[Tale Telling] In The Lab: Elves (Part 2) - Everyone Wants to Be Friends!

Another day, another post. If you're looking for Part 1 of this post check it out here but to briefly recap I wanted to test if any Allies could help out what would otherwise be a pure Elf Army, in this case Lothlórien. Last I left off that was narrowed down to the flavors of Lake-Town, Rohan, and Arnor. Time to pick up where I left off.

 

Arnor

The most interesting part about allying in Arnor would be to use cheapish models combined with Malbeth the Seer to make them more resilient than they'd otherwise be. On face value a 5+ "Fate" Roll to survive in a 6" Aura is very strong, about a third of the time your model won't die which can be enormously frustrating for an opponent, making their plans hard to follow through on because it's not guaranteed that Warriors will die. I say "about a third of the time" because sometimes Warriors take multiple Wounds, especially if a Fight is lost to a Hero or something like a Chariot is involved.

What I see as the other benefit to Arnor is that King Arvedui is a pretty good fighter for cost, only 80pts to get a 3 Attack model with good Heroic Actions (Strike/Defense). That's a nice front-liner for Elves who as I noted in the other post, can struggle to kill. We don't mind losing the Army Bonus for Arnor either as it's one of the worst ones in the game, so a Convenient Alliance is no problem.

The downsides to Arnor are that their models are a tad pricey, the Warriors have a Spear baked in which while situationally useful goes against what I want the models to do. You also can't put Bows on them, meaning you have to take Rangers or Hobbits, both of which are poor front-line troops. Lastly Malbeth is a pretty bad model other than his Aura, only having 1 Might and no use for his Will, he doesn't even pack a Spear.

Putting it all together it looks like you'll have about the same model count with Arnor that you would with pure Elves, paying what you could for Celeborn or similar to get the King and Malbeth instead. Warriors of Arnor are still only S3 so they don't punch up compared to Elves and not being able to take Bows is a real downer. If the Warriors were 7pts, came with no Spear, and had the option for a 1pt Bow then I think there'd be something to this but as it stands, just having the 5+ Rolls isn't enough of a benefit for me to ally Arnor in.

Rohan

For me Rohan is one of the more interesting forces to ally with because they're very different than Elves. First up with Grimbold we can get S4 troops who have Swords, pretty good although Stabbing with Defense 4 is very risky and putting Shields on gets the Warriors up to 8pts, a bit expensive. You can also make a weird gunline by giving the Warriors Throwing Spears although I think that's one or the other, 10pt models is just too much.

Another interesting possibility is having cheap Cavalry, not something Elves can usually attain. This would cut down on the number of Warriors of Rohan but creates a pretty cool hammer and anvil play-style, sort of a blended playstyle that neither Army can attain on its own.

What I can't shake is that the pieces just don't fit together as well as I want them too. Warriors of Rohan are a fine cheap Infantry but there are also better, not having Theoden weakens the Cavalry even if you bring them, and overall the Heroes don't add anything to a combined army other than some cheaper Might. Keeping the Lothlórien Army Bonus is nice but if I'm going to ally then I need "more" from whatever I'm adding in.

That being said, I think at higher Point Totals, such as 750, there's something here. That would allow for Theoden and a Captain, meaning you can have an actually hard-hitting Cavalry component and the Warriors of Rohan for a front-line. As is, at 650, the front-line feels mediocre and the Cavalry are underdeveloped. Here's a rough outline of what I'd try at 750:

Galadriel (Leader)

- Galadhrim Warrior w/ Banner, Shield, Spear

- 2x Guard of the Galadhrim Court

- 6x Wood Elves w/ Elf Bow, Wood Elf Spear

- 9x Wood Elves w/ Wood Elf Spear

Theoden, King of Rohan, w/ Horse, Shield, Heavy Armor

- 6x Riders of Rohan w/ Axes

- 6x Warriors of Rohan w/ Axes

Hama, Captain of Rohan w/ Horse, Shield

- 12x Warrior of Rohan w/ Axes

This completes the battle line while also providing a very scary core of eight Cavalry to skirmish as needed. Early on you can hang back with a good few Bows and then ride out to flank or wait and try to collapse on the rear. I opted for Axes since the Riders of Rohan shouldn't be losing Fights when they do in but being able to punch up to Strength 5 is something else.

Towns on Lakes

Looking at the two flavors of Lake-Town is where I spent the most time, not only do they build differently but there's always the question of "To Bard, or not To Bard". As I see it the advantages of Lake-Town are fairly obvious: 5 Point models and Might cheating. As the only Good Army that can really horde-up Lake-Town is the most literal example of what I'm looking to pair Elves with, but that doesn't mean it's the best or works.

At low Points I think taking Bard is just too many points, he's priced for a pure Lake-Town list because his Banner/Fight effects are very strong. In a mixed list this is still good, as is his Great Bow, but he also wants some support from other Heroes and is quite fragile even when fully equipped. I'm very wary of including Sigrid & Tilda because if they die Bard is also likely to die soon after, charging headlong into easily setup traps.

Having played around with that I tried out Army of Lake-Town and I think that's a better fit. The Army retains the same dirt cheap models but also has very cheap Heroes to get them all in Warbands. A core of The Master, Alfrid, and Braga is only 120pts, less than Bard with no upgrades. I'm not saying those three models equal Bard, I'm just talking Points and access to overall Warband sizes.

Still, I really like Braga. His effect isn't reliable but most games you should get 1-2 points of free Might with him which is nothing to sneer at and he's a competent fighter for his cost. I think of him as a very up-scaled Warrior and although he's squishy I don't plan on having him fight serious Heroes (also Galadriel can give him a Fate back worst case). Alfrid is a do nothing but at the same time, 20pts to get 3 Might on the table (somewhere) is probably something all armies would pay for given the chance. After that he makes for a decent sacrificial pawn, taking a Turn of combat from a big Hero or standing on an Objective with a Fate.

The Master is an interesting model. Obviously in pure Lake-Town his job is to give you as many Turns as possible of Banner and +Fight, however in this list I don't need the Fight very often and also don't always need the Banner, since I can bring a normal one. If I didn't HAVE to take him (because of the Alliance Level), then I probably wouldn't. There is an interesting possible rotation here of taking Alfrid out and replacing him with a generic Captain. It does "cost" me a Might but puts another low-level fighter Hero on the board and gives me another Heroic March (good for Maelstrom Deployment). That would lessen how impactful The Master can be but I'm not sure how often I need that effect, probably something I'd have to get table time with to understand.

Moving past the Heroes are the star of the show: Lake-Town Guard. Not only do these save a Point or two per model compared to other "cheap" Warriors but they have access to both Bows AND Spears, the only two options I'm interested in. This extends to Lake-Town Militia, only changing with -1 Fight, +1 Courage, and the option for a Shield. I slightly prefer Militia because they can take Axes for free but it's not enough of a preference to lean me one way or the other.

While these cheap Infantry are only S3, having a swarm of bodies can setup consistent Traps or peel off Spear/Pike support, both of which are very strong. It also gives me enormous access to Bows which can make for a very intimidating line. Hold back and get shot at while I have Blinding Light, or go in when you're likely outnumbered and can be flanked?

While tinkering is ongoing, here is one of the lists I feel the most solid about:

Galadriel (Leader)

- Galadhrim Warrior w/ Banner, Shield, Spear

- 4x Guard of the Galadhrim Court

- 6x Wood Elves w/ Elf Bow, Wood Elf Spear

- 7x Wood Elves w/ Wood Elf Spear

The Master of Lake-Town

- 12x Lake-Town Guard

Alfrid the Councilor

- 5x Lake-Town Guard

- 6x Lake-Town Guard w/ Bows

Braga, Captain of the Guard

- 6x Lake-Town Guard

- 6x Lake-Town Guard w/ Bows

While this list doesn't have everything I want, it's pretty close. I have a massive 18 Bows (6 Elf Bows), a normal Banner, an on-demand wider Banner with limited use, tons of bodies to pair with my 18 high Fight models, and a lot of Might. It would be nice to get Axes but I don't feel like paying 1pt per model for the weapon swap (and really wish that wasn't even a rule). I also lack a serious fighting Hero but with Galadriel I'm hoping I can shut down whatever the opponent has or feed it a Guard per Turn.

What it really comes down to is what am I gaining and losing compared to my normal Lothlórien list? Let's have a look at that:

Losing

• Celeborn
• 1x Galadhrim Knight
• 15x Galadhrim Warriors w/ Shields
• 5x Elf Bows
• 5x Wood Elves w/ Wood Elf Spears
• Magic Resist on the Army
  

Gaining

• Might (usually 2-3 at most)
• 12x Bows
• 35x Lake-Town Guard
• Wider Banner
• 2x Court Guard

In my mind that's an interesting swap. I don't rate the Knight all that highly, it's there because of Warband limitations and it's useful in Scenarios but not mandatory. Celeborn is a bigger loss, he's one of the best fighters for cost and also brings more Magic, including the clutch Aura of Command. Other than that Elf Bows are nice but I'm primarily worried about Horses and low Defense swarms, which regular Bows are just fine against. On the other hand I pick up almost 20 bodies, a crazy number for MESBG, can get army-wide Banners for at least a few Turns (huge against Easterlings and the like) and I have more Might to play with which was a downfall of my normal list.

Does this make for a better overall army? On paper I think so. Blinding Light really helps the Guard, although in Maelstrom Scenarios you're not going to have everything together. I would likely veto as much of that as possible so anything from Pool 1, Divide & Conquer (not as bad), and Contest of Champions would be my main vetos. That makes for a very unlikely "terrible" pool of Scenarios for me, not something I'm too worried about. These are also similar to the bad Scenario for my other army as Galadriel is always a bad fighter, losing Elves to Shooting when the army is separated is still bad (or forced Might to be burned on the Deployment Roll), and I have no way to hook up in Divide & Conquer because I lack Heroic March.

Once I'm able to get the models I think I'll be giving this list a go. It's relying on oppressive strategies or models so even though I hope it's strong I don't think it will give people a bad game. If I want to do that, well I have Rivendell Knights for a reason. I'm still tinkering around with different builds but I like this one a lot and it feels uniquely mine instead of just copying a good list from a Tournament (which I'm not above). Hopefully I'll be able to feature it soon, slowly models are coming my way so my list of options is thankfully expanding. Until next time, thanks for reading.