Hi guys, I recently purchased the new White Council set to try out the Dol Guldur scenario from White Dwarf but I also want to use them in normal points match games
I'll be using Elron Lord of the West, Galadriel Lady of Light & Saruman the Wise. I know it's not gonna be a very effective army but it'll be fun to use, just need a bit of advice on how to offset the low model count Nature's Wrath and Sorcerous Blast will help with crowd control, and heroes can be kept at bay with Immobilise, any advice from the other members on here would be much appreciated !

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Can't rain all the time.....

those 3 models go for a 500 points scenario. It's a given that you will lose any Domination and Hold Ground. Still, at 500 hundred points, the enemy's army will be small. The problem is that, as small as it may be, it will always outnumber you, so the first thing to do is to keep Saruman out of combat. With one attack and def 5, he will be done when surrounded. Plus, he cannot cast the terryfing aura so, unlike Galadriel (I don't Remember if Elrond has the terror rule) you opponent will have no problem charging.

Galadriel, without archers of spellcasters will be useless. Can hold her own in a fight, with F6, 3 might and 3 attacks she can last way longer than saruman in prolonged fights.

They have to stick together, so they can benefit from Galadriel's Light and be safe from archers who would otherwise be very dangerous. Then I would form a circle to prevent the opponent from trapping them. Let Elrond handle the heavy fight, use him to knock heroes out. Is de facto fight value goes from 7-10 so you can save might when fighting trolls and monsters. When you can no longer hold the ground, use nature's wrath to open a path to a better location.

I think if you want to have a chance with this army, you need an other fighter like Glorfindel, Thranduil or Legolas from BOFA. You can also try to use the terrain in your favour if possible. Try to find a place, where you cannot be trapped and your opponent has to go in a 1 on 1with Elrond ( a door or tunnel would be good).

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I think it can work against another not "made for win" army. But it may be a bit boring, because you will kill very slowly.

Why is that? In Domination if your opponent hast 3 warbands 25% is 9 models. So you should aim to get him down to 10 just after you began running at the markers. With a bit of Luck, Galadriel is able to free one because of war aspect. Saruman is able to hold one and Sorcerous Blast or compel another one free...you need a bit of luck and as said the other army shouldn't be over-competitive.
In Hold Ground it's the same, with Galadriel's war aspect, you should be able to reduce the last standing warriors quickly.
Of course you still need luck But you can win those scenarios!

As said war aspect can be very usefull.
Yeah in To the death, if possible just defend a house Elrond at the front door, Galadriel at the back door and Saruman between them happily blasting. With f6 and f7-10 and Elvenblades...

Thanks for the help guys, the other combination I was considering is dropping Saruman and adding Thranduil (BotFA profile) and Arwen Thranduil for added punch in combat and Arwen for the second Nature's Wrath

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Can't rain all the time.....

Don't take Arwen, she isn't very fluffy and one sap will will make her useless.
But you could take Galdriel, Elrond, Thranduil and Lindir. It will be hard to protect Lindir, but worth a try.

Or, if you want to play with more points, you can take out Lindir and use Gandalf. It's still not very competitive but could work in a friendly game.

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Five Objects, 3 models who have to stick together in order to avoid being badly outnumbered. That means that two objects can flawlessly being Held by the opponent, giving him a 6 points headstart.
But you're right on Hold ground: having one object only, it's not as hard as I imagined.



It is, but can be easily countered: a Shaman with channeled fury. Or Beorn. Or Galadriel may find herself having a friendly chat with Dwalin's Axe.

I would fetch Elrond a couple of nice, high defence men who would force him to roll a six to score a wound (it worked against Glorfindel). Keep him busy and then go after the others. Saruman himself can only cast one spell a turn.

Well it isn't that easy to channel against Saruman and blasting shamans is funny
Of course it won't be easy to win Domination, but as said you shouldn't think the game is lost before it starts.

Why is it not so easy to channel against Saruman?

An other question: What should I do with Galadriel if my opponent does not have bows or offensive magic? Do you think that she is worth taking her in a tournament where you don't know what you have to play against?

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You need a bit of luck getting the Ini (or think about a heroic move). Your opponent has to declare heroic channel at the start of the move phase. If you move first, you can transfix the shaman and so his might is lost.
Galadriel will be worth it nearly every time. Good armies nearly everytime have bows and evil players mostly have wraiths. But the war aspect always is good! But if the tournament has a time limit, I wouldn't bring an all hero force without a moster or all mounted, because it will take to much time to kill the enemies army.

You're at 485 points so lets assume you're playing 500 points games. Unfortunately, the list is very unlikely to win in any protracted game against a normal army. You'll have the run of things for the first few turns as you keep away from the enemy blasting with Saruman and avoiding arrows thanks to Galadriel. However, as soon as they catch you (and they will), Saruman will go down quickly and Galadriel and Elrond will fast burn through their Might (although Elrond's Free Heroic Strike makes him far more survivable than he used to be). Unfortunately, having 2 spell-casters as part of 3 model armies just isn't worth it as they'll soon be in combat and not able to cast. If you want a more competitive list then swap out Galadriel or Saruman for Glorfindel or another 3 Attack+high defence Hero. You'll need the attacks more than you'll need the spells come the end of the game.

However, this would be a really cool list to play with and against so in friendly games you could come up with a fun army to play against without trying to destroy it.

As for whether Galadriel is worth it at a tournament? Her Blinding light is good but Gandalf is a more effective way of getting that. Her obvious strength is against wraiths and spell-castsers which are pretty common at tournaments, particular high points values. I would say that she's probably worth including at games around 750 points+ as that's likely where you'll start to see enemy wizards.

The team that won the last GBHL tournament (1000 points doubles) used Galadirel, Saruman, and Gandalf as a 500 points White Council army but they then spammed their other 500 point army with Bard, Alfrid, Laketown captains and about 40 Laketown Militia. It was a cleverly designed army that mitigated against the low model count of the White Council by spamming cheap chaff. It worked very well and they won the event but there was no theme or fluff involved. Of course that may or may not brother you.

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I disagree on this. Gandalf is 45 points more expensive and needs to give up one point of might (and 1 will to be sure he casts it). Moreover if he is sapped will, blinding light is gone (and there are a few armies with Wraiths and a lot of bows (Easterlings and Haradrims for example) and the "transfix him he is channeling"-trick works, too. Galadriel has the blinding light right from the start and keeps it. All that being said the one point of might would bother me most and that he has one round less to cast anything else (I also have to discipline me to cast Saruman's Aura of Command at the first turn, because there almost are so many things I allready could blast instead ).