Whilst I'm ideologically opposed to agreeing with Marsbar he's bang on the money here, I'd totally missed that you didn't have redshields and unless you're fighting goblins or elves they're an absolute must. Seeing as you're thinking of a tournament list you'll definitely want to pay the seven points for the upgrade, even at the expense of Throwing Spears.

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Aye, for the first list it's redshields all day long.

For the second though, the extra rrg and sons of Eorl are the forefront of any close combat, with the riders supporting those combats riding on the fight of those they're supporting... Besides, no spare points!

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I've got to disagree I'm afraid buddy. At 500 points you'll be facing about 30 models in 'elite' armies (think Isengard/elves/dwarves) and probably about 40-50 with Moria or Misty Mountains. You've only got 21 models and you're gonna need every single one of them to be able to punch hard at the right time. If you only send in your 12 hard hitters you'll be outnumbered at least 3 to 1 and be butchered. You need to have a long thin line of cavalry who can all hold their own in combat to encircle the enemy (whilst taking a few pot shots) for the first few turns before striking with one (hopefully) decisive blow. In that way you should be able to get round the flanks and negate a few spear support models and stop the enemy ganging up on your cavalry and stealing your 2 attack advantage. There are very few armies you'll face who won't have a F4 2 attack shield wall facing your cavalry and you need to be tying Fight at the very least. Fight 4 is absolutely key here, it crucially puts you above (most) Gondor, Harad and Mordor troops and levels the playing field against dwarves, Isengard and a lot of elite troops.

Also, having played a lot of tournaments this year, Isengard (think D6, F4 and pikes) are probably the most popular choice of army out there so you need to make sure you can fight them on equal terms at the very least.

As for having no spare points, I'd drop a Royal Guard, upgrade your 7 riders to redshields and get 5 of them throwing spears. It might be annoying to lose the warrior but 6 F4 riders will achieve far more than 7 F3 riders, never mind the couple of cheap kills you'll get from your throwing spears.

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I understand what you're saying buddy and on the one hand, agree with you on the importance of fight value. I've never taken my Rohirrim without the upgrade and many a time, it has proven invaluable... to the point of disproving Hashut's comment that fight value rarely came into the game (now a running joke...)

But I disagree that taking away a further model to include Redshields in the second list is worthwhile, particularly as I'm already losing a model to go from list A to B. Losing that model and the red shields upgrade is the price to pay for an extra 4 fight 4 models, all of which also have defence 6, instead of 5, higher courage and 2 of which have 2 attacks base, extra movement and armoured horse. To lose another model from an already small model count, particularly one that shifts the break point down by one, is risky business in my eyes.

I value your insight into what I'm likely to come against in a tournament for sure and I can certainly see the importance of your point. But sending in 12 hard hitters against a shield wall of infantry, supported by spears is not how I roll with this force, nor is stretching out a long line to face off with the enemy. So far, I've been very patient with the Rohirrim and used their advantages of movement and the ability to concentrate quickly against weakened targets, and also had the sense to know when to get out of dodge and skirmish.

I do need to playtest the second list more though before I fully decide... just need more casual opponents!

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If my memory serves me well your most common enemy is dwarves. Dwarves have no magic, limited bowfire, no ranks, and a short movement speed, meaning that the tactic of "ride around in circles taking potshots" is rather effective against them.

However at tournaments there is a good chance you will be facing opponents with magic, who can either drag your men towards the enemy and thus ruin the whole 'run and gun' tactic or just knock your men from their saddles with a well placed blast/tremor, or people who have better shooting capabilities than you, or maybe people with something like a fellbeast that can fly right up to your riders and stop them in their tracks.

Either way you need to have a list that can have every model commit to combat, because the 'run and gun' tactic is one I often see fail because it only works a select few types of armies.

Your memory is correct and very good! Whilst the all cavalry Rohan has worked for me in a few situations, there are many I haven't come up against yet (some of which you mention above) and I'm not under any illusions that an all cavalry Rohan is a seriously competitive list.

I guess the goal is to enjoy the theme and be as competitive as is possible with an all cavalry Rohan force and strike the balance between fun and not getting completely smashed!

So far, the all cavalry Rohan have been up mainly against Dwarves (sometimes backed up by grey company to make up for bows/spears) and Easterlings and prevailed all but once in a game that saw me kill the dwarves too quickly whilst they sat on the objective and the game ended at the first opportunity. Gun and run is a good way to describe how I've played with them. We had a massive game where I took them (along with Ste's fiefdoms) up against a horde of Knighty's Hobbits as well as Pete's Dwarves and I just about pulled through that, although I don't think my opponents were chuffed at getting home at 6am! Also taken down a Knighty led Angmar army, that would have certainly performed better with a few bows to counter me for sure (and he was helping teach me elements of the game I hadn't learnt yet)

I let Hashut use them against me as I played an Arnor force (Halbarad with banner, 6 WoA, 6 RoA wSp, Malbeth, 6 WoA, 6 RoA wSp, 1 RotN, 1 Mounted RotN) and although it seemed even early, I took him out comfortably in the end... but have retested this as the Rohan list myself and took 6 casualties before taking them out.

I think this is why I enjoy the all Cavalry Rohan... it is so unlikely and so precarious in battle... you really feel up against it, especially as you lose your first 3 or 4 models. The fun is trying to find a way to win with what you've got, and whilst admittedly I haven't played any tournament army yet, I'm sure everyone will enjoy, me none the least, seeing one of the finest sights in the game. A Rohirrim Eored all mounted on the battlefield If I could find a way of getting the Redshields in without compromising the numbers, I'd be keen.

One way could be to demote Eomer from KotP to MotR... but I do like having a survivable hero that is a bit more of a tank... The extra attack, wound, will and fate plus strength 5 charge and armoured horse... is it worth sacrificing? What do you guys think?

So instead of

W1 - Eomer, KotP (armoured horse)
4 x Son of Eorl
4 x Mounted RRG
2 x Riders of Rohan

W2 - Erkenbrand (horse)
5 x Riders of Rohan
4 x Outriders (Mounted)

(500pts exactly)

How about

W1 - Eomer, MotR (horse, armour)
4 x Son of Eorl
4 x Mounted RRG (Throwing Spears)
2 x Westfold Redshields

W2 - Erkenbrand (horse)
6 x Westfold Redshields (Throwing Spears)
4 x Outriders (Mounted)

(500pts exactly)

Gets me the extra Rider agains, plus upgrades all riders to WR whilst giving 6 of them and the 4 RRG Throwing Spears.

Thoughts?

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Yeah i honestly think that second one will serve you better, I'm about playing for lols as much as the next guy but if you take list creation super serious then you guarantee every game you play will be super fantastic.

I totally agree with you about not compromising on numbers but I just genuinely believe that dropping one RG and upgrading all 7 riders to redshields (5 with Throwing spears) will survive longer and kill more, thus mitigating your loss of one man. After all, it's no use having a high break point if they all lose fights and die in the first few turns, that will do more damage to your chances of breaking than the loss of one guy. Anyway, we've gone back and forth on that a few times now, ultimately you have to pick the list you're happy with fielding. Just bear in mind that at tournaments you have to create a list that can deal with as many different situations and I think F4 is one of those key stats (like D6) that can seriously improve your overall chances.

Also, with regards to your game against Knighty, as memory serves did that not take about 8 hours or something? I guess in that game you were skirting around the edges, way out of range and just shooting at him. Obviously over the course of about 8 hours you'll probably get enough kills to get the win but bear in mind you're going to be on a really tight time limit (almost always under 2 hours and 90 mins at Preston) so those tactics won't work for you. If you want to stand a chance at Hold Ground, High Ground, Recon, Domination and To the Death you'll have to get stuck in quickly. You might have a chance at Lords of Battle if you get lucky with your shooting but I'm pretty sure most 500 point armies would be able to out-shoot 7 Riders of Rohan.

As for the Eomer question that's a tricky one, MotR is certainly more cost effective (KotP pays 40 points for 6 buffs - SBG logic says 5 points each - so he's 10 points more than he should be) but that doesn't mean he's the best choice. MotR is a very capable leader, particularly at this points level (2 fate and 2 will is nice) but personally I'd still side with KotP. I think I said in my first post on this thread how important Rohan's characters are to their success and having a 3 wound/3 attack/3 Fate leader is an incredible asset who should really boss 500 point games. He's absolutely devastating on the charge too - he should win the combat and then gets 8 S5 attacks, Expensive as he is I would be more confident of him earning his points back (and more) than MotR. I also strongly believe that just because he's overcosted (arguably by 10 points) that doesn't automatically mean he's NOT worth taking, you have to look at your other options and see what's available. It's the same logic that means I still think Theoden's worth taking, sure he's also about 10 points too expensive (compared to a King of Men) but he adds another F5, D7 2 Might, 2 Fate hero on armoured horse into your force - something Rohan sorely needs.

So yeah, as I said - tricky, ultimately I'd still go with my suggestion of your KotP list minus 1 Rg and upgrading everyone but if you're fixed on numbers then I think your new MotR list with 8 redshields and 10 Throwing spears (tasty!) is your best bet.

Hopefully you can make Preston, I look forward to seeing how you get on!

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P.S. The final thing that I use to decide this kind of thing is the models and KotP is an absolutely awesome sculpt that laughs at old Eomer. Hence why he's always in my Rohan lists these days!

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Even if knight of Pelennor is slightly over costed Erkenbrand is way under costed so it all balances out nicely

Same as you pal, trying to make the list as competitive as possible is part of the fun. Hence this very serious, constructive discussion we're all having. It just shows how much everyone would like a list like this to kind of work. After all, to love Tolkien is to be a romantic!

Think I'm agreeing that sacrificing KotP might be the way to go... Sad about it though!



It's a tough one isn't it mate? I guess that's why this is such an interesting discussion and puzzle, a conundrum we'd all like to figure out and see work at some level.

Like I mentioned, I agree with the importance of fight and until conjuring up list B, have always used the upgrade. I guess the way I'm seeing it, rightly or wrongly, is that with the large increase in models with higher fight ANF defence, that although the upgrade is preferable, there are just as many f4 models some of which have 3 attacks on the charge and therefore, trying to ensure the riders support fights that already include an f4 model. I know this isn't guaranteed but it would at least be the plan. But whether its better to do this or lose another model for the upgrade... I guess we'll only know after testing the combinations more. Open invite to any one ringers who fancy travelling to Stockport to help play test all of these combos!

As for my three games with Knighty, the first took 3 or 4 hours, mainly because I was learning lots of new rules, hadn't been playing long and had never used cavalry, not to mention all cavalry in a list before.

Wasn't so much skirting around the outside in that one, more him taking the central objective, me surrounding shooting, probing combats and withdrawal whilst waiting until an a charge would end the game with more if my models on objective than his. Admittedly, he was very patient and helpful but I'm more confident in the rules and with the capabilities now than I was. If we played the exact game again, it would be over in more than half the time, whichever result.

Second game... Yes, long long game! But not just my fault, Knighty brought over 70 hobbits and they took some killing! Whilst it was riding around a lot and shooting, it was also finding targets we could overwhelm. Would never play like that again, certainly not taking so long but that comes with experience of the game.

The third wasn't with Rohan. My grey company combined with Hashut's dwarves against Ste's Isengard and Knighty's tailored anti missile list (shadow lord, dwimmerlaik, bunch of trolls) so we just focused on taking Ste out of the game.

Eomer decision is a tough one! I converted my Eomer to have a shield and his horse armour to represent kotp as I love the profile. He's been a beast for me too, whereas MotR not so much.

But worth play testing! Get yourselves to Stockport and we'll suss this out! Yeah, really looking forward to meeting you all in Preston and having some fun, that's the name of the game



This is true! What to do, what to do! What are you all taking to Preston? Anyone heading up Friday day/night?

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My bet is Dr.Grant will bring this:
Sharkey and Worm, Mauhur, Vrasku
18 Ferals, 9 crossbows, and a pike uruk.

It will make grown men cry.

I am thinking of going for a salty all hero eastern army comprised of Khandish Chiefs, Dragon Knights, Suladan, a Mahud King, and either a named wraith or a troll chief.

At 500 points I reckon that Uruk armies will stick to the shaman/captain/Vrasku combo, although I would like someone make use of Thrydan or Sharkey. Moria armies will also be largely unchanged, Groblog, Durburz, and 2 shamans followed by loads of prowlers and blackshields.

Good armies on the other hand will probably look quite different to their evil/750pt counterparts. Rumil, Madril, Erkenbrand, and all the other 3 might captains will probably be promoted to army leaders seeing as how the decent heroes are too many points. I predict Erkenbrand will be the most common hero seeing how he is such a beast. Elves will probably be the most successful of the good armies just because they don't really need wizards to get magic - they have stormcallers and Thranduil.

Every good list I have come up with contains at least one warband of elves, almost always led by Gildor because he is probably the most well rounded model in the game, but then again I am in it to win it and my imagination justifies any sort of alliance I create. Also F5 spear support is like a drug to me.

Really looking forward to what the fellbeast gang will bring now that they can only fit 2 named ones and a generic wraith into 500pts.

For the last time Marsbar - stop breaking into my house when I'm asleep and reading my army lists!!!!!

Yep, he of the depressed confectionary has got it pretty right, I'll be bringing some version of my feral army but honestly don't know which build yet. The big debate for me is wether to go for 3 or 4 captains for the loss of about 4 ferals. See below:

Option 1

Vrasku
8 Crossbowmen

Lurtz OR Uruk Hai Captain, heavy armour, shield
4 Ferals
1 Beserker

Sharky & Worm
4 ferals
1 Beserker

Armoured shaman
3 ferals
1 Beserker

500 points
27 models
7/8 Might
Break 14 dead

Option 2

Vrasku
9 Crossbowmen

Sharky & Worm OR Lurtz OR Uruk Hai Captain, heavy armour, shield
8 ferals
2 Beserkers

Armoured shaman
7 ferals
1 Beserker

499 points
30/31 models
5/6/7 Might
Break 16 dead

I think I'm currently leaning towards the first option as the loss of 4 models should be mitigated by the extra Might and Fighting capabilities of another captain or the spellcasting of Sharky.

The Lurtz v captain debate is essentially to give myself a D7 leader which I think is worthwhile even if it costs me 1 Might.

I really need to playtest it though and see how effective the various builds are and if I suffer numbers wise, I'm keen to see how effective Sharky can be. 4 Immobilises on 2+ will be very handy against the relatively low Will of 500 point heroes but I'm very aware that one half decent Sap WIll from a Ringwraith and he's useless and I could always roll 4 1's...

I love the Sharky model though so at the moment I'm keen to include him. Unfortunately, the last time I organised 3 practice games to try out the 3 lists I ended up using a 500 point Thorin's Company army all day for the lols - twas good fun but not all that helpful!

As for other armies I think Marsbar's made some good points - elves are very well suited to this points level, they can either go for Leggy, Thranduil and 24 tooled out warriors (think Galadhrim Court, throwing weapons) and one 'trick' like a banner or a sentinel. Or the probably superior Leggy, Thranduil and a Stormcaller (watch out Thermo!) with about 20-22 less pimped elves. I know of at least 2 people considering this list for Preston and I would expect it to do very well - Legolas with armour and an elven cloak is a fantastic leader at 500 points, hiding behind the elf lines auto-hitting your heroes, he'll wreak a terrible toll (bear in mind most leaders are likely to be 2 Wound, 1 Fate, D6/7 type characters). 7 Might is far from shabby at 500, up to 8 Wood Elves shooting on 2+, Thranduil can cause a 12" terror bubble (read: all the elves) and they have at least 2 (and potentially unlimited) Nature's Wraths - that'll be a tough nut to crack.

I'll put my cards down and say that an army like that will place very highly in the tournament based on games won (although not necessarily in actual tournament ranking due to it being based on VPs - for more on my thoughts on this check out the current debate raging on the FB group!).

Ringwraiths (even the unnamed ones), like Leggy, are also likely to boss these games no end - they're fairly cheap have great offensive magic against low points cost heroes (Sap Will, Black Dart esp.) and a lot of the tricks for dealing with them (particularly the 3 wizards) won't be around to help out, I think they'll be pretty effective.

I'd say that (again due to the way the tournament's based on VPs) it'll be a Moria army that wins, like Marsbar said, Groblog, 3 shamans, 48 goblins (24 Gundabds, 24 spears) and possibly a Ringwraith or something similar.

As for play-testing I'm afraid Stockport's a bit far for pick up games for us Londoners! We haven't sorted plans yet but I'll be travelling up Friday evening and I'm quite likely to be coming up with Marsbar and Southy from this Illustrious forum, can't imagine we'll get there till quite late though.

Looking forward to meeting you Thermo!

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Can you resist Thranduil's nature's wrath? Also Dr.G have you never considered Mauhur, 3 attacks and an 8" move make him the best combat hero isengard has to offer xoxoxoxo

Also while we are talking about potential tourney lists, when are we gonna see the illustrious goblin king, grinnah, scribe, gobbo captain,and moria shaman backed up by 36 goblin town gobbos and 12 regular ones at a tournament?

Also, regarding the knight of Pelennor, I would definitely go for that version. Having a 3A hero on a horse means if you get a decent charge in the first few turns you can cut into the enemy with a cheeky heroic combat and kill up to 6 models innit m8.

Yep, any model affected can resist but only on a 6+ - That combined with spending a Might point to get a risk free 12" terror bubble until he runs out of Will is just disgusting. He's easily one of the best value heroes in the game, him and his tricksy son (can't stay mad at Leggy though, he's just too cool).

I have Mauhur and he's great in combat but his 2 Might is frustrating, I think an extra Might point at the right time can arguably be more effective than a game-long extra attack (although I can certainly see the alternative point of view on this) so tend to only include him after the 3, 3 Might heroes. Ultimately, 1000 points is about the biggest size I play and if I take Saruman then by the time you've got the other 3 and 2 shamans there's rarely space for him. I agree he's good though, although I don't like the model which, again, informs my choice.

The Moria/Misty Mountains list is an interesting one, the fury thing seems like a no-brainer so it's odd to not have seen it about this year. I'm not sure why entirely, my goblin town goblins are at the back of a cupboard on the sprue somewhere so they're unlikely to be getting a run out from me anytime soon.

And as for KotP, don't forget you're talking about him charging mounted so he's got 4 attacks for a potential 8 kills! Although granted it's all but impossible to charge 4 models at the same time (3's tricky enough) and you'd be fairly mad to call a Heroic combat if you were surrounded and trapped by 3 models!

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I have to say, I'm really excited by the idea of looking across the table at some different armies and hope I'm up to the challenge! At the very least, lot's will be learnt and much fun will be had! My SBG experience and wargaming experience generally is still vastly limited to this last year so looking forward to meeting more players and seeing them and their armies in action! I hope you all don't mind giving me more of an insight on the day, I'm here to learn so shower me with information, critique and insight!




A very good insight! I have aspirations for more competative tournament entries in the future and have models to make various combinations of elven/arnorian/rohirrim armies.

Any Gildor tactica? I have the model and will eventually get around to painting and looking to field my elves. Only used him once, can't for the life of me remember what he did in the game...

Are there a few players who brings fellbeast only armies? How do they tend to fair?

And who are the metagamers I should look out for?! Haha!




More great insight into what we're likely to see at Preston. Maybe in the future, all this information will be very useful when creating tournament army lists! But today, I think we all know I'm bringing all cavalry Rohan for the romance and the joy of playing the and trying to make them work.

I have very very little experience on how effective magic can be in the game. Perhaps the only thing I can think of of note was actually in the first game I used all cavalry Rohan... with the Witch-King Blackdarting Eowyn to death first turn. A few other experiences but nothing game changing. Looking forward to seeing how influential it can be in games.



You too buddy. Yup, quite far for you dudes... hopefully get acquainted with one or two closer to home for future gaming. I'm opening a business that will require large space and would be quite keen to host everyone for a tournament next year and do something fun up here, but we shall see!

Who else is up this way off the top of your head?



I'm a fan of KotP... you think take him and leave the Redshields upgrade/throwing spears?

I've never actually used Heroic Combat! Plenty of Heroic Moves to guarantee the charge or get the boys out of dodge, and heroic strikes but never heroic combats. One to note!

Regarding Goblin town list, I got a client of mine to buy the starter set with me (I took Thorin's Company, he took everything else) He's also got two extra boxes of Goblins... a fine starter army! But still can't pin him down to teach him to play... I'm dying to see the Goblins in action too!



Basecoat and the red wash and those bad boys are ready for gaming!



He's a beast for Rohan, very "killy" and since taking him instead of MotR, I've never looked back. He can hold his own and can't think of any time he hasn't performed or made me regret bringing him.

You fellas able to give an insight into how best to use heroic combat, to someone who just hasn't seen the right opportunity to use it, and usually saves might for dice bumps or heroic strikes/moves?

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Gildor tactica? I always use him to lead armoured high elf spearmen because they mean my real soldiers (usually dwarves) will be fighting with fight 5 (hooray). Gildor himself can do anything, the magic means you can shut down enemy heroes who are dumb enough to stand in the battle line, his 2 attacks and fight 6 mean he can fight good, and the 8" move means he can catch up to wounded heroes who are fleeing the fight/stop enemy troops from running to objectives late game. Only thing about Gildor is that he has terrible defence, only throw him into a fight if it is against an immobilised opponent or a lone soldier.

Heroic combats should only really be called by mounted heroes who have charged, I find the best way to use them is to cut through the enemy to a shaman or what have you who is hiding behind the battle line (this is much harder when spearmen are around). When you play a scrub like Dr.G who does not actually have a rank of spears (or any friends) heroic combats are much more handy as you can cut straight through the scrubs to the hero. In our last match the mighty Easterling came THIS close to killing Saruman thanks to a heroic combat.

Also, another sneaky thing you can do with a heroic combat is this:

Let's say Eomer has charged two blokes and there is a clear path to an orc captain were he to call a heroic combat. If you call the heroic combat the orc captain will have to call his heroic strike to counter your fight value before you even roll for your fight, meaning that if he spends the might to do the heroic strike you can just charge more soldiers and he wastes his might point, but if he does not call the heroic strike then you can charge him and have your delicious f5 remain unchallenged.

Anyway, in my honest opinion this is what you should do (if possibe):
Knight of Pelennor
Erkenbrand
10 Westfold Redshields (1 throwin' spear)
4 Mounted Royal Guard
4 Sons of Eorl

Aye, a D7, f5 battleline is certainly for winners. Good to hear how to use Gildor in future... I'm looking forward to getting him painted up and using him on the battlefield more



I can see how this could be very very useful for my army. Thanks for the examples buddy, I'll have to get into practice using this before the tournament.




You think? No outriders?

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Hi Thermo, just a reminder: a little less quoting per post would be great. People on mobile devices have to do a lot of scrolling...

Yep, the primary reason I go to tourneys is to get to play against players/armies/models I don't normally have access to, it's great fun and there's a real joy to be found in finding an effective list that can deal with multiple opponents. I'm also a massive fan of the whole-weekend tournaments, the first night evening shenanigans are always a good laugh and worth the cost of a B&B!



There's one player who generally turns up with pure named Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts (6 @ 1000 points, 4 @750 points and as Marsbar says, 2/3 at 500 points). and they're absolutely horrific. It's quite easy to build an effective list that would have a good chance against them but that's a list that wouldn't do well against other 'standard' armies, thus, in tournaments the Fell Beasts find themselves up against a selection of standard armies that simply can't cope with their power. They were good before the Hobbit rules but they're nigh on unstoppable now thanks to the new monster rules. The fact that these are doubled up with the rules for monstrous cavalry (which is now just an extra set of special rules for Fell Beasts!) makes the situation even worse. It's an incredibly tough army to beat and, in my experience, not much fun as there's so little you can do.

Get the wraiths off their Fell Beasts though and the game's yours...



I wouldn't necessarily look out for metagamers so much as meta-armies, the vast majority of competitive players at the top of the league are really nice chaps who play a good, fun game.

The meta-armies you need to look out for are (broadly):

Wood elves led by Thranduil, Leggy, and Stormcallers

Moria hordes with Gundabad front line, spears behind, Shade, Groblog, Shamans

Nasty Harad builds with lots of archers/Watchers of Karna, Reavers and the Shadow Lord

Anything with Saruman the White/Saruman and Grima

They're the ones I would personally not want to face, very tough lists.

Special mention to Marsbar on this actually, he's turned up to a couple of tourneys this year with cool, fun monster lists that are actually very competitive. I've played him twice with my ferals and had disproportionately good results against them as I think I had a good army to beat them. I must say though, his monster list and another one at the last tourney (Charles' Marsbar) are actually quite intimidating to face with the new monster rules. It's fairly easy to bring one or two big gribblies down but when there's about 8 of them (@750 points) charging at you supported by the damn Dwimmerlaik (the bane of monster killers!) it's quite tough!




Magic can be a game-winner in the right hands, the common mistake new gamers make it to always try and kill with magic (Sorcerous Blast, Black Dart etc.) when in fact the real game changing spells are the ones that allow you to gain a better position/advantage over the enemy (Immobilise/Tremor/Nature's Wrath/Command etc.)




I think most of the Northerners are primarily Last Alliance users and only pop up on here from time to time, post a message on the Facebook Group if you're curious, they're all on there and they'll let you know who're nearby in Stockport.




Ooooh, tricky one that as there's all sorts, I'm not gonna lie, the vast majority of my Might goes on Moves, Strikes and adjusting dice rolls but a Heroic Combat at the right time can be a game winning move.

Marsbar's already made some good points, his tactic about using a Heroic Combat to waste Might from a nearby hero by forcing them to Heroic Strike is a really cool, fun one that's come about since the advent of the new Hobbit rules. He's also bang on the money that 9 times out of 10 you'll want to do it with a charging mounted hero to really guarantee the kill, there are few things more frustrating than wasting a Might point when your glorious hero fails to kill the first bloke!

I personally tend to use them to 'save' an important model who's in trouble. Say for example Gandalf's trapped by 3 uruks, I might Heroic Combat with Aragorn to charge into one or two of the uruks to pull him off so Gandalf's not trapped. Of course this only works if you have priority as otherwise your opponent will just choose to fight Gandalf's fight before the second Aragorn fight so he'll still be trapped. Still at least they've then got one/two less attack and two/four less attacks if they win the duel.

as Marsbar says they're also good for punching through lines and taking out key models like Shades, banners and shamans, you have to be really careful with your positioning though as your hero can very quickly find themselves stranded behind enemy lines.

Another great use for a mounted hero is the movement bonus. A charging mounted hero who calls a heroic combat can potentially move 20" in one turn! This can be incredibly important, particularly in domination as a way of grabbing/contesting objectives in the last few turns.

Finally, always try and make sure you get the most out of your Heroic Combat. If I'm planning on calling one, I'll try and charge 1 enemy model with my hero and about 4 other warriors, that way they all get to move and fight again which can easily swing a lot of combats. Being able to catapult 5 or 6 models 12" on foot or 20" if mounted in 1 turn can be incredibly important in scenarios like Hold Ground and High Ground.

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Finished 2nd in the 2014 GBHL. My Wife's so proud

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