Wassssup Rohirrim!

As a recent converty to Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game I am enjoying the perks of being a horselord in a local escalation league, where we have grown from a mere few models to a "captain" level 500 points.

I thought it be nice to open a thread to banter and philosophize away about the forces of Rohan!

Yesterday I played two 500 pt games with this list:

LL Riders of Theoden, 17Warriors, 500Points, 17Bows

HoL, Théoden, King of Rohan, armoured horse, Heavy Armour, Shield
8 Riders of Rohan, Throwing, Spears, Axe
1 Rider of Rohan, Banner, Throwing Spears, Axe

HoF, Elfhelm, Captain of Rohan, horse
1 Rider of Rohan, Axe
6 Riders of Rohan, Throwing Spears, Axe
1 Rider of Rohan, Throwing Spears, War Horn, Axe

Ride for Ruin and the World's Ending!

Must say I liked the vast numbers of models the list offers. It was pretty solid regarding pressure, the spears offered a real threat, moving back and forth while shooting, and I never felt outnumbered, even against infantry lists. Did have a really hard time with the big troll haha.
Although it only has two character ("death" being a bit less effrctive), the numbers well made up for this.
On to 650.

What do people generally like to play: legendary legions or vanilla Rohan?

So, on to the next round. We are certainly nearing serious army levels, as the next pointage is 650.

While I had bodies aplenty, one thing my list lacked was serious punch; I couldnt get rid of them trolls! PS cough ... forgot I had axes ... cough ... But let's be a bit more comfy and get some heroic strenght in.

One variant is going all in on the Theoden family side, still with Riders of Theoden LL, with brother and sister Eomer and Eowyn. Both pack heroic strength, and there's always a chance to make Eomer go full berserker.

Legendary Legion, The Riders of Théoden [18Warriors, 643Points, 18Bow]

Théoden, King of Rohan, Armoured Horse, Heavy Armour, Shield, Leader (Legend). Warband: 7 Rider of Rohan, Throwing Spears, Axe, 1 Rider of Rohan, Banner, Throwing Spears, Axe

Éomer, Marshal of the Riddermark, Armoured Horse, Throwing Spears, Shield. Warband: 1 Rider of Rohan, Banner, Throwing Spears, Axe, 4 Rider of Rohan, Throwing Spears, Axe

Dernhelm, Throwing Spears & Meriadoc Brandybuck, Knight of the Mark, Shield. Warband: 5 Rider of Rohan, Throwing Spears, Axe

Still 18 bodies, extra strenght and extra might, so milage out of Theodens DEATH call. And still 18 bows. Fromage?!

So, riders of the Mark, what do say?
And how do you play?

The people that I've seen play Rider of Theoden tend to being very hero heavy and to use Royal Guard rather than riders almost exclusively. Gamling, Deowine, and Eomer are all almost always present with the warbands each being only 2 to 4 Guard per hero. The more heroes, the more one can do with Death! I suppose.

I've not played Rohan with anything but Theodred's Guard recently myself and I like it well enough. I think it plays into the combined arms aspect very well. My 600pt list is

Grimbold with 8 Helmingas and 4 Royal Guard, all with throwing spear

Elfhelm and Theodred splitting 5 Royal Guard and 6 Riders, one with a banner, in some manner.

The as long as I play cagey with the riders and keep Theodred from being able to get lured into a fight to early by blocking him in with him own men, it tends to work out. I can either get a Zulu style chest and horns scheme going or using the footmen to bog down the enemy while my riders defeat other parts of the opponent in detail. I will say, I replaced a captain for Elfhelm and think it was a great trade. Being able to through Elfhelm at scary heroes and use defense works pretty well. Just wish he managed to kill things with his spear a little more often.

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

Interesting, I'v seen alot of Royal Guard in lists online/ youtube too. However, personally I find it hard to justify the trade-off of having more fight-elite units over A more models and B 18 bows .. the bows just seem too good from a tacital point of view? I am probably missing something however. Fight 5 on the charge is sweet. Did someone ever math this out (hihi)? With mulitple dice the chances of 5' and 6's are probably big, so having higher might becomes considerally better?

Theodred's guard, sounds nice. Interesting you put 4 Royal Guard with Grimbold. Are they to help in combat? Making longer charges etc?

YouTube? No, there's some crazy Rohan obsessed guy that plays in my area. He played all the legions when the War in Rohan book came out and declared Riders of Theoden was the best. His games tend to be short though. Either he rolls well and kills everything in a few turns or he rolls poorly and dies: A very "ride to ruin" approach. He's got a positive W/L record with it and generally has a good time. A few other people have tried to run similar lists to his in the last year or two.

His philosophy is to Always Be Charging because the real damage output of cavalry in when its charging. Maximizing the charges, wins per combat round, and kills per win is the way to get the most damage. Hence the massive focus on heroes for the might, the legion for the extra heroics, and the royal guard for the higher fight. Of course, we play in 800pt games and tend to be heavier on the heroes generally. So, he's got 500pts or 600pts to spend on heroes alone and can rely on them to carry the day.

As for horse archers, I don't put much stock in them. My riders never seem to do much shooting because they are moving full speed somewhere. Standing around only seems to have them missing their shots and getting unhorsed by my opponent's bow fire. I guess if I had 18 of them, it might work out better.

Oh, no, the royal guard in Grimbold's warband are on foot and are supposed to be fight 4 spear support for the helmingas since the legion has the 'fight in ranks' special rule. I put the 8 helmingas in a line out front and the four guard behind. That way, I can lend at least four combats support while the other four shield so everyone gets two dice a fight until the horsemen turn up to help.

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

Haha, nice to have crazy obsessed players around to learn from. I love the "always charge as soon as possible" playstyle; as I didn't think it was possible with Rohan; it was one of the "oops" moments after I bought the first models, that I saw a few reports and advice it is more of a skirmish-wither-them-down playstyle army. Not that I hate guerilla warfare, but I love a good and devastating charge. With "death!" and enough might and fight is kinda make sens, albeith as a high risk high reward playstyle. Great to have that option!

Yo-hoooooo

We ended the escalation league "officially" with the 651 gameday, today. Boy it was tons of fun; all of us expanded their force into a real army, and some of us even switched armies half way and build up two armies. The esthetics, feel and gameplay this game has to offer realy make it stand out. The games feel fun and thourough, but nu like a burdan some of the more traditional wargames feel like. Overall, really happy.

Went for a Vanilla Riders of Theoden list, with Eomer for kicks, and Elfhelm for slaps (wanted to play Dernhelm but didn't have the model), and I thought is was fun to only bring Riders of Rohan. That's 17 of them, all with bow, throwing spear and axe, and with three banners to really buff up the rolls. They are part of the Legendary Legion Riders of Theoden.

Théoden with armoured horse, heavy armour and shield, King of Rohan
- 1 Rider of Rohan with Banner, Throwing Spears, Axe, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour
- 6 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears, Axe, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour.

Éomer with Heavy Armour, Sword, Armoured Horse, Throwing Spears, Shield, Marshal of the Riddermark
- 1 Rider of Rohan with Banner, Throwing Spears, Axe, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour
- 6 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears, Axe, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour

Elfhelm with Horse, Armour, Sword, Shield, Throwing Spears, Captain of Rohan
- 1 Rider of Rohan with Banner, Throwing Spears, Sword, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour
- 2 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears, Axe, Horse, Bow, Shield, Armour,

Overall
- Played Barad Dur (two fell beasts and alot of Black Numenorians, both on foot and mounted) and Isenguard (with Saruman and Lurtz)
- I like the list; Rohan is very forgiving, and the Riders are very versatile.
- The 17 bows and 19 throwing spears are a real threat
- Theoden is important to keep somewhat central, or at least you must make sure many riders can benefit from the +1 fight value.
- Theoden is great when your army is halved! Auto passing courage at 12" is really good.
- Just about enough might (with Death! as a +3 boost)
- Fight can be an issue so a few Royal Guard can help
- Strenght can be an issue, Axes def. help here, but Dernhelm for Elfhelm works better imo.

I Ended in second place (shared) in the league, so that was nice; almost no points at the beginning, missed the second round, so basically scored all points the last two days.

All and all a fun army I like to continue with; also like to explore other options (Helm, Theodred, Eorlings, Woses?)

PS We're looking to join a tournament in Nothingham next year, around may; if you know any, let me know