The New Age Is Begun: The Army of Edoras Army List

Good morning gamers,

We're still in Rohan this January (what can I say - there's a lot of Rohan lists) and we're kicking things off with one of the new Rohan lists from the War of the Rohirrim film: the Army of Edoras. I'm going to preview the rest of the article here and just say that regardless of whether you liked the film or not, this list is SOLID. There are lots of good heroes that you can buy on a budget, very functional warrior options, and good special rules. Let's see what this list has to offer (anything related to the Legacies document will be marked in red)!

The Army of Edoras: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list doesn't have a corollary really from the last edition. The Helm's Guard list is the closest you're going to get - and that list was really starved for hero options. This list doesn't have that problem. Besides the generic Captain and Huntsman profiles, you have access to Helm, his four relatives, and two other members of his court. You also get the expected warrior options of Warriors of Rohan, Riders of Rohan, and Rohan Royal Guards (if you bring Helm).

Army List Bonuses

Like most Rohan lists, Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit, so if you want to go shooting-heavy (and/or cavalry-heavy), you can. While charge bonuses are usually not hard to come by in Rohan lists, this list can get to reroll all failed To Wound rolls on one round for models within 12" of your General if your General charged that turn. This will affect infantry and cavalry models, but only once. Beyond that, you have just the base stats for your units . . . so beware those D6 shieldwalls!

Additionally, if any of your heroes charge, all Warriors within 6" of the Hero auto-pass Courage tests to charge Terror models - this won't matter for any Rohan Royal Guards in Helm's warband, but can be a brilliant way to tie down a monster while your heroes crash into the warriors of the enemy. These aren't glorious rules, but they're perfectly functional.

Profile Adjustments

These are mostly new profiles, but there are some interesting design choices here:

• Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan is more or less the same dude this edition as he was before. He's F6 now and provides your only access to Rohan Royal Guards, so if you want that, he's good. He's also 160pts base, which makes him roughly the same cost as two other heroes - especially if you factor in the added cost of taking Rohan Royal Guards in his warband. Like taking Durin over Dwarf Kings, this guy packs a punch, but will cost you something. This doesn't make him bad, but it is something you have to weigh.
• Frealaf, First Marshal of the Riddermark is a D5 hero, but that's his only drawback - he's F6/3A with 2 Might and Master of Battle (4+) if he's escorting Hera, he has access to a mount, he can give Warriors of Rohan in his warband the Shieldwall special rule for free, AND he's only 120pts mounted. With Heroic Defense and 3 Will/3 Fate, he's decently survivable.
• Haleth, Prince of Rohan is your cheap bomb hero - he's the third F6/3A hero in the list and he gets to reroll all failed To Wound rolls if he's outnumbered, so charge two models every turn! With 3 Might and Strike and D6 to help him survive, paying 245-250pts for Haleth and Frealaf seems pretty strong!
• Hama, Prince of Rohan has exactly one thing going for him: he's a 70pt Hero of Valour if taken on foot. If you have him leading 10 Warriors of Rohan with bows for 140pts total, I think you'll be in a good place. That said . . . I have never found the points for him. Also, skip the horse - great model, but he doesn't need it.
• Captains of Rohan have an interesting place in this list. On the one hand, they are the only D7 hero option (besides Helm) and can be fielded very cheaply (75pts on a horse with heavy armor and shield - this is a big part of why I can't find the points for Hama), but they're capped at F4, while almost everyone else is F5-6! If you can't afford a better hero, take one of these guys. Otherwise, leave them at home.
• Hera, Daughter of Helm is the lynchpin in the list for me - she can be mounted for only 90pts, so she, Haleth, and Frealaf can be run for 350pts. She's F5/2A, but can be F5/3A if fighting one-on-one (no friends engaged or supporting for either side), which makes her a very reasonable fighter if fighting on a flank. She's capable of leading 12 warriors and if she's riding alongside Frealaf, you're quite likely to be tearing through the enemy on one flank with a good round of Heroic Combats. 
• Olwyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan is another 100pt mounted hero - she's F5/3A and has a special rule that requires enemies to wound her on a 6 (before modifiers) if she's outnumbered and she has 2 Might and Heroic Defense if she's solo-fighting. Her base Fight/Attacks makes her pretty good into infantry but she's definitely the best at tanking heroes in the list too. If you have the points for her, she's great.
• King's Huntsmen are arguably the worst option in this list, since you don't need Minor Heroes who "just shoot". Hama is already finding it difficult to make the cut and these guys basically do what he does, plus pass in-the-way rolls better. Pass on these guys - if you want a Minor Hero, get . . .
• Lief, Page of Helm is a cool profile. With Will points for triggering once-per-game buffs that include not getting the scoot-and-shoot penalty, getting 2" more movement, becoming Fearless, and calling free heroic combats, this guy is awesome! Yes, the radius of effect for these is small, but if he has a horse, you should be able to get everyone that needs the effect in the right place when you need it.
• Warriors of Rohan are basically unchanged from their Legendary Legion form in this edition (Spear Mastery is new, but was previously given to them in several Legendary Legions in the last edition), which means they are still blissfully cheap at 7-9pts with the standard equipment (and 31pts with a banner!). If taken by Frealaf, they can reroll failed Intelligence checks and gain the Shieldwall special rule. While not great at shooting, they're also half the cost of Riders of Rohan - and since Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit, you can pile in a mix of Riders of Rohan and Warriors of Rohan with bows to give you some impressive volumes of shooting!
• Rohan Royal Guards went up by 1pt and didn't get anything from it besides the Spear Mastery special rule. They can be fielded by Helm alone in this list, which means if you want a lot of them, you have to fill his warband with them (Rythbyrt was running Rohan lists with 20 of these guys on foot in the last edition - you can almost do that here). These guys are a little pricey, but they're base F4 with F5 on the charge (while within 12" of your General), they're D6, and they can auto-pass Terror checks if nearby heroes charge if Helm dies. Take these guys if you want to or leave them at home - I think both are perfectly fine, depending on how you build your list.
• 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 can auto-pass Terror checks if they start near a hero who charges, but they don't get S4 on the charge (though on one round, they might get to reroll failed To Wound rolls). 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.

All in all, there's a lot to like about the profiles in this list - and while the predominance right now of Wild Men of Dunland (with Hatred (Rohan) all over the place) has made a lot of people skittish about running Rohan lists, I think there's some power in this one! Let's take a look at what the list does well and where it might struggle.

The Army of Edoras: Strengths and Weaknesses

The first strength of this list is that it can be run as a solid mixed arms force, combining infantry and cavalry well. While this doesn't make the list unique among Rohan lists, there are lists (like the Kingdom of Rohan that we looked at last time) that don't give you a lot of reason to run infantry in your lists when you could be running cavalry (unless you have Hama - you might run a Royal Guard shieldwall with him). Some Rohan lists can only be taken as cavalry armies, while others can only be run with infantry. This list, however, does both well - if you bring Frealaf or Helm, you can have some pretty solid shieldwalls, while any hero can bring triplets of Warriors of Rohan with bows to bulk out their numbers and up their ranged potency. Other Rohan lists . . . well, they might try to do this, but I don't think they'll do it as well as these guys.

While you can certainly run a good mixed arms force with this list, this list also has the least potent Riders of Rohan/Rohan Royal Guards of any list in the game. For one turn only, they can reroll all failed To Wound rolls - this is good, but for one turn only. If you don't time the charge right, you may not even use this ability (I didn't in a game I played recently) and that's a shame. TECHNICALLY this list might be similar in potency to the Rohan elements of a Defenders of the Pelennor list, but getting free Heroic Combats with any hero you have in the list (Rohan or otherwise) can make whatever supplemental Rohan dudes you have feel pretty strong. Oh, and they can also be supported by things like Fiefdoms/Minas Tirith knights, Gandalf the White, and very, VERY strong shieldwalls. These warriors in this list will be their standard Fight Value (boosted if on the charge and within 12" of your General) and their standard Strength . . . and that's it. This isn't a BIG issue, but please remember that they aren't S4 if you're used to getting that buff!

While your mounted warriors (and infantry warriors, for the most part) will be less buffed than in other lists, this list has a great selection of heroes if you want F5/3A before charge bonuses are factored in. Helm, Frealaf, and Haleth are all base F6/3A, Hera can be F6/2A if she's fighting mono-e-mono, and Olwyn is F5/3A. Five good heroes (the ladies live in the 100pts or less range, while the guys range from 120-185) - take your pick of which ones are the best for your play style. You also have middling options for Hama and Captains of Rohan if you want mid-tier fighters (I'm not convinced you need the Captain mounted in this list) and Lief provides some pretty good tactical benefits (more on this later - and you probably DO want him mounted). While the list of options is awesome . . .

. . .  there is no living way you get all of the heroes you want in a list. Absent playing at 1000pts, fitting in all five of the big heroes listed above (and maybe Lief) is just not going to happen. The "big five" heroes and Lief alone are nearly 600pts, which means that you COULD get 400pts worth of warriors, but the more you lean into Rohan Royal Guards or Riders of Rohan, the lower your model count is going to be. This weakness is by no means unique to this list - try list building with Erebor Reclaimed, Defenders of the Pelennor, Men of the West, or the Battle of Five Armies (just to name some of the Forces of Good lists - don't get me started on Evil lists!) and you'll see what the analysis paralysis feels like. Having to make choices not just about what you want in your list but what you're willing to leave at home is a big deal.

Finally, this list is pretty greliable at passing Courage tests when charging Terror armies - having Helm's war horn (and access to units with Bodyguard) is nice, but even without Helm, being able to auto-pass the Terror test if one of your heroes is taking off to charge the enemy is super slick. Yes, it's situationally good because you need to a) have an opponent who is relying on Terror, and b) need to have one of your heroes pass their own Terror test, but it's also better than having ALL of your Terror-charging rely on your General staying alive (ala Bodyguard) OR having to take the Terror checks the normal way . . . yeah, I low-key love this.

Okay, let's look at some strategies for using these guys on the tabletop!

The Army of Edoras: Strategies for the Tabletop

This list has the potential for a lot of shooting and skirmishing. Technically speaking, because Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit (but DO count towards your available number of throwing weapons), you can have an army that can be all-shooting. If you want to take 4 Warriors of Rohan with bows, you need at least 6 Warriors of Rohan without bows. These could all have throwing spears, so long as you then take 6 Riders of Rohan without throwing spears. Only two of your heroes have shooting weapons (Haleth and Hama), so if you wanted to take the two of them, you could go with an all-shooting list. Of course, before you can add any more Warriors of Rohan with bows, you need at least 2 more Warriors of Rohan with throwing spears . . . which will require you to take at least 4 Riders of Rohan without throwing spears . . . which can get pretty complicated as you try to grow your numbers. But hey, you can do all-shooting with this list, which is pretty slick.

Assuming you want some non-shooting heroes (and possibly warriors) in your list, you're looking at a mix of shooting and non-shooting units. This is also not a bad thing, but you probably want to lean into Frealaf or Helm if you want to run a shieldwall. Frealaf can give you a F3/D6 shieldwall for cheap (16pts/file and up to 7 files if they're supported by a banner), while Helm can give you a F4/D6 frontline that can be backed by someone else's warband of Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears. The more you focus on a shieldwall, however, the more your cavalry contingent is likely to be Riders of Rohan without throwing spears (as in the example above) OR Rohan Royal Guards on horses without the ability to shoot.

If you have a shieldwall of any kind (though I do think taking a shieldwall without Frealaf or Helm is likely to be underwhelming), you'll want to make sure that your skirmish troops are working to manage the matchups of your shieldwall. The skirmish troops want to poke holes in the enemy shieldwall OR clear out flankers so that your shieldwall is likely to be engaged only from the front. Keeping your shieldwall together (especially if you're counting on Frealaf's shieldwall rule to help your shieldwall stay alive) is important, so use your Riders of Rohan or any Warriors of Rohan with bows to keep the enemy tight together (or punish them if they try to wrap-and-trap).

This leads nicely into a discussion of how to use the heroes, most of whom want to dive-bomb into the enemy to make the most of their excellent offensive profiles. Getting a solid charge in on the flanks (one flank if you're running Lief, both flanks otherwise), followed by a string of Heroic Combats can do wonders for your shieldwall, ensuring that models on the flanks of the fight are engaged and killed, followed by a host of spearmen who were planning to support their buddies against your shieldwall being pulled out by the heroes and dying. If you're able to pack in 2-4 killer heroes and get off a wave of Heroic Combats, you're in a really, REALLY strong position.

I would also advise using your once-per-game reroll all failed To Wound bonus as early as you can - assuming you get a good charge in. There's no point in waiting for a better opportunity later on, since MESBG games can swing quickly if there's a big swing for one side. If you're fielding Lief and you have heroes like Frealaf, Haleth, and Hera charging into a flank, moving Lief to be near them and then giving them all free Heroic Combats is a great time to ALSO give them rerolling failed To Wound rolls. Stack as many bonuses on top of each other as you can so you a) don't forget to use it, and b) give yourself as much opportunity to make the game slant in your favor as you can.

Finally, most of your heroes probably want to be mounted. Yes, you can probably get away with not mounting your Captains of Rohan and Hama, but the others benefit a LOT from having mounts. I could see an argument for not mounting Olwyn if she plans to defend by shielding while blunting a big hero or monster, but I think getting her into the hero or monster that she wants to blunt is far easier to do if she's mounted than if she's not. If you're intent on keeping Frealaf safe as your army leader, you COULD choose not to mount him, but golly that boy hits harder when he's mounted!

Okay, let's dig into some lists!

Sample Lists

Our first stop is a 500pt list that I've been playing recently - it features a slightly suboptimal pairing of Frealaf and Haleth (no Hera to make Frealaf better), but they're both F6/3A heroes and you have a grenade hero in Haleth and a decently survivable General in Frealaf. Also, it's got 25 models with a lot of shooting:

Scaling up to 650pts allows us to do a few things, but the list I've decided to share is upgrading Frealaf in the last list to Helm (and swapping out the Warriors of Harrowdale shieldwall with a Rohan Royal Guard one) - also, we've added 8 models total and are relying on Rohan Royal Guards alone for our cavalry (taking more Warriors of Rohan allows us to give more of our Rohan Royal Guards throwing spears):

I personally prefer having Frealaf and Hera instead of Helm (they cost a little more, but not much more). At 700pts, you can get about the same number of models as we did in the previous list, but we can get Frealaf, Haleth, Hera, and Lief (all four mounted) with a very similar unit loadout as we took at 500pts:

Conclusion

There's a lot to try here - I didn't feature Olwyn at all and I think the last list could run +4 models by taking 5 Riders of Rohan instead of Lief, but I think there might also be something to being able to do a round of free Heroic Combats with Frealaf, Haleth, and Hera to break one side of the enemy's line. I like the list and am saving up for the hero sets (though I did an Olwyn conversion before her blister was released and started work on a Frealaf conversion . . . we'll see if I finish it or just break down and get the set first). :)

If you like this list (or if you have other thoughts on it), let us know in the comments below! Next time, we'll be turning to the other War of the Rohirrim Rohan list, the Defenders of the Hornburg. This list . . . plays pretty differently from the Army of Edoras (and I kinda feel like it's worse in a lot of ways). That being said, the list has some tricks that your opponent may not like - find out what you can do with it next time and until then, happy hobbying!