I am trying to design a 1000 point tournament competitive list from the 'Rivendell and Eregion", "Arnor/Grey Company" and "Thranduils Halls/Lothlorien and Mirkwood" lists. The Army will be based around Glorfindel as leader and I am a big fan of Rivendell Knights as I tend to send them straight after my Amoured Glorfindel on Asfaloth which has worked well so far. I am open to all suggestions and want the most competitive list I can get for my first tournament. Thanks.

So far I've got:

Warband 1
Glorfindel, Lord of the West with the Armour of Gondolin and Asfaloth (Leader)
- 1 High Elf warrior with shield, spear and banner
- 6 High Elf warriors with shield and spear
- 2 High Elf warriors
- 3 High Elf warriors with Elf Bow

Warband 2
Malbeth the Seer
- 6 Rangers of Arnor with spear
- 6 Rangers of Arnor

Warband 3
Ranger of the North with spear

Warband 4
Ranger of the North with horse

Warband 5
Ranger of the North with horse

Warband 6
Thranduil with armour and Elf Bow
- 6 Mirkwood Rangers
- 2 Palace Guards with shield
- 3 Palace Guards with spear

Warband 7
Rivendell Knight Captain
- 4 Rivendell Knights with shield

= 1000

46 total unit count, 30 Bows all 3+ (15 Elf bows), 12 Might, 8 horses.

Strengths - lots of bows, strong leader, magic (resistance and usage)
Weaknesses - numbers, ??

Contemplated Rumil, Legolas, Taurial and Erestor

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Go The Glorf!
My W.I.P - viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28062

IDK I think the first Elf from Mirkwood Id put in is Legolas every time but I like your list.

Personally, I dont think rangers of the north are worth that much. Youre paying like 15 points for an extra might will and fate in your army. Totally overpaying for such a squishy guy.

I get you trying to add Arnor and Malbeth in and Id do it for fun, but never in a tournament.
I dont trust guys who cost that much for a 1 wound profile, and I dont trust strength 2 bows. you needs sixes to kill on most troops in the game...


And on final note, you dont have enough Rivendell Knights. At 4, they will be the target of bows and not that hard to take out before they hit the lines. There goes like over 75 points in a few lucky rolls.

If you have more like 6-8 youll still hit the lines and punch a hole. My honest suggestion is take out the Rangers and put in them.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Ok I do get that and it makes sense, I was just trying to bend it a little to fit in malbeth who i have recently got but havn't used and think his 'channeled fury like' power would be awesome behind a line of high elves.
I unfortunately only own the one box of rivendell knights though i do have galadhrim knights which i could bring a warband led by legolas in exchange for the Malbeth and rangers warbands?
Also banners with horse? Not really worth it because of he size of horse bases I think.

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Go The Glorf!
My W.I.P - viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28062

Rangers of the North are decent enough in you know how to use them and putting them on a horse is a good choice. It's more for being able to have 100% bows for the Grey Company that you bring them.

I think the list looks cool and varied, good luck and let us know how you get on!

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I would at the very least take out one Rangers and replace him with the last Knight.

But that would reduce the bowmen by 4 and have to change the whole part of the army.

Personally I dont have a lot of faith in the grey company since the Hobbit rules came out and changed their abilities with move and shoot and stuff.

Practice with them first and see if you think theyre worth it because they are hit or miss in Arnor.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

I don't necessarily agree with that, although if I took Rangers of the North. I would mount all of them. A group of 5 to 6 of those together is quite deadly with all that might to heroic move. Eventually the opponent will run out of might and you will probably have some left for the heroic moves.

Although I like the thought of Malbeth in there. But I mean do what you like to fit your models.

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Who ever said swimming was easier then running never swam a 400 I.M.

Ok first off Knife, Im talking this mostly for Rigg but you can read if you want. Just kind of a counter point to his army but mentioning what you said.....anyway...

Yeah Im sure there are also even people out there who would completely disagree about Grey Company.

And I do agree mounted they are much better...but.....

heres the thing. Im giving him advice as a tournament opponent. He can get help realizing that army's weaknesses this way. Im just saying at 500+ pts Id probably always take Uruk Hai with heavy crossbows, Harad and Umbar with heavy bows. More than grey company. And either wood elves, or wood elves and high elves mixed with better bows. And then his expensive troops will be chopped to pieces. If he keeps them on foot, they still are 20 something point models dying on a 5 from any of my bows Id usually take first. Then furthermore, you have a pack of them on horses. Lets say 4-6. The FIRST thing id take out in his army are the rangers and then knights of Rivendell.


This is a thousand pt list, and his units in question Im talking about are worth around 330 points. Thats 1/3 of his army.

At 1000 pts with my Uruk hai I can easily field 24 Crossbow bolt shots every round. Thats insane. Lets do the math. 4+ to hit 50% hit rate 12 hit. Then strength against their defense I need a 5. A third hit. That 4 killed every round or off their mount. Ill probably Kill half of them by the time they hit the lines. Thats already 1/5 of the army's points.
And thats a lot of its might. Then Id be more than happy to go to close combat with Uruk Hai against their remaining foot troops.

With Harad I can easily field more. A lot more. If I wanted I can make an army with bow spamming I can do 42 bow shots easily. Thats insane. Up to 21 hit a round. With strength they need 6s but have re rolls.

With Elves I get less but they are the best all around bow shots in the game. They can hit easier than uruks, or move and hit. And the strength difference is negligible.


So yeah the army could be good, but I think putting more than 1/3 of his points into the Knights and Rangers is ill advised.

So Riggs, yeah.....thats just an idea. At tournaments, THERE WILL BE BOWS. Lots. Hide your Rangers and Elven Knights or youll be buried. It seems like a force you need a lot of practice with to compete.

For an upcoming tournament Im putting together a Uruk hai army thats 750 pts and I already outnumber you by 6-8 models. Thats having all basic uruks that are at least 10 points each. Far from low cost models.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Thanks for the advise, I played the list through at home with a mate and it decimated an orc army but my opponent wasn't the best of players and I had a lot of luck, the Rangers of Arnor did significantly less damage than their elven counterparts.

I then today played a 1000 point 3-way to the death/lords of battle/domination hybrid against opponents I will be playing in a tournament next week. This time i left the Rangers of arnor and malbeth at home in favour of bringing taurial and 12 mirkwood rangers, whilst changing thrandiuls warband to a regular wood elves warband, I still took 1 Ranger of the North on horse. We ran of time in the game but I had easily killed the most enemies when we stopped, 43 kills, lost 12 elves (versing Uruk-hai and Minas Tirith). The Mirkwood rangers delt so much pain with bow that after 2 turns they had practically whipped out an entire warband. The Riv Knights didn't loose a man but took 10+ casualties. Thrandiuls magic is invaluable. The only thing that let me down was the High Elves couldnt hold their own against a Minas Tirith shield wall for some reason?!

My opponents lacked the bow power to return my 30 odd shots and sent their archers into combat which left me with a massive advantage which may not often be the case i would assume.

I do agree with the arnor rangers be inferior to elves. And I don't want to sink to many points in rangers of the north but one or two on is great for heroic moves with my knights after the captains used his might.

I was out numbered today and that didn't stop me so as long as I can dictate combats It shouldnt be a major issue.

To counter argue your harad/urukhai bow statements - you may be taking slightly more at best than my elves but i am hitting on 3s and wounding often on 5s if they do not have shields. It would be 4s and 6s for harad which means i still have the advantage in archery and the field is now more even because instead of sending 60 soldiers at me you are sending 40 because the other 40 are shooting.

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Go The Glorf!
My W.I.P - viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28062

1- Yup. If I were you Id just make it pure Elves.

2- Of course not. I personally feel high elves are way underpowered. They are high fight, and then the rest of them besides courage is average.

3-Yeah more bows for sure. At least in some forces. Of course though Im just saying from an outside perspective I, and many other would take more bows than in a friendly game.

4-

Elves need a 3+ to hit or 4+ then a 5 to damage harad. Same story for Harad against elves, but they can spam more archers. Youre failing to realize the defense values vs damage. Furthermore, they re roll on 1s and you dont! Big amount of extra rolls with that many bows.

Uruk Hai Crossbows cant move but Im killing you on 4s. Mean while youre killing my guys on 6s or 5s minimum. Your best chance is to put your elves as far back as possible, and then if you do that, you have a maximum from edge to middle where I can deploy my warbands generally, of 24 inches. Meaning youre going to be in range of me in 1 turn max. Furthermore, I know you probably wont get all your warbands at the edge. Im going to send all of my ferals and some of my heros and shields to annihilate a warband seperated from the army. I might lose 2-4 warriors for the whole warband. Maybe half if Im unlucky. And Ill shoot at anyone who comes in to help. Either that or you run away, in which case I move my archers in range of your soft elves and archers, and shoot shoot shoot while my warriors close in on one of your other sections that will put up the smallest fight.

Of course thats not how its gonna go every game.

But the fact is your archers cost like 2 pts less than one in the uruk list, with no armor. And if you add armor 1 less. And generally, your heros cost more. If you take mirkwood archers, every time you take 3 shots, I can take 4.

And pretty much, even with armor, im hitting you on 4s to kill. So you need a 3+ to hit, and more importantly a 5+ 6 to kill while I need 4 and 4. Thats easier. And Im easily better in close combat....just some thoughts!

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

If you have high elf archers vs uruk crossbows then the high elves come out on top. The elves have a 2/9 chance, while the uruks have 1/6 chance

Not true at all.

They way I start my warbands is attempting to shield my troops. This is what Id do:

xo
xo
xo
xo
xg

the x's are uruks with shields defense 6 and the os are with crossbows
they have to shoot through the wall to hit my crossbowmen.

Then they need an in the way, or a 6 to hit the shield.

On the contrary, the elves can do the same. BUT, three things.

1- The crossbows have strength 4. So either their front line or their archers go down on a 5 instead of a 6.

Advantage Uruk Hai. Reason being, if the elves miss the in the way and the uruks do, its easier to hit the elves front line, and then easier to hit their rear line the next turn.

2- Elven heros cost WAY more.
Ill average the heros(and I actually did this) for all the heros in the high elf list. The average point cost, is 111.

For Isengard doing the same thing, its 66. Thats another 45 pts alone.

If I even take out the elves 5 most expensive heros, and the same for isengard, the high elves are still a whopping 24 points more on average.

The high elves cheapest heros, Arwen and the Stormcaller. Stormcaller is good, but fragile, and Arwen just sucks to be honest.

So in other words, you make 500 point army, the uruks are outnumbering your bows. Take a 750 pt or 1000, and high elf players tend to start throwing in gil galad, Glorifindel with upgrades, and Isengard is still using mostly 60 point beatstick heros. The bow advantage goes up.

#3- Sneaky factor. I can lead my warband of 12 crossbowmen with a Shaman, and they can have channeled fury surviving an elf bow on a 5 or 6 and the elves wont have the same on their side more than likely.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Sounds like you certainly like your Uruks..... They are heavy armoured which means 5s to wound for strength 4 xbows, I am also wounding your xbows on 5s with my strength 3 bows = advantage me.
Or i could just go pure mirkwood rangers and put them in woods and your screwed because of elven cloaks and woodland creature hahaha.
All I can say is I have never lost to Isengard yet so i must be doing something right.

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Go The Glorf!
My W.I.P - viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28062

You didn't read I guess the point is to have my xbows behind shields. But yeah if you went to woodland terrain I'd just charge and send in my guys who are all 3-4 pts less so every warband an extra 3-4 models based off rangers or cost

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

If the xbows are behind shields, then surely when he lines clash ,you'll be at a disadvantage without spear support.

This would be very true.

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Go The Glorf!
My W.I.P - viewtopic.php?f=50&t=28062

By the time I get to combat I attempt to position the shows where they pick off a warband or some figures who aren't and my hero's and ferals are there. And isengard hero's are great at combat.

I'm not saying it will work i just dislike that so many think isengard is weak against elves

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

I don't see the need to attack me on the whole your talking to him thing. We're all trying to help and I was offering an idea that he might not have thought of.

If he mounted the Rangers of the north and took out the Rivendell Knights it could save him some points while still having a small Calvary group with a higher amount of might. He could then keep some rangers as well as Malbeth like he expressed interest in.

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Who ever said swimming was easier then running never swam a 400 I.M.

Very much concur, I don't know what your point was, LotBR, it's a public forum.