Good morning gamers,
There were two Legendary Legions during the last edition that I absolutely loved and that almost everyone thought was trash: the Men of the West and the Riders of Eomer. Yes, there were issues with both of these Legions - and I asked in an email before almost every FAQ/Errata release for a few things - and I'm happy to say that just as my beloved Men of the West got a glow-up (and are actually quite good now), so also the Riders of Eomer got a few very, VERY needed changes and they too have had some time in the sun. Once again, this army list doesn't just feel like the development team listened to us - they particularly listened to me. This makes me very happy - so let's dive into Eomer, Gandalf, and all their brave boys!
The Riders of Eomer: Changes for 2025
Profile Selection
If you're playing with the Legacy profiles, nothing's different from the Legendary Legion of yester-year - you have Eomer, Gandalf, Erkenbrand (maybe), and Captains as your heroes and Riders of Rohan (maybe Redshields) as your warriors. Pretty straightforward, right?
Well, yes and no - on paper, the profiles are all the same. However, the special rules for both the army list AND the rules of some of the units have changed as well, which means that previous strategies with this list have changed a bit - all for the better, I think.
Army List Bonuses
As was previously the case, Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit - yaye for more than one warrior in each army. :) Eomer is still always your General, which is good because you can then be a bit more reckless with Gandalf (and you can pick him as a hero to keep alive in scenarios like Fog of War).
The special rules also improved a bit - Gandalf can still use Look to the Sun once per game at the start of any friendly activation phase (so if you're moving second, you don't need to declare you're using it until your opponent has finished moving) to make any enemy models engaged with your Cavalry models get a -1 penalty to their dueling rolls. This rule feels less powerful now that Gandalf's Cart is a thing (and can happen every turn), but it's still very good for getting a big charge off.
The Ride for Ruin and the World's Ending special rule got a nuanced but necessary change: instead of getting Strength +1 on the charge while within 12" of Eomer, the Strength +1 bonus is now global. Since the generic Rohan bonus last edition was global, the 12" limit to Eomer felt . . . bad - and there wasn't even a Fearless-while-charging or other sort of glow-up that you got alongside it. Now, it's global and it's good.
Finally, Eomer got a new special rule in this list (To the King!) that gives him a free Heroic Combat each turn - which is SO GOOD in a cavalry list and super good with Eomer's improved profile!
There were some pretty important changes this edition to our small list of profiles - all of which were good:
- Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark has seen some pretty great changes this edition - like all heroes, he's more expensive mounted than he was before, but not drastically more expensive. His horse, Firefoot, also got faster and he himself got the promotion to F6. With the change to Arise, Riders of Rohan, he's also the source of F4 on your charging Riders of Rohan, which is something I asked for a LOT in the last edition. Guthwine now triggers an additional To Wound roll when it gets natural 6s To Wound, which is a poor man's version of Mighty Blow, but hey, it could be good sometimes? His Leader (Rohan Royal Guards) and Price of Grief rules don't apply in this list, which could be good or bad depending what you like.
- Gandalf the White feels like a very, VERY different piece in this list than he was in the old edition. The ability to lead troops, solid mount that he can borrow Will from (but no Pippin in this list), and being F6/3A makes him a really potent combat piece on the board. Previously, however, his job in a list like this was to get Fortify Spirit up on Eomer and himself, Sorcerous Blast into big heroes to keep them from killing your guys, keep Blinding Light up to protect you from archery, and threaten Spirit models (like Ringwraiths - but also Barrow-Wights, the Balrog, the King of the Dead/all Dunharrow models, and Sauron) who got too close to you or tried to shut Aragorn down. With 6 Will and a free Will to cast spells (and a Might point to make the spell go off on a 6 with Heroic Channelling), Gandalf can definitely cast 3 Channelled spells during the course of the game and reliably cast a lot of other ones. He's actually cheaper than he was before, but fitting both of these heroes in at 500pts is a bit tough.
- Erkenbrand, Captain of Rohan went up to 90pts mounted (which means his base profile actually went down in cost a little). He's still got a war horn in his profile (which makes his base cost STUPIDLY cheap - and gives him Dominant (2)), but instead of giving +2 Courage to Rohan units, he can give enemy units a -1 penalty to their Courage within 24" of him - which I think makes him the largest non-global Courage debuff in the game. This is . . . basically the end of the road for the good news, though. He's still F5/D7 and effectively C5+ because of the war horn, but he's been adjusted to 2M/2W/2F, which means he's more resilient than before, but also more limited in the Might department than before (a lot of heroes lost their third Might point this edition). He can still allow Redshields (+1pt/model) treat him as a banner, but he doesn't count as a banner for the purpose of victory points (like King Thorin in the Ravenhill list or Rosie in the Shire lists), which is a shame. All in all, if you can take him, you probably want to for the +1 FV and boosted Courage (and maybe the Redshield upgrade on a few guys to fill out points), but if Legacy models aren't available to you, it's not a big loss.
- Captains of Rohan have lost most of their gear options, but most importantly no longer have the Arise, Riders of Theoden/Theodred/Rohan rule. This means that they're always F4, which is not great for heroes, but also not terrible for their cost. At 65pts mounted (70pts with a shield, 75pts with a shield and heavy armor), they're very cost-efficient and can easily pad your numbers at high points levels. 75pts for a D7 Captain is not bad (especially mounted) and paying 215pts for a Captain and 10 mounted bowmen isn't bad at all. These guys are probably most likely to see time on the table in this list (as was the case before), since the options for heroes are so limited.
- Riders of Rohan are virtually unchanged from last edition - they still cost 14pts each, but they picked up Spear Mastery (so they can spear support if they get dismounted) and they simultaneously got a nerf in that only 1/3 of them can take throwing spears (since bow limit and throwing weapon limit are two different things). They also get to trigger Arise, Riders of Rohan off of Eomer, which as I've already said several times is really, really necessary (especially in a meta where a lot of factions got F4 core units). All in all, I'm happy that these guys didn't increase in price and I think they're in a pretty good place overall.
And that's the list - a lean machine to run with, but run you definitely can. Let's see what this list does and then how to use them on the tabletop.
The Riders of Eomer: Strengths and Weaknesses
As we've seen in a few recent lists, this is a shooting list, but unlike a lot of other shooting lists, it doesn't struggle with speed. While many shooting-heavy lists can struggle to arrive where they need to in order to score VPs, this list is able to choose whether their archery is going to be effective against the enemy and move at 5" a turn (or 7.5" a turn with a Heroic March) or whether to just bolt at 10" (or 15" with a Heroic March) for an objective. Thanks to Look to the Sun, a Riders of Eomer list with Gandalf in it can be a very dangerous force on the charge, especially if they've been able to soften up an enemy position with archery beforehand (more on this shortly).
The primary weakness of this list, however, is that it will be limited in its numbers and will have average defense. Having a 140-145pt General and probably a 225pt Wizard in your list means that you're going to be hurting for numbers at low points levels - you can't get Gandalf and 10 Riders of Rohan at 500pts. In fact, the primary reason to NOT run this list is because you don't think you can fit Gandalf into the list - if you can't, you're better off with the Kingdom of Rohan, the Grief of Eomer, the Riders of Eomer, or even the Men of the West (who also have an expensive hero as a required take, but you get infantry options to boost your numbers - and D6 infantry at that!). If you're playing above that point, however, your numbers will still be low, but you can probably deal with whatever your opponent brings.
One of the other strengths of this list is how great your cavalry charges can be - yes, the Look to the Sun turn is great, but free Heroic Combats with Eomer each turn means that he can churn through troops, especially on the turn when the sun is rising. If Gandalf is knocking heroes on the ground (and maybe damaging them) or just Transfixing them in place, then Eomer is free to do his thing and run things over (which includes heroes who can't get to F6 if you have the opportunity). Magic lists can be a little tricky, but if Gandalf can get Fortify Spirit up on Eomer (and targets the casters with his other magic) and you can keep those Will points for resisting spells, it'll take some work to slow Eomer down.
Finally, the list doesn't have a deep depth-chart of units, but if you're careful with how you engage, you can set yourself up for success because nearly every model (not Captains or Erkenbrand) can deal damage from a distance. I've been a fan of all-shooting or high-shooting lists for a long time, mostly because shooting is one of the few things in MESBG that your opponent has no say about. At low-to-mid points levels, a single round of shooting that kills 5 models can wreck an army - and in a cavalry list that might clear out a bunch more models on the following turn, it can be particularly oppressive. This list can struggle to fight against shooting-heavy lists now that Blinding Light doesn't stay up anymore, but if your opponent is relying on heavily-armored melee troops, you can lean into getting lucky, staying away until it happens, and then pile-driving his weak side when the opportunity arises. Let's see how to do this with some strategies . . .
The Riders of Eomer: Strategies for the Tabletop
As with any shooting-heavy army that happens to also be a cavalry-heavy army, this army needs to skirmish. While charging in on the first turn might be a good idea in a very select number of scenarios, on the whole you're going to do better if you're able to reduce the model disparity between you and your opponent at the start of the game and then work towards a big cavalry charge that crunches through their numbers even more. This is, in fact, quite tricky to do with S2 bows. Depending on your points level, you should assume that you have 10-15 bows in your list, some of which can flex into throwing spears once your opponent gets close to you. Because there's no requirement to charge your opponent when you move (more about this next time), you have time to work your opponent down.
Direct your skirmishing towards solid objectives - if you use our math principles that I wrote about in an article a while ago (but that is still very much on-point today), you should expect your bows to kill 1-2 models each turn . . . which isn't much. Because your overall damage is going to be low, focus your fire on one flank of your opponent OR on models that are holding lone objectives. Magical powers from Gandalf (channeled Sorcerous Blasts/Banishments?) and slightly-stronger throwing weapons can help with this, but your primary focus is to stay out of charge range on future turns. If you want, you can use the Cantabrian Circle formation that I talked about a while ago - a little less archery isn't necessarily a killer for you. If you can soften up one side (or clear someone sitting on an objective), you can prepare your forces for a more effective big charge.
Speaking of the big charge, make sure you declare Look to the Sun on a turn when you cannot be charged and are moving second. While a smart opponent will do all he can to stay out of charge range on a turn when he has to move first, most missions require your opponent to get somewhere, so he may not have a choice - plus, staying out of charge range this turn means you can shoot him without fear of being charged next turn. Moving second is now easier than ever, thanks to being able to give priority to your opponent if you win the role - one less thing that you need to leave to chance! By moving second, your opponent's only counterplay is to declare Heroic Combats with his heroes - but if you move second, you don't have to charge his heroes (or you can Transfix them with Gandalf so they can't declare heroic actions). Get in a solid number of charges, especially with Eomer for a nice Heroic Combat turn and ideally with Gandalf and any other heroes you have so they can smash through things (maybe declaring Heroic Combats as well).
When you make the charge, make sure you hit one side of your opponent's force instead of spreading out across the whole thing. Being F4 on the charge with Captains/Riders of Rohan is great and all, but it's not THAT great - and while your opponent getting a -1 penalty is going to be helpful, it's only a guaranteed loss if you're getting 6s in your duels and that's just not going to happen. As a result, having heroes engaged is great on this turn, but you want to avoid throwing everyone in a fight that turn (because reserves will be necessary to keep the damage train rolling for the next turn - check out this older post for why this is).
When you declare Heroic Combats (especially with Eomer), it's going to be very tempting to try to smash through as many models as possible. By all means, kill as many models as you can - but more importantly, make sure you're using the movement that Eomer gets to place him in a safe position for the next round. You might charge into two models and slay them in the ensuing Heroic Combat, but charging into two more models that will mean that Eomer is exposed to being charged next turn isn't as good as having him circle back to a place of safety that guarantees he'll have the charge next turn (no matter who gets priority). He might join a fight that you're already winning and help kill a single model, but because you know he'll have a free Heroic Combat next turn, you want to make sure that first fight always has the charge. This can also be used to rescue a warrior model from what would otherwise be a bad situation (something that will definitely happen when you eventually win priority, claim it, and get the charge off in the wake of a Look to the Sun turn).
My final recommendations have to do with using Gandalf. Gandalf has a host of spells, but only a few are useful in this list. If your opponent has offensive magic, make sure you get Fortify Spirit up on Eomer and Gandalf on the first two turns of the game. If your opponent has a credible amount of archery, use Blinding Light to reduce its effectiveness if you find that you can't get cover from terrain (now that it doesn't stay up, there's a real cost to using it). If your opponent places a hero in front of his army so you have to work around his control zone, use Transfix to root the hero on the spot and keep him from making Strikes/declaring Heroic Combats on his turn - then tie him down with a single Rider of Rohan with the hopes of getting a lucky hit in.
If the hero is worth VPs, use Sorcerous Blast (Heroic Channel this with 1 Might and your free Will point) to dismount the hero, put him on his back (can't make Strikes, so Heroic Combats won't work), and possibly damage him - then tie him up with a single Rider of Rohan who will hopefully get in a lucky hit. If your opponent brought a Spirit model that is worth VPs, Heroic Channelling with Banishment is pretty nasty and a very reliable way to get those VPs rolling in and those Will points disappearing (my son used this trick against Sauron in a tournament we did - it worked beautifully). If you have nothing else to do, consider using your free Will point to cast Strengthen Will on Gandalf or Eomer if either has spent Will points (you can't go above your starting value this edition, but it's still good to do with your free Will point). You can also try a free-die Sorcerous Blast to knock a banner/objective holder prone and potentially damage them - it's risky with a 5+ difficulty, but the die is also free.
Finally, have fun with the list! This is a skirmish list that has some really punchy and cool toolkit pieces and it's got great rules this edition to make them an interesting alternative to your traditional Rohan lists. Let's wrap this thing up with some armies!
Sample Lists
My first list will be a 600pt list - and I very much feel like this is as low as you can run it with anything like a decent army. For heroes, we have Eomer and Gandalf - and everything else has been invested in a banner, a handful of throwing spears, and as many Riders of Rohan as we can fit:
Sixteen models isn't a lot, but at 600pts, you might only have a 15-model disparity between you and your opponent. That may seem like a lot (and make no mistake, it is - and the disparity against some lists might be higher!), but with 5+ kills from a distance and at least 5 kills in your mega charge, you should have about even numbers by the time you arrive. If you can then get a Heroic Move/win priority to get a charge on the following turn, you should see the numbers tip in your favor (especially if Eomer is on a roll). Be patient, play it safe, then hit hard!
As we scale up to 700pts, I have a variant below that doesn't just add 7 Riders of Rohan, but instead adds a Captain of Rohan for slightly more punch and slightly more Might (I don't know if this is the better choice or not - we've only added 3 models and a throwing spear by doing this):
This list operates in a very similar way to the previous - but we've got a few more bodies to get a bit more out of the list special rules. I think this is an okay points limit, but I think your opponent is likely to have a far greater model disparity, so getting 5 Riders of Rohan instead of 1 Captain of Rohan might make things better?
Our final list is a 750pt list and here we've "bulked" our numbers out to 23 models and 20 bows - which is a good amount of archery for this points level, but still pretty low on Might. You could have a 27-model list without the Captain of Rohan if you wanted:
I didn't put Erkenbrand in any list, but if you wanted to swap him in for the Captain, a Rider of Rohan, and 3 throwing spears, be my guest (you have a point left over for a Redshield if you want one). He'd make your Courage tests easier to pass and make your opponents more likely to flee on the turn he blows the horn - other than that, he's just a slightly-harder hitting Captain who costs more. Good value hero, doesn't change how the list operates besides his war horn, though.
Conclusion
I'm pretty happy with the changes to this list and I'm glad that (at least when there were only 6 scenarios in the game) this list was seeing a lot of time in the sun. Will that continue now that there are more scenarios? Time will tell, I guess. If you've piloted this list in the new edition and have thoughts, let us know in the comments below! Our next post is covering the last Rohan list from the Battle of Helm's Deep (at least during the War of the Ring!): the Ride Out army list. This is another all-cavalry list and its selection of heroes is deeper (possibly better?) but the list bonuses operate very, very differently. Is it a better list? Find out next time and until then, happy hobbying!
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