The White Council: The Elven Champions

In the last White Council post, I looked at Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown. While both Gandalf and Radagast are tactical heroes through-and-through, the heroes to be discussed in this post are more straight-forward warriors - real champions of Good. We'll look at the profiles of Celeborn and Glorfindel, Lord of the West briefly and then talk about how to use them together and separately. I've used Celeborn in one battle report before, but Glorfindel is new.

1) Celeborn

Celeborn is, by any standard, an excellent hero. For 150 points, he can be Fight 6 with 3 Attacks at Strength 4 and Defense 7 with 3 Wounds and 3 Fate points. He also has 3 Will points to cast two spells: Aura of Command on a 2+ and Immobilize on a 3+. Aura of Command makes all units near Celeborn pass their Courage tests, which shouldn't be necessary in this army (as your whole army is Courage 7) and is generally not necessary in an army of Elves (which he is likely to lead). You can now upgrade your Galadhrim Warriors and Galadhrim Knights for 1 point each if you include Celeborn in your army to increase their Courage by 1, but again, this isn't your typical use of Celeborn. On the whole, you want this hero because he is, in fact, an Elf hero with a solid melee profile.

In this army, Celeborn lacks heavy armor and so is only Defense 5 and 140 points. Defense 5 is the normative defense value for this army (as both Gandalf and Radagast have it), but this Defense value only matters if he loses a fight (and gets shot, but Gandalf should help with that). As such, don't worry about being a little softer than possible (unless you're facing a huge horde of Orcs). 

Celeborn's offensive capabilities are made even more impressive when you couple them with his spell Immobilize. If your foe has a captain-type unit with a single Will point (or a Troll with no Will points), immobilizing your foe will maximize the effectiveness of your hero. If you run low on Will points, consider having Gandalf cast Strengthen Will on Celeborn to provide the extra umph he needs to clobber big foes. Remember also that if you need to cut through swathes of basic troops, Celeborn is also more than capable of clobbering these guys too. If you need help taking down these numbers, get some help from the other Elven hero in the army...

2) Glorfindel, Lord of the West

Glorfindel also costs 140 points and can arguably be claimed as a better hero. With Fight 7 and 3 Attacks at Strength 4 and Defense 7 with 3 Wounds and 3 Fate points, he has a better profile than the fully-decked version of Celeborn. He also lacks a shield, allowing him to use his Elven blade as a two-handed weapon if he needs too. He has 3 Will points and his Armor of Gondolin (10 point upgrade) allows him to have at least 1 Will point to roll against any magical attacks that barrage the famed warrior. Given his profile, it's hard to take down this hero, as his stat line prepares him against magical, ranged, and melee attacks.

Glorfindel is your go-to melee fighter and unlike the other players on this team, he has no magic to wield nor ranged abilities to muster. He is a fighter's fighter and when he's in his element, he is well-worth his salt. With Fight 7, you can challenge Cave Trolls, most enemy heroes, and any basic warrior without fear. As I've written in a previous post on Aragorn, so long as Glorfindel is fighting units with a lower Fight value than he has (which should be most of the time) and so long as he has a single Might point left, he has a 70% chance of winning the fight automatically, so be bold and slay many. If your foe brings a Bat Swarm, be very careful as your advantage against your foes could be taken away (use your spell-casters to deal with it - Sorcerous Blast anyone?).

3) Making it Work

Using these two heroes requires some tact, as they are going to be the back-bone of your killing score. Being bold with these guys shouldn't be confused with being blind with them, as one bad round against a horde of Orcs (or worse, Uruk-Hai) can really mess up your day. While each of these heroes can fight on their own against basic warriors, you can't rely on them operating without help. If you use them together (in the same fight or guarding each other by standing close together), be sure to carve up the enemy quickly to ensure protection for the wizards on this team.

The carrying power of this pair will be patience. Choosing where to fight will be essential to ensuring that these heroes (and the wizards that they need to protect) stay alive. With a four-man team, mistakes are costly. Also keep in mind what the objective of the scenario is. In the next post, we'll specifically highlight objectives in the six scenarios included in the new sourcebooks and look at integrating Celeborn and Glorfindel into the strategy of the wizards Gandalf and Radagast.