Mahud, Shields, Banners and Blowpipes

[MorgulsGeneral]

Hi

I'm planning to expand my army with some Mahud warriors. Before I start buying a lot of them, I have some (probably dumb) questions about the Mahud.

Most warriors than can buy banners have optional shields in their profiles. However, mahud can have banners, but they already have the shields equipped standard. If I equip one with a banner, it would lose the shield (and 1 defence) right?
In that case, shouldn't it be 1 point cheaper since it loses a shield? Would seem fair to me.

Another Mahud question, about blowpipes.
Do mahud still get the +1 defence from their shield when they have a blowpipe? I know warriors loose the 1 defence when equipped with a bow, but it never says in the rules that Blowpipes count as bows, just shooting weapons (or is this the same?).

Thanks!
MG

[Lord of Edoras]

Correct me if I'm wrong,

Banner question: yes you would have to discard the shield. Why the banner isn't one point cheaper I'm not sure. Maybe one point isn't a big deal so no changes were made.

Blowpipe question: I think you still get the +1 defence, because blowpipes aren't really bows.

[Coen]

I think LoE is correct.
The point difference.. well, they did do it with the new Galadhrim, not sure why not with the Mahud.

And since the blowpipes aren't bows, I would agree with keeping the +1D. For the same reason you can have an army with 100% blowpipes. Otherwise, it would also be impossible to take Woses!

[MorgulsGeneral]

Thanks for your reactions

I think a simple house rule can fix the shield problems.
I just make all Mahud 1 point cheaper and give them a shield as optional wargear. That should fix it.

I have 3 Mahud with blowpipes now, but I don't think I'll be expanding them. The blowpipe is pretty useless to me. They have short range, a low strengh and you can't move and shoot. I have enough Haradrim archers to make up for them. They are superior to the blowpipes in almost every way (except defence).

[Hithero]

There is no Mahud shield problem to fix, in all the other army lists you lose the shield, so why not the Mahud to?

[MorgulsGeneral]

Originally Posted by Hithero

There is no Mahud shield problem to fix, in all the other army lists you lose the shield, so why not the Mahud to?

I know that the Mahud will loose the shield, that's why I said it's a dumb question. I just thought it's a little weird since other warriors have optional shields and Mahud don't.

My Mahud arrived today (2 warrior blisters), so now I have a total of 12 Mahud (3 blowpipes), a king and 2 half-trolls.
I still have no great ideas at what to do with the banner. I want to go with something else than a normal banner, maybe a sort totem.
Any idea's are always welcome.

[Lord of Edoras]

If you are still concerned with the 1 point wasted discarding the shield for the banner, why not ally your Mahud army with some Haradrim warriors and take a Haradrim banner? Your Mahud army sounds pretty small and it wouldn't hurt to throw in some allies.

[MorgulsGeneral]

Nah, I've rescently gone through exstensive therapy and now I've learned to accept the lack of optional Mahud shields

Seriously though, I added the Mahud as ally to my Mordor army. I'm probably only ever going to have 1 Mahud with banner, so I'm only wasting one point. I think GW made it this way because you get a banner carrier who can actually fight back and win when he's attacked.

I'm starting with the banner conversion today. I'll get some pics as soon as it looks decent (which may take a while since conversion projects tend to stay laying around a long time before I finish them).

[Hithero]

There are others that have shields as standard and lose them when given a banner, the Rohan cavalry spring to mind and they are years old. But yes, a totem would be good, maybe made out of animal parts such as lion skins or elephant tusks.