The Bare Necessities, Part XLVI: The White Council

Good morning gamers,

Today is our last post in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings and the Armies of the Hobbit and we've come to an all-hero army that . . . isn't very popular (or WASN'T very popular until their new Legion was released). I should say, this is an army that isn't popular played pure, since it has a hero that everyone and their brother seems to ally into their army (if they don't mind losing their army bonus). Yes, today we're looking at the White Council - and while there aren't a lot of models in the list, you can find a little bit of everything to throw into your army.

Everyone's favorite ally . . . except for Numenor and Arnor, maybe.

The White Council: Making 50s And 100s (And Accepting Handicaps)

The White Council consists of seven hero profiles - all of which are powerful warriors or magic casters (and a few are both). When compared to other all-hero armies, they actually have some advantages over the others:

• Unlike the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion, you have options for mounts on five of your heroes (not Celeborn or Galadriel) - though I will say that the Breaking of the Fellowship LL can move plenty fast with the free Heroic Marches from Aragorn. Still, with Hobbits moving 7" max, you don't get the freedom that comes from riding in on a horse, sleigh, or Eagle - and you don't get the increased damage when you charge (which is something none of the Good all-hero armies have);
• Like Thorin's Company, you have a mix of high Defense (Celeborn, Glorfindel, and Elrond), average Defense (Gandalf, Radagast, and Saruman), and low Defense, but while Thorin's Company has mostly 2 Wound/1 Fate heroes in its army, all of the models in this army have 3 Wounds and 3 Fate (and almost half of them have rerollable Fate points - and TWO of the guys in this list can give you Wounds back); and
• Like Erebor Reclaimed (which isn't exclusively all-hero - but can certainly be run that way), you have a mixture of high-powered combat heroes (Celeborn, Glorfindel, Elrond, Radagast on the Great Eagle, and arguably Galadriel) and less-powerful units (Gandalf and Saruman), but unlike this army, you have access to not one, not two, not three, but FOUR heroes who have Immobilize (Saruman on a 2+ and Gandalf/Radagast/Celeborn on a 3+), which can keep enemy heroes or monsters from smashing through your ranks (and greatly reduces your risk if you are already fighting them).

Yes, you have a LOT of tricks in this list . . . and yet you almost never see this army being run. Why? Well, the tricky thing about these heroes (and this has always been the case with the White Council - even when they included the likes of Erestor, Cirdan, Arwen, Legolas, and Thranduil) is that getting their points to line up is . . . well, quite difficult. Here's your line-up:

• Galadriel, Lady of Light (130pts)
• Celeborn (130-150pts)
• Glorfindel (145-170pts)
• Radagast the Brown (150-205pts)
• Gandalf the Grey (170-180pts)
• Saruman the White (170-180pts)
• Elrond (170-190pts)

The tricky bit is getting your points to line up in 50s and 100s, based on your points level. At 700 points, you might say "I'll take Galadriel with Saruman for 300pts," you probably want Saruman to have a horse to get the most out of him - and that means you'd need to then take Elrond fully kitted out to bring you up to 500 points. Now that you have 200 points left, I guess you take Radagast on the Great Eagle (or on the sleigh with Sebastian).

But what about Glorfindel, Celeborn, and Gandalf? Would it be better to have Glorfindel in there instead of Saruman (saving 10 points so you can get Sebastian and the Eagle on Radagast - we'll talk about this list later, by the way)? Is Celeborn worth taking because he has 3 Attacks over Radagast (who might have 3 Attacks)? What do you do about the 50ish point handicap you'd have if you took Celeborn instead? Is that a problem?

The short answer, I think, is that running this list pure probably means you're giving up a handicap to your opponent. And I think that's okay. I've played a few games with the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion at points levels above 600 points and it does just fine BECAUSE the list is filled with models who are efficient for their cost and their Legion gives them rules for free that you'd need to pay for to augment your army (like magical protection and banners). This list has none of those things, but the profiles you have are solid if not vulnerable. 

Still, it seems like building a pure list with these guys is quite difficult, so we're going to do what all the cool kids are doing and just ally in one model into today's list (in part because I couldn't build a balanced pure list - go figure). While we could do a revamp of an army I mentioned recently when talking about the Army of Lake-town, I decided to do something that made my Lorien side happy - I decided to look for a way to run Galadriel in a Lothlorien army. Here's the list . . .

The List

• Celeborn with Elven-made hand-and-a-half sword and heavy armor [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Galadhrim Warriors with shields
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 Galadhrim Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 4 Galadhrim Knights with shields and Elf bows
• Haldir with heavy armor and Elf bow
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields
• 4 Wood Elf Warriors with Wood Elf spears
• 5 Wood Elf Warriors with Elf bows
• CONVENIENT ALLY: Galadriel, Lady of Light

30 models, 10* Elf bows hitting on a 3+, 20 D6+ models, 4 cavalry, 9 Might points

The purchases required to get these units are as follows:

• You need Celeborn and Haldir, who conveniently come in the same pack now;
• You need Galadriel, Lady of Light (who is apparently coming back into the webstore);
• You need a box of Galadhrim Warriors;
• You need a box of Wood Elf Warriors; and
• You need a box of Galadhrim Knights.

This list is under $200, making it one of the cheapest lists we've viewed recently (but what can I say - it's not a Hobbit-era army). :) If you want to get started with Lothlorien, this is probably a great way to begin, since you'll have lots of models that we're not using that you can experiment with. I will say that if you're willing to bend on the 30-model limit (or the banner - but don't do that), you could drop two models to upgrade those Wood Elves into Galadhrim - I did it to save points. Let's see what everyone is bringing to the table.

Warband #1: The Lord of Lorien

Celeborn isn't my usual go-to for Lorien, but he is an incredible choice here. I didn't give him the shield because I needed the points (I'm counting on winning fights) but he's still plenty capable as a killing machine. With Enchanted Blades to make Galadriel a better fighter (or Immobilize to make an enemy hero a less effective fighter), Celeborn has a nasty selection of tricks he can throw at an opponent. Of course, without his army bonus he's a bit vulnerable to magic (if only there was a way to counter that . . .).

Joining Celeborn are 14 warriors - ten infantry to form your shieldwall (and a banner - don't forget that banner) and four Knights. I know Galadhrim Knights get a bad wrap, but I like them a lot - they're great skirmish troops, can be devastating on the charge, and have the flexibility to pass through woods easily with Fleetfoot. The rest of the Galadhrim are . . . well, a predictable wall that will last. Leave a slot open in the battle line though - we got someone else to make it even better.

Warband #2: The Shooting Team

Yes, it probably wouldn't be a Tiberius-recommended Lorien list without Haldir. I love the guy - two shots a turn with his Elf bow have slain many an Uruk, Orc, and Easterling over the years and while March might be more useful, I rather like having this guy in my mix. He's over-qualified for the third-most-powerful-killer in the list and can force your opponent to come to you (if only we had some archery protection to go with it . . .).

It probably wouldn't be one of my Lorien lists without some Wood Elves and here they are. I mostly included them for budgetary reasons, but I also happen to think that they're really good troops. While D3 is not great, Elven Cloaks on those archers can keep them from coming to harm if you can find some horizontal terrain to protect them (and by "protect them," I mean "hiding their ankles" - because that's literally all you need). The mini shieldwall we have in this warband is composed of D6 front-line guys in front of D3 spears, which is pretty decent (and something we've seen here at TMAT a time or two). The Wood Elf Spearmen don't have throwing daggers, which is a shame, but if they did, I'd probably have run them as Galadhrim.

Warband #3: The Lady of Light

I've long said that Lothlorien needs Galadriel - maybe I'm biased because I prefer the skirmish potential for Wood Elves over the predictability but resilience of Galadhrim, but even if you run an armored horde of Elves, you probably want Galadhrim in your list. Why? Because she keeps you safe. This version of Galadriel begins with a 6" bubble of anti-archery protection (6s only - unless you're Legolas) AND pairs with it the ability to grant models 2 free dice to resist magical powers as the game progresses (thanks to Fortify Spirit). Armies that rely on magic might still be able to get spells off, but until Galadriel is dealt with, you can't burn through someone's Will and make a cast "automatically successful." That's huge. You also can't park your throwing weapons just within 6" of her allies or camp out with your crossbows on a ridge and expect to pulverize them - Galadriel shields you from both.

This version of Galadriel is no slouch in combat - she's got 3 Attacks and Heroic Strike (with 3 Might to call it), but like the normal Galadriel, she's not great at wounding things (just S4). As such, casting Enchanted Blades on Galadriel can do a lot to increase her killing power (especially if she's charged two warriors and is set to call a Heroic Combat this round). S4 rerolling all failed To Wound rolls will kill a lot of stuff - not a bad use of a Will point on Celeborn if you ask me. Paired with this is Banishment (cast on a 3+) for dealing pot-shot wounds on Spirit models (ranging from Warriors of the Dead and Spectres to Ringwraiths and Barrow-Wights). Yes, she's quite dangerous - and a great addition to this list.

Scenario Overview

Let's see how you'd want to approach each scenario:

• Domination: Galadriel should deploy after Celeborn - have a spare 25mm base on hand to place in Celeborn's formation so Galadriel will fit. With 7 guys in the front (Celeborn, Galadriel, and 5 shields) and 5 spearmen behind them (one of which has a banner), you can make a strong front near the center objective and force your opponent to commit heavy resources there. You have four Knights in this warband to hang back and guard the flanks (as well as harass objectives). Haldir's warband can deploy on the periphery, leaving the archers near an objective with horizontal terrain (if possible) and with his shieldwall advancing towards another objective (preferably one you can support with your Knights). By having a lot of archery to cover the various objectives, you should be able to wear your opponent out and hold your ground.
  
• Capture and Control: Similar strategy - Celeborn and Galadriel on the center line on the center objective, Knights holding back to protect the rear objective and threaten a side objective, while Haldir and his boys threaten the other objective. Some of Haldir's archers can start near your rear objective if you want your cavalry to be a bit more free in their movements, but you have lots of Elves ready to support the center if you need to.
  
• Hold Ground: Maelstrom . . . lovely. No March means you don't care how quickly you arrive - and you have four Knights to threaten the middle if you want. Frankly, though, I think you can have your archers deploy near good firing lanes to harass anyone who races to the center, while your infantry come up slowly. I think you want Celeborn near Galadriel (deploy her first, then have Celeborn drop in to support her), but Haldir can kind of be on his own. With a lot of shooting in his warband, you can make an enemy pay dearly if they try to charge his position. 
  
• Seize the Prize: Well . . . keep your archers pointed towards the middle, with Celeborn and Galadriel advancing galantly towards the middle. While we could certainly race our Knights in right away, I don't think that's the right call - we don't want these guys to get engaged and we don't have a mounted hero to escort them. Even if your opponent races in and digs up the Prize, you can have a hailstorm of arrows to pound at his ranks - and if you get luck, you may find an open prize lying on the ground on Turn 2. Thanks to having Expert Rider, your cavalry could sail in on Turn 2 to pick it up if it's already been dug up - otherwise, park your ball of death right over the Prize, with you archers supporting your battle line by harassing anyone racing around your flanks.
  
• To The Death: Well, we have 11 shots a turn with this list and anti-archery, anti-magic protection. Sit back and shoot - kill whatever's left with your heroes. I wouldn't worry about shooting heroes at first - you get a lot of points for breaking the enemy, so start by shooting out the warriors.
  
• Lords of Battle: Similar thing - you have the potential to not cough up points by sitting back and shooting (and you DEFINITELY want to shoot out the warriors this time). Form a ball, protect the line, try not to lose those Wood Elves.
  
• Contest of Champions: Celeborn is our army leader - and he's pretty good at killing things. This is probably the only scenario where I might recommend that he casts Enchanted Blades on himself (instead of Galadriel), but only if you plan on calling a Heroic Combat with him on that turn. Celeborn can get a heap of kills quickly if he wants to and Galadriel will be there to support him. Your Elves should try to hold up the enemy army leader - but Galadriel might be your best option (if you don't mind risking giving the hero more Might if he kills her).
  
• Reconnoitre: Recon is usually tough - and I think it's tough for you too. You do have D6 cavalry on D5 mounts (who can shoot and later slingshot towards the board edge), but probably the best thing about this force in this mission is that you have lots of shooting and the ability to spread out (if the terrain gives your Wood Elves protection) to make sure your opponent can't race across the board quickly. Galadriel and Celeborn could be bypassed by a swift opponent, so watch out how they advance so that they're moving towards infantry blocks (if they're available).
  
• Storm the Camp: Galadriel and Celeborn should advance towards the center, camp out, and manage your opponent's flow of troops. The Wood Elves (both spears and bows) should hide near your camp to intercept anyone trying to take it - and your cavalry can support you in this as well. Obviously, it would be best if they could make their way towards the enemy camp and claim it (which they can certainly do if it isn't well defended).
  
• Heirlooms of Ages Past: I don't like this mission - it's probably best if you come down together. You have cavalry who can race around the board, but they can't dig up the Heirloom, so they might be best employed guarding them and waiting for infantry back-up. As with the other maelstrom scenario we viewed, you want Galadriel and Celeborn to arrive together - but I'm not sure you need Haldir to arrive with them. It's probably a good idea if you have the choice, but I wouldn't say you NEED to do it.
  
• Fog of War: Well, I think it's a toss-up whether you keep Galadriel or Haldir alive (Galadriel has more Wounds and Fate, but Haldir is one of those guys you can park in the back). As far as heroes you want to kill, pick someone you can shoot - it's what you do, after all. Keeping your army in the back and picking an objective near the center of the board that you can run to last-minute (preferably a wood, since your cavalry have Fleetfoot) will give you a good chance of breaking the enemy without being broken.
  
• Clash By Moonlight: So Galadriel, Lady of Light always has a light on that limits enemy archery . . . but amazingly (and incongruously) it doesn't "illuminate" the way that Blinding Light does. So get within 12" of the enemy, then skirmish your way backwards as he advances towards you - no fancy "when-do-I-cast-Blinding-Light" here! Breaking the enemy is worth a lot, as is killing heroes - so kill heroes with your supped-up archery as soon as you can.
  

Modifications

There aren't a lot of ways to run this list (probably why most people don't), but here are a few changes you could make:

• Ally Galadriel with Cirdan – A while back, I wrote an article on who were some of the best models to pair together (a pocket full of power) and one of the pairings I talked about in that article (and in an ensuing podcast) was Galadriel, Lady of Light with Cirdan. Cirdan has a single Might point and channelling Blinding Light early in the game can make casting other spells (like Aura of Dismay or Enchanted Blades) much harder. If you have Galadriel near him, you don't have to channel Blinding Light AND you can cast Fortify Spirit on him to make sure he keeps his Will to keep exhaustion spells (like Aura of Command and Aura of Dismay) active against the most brutal of casting assaults. Galadriel also augments the troops near Cirdan who are benefitting from Aura of Dismay, as she applies a -1 penalty to enemy Courage to the models who want to charge your battle line. It turns out, though, that getting 30+ models with at least four of those models being mounted and one carrying a banner at 700 points with Galadriel (who can't lead anyone) and Cirdan (who got downgraded to a Minor Hero) is pretty difficult, as you need to include two other heroes in the mix. I finally got it to work by tapping into the deep bench of Rivendell by taking Erestor and a High Elf Captain (who isn't on a horse in this list - you could give him a horse and downgrade one of the Rivendell Knights to a High Elf Warrior with Elf bow). I also have no shields in this list - if you wanted to drop your numbers by 1-2 guys, you could get shields (but in my recent experience with Rivendell, going without shields CAN work - especially since shooting and magic are less of a worry with the pairing of heroes we have).
• Erestor
• 5 High Elf Warriors
• 5 High Elf Warriors with spears
• 1 High Elf Warrior with spear and banner
• 1 Rivendell Knight with shield
• Cirdan
• 5 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows
• 1 Rivendell Knight with shield
• High Elf Captain with Elf bow
• 4 High Elf Warriors
• 2 High Elf Warriors with spears
• 2 Rivendell Knights with shields
• HISTORICAL ALLY: Galadriel, Lady of Light [ARMY LEADER]
• Ally In Saruman and Galadriel Into The Shire – Both the main list and the previous list are examples of "just allying in Galadriel". If you want to take Galadriel AND someone else, that's pretty hard to do. If you need to amass a large body of troops in ~400 points, you're probably turning to the Shire. Merry, Frodo, Holfoot, and Maggot are very cheap heroes and provide you with LOTS of tactical options, while their warriors (5 points/model for Hobbit Shirriffs, Hobbit Archers, and Battlin' Brandybucks) can be fielded en masse without much difficulty (assuming you own the models). Since the Shire can get Gandalf innately, I figured allying models from the White Council should do things that Gandalf does but better - and in this case, it's taking Saruman (more reliable Sorcerous Blast/Immobilize/Command + Aura of Command) and Galadriel (of course - archery and magic protection and ways to deal with enemy spirits). Saruman is mounted, giving us our four fast models (though Frodo is our only banner - otherwise, this would probably have been the list we reviewed today). With a total of 48 models, underestimate this force at your peril!
• Saruman the White on horse [ARMY LEADER]
• Galadriel, Lady of Light
• Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire on pony with shield
• 15 Battlin' Brandybucks
• Frodo of the Nine Fingers on pony
• 5 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 5 Hobbit Archers
• Holfoot Bracegirdle, Shirriff-Leader
• 5 Hobbit Shirriffs
• 5 Hobbit Archers
• Farmer Maggot
• Grip, Fang, and Wolf
• 4 Hobbit Archers
• Ally In Double-Casters Into Lake-town - We've already talked about adding "just Galadriel" into Lake-town (along with Gwaihir) - and taking her would probably have been a great idea. Seeing as how she's shown up in all the previous lists, I figured it might be a good time to include some other models. Lake-town can get a big host of models for ~350 points, so I figured this would be the ideal army for another great pairing you can do with the White Council: double Sorcerous Blast. With Saruman and Gandalf both on horses, you can cast magic to knock over key models with either of them OR have Gandalf keep the pressure up on the grunts while Saruman targets heroes with Command from a far distance away. With protection from archery and a host of 43 models, this is probably more competitive than the Shire army above (though I'm inclined to give the Shire one a try).
• Saruman the White on horse [ARMY LEADER]
• Gandalf the Grey on horse
• The Master of Lake-town
• 7 Lake-town Guard
• 2 Lake-town Guard with spears
• 5 Lake-town Guard with spears and bows
• Alfrid the Councilor
• 7 Lake-town Guard
• 5 Lake-town Guard with spears and bows
• Braga, Captain of the Guard
• 7 Lake-town Guard
• 2 Lake-town Guard with spears
• 3 Lake-town Guard with spears and bows
• Pure White Council - Melee-Oriented - An all-hero army that only has four models must be good if they want to win - they have to be able to survive on their own and they have to be able to be fast enough to not lose objective games. Most of the White Council has access to mounts (not Galadriel and Celeborn, #JusticeForLothlorien) and most of those have 3 Attacks (or 2 Attacks and a monstrous mount), so this list features four of their combat heroes (Celeborn probably should be in the list, but you'd have to say good bye to Radagast and give your opponent a handicap). Galadriel should focus on getting Fortify Spirit up on Elrond and Radagast early in the game if you're worried about magic - these guys want to be racing off to deal with threats, while she'll probably be pulling up the rear guard.
• Elrond, Master of Rivendell on horse with heavy armor [ARMY LEADER]
• Radagast the Brown on Great Eagle with Sebastian
• Glorfindel, Lord of the West on Asfaloth with the Armor of Gondolin
• Galadriel, Lady of Light
• Run the Vanquishers of the Necromancer LL - With the new book coming this week, I can't wait to dig into this Legion. You have to take Saruman and Galadriel and I don't see a situation where you wouldn't want Elrond (assuming you're playing at 500+ points). Before Gandalf's rules were announced for this Legion, I thought that getting Will back on your models would be really handy (but alas - his rules just don't entice you to take him). Radagast has a spell suite that's arguably better than Gandalf's given our helpers, and thankfully he has the sleigh option. So yes, we're taking Radagast on his sleigh to round out the team. With a slight handicap for your opponent, this list is ready to throw magic around and take the righteous fury of the ancients to the forces of darkness!
• Saruman the White
• Galadriel, Lady of Light
• Elrond, Master of Rivendell with heavy armor
• Radagast the Brown on sleigh

Well, that's it for our first pass at each faction in this series! As we close out the year, we'll be looking at lists I've been playing with thanks to my collection of Quest of the Ringbearer models. Our first stop is a Legendary Legion that I've used a lot at several points levels: the Breaking of the Fellowship. This list is crazy good even if you give your opponent a point handicap. Think this list will struggle against hordes or big things? Find out how to approach each scenario next time - until then, happy hobbying!