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Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
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Author:  Lord Hurin [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:46 am ]
Post subject:  Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Hey all, I've been reviewing the War of The Ring book after getting back into things and I want to make a Rohirrim force.


Epic Heroes

Theoden, King of Rohan - 125pts
Erkenbrand, Captain of the Westfold - 75pts
Theodred, Prince of Rohan - 125pts

Common Formations

Riders of the East-Mark - 205pts
4 Companies of Riders w/ Captain & Banner

Riders of Aldburg - 205pts
4 Companies of Riders w/ Captain & Banner

Riders of the West-Mark - 215pts
6 Companies of Riders w/ Banner

Knights of Edoras - 210pts
5 Comapnies of Royal Knights w/ Banner

Legendary Formations

The King's Guard - 360pts
6 Companies (mtd); Royal Standard


Allies

Gandalf the Grey - 200pts

Warriors of Minas Tirith - 150pts
6 Companies

Warriors of Minas Tirith - 125pts
5 Companies


1995 Points Total
Author:  spuds4ever [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
I think you need more royal knights. They're very expensive £ wise but that's often why not many people play competitive rohan. A bit too much command if you ask me. You might want to get a battle-host at this points' level as they have a few nice bonusses you could use. Other changes, drop the captain in the militia and get deorwine instead and drop Erkenbrand's riders in favour of Erkenbrand as an epic and some more royal knights. Gandalf is a good choice so I would definetely keep him (you might even want to squeeze in Radagast as well at this points' level).
Author:  WayUnderTheMountain [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Dropping Erkenbrand's Riders is a good idea, because you're paying an extra 65pts for a +1 to Strength. As an Epic Hero, Erkenbrand has access to Epic Charge (a must with Rohan) and fares better in duels against Heros without Epic Strike. If you purchase a regular Rider formation instead, you can buy the Riders of the Westfold Battlehost which is one of the better Rohan Battle Hosts.

The Warriors of Minas Tirith seem odd, but they will work well in securing your flanks for a turn or two, though I'd argue for exchanging them for Oathsworn Militia as you can get five companies at the price of four Minas Tirith companies and you get throwing weapons to thin enemy ranks before the Fight Phase (5 Str 3 shots/company plus support). Keep Gandalf as you will want some casting in 2000pt games.

Depending on your opponent's army, Oathsworn Bowmen might not be worth it especially against heavy infantry or wood elves. All the Rider formations already have bows and can move, shoot and charge, so archery support isn't really necessary. Best use for them is monster hunting, not much more then that.

With Theoden's formation of Knights, consider the extra 150pt investment of upgrading them to the King's Guard with the Royal Standard. You gain an extra three Might points (not including the ones recovered from the Standard), and Hama is good for protecting Theoden and Gamling from dueling some Hero with Epic Strike.
Author:  ForgottenLore [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
WayUnderTheMountain wrote:
Dropping Erkenbrand's Riders is a good idea, because you're paying an extra 65pts for a +1 to Strength.


Erkenbrand's riders come with a Banner Bearer included int he cost as well, so you are actually paying 30 points and getting +1 Might, +1 Strength and auto passing Terror tests, which actually makes that formation one of the better Legendary formations for Rohan.
Author:  Lord Hurin [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
These suggestions, while good, really highlight some of the reasons I didn't like WoTR when I first read through the book.

-Magic is basically a must. This is easy for Evil, but a major PitFA for Good forces.
-A MASSIVE number of models is needed, and many of them will only be there to add wounds to the few who fight.
-The Battlehosts (whose book I don't have or plan on getting) seem to have added more cheese to the mix.
-Heroes are waaay over used.

I read that at the first big WoTR tournament, the best armies were the "Elven Pinwheel of Death" and included only High Elf bowmen and a ton of Heroes...
Author:  ForgottenLore [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Lord Hurin wrote:
-Magic is basically a must. This is easy for Evil, but a major PitFA for Good forces.
-A MASSIVE number of models is needed, and many of them will only be there to add wounds to the few who fight.
-The Battlehosts (whose book I don't have or plan on getting) seem to have added more cheese to the mix.
-Heroes are waaay over used.

I read that at the first big WoTR tournament, the best armies were the "Elven Pinwheel of Death" and included only High Elf bowmen and a ton of Heroes...


I have one spellcaster (not a Nazgul) and only 2 total heroes in my evil army, up until 2000 points generally, and I do OK in games. In fact I frequently forget to even use Druzhag's spells since he is mainly there for the summoning ability.

Massive numbers of models is one of the main appeals of the game. Ever since i started collecting miniatures I have wanted to fight battles with huge armies of guys. WotR is the first rules system that lets me do that with a minimum amount of work.

Don't use battlehosts. No one in my area except me even has the book and I don't think it really adds anything to the game, just pretend it doesn't exist.

There are 2-3 genuinely broken combos (one of which enables the pinwheel) and several other point imbalances and the rules could be written more clearly in some areas but by and large WotR is the best miniatures wargame I have found in the last 20+ years. For a first edition of a game it is nothing short of amazing.

As for the actual topic of this thread, I've never really played Rohan, either for or against so I can't comment on the list too much, but I see that you have around a third of your points sunk into heroes which seems a little high to me. I generally try to keep it around a quarter unless I am fielding monsters.
Author:  Beowulf03809 [ Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
I agree with the smaller percentage of points in Heroes for most lists, but for "soft" Good armies I think the ratio can be higher and it helps. I have a lot more points in Heroes in my Wood Elf army than I'd ever play in any of my Evil armies and my Rohan army is going to seem Hero heavy to most as well. But I believe for these types of forces you really want good Epics to leverage their special rules and to call Heroic and Epic actions as needed. You are not going to win a game of WotR with Rohan in a typical shield-to-shield bash. You'll be slaughtered.

I agree that Erkenbran'ds Legendary is one of the better ones in the game, but still prefer the special rules he has as an Epic. But I say play both and see which works best for you and your style of play. I do like the Royal Guard but that's another $40 - $50 in models to get the extra Heroes so do it when you can. More Knights would probably be a better investment until you have two solid Formations of them (5-6 Companies).

As for Battlehosts, most of them only add a minor bonus, or specialized bonuses and are pretty balanced. They enhance a force but don't define it. Yes, some BHs are either a waste except special circumstances (I wish the Ent BH was more generalized, for example) and other BHs take a force already open to abuse and boost it even more, but I'd say 75% or more of them are pretty well balanced. I think the Rohan BHs are all well thought out and give the force a bit of a leg up where it needs it (Rohan is one army that no one will argue is overpowered 8) ).
Author:  HRM [ Sun May 01, 2011 12:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Beowulf03809 wrote:
...You are not going to win a game of WotR with Rohan in a typical shield-to-shield bash. You'll be slaughtered...

...I agree that Erkenbran'ds Legendary is one of the better ones in the game, but still prefer the special rules he has as an Epic.


100% agree on your first point. "Slaughtered" is being generous, in fact. I've played Rohan since Day One in WoTR, and let me tell you, Beowulf speaks the truth.

I disagree on Erkies Riders, though; I think all the Rohirric Legendaries are a point-sink. Now, the "Riders of the Westfold" Battlehost? Pretty good, in my opinion.
Author:  Ultragreek [ Sun May 01, 2011 12:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
May if you drop a little the Oathsworn militia?And get royal knights.
Author:  Lord Hurin [ Wed May 04, 2011 4:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
I have rejigged the list quite a lot based on Beowulf's suggestions on here and in another thread. I've dropped down the Rider companies by a couple, added more Royal Knights and swapped Erkenbrand's Riders and Eomer for the King's Guard on horseback and Erkenbrand as an Epic. Hopefully it's looking better. I'm going to have to convert a couple regular Riders into RRG, which is something I've always been reluctant to do.
Author:  Beowulf03809 [ Wed May 04, 2011 9:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
In WotR you could always pair up RRG and RoR models. Most players won't object as long as a Company has one RRG in it. This can effectively double your count. If you have a couple Heroes in there as well even more so. For example, I have 5 mounted RRG (effectively 10 companies when paired with RoR), plus a few Epics which can boost me up to a total of 14 Royal Knight companies if I so choose.

You can't proxy this easily in SBG and conversions there are far more critical.

From my note earlier, I would almost always suggest taking a Hero as his Epic version rather than part of a Legendary. Loosing Erkel's Duel bonus is not something I would normally suggest since Rohan is already only "average" for Duelers. Plus a Legendary pins a Hero to a specific Formation and that makes it easier to kill them or otherwise limit their usefulness.
Author:  Lord Hurin [ Wed May 04, 2011 9:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
If you notice, there are 2 RoR with the extended plate-mail coats like RRG have, one with sword and one with spear. I figure a little mod to the shield, the iron collar and a mask and horse crest on the helm would be sufficient. I'm currently doing similar work to some Dwarves to make Khazad-guard.
Author:  Beowulf03809 [ Wed May 04, 2011 9:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Lord Hurin wrote:
If you notice, there are 2 RoR with the extended plate-mail coats like RRG have, one with sword and one with spear. I figure a little mod to the shield, the iron collar and a mask and horse crest on the helm would be sufficient. I'm currently doing similar work to some Dwarves to make Khazad-guard.


Cool thought. I've done GS "molded" shields before and would consider that reasonable, and adding the crest and helm mask isn't too big of a deal. I'll have to look at the detail involved in the collar work. Actually, there are RoR with a helm that already includes a face mask similar to the RG. Maybe head-swaps would cover some of this and add some variety to your remaining RoR at the same time.
Author:  Lord Hurin [ Fri May 06, 2011 9:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Beowulf03809 wrote:
Cool thought. I've done GS "molded" shields before and would consider that reasonable, and adding the crest and helm mask isn't too big of a deal. I'll have to look at the detail involved in the collar work. Actually, there are RoR with a helm that already includes a face mask similar to the RG. Maybe head-swaps would cover some of this and add some variety to your remaining RoR at the same time.


Yeah, the one with his spear pointing straight up looks basically like a RRG already. The Rider with sword has the long mail coat and the other spearman and one bowman have the "masks" molded on. I'm not sure whether sculpting a mask or doing a head swap would be more efficient.

As an aside, is there a mounted model for Hama?
Author:  WayUnderTheMountain [ Mon May 09, 2011 9:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
If there is a mounted model for Hama, it's likely not being produced anymore because I've been unable to find it anywhere. However, if you buy the foot model of Hama and do a head swap with a Royal Knight you get a mounted Hama and a Royal Guard Captain on foot. :D
Author:  Ultragreek [ Mon May 09, 2011 9:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Host of the Eorlingas (WoTR)
Quote:
If there is a mounted model for Hama, it's likely not being produced anymore because I've been unable to find it anywhere. However, if you buy the foot model of Hama and do a head swap with a Royal Knight you get a mounted Hama and a Royal Guard Captain on foot.

That's what i did.You stole it from my mouth.Em...i mean my keyboard. :-D
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