Back to Basics, Revisited: Army Composition & Unit Profiles

Good morning gamers,

Well, we're in a new world since the last time we did a "how to play" series, so we're kicking off 2026 by revisiting our "Back to Basics" series. To my surprise and delight, some of the articles from this series remain some of the Top 20 articles viewed in any given 30-day period - which could be a Google roaming bot or it could be that both new and returning players are reading our older stuff. Either way, I'll take it. :)

As we did back in 2021, we're going to learn to play the game by looking at the fun aspect of the game that starts before you show up at the table: creating an army and how to understand the profiles you're looking at.

Army Composition Basics: Heroic Tiers

When building an army, you have to start with heroes - and not all heroes are equal. In past editions of the game, there either wasn't a hero-to-warrior ratio you had to follow (during the Legions of Middle-Earth days when I got started) or there was a 1:12 ratio (when the "warband" books came out). Since the last edition, there are five different tiers of heroes, giving you differing levels of command for your heroes. What is interesting in the newest edition of the game is that heroic tiers aren't listed on the hero profiles anymore - this is good, because many army lists and Legendary Legions in the last edition would change the heroic tier of a hero, so there would be conflict between the unit profile and its army lists. Now, the heroic tier is determined by the army list alone - which I think is at it should be.

Like we did last time, we'll look at Minas Tirith unit to illustrate how these heroic tiers work:

Aragorn is the King is a Hero of Legend - many would follow him and listen to his commands . . .

Heroes of Legend can lead 18 warriors in their warbands. They also pass their first "Stand Fast" roll automatically, which we'll cover in a later post (but for now, just know that when your army thinks it's time to flee the field because they've lost a lot of guys, these heroes say, "No, we've got this!" and the warriors stay in the fight). Heroes of Legend are rare - 0-3 choices for most army lists - but they allow you to bring a LOT of guys with them (relative to the "standard hero"), allowing you to bolster your numbers without the "tax" of an extra hero.

The New Age Is Begun: The Kingdom of Rohan Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is the close-out post for 2025 and we're looking at the Rohan list that forms the core of the Rohan faction: the Kingdom of Rohan. Unless you're building a list around Helm Hammerhand or Eorl the Young, chances are good you can find the hero you're looking for in this list. It also gives you special rules that make most of the Rohan heroes better at what they do. Let's see what's great about this list - and what separates it from the other Rohan army lists.

The Kingdom of Rohan: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

We have basically all of the Rohan profiles in the game - there's no Merry in this list (and consequently, you can't take Merry with Eowyn) and you can't take heroes like Eorl the Young or anyone from the War of the Rohirrim film. Aldor and Haleth from the Helm's Deep list and Sons of Eorl are also not available, but you get everything else - which makes this a very good starting point for most Rohan players. Along with a huge selection of heroes (many of which are available in the Riders of Theoden army list - more on that next year), you get as many warriors as possible - which is frankly the same two profiles (warriors and guards) on foot or on horses. In some ways, you have a lot of profiles . . . in other ways, we don't . . . but what we have is good.

Army List Bonuses

The army list bonuses in this list don't appear to be particularly crazy, but they're VERY good for Rohan lists. Most Rohan heroes (and warriors) are going to be mounted, so getting Strength +1 on the Charge will help some of your units get an easier wounding difficulty than before. Similarly, most of your Rohan heroes will want to be mounted and have the Horse Lord special rule - passing the "free save" on a 5+ instead of a 6+ is super good and makes keeping your horses easier while preserving your Fate points.

The New Age Is Begun: The Shire Army List

Hey Reader!

Today we're discussing what was one of my first (and still my favorite) armies when I joined this hobby: hobbits! Naturally the list has changed a bit since last edition (as this was not one of the old legendary legions), and some of the profiles have changed, but on the whole, it still plays similarly (albeit sometimes with different models) from the last edition.

The Shire: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The list of models you have in this army list hasn't changed from the previous edition, other than the fact that, naturally, you lose the alliance matrix. And this is a big loss: with a good Green Alliance with The Rangers and an army special rule that didn't always come up (thus opening up a lot of options for convenient alliances), not having access to Aragorn (for your everyday beatstick while still having solid numbers), Dunedain (for good fighters interspersed in the lines), Fellowship members (in case you want some good fighters, beefy tanks, etc. for pretty cheap), ents (for big bruisers that also throw stones!), the Dead of Dunharrow (for a durable front line that can slay!), the Eagles (if you're okay with losing some punch on your eagles in exchange for vastly greater numbers), and various elves (for great Courage, great shooting, and good heroes), you lose a lot by not having an alliance matrix.

The Citadel of the Stars, Part VIII: Flight to Minas Tirith

Good morning gamers,

This is it - this one is for all the bananas, as they say (or is that just something I say?). This has been a fun series and we're wrapping up the intro missions from the Battle of Osgiliath starter box - we've made the scenario participants Matched Play legal, but we didn't alter the scenario victory conditions. Let's see who we have with us today . . . 

Flight to Minas Tirith (Battle of Osgiliath, p. ??)

We've decided to use the following models in today's game:

• Forces of Good: Garrison of Ithilien
• Faramir, Captain of Ithilien 
• Madril, Ranger of Ithilien
• Damrod, Ranger of Ithilien 
• 4 9 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 4 8 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• 8 15 Rangers of Gondor
• 4 2 Rangers of Gondor with spear
• Forces of Evil: The Army of Gothmog 
• Gothmog, Lieutenant of Morgul
• 1 Morannon Orc Captain with shield
• 6 Morannon Orcs
• 6 12 Morannon Orcs with shields
• 6 Morannon Orcs with spears
• 6 12 Morannon Orcs with shields and spears
• 1 Mordor Troll

We gave shields to all the Morannons and added a Captain for the Evil forces and upscaled the Good army to compensate . . . the have +12 models over their original numbers (~50pt handicap?). All I have to do 

The New Age Is Begun: the Ride Out Army List

Good morning gamers,

Editor's Note: well, I wasn't keeping a close look at the numbers, but we just blew past the 4 million views mark - from all of us here at TMAT, thanks for taking the time to read our stuff. :-)

This is it - this is the last list from the battle of Helm's Deep and it's a fun cavalry list! Ride Out is not a list that I thought I'd like when I first read it, but there's a LOT here that I think is good and at a wide variety of points levels. Let's see what Theoden and his final sally from the Hornburg has to offer!

Ride Out: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has everyone that you'd expect to be in the list given the scene of everyone riding out of Helm's Deep (and the Ride Out scenario from War in Rohan) - it's got Theoden, it's got Gamling, it's got generic Captains, it's got Aragorn, it's got Legolas, and it has the non-Legacy mounted Warriors (Rohan Royal Guards and Riders of Rohan). 

What I feel sad about is that the list doesn't include Gimli in it. Yes, I know it kind of does with the horn rules. Yes, I know he doesn't go riding around with Legolas in this one (like he does in the Road to Helm's Deep list). Yes, I know it would be silly to have him running around with the group - but like the Gimli slot in Fantasy Fellowships seems a bit less important than the other two because he's not here in the scene. I don't know that you'd want him in the list even if you could take him, but still, it feels sad to not have Gimli in here. Moving on now . . .

Army List Bonuses

The army list bonuses are interesting. As is usually the case, Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit, which is good because you'd be really capped for options because of the Elite keyword on Rohan Royal Guards (and only two guys who can take them). Thanks to the For Death and Glory special rule, everyone is Fearless, which makes Bodyguard an irrelevant rule, but is also great for making sure you pass any kind of courage test you have to take. Once per game, you can pretend that Gimli is in your list by using The Horn of Helm Hammerhand Shall Sound in the Deep; One Last Time, which gives all of your cavalry models the Terror special rule at the top of any Move Phase (not the start of a friendly activation, so if you'd moving second, you can turn this on to keep your cavalry from being charged before you get to go). Like the Look to the Sun rule we looked at last time, I feel like this should be able to last for more than one turn - it's an okay rule and could be really useful . . . if you remember it on the turn in which it matters most.