Hello all, happy new year.

So my initial purchase of Thranduil (KotWR) and a warband of his armoured kin, has led me to decide to build a decent sized force.

Though I know I will need to add Palace Guard and probably Legolas, which additions should I add for a 500 list and again at a 750 point list?

I do have Galadriel lady of light for the 'roll 6 to hit' rule and a host of Rivendell/Lindon elves. If you can see a way for them to play a part, then feel free to add them.

I currently have the idea of roughly two mirkwood warbands, including some palace guard, some Rivendell Knights led by a captain, with Galadriel in support to protect from nasty crossbows and such.

Happy new year back as well!

I like the enthusiasm for the list but I would advise against palace guard

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Would I get that much more armoured swords for the cost of palace guard? I'm not very well versed with wood-elf tactics and not sure what kind of numbers I should be bringing to the fold.

Consider palace guard only in Tharanduil warband because their special rule. Some with shields are fine because their higher D value.

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Palace guard with spear and shield in a warband with Thranduil is fine. Anywhere else they are a bit... fail.
That way the front rank can feint and you still have high fight

It definitely seems like the higher D rating is a great benefit, but I'm wondering if the slightly more models I'd get if I were to take armoured swordsmen with shields, whether the extra few would be more of a positive than the extra defence and higher fight.

That depends on what you are countering. Against hordes with low D and S probably better to get more warriors. Against higher D and S then go with palace guard.

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"It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keeps the darkness at bay."

Visit my WIP!

I would go mirkwood armored elves all the way. I feel like the only good use for Palace guard is when you don't have enough point to make another warband and you can treat it like an upgrade to a few of your armored elves to round out your points. They also may be worth taking a few at higher points, I mostly play 500-600 games where if you take them thats all you get but I could see have 6 or so of them or maybe the captain in a larger game being effective since they can give a variety of troops a hard time. Also pretty good in good versus evil games since almost nothing evil is going to have a higher fight and the bodyguard might actually matter if they have ringwraiths sapping courage or monsters with terror.

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P

I wonder about preparing for a tournament, if it comes down to just guessing what you might face. In which case I suppose a few palace guard 'upgrades' wouldn't hurt too much if I face a horde.

Eh I think they're only really good cause of their fight value, so beating Rohan, Gondor(minus Boromir), Isenguard, ect heroes or forcing them to heroic strike is huge. I would really only take them if you can't get more troops taking something else instead.

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Cheers,

P

It's not so much that I want to take a lot of them, it's more of a direct comparison between the armoured swordsmen (new models) vs the palace guard variants, as the swordsmen are only D5, and I'm paying for both their elven blade and their shield.

So it's a dilemma whether or not an 'upgrade' to palace guard is a smart move.

Dunno where is the dilehma at, the only guy that cost 5 points over the other(with 1 upgrade the guard/2 upgrades de mirk elf got the following extra benefits:

- bodyguard rule
- special rule for +1 fight near thranduil
- can get access to banner and horn (for the cost mentioned on his profile)

is all this worth it?

I would say
vs S3 and S5 it might be worth it
vs S4 its all the same (D5 or 6 no matter still wound at same)

Like some people already adviced, they are expensive and the elves army is an elite one where they lack on numbers...
Comparing bettewn mirk and guard its kinda weird comparison to some point as one is your base core to take on the field, the other its very situational.

If you still wanna get "palace guard" on the field cause there cool, send captains to lead random mirk elves, they are completly worth it as they are considerably alot cheaper in comparison to other elven captains. (15pts cheaper if im correct)


My army normally includes a bunch of em for some reasons:

- it works better on Thranduil warband or an intend warband to stay near Thrand.
- they are plastic and easier to afford
- they give me acess to banner (at some point might be usefull)
- theyall come inbued with an elven blade, so any similar fight value models they got 2 options, or its fighting an heroe and get heroics strike sto beat, or get really luck cause 4 out of 6 chances on a nice gonna favour tie up combats with palace guard when the fight values are similar.

I think the banner could be a huge deal later on, so I'm thinking on getting a box of palace guard, a captain, even if I don't use them now, they'll no doubt become useful at some point.

Yeah the banner is probably worth considering and the captains seem great, the only problem for me is I dunno when you'd take him over one of the named heroes. If you get up to a 4th warband the palace guard captain would be my first pick. I honestly have never gone with the banner in order to get more models, since the elves tend to be a low model count army. If you do take one let me know how it goes.

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Cheers,

P

I use a banner in my Rivendell/Lindon themed force and it has been very useful. Of course it lowers my numbers, but when position correctly it does keep the elves you do have, more effective, because they win more of their fights.

I think when it's a pitched battle it's more effective, but in objective based games, it can be a big drawback.