War in Rohan Inspired Lists: The Defenders of Helm's Deep Revisited

Good morning gamers,

We talked about Dunland last week, which makes up a large part of the Isengard models from the War in Rohan supplement who aren't Uruk-Hai and today we turn to the faction of Lothlorien, who make up most of the models that Good has access to that aren't from Rohan. While Rohan dominates most of the scenarios, those Elves are going to see a lot of use when you get into the Helm's Deep scenarios and are showcased in one of the most cinematically memorable scenes from the Two Towers film.

Photo Credit: War in Rohan

Lothlorien in Matched Play is one of those factions that can be really good in the hands of a skilled player and provides an affordable point of entry for new players who want to play with Elves since their light infantry, heavy infantry, and cavalry are older plastic sculpts and many of their heroes are readily available for quite affordable prices from both GW and the second -hand market. Guards of the Galadhrim Court got pricier with their migration to ForgeWorld, but they're still available and can be lethal when used well. Our Lothlorien units in War in Rohan, however, are much more restrictive:

• Celeborn and Haldir (for Haldir)
• Galadhrim Command blister:
• 1 Galadhrim Captain
• 1 Galadhrim Captain with Elf bow
• 1 Galadhrim Warrior with banner
• 1 Galadhrim Warrior with Elf bow and war horn
• 24 Galadhrim Warriors:
• 8 vanilla
• 8 with spears and shields
• 8 with Elf bows
  

If you just look at this collection of 30 models, you actually CAN run everything in it for 703 points, which means at 700pts, you could drop all the shields on the spearmen and get a shield on your vanilla Galadhrim Captain. No matter how you swing this, I think the list feels like it's missing something (probably Galadriel and Galadhrim Knights but definitely Guards of the Galadhrim Court).

So instead of trying to shoe-horn in a pure Lothlorien list, I decided to cover a FOURTH Legendary Legion in this series - one that I love and have played with a lot. Here the Elves will be playing a supporting roll, but the list is plenty dangerous and a pain to play against (and since it's me and I love Lothlorien, I naturally couldn't give you just one list) - let's dig in!

The List

The Defenders of Helm's Deep is one of those Legions that's really thematic, it's really fun to use, and it's not THAT oppressive (I mean, don't get me wrong, it can FEEL oppressive if you let it shoot you all day). The list you're about to see has a stunning 49 models at 700 points and features the required Theoden as your army leader supported by Legolas and Haldir - two of the best shooting heroes Good has to offer:

• Theoden, King of Rohan with heavy armor and shield [ARMY LEADER]
• 6 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 6 Warriors of Rohan with bows
  
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with banner
  
• 5 Galadhrim Warriors
  
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor and Elven cloak
  
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields
  
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
  
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with bow
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
  
• Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
• 4 Warriors of Rohan with shields
  
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with bow
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows

700 points, 49 models, 10+3 Elf bows hitting on a 3+ AND 7 bows hitting on a 4+ AND 16 throwing spears hitting on a 4+, 2 D6+ models, no fast models but 3 Might for Heroic March, 9 Might points

When you don't have enough models to make something work in War in Rohan, ally with Rohan or Isengard. :-) I almost showcased the following list which is very thematic and lots of fun to use too - it's a historical alliance between the Fellowship and Lothlorien and is basically "just the Deeping Wall" at Helm's Deep:

• Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors
• 3 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
  
• 1 Galadhrim Warrior with banner
  
• Galadhrim Captain with Elf bow
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors
• 3 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
  
• HISTORICAL ALLY - The Fellowship: Aragorn - Strider on horse with armor [ARMY LEADER]
• Legolas Greenleaf with armor
  

The problem with this list, of course, is that it's "just 27 models" at 700pts, which didn't seem as competitive as a 49-model force that was pumping out more archery and just lacked Aragorn and a Captain (instead of Theoden and 22 extra guys). If you wanted to go the in-between route and get Aragorn in the Legion, you could run the following Defenders of Helm's Deep list - it exchanges Aragorn and Haleth for Haldir and 14 guys (35 model list):

• Theoden, King of Rohan with shield [ARMY LEADER]
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
  
• 2 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
  
• Aragorn - Strider
• INDEPENDENT: Haleth, Son of Hama
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with shield and throwing spears
  
• 1 Warrior of Rohan with banner
• 4 Rohan Royal Guards with throwing spears
  
• Legolas Greenleaf
• 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
  
• 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
  

Would it be better to have a 35-model list with Aragorn and some F5 Royal Guards near Haleth or a 49-model list with more shooting? I don't know. Run whichever list you prefer - I'm going to showcase the shooting list because I've had more fun with it than the others (all of which I've tried several times at several points levels - they're all good in their own way). Let's dig into what the list does!

Army Theory

The list begins with its shooting: the Defenders of Helm's Deep Legendary Legion allows its bow/Elf bow models to extend their range to 30" on a turn when they haven't moved, so when our firing lanes are good, we can have Legolas (3 shots/turn hitting on a 3+ OR 1 shot that hits on a 2+ and automatically passes in-the-ways), Haldir (2 shots/turn hitting on a 3+), our 8 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows (8 shots/turn hitting on a 3+), and 7 Warriors of Rohan with bows (7 shots/turn hitting on a 4+) shooting volley after volley into the enemy. With 20 shots/turn from long range - supplemented by 12 throwing spears at close range - we expect to do a lot of damage to the enemy before the fighting begins. Most of our army is D5 (8 Warriors of Rohan are D4, 2 Galadhrim Warriors and 2 heroes are D6+), which is "fine" against enemy archery but not something that is unbreakable if the enemy has S3+ shooting - but hopefully with sheer weight of numbers we'll have the advantage.

When the enemy gets close, we can form ranks. Thanks to the Fight in Ranks special rule from the Legion, our throwing spears can be used as standard spears in the Fight Phase so long as we haven't thrown them in the Shoot Phase. Theoden's warband has 5 Galadhrim Warriors with no extra gear that can be supported by 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears to make a good anchor to protect their king. Theoden can join them if the enemy doesn't have a big threat in tow, backed by the banner-bearer who can't spear-support, but can give an extra die reroll and should be able to provide the banner buff to those fighting around the King too.

Legolas's warband has 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows and 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears, which means that Legolas and the Elves can be spear-supported when the fighting starts. The extra 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields can make sure the flanks of the formation are protected OR race ahead with the 5 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears if the archers want to be left in a defensive position.

Haldir's warband is the least shieldwall-like, with 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows that can be supported by 2 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears and 2 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears. You also have 6 Warriors of Rohan to guard this formation (or race ahead, like Legolas's warband).

In case it was lost in the three preceding paragraphs, we could have a 15"-wide F5-6 battle line in this army - and we'd still have guys to leave at objectives or run wide on our flanks. Sure, we only have one banner in it (and Haldir will treat Theoden as a banner if he's within 12" of him), but with so many guys - and so much SHOOTING - we hope to get the upper hand in the melee fighting if we can just soften the enemy up a bit first.

Finally, we need to talk about how we plan to deal with heroes. While "shooting them" could be a viable option, there are some heroes who just aren't going to fall prey to our bows (anyone D8+ is going to be really hard to wound, even with the archery we're pumping out). Theoden is a very squishy army leader, but thankfully, we don't really need him to do much other than March our army around and provide some pinch-hitting against troops. We NEVER want him fighting a hero if we can help it and we really don't want him to be surrounded (though shielding against F1-4 troops wouldn't be the worst thing in the world).

Instead, our main strategy for dealing with heroes is going to be to throw a Warrior of Rohan with shield at them. If the hero is mounted and we're able to charge them, throwing one D5 model isn't THAT big of a deterrent, but the opposing hero will probably need to get a 5 on one of his 2-3 dice in order to kill him - and that may not happen. If you're worried about a Heroic Combat going off, you could charge in with two guys if you want to. Should the enemy hero have already charged this turn, Legolas will want to take careful aim with Deadly Shot at that mount and kill it if he can (which should take most of the bite out of the hero). Even if it takes Might to do it, depriving a big hero of his mount should keep your army intact.

Okay, there's not much else to say about this list (except that you have three heroes with Heroic Strike who want NOTHING to do with big heroes themselves - they'd be rather happy just staying away from big nasties as much as possible) - let's look at how to approach the scenarios now!

Gameplay Strategy

Maelstrom & Object Missions (Pools 1 & 3)

We have nearly three full warbands, each with plenty of long-range and short-range archery: maelstrom missions are not a worry. We want to get Theoden on the board first, no matter what we're playing - he's our only March hero and he's our army leader, so the last thing we want is for him to arrive last and nowhere near the rest of our guys. If we deploy him first, we can pay Might on Legolas or Haldir if we absolutely have to in order to make sure Theoden gets support. In Hold Ground, we want at least one other warband to arrive with Theoden, but it's okay if the other doesn't - it might mean we get better firing lanes at the enemy.

In both Command the Battlefield and Heirlooms of Ages Past, we still want someone to arrive with Theoden, but because we want to control/contest different areas of the board, it's fine to arrive in two different areas. In Command the Battlefield, we have archers in every warband that can be left behind, but we don't want to abandon any of them until we know where the enemy is. While staying in the far corner might sound like a good idea (30" range and all), our bows will actually be more effective if we're 13-14" from the center of the board (aka "just within scoring range") so we can contest other quadrants with our shooting.

Similarly in Heirlooms of Ages Past, you want to show up to contest markers across the board - and then March your army towards each other so you can reform around the heirloom once it's discovered (attack together after peppering the enemy within an inch of breaking if you can, using Legolas to snipe the carrier as much as possible). Expect the archers to draw a lot of aggro in these scenarios - and expect to not be able to get to each other quickly unless you March your way across the field. Still, you're a big army with lots of F5 - you might be just fine.

In the object missions, you've got one of the best gunlines we've viewed to date (including Quest of the Ringbearer and Gondor at War). In Seize the Prize, we're going to be Marching towards the center with 18-20 bow shots standing in two ranks, ready to SLAUGHTER anyone foolish enough to race headlong at the objective (and 3-5 of those shots will have Might behind them). The other ~30 models that March up will contain 12 throwing spears for added threat and TONS of bodies to make sure the enemy has a fight on their hands when they arrive. Even if the enemy out-races us to the Prize, their chances of going anywhere with it are quite low (and the likelihood of racing around our flank and getting off our board edge are even lower). I'm feeling pretty good about this one.

Retrieval and Destroy the Supplies will be handled similarly - except this time, we can park our archers near our supplies/flag and have our melee units press forward to the enemy's supply markers/flag. Legolas and Haldir will want to be able to support the assault as we advance - and be sure to leave firing lanes for your archers to go on offense, not just playing defense the whole game. Any questions?

Control Missions (Pools 2 & 5)

Our almost 50-model army, despite its shooting bent, probably wants to be on the center line in the objective scenarios (Domination, Capture and Control, and Breakthrough). Fact is that with a 16-file F5+ battle line, we have a good chance of being able to hold the enemy up (with lots of F3 Warriors of Rohan to rush around the flanks and get traps if they deploy right in our faces). If the enemy tries to stay back, we have a TON of shooting that we can use while sitting on most of the objectives. The only thing I'll note is that we want to deploy objectives as evenly as possible in Domination so that it doesn't matter whether we get to pick our starting board edge in that scenario or not.

When it comes to getting somewhere, our first warband down is Theoden's - always. As the only source of March in an all-infantry, predominantly D5 army, we want to know where the movement is coming from and circle up around him to maximize our movement distance. Especially since we shoot so much, getting our archers in place as early as possible (to maximize on that 30" range too) will be key to our success. In Storm the Camp, we want Theoden dropped right in front of our army (maybe in a Millennium Falcon formation to keep him from being exposed to archery too much) so he can March us up the field on the first two turns. Our archers then peel off, using their extended range to threaten the enemy from a distance. Our main body of troops should focus on skirmishing with the enemy as much as possible, slowly maneuvering towards the enemy camp while not cutting off the firing lanes of our archers.

In Reconnoitre, we know the enemy will be coming on from his board edge and we'll actually have a 30" gap to take advantage of - so walk on near Theoden on the first turn, then March on the second to make sure you have your positioning. Your archers may not need to move on the second turn, so watch their firing lanes on the first turn - if you moved 6" with your archers on the first turn and your opponent did the same, there's only a 36" gap between your forces at the start of Turn 2 - and if he Marches, he'll likely be in range (and with Legolas in your army to auto-pass in-the-ways and such, that's absolutely lethal). Get models off if you can (you want two late-game Marches with Theoden - only March once in the early game) but know that you can win this scenario by just breaking the enemy, wounding the army leader, keeping his models from getting off your board edge, and keeping Theoden unwounded.

Finally, in Divide and Conquer, one of your warbands needs to deploy alone - and I don't think it should be Theoden's. Not only is protecting your army leader a good idea (avoiding coughing up VPs and all), but allowing him to March most of your army into the center (where most of the VPs are) is a REALLY good idea. While I generally prefer deploying my army leader last, I'd actually deploy Theoden first in this scenario - this keeps your opponent guessing about whether Legolas or Haldir (who have nearly identical warbands) is going to support him or be on their own - and they'll need to commit at least one warband to its corner before they know who is where. I don't think it matters who's with Theoden - though I would give a slight edge to Haldir because of the 12" banner rule and because if one of these guys needs to be fighting instead of shooting, you want it to be Haldir.

Killing Missions (Pools 4 & 6)

I said this in the post on Corsairs, but I'll say it again: you're shooting and that's it. Be it To The Death, Lords of Battle, Clash by Moonlight, Assassination, or Fog of War, you're shooting. WHO you shoot is picked by the scenario, but by and large, you want to just shoot to break the enemy (worth 3-5 points in both To The Death and Clash by Moonlight, probably the best way to get your wound/fate tally up in Lords of Battle). In Clash by Moonlight, your range gets reduced to 12", but you have so much shooting that once you're within 12" of the enemy, they're likely to be shot to pieces if they don't have anti-archery gimmicks. Target heroes as much as you can, get an early hero-kill lead, and you're golden.

In Fog of War, you can choose a terrain piece that's near the center that you can lay cover fire down on and advance your army to sit on, but honestly, if you've kept Legolas alive and unwounded (he's the obvious choice - what with the Elven cloak and more Fate than any other hero in this list), you've sniped the hero you want to wound/kill, and you've broken the enemy without being broken, the worst you can do is tie the other guy WITHOUT leaving the deep side of your board edge.

In Assassination, things get even easier - Legolas is the obvious choice for Assassin (as you can't avoid his shooting EVEN if you're in Combat - and yes, I've won a game of Assassination with Legolas against SAURON before) and you pick whoever is going to be the easiest to shoot (which, with 30" range and a 2+ To Hit that ignores in-the-ways really isn't hard), you can win by just breaking the enemy with your archery.

The trickiest one is, of course, Contest of Champions - Theoden isn't a stellar army leader for this scenario even when he's mounted (there's usually an Eomer, Theodred, or Dernhelm nearby who's probably a better killer), but Theoden is fine in this army - so long as the rest of our guys manage his match-ups. Keeping the enemy army leader from getting kills will probably require Haldir stalling while Legolas snipes, but the rest of your army should focus on making sure Theoden doesn't get caught by anything big and breaking the enemy before they can break you. If you can wrap-and-trap and stall for three turns with Haldir, you should be fine. Of all the scenarios we've viewed, I feel the least good about this one - but I do think this list stands a competitive chance (though I wouldn't mind having a F7 Aragorn to stall the enemy army leader in this fight).

Conclusion

I assume cavalry is why this Legion isn't a dominant player on most gaming tables, but maybe they should run it with more shooting. :-) If you've run this Legion, liked this list, or liked one of the other lists (or have your own!), let us know in the comments below. Next time, we do "Lothlorien, Part 2" since we didn't really give Lothlorien its time in the sun - but as we mentioned in this article, we'll be looking elsewhere for allies (and boy do I have a fun ally to use). Until then, happy hobbying!