Right now, Moria and Gundabad troops have a really hard time in tactical combat, because they have truly bad armor penetration, but often face heavily armored opponents in the Lothorien elves, Rivendell elves and humans, and Erebor dwarves. As it is now, a player needs to bring heavy hitters from other factions, and will be advised to stay out of Moria and Gundabad's lords battles, to let the autocalc help them achieve what they could not in tactical combat.

I think this needs to be addressed.

Here are the ways in which I would NOT like to see it addressed.
1) Give Moria and Gundabad elite orc troops that are a match for the Free people
2) Introduce renegade humans, foreign Uruks, etc. fighting for them
3) Give them equipment that rivals Mordor and Isengard gear, let alone Elven one
4) Increase their effectiveness in archery exchanges
5) Increase their army sizes, or decrease their enemies army sizes

Here are ways in which I think Moria and Gundabad's efficiency can be improved:
1) Capitalize on their traditional alliance with wargs
2) Provide them with gear designed to defeat armor, possibly based on dwarven loot
3) Give them specialized troops that can work as long as they outnumber the enemy
4) Give them troops that can withstand at least some ranged fire

So, here is the way I would do it, while hopefully keeping the two factions lore friendly, clearly orcish, distinct from each other, and still underdogs.

-= MORIA =-

Moria will capitalize on its possession of captured dwarven equipment, and possibly existing dwarven facilities. They will receive the ability to successfully engage armored enemies in melee. They will be nowhere near a match for elves and dwarves in one on one, but in large numbers, they will land blows, and those blows will do damage.

1) Archers will remain unchanged. They are not Moria's strength.

2) Top tier shields will be improved. They will receive metal bosses, and strong metal rims. Defaced dwarven shields here and there would be nice, i.e. distinct dwarven shapes with orcish markings.

3) Blunt and piercing weapons will be made available to their melee troops. Flanged maces ground down from dwarven axes or made by attaching metal bits to wooden hafts, piercing picks for infantry, (longish) morningstar analogues for warg riders.

4) The top tier infantry will become a bit more able to resist arrow fire, i.e. guaranteed shields that can take more than one arrow... possibly three in a row. They will also have weapons that are slow and short, thus ineffective in one on one, but which will go through armor, as long as numbers allow them to land.

5) A new warg rider branch will be added, in addition to the existing one that is only useful for harassment and distraction. The new branch will have guaranteed new, better shields, the slower but more powerful armored wargs, armor that orcs would consider heavy, and morningstar type weapons that are long enough to be effective in combat. No thrown weapons.

Note that with these changes, Moria will still not be able to frontally rush massed elven archers, but at least, once they somehow make contact, they will be able to deal damage.


-= GUNDABAD =-

Gundabad will capitalize on improved thrown weapons. They will receive new thrown weapons that can defeat shield and armor, but will have to get closer to use them. Thus they will be more effective in broken terrain, which fits the lore, and their home map. They will have effective warg skirmishers.

1) Archers will remain unchanged. They are not Gundabad's strength.

2) Gundabad's thrown weapons will be improved. Throwing spikes, wedges and javelins will be introduced, with the ability to split shields, and with higher damage than existing ones. They should be slower, heavier, and with higher power throw requirements.

3) Gundabad will get a new branch of infantry, with heavier shields, although not as good or using as much metal as Moria's. This branch will be specialized in throwing, and have power throw to match. They will be have a chance of multiple stacks of axes, spikes, javelins, etc. At least one of the stacks will be guaranteed, and have an alternate fire mode allowing use in melee.

4) Gundabad's top tier warg riders will get improved throwing skills, as well as higher power throw. They will have a guaranteed spear just long enough to be effective on horseback, and short and fast enough to be used in melee. They will also have guaranteed javelins, better than the existing orc darts.

Note that due to lower speed, shorter range, and of course weak shields, standing off and trading shots will not work for Gundabad. The player will still have to maneuver to get in range, possibly by using terrain. But volleys should be devastating. Yes, this will make Gundabad favor players skilled in mircomanagement.

Phew, if you made it so far, congratulations!