FAQ Time: Unpacking the July 2026 FAQ

Good morning gamers,

We usually have to wait until August for a balance update, but we got the update a month early (maybe because the new Dunland banner/war horn models wouldn't be legal without it?) - and I for one am not complaining. :-) There's a lot that saw change and I think most of them are pretty positive.

Photo Credit: Reddit

What Worked Like We Thought It Did

Due to the wide nature of players who play the game (from brand new to grizzled veterans), there's always going to be a few questions that you read in an FAQ and say, "yeah, that makes sense" or "yeah, that's how we've always played it." As is usually the case, there were a few of these for us here at TMAT - most of these are extensions of existing rules or previous FAQs, catching some minor nuances that may have been left as open doors:

Q: Can Beast models try to uncover Artefacts? A: No.

Q: If a Cavalry model had charged, fought and became Unengaged, and is subsequently Charged, does it maintain the Cavalry Charge Bonuses? A: Yes, so long as they still meet all of the conditions listed under Cavalry Charge on page 72. 

Q: If a model forgoes its Activation as part of a Heroic Move, does it skip taking a Courage Test for being part of a Broken Army? A: No.

Q: If a Hero is involved in a Heroic Challenge against a Hero with the Survival Instinct special rule and causes a Wound that results in the Hero being removed as a casualty due to a failed Courage test as per the Survival Instinct special rule, does the Hero gain 1 Might Point for slaying their target? A: Yes, as the other Hero involved in the Heroic Challenge caused the Wound that forced the Hero with Survival Instincts to flee – a sure sign of victory!

Q: Can a Monster choose to make a Brutal Power Attack if there is no possibility of making Strikes? For example: if a Monster was prone and wins a Combat, normally they would not be allowed to make Strikes as they have stood up, but could they make a Brutal Power Attack? Or, if the Monster is Transfixed and wins a Combat? A: No. A Monster may only perform a Brutal Power Attack if they would be able to make Strikes.

Q: How many Heavy Objects can a Monster model or a model with the Burly special rule carry at one time? A: Only one at a time.

Q: If a single model is within range of multiple Objective Markers, can it control more than one at once? A: Yes.

Q: In Scenarios where Objective Markers can be carried, how do you measure from the Objective Marker for any special rules that come into play for being within X" of an Objective Marker, such as the Besiegers of the Hornburg Army’s The Promise of Wealth special rule? A: Measure from the base of the model carrying the Objective Marker instead of the Objective Marker.

Q: If Beorn the Bear uses the Barge Brutal Power Attack, does he have to charge if able to because of the Berserk special rule? A: Yes 

Q: Can Boromir use the Protect the Little Ones! special rule if Frodo is wearing the One Ring and is the only friendly Hobbit model within 3"? A: Yes.

Q: Can a Spectre’s “A fell light is in them”, or the King of the Dead’s Visions of Terror, or a similar special rule be used to Move a model that is already engaged in combat? A: No.

Q: Does Brôrgir regain Will from his Sorcerous Adept special rule when using Heroic Channeling? A: No, a Hero that declares a Heroic Channeling will count the result of their next Casting Test that turn as a 6, not a Natural 6.

These are good clarifications and they follow the direct reading of the rules or formalize the way things have worked in past editions, so that's good. Now on to the new things . . .

Stupidly Fun Lists, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Recently, we had a "longtime reader" send us the following comment:

I have 2 rather stupid but fun list ideas. This is already a suggestion for a category for you guys ;) "Just dumb fun lists" or so.

Anyway: List 1: All artillery gondor (3 Trebuchet,, 3 avenger bolt throwers, flesh out with whatever.

List 2: All fellbeast mounted nazgul, air superiority fighters. Welcome to the black dart missile age.

I always wanted to run this with allied dol guldur nazguls or castellans if somehow possible, but well.

Alternatively: Troll-only Barad dur squad. I still have to paint my trolls though

I began writing a reply when I decided that the "comments section" of an old post wasn't the right place to do it. This got me thinking as well about what lists would be "stupidly fun" to run - and maybe these thoughts will give you things to think about as well. With that, let's kick off a new series on "stupidly fun" lists to run - and how to make them viable (if not competitive). For the sake of starting somewhere, our lists today will all be 650pts - this should mean that you're probably 100-150pts off of whatever game you're playing, since many events are still run at the 500-800pt level.

The New Age Is Begun: The Pits of Dol Guldur Army List

Good morning gamers,

Ages ago, Centaur, Rythbyrt, and I did a podcast episode where we talked about the Fall of the Necromancer Legendary Legions and that built into a bigger discussion about all-hero lists (and hero-heavy lists) and what makes them good. The episode has aged a bit, but the general consensus we had at the time was that of the four Legendary Legions released in that supplement, the least interesting was the Pits of Dol Guldur.

After the toning down of the Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion, the premiere Legion from that book became the Pits of Dol Guldur Legion. Championed by excellent players like Evan Iverson, a free-Heroic-Combat-each-turn from Azog, paired with a you-win-priority-and-no-enemies-can-call-Heroic-Moves rule that superceded rules like the Palantir of Saruman, made the list an incredibly hard-hitting, glass-cannon style list that some players who enjoyed their big smashy heroes paired with small-but-smashy infantry really liked. Today, we're looking at the heir of this Legendary Legion - the Pits of Dol Guldur army list - and seeing how the new version of the list compares to the old . . . and yes, it's both gained some things and lost some things. Let's see how it shapes up in the new edition, shall we?

The Pits of Dol Guldur: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has all of the previous profiles and added a few more (really one more). Like last edition, you have Azog, the Keeper of the Dungeons, and Thrain the Broken as your named heroes and you have Gundabad Orc Captains and Hunter Orc Captains as your generic heroes. While you still have the three previous warrior profiles (Hunter Orcs, Gundabad Orcs, and Fell Wargs), you also have access to both Mirkwood Giant Spiders (good ones) and Mirkwood Hunting Spiders (bad ones), which gives you more strategic options for dealing with enemy heroes. 

The list has a mix of cavalry models (Hunter Orcs on Fell Wargs got broken out into their own profile now), fast infantry beasts, light infantry (who can be archers, but probably shouldn't be in this list), and heavy infantry. The list doesn't look like it has much in it, but you're covering a lot of bases with a limited number of profiles. Let's see what we've been given as army list special rules in order to incentivize taking this list over other Hobbit-era lists . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Ravagers of the Shire Army List

Hey Reader!

Today we're discussing a shire-centric list!!! GET HYPED!!! It's the orcs led by Golfimbul to attack the Shire, but still: WE'RE BACK!!!

And after all my complaining about Buhrdur's Horde, good news for you: I'm actually positive on this list. I actually think I like it more, even though it lacks a power hero, but more on that below.

Ravagers of the Shire: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is pretty different from what we had last edition, mostly because we're dealing with two faction tags: Golfimbul and the Hill Trolls have the Angmar keyword, while the captains, shamans, and orcs of various kinds have the Mordor keyword. So just know upfront that there's going to be some juggling of keywords (and it matters for a few rules).

Top 10 Hero Choices for the Realms of Men

All photos courtesy of GamesWorkshop

Hey Reader!

I've been playing around with the Realms of Men list recently (and took them to the TMAT GT this past May, where I finished with 2 Wins, 1 Loss, and 1 Draw), and as part of my experimenting with different iterations of the list, I decided to do a Top 10 post looking at the hero choices, because things are INTERESTING in this list.

There are quite a few heroes available to you (5 Kings, 6 Generic Captains, 2 specialists in the Knight of the White Tower and the Rohan King's Huntsman, and several siege captains), so all of them will make the cut! But how useful they are is another question. Before we start the review, let's look at what we'll be ranking in this assessment.

• To start, you need to take a king to field their relevant captains and warriors, but we are not going to therefore say, "Ah yes: the king is automatically higher ranked because you need him to run the captains." We'll evaluate each individually for their usefulness in the list.
• We will consider what kinds of warriors you get access to by taking a given hero, as unit options are part of why you'd consider taking a king/captain, and whether you should branch out into a second, third, or more factions because of what options will be unlocked.
• We will assume that you are playing at a standard points range (600-800pts), so that there is no assumption of only having 1-2 kings: you can run as many as you want, which means that there are reasons to mix and match factions. So just because one faction may be stronger than another in terms of options, that doesn't automatically move them to the top (or bottom), though it may give a reason for pushing deep into one or the other.
• Kings do have access to Heroic Strike; this will naturally lend them to being taken, and does make them inherently valuable. But Heroic Strike on its own does not necessitate "Top 5 Status."

So with no further ado, let's jump into the list!

The New Age Is Begun: The Buhrdur's Horde Army List

Hey Reader!

Today we're discussing a list that I got excited about when I heard Rise of Angmar was going to include it, and that I really, really want to love because it has one of my favorite heroes in the game in it, and he's the centerpiece of what they do. So before we start the semi-hate-fest that this post is going to be (because man this list is really constrained, and hard to make work, and I say this as someone who has put in the reps with it all edition so far and boy has this been hard), I just want to say upfront:

I like Buhrdur, and I want him to succeed.

So everything I say next should be taken in the spirit of constructive criticism and finding ways to make tasty lemonade, because I really do want to see this army list work! But as it is, it has a lot of limitations, few answers to common problems, and relies on a whole lot of luck to bring in the wins.

Buhrdur's Horde: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The list of models in this army list hasn't changed from the previous edition: it's representative of the orcs and terrifying creatures common in the Third Age in the forests of Rhudaur and the mountains near Imladris, and is an Angmar army that has no undead in it (which is pretty unique, but also pretty cool). With a mix of orcs, wargs, and trolls, at the very least, you do have access to fast models, which not every army does.

The New Age Is Begun: The Battle of Fornost Army List

Good morning gamers,

Editor's Note: Before we begin the formal post, I just wanted to say that we just passed the 5 million view mark - we're so happy that you guys read our stuff and we'll keep doing what we can to provide accurate information and thoughtful articles about the game we all love!

One of the last games I played in the old edition (not including the practice leading up to our throw-back tournament we did last year) was with the Battle of Fornost. I had to proxy Earnur with Elessar, but golly was the list fun to use. In this edition of the game, the Battle of Fornost remains a powerhouse list, with a very unique flavoring of different factions that is probably only rivaled by the Battle of Five Armies, the Legions of Mordor, or the Defenders of the Pelennor. Of all the Rivendell-style armies, this one has the most warrior diversity by far and also has a really interesting array of heroes. Let's see what this list brings and why it seems to be a good list in the competitive scene.

The Battle of Fornost: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is composed of three elements: Gondor, Arnor, and Rivendell. The "Arnor" section is incredibly fragmented, but this also makes for some very interesting options for your list building. The Arnor heroes include Aranarth (Valor) and Rangers of the North (Minor or Independent) and all of these guys can lead Hobbit Archers (more on this later in the post).

The Gondor contingent is Earnur (required, Legend) and Captains of Minas Tirith and they can lead Knights of Minas Tirith and Warriors of Minas Tirith (pretty restrictive, but really all you need). The Rivendell contingent includes Glorfindel (required, Legend), Cirdan (Fortitude), and Rivendell Captains (Fortitude) and they can lead Rivendell Warriors. Thirteen total profiles doesn't seem huge (and is less than the total number of heroes available to any of those omnibus lists I mentioned earlier!), but it has an incredible array of models to choose from - heavily-armored men (foot and mounted), heavily-armored Elves (mostly on foot), unarmored Hobbits (on foot, obviously), and hero-warrior Rangers (all on foot).

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.

The New Age Is Begun: The Lothlorien Army List

Good morning gamers,

I had been playing SBG for about a year before my wife got me an eBay lot of Galadriel, Celeborn, and unarmored Haldir with no bow (that sculpt did not age well). I had been playing with Wood Elf Warriors (not called Lothlorien Warriors) in the Thranduil's Halls list (before the Hobbit films changed that list A LOT) and had Legolas leading a bunch of Elves, all of whom couldn't be shot. I used to ally in Gandalf into the list to keep them alive while crossing the inevitable no-man's-land, until our good mate Zorro told me, "You know you can ally Legolas with Galadriel and run all those Elves for like 40pts less, right?" And I basically never looked back. :)

Today, we're tackling Lothlorien - a list that I think has been good throughout the ages, but has gotten particularly good with the return of its cavalry and super-elite infantry with the release of the Armies of Middle-Earth book. I'm also not the only person who thinks this - Lothlorien doesn't have more profiles than a lot of other lists (and it certainly doesn't have a lot of army list bonuses), but the units it has are good, they're very well costed, and the whole list can play incredibly asymmetrically into big-nasty lists or horde lists. Let's see what's baking in the Golden Wood, shall we?

Lothlorien: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list both does and doesn't have the same profiles from the last edition: you have Galadriel (caster form, not war form), Haldir, Orophin, Rumil, Galadhrim Captains, Lothlorien Captains (nee Wood Elf Captains), and Lothlorien Stormcallers. The list also has Celeborn, but this version of Celeborn is vastly different from his previous version and has to be taken in his pajamas. I converted an armored Celeborn from one of the old metal Haldir's Elves sculpts . . . that guy isn't seeing much use these days. The warriors are all the same, so the only real profile change is the overhaul of the previous Celeborn (who was awesome) and the arrival of the new Celeborn profile (who is also awesome, but for very different reasons).

There is a functional difference in this list, however, when it comes to profiles: in the last edition, you would usually use Lothlorien as part of an allied list, instead of as a mono-list. While there aren't any "bad" profiles in Lothlorien, the list gave you access to a cheap "unlimited" caster in Galadriel, F6 supporting models with Guards of the Galadhrim Court, 10pt D6 front-line guys, and 18-21pt cavalry models - all of which were appealing to lists with limited unit choices, like Numenor (which brought S4 to the mix), Fangorn (which was really profile-constrained), the Misty Mountains (the dreaded "birdbath" list with the eternal Gwaihir model), and the Fellowship (Boromir/Legolas/Aragorn would love to slot in and help out their Elven friends). Not only is allying a thing of the past, but these heroes provided something that Lothlorien definitely no longer has: a fast-moving/hard-hitting Strike hero. Yes, there are some heroes with Heroic Strike in the list, but none of them are toting more than 2 Attacks, one of them is Unarmed with 1 Attack, and their only 3 Attack hero is "stuck" at F6 . . . in that comparison, having a F7+ hero with 3 or more Attacks (Boromir, Aragorn, Gwaihir, Treebeard, Isildur, and Elendil - JUST from the list of profiles above) would be most welcome.

It's a new era, but the bones of the list are still good and so I think the list itself is definitely worth a try. Let's see what our army list bonuses are.

FAQ Time: Unpacking the February 2026 FAQ

Good morning gamers,

It took a week longer than I'd hoped, but the GW development team has spoken and we have some balance updates! This FAQ changed a few things that had to do with the "big lists" that we see talked about (or bemoaned playing against) on top tables - some of whom got hit harder than others. There was one profile that appears to have gone unscathed though, so there will be a discussion about that at the end.

Photo Credit: Reddit

What Didn't Have Changes

Amazingly, everything had changes - though not everything had significant changes. I decided this time around to mostly save the erratas for the end, as the changes there seemed a bit more interesting to me than the FAQs themselves. We're going to begin first, though, with the clarifications that seemed to be pretty close to what we assumed from before . . .

Rules That Worked Like We Thought

The first change is simple: to account for the new Shelob model, Shelob's base size has been upped to 80mm:

Page 146 – Shelob – Base Size Change to 80mm. 

Thankfully, Shelob is fast enough that she can probably make due with a larger base size - but golly 80mm is a bit bigger than it was before! I've been playing with Mumaks a lot recently and I've got to say, having big bases can be great, but you have to not want to be too precise to make your plays happen. Having a base that is the same as two cavalry next to each other can maneuver through most places, but not in all places - and those heroes who are embedded in their battle lines are gonna feel pretty safe against Shelob while their mates are everywhere.

Tiberius's Top 10 Ranking - Best Middle-Earth Film Adaptation

Good morning gamers,

Usually, Centaur does our "top ten" posts, but I've been thinking a lot about the various film adaptations that we have for Middle-Earth and figured someone on this platform ought to finally put them in a ranking. Those of us who are excited for new Middle-Earth content and "going back to Middle-Earth" are probably at least a little interested in how the Hunt for Gollum is going to go, so in preparation for that, feast on the following Top Ten list, though I will begin with a couple of quick caveats . . .

First, this is NOT going to include TV shows - which means you will not be seeing either seasons of Rings of Power in this article. Telling a story through 6-8hrs of TV time isn't a fair comparison to the 1.5-4hrs that a film can cover - that, and I know people can have polarizing views on the series. I will keep my opinion about the series to myself (though I think I will not be alone in sharing that I thought the storytelling in Season 2 was tighter than Season 1, perhaps because it had most of its characters introduced in Season 1), but as most of you might be able to guess if you've read this blog for any period of time, I'm generally pretty optimistic and positive about things - and if I can search for good in something, I usually find it.

Second, just because I rank a film on the lower side of the scale doesn't mean there's nothing good in it. Building off the previous thought, there are good things to be found in all of the films we're about to view - but it appears to me that the greatest reason people rank things poorly is because of the "deviation from expectation". If you came to a film like The Desolation of Smaug and expected it to cover just what was in the Hobbit (more on this later), you were probably disappointed - and if you're like my wife, you probably thought that much of the fighting in the Battle of Five Armies and the extra-canonical relationship stuff from the Desolation of Smaug could have been dropped to make the trilogy into two films. Fair enough - those were deviations from your expectations and you're more than justified in feeling that way.

While I will try to manage my criticisms of the films, please understand going into this that my reviews will still be pretty positive - I'm not here to bash someone else's creative genius and I certainly don't think I could have made any of these films better than their creators. I am a fan of all things Middle-Earth and I love a good story - so the films that get me the most immersed into the world and that tell a well-contained story are going to rate well . . . and those that don't will rate less well. With that in mind, let's start off with . . .

Back to Basics, Revisited: The Shoot Phase

Good morning gamers,

We're in our third post on how to play the game and we're tackling one of my favorite aspects of the game: the Shoot phase. This phase of the game is the only phase where your opponent doesn't really get a say in what happens - sure, he can maneuver his troops during the Move phase to make his units harder to hit (or impossible to see) OR even use special rules that make shooting at his troops harder, but once he's done moving, it's all in your hands. For a game that is heavily dependent on "rolling better than your opponent," it's nice that at least one aspect of the game doesn't involve that kind of competition. This also makes armies that focus too heavily on shooting hated by some members of the community, so just be aware of that before delving headlong into it. Let's understand what you can do in the Shoot phase!

The New Age Is Begun: The Riders of Theoden Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is it for Rohan (for the now, anyway) and we're wrapping up two months of Rohan lists with the one that started it all, really: the Riders of Theoden. Back when the MESBG revamp happened, Rohan was . . . well, it's always been a popular list, but it was really popular: the new starter set landed a lot of people with new Theoden models and lots of Riders of Rohan and anyone who didn't already have a host of Rohan models got to enjoy painting three models (a rider, a horse, and a dismount) for every 14-17pts they wanted to spend on warriors . . . good times. A few months after the revamp, the Gondor at War supplement dropped and with it came a host of new Legendary Legions - and while the Black Gate Opens and Return of the King Legendary Legions were incredibly popular, neither of these Legions was as popular or as dominant on the top-tables as the Riders of Theoden. It was, quite honestly, one of very few Legions that looked like it was an improvement on a trimmed-down army list - and from a game design perspective, it was basically the poster boy for what any Legendary Legion was supposed to be.

Fast-forward six years and we've got the Riders of Theoden army list, which hasn't seemed to dominate quite as much as it did back in the day (even as new Legions and a host of new models were introduced to the game). Is this list still worth running? And if so, what's making people shy away from it? Well, let's take a look and find out what we have to work with vis-a-vis last edition!

The Riders of Theoden: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The profile selection is essentially the same as we had before - we have all the named heroes you'd expect with Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn/Merry (formerly Dernhelm), Deorwine, Elfhelm, and Gamling. Joining the fight we have Captains of Rohan (one of whom you can name as Grimbold - give him heavy armor and a shield why don't ya?), Riders of Rohan, and Rohan Royal Guards (who can be led by Theoden, Eomer, Deorwine, and Gamling . . . so you can field a lot of them, if you don't want throwing spears on all of them. This is the same list as in the previous edition and honestly, it doesn't need any changes . . . you know, unless you wanted to make a mounted Grimbold model and a revamped profile to go with it, GW? :)

Army List Bonuses

Two of your army special rules are the same as they were before - your mounted models get Strength +1 on the charge and once per game, Theoden can cry "DEATH!" and your heroes get to declare free Heroic Combats or Strikes. Getting in a good DEATH! turn has always been the way this list has stood above standard Rohan lists and if you really lean into the heroes, you can have an absolutely devastating turn with this rule (much like the once-per-game Look to the Sun ability for the Riders of Eomer).

There is a new rule, however: any friendly Cavalry Warrior models near Theoden and Eomer get Dominant (2), which is a situationally useful (but the situation is present in most of the scenarios) ability that makes your all-cavalry force feel larger than it is. Like some of the Erebor and Dale rules, however, this is a rule that competes with DEATH! a bit in that the harder you lean into your heroes, the less this rule will be useful. Also, staying within 3" of Theoden and Eomer is not that big of a radius - but in a scenario like Hold Ground, Command the Battlefield, or Divide and Conquer where you really want to be in one or two places, it can be super useful.

The New Age Is Begun: The Road to Helm's Deep Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is the second to last Rohan list we'll be covering (we have a few more to do, but having been in Rohan for most of December and all of January, we need a change of pace, ey?) and this one is an intriguing one. I'll be honest, I think there are some significant drawbacks to taking this list, but it also has some unique abilities built into it and it has plenty of room to scale out to various points levels. Let's see what we get in this list (and what we can do here that we can't do in other lists)!

The Road to Helm's Deep: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is closest to the generic Rohan list of the last edition, but if you include Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli in this list, you would have had to run a Convenient Alliance with the Fellowship of the Ring in the last edition. Your units are pretty standard - Theoden, Gamling, Hama, and Captains for the Rohan side of the house, along with the Three Hunters - and you can lead Rohan Royal Guards with Theoden/Gamling/Hama and Riders of Rohan (and maybe Rohan Outriders, if you're playing with Legacy profiles) with the others.

Army List Bonuses

Like most Rohan lists, Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit, so if you want to go shooting-heavy (and/or cavalry-heavy), you can. This list also gets the fairly-standard rule of +1 Strength on the Charge for its Cavalry models, but unlike the Ride Out list, this bonus is limited to Rohan Cavalry models (so if you take Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli . . . no dice).

There are two cool things that this list offers. First, if you take both Legolas and Gimli in your list, Gimli may begin as a passenger for Legolas. While mounted on Legolas's horse, Legolas gets rules similar to what Eowyn and Gandalf gain when they have Merry or Pippin mounted with them - Legolas goes up to 3 Attacks and can borrow Gimli's Might/Will/Fate (the Might can't be used to boost shooting rolls). Normally, if a passenger dismounts, they can't do anything - but if Gimli dismounts, he can activate as normal, which is great for making sure that he gets to charge into someone and fight.

Additionally, if one of your heroes dismounts voluntarily or is forcibly dismounted during the game, the hero can end its Move in base contact with a friendly Cavalry Warrior model who is not engaged and "take the horse." The dismounted Warrior model is placed where the Hero was and the mounted Hero model is placed where the Warrior was. This is SUPER good for making sure that your heroes keep up their damage as the game goes on - and also disincentivizes your opponent from attacking your horses if you have warrior support nearby.

Back to Basics, Revisited: The Priority and Move Phases

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we talked about how you build an army and what a model's profile looks like. Today we're covering the first two phases in a battle round: the Priority Phase and the Move Phase. While these two phases are technically separate, they often flow together because the player who wins priority on certain turns can dictate how the round goes. It's also not too controversial for me to say that these are the two most important phases in the game - you can win some games just by moving where you want to and you can lose some games by not being able to move where you want to. So, let's dig in and learn how to play!

The New Age Is Begun: The Defenders of the Hornburg Army List

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 . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Army of Edoras Army List

Good morning gamers,

We're still in Rohan this January (what can I say - there's a lot of Rohan lists) and we're kicking things off with one of the new Rohan lists from the War of the Rohirrim film: the Army of Edoras. I'm going to preview the rest of the article here and just say that regardless of whether you liked the film or not, this list is SOLID. There are lots of good heroes that you can buy on a budget, very functional warrior options, and good special rules. Let's see what this list has to offer (anything related to the Legacies document will be marked in red)!

The Army of Edoras: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list doesn't have a corollary really from the last edition. The Helm's Guard list is the closest you're going to get - and that list was really starved for hero options. This list doesn't have that problem. Besides the generic Captain and Huntsman profiles, you have access to Helm, his four relatives, and two other members of his court. You also get the expected warrior options of Warriors of Rohan, Riders of Rohan, and Rohan Royal Guards (if you bring Helm).

Army List Bonuses

Like most Rohan lists, Riders of Rohan don't count towards your bow limit, so if you want to go shooting-heavy (and/or cavalry-heavy), you can. While charge bonuses are usually not hard to come by in Rohan lists, this list can get to reroll all failed To Wound rolls on one round for models within 12" of your General if your General charged that turn. This will affect infantry and cavalry models, but only once. Beyond that, you have just the base stats for your units . . . so beware those D6 shieldwalls!

Additionally, if any of your heroes charge, all Warriors within 6" of the Hero auto-pass Courage tests to charge Terror models - this won't matter for any Rohan Royal Guards in Helm's warband, but can be a brilliant way to tie down a monster while your heroes crash into the warriors of the enemy. These aren't glorious rules, but they're perfectly functional.

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 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. 10)

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