The Stuff of Legends: The Paths of the Druadan

Good morning gamers,

We're a little more than half way done with the Legendary Legions released so far and we're back in the War in Rohan book, covering my second favorite Rohan Legendary Legion: the Paths of the Druadan. This army has an interesting mix of light infantry (all of whom can skirmish with blowpipes AND have spears) and cavalry (who can also skirmish). With the highest Legion tax for the Forces of Good, Centaur takes us through building lists with this Legion - take it away, Centaur!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Legion Tax: 290-300pts!

Centaur: You are required to take Theoden, King of Rohan on armored horse, though if you were running Rohan without Helm Hammerhand or Eorl the Young, you were probably taking Theoden already. Theoden can take a shield and heavy armor - and you're probably taking both of them. You are also required to take Ghan-Buri-Ghan, but if you were planning on running Woses, you were going to take him anyway. Personally, I don't think he's worth the 65pts you have to spend from a profile perspective (he's only a 2.6/5 from my Overly Pedantic Stats perspective, and that's with his low cost inflating his score), and the fact that you have to take a full warband of Wose Warriors means that your "tax" is 300 points - which is a LOT (especially since you're probably going to need to also take Eomer for dealing with big bad evil guys, Dernhelm for rolling over the masses as a second attacker, and Gamling for banner support and keeping those Heroic Moves coming). So I'm not a huge fan of the tax, but it does mean that you start with a lot of models in your army as woses are cheap.

Tiberius: this is the first Legion we've come across that requires you to take more than two models - some Legions (like the Grand Army of the South or the Return of the King) have options for two required units, while this Legion requires you to run at least SEVENTEEN models. Since most Rohan armies at/around 500 points will be hard pressed to get 17 models in the first place (heck, my 700-point vanilla Rohan lists rarely get above 20), you're looking at having a lot more models than most Rohan armies (except the Defenders of Helm's Deep Legion, which we'll cover in a few weeks). While the tax is high, you should keep in mind that for the 300pts you're forced to invest, you're getting 6 Might and 17 models, so it's not THAT bad. Sure, you've got better heroes than Ghan-Buri-Ghan in the books, but he's alright.

My thought on this Legion is that Theoden actually needs to be a combat piece in this Legion - which is different from almost all Rohan builds that run Theoden! If you're running the Riders of Theoden, you can rely on heroes like Eomer, Dernhelm, Deorwine, and lots of Rohan Royal Guards to pound through the enemy lines (maybe with a round of free Heroic Combats), but in this list, you have access to all the same units EXCEPT you're running with 200-fewer points. This means that you can take any Riders of Theoden list at 500-points and run it as a Paths of the Druadan list at 700-points, which isn't horrible (no free Heroic Combat round and no Strength +1 on the charge, but you get other benefits that are really good - all of which we'll talk about in a bit).

Part 2: Why Take This Legion Over "Normal" Allied Forces?

Centaur: For starters, this Legion is a combination of two lists: Rohan and the Wildmen of Druadan. For Rohan, the Legendary Legion offers added damage against Orcs/Goblins/Uruk-Hai and more reliable mobility on the battlefield through the use of Waypoints and a bonus to winning roll-offs for Heroic Moves. For the Druadan, they get access to faster, more defensible killing units, power heroes for dealing with enemy power heroes, and access to banners - all of which they need. Your Rohan contingent is a fully-mounted Rohan force, so if you are okay with that, then this may be the list for you.

Here are some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Legion . . .

Weakness #1: Low Model Count

Paths of the Druadan Bonuses

You have low numbers in this Legion, as the majority of your points will be spent on mounted units, and since you don't have the special rule from the Wildmen of Druadan faction, you will only ever have a maximum of 15 Woses plus Ghan, so your access to cheap (read: under 10pts) troops is very limited. The fact that you have to take all-mounted Rohan models also means your base troops will be 13-15pts, which doesn't sound like much until you realize that you already have 300-400pts of heroes before you start buying troops. So keep that in mind.

Strength #1: Flexible Movement

You get better mobility with this Legion as you can ignore difficult terrain penalties at three places on the map, which is ideal for taking objectives, reinforcing elements of your army, and getting off critical charges against archers and others who are totally cool hiding in trees.

Weakness #2: Vulnerable to Magic

You have low magic defense, which is not uncommon for Rohan, but you lose access to models in the Rohan list that do have a large pool of Will points (Theodred, Eorl), so it is lower than a vanilla Rohan force would have (which already wasn't high).

Strength #2: Boosted Offense

You get good offensive capabilities between charges, decent archery, and poison from the Woses. Beyond that, though, most of the benefits are just standard Rohan benefits: you can run people over, you can reinforce relatively easily, and you do get this amped up a bit with the winning Heroic Move roll-offs on a +1 better chance, but it's pretty marginal: if your opponent doesn't roll a 3 (or 4, in a Good v. Good fight and you're the "more evil" side), it doesn't change anything.

Weakness #3: Not As "Rohan" as Vanilla Rohan

You're going to have a small warband count, so if you are alternating warband deployment, you will be at a disadvantage against your opponent. Similarly, you lose the Rohan charge bonus, so your troops will not be Strength +1 when charging. This for me is the big weakness: if I wanted to pay less than 10pts for a foot model, I'd much rather pay an extra point and take a Rohan Warrior with throwing spears over a wose, as it forms a more sturdy anvil for my cavalry. Add onto that the loss of the +1 Strength on the charge, and your riders will struggle with D6+ infantry, which the game has plenty of (and a lot of people collect, because heavy armor looks cool).

Weakness #4: Fragility

You have fragile heroes for the most part (Eomer and Dernhelm excepted), so realize that if a single fight with a hero goes wrong, you might lose some of your best offensive pieces. (Ed. I will note that the warriors are very fragile as well, since 15 of them are D3/1H Woses. ~Tiberius) (Ed. Great point, Buddio. ~Centaur)

Part 3: Legendary Legion Improvements

So, for starters, the "improvements" that I have don't involve new special rules, as I think the special rules of the legion are both thematically good and mechanically great. It's exactly what this legion needs. The issue I have, as you might have noted above, boil down to a two-fold issue. First, the tax should be reduced: you should be required to take Theoden and Ghan, but the number of woses should be left to you. 

I'd be okay even with requiring 4ish woses, but truthfully for maelstrom deployments you're not going to want a 65pt hero all by his lonesome anyway, so you'll still be taking woses. But the requirement to take a full warband of them (which, complete aside, means buying two boxes and only using some of them) is a bit overkill. If the tax is 165pts of models and far less money upfront (not to mention less "wasted" miniatures that will not be used with the legion but will take up space in your collection), I think the legion becomes far more appealing.

Second is the problem of killing power. I'm sure the standard Rohan charge rule was removed because a portion of the army gets +1 to wound against orc-kind and EVERYONE gets to reroll 1s to Wound orc-kind (and to be honest, a +1 Strength and rerolling 1s would be overpowered, probably), so I won't be arguing for the standard Rohan bonus to be added. Though I'm aware that this will affect the killing power of the list against non-orcs (which, if you are not in a Good v. Evil match, is most armies you will fight), which is a potential problem.

What I'd do to fix the issue (and maintain the theme and feel of the legion) would be to actually lean more heavily on the wose side of the list. I'd give woses a reroll of 1s to hit (so rerolling 1s to hit and 1s to wound, thanks to poison), and add back in the standard Wildmen of Druadan special rule. This means that you have two true elements of the army: one side provides you with numbers and good damage output but at the expense of defense, while the other provides mobility and damage through devastating charges. The result is a soft but damaging "anvil" that your cavalry can use to screen your attacks, which is unique and thematically cool.

Tiberius: I think adding in warbands of Woses would be a great idea - this would allow you to run a truly mixed arms force better (16 infantry ranked up is just not going to be enough). For me, I'd like to see Rohan Outriders added to this Legion - it was probably a group of Outriders that saw the Woses in the first place, so why not include them in the Legion?

Part 4: Army Strategies

Centaur: I've never played the legion, and truthfully I don't have a particular desire to (really not here for buying that many woses, :P ), but if I was running it as written, I'd do a few things.

First, I'd setup the woses as a screen for my cavalry. In scenarios without maelstrom deployment I'd fan out the woses, putting them in groups of two in columns and spacing them 40mm (or a bit more) apart, so that a cavalry model can get through the gap. This provides an avenue for attack, potential In the Ways to keep archers from pummeling my horses, and a host of control zones to keep cavalry from coming through the lines (and those that do can be counter charged by our cavalry). And based on the fact that we won't have more than 15ish cavalry, we should have enough woses to form the formation effectively (as we will have 16 infantry in groups of two including Ghan, giving us 7 avenues for horses plus the flanks).

Second, the placement of the waypoints, like all positioned tokens in the game, is important. Pick the difficult terrain nearest objectives, or (and this is what I'd dedicate at least one token to) in difficult terrain that would typically be a anchoring point for an enemy battle line (deep water that they can use as a wall against flanking attacks, etc.). This way you can get your cavalry to advantageous places that your opponent cannot use against you.

And finally, you've got to commit. You don't have a lot of troops, and the masses that you have are F3 D3, so you will die in a sustained melee or ranged fight. So once you commit to the fight, you've got to go all-in. Don't hold back: you have to go all-in. And realize that if you need to fall back and reform, you're going to take a lot of casualties. So push the attack, keep the enemy on their toes, and use difficult terrain to escape if you need to reform. 

Part 5: Army Showcase

The first army list does have a good bit of Might (9) for a 500pt match, and a really good amount of Might for only having 3 heroes. It does suffer from having a shortage of models (21 models), so objective-based missions may be an issue. You could probably trade out Eomer for Dernhelm if you wanted to add some more horsemen, but in truth it would only give you about 2 more Riders, but I think you'll get more use out of Eomer and you'll find him more effective at dealing with high-level heroes.

• Theoden, King of Rohan on armored horse with heavy armor and shield
• 2 Rohan Royal Guards with horses and throwing spears
• Ghan-Buri-Ghan
• 15 Wose Warriors
• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark on armored horse with shield and throwing spears
• 1 Rider of Rohan with banner and throwing spears

I really wanted to get Gamling into this 700-pt list, I really did. But when I tried to fit him into it, I had like 2 Rohirrim to support my heroes, so I dropped him from the lineup. What you do get from this list, though, is three heavy attackers (Theoden, Eomer, and Dernhelm) with five supporting attackers (Ghan and 4 Royal Guards), and a lot of archery to cover you. I had to drop the throwing spears on Eomer and couldn't take them on Dernhelm (as I wanted to sneak in one more rider), but the list has decent staying power and a decent number of models for having over a dozen cavalry.

• Theoden, King of Rohan on armored horse with heavy armor and shield
• 4 Rohan Royal Guards on horses with throwing spears
• Ghan-Buri-Ghan
• 15 Wose Warriors
• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark on armored horse with shield
• 3 Riders of Rohan
• 1 Rider of Rohan with banner
• Dernhelm
• 4 Riders of Rohan

Tiberius: Though Eomer and Dernhelm are really good heroes, I think at low points limits, you need to be on the best budget you can. Dernhelm is pretty cheap, but you can get free Heroic Combats off Deorwine and have someone who has a slightly higher Defense and slightly worse heroic stats than Dernhelm (for roughly the same cost). Dernhelm does have 3 Attacks (instead of 2) and 2 Fate (instead of 1), but she's only D5 (instead of D7) and only S3 (instead of S4). Both pale in comparison to Eomer, but Deorwine is also a good 40 points cheaper than Eomer, so my 500-pt list would look like this (it has 24 models, with a 2:1 ratio between infantry and cavalry):

• Theoden, King of Rohan on armored horse with heavy armor and shield
• 3 Riders of Rohan
• 1 Rider of Rohan with banner
• Ghan-Buri-Ghan
• 15 Wose Warriors
• Deorwine, Chief of the King's Knights on horse with shield
• 2 Rohan Royal Guards with throwing spears

Army Summary

As always, thanks Centaur for taking us through that! Our next stop in this Legendary Legion trip is the Return of the King Legendary Legion, which has remained a very popular Legion. Rythbryt will be walking us through it, sharing from his experiences with it and how to balance having expensive troops and pretty decent (but not cheap) heroes. Can Rythbryt convince me that this Legion is worth taking over a historical alliance between Minas Tirith led by King Aragorn and the Dead of Dunharrow? When do you buy Heralds of the Dead? So many questions - join us next time for some answers! Until then, happy hobbying!