The New Age Is Begun: The Rivendell Army List

Good morning gamers,

I got started with Rivendell by accident - I got a bunch of Rivendell heroes for my White Council list . . . and then I was like, "You know, I can ally the White Council into a Rivendell list" . . . and then I was like, "You know, I could use some more Elves to support my Numenoreans", and then I finally said, "What the heck, let's flesh this thing out." Rivendell has always been a solid and popular choice - perhaps because of that awesome sequence at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring where the Rivendell Elves are fighting alongside the Numenoreans in a cool battle sequence. I knew I always wanted this army in my collection and they're in a really interesting place this edition. Let's see both what's cool about these guys, what's competitive about these guys, and how they've changed in this new version of the game!

Rivendell: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has most of the Rivendell models available in the last edition - you have Elrond and Glorfindel as your beater heroes (no Gil-Galad though), you have Rivendell Captains for Heroic March, you have Elladan, Elrohir, and Erestor as your cheaper beaters, and Arwen, Lindir, and Bilbo for support work (no Cirdan). Losing Gil-Galad and Cirdan (and Gildor for a very select few of us) does change the list a lot from the last edition, but these two heroes don't function the way they used to, so that change is to be expected. You still have Rivendell Warriors and Rivendell Knights, but with the loss of Gil-Galad, you also lose access to King's Guard, so you're "stuck" at F5 on the warriors. This is a minor change, but having F6 Elves to support your lines isn't a bad thing.

Army List Bonuses

Last edition, Rivendell had a rule that helped them with their archery if their bowmen were near their Army Leader (now General) and didn't move . . . while the Lindon army list kept that rule, this list traded it for three other rules - all three of which are situationally good. The simplest is the Protection of Imladris rule, which gives all of your models +1 to their Courage Tests. Elves already have good Courage, but no matter how good your Courage is, there's usually a chance that you'll mess things up. Having Courage 4+ across the warriors in this list is great and your top-tier heroes might have a 2+ Courage stat, which is fabulous. Sometimes this rule will matter and sometimes it won't - but it's good to have. 

Similarly situational is the Defensive Stance rule, which is the design team's attempt to represent the "windmill" thing we see at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring - friendly Elf Warrior models get to reroll 1s To Wound if they didn't move in the Move Phase. This is great for players like me who used Feint a lot in the last edition and probably doesn't look like much to others - whatever. When two-handing with your frontline Elves and you're responding to enemy charges, this is a really strong rule and can turn definitely failed rolls to potential successes. Since Might might be limited in your list (see what I did there?), this does "reward" you for stemming an assault, but only if you intend to not defend by shielding. So . . . is this a good rule? It can be, but it isn't always going to be invoked - and I think it's markedly worse than the Last Alliance "wound enemies that charge you on a 6" rule.

Finally, there's a once-per-game Invoke the Bruinen rule where Elrond and Arwen can place a 25mm Bruinen token on the board within 12" and line of sight of Elrond or Arwen and deal a S4 hit/knock Prone for any model that is within 3" of the marker and a die roll per model is equal/higher than their Strength stat (or a natural 6, if the model is S6+). You need to target a large number of models to turn this into incredible damage (S3 targets will convert two-of-three dice into successes, S4 hits against these targets are likely to wound on 5s, which will convert one-of-three into wounds - which is an expected 22% conversion rate). If one-in-five is wounded, that's not nothing - but it's also not a lot, so be careful about how many eggs you're putting in this basket.

Profile Adjustments

We have fewer profiles to review this time than the Lothlorien list last time, but like that list, there aren't any bad profiles in the lot (maybe one, I'll let you decide):

• Elrond is a very flexible hero - and on a horse, he's expensive but his incredible combat profile paired with devastating magic gives you a TON of flexibility. His profile, wargear, and rules hardly changed this edition - his Foresight of the Eldar special rule can't reduce your priority roll, but that's a distinction without a difference now that you get to choose whether you keep priority or lose it. He's also F7 now, which means that if you run him with Glorfindel, you have a F7 hero and a F8 hero trying to beat the Fight Value of your opponent . . . or just ignore whoever they are and knock them prone with Wrath of Bruinen/blunt them off your Elves. With a special rule that allows Elrond or Arwen to trigger a 3" radius bomb when you break, Elrond (or Arwen) may be an auto-include for Rivendell players.
• Glorfindel is also incredibly strong this edition. He's got the Armor of Gondolin baked into his profile this edition, he's F8 with Strike, gets +1 To Wound against monsters, and has a 2+ Courage value with the army bonus. He's incredibly reliable, Asfaloth is incredibly good as a mount, and he can lead 15 warriors - he's really good, but chances are that you won't run him with Arwen (unless you're okay losing Asfaloth, since Arwen automatically has the option for Asfaloth - even if she is taken on foot).
• Arwen has undergone a lot of changes in this edition of the game - Arwen will probably always take Asfaloth (she can't take Hadhafang), which means she will probably cost 90pts, but her price increase gives her 2 Attacks base, 2 Might/4 Will/2 Fate to keep her alive, and the ability to trigger the "Bruinen bomb" when you break. She's still got Wrath of Bruinen, but also picked up Renew (12" range, 3+ difficulty), which is a nice support ability. While she's better with Frodo as a passenger in the Road to Rivendell list, she's still plenty good in this list and I'd always take her.
• Rivendell Captains are similar in cost to Galadhrim Captains, but have access to shields and/or a combo of horse, lance, and Elf bow (so unlike Galadhrim Captains, you do have access to a shield-carrying Captain, but you don't have access to a bow-only Captain). You definitely want some Rivendell Warriors with shields in your lists for holding ground and the more of these guys you take, the more you might look into a March Captain - and your only choice for that slot is the Rivendell Captain. Whether you need the horse/lance/Elf bow for +30pts or whether the shield and walking on foot is up for debate - I think regardless of which you take, you want him supporting your infantry blocks. If you're leaning hard into cavalry, I think you can pass on this guy in favor of . . .
• Elladan and Elrohir now have the heavy armor factored into their cost but also lost 1 Might each . . . so they cost the same and function more or less like they used to (albeit with only 2 Might each). They can take horses in this list and are still two beater heroes who, while on foot, can be 3A heroes or 2A two-handing heroes or 4A shielding heroes - all good options (though if you're on a horse, you're just 2A with a third attack for charging and no option to two-hand). They also lead their own warbands now and gain Dominant (2) while within 3" of the other (and reroll 1s To Wound), which is pretty great.
• Erestor is a good value mid-tier beater hero for 85pts - he's still got his Noldorin Daggers which count as throwing weapons, but now they only reroll 1s To Wound instead of all failures. This is . . .  fine. He's still got Terror, still got F6/D7, and with 2M/2W/2F, he's a nice balanced hero - and gets 2 free resources for +10pts over a Rivendell Captain with shield (so the throwing weapons and Terror are countering the ability to defend by shielding . . . seems like a good trade to me). Whether you need another cheap hero when you have Rivendell Captains (for March), Arwen, and Bilbo is up for debate, but if Legacy profiles are in play, I'd definitely look into Erestor before taking . . .
• Lindir, oh Lindir, took a pretty nasty hit in this edition. He used to have access to both heavy armor and a horse in the last edition, but since there is no mounted or armored model for him, Lindir is now a D4 model who wants to be within 6" of Elrond . . . that is unlikely to happen. He does give Resistant to Magic to friendly Rivendell models within 3" (which is effectively everyone, since Bilbo is the only non-Rivendell model, but he already has Resistant to Magic) and he has Renew on a 4+ this edition with 3 Will points and 1M/Heroic Channelling, but 
• Rivendell Stormcallers have only ever been good when Call Winds has been good. Last edition, it got nerfed to the point that no one wanted it and this edition, it's not much better. This edition, you can use it to get someone out of combat and knock them Prone - and there's no Strength limit on the model you can choose. With a 3+ casting difficulty, these guys might be okay? While the Lothlorien Stormcaller has Writhing Vines, this guy still has Strengthen Will (which . . . is probably still not worth casting, even though it's now on a 3+ instead of a 5+).
• Bilbo Baggins has always been a cool choice in Rivendell lists (and I threw him into a list in a throwback list last year with Elendil, Gildor, Cirdan, and a TON of models at 800pts - so much fun was a had). In the new edition, Bilbo is the only Ringbearer who can siddle in a friendly model's fight and still half the enemy Fight Value (remember that this reduction occurs BEFORE Fight Value boosts, so Heroic Strike will still raise the Fight Value of your foe after you halve their Fight Value, but that probably means they're going back to where they were before). The Ring used to provide incredible support benefits to your army - and for this version of Bilbo, it still does - so consider taking him if you have 45-65pts at our disposal.
• Rivendell Warriors are likely to make up the backbone of your list - these are your infantry and while they don't have quite as much customizability as Galadhrim Warriors, they're effectively the same as those guys. They can be fielded without gear (not a bad option, but a bit squishy), with shields (a very common choice), with shields and spears (a good choice, but it wouldn't have hurt me if they had the option for just spears), Elf bows (but no spears and banners like they had last time), and banners (always good to have). I would plan on trying to get to 30 models when leaning on your infantry (and bring that March Captain), but you might only take a few to hold ground if you're leaning into . . .
• Rivendell Knights are some of the finest elite cavalry in the game - they're D6 if you pay 21pts/model and their only real downside is that their mounts are D4. They hit hard if you can manage their fights and they work really well if there are mounted heroes with 2-3 Might points to keep them charging after they've skirmished with the enemy. They are also REALLY effective when fighting models that are already prone (with Wrath of Bruinen on both Elrond and Arwen, it's not risky to fight models who can't hit you back). Having at least some Rivendell Knights is advisable - without Aragorn or Boromir alliable into Rivendell, it's a bit harder to run this list like it was run last edition, but you can certainly get good Might stores on mounted heroes to lead them. If you have Elrond, you can run as many of these guys as you like - that's a pretty strong argument for taking him if you intend to take a heap of these guys.

I don't know that you need Stormcallers, but everyone else is a great take. Let's look at what this list bring to the table, because while there are some similarities to what's in Lothlorien, this list does have some pretty stark differences.

Rivendell: Strengths and Weaknesses

Rivendell has always had an excellent selection of beater heroes - whether it's the heavy weights of Elrond and Glorfindel (we miss you, Gil-Galad on horse!) or the more economical choices of Elladan and Elrohir (and Erestor if you have Legacies in play - we miss you too, Gildor!) it's undeniable that you can get really solid heroes with more than just combat stats. These heroes can sometimes come in at price points that rival Dwarf heroes (though they're usually getting bonus Fight/Courage boosts instead of Defense boosts, as is typical of Elves and Dwarves - but Dwarf heroes are usually insanely good for their cost, and most of the Elves in this list are much the same.

In order to get these beater heroes, however, you have to shell out a lot of money. The combat heroes in this list are expensive and there's no way around it (in many ways, it's both good for the game and a distinctive that Rivendell hasn't shed in the current edition). While they may be optional at certain lower points levels, you probably need one of them (and I mean only one of them) at higher points levels - someone who can carve up the enemy and challenge big pieces. Your limited corps of casters can help with this, but getting more than one beater is basically impossible in this list if you want to also have a good model count. Taking Isildur with Elrond in the Last Alliance is a far more economical move - if you want two beaters at higher points levels, I highly recommend you check out that list instead.

Like Lothlorien, the warriors in this list are incredibly solid and are reasonably costed so you can get good numbers if you don't go overboard on the beaters. At 9-11pts/infantry (20-21pts/cavalry), Elves have always been a tad over the average cost, but with F5 and access to S3 bows with good Shoot Values, shields, spears, and banners, these guys have all the wargear you really want and they're doing it at a reasonable cost. They fill all of the roles you need - fast troops that can skirmish or run things over, infantry who can shoot or hold ground, banners for VPs, and excellent Courage without having to buy a war horn. All in all, a great corps of options.

But you also only have two warrior options - and that means you miss out on some of the more tactical or specialized warrior pieces that you'd find in Lothlorien (like F6 Guards of the Galadhrim Court and terror-bubble-causing Wood Elf Sentinels - to say nothing of slightly cheaper, better-at-skirmishing Lothlorien Warriors). You could kind of get three warrior options last edition by taking King's Guard - and since Rivendell was convenient or historical allies with every Good faction except the Dead of Dunharrow (unless you ALSO allied in Aragorn), you functionally had access to every warrior option in the game with very little downsides. This edition . . . yeah, you have two good warrior options, but you also only have two good warrior options.

This list can shoot, but probably doesn't do it much better than anyone else. Yes, if you take Elrond, you can get extra archery from Rivendell Knights - but these guys are expensive and that makes them difficult to spam archery out. If you don't take Elrond and instead take Glorfindel (or neither of them if the points level is low), you've got the same 33% bow limit that everyone else has. You may end up a little ahead of your opponent, but this list isn't really a shooting list anymore - for that, I'd recommend basically any other Rivendell-based list (especially our list for next week).

Finally, this list has some very unique tools available to it - but you're unlikely to get all the tricks in your list. Bilbo is phenomenally good value in this list, but he's also 45-65pts (in a list where a lot of things are expensive). You have excellent casting options from Elrond/Arwen and you may even get both of them in your list, but if you do, you're spending nearly 300pts on both of those heroes and probably won't have a March Captain or other beater heroes (you might find a spot for Bilbo, maybe your March Captain). You have access to Lindir to make Elrond better (if he can keep up and stay alive?), but he's probably knocking out Arwen or your March Captain. All in all, unless you're playing at a VERY high points level, you're going to have to pick and choose what capabilities you want to bring - and I wouldn't forego on the traditional blocks of infantry and groups of harassing/lancing cavalry.

Okay, let's talk strategies . . .

Rivendell: Strategies for the Tabletop

I'm going to just drop this article on the windmill shieldwall approach - which this list can do either with spears supporting or by relying on the two-handers with banner support holding the center while their spear supports extend the battle line. This is slightly less risky than it was in the last edition, since two-handers that get a natural 6 on their dueling roll get to keep the 6 - but the main reason you'd want to pass on the spear-support is because you're outnumbered OR you want to wrap/trap your opponent so he's only getting a single die against your banner-supported two-hander. You can always fight one-handed if you want to, but two-handing does give you a slight edge on the wounding roll, which might make the difference between converting a win into a kill or failing and keeping your opponent alive for the next round. I think vanilla Elves in moderation are fine - a lot of people disagree with me and that changes nothing in my book - if you need the points to get one more model, I'd definitely do that rather than just taking extra spears or downgrading bows into more shield guys. Speaking of which . . .

While this list doesn't do archery much better than anyone else, don't forsake your archery. With or without Elrond, you want to get to 4 mounted models (including heroes) for tactical reasons and most of those will probably be Rivendell Knights, so they're archery-added. Archers can support your infantry blocks by guarding/counter-charging your flanks, they can sit on objectives and harass approaching enemies, and they can try to even out the numerical advantage of a more horde-oriented foe in one or two parts of the board. Keep in mind, however, that archery is always best directed in one place (maybe two) so that over time, you get big holes in a few places instead of lots of holes that don't really matter. Use your archery, but don't make it your primary plan for success.

When picking targets for your big heroes, keep in mind that your combat heroes are going to be far better at taking out big pieces than chomping through troops. Yes, Elrond can smash through troops, but he'll do so mostly by using his magic to supplement one or maybe two Heroic Combats. Glorfindel can plow through warriors, but without free Heroic Combats, he's similarly limited to one or two of those before he needs to conserve resources. The twins are also capped to 2 Might each now, so unless they completely route a foe in one big charge, they probably don't want to be slapping Might around on Combats. As a result, to get your points value out of these guys, you need to treat them like you do Gil-Galad and find more expensive units that you can trap and run over. Chomp through troops if that's all you're presented with, but hunt those big things if you can - especially monsters with Glorfindel!

Finally, time your Wraths of Bruinen. Whether it's just Arwen, just Elrond, or from both of them, time your Wrath of Bruinen casts so you can take advantage of them. If Elrond can get an entire formation on their backs and he's supported by some sidekicks who can charge into other Prone models, then make that charge - but if it's just Elrond (or one other guy as well) and you're charging into a whole formation, the Wrath is kind of going to be wasted - Wrath of Bruinen isn't likely to wound, it'll mostly put people on the ground, and on the next turn, they're going to try to get up. Ideally, you cast it when your shieldwall is engaging and Elrond is able to wrap around the back of the enemy formation - giving your front-line no danger of being wounded and opening up opportunities for Heroic Combats and two-handing. You probably won't have Lindir in your list - so that means Elrond is on a timer and needs to cast when it's a good time to do so. You might also consider channelling on the turn that you really want it to work - one Might point to guarantee that a single Will point becomes a success is incredibly good value.

Okay, let's go through some lists!

Sample Lists

At 500pts, we want to have good numbers - so I've left the big heroes at home and am relying on a Captain with shield and Arwen on Asfaloth. Arwen is the general (we can hide her for a bit if we need to) and we hit 25 models - which is REALLY good at this points level and includes a mix of Knights, Rivendell Warriors, and Bilbo who is sitting in Arwen's warband:

At 650pts, we can get a power hero instead of Arwen - and I've opted for Glorfindel (if you want the once-per-game Bruinen rule, you could run Elrond instead and trade Bilbo for up to 3 more Elves OR drop a model and keep Bilbo). The Knights in the list are token objective grabbers/wingmen for Glorfindel, while Bilbo supports Glorfindel's infantry section, which includes most of your bows and a small shieldwall to hold a small area (being supported by Bilbo will be helpful). The list also features four Rivendell Warriors with no extra gear in the Captain's warband - you can swap three shields and a spear from Glorfindel's warband if you want a D6 shieldwall with the Captain, but you'll have shield guys in that warband to guard the flanks, while the Captain and the four "windmill guys" can all be supported. The banner is tucked in tight to this warband to keep them going:

At 750pts, we can get over 20 models with a mostly-mounted Rivendell list - this list has 6 infantry to supplmenet the 13 Rivendell Knights and Elrond/his sons, which gives you some sit-and-camp units (including a banner for VPs) while the rest of the army harasses the enemy and smashes weak clusters of models:

I don't know that I'd run this list at anything below 750pts - the mounted Rivendell heroes are SO expensive and since you need to take Elrond to get "infinite" Rivendell Knights, you're already committed to nearly 200pts in one model. 22 models isn't bad for a cavalry-heavy list at this points level, but if you run afoul of a 45+ model list at this same points level, I think you're in a heap of trouble if you can't keep the damage coming each turn.

Conclusion

This list might not be as good as the Last Alliance, but it's certainly got more magical potential (and it has Rivendell Knights, which ups your mobility). I think the list has a lot of options, it's got some solid profiles in it, and if you like Elves and magic, this is a very strong option. If you have experience running this list in the current edition, let us know what you've found in the comments below! Next time, we're closing out Elf month by looking at a hodge-podge list that features Rivendell Elves (and Glorfindel) prominently alongside a wide variety of other models: the Battle of Fornost. I got some testing in with this list last edition as we were anticipating the new edition and golly was it fun! Find out what to think about when a good chunk of points is allocated to your list by default next time - and until then, happy hobbying!