Good morning gamers,
We're continuing in our Battle of Five Armies month and we're looking at an all-hero list that is super strong at certain points levels: the Assault on Ravenhill. I remember reading the list composition and special rules for this list and being like, "Wow, that's good." There's a lot to like about this list, but it can be a little hard to pilot (at the time of this writing, it has 101 tournament games logged in Tabletop Admiral and has won more than two games against only two lists - the Assault Upon Helm's Deep and Lurtz's Scouts). Let's see what this list has to offer and what you can do if you choose to play with it . . .
Assault on Ravenhill: Changes for 2025
Profile Selection
This list contains the people who actually fight on Ravenhill (Thranduil goes up there after the battle, but we don't get him in this list). We have four Dwarves (Thorin, Kili, Fili, and Dwalin), one Hobbit (Burglar Bilbo), and two Elves (Legolas and Tauriel). What makes me really sad (but I get it for this edition) is that you can't get goats on the Dwarves in this list - I know there are converted up models for those guys out there and this would be a controlled list to get them onto the table again. Still, we've got good profiles in front of us - and boy do we have some nice rules coming to help them out . . .
Army List Bonuses
There are five special rules for this list - and if you're playing at/above 650pts, you'll get all five. The rule you'll always have is The Line of Durin, which gives Thorin a 6" banner radius that affects everyone (not just the 3" banner radius that affects your Dwarf units) and he'll count for banner VPs for any scenario. If you bring Kili and Fili, they will gain +1 Attack (3 Attacks each) from this rule as well - that's great! If you take Legolas, there are two rules that are relevant to your army. Legolas in this list gets Orcrist for free (as part of the Orcrist rule), but can toss it to Thorin at the start of a Fight Phase if Thorin is fighting within 6" of Legolas. Additionally, Legolas gets Fight Value 7 and 3 Attacks from the Heroes of Mirkwood rule, which means that everyone except Bilbo will/can be a 3 Attack hero. If you also take Tauriel, she will get to reroll all failed To Wound rolls when making Strikes, which is the third damage bonus rule that Tauriel has gotten in this series (+1 To Wound in the Army of Lake-town, rerolling 1s To Wound in the Rangers of Mirkwood).
If you bring Dwalin and he's fighting within 6" of Thorin, the King's Protector rule allows Dwalin to declare a free Heroic Combat and has to use it to get into Thorin's fight if possible. Finally, Bilbo benefits from the Throwing Stones rule and can use his throwing stones like a throwing weapon and may reroll failed To Wound rolls (which, with Strength 1, you're going to need). These two rules are probably less valuable than the other rules, so that probably says something about who to leave at home if you're playing at a low points level.
We've only got seven heroes to look at - and we've seen them all before in this series:
- 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. In this list, he's treated as a 6" banner (instead of just a 3" banner from the Dwarves) that counts for VPs, so that's pretty good!
- 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. In this list, he'll also get a free Heroic Combat if he's within 6" of Thorin (using it to join Thorin, if possible) - anytime you can get extra damage out of Dwalin is a good day.
- 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. In this list, both Fili and Kili will have 3 Attacks, which is great.
- Legolas has definitely improved this edition (if that were possible?). As we've said in a BUNCH of posts in this series so far, he got a 2+ shoot value (so he's gonna be hitting a lot - as usual), he ignores the moving-and-shooting penalty while he's got the Infantry keyword (guaranteed in this list and very cool), he can shoot while Engaged in Combat (up to three times - including shooting at the guys that he's Engaged with . . . also very cool), and in this list, he gets Orcrist for free and F7/3A (which might be better than the Knife Fighters he gets in the Rangers of Mirkwood list). It's arguable that his Pinpoint Shot is less powerful than it used to be, since he doesn't Hit on a 2+ into Blinding Light anymore (but will still pass any in-the-way tests he needs to take if he passes the To Hit roll). This applies to a single-shot only, not to his usual three shots . . . thank goodness. As I've said in basically every post so far, I'd definitely plan on taking Legolas in any list that can field him - but especially in this list.
- Tauriel is a little cheaper than Legolas but can't take an Elf bow in this list. Her Blade Mistress rule has always made her fantastic into a mobs of people, but understand that this is one of a few lists where her Vengeful Fury rule will actually trigger. This isn't a horrible rule (you get -1 Defense, +1 Strength, and a requirement to charge), but it does give you something you have to do - so you'll have to remember to do it.
- Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar has come down some points and is now 75pts base. He's got 2 Attacks base and still has 3M/3W/3F, so he's pretty tanky with a high likelihood of having the One Ring (and he ignores the bit where your opponent can take control of the Ringbearer). He's got Sting and the Mithril Coat baked into his profile (S3/D6, Elven-made and reroll Fate saves of 1), so there's a lot going on in this profile. He's more likely to show up in this list than in the Survivors of Lake-town and also gets to use his throwing stones like throwing weapons (with a reroll of all failed To Wound rolls) - that's pretty good!
I don't know that there's a bad profile in the list - everyone except Bilbo can get 3 Attacks with a reroll if they're near Thorin, so it's possible for this list to come crashing through grunt troops. While every piece of this list looks good, let's see what their weaknesses are alongside their strengths . . .
One of the things I like about this edition is that both versions of Thorin got Heroic March - because this allows the Hobbit hero-heavy/all-hero armies to actually have decent speed. This list isn't fast, per se, but it pairs hard-hitting heroes with good-enough speed. Unlike the Rangers of Mirkwood list, there isn't a faction limitation on who can benefit from Thorin's Heroic Marches, which is great. While Thorin's Might is certainly valuable, free Heroic Combats on turns when he charges makes that a little more forgivable, especially if he only has to March once or twice.
One of the big limitations of this list, however, is that it's only "tricks" are tied up in Legolas's shooting and maybe Bilbo's stones. There's no magic, no monster models, no all-shooting, and no horde elements - it's just some guys who want to cut you down in melee (and even Legolas mostly wants to be shooting while engaged in melee). Granted, Legolas's shooting might be all that you need, but Tauriel doesn't have her bow, this version of Kili and Fili don't have shooting weapons, and while Bilbo has more flexible use in his throwing stones, a S1 rock is unlikely to translate into damage even if you reroll failed To Wound rolls. This list needs to get into melee and start trashing things in order to make up the model count disparity, clear objectives, and break the enemy . . . and sometimes, that will be hard or impossible.
On the positive side of things, this list has one of the best all-hero corps in the game. I don't know that this list has a deeper bench than most of the Erebor lists (Erebor Reclaimed and the Army of Erebor in particular, but even the Army of Thror has a pretty good depth chart), but a F7/3A Thorin, F7/3A Legolas, F6/3A Tauriel, F6/2-3A Dwalin, F5/3A Kili and Fili, and a F3/2A Bilbo (which is functionally F6/2A when he has the Ring on), there's not really a bad model in the line-up. If they're all within 6" of Thorin (which could be hard in some scenarios), they'll also get a reroll (Kili and Fili might get two rerolls) - and it makes it pretty clear that any or all of these heroes will be able to carve their way through enemy warriors of basically any stripe. At 650pts, basically all of the other all-hero list options are going to start tapering off and include some weaker profiles in the mix . . . but not this list.
That said, while the offensive capabilities on these heroes are good, the Elf heroes in this list are not only essential to its melee grinding game, but they're also vulnerable to attack. Both Legolas and Tauriel are D5 and while Tauriel has an Elven Cloak in her profile, Legolas does not - and that means that he can be targeted from far away with little way to mitigate that (besides maybe putting those D8 Dwarves in front of him). The D8 Dwarves appear to be pretty tough, but with 2 Wounds/2 Fate on Dwalin, 2 Wounds/1 Fate on Kili and Fili, and 3 Wounds/1 Fate on Thorin, it just takes one lucky hit for your "tough" heroes to be in a difficult spot. Thorin is worth a fair bit of VPs in some scenarios (being your General and your banner) and with only 1 Fate, it just takes one glancing blow for your opponent to start scoring.
Finally, I think this list has a lot of rules (all-hero lists need that) but the rules are not complicated and so should be easy to keep straight. Dwalin is able to do his normal things (2 axes or burly two-handed weapon, option for the old version of Piercing Strike) plus get a conditional free Heroic Combat. Tauriel still gets Blade Mistress with the potential for Vengeful Fury, but also rerolls all failed To Wound rolls. Legolas is still his good, ol' shooting self, but is also F7/3A. Kili and Fili are still able to swap places to get a banner-like reroll, but also get 3 Attacks in this list. Thorin's normal banner radius is opened up to be less restrictive and have a larger area of effect. Bilbo can actually use his throwing stones while keeping up with the rest of the group. All in all, that's not bad - and reflects the generally easy way of keeping straight the rules for lists like the Breaking of the Fellowship (which is hero-heavy but not all-hero) and better than lists like the Black Riders (who really need more going for them - but I've talked about that recently).
Assault on Ravenhill: Strategies for the Tabletop
The first thing to say about this list is that with the exception of Bilbo (if he's in your list), I think this list needs to stay together. Thorin's 6" banner radius is key to making sure this list doesn't have to burn Might points to win fights - if this list loses fights, you should assume you're losing a critical piece (and your chances of winning go down hard as soon as you lose someone). This list has the best chance of winning if it can deny VPs for killing off your General and breaking your list - losing models tends to cascade and if you lose Thorin and 2-3 others (depending on your points level, that's what's required to break you), there's no way that you can grind your way back and mitigate the losses. As a result, everyone needs to stay near Thorin (so they have a better chance of winning) and they need to do whatever is needed to keep Thorin alive. Bilbo is the exception: while he's certainly good with your heroes, he can put on the Ring and ignore the enemy-controls-you effects, which means he should be immune to archery, most charges, and special rules/magical powers that would yank him off of an objective . . . unless your opponent has a Ringwraith. While I think there's a lot of value in keeping Bilbo with the group to call your Heroic Moves (while he has the Ring off - that's Kili or Fili's job otherwise), I think he can operate away from the group because he's going to contribute the least to your damage output and has the greatest survivability chance against most foes.
You should take your time planning your Move Phase actions - and then execute the moves. We've been saying this a lot recently with low-model-count lists (and we'll talk about it more next week as well), but it bears repeating a lot: when you only have 4-7 models, it doesn't take time to actually perform your move, but a single mistake can lead to catastrophic damage. As a result, use dice to mark where models will be, make sure everyone will be where they want to be while still being within 6" of Thorin (in case you have to March or because you want the banner bonus), and then move everyone. There are no impact hits, no magical powers, and only one throwing weapon, so once you've planned your move, it'll take less than a minute for you to move everyone. So plan it out, take your time, and then decisively move - it'll still take less time than an opponent with a traditional army will take.
If you are playing an objective scenario, keep the end goal in mind and look for ways to not only claim enough objectives, but also deny your opponent key objectives. Legolas's archery is very useful (you usually can't leave a single model to defend anything, which should mean that you have fewer models charging you), Bilbo's use of the Ring (4" move with a Heroic Combat off of a single model to move 4" more could be really good), and free Heroic Combats from Thorin and Dwalin (with Thorin going first, getting to a place where Dwalin can't reach but that allows Dwalin to follow him into other people) are all ways to play objective missions with an all-infantry army. Legolas and Tauriel will need to follow as they can (they can definitely call Combats as well, though I would save at least one Might point on Legolas to boost a nearly-successful shooting roll), but you may need them to hold objectives as well. If you're able to veto scenarios, things like Command the Battlefield, Breakthrough, and Sites of Power require you to spread out a lot, so you'll want to veto one of those if they come up.
The last thing that I'll say is that you need to think about who to leave at home if you're not playing at 650pts - though you won't have a lot of say in this. This list has a lot of problems with army building because you have two models who cost 70pts (Kili and Fili), one model who costs 75pts (Bilbo), one model who costs 90pts (Tauriel), one model who costs 105pts (Legolas), one model who costs 110pts (Dwalin), and a required model who costs 130pts (Thorin). This means that the following points levels can be played with a 5-10pt handicap - but only in certain ways (and some of them I don't like):
- 200pts: Thorin and Kili (or Fili)
- 240pts: Thorin and Dwalin
- 290pts: Thorin, Tauriel, and Kili (or Fili/Bilbo)
- 345pts: Thorin, Legolas, and Dwalin
- 395pts: Thorin, Legolas (or Dwalin to reach 400pts), Tauriel, and Kili (or Fili/Bilbo)
- 450pts: Thorin, Legolas, Kili, Fili, and Bilbo (the list might be better with Dwalin/Tauriel instead of Kili, Fili, and Bilbo)
- 500pts:
- 540pts: Everyone except Dwalin (I don't like this)
- 600pts: You can't do this - you have to give your opponent a 15-20pt handicap
- 650pts: Everyone, obviously
One thing I'll note from the lists above is that if you're playing in the 450-649pt list level, I don't think this list is all that great. At 650, the list feels good. At 290-435, the list might be just fine (435 gets you Thorin, Legolas, Tauriel, and Dwalin), but that gap in between doesn't feel good at all. In general, I would try to get Legolas, Tauriel, and Kili into your list (the 395 list looks spicy), but that basically means you're playing at 400pts or 650pts because you can't get them all otherwise. Okay, let's tackle some lists!
Sample Lists
So as I've mentioned above, list building with this army list is . . . difficult. Normally, we do a 500pt list first but for 505pts, you can get everyone except Fili and Bilbo, which means you have to part with either Dwalin, Tauriel, or Legolas at 500pts and you're going to have to play with a handicap of some kind. I don't know what the right answer is, so here's my attempt (don't crucify me):
In a move that will stun nobody, we've got the following 650pt list which has . . . well, everyone:
As we did with the Nazgul all-hero lists last month, I think there's some incredible strength in taking four heroes at 400pts. The most points-efficient way to do this is with Thorin (required), Legolas (basically required), Tauriel (very punchy for her cost, though a bit fragile), and Kili (to super-charge Tauriel). With enemy model counts being smaller, I think you have a chance of surviving and hammering your way through the enemy with a list like this:
Conclusion
All-hero lists are tricky to run, but boy are they fun to play! I've put in reps with the Fellowship (a lot of those), Thorin's Company, hero-heavy Rangers of Mirkwood, and some with Erebor Reclaimed - but this list feels a lot different. It's not just that it's a mix of heroes that you can only get in weaker forms in the Rangers of Mirkwood list, but it's also durable and while it can be slow, you have the tools to bring some very capable heroes into the fray against your opponent. If you give this list a try, I hope you don't have to play a scenario where you need to spread out or have to fight an army that can sit back and shoot or kite you on horses. :) If you get an objective mission that allows you to fight in one place, life will feel good - and I like that about this list.
If you've given this list a go, let us know how it went in the comments below! We're turning from one low-model-count list to another low-model-count list next week: Radagast's Alliance. My son has been playing with this list for a while and so I've had the pleasure of getting to play against it (including in one game at an event we had earlier in this list). Is this list better than the Eagles list? Worse? It's certainly different - find out how next time, and until then, happy hobbying!
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