Hi guys was wondering what you thought of my 500 point hobbit force, any tips on how to get the best out of them.

Warband 1
General
Treebeard

Warband 2
Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire w/ pony, shield
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 3
Peregrin, Captain of the Shire w/ pony
4x Shirriffs
7x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 4
Paladin Took
12x Tookish Hunters

Warband 5
Farmer Maggot

Warband 6
Fredegar Bolger

42 Models, Break at 21, 12 shots per turn, 7 might

Thanks for reading

cool theme, but not competitive.
It is way too easy to ignore treebeard, kill 22 hobbits and break you.

Yeah it was made mainly for theme with Treebeard representing the trees of the old forest on the boarders of Buckland. From a competitive stance what would you change about the list?

You would need to break away from the all hobbits theme. Hobbits look great, play well in specific scenarios, but there is a reason they go unseen by the big folk. They do not pose a threat. Maybe now with the new hobbit sbg's special weapon strikes the sheriffs can add some tactical advantage, but all in all, hobbits are not formidable foes.

You could ally them with a few more ents, or the dunedain (however, the dunedain aren't very strong either). There is nothing wrong with your army now, you just need to realize that it is not competitive. If competition is *not* your goal (as mine is not either), then there is nothing wrong with your force and you will have a fun time playing. However, if you plan to compete, you will need to ally with a stronger force.

I think I would rather be noncompetitive and keep the theme then. The Hobbits just look cool and it feels like a force that if you win with its an achievement. They are the underdog force and everyone loves an underdog.

Hobbits are very competitive when played right, a pure hobbit army won the old GW GTs 4 years on the bounce. It requires almost perfect tactical play.

_________________
12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Of which I am incapable of, what was it that made they so good back in the old GT format.

Well the old GTs were legions so you could take 80 hobbits in like 750pts. Throw enough stones/ dice, everything will die. Although, Vesa was/ is a very good player so that probably had something to do with it.

_________________
12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

I think a lot of people are massively under selling the Hobbits here they are amazing for a bunch of reasons

1) The Tookish hunter (+1F) and Battlin' Brandy Bucks (+!1 str) upgrade give you a little more variety and options

2) Their really low cost and defence mean you can equip them with axes and give you entire army D3 strength each turn with no down side. You can also add a flail to a few which would be great as you're fight one (you essentially getting the Mirkwood ranger special rule for free on a model that is worth noticeable less than 5 pts

3) Throw stones is still great on the charge as you will have so many models and half of them should hit

4) There are just so many of you

If I were to make one change however it would be to remove treebeard and replace him with Bandoras Took and an normal Ent

I do have Bandoras Took but I left him out due to theme. If I were to include him and an Ent what advantages would that give me over Treebeard?

For theme I assume all hobbits were fair game and to answer the question about 10 hobbits worth of points but to be fair Treebeard is actually a really great unit more personal bias there.

I've been thinking and got my book put and really can't stress how great hobbit are, in the old rules they were good but in these new ones their great I can't stress how much the new special strikes help you. It really boils down to the fact that most strikes have a risk-reward set up but they hobbits are so awful (and cheap) they get a lot of the rewards for free as you can't make them any worse. I'll run through the special strikes to show you.

1) Feint - you have the lowest fight in the game so lose nothing and get re-roll 1's for free

2) Piercing strike - lowest D possible means that you are realistically get +D3 Str for free

3) Flail - this drops your fight to 1 (well you're there anyway) and gives you an attack for every enemy model you are in contact with - this will be fantastic for touching one of you units on to two of theres guys and getting an extra attack

4)Stun - really useful as you have enough troops to give the odd guy a club and helps you take on high fight guys (Aragorn surrounded with F1 an 1A even a hobbit can take on)

5) not of a lot of use to you as you can probs just surround them anyway but lacking cav a knockdown rule might be nice but to be fair no one really uses this special strike anyway

In the end a hobbit list is great but will require a lot of converting and remembering of the throw stones and special strikes rules. I play elves and they have a lot of special rules and a delicate play style like hobbits but trust me after a few games of forgetting it becomes second nature

Also I might take Gandalf who is a great support hero in any army and is still thematic

Thanks for your time and the in-depth reply it really helped clarify the use of the special strikes. If I was to rework the list to include Bandoras Took and the Ent, who would you suggest I make my leader of the force? all the hobbit heroes are kind of squishy. Gandalf was definitely considered as an inclusion but i thought that the killing power of an Ent would benefit the force more than the hero stopping force of the wizard.

Stones are very much unlike proper throwing weapons, they can't be used on the charge (or indeed when moving at all). See the special rules section of the main rulebook.

Hobbits can definitely be used well, but their efficiency very much depends on the scenario (compare the odds of success in Lords of Battle compared to, say, Reconnoitre).
Although I like the idea of an Ent(wive) in a Shire list, the problem is that he takes up 40% of your points here, leaving you with three warbands of vulnerable troops. (It does make Lords of Battle more manageable though...) I'd personally go with a Hobbit horde in anything up to 500pts (probably adding a few better troops that allow for some more tactical options, like Gildor and some Exiles, or Halbarad and some Rangers), and then adding the likes of Treebeard to reach 700pts (in this specific case reaching that almost immediately). If you manage to use Treebeard to his full potential, this list may actually work though: you've got decent numbers, and managed to circumvent one of the major issues with Shire lists as well: a low stock of Might. Still, if your opponent shuts down Treebeard for just a few turns, the remaining 300pts of Hobbits aren't that threatening.

What about these two different lists then? One horde, one with a monster

Warband 1
Leader
Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire w/ pony, shield, cloak
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 2
Peregrin, Captain of the Shire w/ pony
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 3
Dave, Captain of the Shire(Bandoras Took)
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 4
Paladin Took
12x Tookish Hunters

Warband 5
Samwise the Brave
10x Tookish Hunters
2x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 6
Fredegar Bolger

Warband 7
Bill the Pony

Models count:67, Break:34, Shots:22, Might:7

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Warband 1
Leader
Gwaihir

Warband 2
Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire w/ pony, shield, cloak
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 3
Peregrin, Captain of the Shire w/ pony
6x Battlin' Brandybucks
6x Tookish Hunters

Warband 4
Dave, Captain of the Shire(Bandoras Took)
4x Shirriffs
8x Battlin' Brandybucks

Warband 5
Paladin Took
12x Tookish Hunters

Warband 6
Lobelia Sackville-Baggains

Warband 7
Fredegar Bolger

Model Count:55, Break:28, Shots:18, Might:6

For a leader I might actually suggest you use Samwise the Brave on a pony he has 1 less defence but 3F (and might and will) he is a few more points though.

As for the Gandalf/Treebeard question I'm not sure where I stand after Coenus Scaldingus' comments perhaps don't take either until a high points list but in fairness neither of us use Hobbits so just test it and see how it works you may find at 500 you 41 other models piercing striking/flailing with no penalties offer enough problems for your opposition that Treebeard is left alone a little or visa-versa and he attracts all the bowfire and high fight models away from your hobbits meaning they can get into combat/get a round of stones easier

Merry has defense 5 and 2W,2F Plus Sam only has 2 might Not 3. I thought the one less fate and might would be offset by strength 3 and 4 needing 5's.

True to be honest the heroes I usually choose are Legolas or Elrond for obvious reasons not use to choosing such shall we say different(rather than weak) heroes so use your own judgement

As for the lists I really like them their both thematic and could both work, however I'd take Alfrid along with gwaihir as it gives him a sensible amount of might, it's slightly 'cheesy' but most people understand that you taking him to make Gwaihir workable rather than to be ultra competative

Also Dave, captain of the shire is great

If I Include Alfrid I guess I could pretend that he was Will Whitfoot mayor of the Shire Who went on a diet that made him taller. Is Alfrid as good as he seems? He looks like an extra might add on to your heroes.

Yeah Alfrid is great but not overpowered as he only has 3W so is realistically only going to give you 2-3 might a game he becomes problematic when he is teamed with Bombur (who can create will at no cost) especially as i'm sure a few heroes have a 'if a hero calls a heroic action they copy it for no cost' rule and it all starts to add up to a huge shift towards you generating huge amounts of will (with perfect rolls e.g +4 for Bombur to generate his free will, 6 on Alfrids roll to see if he give you will (on a 6 it's D3 might instead of one) and then a +5 on the might roll then Alfrid can produce 39 might in a 10 turn game.

But as I said most people will understand Alfrid is there to only give Gwaihir might and won't be used again for anything but the mayor thing would work if you want to keep theme.