Good morning gamers,
This is the second Rohan list from the War of the Rohirrim film and it feels a lot more constrained than the Army of Edoras list that we looked at last week. The heroes are fewer, the warriors are basically the same, and you have a powerhouse hero who can't lead troops . . . why run this list, you might be asking?
Well, the answer is pretty simple: this list is good at the fundamentals of the game. Let's look at the units we have and the rules they get to see what we can do with them.
The Defenders of the Hornburg: Changes for 2025
Profile Selection
Our bench is pretty thin, not gonna lie. We have a different version of Hera in this list - she's better into heroes but also less mobile. We have Olwyn and Lief from last time and with fewer F5+ heroes in the list, you might be taking both of them. You have Captains of Rohan (great mounted heroes or on foot in your battle line), but not King's Huntsmen (which is fine).
And you have Santa Helm. This guy only has 6" movement, which makes both Captains (for Heroic March) and Lief (for +2" of movement once per game and a free Heroic Combat on a turn in which he was charged once per game) must-haves for me. He's got great stats, Mighty Blow, and Dominant (4), which makes him a hero/monster hunter, but a vulnerable one with only 3 Wounds/1 Fate and D5 with light armor. He's very expensive but also very fun to use.
On the warrior front, we have Warriors of Rohan and Riders of Rohan - and that's it. F3 everywhere and maybe some F4 on the charge - that's it. Can we make this list work? Well, let's look at our warriors and see what we can do.
Army List Bonuses
The go-to rule for this list is that all of your infantry models gain Dominant (2). There will be times when this doesn't matter - but in a LOT of scenarios, Dominant is useful. when EVERYONE counts as two models AND you can field a lot of them, you're in a really, REALLY solid spot. I like this rule - the others are fine but won't greatly shake your games. Your infantry warrior models must reroll To Wound rolls of a natural 1 when making Strikes . . . which has shifted the result of a duel for me in times past, but it's never carried a game for me. Additionally, if Helm is in your list and kills an enemy hero/monster, then all enemy models within 3" of Helm have to pass a courage tests or make a full move away from Helm . . . which is kind of like a Nazgul shriek and may not do anything. Still, Helm wants to be killing those kinds of things, so it could be fun and you very well might forget to use it. :)
This is it - and I gotta be honest, the Dominant (2) rule is the only attraction here (and other army lists have that). So . . . is this list DOA? I don't think so - there's good stuff here when you look at the profiles . . .
There isn't a lot to talk about here, but there's some spicy takes here:
- Helm Hammerhand, Wraith of the Hornburg is where it's at - yes, he's a bit squishy with D5 and light armor, but he's got F7/S6/3A and free Heroic Combats if he charges. He's also a war horn, which is KILLER good for a list that's got Courage 7+ everywhere. He's super good, but very dependent on other heroes (Captains and Lief) to get him where he wants to go. He's also got the most impressive combat stats of any hero in the list (and pretty much better than any other non-Helm Rohan profile). Also, the model is ace - and so fun to use; every time you play, you're gonna feel like Santa came to hand out presents and punch some naughty kids and he's all out of presents . . .
- Hera, the Bride of Death seems like a must-have in this list - she can't be mounted and costs more than her other version, which makes her incredibly easy for faster enemy heroes to halo (staying 6.5" away so she can't get into combat with them on the turns when Lief doesn't give her 2" of extra movement). As a result, here's my hot-take for this article: Hera is a trap - don't take her. Yes, she's got good rules into enemy heroes - she rerolls failed To Wound rolls anytime she charges and you can't declare a Strike against her. Yes, these are good . . . but with 3-Might-and-Strike on her side, anything that's D7+ and F7+ is feeling pretty good about surviving a few rounds against Hera and if she fails to reach the desired Fight Value OR burns her Might on Strikes that don't convert into kills, she's in a terrible spot. And she'll be your General . . . which means VPs are on the line and she has to do well. I'm sorry, I think for 130pts with shield, I think you're better off with a full warband of warriors led by a Captain of Rohan (but more on them in a moment).
- 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 - especially as your mounted beater hero.
- Captains of Rohan are strongest in this list because they can be mounted, they're cheap Fortitude heroes if you choose to take them on foot, and there aren't a lot of other options. They are the only D7 hero option and can be fielded very cheaply (75pts on a horse with heavy armor and shield - or 55pts without the horse), but they're capped at F4, which is fine/not great. However, if you need an Army General to stand behind Helm and hide . . . I mean, you could certainly do worse than one of these guys. Frankly, I'm in the two-of-these-with-Helm camp as a start to any army because they're survivable, decent in combat, and have March to get Helm moving.
- 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 you really just need him near Helm (maybe Hera if you don't think she's a trap), so being on foot is perfectly fine.
- 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!). While not great at shooting, they're also half the cost of Riders of Rohan - and since Riders of Rohan do count towards your bow limit, you will have a very real decision about how many cavalry models you want in your list! Frankly, I think you want to have as many of these guys as you can in this list, but you'll probably want a few token objective-grabbers, which means you'll also want . . .
- 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 don't get S4 on the charge, they don't get courage-buffs like in the Army of Edoras, and they do count towards your bow limit . . . but 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. Get a few, but not a lot.
And seriously, that's all we got. And yet, I can't help but feel like this list is great in its simplicity - it gives you decent warriors at a pretty low cost, it has some interesting heroes, and reliable grunt heroes to fill out your points. All in all, it's a pretty nice take - I think, at least. Let's see what they have going for them and where you can expect to struggle.
The Defenders of the Hornburg: Strengths and Weaknesses
This list is run like a horde list - in many ways, this puts it in the same category as the Defenders of Helm's Deep in that the list can field a lot of guys because of cheap heroes - though you don't get the cost effective options of Theoden and Haldir in this list. Instead, you get Captains of Rohan, who are pretty good at moving people places and holding ground against grunts. Since all of your infantry get Dominant (2), you really want to lean into the infantry (though a few Riders of Rohan and maybe a mounted hero wouldn't be bad to take).
You also get "one-punch-man" in Helm, who is a beast in combat and devastating against warriors. Being F7/S6 with Strike and Mighty Blow is great against heroes and monsters, but F7/S6 with free Heroic Combats on the charge is really good against warriors! If you can get Helm into the fights he wants, he can devastate a battle line and wreck smaller heroes!
As great as Helm is and as efficient as Captains are, this list has very limited options. Helm doesn't have innate resilience against magic, shooting, or brutal power attacks, so your big man could be neutralized in any number of ways. If you want a truly good combat piece, you have two or three options. If you want F4 Infantry warriors, you're out of luck. If you want resilience on anything, you basically have Captains and maybe Hera. There's a lot this list doesn't have - but what it has is good (albeit a bit inflexible).
What the list comes down to for me is that you need to get the most out of Helm or you're hosed. If you're not taking Helm, I think there are better list options. If you are taking Helm, don't take Hera unless you already have Olwyn, Lief, and two Captains (maybe 1000pts?). If you're taking Helm and anyone else, you really need Helm to show up - and for goodness sake, protect the guy on his way in and manage his fights!
The Defenders of the Hornburg: Strategies for the Tabletop
I feel like the elephant in the room is my comment earlier about Hera being a trap. Let's start by talking about that a bit more. First, taking Hera doesn't grow your numbers as much as you think. I was talking to my son about this list and was like, "Helm is expensive but Captains are cheap - I bet you could run Helm and two Captains for the same cost as Hera, a mounted Olwyn, and a Captain." I checked my math later and found that I was correct: Hera costs 130pts with her shield, Olwyn costs 100pts mounted, and a Captain with shield and heavy armor costs 55pts, for a grand total of 285pts. Helm is 180pts, which means you can field him and two Captains with shields (one with heavy armor to match the Captain with Hera and Olwyn) for the same points. Yes, you have 18 warrior slots in Hera's warband, but you can get a third Captain or Lief for about the same cost as 6 Warriors of Rohan. Net result: you could be down 5 models, but you'll have a more durable General and a more potent hitting piece.
Second, Hera has great rules with a so-so profile. If Hera had S6 (or even the ability to get +1 To Wound), rerolling all failed To Wound rolls would be huge. Rerolling non-5s or -6s is just not as good when you're S4. Not allowing enemies to declare a Heroic Strike against a F6 model is good - but only if the enemy hero is F6 and below. If Hera has to Strike to tie/beat the opposing Fight Value, she's on a timer (and you will probably need 5s or better to translate winning fights into killing things). Helm . . . does not struggle with this as much because being F7 may make declaring a Strike of your own unnecessary, but when you do Strike, you have a chance to get to the highest Fight Value possible.
Third, Hera has to be your General AND lead from the front. Hera is, admittedly, more survivable than Helm, but not by much. She needs to be fighting or she's a waste of points - but I can leave a 55-point Captain in the back and not have a single problem. Hera might make your list eventually, but I don't know that you want to do that - Captains are great when there's a Helm-sized grenade hero.
Anyhow, that's my argument - disagree if you must.
The list lives and breathes by its infantry - include up to four Riders of Rohan at all points levels, but really pile on the infantry! This isn't that expensive - 56 points for Riders of Rohan and probably 48 points for 6 Warriors of Rohan with shields (three with throwing spears as well) is barely 100 points - chuck in another ~120-point warband of 12 Warriors of Rohan with various gear (3 shields, 4 shields/throwing spears, 4 bows, 1 banner), and you have close to a 500pt list with Helm and two Captains! That's a lot of Dominant helping you out and lots of shooting that can be pumped out too.
You will want to fight as a shieldwall with your infantry heroes (who aren't Lief) embedded in your battle line. The Spear Mastery rule makes your throwing spears super flexible and your heroes can benefit from their added oomph. I would also encourage using your throwing spears and any bows you can spare to soften up enemy shieldwalls before engaging - F3/D5 shieldwalls don't want to engage in 2-vs-2 fights very often.
I think Lief's role in the list is different from last time - in the Army of Edoras, you could have a cavalry contingent of heroes who tried to collapse a flank with free Heroic Combats from Lief. To support that, Lief needs a horse. In this list . . . he needs to be near Helm and that's it. Turning his horse into nearly 3 Warriors of Rohan is great for your numbers and doubly so if Dominant matters. His radius of influence will fall a bit (you get 5.5 sq. in. more by being mounted than by being on foot), but you really just need Helm (and his shieldwall of escorts) to benefit from Lief's stuff. Ignoring the scoot-and-shoot penalty is great for throwing spears right before a charge, having Fearless on Helm is redundant, but is super good on his retinue, and being able to blitz through certain kinds of terrain is great.
Getting free Heroic Combats isn't obviously as good as it is in the Army of Edoras, but you can be sure that your opponent won't mind charging Helm and moving first - when that happens, Lief will need to anticipate your opponent and allow free Heroic Combats so Helm can't be tied down by a lone grunt for fun. Whatever Captain is supporting Helm might want that benefit too - but Helm is your guy for sure.
Finally, it's not obvious when to slot in Olwyn, but once you have the points, I'd spring for the 45-50pts to get her with her horse in place of one of your Captains. You still want one to be your General and your Heroic March caddy, but Olwyn hits harder than the Captains with F5/3A, she tanks better with D6/wounded on 6s, having another grenade hero beside Helm is great, and she's not that much pricier than a mounted Captain option. You'll see in the list below that I have her in my 650pt list - I think she's good at that points level, but I don't know if you need her more than Lief.
Okay, let's look at those lists!
Sample Lists
We're starting off with a 500pt list that features two D6 Captains of Rohan with Helm. The list gets to 25 models, but should (quite literally) punch above its weight with Helm, 4 Riders of Rohan, and 15 ranged weapons:
There's a lot that I want added to this list, but at 650pts, I can get them - swap one Captain for Olwyn, add Lief and a few more warriors, and give our Captain/General heavy armor:
I don't normally go up to 800pts, but I think at this points level, you really get everything you want - a disposable March Captain, a beater hero in Olwyn, your mega-beater in Helm, your support guru in Lief, AND your General-Captain to sit in the back . . . and 40 supporting models to go alongside them. Honestly, I think this is worth a gander for anyone interested in trying something new with a F3 horde list:
Is this truly a horde at 800pts? I don't know - but it plays like one! With some heroes to support your troops (admittedly, I only took one banner - you could choose to forego a few guys to get a second one if you wanted to) and a lot of people that will count double where it matters . . . I don't know, I think there's something to this list and I think it counts as a horde.
Conclusion
And that's all I have to say about that. :) I think this list offers less scope for the imagination than the Army of Edoras, but the fun you can have with Helm is undeniable. Like fielding Beorn, you do have to beware of him getting baited where he doesn't want to go, but there are work-arounds for that. Next time, we're still in Rohan, visiting a really quirky list: the Road to Helm's Deep list. Ever thought that never being able to get back on a horse was stupid in-game? Ever thought one of your loyal warriors would gladly be willing to hop off his fine steed to help a leader/better friend in need? Well, this might be the list for you - find out what neat tricks you can pull with it next time (and until then, happy hobbying)!
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