Hi,

I’m just getting back into MESBG after a 15 year break (watched the LotR trilogy over Christmas and.....) so this is my first post.

Anyway I’m a big fan of the elves and have a reasonable Rivendell force to hand. Having read the posts here abouts I have a couple of questions about the best rank and file options.

I can put multiples of the following units together:

Front rank: 4 Spear & shield
Rear rank: 4 Elven Blades

Use shields up to impact and then try and get the two handed blades into the fight or swap the formation around before impact.

8 troops seems to be the most popular number, not sure why?

Front rank: 4 Spear & shield
Rear rank: 4 Elven bow

As above but shooting until contact.

Front rank: 4 Elven blades
Rear rank: 4 Elven bow

Brittler option of the spear & bow combo and what comes out of the basic boxes.

I’m a big fan of the double-handed visual and without access to a decent proxy shield don’t want to go down the route of sticking medieval shields on the backs of the elven blades unless its really the only way to go. I think the new rules (Pelennor Fields on order) have a hand and a half option for elven blades so does that make sourcing extra shields inevitable if only to protect the blades from bow fire on the way in?

How do other Rivendell/Grey Heaven players build the pieces between the a heroes, captains and banners?

Thanks for looking

Joken

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No easy dice roll too difficult

Welcome back to the hobby Joken!

I've been playing Rivendell elves as my main army throughout the Hobbit and Middle Earth editions of the game so I will tell you something of what I have experienced.

The reason people tend to bring groups of units in either sets of fours or sixes is because of the warband rules that were introduced. Each hero can only lead so many units onto the field, with the most common number being twelve per warband. People will split up their troops into deployable formations so that they can work with the sort of deployments they scenario has.

I tend to have my units either be front rank swords, rear rank spears with shields or front rank swords and bows mixed, rear rank spears with shields. Most bows are str 2 and wound def 5 the same as def 6. I find the shield to be more useful later in the game to shield once the guy they are supporting has fallen. I'd rather the front rank catch arrows for them then the other way around. Swapping unit placement is something I do with foot heroes though since I want them to be behind my lines during the shooting but in front when the fighting starts.

For using elves with swords and shield or elves with bows and spears, both of which are good gear loadouts to have, some people do buy shields or spears to glue on the backs of their models. When I play, however, I just decide if all my sword/bow guys are getting shield/spears or not and then declare so at the start of the game to my opponent without altering the models. This both saves me from having to have effectively doubles the number of the plastic elf warriors to provide for a full army of either loadout and it save me from having a lot of mediocre conversions that don't look that good(I am not good at conversions). If you are both interested and able to pull it off, you might try casting shields that come with the Rivendell knights box to make duplicates for your foot elves.

Hope you find this useful.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"