The Stuff of Legends: Theodred's Guard

Good morning gamers,

We've already looked at a Rohan Legendary Legion centered around Theoden, a Rohan Legendary Legion centered around Eomer, and today we will be viewing a Rohan Legendary Legion centered around Theodred. I love using Theodred - he's a crazy good hero when he's charging, but I prefer him in the vanilla Rohan list where he'll be a supporting hero instead of the main hero (he also gets a better supporting cast of heroes than in this Legion). Thankfully, Rythbyrt really likes this Legion, so I passed the review on to him - have at it mate!

Rythbyrt: I have a soft spot for the tragedy of Theodred (which became even softer after re-living that battle in The Lord of the Rings Online a few years back). Last summer, I built a terrain board themed around the Fords of Isen (complete with a Ford, of course, which makes it interesting), and a couple tournaments ago I toyed with the idea of taking a Theodred-led Rohan force to a tournament, and even tried it once against Tiberius's prized wood elves. 

That match... went about how you'd expect it to go. In addition to the trouble that Blinding Light + S3 elf bows pose to D5 Warriors of Rohan armed with Throwing Spears, it didn't help that the Rohan force led by Theodred didn't benefit much from the rules of Vanilla Rohan. My cavalry models (of which I had a fair bit) didn't get any Fight bonuses (because no Theoden), and I hadn't experimented with Rohan enough to discover the pure joy that is Royal Guards on foot (much, much more on them shortly).

Since then, the Theodred's Guard legendary legion came out, which fixed some of those issues, plus I've matured in my understanding of how to play avoidance armies (which Rohan in general, and this legion in particular, absolutely is). So when Tiberius offered me a chance to summarize this legion, I got very excited. I don't think this legion is the most competitive out there, but if you love Rohan--and have a soft spot for Theoden's lost son--there's a ton of enjoyment to be had from this legion.

Part 1: What do you need?

Legion Tax: 80-100pts

We'll start off with the easy part: you have to take Theodred in this legion (go figure), and of course he has to be your force's leader. He's a great model, especially when it comes to killing things. In this legion (as compared to vanilla Rohan), he's slightly de-powered when he charges because there's no +1 strength boost, but you'll still want him mounted because he still gets 4 dice to win the fight/8 dice to wound prone models when you charge, and he still gets to reroll all failed to-wound rolls all the time (which is awesome, especially if you're base S4 and rolling up to 8 dice to wound).

Theodred has two obvious points of concern: first, he must charge if he's able to do so (i.e., there's an enemy model he can get into base contact with, and he's otherwise not prevented from charging by things like Transfix). Theodred's not alone in this respect (Dain from the Iron Hills has the same "problem" once he enters combat), but it's more of a problem when paired with his second concern: survivability. Defense 7 is great (always take the shield), but with just two wounds and 1 Fate point, he's pretty squishy, especially when trapped against a model with higher fight. As with Dain, there are ways you can play around the "must-charge" mechanics (like blocking up the space leading into nearby enemy models, or calling a Heroic March before Theodred moves), provided you aren't calling a Heroic Move with Theodred (at that point, your options are more limited). But it's something you'll want to be aware of at all times, because losing an army leader always hurts.

Theodred's presence also unlocks two of the legion's three special rules. First, all models in your army get Sworn Protector (Theodred), which means they auto-pass all courage tests they need to take as long as Theodred is alive. No range restriction, no line-of-sight restriction, just auto-passes. Great against spectres or sentinels, great against Terror, great if you break early. Second, Theodred counts as Theoden for purposes of the Arise, Riders of Theoden special rule, which means mounted Riders, Royal Guard, and Captains get their +1 fight value boost when they charge if Theodred is within 12" of them. Fight 4 cavalry (Riders) are awesome, and Fight 5 cavalry (Royal Guard) are really awesome. Fight 5 mounted heroes are also really good against most troops (elves excepted), and even other Fight 5 heroes on foot (even if they can strike, cheating might out of them is nice). Theodred needs to be killing stuff to defeat most armies, but his continued survival really helps the killing power of the rest of your army, especially if you have a strong mounted contingent (as every self-respecting Rohan army should). So you won't want to be reckless with him.

Theodred's Guard Bonuses

You also get two supporting heroes: Elfhelm and Grimbold. Only one of them can be mounted (not to beat a dead horse--nsfw language warning), but given that this doesn't have to be an all-mounted legion (and, in my view, is much better because of it), that's not a problem. Elfhelm is a pretty good mid-tier hero: with 3 Might, Defense 6, a shield, and Heroic Defense, he can go a couple rounds with more expensive beatsticks (although the F4 means he'll lose fights a lot), but he's at his best on horse, chucking his throwing spear whilst charging. Grimbold fixes one of Rohan's eyesore stats (Strength 3 on foot), while also boosting their survivability (you no longer need to call Piercing Strikes to get to S4... or, alternatively, you can get to S5 if you do). He's also no slouch in combat himself (once you get past the on-foot thing), with base S4, a two-handed axe (so up to effective S7 if you piercing strike), and Mighty Blow.

Rounding out your hero choices are Captains of Rohan, who are very efficient once you fix their eyesore stat (base Fight 4). You can do that if you mount them (which you probably should) and keep them charging (which you always try to do, of course, with cav models). It's worth noting that Theodred is your only hero with Heroic Strike (and he's only base Fight 5), so if you have to deal with multiple big heroes at once in conventional duels, you may have problems. But that's true of a lot of legendary legions that aren't the Return of the King or the Breaking of the Fellowship (like Rangers of Ithilien, Army of Gothmog, or Assault on Helm's Deep). 

While this legion loses access to most of Rohan's named heroes, you do get access to the entire panoply of Rohan troops, which is great. I've found Warriors of Rohan have a bad rep, and it's not hard to understand why--they're base F3/S3/D4, which is the same as an orc, except they cost 1 more point than an orc (maybe for their Courage 3, which is definitely better than Courage 2, but still not great). You can give them shields (which you'd almost always do) or bows (although S2 bows aren't exactly exciting). That leaves the throwing spears... which (Tiberius, aside) are pretty controversial on infantry models. Especially when your F3/S3/D5 warrior with shield and throwing spears suddenly costs 9 points each to field (which is F3/S3/D6-7 Warrior of Minas Tirith-land, or F3/S4/D6 Morannon Orc-land, or F4/S4/Burly Abrakhan Guard land). 

The legion's final signature rule helps to mitigate this somewhat--you still pay 2 points for throwing spears, but you can now use them (whilst on foot) either as throwing spears or standard spears (though you can only use each throwing spear one of those ways each round--so if you shoot, no supporting). If you're not familiar with the basics of throwing spears, I recommend you check out Tiberius's in-depth tactica on them--just keep in mind as you're reading that in this particular legion, those throwing spears can also be used just like the standard support-spears you know and love (unless you play predominantly Khazad-Dum).

Grimbold's presence also helps--you're probably taking him anyway for three cheap Might and a Stand Fast!, plus he's a good body-guard for Theodred if enemy monsters are nearby. Boosting your Warriors to S4 for 1 more point a pop seems like a lot (now they're 10 points each), but if you give them all axes for free (as you probably want to do, if you're playing competitively), that's a lot of models who can suddenly go to S5 if you Piercing Strike. And since Grimbold's Helmingas upgrade isn't limited to just his warband (it could include all Warriors of Rohan in your force), it could potentially be your whole battle line.

Having said that, I have a hard time seeing myself opting for a whole lot of Helmingas with shields and throwing spears (which come out to 10 points each) when for the same 10 points you could pick up Royal Guard on foot. A lot of people are fans of mounted Royal Guards (who you can totally include in this list also), especially when they get that sweet +1 Fight on the charge to get to F5. But they're also among the better front-rank battleline troops in the game. Fight 4/Defense 6 is always a great start, and while S3 is a little lack-luster, Bodyguard is fantastic for getting into Terror armies, especially when the rest of your warriors are Courage 3 (or 2, if the enemy has Harbinger of Evil). You also don't have to worry about nasty things like Sentinels or Spectres messing up your battle line, and it's always nice to have less things to worry about.

Moving to cavalry, there's a lot we could say about finding the proper balance of Riders of Rohan, mounted Royal Guards, and mounted Outriders (if you decide to cheat and just take them on foot, you have to call them "Outwalkers"). For the most competitive build you probably want some of all three, but I probably wouldn't take them in even quantities: you probably want to lean more heavily into one of them (I tend to lean heavily into mounted Royal Guards).

Part 2: Why take this legion over "normal" allied forces "vanilla" Rohan?

For most players, I think the overwhelming thing that attracts them to this legion is its theme. Compared to just vanilla Rohan, it has some significant disadvantages (which we'll get to shortly). But if you want to play Theodred in a "Fords of Isen" style army, this is the best way to play it because (1) the bonus to fight value for your cavalry troops is absolutely that good, (2) if you do field a large and/or heavy infantry component, it gets some very nice buffs, and (3) apart from some heroes (who you weren't taking anyway in a theme-y list, with the possible exception of Erkenbrand), you're not losing any list-building options because all your troop options are still available to you.

Let's get the cons out of the way first:

Weakness # 1: Very few hero options, which limits you. Theodred is your only striker. None of your heroes are beefier than D7/2 wounds/1 Fate. Elfhelm is only base F4. If you're playing at very large points levels, you're probably bringing multiple captains.

Weakness #1a: No Gamling. This is less of a "weakness" now that Gamling's banner has been nerfed, but it's still a draw-back of taking this legion over vanilla Rohan. One free Might per turn isn't 3-5 free Might per turn... but it's still one free Might per turn. No option for that in this list: when your heroes run out of Might, they're actually out of Might.

Weakness # 2: Your model count is unlikely to ever be "high," because your base troops (1) have lots of attractive upgrade options (namely the 2-point throwing spear), and (2) get expensive if you add those options.

Weakness #3: You lose +1 Strength when you charge. Your heroes may not feel it (sometimes they do), but your mounted warriors will, especially if there's a lot of D6 in your local scene.

Weakness #4: Sworn Protector (Theodred) doesn't help you all the time. Now this isn't a proper "weakness," but since you're essentially trading your +1 Strength buff for this buff when you take this legion over vanilla Rohan, it needs to be mentioned. Not every army causes Terror, and some Terror armies can assassinate Theodred within a couple of turns.

Having said all that, here's some things this legion does as-well or better than vanilla Rohan:

Strength # 1: Even with your reduced hero options, you can still get to 11+ Might at most standard points levels. Theodred with the full kit, Elfhelm with the full kit, a Captain with the full-kit, and Grimbold (with his full kit) runs right about 300 points, which means that even in 500-point matches, you can still take between 15-25 troops depending on how many goodies you give them. Your four heroes aren't all top-tier heroes, but they're still 4 heroes to deal with (most 500 point armies don't have that many, and if they do they're also mid-tier heroes). 

Strength #2: While you give up that S4 on the charge on your cavalry warriors, there's much more of an incentive to go S4 on your foot warriors in this list (mainly because, again, you're always taking Grimbold for those three cheap Might points). There's also more of an incentive to take an infantry block (or two) because, again--you're probably taking Grimbold. And when you think about it, isn't S4 all the time better than S4 some of the time?

Strength #3: When you are facing mass-Terror, Sworn Protector (Theodred) is awesome. It speeds the game along, you can pick the fights you want, and one of your opponent's major advantages is just off the table. Note as well that the rules say all models in the army get Sworn Protector (Theodred), which would include your hero models (plus Theodred). So if your force is broken faster than you'd prefer, that's okay... as long as the Prince of Rohan is still alive.

Strength #4: Mass throwing spears become even more flexible than normal. While throwing spears are generally favored on cavalry models (and disfavored on infantry models), there is something about having mass throwing spears that makes your force much harder to engage. For one, you can throw further than most troops can move (8" vs. 6", plus your full movement range... which in this list could be anywhere from 6” to 15”), and for another, it's really hard for a cavalry army to engage an infantry block armed with throwing spears because you can cast an 8" throwing spear after moving your full move allowance. Cav closing in and stopping just outside your 6" charge range? Stay put (or move a couple inches back to protect your flanks) and pelt them with a full barrage of throwing spears. Ranged attacks are (literally) hit-and-miss in this game, but against cavalry models in particular (who infantry armies tend to outnumber anyways), every loss feels significant. The fact that you can now use them to support if you wish (for no extra points cost) makes those blocks of throwing spears even more unpredictable.

Strength #5: Fantastic theme. Now let's be perfectly honest--I've tried to put a brave face on this legion and the buffs you get... but I know most of you would trade all those buffs in a heartbeat if you could take Eomer or Dernhelm or maybe even Deorwine. Which you can totally do in a vanilla Rohan list, by the way. So if you're going to give up playing vanilla Rohan for this list, you want the theme of this list to be very strong. And I think it is. You look like outcasts--nothing like a conventional Rohan list. You have a bit of the scrappy underdog-feeling. You've probably got a large contingent on foot (and are proud of it). You're not supposed to beat Uruk-Hai. And maybe you won't. But by all that you hold dear on this good earth, you'll die trying!

Part 3: Legendary Legion Improvements

When wish-listing for this legion, the only "improvements" I could think of fall into two categories: include X profile, or include Y buff. But the models I'd like to have included (namely a couple more heroes with strike) aren't thematic, and given that the whole point of this particular legion (if not for others) is to capture a particular battle at a particular point in time (the Fords of Isen, before Erkenbrand arrived), including more heroes would be anti-thematic.

The second category of improvements would be buffs, but I feel this quickly devolves into "wish-listing for Rohan generally," instead of trying to fix issues with this legion. Would it be cool of Warriors of Rohan (on foot) within 6" of Theodred got +1 Fight (like they do in Helm's legendary legion)? Sure. Maybe Helmingas in this list could get a boost to Fight 4/Strength 4. You know what else would be cool? Allow Royal Guards to get the Helmingas upgrade, too. 

But you know what? All that stuff, while cool, isn't necessary to make this list. You get +1 Fight to your cav when charging. You have the option for S4 infantry. You can take Royal Guards. You can take cav models. You don't have to go all-cav. I'm fine without more buffs to the core troops.

So here's the 3.5 (very minor) tweaks I'd make:

• The list is built around Theodred: he's your army leader, he's your lynch-pin, and he's your only real combat model. But his base profile really isn't designed with that role in mind, and as a result, he's very fragile (2 wounds, 1 Fate). So I'd give him an extra wound in this legion. If an unnamed captain Uruk from the Assault on Helm's Deep legion gets an extra wound (plus Suladan, plus Amdur), I don't think it'd be game-breaking to give Theodred the same buff (especially since Theodred has to charge models if able to).
• Alternatively, if Theodred doesn't get any buffs, I'd give the other heroes access to Heroic Strike. Not Heroic Strike for free--just the ability to spend Might on Strike if they wish. There's not a ton of those heroes (just Grimbold, Elfhelm, and generic Rohan Captains), and two of those profiles only have base Fight 4, so it'd be far from broken. Plus there's no Gamling banners, so there'd be a timer on how many times you could Strike before you ran out of Might. But I think that'd alleviate the load on Theodred (and your army might actually survive against big heroes if he's slain early).
• Additionally, I'd be sorely tempted to let Grimbold take a horse... but if Theodred dies, he has to rush to his side, dismount, and stay within 3" of his fallen body until the end of the game, ala Eowyn. (What? I told you, the whole point of this legion is THEME!)
• Finally, because Theodred is such a lynch-pin of your army and he obviously has a very special bond with his troops (who'll do anything to protect him), if Theodred is slain, I'd give all models in the army list Hatred towards whatever the race is of the model that kills Theodred. Preverably that'd be Uruk-Hai (because THEME IS KING!!!), but if it's the Witch-King? All the Spirits die. Legolas? Death to the pointy-ears! The Uber Troll Chieftain? That's okay--no one lives forever! Is that completely over the top and unnecessary? Absolutely. Is it also themey? You 'betcha. And like I said--THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS LEGION IS THEME!!!

Tiberius: I agree with Rythbryt on most of this - I don't think Grimbold needs a horse in this particular Legion (since he led the shieldwall), but I do think having him get an Eowyn-type rule to defend Theodred's body would be good. If I were to add one thing to the list, it would be that instead of giving Theodred an extra wound, I'd give him Oblivious to Pain. 6+ saves are pretty rare for heroes (Durin has one, Orc/Goblin/Uruk heroes near Channelled-Fury-Shamans have them, Azog can have it if you take the Signal Tower - so can Bolg if you pay the price for him AND Azog AND the Signal Tower) and a 6+ save isn't very reliable. But it's something - and for a hero who probably has to spend his Fate keeping his mount alive, I think having an innate save (at least a chance at one) would be better than an extra wound.

Part 4: Army Strategies

Rythbyrt: So I'm of the opinion that if you're taking this legion, you should probably plan to play to its strengths (or at least its bonuses). So here's some of my thoughts on how you might do that.

For the sake of making this article longer, I've listed four thoughts below. But the first one is the key to making the rest work (so it's really just one thought, with 3 applications). Here it is:

Thought #1: Don't run this legion as all-cav.

I know, I know... many of you will think this is sacrilegious. But hear me out. 

The first reason you should do this is theme (surprise, surprise). Look... this army is all about defending a ford. And dudes don't defend fords on horses. They defend fords on foot. Which is, in fact, what the Rohirrim did at the Fords of Isen. So do what those dudes did, and don't overthink this.

Second, if you're taking this legion, you're buying into an army where (1) one of its two special rules only benefits Infantry models (you can use throwing spears to support--remember, cavalry models can't spear-support in this edition of the game), (2) one of your three named heroes cannot be mounted (Grimbold), and (3) said-hero's "only" use (other than three Might) is to buff your foot warriors. Now you could run this legion as all-cav, but that means either leaving Grimbold at home, or having him run behind all your dudes (where he's not much use). Now you could do that, but it'd be pretty inefficient, right? Plus you'd only have Theodred (and sometimes your Rohan Captains and Royal Guards, if you get charges off) as a F5+ model (and if you need a F5 model, you need it more regularly than "sometimes").

Third, while I'm not the biggest fan of Warriors of Rohan (9 points for a F3, S3, D5 shield/spear model seems like an overpay to me), they are among the more flexible infantry models in the game if you fully kit them out. They can play avoidance against standard infantry armies, they can usually get at least one good cast in against a cavalry charge, they can shield if outnumbered, they can Piercing Strike up to S4 if you give them axes (or the Helmingas upgrade), and now they can rank up in a standard shieldwall. Basically, they can be Mahud warriors if you want them to be, with slightly less skirmish range (8" throwing spears v. 12" blowpipes), but higher skirmish Strength (S3 vs. S2). And you can give them 24" bows, too, if you like.

Fourth, if you think 9 points is just way too steep, a 7 point Warrior of Rohan with shield is a fairly cheap front-line troop (okay, they're more expensive than orcs, but at least they basically have Bodyguard in this legion), and an 8 point Helminga has the same stats for the points as a Gundabad Orc with no gear. Given that the heroes are also pretty cheap for what they do (especially since Grimbold has no mount option), and you can actually get a decent spam with this force. 

Fifth, if all this still sounds shady to you, this gives you an excellent opportunity to try out my favorite Rohan infantry unit: Royal Guards on foot. Yes, their mounted brethren can get to F5 on the charge. But you know what they can't do? Shield. You know what dismounted Royal Guards can do? Basically everything. F4 troops with Bodyguard (and now Sworn Protector (Theodred), too) are really hard to move, and the jump to D6 gives you good protection against the only troop options that are likely to move you (F5 elves, who generally wound you on 6s instead of 5s, and F5 Half-Trolls, who will wound you on 5s instead of 4s). Ten points a pop is great value (they're basically Fountain Court before the Fountain Court add Shields). The only stat they have that's an eyesore is S3, and you can fix that now with this legion (a back line of Helmingas with spears, baby).

Having said all that, you will want at least some cav in your force. Why? Because the best anti-cav tactic in the game, bar none, is to counter-charge enemy cav with your own cav. Your Rohan Royal Guard and Helmiga on foot (Helmingas? Helmingii?) may struggle to take down a charging Rivendell Knight on their own: he's got the same number of duel dice (2), with higher Fight (5), and twice the dice to wound (4) with a +1 to-wound. They have a much better chance if even a single Rider of Rohan joins the fight (Rohan has 3 dice to win the fight, to the RK's 1, and 3 dice to wound if they win, against the RK's 1 die), and if it's a charging Royal Guard with F5, even better. Plus, it's not a real Rohan army without at least some horses, right?

Thought #2: You really need to protect Theodred.

I've proposed some changes above that might help you survive without him. But none of those changes are real, which means Theodred's the lynch-pin of your force. He's also prone to doing stupid stuff sometimes (because of Reckless Charge), so you'll need to plan a turn or two ahead to keep him alive. Yes, he's a wrecking-ball, but you'll need to plan on when and where to release his destructive power. And once you do so, you'll need to do everything in your power to keep him alive for as long as possible.

How do you do that? Not by building an all-cav army, for a few reasons. First, everyone knows that all-cav armies need to charge to be optimally-effective. Usually that means they're Might-drains, and there's just not that much Might to go around in this army (especially if you're not taking Grimbold, which you wouldn't be doing in an all-cav army). Yes, Theodred benefits if he charges into combat. But you probably want his Might to call Strikes, or fix a botched duel/fate roll. Which means your all-cav army only has 3-5 Might to call those move-offs (depending on if you can fit a Captain into the list, along with Elfhelm). That's not much margin for error.

Additionally, Theodred really benefits from being screened-off from big threats. Azog can absolutely kill Theodred (or a Mahud King), but not if there's a sea of guys between the two of them. All-cav armies are okay at screening, but not great--for one, they can't shield (or rank-up and support), so you're probably only rolling one die to win a fight (not enough against Azog most of the time). If they're killed, there's also a very large 40mm hole in your screen. And while 40mm models take up more space than 25mm models, that cuts both ways; yes, Azog may have to expend more of his movement to get around a 40mm base, but so will Theodred. Infantry models are much more effective screeners: they can shield, they can rank-up in this legion, and if all else fails, they're only leaving a 25mm gap instead of a 40mm gap. Plus there's the whole cost-thing...

Thought #3: You're still a skirmish army. 

If you've never played against a heavy-infantry Rohan army before, let me enlighten you: they're still scary-good at skirmishing. It's virtually impossible for a cavalry army to "charge" an infantry line that moves 6" and has Throwing Spears without taking at least one round of shooting (absent weird corner-cases, like Trample damage on the first turn of a Maelstrom deployment mission), because throwing weapons can be cast even if you move your full movement. 

A 6" move + 8" range on a throwing spear is 14"--that's 4" more than cavalry can move while charging, and 2" more than Fly. And yes, cavalry models can technically move further if they Heroic March or if there's a War Drum... but then they're not charging. (Guess what they are doing: taking throwing spears in the ensuing shoot phase, that's what). 

As with any avoidance army, you'll need to think a couple of turns ahead, especially against cavalry (you'll want to constantly be evaluating how close/far the enemy cav could be from you. The good news is that if you move second, you can basically ensure you won't be charged until you want to be charged (if they're more than 4" away, you can move back 6", and then if necessary let them have a volley of throwing spears; if they're within 4" of you, you can just charge them with throwing-spears on the way in). 

The 4" rule also applies if you're moving first--if they're within 4" you can charge them, and if they're more than 4" away, you can increase the distance to more than 10." Don't forget that you can also back "away" by moving to the side (or backwards and to the side). A cav army that can charge your whole battle line if it moves first is a lot scarier than a cav army that can only charge part of your battle line (especially if it moves first). 

Thought #4: Don't be afraid to split up.

Most heavy-infantry formations like to "bubble-up." Sometimes that's because they have a benefit to doing so (i.e., Warriors of Minas Tirith with Shieldwall, or Boromir's Banner, or both), but that's not the case with Rohan--the only "bubble buff" in this legion has an absurdly large range (12") and doesn't benefit infantry models anyway (just cav on the charge). The only other reason to stay together at all times is if the enemy outnumbers you significantly, and you're afraid of being defeated in detail if you separate too much (or if the enemy is very hero-heavy, and you want to swarm them with your superior numbers), or if the scenario calls for you all to be in the same place (you will want your force to coalesce around the center objective in Hold Ground, for example).

Other than that, however, you probably want to spread out. Two reasons.

First, the armies that benefit most from bubbling do so because they have the buffs you don't have for staying together. Or they have lots of big heroes who, if allowed to fight in a concentrated area, will carry all before them (think Dalamyr and a couple of Hasharii). If you stay all concentrated in one spot, guess what--your opponent doesn't have any reason to break his formation into separate parts. Which means you're playing to his strengths.

Second, if you've gone very skirmish-heavy in this force (we're talking ranged weapons on everyone who can take them), you actually want your force to be split-up, because (A) you're harder to catch all at once if you're spread out, (B) if you have to back up and around, it's easier to do that with three groups of 10 models than it is to do that with one group of 30 models (because boards tend to have terrain on them), and (C) splitting up poses a dilemma for the opposing player: they either have to pursue your separate groups all at the same time (trying to defeat you in detail while you do the same to them), or they focus on just one group while leaving the other two free. 

The problem with the former approach is that defeating a throwing spear skirmish force in detail is pretty hard to do in practice (even for heavy cav), and can become frustrating quickly if you have a good round of shooting. But if you focus just on one group while leaving the other two alone, the other two are going to spend the rest of the game harassing your force while it tries to pin down your targeted group. You know what's also not fun? Trying to fight a shield-wall of Royal Guards backed by Helmingas, while two more companies of Royal Guards backed by Helmingas are chucking throwing spears into your back rank of spearmen.

Thought #5: Avoid falling prey to "spear-syndrome."

Last thought on those throwing spears: you're going to be tempted to use them as conventional spears (because you've been waiting ages to do that with Rohan, and now you finally can!). And that's fine in spurts, or in bottle-necks. But don't forget about Rohan's other time-tested tactics for fighting enemy shieldwalls (because they're still available to you):

Tactic 1: The wrap: This is when the enemy charges your front rank (or you charge the enemy's), and your second-rank spearman wraps around the flank to charge the enemy's back-rank spearman. Why would you do this?

• Position: You're taking up real-estate that was formerly the enemy's, and next turn, you may have models in range to get to juicy back-rank targets (like archers, banners, casters, or army leaders).
• Save your front-rank mate: In a traditional shieldwall-on-shieldwall combat, two of your models (shield + spear) face-off against two enemy models (shield + spear). Both sides are rolling two dice to win the fight (maybe more if there's a banner nearby), and whoever wins gets to roll 2 dice to wound their opponent's front-rank troop (usually needing a 5 or 6 to wound). So what does the wrap do? Well, both sides are still rolling two dice to win (plus banner bonuses, if applicable), and both sides are still rolling two dice to wound, but they're not rolling two dice to wound one mode--it's just one die to wound one model. And it turns out your chances of dying go down if the enemy is rolling one die to wound you instead of two dice to wound you (you have a 56% chance of rolling one or more 5s or more if rolling two dice, but just a 33% chance when rolling one; and you have a 30% chance of rolling at least one 6 on two dice, versus only a 16% chance with just one). True, if bad stuff happens, there's a chance you'll lose two guys instead of one under this approach (both your front-rank guy and back-rank guy could be slain, whereas if they fought in a standard shieldwall, only one of them could be). But your front-rank guy's survival odds have certainly improved (and if holding that front line is important because of the scenario or to keep Theodred safe, that's a good thing). 
• Dice multipliers: Last thing--removing that back-rank spear support means we can actually multiply some of our dice in the fight phase. At a minimum, our front-rank guy can now shield (because one can't shield while being supported). And, if we've given our second-rank spear guy a shield, too (which we probably would in Rohan--if for no other reason than all our infantry spear models have shields cast onto them), we can potentially transform our two duel dice (front rank + back rank) into four duel dice (both shield in separate fights). You won't win games in the abstract by shielding all the time, but you can absolutely win specific games at specific times by shielding in a specific spot. And again--combined with the fact that we've reduced the number of to-wound dice the enemy can throw at our front-rank model by tagging his spearman pal, we've got a much better chance of surviving this turn. Or, you know--that back guy and front guy could just go for it, and if they win, at least one of the enemy models is likely to be trapped (which is extra dice to wound).

Tactic 2: The wrap-and-cast: Same as tactic 1, only this time your second-rank spearman throws his throwing spear on the way-in (because what else is he going to use it for--he's charging!). The extra benefit here is obvious: our wrapping spearman may actually kill the enemy spearman before the fight phase (especially since most spearmen are D5 or below). If he doesn't, we're in the same (favorable) position as Tactic 1. But if he does, he can either tag-team the same enemy model who engaged our front rank (in which case they can both shield, or both fight normally and perhaps roll double-dice to wound from a trap) or he can tag another enemy spearman (perhaps trapping the front-rank enemy model in the process).

Tactic 3: The wrap-and-cast on steroids: Same as Tactic 2, only this time we have horses with throwing spears wrapping around the battle line (instead of infantry), because they can actually get to spots where our infantry spearmen can't reach. A 6" move from the flank can usually get to a couple spearmen in from the end, but a cavalry model positioned within a couple inches of the end of a battle-line can get further (4 or even 5 spearmen in from the end). You typically don't need to worry about traps while doing this, either (because the spearmen will be knocked Prone if you win the fight, since you charged), plus you can get some juicy F4/F5 on the charge.

Or, if spearmen don't do it for you, you can settle for banners, war horns, shamans... you know, other juicy stuff.

One comment on this tactic: if you're going to employ it, I would be sure to send some of your excess spearmen around the back behind your cavalry models. They probably won't be able to fight this turn, but you'll want to be prepared for the enemy's counter-charge on your cav next turn (which is definitely coming). Now the counter-charge itself isn't necessarily a bad thing--you'll find that in order to get a counter-charge off, the enemy probably needs to move troops towards the cav... which in this situation means away from your infantry line, which opens up more room for your infantry to maneuver (or weakens their own attack lines, if they send some of them forward to engage your infantry while others retreat to deal with your cav). But a charged cavalry model is only rolling one die to win the fight, and only one die to wound. Preferably, you'd get a Heroic Move off and charge again... but if that doesn't happen, you need a Plan B. And charging some infantry models into fights with charged cavalry models (in the back, behind the enemy's battle line) is a pretty good Plan B.

Or, you could go for the all-in, back-breaking play: 

Tactic #4: The wrap-and-cast special: Same as Tactics 2 and 3 (you can do it with infantry, cavalry, or both), only this time, those wrapping models are boosted by a Heroic March. To pull this off, you'll want (a) a pretty good model count (at least the same as the enemy's, if not slightly more), (b) a very solid core to your battle line (at least Royal Guards), (c) a healthy number of cavalry models (you usually need at least 6 to make it worth it, including mounted heroes), and (4) a whole lot of throwing spears. I also highly recommend that you practice this maneuver by yourself a few times before you try it in a real game, because several of the rules mechanics can be tricky.

First, you'll want to make sure you call a Heroic March with a model who (a) obviously won't be tagged before you call the March (you'll want to have lost priority when attempting this maneuver), and (b) can march to a spot behind the enemy's line (because any models that accompany him on his Heroic March have to end within 6" of where he stops).  

Second, you'll want to wait to move the model who's calling the Heroic March until after you've completed all the charges you want/need to make with your other models. The reason is that unlike a Heroic Move (which has to kick-off the Move phase, and thus precedes "normal" moves), a Heroic March doesn't begin until you choose to move the model that called it. This means that as long as you don't being your move phase by moving that particular hero, any models you move before that hero can move 6" and charge, in any order you like. You'll want to take full advantage of that to lock the enemy's battle-line in place by charging them (if you need to--they may have already done the lion's share of the work and locked themselves in place by charging your battle line--if so, do a few wraps or wrap-and-casts to get them nice and pinned). Once you've set-up all the combats you want, you can then move your Marching hero and begin the Heroic March.

Third, you'll want to measure off who's affected by the March before you move your hero. Front-line warriors in combat are fine (because they're already fighting). So are spearmen that you either want to keep where they are (in that case, they just don't move) or that you're good shimy-ing to the side where your hero will be marching (they get 9" of movement, plus putting a spearman in base contact with another friendly model in combat doesn't count as "charging). But what you really want to make sure you tag are some cavalry models. Generally speaking, you'll only want cavalry models who can't wrap into charges (so be sure you get those wrap-charges done before you move that Marching hero), but occasionally you won't care.

Next, you'll want to move your marching hero behind the enemy's line (this is important), and you'll want to make sure that his final position leaves him within 6" of both (a) the edge of your wrapping battle line (so any spearmen you pull from the back can lend their spears in support), and (b) a nice bit of real-estate where your cavalry models can form up behind the enemy, but out of charge range.

Then, you'll want to complete the march. 9 times out of ten, you'll want to move the spearmen first (assuming you have lanes for them to travel through). Start on the end with the march, and wrap that guy as far around the enemy's battle line as you can / want. If you've managed to get a lot of charges off on that side, you may be able to wrap a spearman 3 or even 4 spears deep into the enemy's line. Alternatively, if you have more flanking spearmen than you have front-rank flankers, you can wrap your excess spearmen as far around the enemy's line as they'll get (being sure you stay out of the 1" control zones of any unengaged enemy spearmen), and then finish with the spearmen who are wrapping to support near the flanks. The excess models you wrap (who are unengaged) basically becomes a second battle-line behind the enemy's. They're not doing anything in combat (yet), but they're extremely disconcerting for the enemy, because it sure looks like they're doing something (and if they have throwing spears, in the following shoot phase they will be doing something).

The last tip for positioning these infantry models, is that while you want them to finish within 6" of your Marching hero, you also want to leave some gaps between them--I usually gap every 1-2 infantry models--that are slightly more than 40mm wide. These are charge lanes for your cavalry. You won't use them this turn (because your cav are about to march), but they're incredibly important for the following turn (when you plan to do your damage).

Once you've completed your infantry wrap, the last step is to move your cavalry, who are going to wrap around the enemy, and take up positions behind the infantry you wrapped. Because of how control zones work, any position that is both (a) behind your infantry (duh), and (b) more than 30mm away from your infantry, should be safe--to tag your horses, the enemy will have to eliminate your infantry's control zones (which takes at least two enemy infantry, since both of your infantry on either side of a 40mm gap have to be tagged), and then march another model through that gap to tag your horse (hence why you want your horses at least 30mm away from your infantry, so a single enemy infantry model can't charge both of them at once). If that sounds too risky to you, there's a simple solution: just position your horses (a) behind your infantry, and (b) more than 6" from any enemy infantry, but (c) within 10" of enemy infantry. 15" of movement is usually more than enough to complete this maneuver. 

You'll also want to make sure you've positioned your cav where they'll have clean shots with their ranged weapons into the enemy's back rank of spearmen. You'll need and want throwing spears for this (need because you have to be able to shoot after moving your full movement, and want because most spearmen are D5), so make sure you build plenty of them into your list if you want to try this.

Finally, take a look at your banner (if you've got one). As you may have noticed, this maneuver will deplete your front battle line quite a bit (after all, you've shifted a bunch of spears from the front to the side and rear--not to mention some cav--and anyone who's marched by definition isn't fighting in combat this turn). If your front line cracks, all this could be for naught, so priority one is to keep that front line intact. So you'll want to make sure your banner is positioned where it'll offer the most help. Nine times out of ten, you'll probably want the banner catching as much of that front-line as possible--especially if you have higher fight than your opponent (say, Royal Guard vs. Orcs). This turn isn't necessarily about killing models (although you may very well do that on the flanks and with your throwing spears in the rear). It's about pinning the enemy in place until next turn.

Once executed, the next step is the shoot phase. All those wrapping guys in the back now unload into the enemy's back rank, hopefully removing some enemy spearmen you couldn't wrap into/charge. Be forewarned: shooting is really fickle, so the odds are that if you chuck twelve throwing spears, you'll only kill a model or two. But that's a model or two that you killed at basically no risk to yourself (and eliminating that extra duel/wounding dice may save the life of your embattled Royal Guard on foot on the other side of the battle-line). 

The last thing to weather is the fight phase. If you've taken my advice and packed your front line full of Royal Guards on foot, you'll probably be fine. The trick is to shield anywhere you don't have dice superiority (so if you're fighting 1-on-2, shield to get to 2-on-2, especially if you have the higher Fight Value), and press the attack anywhere you do have superiority (usually on the flanks, especially if you wrapped some cav into charges before calling the Heroic March). You're likely to lose a few guys (and if your front line is shielding Warriors of Rohan, you probably will). And as tempting as it might be, resist the urge to Piercing Strike this time. Trust me, you'll get a much better chance to do that shortly. 

The beauty of this maneuver is that as long as you've set-it up correctly, the next Priority Phase means almost nothing. If the enemy wins priority, they'll have three choices: (1) re-engage with your front battle line (assuming it hasn't cracked in the preceding fight phase), or (2) divert troops from that battle-line to either the flank (which you've hopefully crunched) or the infantry behind you (who are only a few inches away), or (3) disengage from your force entirely and try to reform their battle lines away from your impending cavalry charge.

If they go with option 1, your response is pretty easy--your cavalry charge through the slightly-larger-than-40mm gaps you left between your infantry, and charge into their spearmen. Your reserve infantry plug any gaps, and your flanking troops continue to press. You may even get a full-surround if you're lucky. If they go with option 2, your main battle-line applies the squeeze from the front, while your cavalry wreak havoc on the back. And if they go with option 3, well... then you can probably still catch them with both your infantry battle lines (because 6" move infantry can't retreat enough to get away from 6" move infantry if they have to back away to a side), and then your cav swoop in to add dice (and all your charging models with throwing spears hurl them on the way in). If you want to Piercing Strike in the ensuing fight phase (especially if your opponent is going to be trapped or knocked down if you win), strike away.

So yeah... this is still a Rohan army, so feel free to play it that way.

With all that behind us, shall we engage in some more practical theory-crafting?

Part 5: Army Showcase

I'll start things off with a reasonable 500 point force. Here's what I've brought for you:

List 1: The Prince's Vanguard (500 Points)

Theodred, Prince of Rohan, with Horse, Shield, and Throwing Spears (100) {Army Leader}

• x1 Royal Guard on Horse with Banner and Throwing Spears (42)
• x4 Royal Guards on Horses with Throwing Spears (68)
• x5 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears (80)
• x2 Warriors of Rohan with Bows (14)
• x2 Rohan Outwalkers (16)

Grimbold of Grimslade (60)

• x6 Royal Guards (60)
• x6 Helmingas with Shields and Throwing Spears (60)

500/500 points, 28 Models

A world-beater, this army is not. We have only two heroes, who are both pretty flimsy (2 wounds, 1 Fate). Only one can strike, and the other has to use a two-handed weapon. 

I've compensated for those weaknesses by throwing in a ton of bodies that are pretty flexible. 28 models at 500 points is pretty good, especially when you consider that more than half of the models are well-and-truly elite (5 mounted Royal Guard, 6 more foot Royal Guard, plus 5 Riders of Rohan). 

Eleven cavalry models means there’s enough of them that you should get a decent contingent into battle, even against mass shooting armies. If the enemy doesn't have much shooting, you'll be able to dictate the terms of engagement against almost any force.

Speaking of shooting, everyone but Grimbold and the six Royal Guard on foot has a shooting attack of some sort, and most of them are throwing spears (although there are nine 24" bows to keep the enemy honest). All the cavalry have throwing spears, too (including Theodred) so we can get maximum use out of our Wrap-and-Cast. Finally, the back-rank Warriors of Rohan are upgraded to Helmingas, so we have at least S4 spears if they fight in ranks, or the option for S5 wrappers (if we piercing strike).

The warband composition is largely a product of only having two heroes. Grimbold has the traditional shieldwall warband (which makes sense to me), while Theodred picked up the riders along with our four honesty bows (who will suffer the least if Theodred has to run off somewhere faster than they can walk). Two Outwalkers also means we have some reliable objective campers, even if Theodred is slain and our Sworn Protector goes away.

One thing we don't have is Heroic March. If that matters to you (more than the extra Might from Grimbold), you could swap Grimbold for a Rohan Captain, and either give him a horse and shield or leave him on foot with heavy armor, shield, and throwing spears (or a bow if you want the option to shoot out enemy heroes' horses).

List 2: Hold the Fords! (750 Points)

Theodred, Prince of Rohan, with Horse, Shield, and Throwing Spears (100) {Army Leader}

• x1 Royal Guard on Horse with Banner (40) 
• x5 Royal Guards on Horses with Throwing Spears (85)

Elfhelm on Horse (75)

• x4 Riders of Rohan with Throwing Spears (64)
• x2 Rohan Outriders (26)

Grimbold of Grimslade (60)

• x5 Royal Guards with Throwing Spears (60) 
• x5 Helmingas with Shields and Throwing Spears (50)
• x2 Warriors of Rohan with Bows (14)

 Rohan Captain with Heavy Armor, Shield and Throwing Spears (60)

• x5 Royal Guards with Throwing Spears (60) 
• x5 Helmingas with Shields and Throwing Spears (50)
• x2 Warriors of Rohan with Bows (14)

750/750, 40 models.

This is basically our 500-point list, but with an extra 250 points of heroes and troops bolted on. Our cavalry ranks have now swelled to an impressive 14 (two heroes, six Royal Guards, four Riders, and two Outriders). It's not quite all-cav numbers, but it's still nothing to sniff at. If we have to get somewhere in a hurry, we can do it, and we've got plenty of cavalry to counter-charge the enemy, harass their flanks, and do other annoying Rohan-stuff (plus six Might on horseback to power them along). I'm frankly not sure we need this many--eight would probably be enough for a Wrap-and-Cast Special, while boosting our overall numbers to the mid-40s--but c'mon... it's Rohan. And they love their horses.

Backing them up are twenty-six infantry models: the core of our battle line consists of two heroes (one is F5, the other is D7) and ten Royal Guard, so it should be very hard to move. Behind them are ten Helmingas with throwing spears and shields (plus axes, of course), along with four warriors with bows on foot (to go with our six additional bows on horseback). A twenty-model shieldwall isn't huge at 750, but it should be enough models to hold out for a couple of turns while our horses go to work (which is their job). We've also got a healthy amount of Might in this army (11), and of course we've got access to Heroic March, too.

Last but not least, we have an absurd number of throwing spears: 3 on heroes, 9 on cav, and twenty on our infantry block, for a grand total of 32. Apart from Grimbold (and our banner-bearing Royal Guard--not sure where his throwing spear ran off to...), the other six models have regular bows (four warriors, and then the two Outriders), so that's 38 of 40 models with some sort of ranged attack. Additionally, everyone but Grimbold and the bowmen have shields, so we've got a lot of flexibility when it comes to multiplying our dice. 

Bonus List: Night falls (750 Points)

Theodred, Prince of Rohan, with Shield and Throwing Spears (90) {Army Leader}

• x1 Royal Guard with Banner (35) 
• x8 Royal Guard (80)
• x2 Warriors of Rohan with bows (14)

Elfhelm on horse (75)

• x5 Riders of Rohan (70)
• x7 Rohan Outwalkers (56)

Grimbold (60)

• x1 Warriors of Rohan with Shield (7)
• x11 Warriors of Rohan with Shields and Throwing Spears (99)

Rohan Captain with Heavy Armor, Shield, and Throwing Spear (60) 

• x2 Warriors of Rohan with Shields (14)
• x10 Warriors of Rohan with Shields and Throwing Spears (90)

750/750 points, 50 models.

Let me get the obvious out of the way first: this list is not optimized for competitive play. We still have the same heroes, but we've shed a bunch of cavalry models (including all our mounted Royal Guards, plus... Theodred's horse?!?), and a ton of throwing spears (we have just 24 total, with three of them on heroes). Also, there are no Helmingas in tow this time around. So what's the point?

Two reasons.

First, given that this Legion is built for theme, I thought I'd build a themey list for it. The idea behind this is to capture the feel of Theodred's guard after it's been shattered by a couple of attacks earlier in the day. All of Theodred's riders have either been slain or have dismounted, but his Royal Guards are still there (I'm telling you, Royal Guard on foot are hard to kill...), and he's been reinforced by some other companies over the course of the day (although they're mainly your bread-and-butter militia). There's still a small cavalry contingent under Elfhelm's command, that's come to reinforce them (consistent with his arrival in the books). But this is much more of a grind-it-out kind of a force, than the shock-and-awe that Rohan usually gets. Additionally, I've chosen to drop quite a bit of the throwing spears, to reflect the fact that they've been chucking them all day... and if you do that often enough, eventually they'll shatter and you can't recycle them.

To make up for that, we've improved our model count by ten... yes, we've done it: this is a 50 model Rohan force, which is a very good model count for 750 points. We have a good contingent of Outwalkers (7) available to camp on far-flung objectives, a very strong core for our battle line (8 Royal Guards on foot, plus one with a banner), 24 more Warriors with shields to extend the line or plug gaps, 14 bows to keep the opponent honest, and while we’ve shed a lot of throwing Spears (we’re hovering around 50% instead of 80%), we still have  21 on our warriors to deploy as needed (plus three on the heroes).

Lastly, I've put Theodred on foot--mostly for thematic reasons, of course (there's a definite hit to his kill-power when he's on-foot). Having said that, he is much easier to control this way (he can get into less mischief moving 6" than he can moving 10"), and having him on foot allows us to do some sneaky things (like putting him in the middle of our battle line, with Grimbold a couple spots down to his right, and the Captain a couple spots down to his left). With almost 40 models on foot (not counting Elfhelm's warband), we should be able to wrap pretty well with this army, and if our heroes can cut their way through the center of the enemy's battle-line, we could start getting traps even earlier.

Plus, if Theodred does die, Grimbold, the Captain, and everyone else will be right there, ready to avenge him.

Because THEME!!!!!!

Tiberius: You know what I like about this Legion? You have access to Riders of Rohan and Warriors of Rohan. Neither are as resilient or have as much FV as Rohan Royal Guards, but both are good toolkit models that handle all of your problems. Like I said in my review of the Men of the West LL, Warriors of Rohan get you some interesting cost savings over Royal Guards when they get Bodyguard (which they basically get in this Legion). 

At 500 points, you could try to spam models OR you could spam heroes. With access to F5 Captains on the charge (neither Elfhelm nor Grimbold can be F5 - a HUGE draw-back to each of them, in my opinion), you can get some decent escorts for Theodred to augment your battleline. With almost 30 models at 500 points, you only need one good charge to tip the scales in your favor - no Grimbold though (you could swap him into the list instead of a Captain and upgrade 10 Warriors of Rohan to Helmimgas):

• Theodred on horse with throwing spears and shield
• 4 Riders of Rohan
• 1 Rider of Rohan with banner 
• Captain of Rohan on horse with throwing spears, heavy armor, and shield
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 2 Rohan "Outwalkers"
• Captain of Rohan on horse with throwing spears, heavy armor, and shield
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 2 Warriors of Rohan with bows

Army Summary

Thanks Rythbyrt for taking us through that - great Legion, but not my favorite. In our next post, we leave Rohan for a bit and turning to a new Legion from Isengard: Lurtz's Scouts. If you thought Theodred was a squishy army leader, try using Lurtz - he's great when he wins fights, but he's really flimsy when he loses them. Can outrageous speed make up for a lineup of mid-tier heroes and warriors? How useful are generic Uruk-Hai Scout Captains? And do army lists for this Legion write themselves or are there nuances to them? Find out next time - until then, happy hobbying!