Thinking about playing Iron Hills for an 800 point event in a few years but I am not sure how to structure the army.
I kinda wanted to ally in Gandalf or some other caster in cause I expect to see a lot of big baddies. I am just not sure how to jig saw a list together. If you take Gandalf you can fill out some numbers with Laketown militia but they are prettty poor troops but it feels wasteful to not fill out Gandalf's warband or to not fill out the warbands of the Dain and a captain too since the dwarves are such good troops.

Do I not need to take a caster? Should I just fill out with Iron Hills troops or try to fit in the wizard?


Just dwarves you can take something like this.

Warband 1 18/18
Dáin Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills with War Boar;
17 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Spear;
1 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Banner;

Warband 2 12/12
Iron Hills Captain with War Goat; War spear;
9 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Spear;
1 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Banner;
2 Iron Hills Goat Rider with War Spear;

Warband 3 6/6
Iron Hills Siege Veteran
Iron Hills Ballista with three additional crew


or with allied caster

Warband 1 18/18
Dáin Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills with War Boar;
14 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Spear;
1 Iron Hills Dwarf with Shield; Banner;
3 Iron Hills Goat Rider with War Spear;

Warband 2 3/6
Iron Hills Siege Veteran
Iron Hills Ballista with Additional Crew

Warband 1 15/15
Gandalf the Grey with Horse;
5 Lake-town Militia with Bow;
5 Lake-town Militia with Shield;
5 Lake-town Militia with Spear;


Thought?

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Cheers,

P

I saw something rather like your first list rather recently and I think it did pretty well. It seems to me like a caster would serve a support role not dissimilar from the ballista. That is to say, both would protect from shooting, target monsters, cavalry etc and generally mess up the opponents plans. If I were to alter your first list to bring a caster, I would cut the ballista first and work out from there. If you only cut enough points to bring Gandalf I would not worry about bringing any troops with him. A horse maybe, if he can get it, but not a body guard. Lake town troops would be much more of a liability than an asset without their other heroes. I would either take your first list or bring just Gandalf over the ballista. Those are my inclinations at least.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Yeah, that makes sense. That's kind of what it seemed like when I was trying to build out. Question then is, balista or wizard?

I am generally a little disappointed though with the iron hills from a list building perspective. They seem super cool but I could quite get them to fit into 600 and then even 700 was more awkward then i was expecting and then trying to work around 800 was kinda hard too. Maybe the Dain, balista, plus dwarves isn't the right shell.

_________________
Cheers,

P

I would try the wizard if you are unhappy with the Iron Hills so far.

_________________
"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"