the Slayers are straightforward. They wield two-handed maces and their ability is that they do not suffer a -1 on duel rolls for that. 

In an army which performs better at staying alive than killing things, a bonus for killing things easier is always welcome. So I normally choose them over the AKs.

The Keeper of the Dungeons - Hero of Fortitude

Photo credit: FW

At first the Keeper looks like a perfect addition for this LL. Good Fight, Strength, Defense, Might and Will values, should make him perfect for killing more things.  Further looking at his special rules like Burly, Torturer (becoming stronger the more kills he accumulates) and having a bonus against elven ring bearers, you might be quite surprised when I tell you that I give him a hard pass and will realistically never use him.

There are two good reasons:

Number 1: In a force where every other model either can resurrect on a 2/3/4+ after getting killed OR has a big storage of Will which can be used as Fate, the Keeper does not fit in. And I mean that not only from a thematic point of view. Being the only model in the force that can be removed from the board in the traditional way (shooting, killing in combat, magic - without a special rule to save him), the Keeper is a prime target wherever he will show up. So you would have to play him save but since he has no passive effect on your other models and his profile actually screams for him to be in the thick of battle... well you either waste 75 points for a model standing around and doing nothing or you can count your money on it that you will have to remove him as your first casualty.

Number 2: His problems are even worsened by the second reason - he has zero Fate. ZERO. I know the Keeper does no fighting in the Hobbit movies and is disintegrated in less than a second by Galadriel... but still why?

Why certain Fate points are given to models is always a debate among fans (is it because he died in the books or the movies so easily or is at the LOTR timeline? etc) but ultimately we have no idea. And I also have no idea why it is like that for the Keeper. The zero Fate disqualifies him for me not only in this LL but also in a normal Dol Guldur force. He is too fragile and his good combat stats make it actually worse for him since every opponent will know he must stop him early to avoid the Keeper getting better

As he stands currently, the Keeper is a wasted opportunity in my opinion and its a shame. But I am eager to hear if someone successfully used him and can tell a story about it ;)

Unnamed Heroes

Castellan of Dol Guldur - Minor Hero

The lesser brethren of the Nazgul are in a kind of odd spot in this LL - although it is way better than for the Keeper xD 

Their profile values only differ in their Strength by a +1. Their MWF looks weird with only a lot ofWill and the rest being zeros. 

They have the option to buy a Morgul Blade, which can be a nasty surprise for a multi-wound model.

Like all spririt models in this LL, the Castellans have Terror and like the Necromancer the Will of Evil. 

You may ask yourself now, what you should do with this odd model. The answer is simple: They are perfect tanks and bodyguards for the Necromancer. Will of Evil normally means that a model should not seek combat. But keeping them near the Necromancer, they can very effectively tank anyone who might want to attack your leader. They have very good F, S, D, A and C for a minor hero. But lets go back to their unusual big storage of Will, which even most casters can only dream of. Not only does it allow them to stay in combat for a long time (despite Will of Evil) but it also enables excessive use of their last special rule - using Will points as Fate points.

All these unusual combinations + their maximum points cost of a little bit more than a Nazgul, form Castellans into walking tanks which are easily underestimated by an opponent. I myself witnessed in disbelief how one of my Castellans blocked a gap between two houses against everything an Isengard army is able to throw out,  for nearly the full length of a game.

Only their points cost - even though really good for what you get - hurts them. At least in this LL. Putting one of them in an army basically takes away a slot for a Nazgul. Which would be ok if you could put in a second Castellan. Alas this sums up to too many points - taking away another Nazgul slot. And even though I think Castellans are a great deal, they cannot replace the Nazgul and using them always produces point gaps which you cannot fill with anything else.

I personally only use them in very high point games above 925. They are great but just not as great as the Nazgul and they do miss synergy.

Warriors

This LL is an all hero force without any warrior options.

Special Rules of the LL

• Everything is a single warband
• The DG army bonus - for every cast, the Necromancer adds a free will point
• The Necromancers magical abilities protect the army (resistance) and he can cast twice (not the same cast and also not the same target)
• The Necromancer receives an additional attack

And that is it already. Not much compared to any other LL in the game. Honestly when reading the specs of this LL I was really underwhelmed. A LL normally adds quite a lot of improvements or special rules to are force, you most of the time could also play without the legion. 

But after some time and thinking it through, I changed my mind. Of course I still would have liked to see more for this force. But it is already among the more special ones and has a lot of special rules by default. Resurrection and Will as Fate is unique in the whole game. 

And what this LL received, further enhances them in a fitting way to their background. The Necromancer is supposed to be a very good caster, so letting him cast twice and give the rest of the army magical protection fits very well. Having the normal DG army bonus goes into the same direction. And giving the Necromancer a second attack also underlines his significance and improves his survivability. 

Alliances

Being a LL also means that this force cannot ally with anyone.

Idea of the LL

The Necromancer reveals himself and lets loose his undead servants against the White Council. It is this moment the LL depicts.

All-hero Dol Guldur lists have been played in the past but they were a rather seldom view. This LL empowers its models in what they are good and corrects some disadvantages. 

The result is a very special and rare evil all-hero army that has quite some surprise for opponents BUT requires an experienced player to make full use of its power. Grind mere warriors to death while the Necromancer weakens heroes for the Nazgul to finish them off, all the while you shake off all incoming damage or taking it only to come back in the next turn! =D

Look and Feel

In short: I think every model in this LL looks awesome - even the Keeper ;) Some say that the Necromancer and Castellans look dated but I think they are perfect as they are. I was so happy when I found out that GW never updated their models for or after the Hobbit movies. I think they did a great job with their own design AND the miniatures are metal which is another plus for me =D

The Nazgul are sadly from FW and Resin but they did a great job with the design. Coloring the armour was tricky in some areas.

All the models are eye catchers when on the board and so far always attracted interest from other players =) Everything about them catches what I imagine for Dol Guldur - an army of deadly and spooky spirits!

What to buy and costs

This point is pretty straightforward - you need:

• Sauron the Necromancer from GW at 29 €
• One box of Castellans of Dol Guldur (containing three) from GW at 23 €
• One set of the Nazgul of Dol Guldur from FW at 143 €
• Makes a total of 195 €

The Castellans are kinda optional but it is a good idea to have them in case that you play on a points level were you can fit them in or in general to try them out and replace a Nazgul.

Sadly the recent price increase hit this LL hard and especially to already expensive Nazgul set became even more costly. 

But you only need to buy three things (two if you cut the Castellans for the beginning) and you are done.

Normally I would like to offer alternative miniatures for you to have a choice but there are not any available. One year ago there was a Kickstarter with some really nice Nazgul alternatives but it is no longer available and the site even went offline.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Very survivable models - everyone can resurrect or use Will as Fate (except the black sheep of the dungeons ;P)
• One of the best casters in the game
• Magic protection
• A lot of magic
• A lot of special rules to help you out
• Terror and courage reduction
• High courage
• Very unique mechanics - not everyone will know how to handle your force

Cons

• Very low model count
• Every permanent death hurts
• Very depending on the Necromancer - if he falls you will crumble
• Several armies will simply crush you because multiple key elements no longer work
• Very expensive leader who can only indirectly effect the tides of battle
• Some scenarios are near impossible to win
• Some point costs of models mix very bad with others
• The Keeper of the Dungeons...

General Tactics and Thoughts

The Dark Lord must survive

The Necromancer is the centerpiece of this LL which holds everything together. His buffs are required for the Nazgul to survive effectively and his magic is required to tip the tides of battle in favour of your dark servants. This puts you in precarious situation. You must protect the Necromancer, which means either keeping him as far away as possible from the action and/or protect him. At the same time he should be near the action in order to utilize his magic (the maximum width of most spells is 12"). Ancient Evil, Terror and his good defense should ensure that most close combats either do not happen or can be survived. Ranged attacks put you always in danger since you cannot hide behind your own troops due to the models size. The only counter I found so far against this was casting Shroud of Shadows on the Necromancer. But you cannot do that every round and it could fail + it will deplete your Will even faster. At the end of the day it is a gamble you have do in order to not waste your most expensive model^^

Shooting 

I already wrote about shooting regarding the Necromancer. The rest of your LL does not really care about it except for they should try to at least disrupt it. Good opponents cannot shoot into combats and evil ones won't shoot into combats since the risk of killing own troops does not justify hitting a model which either comes back in the next turn or can use multiple Fate rolls. 

So one of your Nazgul or Castellans should try to attack and disperse enemy archers in order to avoid unwanted shoots at the Necromancer.

Casting with the Necromancer

To get your value back for his 250 points, you have to cast with the Necromancer. Which is not as straightforward as with other casters. Most things got already mentioned in his section above but I want to add some others.

I learned the hard way that you should not shy away from placing the Necromancer close enough to the battle to let him support with casts. Yes he can be in danger from shooting but you have good def, enough saves and if in doubt, you can always make yourself invisible. 

A good way to clear targets is to get close and cast Instill Fear - same goes for protection against hordes.

Always check if an enemy hero is in range - Transfix, Drain Courage , Curse and Sap Will always make sense for such a target. Especially if your Nazgul can attack him.

And last but not least you can always try to snipe a wound with Chill Soul onto important targets like banner bearers or heroes - especially warrior models should be good targets.

Might and Nazgul

All of the Nazgul carry two Might with them (except for one). Now there are also two important rules I learned for myself: It is a good idea to save it for bad resurrections rolls. But it is also important to spend for other things if the opportunity arises. Especially when its about killing important/strong enemy models. This army is not good at killing things. So if you manage to win a fight and you have the opportunity to land a kill on something important for your opponent, do not hesitate to spend Might. 

Especially if you face an army which has no possibility to affect your resurrection rolls.

One to tank them all

I already mentioned it but i want to emphasize again - Castellans are walking tanks! They have a great profile for a minor hero and especially for their points cost. They can easily handle themselves against most warriors and smaller heroes. Combine this with their Terror + Courage reducing and the fact they can use their 12 Will as Fate and you have the perfect bodyguard for the Necromancer or objective guard.

Board control - Know when to spread and when to concentrate your force

This LL will nearly always be outnumbered by far on the battlefield. Also your army leader is required to keep things together and will probably be the number one target of your enemy. So how do you avoid getting overwhelmed when for each of your models, the enemy has five or more?
The key is board control. And thankfully all your models have the right tools for it.

All models in this LL (except for the Keeper of the Dungeons, which I will ignore since I think he does not really fit in anyway) have Terror, the Nazgul + Castellans have Harbinger of Evil and the Necromancer has Ancient Evil. So basically everyone (with some exceptions) who wants to attack you, must pass a courage test and will have to do that with reduced courage. This prevents you from getting swarmed by too many enemies at once. The few models who actually get into combat with you are then easily killed or at least blocked for another round.

The other important key for keeping board control is part of the Unholy Resurrection rule. After coming back on the board (when being killed in the turn before), a Nazgul may be placed anywhere within 6" of the marker of his death (only base contact with an enemy model is not allowed). This is a very big thing! It means you could reach enemy models in the back of the front like casters, banner bearers etc. Or you blocked a group of enemies and now you can suddenly teleport somewhere else and maybe join another Nazgul or protect the Necromancer, get behind a building etc. This gives you the much needed mobility you would normally lack and also allows you keep your enemies in check where you want it.

But you should think about when to spread and when to keep your models together. Especially when you play a target based scenario and your opponent has no magic or elven blades, you should not spread. Instead get to the targets as fast as possible and have a seat on them. Everything mentioned above should keep enemies away and play perfectly into your strength - staying alive ;)

You cannot kill what is already dead

Depending on your opponents army, your Nazgul will die more or less often. But they will. But also - who cares? ;) With this LL you are in the unique position (of the whole system) not having to bother too much when models are removed from the board, since they most likely will come back next turn anyway. And if your opponent has nothing to influence the resurrection roll, you are basically invincible and only a lot of very bad rolls would cost you a Nazgul.

Or your models flat out refuse to die at all due to their seemingly endless amount of second-hand Fate. This army has a lot of staying power and that is also their main selling point.

It is pure joy to tie up and block the enemy models, to die and come back and slowly but steadily kill them one by one. Since we are already talking about it...

War of attrition

Nazgul of Dol Guldur have good profiles. But if you take a closer look, you will realize that they are much better at staying in the game than at killing things. Only two attacks and S 4 make them good enough against most warriors. But dealing with better than midtier heroes and masses of warriors will overwhelm them quite easy. So why is that not a problem at all?
First of, despite the Nazguls clearly being combat oriented, you should not expect them to go in and kill masses of enemies like e.g. Aragorn, Elendil or other similar heroes. This is the wrong mindset and will only disappoint you.

Using the Nazgul in this LL really means you are fighting a war of attrition. Try to block as many models as possible and your Terror and Harbinger of Evil will ensure that you will never face too many opponents at once. Do this and you will see that slowly but surely an enemy model will die here, another one there. And the longer the game goes on, the more kills you will accumulate and wear down your opponents army. Be patient, pick your fights and enjoy how your adversary slowly realizes that with each killed Nazgul, he only prolongs his inevitably defeat at the hands of your undead servants =D

The banes of this LL

As awesome as the special rules and mechanics of this LL are, there are multiple effective ways to defeat it.

If your opponent fields enough models with the Bodyguard rule or similar ones (e.g. Khazad-Guard, Fountain Guard etc) that allow them to ignore courage tests, you will be in trouble since too many models will attack your Nazgul and therefore always win the fights. Similarly you will have problems with armies that have in general a high courage value e.g. all elves.

Another nasty bane are elven-made blades. If the opponent manages to always have at least one elven-made blade in a fight, chances are good that your Nazgul die and have a reduced resurrection roll.

Magic too reduces the resurrection roll. I do not yet have experience with magic against this LL but I think it is the least important one. Yes I suppose the Vanquishers could be a problem xD But in general we have good magic resistance and enough Will to hold out the firestorm.

The last one is an edge case but a very dangerous one. Floi Stonehand has the ability to turn off rules or special effects for one turn. This means he can turn off the resurrection of Nazgul or Will as Fate points ability of the Necromancer! I suffered heavily through a game because of this and got my Necromancer killed in the third round because he has no normal Fate and only one wound...

List Ideas

Lists with this LL are pretty straight forward. The Necromancer is anyway always mandatory. The rest is filled up with Nazgul, following my priority laid down above (or your own of course) and if there are filler points left, a Castellan is filled in. 

600 Points

Necromancer (Army Leader)

-The Witch-king

-Khamul

-The Forsaken

-The Lingering Shadow

-Castellan of Dol Guldur with Morgul Blade

700 Points

Necromancer (Army Leader)

-The Witch-king

-Khamul

-The Forsaken

-The Lingering Shadow

-The Slayer of Men x 2

800 Points

Necromancer (Army Leader)

-The Witch-king

-Khamul

-The Forsaken

-The Lingering Shadow

-The Slayer of Men x 2

-The Dark Headman

... - 1000 Points

Necromancer (Army Leader)

-The Witch-king

-Khamul

-The Forsaken

-The Lingering Shadow

-The Slayer of Men x 2

-The Dark Headman

-The Abyssal Knight x2

--Castellan of Dol Guldur with Morgul Blade

Conclusion

Wow this is probably the post I took the longest time for. But I think it payed off. I was able to gather a lot of experience by playing this LL in TTS (Tabletop Simulator) and got a lot of tips and have discussions with other people about it.

Also having a newborn daughter changes priorities a little bit ;)

I love this very unique looking and playing LL and it was a matter of heart for me to give it some love and create awareness for it. 

The Castellan keeps his watch and happy hobbying until the next time =)