Pretty straight-forward question:

Are all-cavalry lists viable?

If so, what conditions would you apply? Which armies are best-equipped to do it? Are there any armies you think just shouldn't even consider it?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Rohan! All mounted Rohan is the only way!

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Yes but mistakes will be magnified and some matches would be really hard.

Obviously Rohan, but also Rivendell knights. Bows, lances and throwing weapons are good to consider.

I would love to see a Dol Amroth one and that could really work with Imrahils banner effect.

Haradhrim, khand and easterlings have the potential for something good with a lot to choose from.

Armies not to consider it with: How about any that don't get cavalry like Arnor

My word, YES! All cavalry is is brutal! However, teacups brings up a good point. As with any force (except maybe 9 fell beasts with Nazguls) an all cav army will perform great against some and really struggle against others. One of my all time favorite anti cav tactics is a channeled panic stead or a well-timed Nature's wrath. Your force would suddenly become a very expensive infantry force. But then again, who plays Radagast....

As far as an all cav Arnor force, it could be made but it would be all RoTN and every piece would have to be modded from something else as RoTN don't have official cav models.

I forgot Arnor could technically do it, although Goblin Town certainly cannot.

Arwen has natures wrath and old Thranduil who is cheap can use natures wrath once per game. Monsters with Hurl can also be a big problem.

Has anyone here had experience with all mounted harad? That is something I would like to try

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Though I have not played an all Harad cav force, I can say this. Harad cav is very lightly armored (D4) and is best described as a Glass cannon. They work well as mobile archers, but if you think you could pull off a rohirrim charge with harad, your force will fall quick. I made that mistake more than once.

Got an all-mounted Harad force, but only took them out to play once so far. Had the luck of fighting against spread out units, which allowed my fast troops to pick on isolated targets and jump on them with all the joys of charge bonuses including lances.

In general, their strengths are as you would expect: surprisingly good numbers for cavalry, plenty of bows, lances. What they lack is obviously defence (another downside of which is that the enemy won't normally choose to strike at the horse; otherwise an option if the rider is tougher). Fight value isn't something to write home about either. In addition, the heroes are reasonable but not amazing: they lack the plethora of 3 Might heroes e.g. Rohan has (shame Taskmasters can't be mounted!). Kings are a decent investment for the F5 and you won't want to leave home without Suladan, who unfortunately can't have the lance the rest of his army will carry.

Didn't face monsters, but would expect them to be the biggest danger these days. A single hurl can cost you a good proportion of your forces. So, I guess the goal will be to heroically charge them with a King, get a nice heroic strike in and hope enough lance-wielding troops will join in to rid yourself of big beasties quickly.

Yeah, I love the idea of an all-cavalry list, but I just don't know how I'd get on with it.

I'm building my first army currently and it's a 600-point Minas Tirith force with 45 models on the table.

Looking at something like Rivendell Knights, I'd be absolutely maxing out at, what, 22 models? And that would be twenty D5 Rivendell Knights with two Rivendell Knight Captains.

I suspect maybe the best I could do would be three identical warbands:

Rivendell Knight Captain
- Shield

5 Rivendell Knights
- Shields

That would be exactly 600 points with only 18 models on the table. Compared to 45 models, it looks a bit fragile!

45 models in your minas tirith force? I take it that is not all cavalry?

22 models for all cavalry is reasonable and have seen people do well with it, but it really requires a high level of skill and some luck and good match ups. If you want more numbers for cavalry then Rohan is much better. Certainly would not recommend though if Minas Tirith is only your first army.

I would be interested in your Minas Tirith force as that what I play for good at the moment.

Only six or seven mounted models in that list. You can find the thread for it here.

I'm pretty new to SBG, though as I actually did work for Games Workshop for a couple of years I'm definitely familiar with the game. I was always drawn to Minas Tirith as an army and I suspect they would be a lot more forgiving than such a small force as a cavalry list. In the long run, though, I'd love to have a few different armies I can put on the table.

Yes Minas Tirith is a great army and you can make them feel very different. Try using a big hero like Boromir/ Aragon or a wizard like Gandalf/ Saruman and you will see how differently they play.

It is also a good idea to have different teams but also for different points limits as some work at better values than others. You could have an all cavalry team for a smaller skirmish game and that way you could get a lot of practice and I think they would probably do better. As said previously Harad might do that quite well at lower points as they are less likely to face big monsters and elite troops.

The thing is, the Rivendell Knights will still outshoot most forces regardless, given that each and every model is bow-armed. Add to that their great manoeuverability, and you will struggle to catch them while they run circles around you, peppering your troops with arrows. From what I've seen, they're among the most highly ranked cavalry forces at tournaments, and it's not difficult to imagine why: great shooting, high Fight, high Defence, lances.

As for numbers: Harad will get 30 models at 600pts...

all mounted warg rider army is also very good. they are the cheapest cav and the warg has the potential to stay and fight once the rider is gone. shamans can also be mounted on one increasing its fury radius slightly and making him a somwhat good fighter as well

I think knights of Rivendell and Rohan can do it. Harad I'm sure could in the right hands but I don't like it .

I did all mounted Harad three times and it failed me in different ways. I wouldn't recommend it.

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What were you using? Harad raiders or Serpent raiders? Because each is better than the other at specific cav tactics. Harad raiders are snipers and should not be used to charge opponents until they are sufficiently soft (from sniper fire), and serpent raiders should be charging opponents since they get war spears and poison blades. They should also be used for flanking and not a frontal assault. They are too soft for a frontal assault. Save that for your heavy cav such as Knights of Dol Amroth, Knights of MT or Sons of Erol.

This is the 600pts Harad list I´ve used it once.

The Betrayer on armoured horse
4x Haradrim Riders with bow
4x Haradrim Riders with war spear (1x as a banner)
4x Serpent Riders

Suladan, the Serpent Lord with horse and bow
7x Serpent Riders
1x Haradrim Rider with banner
4x Haradrim Riders with bow

Models: 26/2 banners


Give the last 12pts to upgrade to abrakhan raiders as you see fit to gain +1 Courage.

How did that harad list do?

Also anyone considered morgul knights? I was thinking of this for 400 pts

Shadow Lord horse
6 Morgul Knights

Gothmog shield warg

Chief Hugh uses morgul knights lead by the dark marshal. It is pretty great. Very difficult to counter charge due to terror and the terror penalty.

Hey i just wanna point out that this army has 8 units. So it will be flooded easily. Do you have enough manpower so you can run into the enemy? Or is this army suited for some specific scenario, some objectives?

Terror is nice, but orcs have shaman's fury, elves and dwarves have anyways 50%+ chance even against nazgul. Humans maybe most coward enemies?

Shadowlord is good hero, can save day. Gothmog is good hero too, nice warg but needs support from nazgul against any tougher hero + there is likely less heroic acts to mimic in this size of match.

You probably need to keep units together so u get the shadowlord's boosts. Gothmog does not afford to loose the warg by enemy archers so it needs protection. 6 cavalry is so few that if you separate them they will get trapped.