The New Age Is Begun: The Erebor Reclaimed Army List

Good morning gamers,

This post was supposed to kick off our April series, but Centaur got busy, so you get this article either a day late or six days early, depending on your perspective. Today and through April, we're back with Dwarves - but this time, we're plowing through the Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors from the Armies of the Hobbit and the Armies of Middle-Earth! My son has used these guys a ton - they're a bit expensive for 1 Attack infantry, but they're incredibly durable and if you can manage to get good numbers with them, you can find yourself with the numbers advantage pretty quickly and then the battle swings hard in your favor.

The list that I think showcases these guys the best is Erebor Reclaimed. When I first read the updated rules for the Champs (three in particular) and saw the army list special rules, I was absolutely flabbergasted that they weren't the meta. I think there's a lot going for this list - so let's see what we have to work with and how it's changed from previous editions of the game.

Erebor Reclaimed: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has only lost one profile technically speaking from the previous edition of the game: Iron Hills Goat Riders. This list has actually lost another profile (the "champ chariot") and has effectively lost six other profiles (King Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Dain, and Iron Hills Captains on their mounts). While the mounted heroes are still available in their infantry forms, they function quite differently than they did before - and without warrior cavalry options, this list faces the perennial problem of all Dwarves: how do we make up for being slow and getting where we need to go when we need to be there? Thankfully, one of our army list bonuses helps us with this . . .

Army List Bonuses

The glamor rule of this army list is that everyone in your list has Heroic March and while this isn't great for Iron Hills Captains finding a place in the list, this list goes the extra mile and allows the Dwarves who are benefitting from a Heroic March to ALSO charge . . . which means if you have enough Might in the list, you can basically have 8" move infantry. Now it should be noted that the standard rules of ending within 6" of the March hero still apply, so that 8" move is going to be highly predictable, but considering that anyone can trigger it means you have a lot of flexibility with where and with whom you move 8".

This list also has the Family Ties special rule, which allows the brothers or cousins to spend each other's heroic resources if they're within 3" of each other. As a general rule, then, you want to consider whether or not the resources someone is giving you is worth taking a second member of a set over a hero from a new set. Additionally, this sharing of resources makes it pretty difficult to include heroes who don't have a Family Ties group (with one critical exception).

Finally, if you choose to go the "all Champion" route and choose to go all-infantry (more on that later), you can reroll 1s To Wound when making Strikes. This is by far and away the most restrictive of the special rules (no warriors), and it's probably the last useful of all the bonuses as well, but when you're getting +1 To Wound and might be doing so without penalties (more on that in a minute), rerolling a definite failure of 1 to get something that might promote into a success (a 4+ to wound D6 models, might even be a 3+ if you have S5-6 and you're facing D5-6 units) is a pretty good thing. That said, when I'm thinking about list building with this army, I'm not even considering this rule - for 60pts or more, I can get 5 Iron Hills Dwarves . . . and that's definitely worth the points for me.

Profile Adjustments

We have slightly more profiles to cover this time than last time - though many of the entries are going to be the same. I've lumped the Family Ties units together and at the end of each block, I've included a summary of how many resources you get for the cost of two of them (there might be one set where you want all three, but I don't know that you'll ever want to lean THAT hard into three units from the same clan):

• King Thorin is 130pts base (140pts with Orcrist) and lost access to the goat . . . which is not great. That said, the boost to F7, free Heroic Combats if he charges, everyone treating him like a banner (an upgrade from last edition), and Hatred (Gundabad) to pair with two-handing Orcrist makes him a powerhouse into many matchups. With a banner and a spear support, he can clear out a lot of guys while he's charging - and with 3 Might and charge-capable Marching, he can certainly get into the enemy quickly and hit hard! I really like Thorin and think he's pretty much an auto-include in Erebor Reclaimed lists.
• Balin is still a cheap Hero of Valour at 60pts and got better this edition, getting to S4 (finally) and 2 Attacks. His two-handed weapon isn't as punishing as it once was (not only because having 2 Attacks with a two-hander is good, but also because two-handing penalties aren't applied to natural 6s on your dueling roll and because there's a cheap friend in this list who can take those penalties away). For Family Ties, Balin's reduced price offsets the price of Dwalin, so that could also be viewed as a good thing.
• Dwalin also lost his goat option and comes in now at 110pts base with the option to either get 3 Attacks at F6/S5 OR 2 Attacks with +1 To Wound and no penalties. His King's Axeman rule allows him to do the old-school Piercing Strike special strike if he's within 3" of Thorin, which you might want to use if you're against an even-Defense unit and using Grasper & Keeper with your 3 Attacks. Together, Dwalin and Balin have 4M/5W/4F for 170pts.
• Fili is still 70pts and hasn't really changed. Combat Synergy now gives a banner-like reroll if they flip places during a phase and you don't have to be touching each other (just within 1"), so if you like the matchups you're in, you can flip in the Shoot Phase and then Flip in the Fight Phase to get back into their original fights and still get the banner reroll. If you don't like the matchup . . . well, you can flip once and see if that helps. :) With F5 and 3-Might-and-Strike, I'm not sure that Striking is really something you want to count on, but 3 Might and March makes this guy a pretty good option for getting your army places.
• Kili has the exact same profile as Fili, but he trades Heroic Strength for Heroic Challenge. I'm not sure that you want either of them to use those heroics when you could be calling Moves/Marches, but like Fili, he has the ability to get dueling rerolls if he's close to Fili and you're packing a LOT of Might if you run these two guys together (Kili and Fili have 6M/4W/2F for 140pts).
• Dori used to be the cheapest Weapon Master unit in this list and he used to have 3 Attacks base. Now he gets 3 Attacks and rerolling dueling rolls of 1 (sort of like a banner? sort of?) if he's within 3" of either Ori or Nori . . . which is not as good as he used to be. For 75pts, he's got good stats to borrow with 2M/2W/2F and Heroic Resolve/Defense, so he's not a terrible pick, but you definitely want him alongside one of his brothers (and frankly, I think he's the worst of the three - though admittedly, you can assume that while Ori is alive, he's got 3 Attacks/rerolling dueling 1s because you DEFINITELY want Ori within 3" of him).
• Nori is also 75pts and he's finally D9 with F5/3A . . . oh, and he's got throwing weapons and the same stats as Dori. Yeah, there's a reason I don't think you run Dori - Nori is just so much better! Yes, 3 Attacks with +1 To Wound is better than 3 Attacks normal, but 6 dice while shielding with D9 is a great way to stall an enemy unit that doesn't have Rend, so I'd take Nori over Dori every time. But I'd take our next chap over both of these guys every day . . .
• Ori is only 50pts now and he's always been good to have - the opportunity to regain Might/Will/Fate by killing enemy heroes/monsters is a nice skill to have. WIth 2M/2W/2F like his brothers, Ori is a great resource battery that can produce even more resources over time. With F4/S3/2A, he's not much on offense, but with a two-handed weapon and a rule that makes other Erebor heroes ignore their two-handed weapon penalties while within 6" of himself, Ori becomes the only unit in your list who has to worry about getting natural 6s in his duels. This is super slick with Dori, but also good with Thorin and several other guys we'll see below. For a 50-point Hero of Fortitude, I'm not sure you can do better. Together with either Dori or Nori (probably Nori - unless you really want that two-handing bonus), Ori and <your pick> have 4M/4W/4F for 125pts.
• Oin is another cheap hero at 60pts and now has 2 Attacks base with the ability to defend by shielding (with F4/S4, he's fine attacking, but he's also great as a roadblock with Heroic Defense). He has a slightly-worse Master of Battle (5+) rule from his Hearing Trumpet (copies an enemy heroic action on a 5+ for free, has to spend a Will point or can't move if he's out of Will on a 1), but still heals someone in base contact on a 4+ and can give an Erebor friend within 6" a banner-like reroll by spending Will. With 1M/5W/1F, it's pretty clear that he's there for (effectively) Master of Battle and banner duty (that stacks with an actual banner). He's also a great way to make sure you aren't locked down by spell-casters if you also brought . . .
• Gloin is 100pts and he's the big winner in this list. He's got F6/3A with the opportunity to get 4 Attacks if he's outnumbered and while his two-handed weapon might suffer from the dueling penalty, it also might not if you can just roll 6s (natural 6 expected ~40% of the time with 4 Attacks) or if Ori is nearby. With 3M/2W/3F (like his son), Gloin is probably the best deal of a hero you can get besides Thorin and Ori - I'd take him every time (even above a Family Ties option for helping Ori out). Together Oin and Gloin have 4M/7W/4F for 160pts. 
  
• Bifur has gone from being an auto-include to being a maybe-include now that his Embedded Axe isn't an automatic Heroic Move. With Intelligence 7+ and no way to boost it besides using Might (which he's only a 1-Might hero), he's still more likely than not to get a free Heroic Move off after he's gotten the axe head out. While he still needs to successfully wound with a single die and S4, I've never failed to get the wound to work . . . so he might still be worth including. That said, with only 1M/2W/2F, he's not helping you March places effectively, so you're counting on an expected higher Might store by calling free Moves - and if he doesn't do that, he's definitely not worth taking over . . .
• Bofur got a HUGE glow-up from a recent FAQ where his Steadfast rule was basically ruled to cancel out anything your opponent is counting on that is an Active/Passive special rule. If you don't want Harbinger affecting you, get a 3+ on your Steadfast roll. If one of your Erebor models is about to be bowled over by a Monstrous Charge or a Thrown Stones, get a 3+ on your Steadfast roll. Don't want Aunduril carving up your fellow Champs? Turn that off on a 3+ too. Like Bifur, Bofur can only fight two-handed, so you probably want Ori backing them up - but he also has throwing weapons and now sports a 2M/1W/2F profile. He doesn't Strike anymore, but that's fine - F5 and Strike aren't the threat they used to be. For 65pts, I think Bofur is great (and as my favorite Dwarf companion from the films, this makes me very happy). OH, and he can also take the Stumpy Troll Brute war beast for himself if you want to have Bofur glomp his way through the enemy and have an even BIGGER radius for turning things off . . . I don't know how good this actually is, but it seems fun!
• Bombur might still be the best hero of the three cousins, however. He's only 60pts, can fight with a hand-and-a-half weapon instead of having to fight two-handed, he's got Dominant (2), and with 3 Wounds/2 Fate and Heroic Defense, he's a great speed-bump hero into someone big. Lumbering prohibits Heroic Moves, but it doesn't prohibit Heroic Marches - and while giving Will points back to an Erebor hero within 3" might not be the best heroic resource to restore, you'll be grateful if you're fighting casters and can restore some of that Will. Togethether Bofur and Bombur have 3M/4W/4F for 125pts.
• Dain Ironfoot is probably not going to show up in your lists - he's a higher or equal cost as buying any of the two pairs of Champs above except Dwalin and Balin (who cost 10pts more). No one in any of the pairs will fight as well as Dain does on their own (F7/S5/3A with no two-handing penalties) and none of them will be as resilient on their own either (D8/3 Wounds/3 Fate) - but cumulatively, any pairing that you see above will give you the same or more Might/Will/Fate than Dain has on his own and usually will do so at a discount. Is Dain going to be better into some matchups than Kili and Fili? Probably. Is getting +3 Might on them better for moving your army than walking with Dain (who can't get his pig in this list)? Probably. Unlike Thorin, Dain doesn't get free Heroic Combats, so if he wants that big combat profile to come to bear, he needs to burn Might - and since he can't borrow Might like the others can, I think he's just patently worse in this list than your other options. Speaking of a worse option . . .
• Iron Hills Captains are still very good (Master of Battle (5+) with F5/S4/D8-9 is still good value for under 100pts), but they're not great in this list. The usual reason to bring these guys is because you want a March Captain that can bring Iron Hills Dwarves to the fight . . . but everyone has March in this list, so he needs to be better than the Champs in order to compete and he simply isn't as good as they are. While I will definitely be recommending these guys in other lists, skip on these guys in this list.
• Iron Hills Dwarves are fabulous for their cost - they're double-digits per guy for F4 units, but with S4/D7-8 if equipped with shields, they're incredibly hard to shift and they do well against most shieldwalls. Being F4 with no way to get F5 help in this list isn't that great, but since their primary job is to buy time for your heroes to do their thing, I think they're more than adequate - paying 60pts for a block of 5 guys to escort a hero means you can get slightly-low numbers with lots of Might and killing power for 110-200pts! I also think the mattock weapon option isn't a trap - while the crossbow, shield/spear, and shield/banner are clearly good options, taking a mattock if it helps you spend a few left-over points and eek an extra guy out of it isn't a bad thing (and since I was a fan of mattocks in the last edition when they didn't retain their 6s to win the duel, it should come as no surprise that I like them this edition too).

That's a lot of profiles (and yet, not a lot of ones we can take more than one of). Let's take a look at what this list does well and where it can struggle a bit.

Erebor Reclaimed: Strengths and Weaknesses

This list gets good heroes on the cheap-ish because they're slow - and yet, their army list special rules help them out to mitigate this problem. Most armies don't have any heroes that hit D8 (heck, there are a bunch of armies that can't hit D7!), but basically all of the Champs are D8 and you have a few options to get to D9 - and hardly any of them are over 100pts. Those that are (Thorin, Dwalin, and Dain) pair high Defense with incredible combat stats and boy do you feel like you're getting your money's worth out of those sub-100pt guys!

The flip side of having such great heroes is that the warriors in this list are limited and expensive. By "limited," I don't mean "bad" - Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors are some of the best grunt troops you can get anywhere - but having only one option means you don't have the specialization options that we've seen recently in other Dwarf lists (like Khazad Guards, Dwarf Warriors, and Dwarf Rangers). These guys are tough and they're strong, but they're also expensive - and the harder you lean into heroes, the fewer total models you're going to have (and there's not much you can do about that).

That said, everything in this list is elite. Even your "wimpy" Champs are F4, almost all of them are S4, and pretty much everyone has access to a two-handed weapon (and those that don't have shields). All in all, it's not hard for whatever hero you take to either two-hand for extra damage or defend by shielding with a decent-to-good Fight Value to make sure your opponent has to work extra hard to win fights or not die.

The list isn't fast on its own - which means this list is going to bleed through its Might stores quickly. Free heroic actions have always been good in Erebor Reclaimed, but they're extra necessary now. Still, if you focus on using your Might to get you where you need to be (Heroic March on everyone) and to move first when you need to (Heroic Move on everyone), you're in a good spot. However, if you think you can have 6-7 Might points on 3 heroes and be fine . . . think again.

Erebor Reclaimed: Strategies for the Tabletop

When we think about list building, we really need to tackle just how good the different pairs of Dwarves are for the Family Ties special rule. It's entirely possible that the "best" units you can take have no family ties at all: Gloin and Thorin are probably the best combat characters for their cost, Ori is clearly the best support, Bofur and Balin have niche utility as well . . . and none of these guys help each other with resources. However, being able to share resources on characters like Azog and the White Warg, Gandalf and Shadowfax/Pippin, and Merry and Eowyn have proven themselves to be good investments, so being able to share resources between friends definitely has some utility.

To summarize the utility of each pairing, your best-value of resources/stats for cost depends heavily on which resources/stats you value most:

• If you want to maximize Might, take Kili/Fili (23.33pts/Might point, runner up was Nori/Ori at 31.25pts/Might point - that's a pretty big gulf!);
• If you want to maximize on Fate, take either Nori/Ori or Bofur/Bombur (31.25pts/Fate point);
• If you want to maximize on all resources, take Nori/Ori (10.42pts/resource, runner up was Oin/Gloin with 10.67pts/resource - very close run, mostly because Oin is cheap and has 5 Will points . . . Oin and Gloin were by far and away the best choice for maximizing Will for cost);
• If you want to maximize on total Attacks, take Nori/Ori (25pts/Attack, runner up was Oin/Gloin with 26.67pts/Attack - another close run, though I will note that I made the assumption that neither Nori nor Oin was shielding because it would have jacked up their numbers even higher, but I did assume that Dwalin was using Grasper & Keeper and that Gloin was engaged with two people); and
• If you want to maximize on total Fight Value, take either Nori/Ori or Bofur/Bombur (13.89pts/Fight Value - Kili/Fili came in third with 14.00pts/Fight Value, so they're roughly the same as what you're getting from these other pairs).

The interesting takeaway from this assessment is that each of the pairs of units was first or second in the categories . . . except Dwalin and Balin. I think this is because Dwalin costs too much - but if you like him (and if you like the tactical boosts of Balin), you can certainly run them. They are the worst value-for-cost in Might, all resources, and total Fight Value (and were fourth-best in all of the other categories), but with the exception of Might points (which was still a close run), the scores that Dwalin and Balin got were still better than what you get from an Iron Hills Captain or Dain. 

You'll also need to consider your ratio of warriors to heroes. On the one hand, you can get a LOT of warriors by just fielding Kili, Fili, and Balin (together they're 200pts and all of them can lead 15 warriors). This list will also have a decent amount of Might at low points levels (7) and a few tricks for helping them win Priority (Balin's Longbeard rule) and for winning fights (Combat Synergy on Kili and Fili). This list lacks all of the two-handing monstrocity heroes (Gloin, Thorin with Orcrist, Dwalin) and by extension, by leaning more into the warriors, you need your warriors to actually perform and kill stuff. If they don't do that . . . you're likely going to lose.

On the flip side, an army that runs a lot of heroes (or even ALL heroes) is going to be seriously undermanned against most foes, which means that while many or all of them can borrow resources from other people, each hero has to do his part for King and Mountain to make sure that the objectives get cleared and the enemy gets broken. While I think there might be some disagreement between competitive players, for my play style, I think a balance between the two is a good target - and my personal ratio is 5 Warriors for every 1 Hero. This ratio means that each warband lies somewhere between 105-200pts (excluding a banner) and you get a solid two-rank, three-file formation that can be used to crack open the enemy, but also remains a flexible fighting unit if you have to spread out. The more you lean into Family Ties, the more likely you are to want two of these blocks to remain near each other, but you can split up families easily so you can fight in different parts of the board.

You'll also want to consider how many heroes you can actually keep near Ori - and then plan for that. Yes, Ori can make most of the Champs ignore the penalties of their two-handed weapons. This is a HUGE bonus, but also a HUGE in-game limiter. If you take Dori, Bifur, Bofur, Thorin, and Gloin in your list alongside Dori . . . they can all ignore the penalty, but that 6" radius around Ori might feel like a really tight distance in some scenarios. If you're playing Hold Ground or To The Death/Lords of Battle, you'll be fine. If you're playing Domination . . . well, you'll win somewhere. I submit that heroes who have two-handed weapons and 2 Attacks need to be near Ori - and I wouldn't rely on more than 2 of those. Gloin and Thorin can get away with not being near Ori, but obviously will be more effective if they stay near him. Dwalin ignores the penalty with Burly and can operate on his own (or warm the bench if you, like me, think he's too expensive).

Finally, keep an eye on the objectives. This list can race to the enemy and hit them very hard - and anytime you play with a list like that, it's very easy to lose sight of how you actually win! Include a few units in your army (ideally warriors) who you can leave behind on objectives - crossbows, a mattock, or even a banner where they're worth VPs and your opponent doesn't have one are incredibly useful for helping you win the game while the rest of your army gets lost in the fun of killing the enemy (and even while they're doing it, please, please, PLEASE don't forget how to win the game)!

Sample Lists

There are MANY ways you can approach list building with Erebor Reclaimed, so we have (wait for it) SEVEN lists today. :) Three of them will factor in Family Ties in conventional lists, three will attempt to maximize numbers in conventional lists, and our final list will be an "all hero" list that appears to be rewarded a little by the army bonuses, but is also really fun to play for some players.

Our first list is a 500pt list that features Thorin and one pairing of Dwarves for Family Ties. The overall winner across the categories we saw was Ori and your choice of Nori (my choice) or Dori (who is definitely better at killing things . . . if he stays within 3" of Ori). With three heroes that come in at just over half of our points, we can get a banner and a total of 21 models - a number that I only hit because I was willing to get 4 mattocks warriors and I skipped on the shield for the banner guy:

As an alternative, we could lean harder into the warriors and leave Thorin and Nori at home (GASP!) and take Balin and Bombur instead - this gets us to almost 30 guys, so I leave it to you to decide whether that's a worthwhile trade:

If we scale up to 650pts and go back to the Family Ties thing, we can take Thorin and Ori with Oin and Gloin, who came in pretty high in most of the ratings and since we might be facing more magic at this points level, having 5 Will from Oin that Gloin can borrow should ensure that we have a killing machine that's always churning. Also, we almost hit 30 models:

Alternatively, we can get 34 total models and 11 Might points to get them where they want to go by taking Kili, Fili, Gloin, and Ori along with 30 Iron Hills Dwarves (20 of which are shield and spear guys, none of which have a banner . . . you might want to drop 2 guys and take a mattock or two on others to get a banner in the list):

At 800pts, we can get to mid-30s with two Family Ties units (I've opted for Ori/Dori - for variety, okay? - and Kili/Fili, but if you wanted Oin/Gloin, they're not too much more expensive than Kili/Fili . . . and you could save a few points if you wanted Bombur and your choice of Bifur or Bofur). This list has 13 Might points, which feels like a good amount of Might to have on the board:

If we're more focused on getting guys into our list, we can add Bifur and Bofur to Ori, Bombur, and Balin for a really cheap, FORTY-THREE model list (that only starts with 7 Might points, but can get free Heroic Moves and rerolls on their priority rolls). Oh, and there are 10 crossbows and everyone else is D7+:

To wrap things up, we have a 750pt list of "all champs" - this list gets 10 models/21 Might points and runs four of the five Family Ties groups (I left Dwalin at home, but we have all the others - I don't have Bifur for the cousins or Dori for the brothers):

Conclusion

This list is a pile of fun and if you haven't tried it yet, you certainly should! The Champs are flavorful and fun and the list is incredibly forgiving. All in all, great design choices were made and I can't understand why it's not being used more by top-table players because it's GOOD! If you've used this list and have thoughts on it (or if this has inspired you to give them a go), let us know in the comments below! Next time, we'll be looking at one of my other favorite Dwarf-ish lists: the Defenders of Erebor. This is the "War of the Ring" variant that has King Dain, half of the champs, and a bunch of men to "fill out the holes". Find out if this list is any good (and whether my opinion of them from last edition still holds true) next time, and until then, happy hobbying!