The Bare Necessities, Part XXV: Arnor

Good morning gamers,

Today we cover a faction I don't really have an interest in collecting: Arnor. I certainly am not interested in buying the GW Warriors of Arnor, who make up the core of the list - $5/model in three-model increments is steep (but if you're just going to use this army in casual games, you could get Roman Auxiliaries or Early Imperial Legionnaires from Warlord Games as Warriors of Arnor if you wanted).

Thankfully, my fellow TMAT admin Centaur has been using Arnor for a while (converted a bunch of Warriors of Minas Tirith into Warriors of Arnor a while back - the conversion is pretty easy). I've played against him a lot with it (though not in a while and not under the new rules) and Arnor probably has a special place for him, because it not only allows him to run his favorite Good Support Hero (Malbeth the Seer), but also allows him to get his beloved Hobbit Archers into yet-another-army. :-)

Arnor is commonly derided in the community groups as a poor choice in large-points-match games. At/below 500 points, they're considered very strong because of their relatively-cheap F4/D6 spear-armed troops with a 5+ save to keep anyone who does get wounded from actually dying. No cavalry, lack of killer heroes, and limited warrior choices are often cited for their inability to be competitive at higher points levels. This sounds like a proper challenge for the TMAT team. :-)

So today, we'll be reviewing a 700-point list for Arnor that tries to meet all of our normal list building requirements. Before we dive into the list, here are Centaur's thoughts on the five elements of list building for Arnor and some interview questions I gave to Centaur to answer.

Arnor List Building Principles with Centaur

• Fast Models: Naturally, you don't have any of these - there should be a medal for "zero mountable models," but alas, here we are, :-P I will say this: you can forego this by 1) using Heroic March, or 2) compensate for speed with range attacks if you choose not to ally with a faction that has fast models. It's not as effective, but it will do the job: you can dismount/remove a good number of enemies with archery, as you have a lot of solid 3+ Shoot models in the army. If you do choose to ally, any of the Elf factions can provide you with excellent cavalry support.
• Banners: Arnor has cheap banners, so you can get away with 1-2 in your army easily. I personally don't run two, but that has more to do with my philosophy of spamming Arnor warriors - more on that in a bit.
• Models: Since your warriors cost 5-9pts each, getting to 30+ models is easy to do even at lower point levels. I recommend taking both of your named heroes (as Arvedui and Malbeth both provide useful bonuses for the army), but you could even get away with 55pt captains if you needed to, as they are very good as-is.
• Ways to Neutralize Enemy Heroes: Truthfully, you have almost nothing to neutralize heroes. The big tool you have, though, is Malbeth's Foresight rolls, as they can (with relative ease) make a Heroic Combat unsuccessful by keeping your men alive, reducing casualties, protecting weak units by keeping D6 models on the table and preventing wounds to D3-4 models, and mitigating enemy archery (so the Legolas/Bard/etc. characters suddenly don't do nearly as much as they thought they would). (Ed: I'd also include a mention of Arvedui's Heroic Defense option here, should your opponent try to take a big hero and squish him. ~Tiberius)
• Ways to Augment Your Models: basically the only way you can do this is a massive Stand Fast from Arvedui and the same Foresight save from Malbeth, so yeah...that's all you have, :-P I'm sorry, :-P

Interview with Centaur on Arnor

T: When building an Arnor force, what's the balance that you choose between Rangers of Arnor and Hobbit Archers?

C: So, they provide two different things for your force. Hobbit archers provide the exact same level of ranged capability for half the cost of a ranger, but it 1) has a lower FV, and 2) cannot take a spear, so they are less useful in melee. So I recommend taking a 2:1 ratio of hobbits to rangers. You are primarily bringing hobbits for shooting (so this maximizes your shooting).

T: Is there ever a reason to take Captains of Arnor with bows?

C: No. Unless you're guaranteed to be defending in a fight so you don't ever move and shoot, the 4+ Shoot makes it so that you'll rarely use the bow for anything in the match. If you cost less than 50pts that would be one thing, but since you cost 55 pts, you're on the more expensive side for captains, and that means I tend to find the shield more useful, as you'll need them for holding down big foes.

T: Do you need allies with this list?

C: No, though allies are very useful. Your special rule is okay but not great, and you can live without it. So my recommendation is scratch it and choose another army to complement you well to round yourself out. Personally I'd go with Khazad Dum (F4 D7 front line of Khazad Guards backed up by D6 spearmen with ballista support? That's a tough nut to crack, especially when the front line are D7 and the second rank is D6 with a 5+ save) or Rivendell (supporting magic, cavalry, and a F5 D6 frontline with D6 spearmen who have a 5+ Save), but you have a decently wide set of options including, ironically, Fangorn - not a bad choice if you need some anti-hero breaking power. Personally, though, I don't think you need to ally in allied forces. You have cheap ranged attacks to pick off enemies, and with incentives to take captains you will have a lot of deployable warbands, allowing you to counter the deployment of your enemies if you have a Reconnoiter or similar match where speed is victory. You have a solid fighting line that is hard to kill combined with large numbers, making it hard to break you, which does two things for you. First, you don't give up VPs for being broken, and you don't see the effects of the low Courage on your army nearly as much as you would otherwise. Naturally high terror armies will cause trouble, but that just means shooting them to death before they come. And heck, worst case scenario, you Schiltrom and let them charge you. No high-Terror model has good ranged attacks (save Smaug), and even if you do get hit you have a 5+ chance of shrugging off the damage if you play it right. So screw terror models, :P And with lots of ranged attacks, high numbers, and a lot of F4, you'll have a lot of chances to deal damage and won't actually suffer as much as you'd think.

Thanks for the insights Centaur - we won't be getting into Fangorn today, but we'll see what we can do with the other allied factions later in the post. :-) For now, let's see what Centaur cooked up for us today.

The List

• Arvedui, Last King of Arnor [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Ranger of Arnor
• 5 Rangers of Arnor with spears
• Malbeth the Seer
• 11 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Warrior of Arnor with banner
• Captain of Arnor
• 4 Warriors of Arnor
• 3 Hobbit Archers
• Captain of Arnor
• 4 Warriors of Arnor
• 3 Hobbit Archers
• Captain of Arnor
• 4 Warriors of Arnor
• 2 Hobbit Archers
• 1 Hobbit Archer with war horn

49 models, 6 bows hitting on a 3+ and 9 shortbows hitting on a 3+, 33 D6+ models, no fast models, 10 Might points

We've got a whopping 49 models (almost the highest model count we've seen) in a very impressive 5 warbands - let's look at what they do.

Warband #1: Fast Shooting

In our first warband, we have the King himself, Arvedui. While not a great hero, he's got 3 Attacks at F5 and 3 Might points (access to Strike/Strength/Defense). With an Aura of Command innately in his profile (thanks to the army bonus), you've got the means of charging terrifying models easily (despite having a below-average Courage set of troops). With "only" D6, "only" 2 Wounds, and "only" 1 Fate point, he's a pretty fragile army leader - but many of the lists we've viewed in this series have fragile army leaders (Minas Tirith, Mordor, Lothlorien, Angmar, Kingdom of Moria, Rohan, and the Corsairs of Umbar). Being fragile isn't bad, it just means you have to play a certain way.

Paired with Arvedui are 11 F4 warriors, half of which have bows. This warband can engage quickly, but you're best off skirmishing with your opponent for as long as possible. Most of your models have spears, so if you're facing most troops, those D6 Warriors should be in your front rank, but if you run into models with Blades of the Dead, you can run the Rangers in front.

Warband #2: The Hedge

Malbeth is the key to this warband (and this army really): he needs to maneuver behind your battleline, bolstering any side that needs support. With 12 F4/D6 models near him (and a banner to help them win their fights more often), he can keep this wall of troops from fading away when the enemy tries to cut through them. This warband is best supported by the first warband and at least one of the other two warbands.

Warband #3 & #4: The Micro-Warbands
Micro-warbands are great - they allow you to get a deployment advantage against your opponent (placing inconsequential warbands early so you can see where your opponent is deployed before committing your most important pieces). This army needs micro-warbands for speed, so we have two Captains leading a token amount of Warriors of Arnor to protect 3 Hobbit Archers. Hobbit Archers have received a lot of coverage on this blog, mostly because Centaur loves his Waistcoat Brigade. At nearly half the cost of Rangers of Arnor, you can get more models in your army at the expense of Fight Value, Strength, Defense, movement, and 6" of shooting range. Sounds like a lot to give up, but when you consider that their ability to kill things at 1-18"away is the exact same as Rangers of Arnor, they're not bad. You can choose to leave the Hobbits behind while you March the rest of the army forward.

Warband #5: The War Horn
Same as the last two warbands in composition, except we have a War Horn. With C2-3, getting +1 Courage is nice. In many ways, this is the best reason to get at least 1 Hobbit Archer (though if you bring 7 or so Hobbit Archers, you'd be spending the same amount of points on an equivalent number of Rangers - which would make the War Horn "free").

Scenario Overview

Let’s take a look at each of the available scenarios and see some thoughts/considerations for using this list:

• Domination: You'd think that with 5 warbands and 5 objectives, the strategy for this army would be simple - send a warband to each objective. In many ways, you'd be right! Your Hobbit Archer with War Horn should start as close to your most protected objective so you can keep it on the board. Hobbit shortbows (18" range) aren't great tucked away on the battlefield, so make sure your Rangers of Arnor make their way to far-flung objectives (March Arvedui's warband with the Captain/Warriors of Arnor from the War Horn micro-warband). Have Malbeth's warband and the two other micro-warbands advance towards wherever your opponent's main force is moving - he will certainly try to pick on whatever models you have that aren't near Malbeth, so stall him by throwing Malbeth and a slew of troops to get in his way. Drop Hobbits off as you go to hold ground that you leave behind.
• Capture and Control: Similar strategy, but because the objectives are at fixed points on the map, you know that you can leave Hobbit Archers at the side objectives early in the game. Most of your force should be deployed in the center of the map (the War Horn Hobbit Archer should probably hold the objective in your backfield - you can send the other Hobbit Archers in his warband with him to keep him company).
• Hold Ground: Race to the center? Sure thing! You want to place Arvedui's and Malbeth's warbands first and then roll for your captains and ensure they arrive nearby during the maelstrom deployment. On the second turn, you're Marching for the center and turtling up (Rangers in the center, spear-tips out). I would move the Hobbits onto the board only 2" on the turn they arrive and DON'T March them on the second turn (have them stand still). Any enemy models that deploy on their board edge will likely be in range and if they stop to kill some Hobbits, your army will only be reduced slightly in numbers (9/49) and your opponent will be delayed while you get to the middle. Then die slowly, keeping a solid ring around the objective and keeping enemy models out.
• Seize the Prize: You have more deployment control here, but your objective is very similar: get to the center quickly and turtle around the Prize. I'd have one of your Captains get the Prize, as he can Move/March himself late in the game if required. It's important to note that while getting the Prize off your opponent's board edge will guarantee a victory, no matter how the points work out, having the Prize on your opponent's side of the board will still give you a victory in most cases (a draw if you're broken without breaking your opponent and Arvedui dies). So if you have to, just make sure you circle up on your opponent's side of the board and you should do alright.
• To The Death: Ah, a great scenario. You're hard to kill and so are hard to break. Keep that banner alive and keep Arvedui fighting troops as much as possible (avoid big heroes). If he does run into something nasty, make sure that banner is nearby, make sure Arvedui is spear-supported, make sure Arvedui has Might to call Heroic Defense, and make sure Malbeth is nearby with that Foresight save (should your opponent get a natural six or two). You're relying on your bows and sheer numbers to break your opponent - you'll be surprised how effective your infantry can be when they outnumber your opponent by a sizable chunk.
• Lords of Battle: Also a great scenario for you, as your heroes don't cough up a lot of points (one of the benefits of having limited Wounds/Fate paired with a Foresight save). Foresight points, like Will points spent as Fate points, don't give your opponent victory points in the scenario, so shoot him to pieces and then fight what's left!
• Contest of Champions: Arvedui, as we said above, isn't a bad killing hero. Get a few kills and make sure Malbeth stays within 6" of your opponent's army leader. Be careful though: Malbeth will be target #1 for your opponent, as getting kills will be harder if you get a good number of saves. It will also help if you have Captains of Arnor charge into the enemy army leader, since they can use their Might to boost their own Foresight saves (shield to get more dice if you don't think you can beat the army leader).
• Reconnoitre: We all knew this was going to be a tough scenario, but with 6 Might points that can call Heroic March, you can move most of your troops across the board quickly. Your Hobbit Archers and Rangers of Arnor get jettisoned from the Arnorian shieldwall near the middle of the board so they can shoot at enemy models (and then die as you try to get reduced to 25%). Your goal is to get 4 Warriors of Arnor across the board - Malbeth should keep your band of scoring models safe (you don't actually want him saving most of your models UNLESS you think you can make the game end at the time limit). 
• Storm the Camp: Another hard scenario, except that you have 6 Might points that can be used for March. Deploy your Captain warbands first in your camp, then put Arvedui/Malbeth in near the back (just in case you run out of room in the deployment zone). Arvedui/Malbeth will try to control the middle of the board, leaving your Hobbit Archers behind to guard your camp (Rangers should be moving around the middle of the board to provide an early defense against sneaking models). One or two Captains can be relied on to March infantry towards the enemy camp in the mid-to-late game.
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: Another maelstrom fight - again, you want to deploy Arvedui and Malbeth first and then deploy your captains. Place your heirloom markers near the center of the board so you can hopefully get there and turtle up. If you don't find the Heirloom before your opponent finds it, group your army together so you can attack en masse. Early in the game, you can rely on your Hobbit Archers/Rangers of Arnor to shoot/whittle down enemy warbands (move half-distance onto the map at the start so they can shoot at enemy models that can't charge them on the first turn).
• Fog of War: Protect Malbeth - you need him. Your opponent has the choice of killing Malbeth or a random Captain. While Malbeth is clearly the heart-and-soul of the team, you are probably protecting him with everything you have to keep your army in the game. So your opponent is probably picking a Captain - guessing which one will be very difficult. So keep all three of your Captains within 6" of Malbeth so he can protect them with Foresight and they can protect him from being attacked. Arvedui can't be reckless because you might need his army bonus, but he can be turned lose to kill things and you don't have to worry about his fragility as much. When picking a hero to kill, choose someone that can be shot easily - your heroes might be tied up all game, so look for whoever will be the most vulnerable hero to enemy archery. When picking a terrain piece to hold, pick something near the center and turtle up!
• Clash By Moonlight: You have a lot of shooting (with good Shoot values - and some bows that only have slightly more range than the limited range of this scenario) and lots of models to weather enemy archery. Turtle up (with your 5+ save) and out-shoot your enemy! While To The Death/Lords of Battle might be your best scenarios, this one is certainly near the top.

Modifications
Centaur gave some really great thoughts on how this army would run - for me, the lack of big heroes, the lack of fast models (though 3 Marching Captains would certainly help), and a high start-up cost are a non-starter for me. Thankfully, there are a few good allies you can look to that give you good power heroes (and sometimes, good cavalry). For the most part, I'm going to run Warriors and Rangers of Arnor with these lists - you want as many people as possible to have the Arnor keyword and Hobbit Archers (while cheap and effective) don't have it.

• Ally with Lothlorien – If you need to supplement for poor courage and need a power hero, taking Celeborn isn't a bad idea - he's F6/3A with Lord of the West and can cast Aura of Command on himself. The Convenient Alliance will mean he won't have Resistant to Magic, but he'll be able to make everyone near him pass all Courage tests they have to take, which might mean the difference between allied Arnor troops making it into combat or not. Celeborn can't be mounted, but Galadhrim Cavalry are very flexible horse archers (Expert Rider allows them to benefit from shields whilst mounted). The list below has 39 models, which is still higher than most of the armies we've viewed to date:
• Celeborn with everything [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields
• 1 Galadhrim Warrior with shield and spear
• 4 Guards of the Galadhrim Court
• 4 Galadhrim Knights with shields and Elf bows
• Arvedui, Last King of Arnor
• 3 Warriors of Arnor
• 8 Rangers of Arnor with spears
• Malbeth the Seer
• 11 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Warrior of Arnor with banner
• Ally with Rivendell – A more thematic and appropriate ally, you can get the same benefit of Aura of Command through Cirdan in a Rivendell list. The problem with allying Arnor with Rivendell is that you NEED a Hero of Valor/Legend from Rivendell to ally with Arnor and those guys are all really expensive. Once you tack on the cost of Cirdan/Arvedui/Malbeth, you're looking at a really expensive hero corps. As a result, if you try to get the required cavalry, banner, and models - it's just not going to fit at this points level. As such, we're going to leave Cirdan at home and rely on Arnor to provide an anvil for the cavalry we're bringing with Elrond (similar to what we did with Numenor). This army packs in 35 models, which feels like more models than it should have, considering it has six cavalry models (we could raise the model count a little by :
• Elrond, Master of Rivendell on horse with heavy armor [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Rivendell Knights with shields
• Arvedui, Last King of Arnor
• 6 Warriors of Arnor
• 9 Rangers of Arnor with spears
• Malbeth the Seer
• 11 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Warrior of Arnor with banner
• Ally with the Misty Mountains – Getting four fast models will be nearly impossible with this army if you want both Malbeth and Arvedui (who is required for a Convenient alliance). As such, we're going with Gwaihir and 2 Great Eagles (who are not only fast, but will give us the killing power our heroes in this list simply lack). To make up for spending 350 points on 3 monster models, we've decided to take Hobbit Archers in this list instead of Rangers of Arnor (who won't benefit from Malbeth's Foresight save, but are good archers when you're on a points budget - but not when you're on a $$$$ budget, of course). Despite having 3 monsters, we still have 30 models:
• Gwaihir [ARMY LEADER]
• 2 Great Eagles
• Arvedui, Last King of Arnor
• 4 Warriors of Arnor
• 9 Hobbit Archers
• Malbeth the Seer
• 11 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Warrior of Arnor with banner
• Ally with Khazad-Dum - Khazad-Dum isn't fast, but you can get a powerful killing hero to supplement Arnor's weaknesses. While the Dwarves don't have Aura of Command (the last two lists didn't have it either), you can get a War Horn simply by allying in Durin (who is pricey, but roughly the same cost as the two Elven lords and the Eagle lord we've looked at already). Bring Durin and you might as well bring some Bodyguards in the form of Hearthguard (which is kind of like having a battlefield-wide Aura of Command so long as Durin is alive). This list isn't fast (there's no March in it at all), but with 41 models (8 of which have bows and 4 of which have Dwarf bows), as well as lots of bristling spears to support your Dwarf bruisers, you can deal a lot of damage to your opponent when you finally close (though racing missions will be REALLY hard - why I generally like Balin more than Durin):
• Durin, King of Khazad-Dum [ARMY LEADER]
• 11 Hearthguard
• 4 Dwarf Warriors with Dwarf bows
• Arvedui, Last King of Arnor
• 3 Warriors of Arnor
• 6 Rangers of Arnor
• 2 Rangers of Arnor with spears
• Malbeth the Seer
• 11 Warriors of Arnor
• 1 Warrior of Arnor with banner

In our next post, we turn to a faction that I've bared no bones about not wanting to collect, but most of my friends seem to really enjoy collecting (but have a love-hate relationship when it comes to bringing them to the table): the Easterlings. I'm tapping into the wisdom of Centaur and MinutemanKirk (featured earlier this year as a guest writer on the blog) - so tune in next time to see what you can do with the Gleaming Horde! Until then, happy hobbying!