The Stuff of Legends: The Vanquishers of the Necromancer

Good morning gamers,

Today we're continuing our review of Legendary Legions from Fall of the Necromancer - and I know people asked when we'd be reviewing these in print, but for this Legion in particular, boy am I happy I waited until after the February 2022 FAQ. :-) Yep, today, we're dealing with the Vanqiushers of the Necromancer Legion, something that was smashing tables with Prone-inducing spells until the Middle-Earth team made two very dramatic changes. I still think the list is good, and we'll see why in a moment. Let's dig in!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Photo Credit: Tumblr
Legion Tax: 470pts

Thanks to the February 2022 FAQ, in this list you now need to take not one, not two, but THREE heroes - Saruman the White (who will always be your army leader), Galadriel, Lady of Light, and Gandalf the Grey. With the addition of Gandalf to this line-up, this Legion has the highest official Legion tax in the game (470pts - though if you run the Grand Army of the South, you're probably spending well over the 375-400pt minimum once you fill out the howdah of the required Mumak).

What you ACTUALLY need to take is Elrond (and probably Radagast) as well - which means the army really functions well at 650pts, 800pts, or 850pts. Elrond not only gets free Heroic Strikes in this list, but he also counts as a banner for everyone else - which means your F5-6/3A heroes can win more fights by increasing their likelihood of getting a good dueling roll. He's also able to two-hand without the need to burn Might on Strikes - so he's a lot better than the other models in your list at actually two-handing so you can kill stuff.

Radagast is useful from a movement perspective (granting open-ground status to his allies for difficult terrain near him) and from a healing perspective (3+ Renew with a free Will point each turn, as opposed to a 3+ Renew without a free Will point each turn from Elrond), but not from a combat perspective. Being F5/3A model isn't bad, but he can struggle to actually kill stuff. Against D5-6 models, he's only expected to get 1 wound each turn . . . unless he takes his sleigh, in which case he's quite a bit more likely to kill models if he's able to charge. If you don't feel like spotting your opponent 50pts in a 700pt game by taking Elrond, you could start with a 5pt handicap and take Radagast on his sleigh instead of Elrond (though I personally would just spot him 50pts). Similarly, if you're playing (for some reason) at 620pts, you could take Radagast without his Sleigh so you're not spotting your opponent 150pts . . . but not many people play at 620pts . . .

Altogether, you're looking at a maximum of 6 models to paint/collect for your army (Saruman, Galadriel, Gandalf, Elrond, and Radagast on his sleigh and on foot) and you're ready to go - not hard to acquire (though it will cost you over $130 to get all of these models new with what's in the webstore . . .).

With this Legion, you also get a HOST of new rules - as we covered in our podcast reviewing this Legion, there are three general army rules and six character-specific rules that this Legion gets - and oh boy, are these powerful. You get the White Council army bonus (+1 to your Resist Tests if you're within 6" of another friendly White Council model), but your wizards are also better in combat, increasing their Attacks to be equal to the number of Wounds they have remaining. Before they take damage and if they're all on foot, they'll be 3A models (instead of 1A models) and with Renew on two of the heroes you can take (though neither are prerequisites for the army, so whether you have access to either will be dependent on your points level), you can keep their Attack stats high.

You also gain the ability to cast spells after you've been engaged, though the February 2022 FAQ did modify this to exclude the Sorcerous Blast, Wrath of Bruinen, and Nature's Wrath Magical Powers (since these were being used to knock everyone fighting the Vanquishers to the ground - making it impossible to deal Strikes to these guys if they succeeded in casting their spells). The good news is that the Vanquishers have other great spells they can use, so while this is definitely a hit to the list, it's not an insurmountable one.

Each hero gains at least one rule - some of which are awesome: Elrond's free Heroic Strike and 3" banner bonus to other friendly models, Saruman's ability to cast two different spells against two different targets and allowing other friendly models to reroll a die when casting a spell when within 3" of him, and Galadriel's ability to cast Banishment against anyone (though she will grant them +1 die to resist if they're not Spirit models) and a 3" wide Resistant to Magic buff are all amazing. Gandalf's Fearless boost and the ability for friendly models near him to ignore Courage debuffs is . . . less awesome - and actually kind of sad compared to the rest (something we'll address a bit later). Radagast's rule (allowing friendly models to ignore difficult terrain penalties and the ability to heal an adjacent model during his Move phase) are situationally great, but are either difficult to trigger or are board-dependent. So . . . having them is good and better than not having them at all, but still difficult to pull off or might not be used.

There's also a once-per-game rule that allows Galadriel to cripple her combat potential and casting potential to cast a channelled Banishment that can't be resisted. Channelled Banishments are great when they get 2-3 Wounds on someone, but could also fizzle out into a single Wound dealt . . . and with the loss of the Lady of Lothlorien rule (that gives her a free Will point each turn) and the War Aspect rule (doesn't count as unarmed and has a 6" -1 Courage penalty applied), I'm not sure how often you'll actually use this rule unless you're nearing the end of the game and REALLY need to kill something.

Okay, with this overview of the Legion, let's look at how the Legion differs from taking the army normally.

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

There are some Legions (like the Return of the King LL) that give you everything you had in your normal list and just add profiles and rules to your options. This list, while it may initially look like one of those lists, isn't like that - there are definite trades that are being made to run this Legion. Let's look at the weaknesses and Strengths that the Legion provides.

Weakness #1: No Alliances = Few Models

Let's start with this: if you take the Legion, you can't ally with anyone. The White Council has always been "good" as an allied continent - though it appears to have fallen out of favor when the February 2022 FAQ made Galadriel, Lady of Light a Hero of Fortitude (since you need to bring her with someone else instead of dropping her in solo). The models available in the White Council army list include not only all three wizards, but also three great combat heroes (Elrond, Glorfindel, and Celeborn) and Galadriel (who is kind of a mix between a wizard and a combat hero). Since the White Council can historically ally with Rivendell and conveniently ally with almost everyone else (not Numenor, Arnor, or Grimbeorn apparently), a few of these guys are great allies into any army.

The White Council, in return, benefits greatly from allying in warriors to help them win objective games - an all-White-Council army will be small but elite and while that's great for smash-through missions, it can be really challenging to fight armies that can double or even triple your numbers even when they've reached a quarter of their starting numbers. If you're going to run the Vanquishers Legion, the big hit you take is not having the numbers you'd usually rely on to hold objectives while your wizards or combat heroes do their work.

Strength #1: WAY More Synergies

The normal White Council list has exactly one synergy if you keep your army bonus: you get +1 to your Resist rolls if you keep your White Council members near each other. Since you'll lose this army bonus if you ally with anyone besides Rivendell, most of the time you don't even have this. There are happenstance synergies in the White Council list if you can afford certain heroes that work together, but there's no pairings of models that you HAVE to take together to make them work.

Enter the Vanquishers Legion: each of the five heroes you have access to not only gets a bonus for themselves, but also grants a 3" auric boost to those around them. While Gandalf's boost may not be that inspired, Resistant to Magic on models that are getting +1 to their Resist rolls, rerolling a casting die, getting a banner reroll, and ignoring difficult terrain for a mostly/all-Infantry army are all really good. It also gives each model a reason to be in the army - take note, as we eagerly await a revamp of the There and Back Again book someday and they revisit Thorin's Company in any of its iterations.

Weakness #2: Bye Bye Two Elven Lords

You also lose two combat heroes - Glorfindel and Celeborn. Both of these Elves are Lords of the West and have been reviewed here at TMAT to be some of the best Good Slayers in the game (Celeborn ranked 20^th overall with individual scores between 20^th and 26th; Glorfindel fared much better and ranked 4^th overall, with individual scores between 3^rd and 12th). Affordably costed and with enough killing power to hack through warriors with relative ease and the ability to challenge big heroes and monsters, losing these two profiles is a loss to the White Council.

Strength #2: No Weak Profiles

Celeborn and Glorfindel are gone, but the Wizards all got better. In a normal White Council list, you're looking at having 1-3 models in your army that have 1 Attack - and since these guys are expensive, it usually means that if you can charge them, they die. Not so anymore - with 3 Attacks each while the wizards have 3 Wounds remaining, these guys are NASTY surprises to anyone who tries to swarm them. Add to that the ability to channel Terrifying Aura, these guys can be REALLY hard to charge with a horde (especially if Galadriel is casting a -1 penalty to the Courage of nearby enemy models). Add in a banner from Elrond and the ability to Immobilize whoever is fighting them even if they've been charged (and Sorcerous Blasting/Nature's Wrathing/Panic Steeding anyone who is rushing them) and oh man, these guys are painful.

Strength #3: Magic Every Round You Aren't Immobilized

We've already beaten this to death, but let's review the ability to cast spells in a bit more detail. Yes, you can actually shut down the casting in this list - if you Immobilize/Transfix everyone (which most armies can't do). If you don't, you're looking at having to deal with a LOT of magic that can be tailored to a variety of uses. In the Strategies section below, we'll go over how to use these spells most effectively, but it bears repeating over and over again that shutting down the magic in this list is hard, and while the February 2022 erratas made it so this Legion can't cast the spells that knock people over (Sorcerous Blast, Nature's Wrath, Wrath of Bruinen) once you've been engaged, these guys can still deal some nasty pain even if they've been charged.

Part 3: Legendary Legion Improvements

As I mentioned in my review of the February 2022 FAQ, I don't mind that Gandalf got added to the list of required models - though it does mean that Radagast will only be in your army at 620-649pts and at 800+ pts because you need all the other models first. It's a bit of a pain, but it is what it is. There are some changes that I'd recommend though - and first and foremost is that Gandalf have his cost reduced by 50pts and lose his Staff of Power. As I explained in the aforementioned article, having a 120pt Gandalf as a F5/S5/3A killing machine with Glamdring and no Staff of Power is actually pretty good. Yes, he'd have limited casting potential, but he'd still have 6 Will points to cast a utility spell here or there (like Protection of the Valar if you're moving first against a Black Riders list and need to protect yourself from getting hexed to death or to Strengthen Will on Elrond).

The second change I'd make is to remove Gandalf's current rule and make it so that he can "blink" with a friendly model in base contact with him during the Priority phase to place within 3" of where he was before (and the friendly adjacent model being placed in base contact with him). This would be similar to the movement he does in the Battle of Five Armies film with Thrain the Broken - and would give more tactical utility than Fearless on a C7 model and removing Courage debuffs on a C7 army.

The final change I'd make is to allow Radagast to take Sebastian. Because why not - it would allow the army to reach 850pts exactly as-is (and 800pts if Gandalf has his price reduced), which follows the rule of "even numbers" that we see in play for the Breaking of the Fellowship LL. It would be nice to have, but I'm okay living without Sebastian (but I know others are critical).

Part 4: Army Strategies

Let's begin by looking at the magic in this list - you're an all-mage list and you have SEVENTEEN spells cumulatively across the group, so let's take a look at how to use them:

• Aura of Command (Saruman on a 2+): kind of superfluous, since everyone is C7 and Gandalf is Fearless, but if you do happen to face a Black Riders Legion, know that so long as Saruman has Will remaining, you can charge those blokes no matter how many of them are near you. Of course, if you're near Gandalf, you don't suffer Courage penalties anyway, so this spell is probably superfluous on a number of counts. If you already have Terrifying Aura up and you haven't cast anything this turn and have no one in range of any of your other spells, sure, cast this spell.
  
• Aura of Dismay (Radagast on a 5+): also superfluous, since everyone either has Terror innately (Elrond and Galadriel) or can cast Terrifying Aura (the three Wizards). Since this spell is Radagast's only spell that's cast on a 5+, you really don't need to use it - don't waste the resources to cast it. Ever.
  
• Banishment (Galadriel on a 3+): this spell is great against Spirit models (like Nazgul or Castellans), but since this Legion can cast it against anyone, it's also good against 1 Wound warriors or heroes who only have 1 Wound (or 1 Wound left). As a means of chipping through a big hero's Wound store, I think it's less useful (unless that model is the army leader and you're trying to get points/deal enough wounds to break the army normally).
  
• Blinding Light (Gandalf on a 2+): with Galadriel in the list, if Gandalf is near everyone else, he doesn't need to cast Blinding Light. With Might being an important resource on Gandalf (since he can call Heroic Strike, has high casting difficulties, and will probably need to boost rolls to win fights), you don't want to channel this spell - and should ONLY cast it if Gandalf is "on a secret mission" and is risking getting shot. In general, it's better to cast other spells.
  
• Collapse Rocks (Gandalf on a 5+): this is a damage spell that can be cast while you're in combat . . . if you're in/near a piece of rocky terrain. As always with this spell, work out with your opponent what counts as rocky terrain for the sake of this spell (and if you can't use it, oh well).
  
• Command (Saruman on a 3+, Gandalf on a 4+): both Saruman and Gandalf can use this spell to move a model off an objective, drag a model away from your board edge, get an enemy banner/auric hero out of position, or make big slayer heroes burn their Will LONG before they're near combat (especially since Saruman has an 18" range on this spell). This spell is useful - and since it's only 1 pip harder for Gandalf to cast than Immobilize (and 1 pip easier than Sorcerous Blast), I'd recommend that he go for casting this one if you're trying to manipulate the enemy from a distance (Sorcerous Blast is good if you actually need the kills).
  
• Fortify Spirit (Galadriel on a 2+): having +1 to Resist tests is great - especially when everyone near you is Resistant to Magic. But why sit on 1 free die when you could have 2-3 free dice (depending on whether your friends stay near you or not). If you're worried about people having to spread out, make sure Fortify Spirit is up on them if the enemy has brought magic to the fight!
  
• Immobilize (Saruman on a 2+, Gandalf/Radagast on a 3+): this is an amazing spell to cast once you're locked in combat - generally speaking, all three of these wizards have better spells to cast when the enemy is far away. But once they're locked in, you can keep enemy heroes from hammering you (which is awesome).
  
• Instill Fear (Galadriel on a 4+): without models to hold objectives and support your heroes, you may need to clear objectives and manage your match-ups with magic. Enter Instill Fear - if the enemy is already bad at passing Courage tests (which could be because you nuked the hero that Bodyguard/Sworn Protector was tied to with Banishment or because their Courage is bad/fine but they're suffering a -1 penalty for being within 6" of Galadriel), you can scatter the enemy to the four winds and fight whoever stays - job's a good one most of the time.
  
• Nature's Wrath (Radagast on a 4+): when channelled, this spell does damage - but even if you don't channel the spell, you can knock the enemy down before your heroes slam into them (removing all risk of being wounded and doubling your chances of killing things - which this list can struggle with being S4 and the four models with actual weapons having to suffer penalties for using their weapons two-handed).
  
• Panic Steed (Radagast on a 2+): with an all-Infantry/mostly-Infantry army, mounted models can spell certain doom for you if they are able to get to you - so knock enemy mounted models off their horses with Panic Steed (one at a time if they're spread out or in a clump together if you channel the spell). Targeting warriors only or heroes with 1 Will point are usually the best targets, since you make it unlikely that they will be able to resist the spell (or if they manage to resist it on 1 die, they will probably be unable to resist on the next turn).
  
• Protection of the Valar (Gandalf on a 4+): this is a spell that can benefit Saruman the White (interestingly enough) and while the Resistant to Magic buff and Fortify Spirit spells from Galadriel are likely to give you long-term protection from magic, a channelled Protection of the Valar is a great way to buy you a short-term complete protection from magical assaults while Galadriel is getting her spells up. Gandalf's best spells are cast on a 4+ or 5+ anyway, so the casting difficulty isn't bad (and if he's near Saruman, he can reliably cast it on his free die only).
  
• Renew (Elrond/Radagast on a 3+): healing in hero-heavy/all-hero lists is always good to have - and since both Elrond and Radagast can cast Renew easily (3+, potentially with a reroll) and can do so even if they've been charged, you have some incredible staying-power in your army thanks to this spell.
  
• Sorcerous Blast (Saruman on a 4+, Gandalf on a 5+): this is your most reliable long-range damage spell (since Banishment is only "not resistable" when uber-cast once per game or when targeting a Spirit model that doesn't have Will) and does two things for you: first and foremost, it knocks models over (which will either slow them down if done from afar or will make it easier for you to kill the models if you can charge them). Second, it does damage to at least two people (can be more if you can cast it from one combat into another or if you hit a model at a 45-degree angle when he's in base contact with a model to one side and behind him). With the reroll from Saruman, Saruman can reliably cast the spell on his free die only (which is good, since he might be casting Command on the same turn) and Gandalf can reliably cast the spell with 2 Will (one of which will be free). Double Sorcerous Blasts are really powerful - try it out sometime!
  
• Strengthen Will (Gandalf on a 4+ on anyone who isn't Saruman): This is a really useful spell to cast on two models: Elrond and Gandalf. Radagast, Galadriel, and Saruman have pretty low casting difficulties, so they can usually cast their spells with their free Will point only (if Saruman is nearby to grant a reroll) and Galadriel/Radagast can usually throw in an extra die without much risk to "get the high roll". Gandalf has pretty high casting difficulties, especially for his damage spells, so casting Strengthen Will on himself is a great way to bolster your casting pool before the battle gets going OR to regrow your Will pool during a moment of reprieve during the mid-game. Elrond never has enough Will to do what he wants (no free Will point each turn), so giving him more so he can get another Wrath of Bruinen off or Renew a lost wound on a wizard is really good. One last thing: as we mentioned in our Mastering Magic series, this is the only spell in the game that can bring you above your starting resource store - so if you have nothing to do while playing keep-away, cast this on Gandalf or Elrond (if you have him)! Theoretically, if you do choose to "go nuclear" with Galadriel, you could use Strengthen Will to get her back on her feet again, but I imagine the game is almost over at that point, so . . .
  
• Terrifying Aura (Gandalf/Saruman/Radagast on a 2+): this is one of the few spells I'd recommend you channel - and frankly, I've lost games because I've forgotten to cast/channel-cast this spell. If someone can "just charge you," Heroic Moves are a big desire for your army - and you don't have the Might to waste on Heroic Moves. If you've made it so your opponent has to spend Might to try to tie you down (and might fail to do so), you're gold. If you have to spend Might to channel Terrifying Aura three times or spend Might to try to go first, I'd rather do the channelling.
  
• Wrath of Bruinen (Elrond on a 4+): this is a channelled Nature's Wrath with more damage being dealt if you're fighting in a water feature - so use it the same way (to put models on the ground so you can kill them more easily and potentially kill a few of them along the way). I am unsure if this spell is more valuable on Elrond than Renew given that your Wizards drop off in utility as they take Wounds . . . in my playtesting, I'm not sure that this spell has ever been a game-changer, while Renew would have been much more useful in all of my games.
  

Let's now talk about deployment: because this Legion deploys as a single warband, you know the formation will begin together, which means you can begin in a wedge formation that looks like this:

The placement of these models is intentional on a number of levels: first and foremost, Elrond is not only at the spearhead because he has the highest Defense and is in many ways the best fighter in the group, but we've kept everyone within 3" of him (<1" gap between each model) so we have banner bonuses for everyone (which makes everyone have 3 Attacks with 1 reroll when the fight). The open gaps gives them room to back up into the wedge without being trapped - but they're not large enough to let models get through our lines.

Saruman's reroll range extends to everyone, but he's specifically placed next to the two models that most need his help: Elrond (Wrath of Bruinen cast on a 4+) and Gandalf (Strengthen Will/Command/Protection of the Valar cast on a 4+, Sorcerous Blast cast on a 5+). Radagast doesn't need to cast Aura of Dismay and casts almost all of his other spells (not Nature's Wrath) on a 3+, so he doesn't really need the reroll very much. If anyone is outside of range, it's him. Galadriel, similarly casts most of her spells on a 3+ (not Instill Fear), but she should be within range of Saruman's boosts all the time so she can get a high roll when casting Banishment.

Speaking of Galadriel, she should grant Resistant to Magic to Elrond, Saruman, and Radagast all the time and will probably be within range of Gandalf (assuming he stays in the wedge - he needs it the least, since he's got Protection of the Valar). If you have enough time to bolster the rest of your team with Fortify Spirit, you should be in a good place even if you need to split the party a bit.

Radagast and Gandalf bring up the wings - in part because their boosts to the team are the least useful (healing other people aside) and also in part because these two wizards can get away with branching off from the group. Gandalf's team-wide boost is the least useful (everyone is C7 and are going to be at least C4 unless they get hammered with Drain Courage) so if you need your forces to be in two different places, having Gandalf go off to handle things is kind of your best option (it's also strangely thematic). But I wouldn't have him go off alone - yes, he's got Strike and F5/S5/3A, but I've found he gets overwhelmed quickly when alone. As a result, send the healer with him - Gandalf can cast Blinding Light if you need it, they can channel Terrifying Aura to keep the enemy off of them, and they both have lots of Attacks and good Fight Values while they're healthy (which, with Radagast nearby and always able to cast Renew, they should be for a while).

Part 5: Army Showcase

The lists here are going to be uninspired, but we'll be sticking with the 500pt and 700pt lists we've done in this series to talk about what you do and don't have. Everything you've read above is true for 800pt lists - if you play at that points level, just read what's above. For now, let's assume we have a handicap of some kind in play and see what we've kept and what we're losing. Our 500pt list is composed of the three required models and that's it:

• Saruman the White [ARMY LEADER]
• Galadriel, Lady of Light
• Gandalf the Grey
  

With this simple list (and a 30pt handicap), we have the following spells at our disposal:

• Aura of Command (Saruman on a 2+)
  
• Banishment (Galadriel on a 3+)
  
• Blinding Light (Gandalf on a 2+)
  
• Collapse Rocks (Gandalf on a 5+)
  
• Command (Saruman on a 3+, Gandalf on a 4+)
  
• Fortify Spirit (Galadriel on a 2+)
  
• Immobilize (Saruman on a 2+, Gandalf on a 3+)
  
• Instill Fear (Galadriel on a 4+)
  
• Protection of the Valar (Gandalf on a 4+)
• Sorcerous Blast (Saruman on a 4+, Gandalf on a 5+)
  
• Strengthen Will (Gandalf on a 4+ on himself)
  
• Terrifying Aura (Gandalf/Saruman on a 2+

Because we only have three models, we want our models to stay together, but keep in mind that this is a skirmish list - you have Banishment or Sorcerous Blast on everyone and if they're within 3" of each other (which is really easy to do), you can reroll a die when casting and be Resistant to Magic. At 500pts, the amount of enemy magic coming your way is likely to be low, so casting Fortify Spirit may be a low priority for you unless you have nothing else to do with Galadriel's free Will point for a round. Channelling Terrifying Aura will make charging Saruman and Gandalf harder and if you Sorcerous Blast models into each other to slow down the enemy advance, Command models off of objectives, and Banish models here and there, you can make a mess of your enemy's plans and potentially win the games you play. Control-based games will always be hard with the Vanquishers, but with a model count that's probably in the mid-20s to mid-30s, it won't take much magical damage to break the enemy.

There are two key things missing from this list: we have no banner reroll (because we don't have Elrond) and we have no healing (because we don't have Elrond or Radagast). Our skirmish approach to this army helps with both of these things - we don't really want to get locked into combat until the enemy has been weakened, so stay just out of reach, move full after casting, and keep the army fluid until you have an advantage.

Let's scale things up to 700pts as we add . . . one model:

• Saruman the White [ARMY LEADER]
• Galadriel, Lady of Light
• Gandalf the Grey
• Elrond, Master of Rivendell with heavy armor

As was mentioned earlier, you could add Radagast on his Sleigh, but I think Elrond gives you more (less healing, for sure, but a lower likelihood of losing fights). Our spell list has grown marginally (Elrond doesn't add much):

• Aura of Command (Saruman on a 2+)
  
• Banishment (Galadriel on a 3+)
  
• Blinding Light (Gandalf on a 2+)
  
• Collapse Rocks (Gandalf on a 5+)
  
• Command (Saruman on a 3+, Gandalf on a 4+)
  
• Fortify Spirit (Galadriel on a 2+)
  
• Immobilize (Saruman on a 2+, Gandalf on a 3+)
  
• Instill Fear (Galadriel on a 4+)
  
• Protection of the Valar (Gandalf on a 4+)
  
• Renew (Elrond on a 3+)
  
• Sorcerous Blast (Saruman on a 4+, Gandalf on a 5+)
  
• Strengthen Will (Gandalf on a 4+ on himself/Elrond)
  
• Terrifying Aura (Gandalf/Saruman on a 2+)
  
• Wrath of Bruinen (Elrond on a 4+)

We can't be an all-skirmish list in this build, but we can if we're okay with Elrond doing nothing for a while. In this build, we want to focus our magic in one place, weakening an enemy formation/warband so that Elrond can sweep in and kill whatever is left on a turn (starting with anyone who has been knocked to the ground). Elrond does give us another tool to clear an objective (Wrath of Bruinen followed up by a Heroic Combat can be brutal), but he's going to want to be near at least Saruman and probably Galadriel too - which means he's not clearing the objective on his own.

If Elrond, Saruman, and Galadriel advance together, Gandalf is free to move off on his own - relying on his spells to keep himself out of trouble and being willing to skirmish for as long as is necessary. If the scenario doesn't require him to split off, by all means keep him with the rest of the group. But since most scenarios require you to get somewhere with someone (and usually get to two places), Gandalf is the lone wandering wizard, so use him in that role.

Army Summary

If you've run the Vanquishers under the errata'd list construction - and particularly at points levels below 800pts, I'd love to hear about your experiences (post-errata) in the comments below. In our next post, we'll be looking at another of the new Legions from Defence of the North: the Defenders of Erebor. While I'm not entirely happy with how this Legion came out, I've been playing with them a lot recently and have been very impressed with the list. If you've been thinking about running this list, join us next time so you can identify what kinds of lists you can run - and the trades you'll need to make when creating your list. See you next time - happy hobbying!