STOP THAT MÛMAK!

The Mûmak is a deadly monster, capable of crushing your best efforts if given the chance. By now you could be forgiven for thinking that defeat is certain if one of these behemoths is arrayed against your army. But it is not invincible. By picking your fights carefully, concentrating your forces and running away when you need to, victory can be yours! Below I have listed six basic tips that best highlight the ways of negating, killing or crippling the mighty Mûmak:

Avoid it: Don't worry too much. As frightening as a Mûmak may be, the first thing to realise when taking one on is that you don't have to kill it unless the scenario you are playing demands it. Make the most of this by avoiding it and picking off everything else in the enemy force. Haradrim Warriors are not especially well armoured or armed, so kill them off as quickly as you can. Sometimes, in tournament scenarios, this on its own can be enough to secure you victory.

Hide like a coward: It's not brave, it's not heroic and it is certainly not befitting of a Hero, but it does work. Find a piece of difficult terrain and stay in it. Your warriors can waggle their tongues, beat their shields and cry defiance from the safety of their cover. Mûmakil cannot enter difficult terrain for fear of stumbling or damaging their howdah. Still, more often than not, scenarios call for you to move your models, so it doesn't always work. While spending the whole game lurking in difficult terrain is a little dull, and often unproductive, nobody would blame you if you used terrain to your best advantage. After all, who wants to be squashed flat by a Mûmak?

Pin it down: Stop the thing moving. This is the most obvious way of reducing the amount of damage it can do. Keep Heroes with Might nearby, and if priority is lost, declare a heroic move and get something into base contact with the Mûmak to stop your men being squashed. This is a risky plan because the commander can issue heroic moves too. However, in a world where options are very limited, a little gamble might be your best choice. Of course, if you can shoot the commander first (made easier if he is a Mahûd, thanks to his position on the Mûmak) then you can curtail this risk altogether.

Everything counts in large amounts: It's a good expression when it comes to Mûmak killing. Inevitably, there will be those games where staying out of a Mûmak's way or slowing it down is not enough, especially when bringing the beastie down is the order of the day.

If you are going to kill it, kill it properly. Don't make half efforts. When I slew the Mûmak, I charged it with Dáin and about ten other Dwarves. With the best will in the world no monster can prevail long with that many axes tearing chunks out of it. Everything counts, so throw it all in! The same is true of cavalry charges. Half a dozen Knights of Dol Amroth or Knights of Minas Tirith led by a Hero can cause the Mûmak some very serious grief. The bonus that a two-handed weapon or a lance gives you in combat can really put the frighteners on a Mûmak. It's far easier to wound a Defence 7 monster with one of these in your hands!

If you are going to shoot it, really shoot it. Fire every available shot you have, pepper it with arrows, and cause the Commander to take Courage test after Courage test! Make the thing's life a misery. It's not subtle, but it works better than most tactics.

Bodyguards and Mighty Heroes: Warriors with the Bodyguard rule always pass Courage tests while the Hero they are protecting lives, so they make the perfect candidates to slow rampaging Mûmaks. They won't flee the beast due to a failed Courage test. As well as this, they generally have a higher Fight value as well, often as good as the Mûmak's. If you charge a Mighty Hero into the combat too, you are more likely to win, and do some serious wounds to the beast. Imrahil with a lance will wound it on a 5+, and Aragorn with Anduril on a 4+. Heroes of other races are just as good. Dáin and Balin with their dreaded axes are a menace to the Mûmak, Glorfindel and Elrond equally so. All these Heroes can withstand a pounding from the beast, and so are ideal for the dangerous duty of confronting it. Wound it multiple times in combat and watch as the Commander fails his Courage rolls and the Mûmak begins to Stampede away.

Trebuchet: I've been nice until now, I really have. But there is one dirty trick I've been saving until last. If you are feeling really mean this is the one for you. Include a Battlecry Trebuchet and an Engineer Captain in your force. Target the howdah with your Trebuchet, and laugh like a hyena! Make sure that your shots hit and wound thanks to the Captain's Might points. The rocks hurled by the Battlecry Trebuchet are powerful enough to shatter the howdah like matchwood, making every model on it take falling damage as they crash to the ground. Any survivors are in dire peril as the Mûmak must then pass Courage tests on its paltry Courage value of 2 or begin Stampeding.

But you'll have to be lucky. Lucky and fast. The Trebuchet only has a 50% chance of hitting, and even then you'll need to roll on the Scatter table. The Mûmak will close on you quickly and you have a minimum range of 18"/42cm, so you will only get two or three turns of shooting before the Mûmak gets too close to target. This is not a friendly tactic, and requires use of a costly siege machine. But when it works, it works brilliantly. We swears it on the precious.

In the end, fighting a Mûmak is an incredibly heroic thing to do. I'll personally never forget the incredible feeling of bravery and honour as Théoden and his Rohirrim gather their might and charge the lines of approaching Mûmakil in The Return of the King film. You can recapture that feeling by taking one out in the game. There are worse ways to lose than sallying valiantly against a raging Oliphaunt!

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Intro - Squashing the Enemy - Stampede! - Stop that Mûmak!

Related Links:
Collecting Haradrim | A Red Day at Pelennor Fields Scenario