Hello all,

I've very new to the whole LOTR wargaming, I used to play Warhammer Fantasy many, many years ago and am trying to get back into the hobby with the LOTR.

Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to build a Rohan army - the choice is down to personal taste. I like the models and would rather spent time and money on ones that I quite like then others which aren't quite so appealing to me.

To start I'd be looking at buying models to the value of around 500pt, this'll let me get a taste for the game and help me to learn the ropes before moving to a larger force.

Has anyone got any suggestions on a suitable list at all? I was thinking of a mounted hero like Eomer, followed by a mainly Rider of Rohan based force. Being Rohan, I'd prefer as many mounted troops as possible rather than archers or men on foot.

Hopefully this is in the right section and apologies if it's a bit vague. I'm new both to the game and to the forum.

Rgds,

Darren

Eomer is a good choice for 500pts. If you five boxes of Riders of Rohan to go with him you'll have a pretty effective force.

There are, however, a couple of things you should probably know about Rohan. First, all cavalry lists are the most tactically challenging in the game, and thus are not ideal for beginners. Second, Rohan has not had any updates for many years, and most of its units are slightly overpriced.

_________________
"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

Thanks for your reply there, I'll bear that in mind.

I also play rohan but haven't games with them yet either so guess both of us are in the same boat gaming wise. What I would suggest is you really need a lot of riders. At 500 points I'd wouldn't take less then 10 but that's just me. Also when it comes to heroes pick you favorite ones. There is a huge difference between them all so go with your fav For me I like Theodred.
Hope this helps

_________________
Compulsorily acquired? You know what this means don't you, they're acquiring it compulsorily. - Darryl Kerrigan

Thanks for your reply. I definitely want to stick with a majority of cavalry in my army, Theoden also looks good so I might get him too.

There are some nice sculpts of theoden too. Love the pellenor fields one.

_________________
Compulsorily acquired? You know what this means don't you, they're acquiring it compulsorily. - Darryl Kerrigan

Definitely, a particularly good model that one.

One of the tricky parts about building a Rohan army is the 33% bow limit. All RoR have bows, but if you have an all RoR army you can't use more than 33% of them, even though you've paid for them. I've found it effective to take 2/3rds warriors w/o bows, and 1/3rd RoR, which gives you a highly mobile archery platform. WoR don't make the best anvil, but RoR do make a good hammer, so maybe it balances out. Sprinkle in a few RRG (foot and mounted), or maybe take Grimbold and boost your WoR to S4. Throwing spears are also a good addition, but they might be too expensive for the value they provide.

At 500 points Eomer or Erkenbrand are great heroes, and don't overlook Eowyn.

Thank you for your advice. Much appreciated.

I can't offer much in the way of specific army list tips, as I'm mostly a painter. However, from my own Rohan gaming experiences I can offer one solid piece of advice for RoR and mounted heroes: don't lose you're momentum and don't be afraid of terrain. If you get stuck into a static fight you lose all your charging advatages so keep moving if you can, WoR aren't great fighters, and thats all RoR are when they're not moving. Also, the expert riders rule gives you the ability to cross difficult terrain that would normally be a fair risk to other cavalry, so don't be afraid to charge into those pesky bowmen hiding in rocks and on hills.

But IMHO Rhohan has some of the nicest models and certainly a great gaming board presence, so they are a joy to collect and paint too.

Have fun !

Eorling.

_________________
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - Thorin Oakenshield.

Expert rider only allows you to benefit from a shield even when armed with a bow, and to roll an extra die when making a Jump test. It says nothing about difficult terrain.

Yes sorry, I meant it in the context of jumping. So for example a wall poses less of a danger to an expert rider. I didn't mean you could cross difficult terrain unempeded - I wish !

_________________
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - Thorin Oakenshield.

Throwing Spears can be a very effective addition to your list and shouldn't be overlooked. They can take the mediocre WoR and boost them nicely and never underestimate the value of a spear kill on a charge with a RoR.

_________________
Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

I've found that Rohan is a challenging and unforgiving army to play, but very rewarding when played correctly (maybe its because you know the odds seem stacked against you ).

First piece of advice i would offer is that the original Eomer profile, along with Erkenbrand are the two best heroes in points value terms, Theoden's points value is way off for the profile, which is unfortunate given the nice sculpts, whilst Grimbold and Eowyn are nice characters who can add some flexibility to an army.

I'd be wary of going with a full cavalry army as you pay for bows you cant use, and will find you need to use a lot of points on heroes in order to make sure you can keep heroic moving and avoid getting charged (and slaughtered in the process, its essential you have a hero with cavalry to allow you to dictate which fights they take part in even when priority swings against you, if you cant ensure charge bonuses your riders are no better than warriors with big bases that end up swamped ).

Another thing i've found is that royal guard can be indispensable, they're a great and reliable improvement over standard warriors, i tend to take a number on foot to mix in with basic warriors and like to give them throwing spears as i find they tend to stick around longer, im sure they work just as well mounted. Throwing spears in themselves are also great items of wargear but taking too many can really eat into the points you have available; they aren't cheap pieces of kit.

Upgrading some warriors to Helmingas is another good way to make an army more "killy" but they do require you to take grimbold, who, whilst as good as a captain, cant really lead an army alone, so you'd need at least a second hero with any cavalry, not sure how feasible this is at 500pts but its worth considering.

Finally, banners can be a good way of compensating for a lack of standard spear support, but again cost a lot of points.

All in all, Rohan offers quite a diverse range of tactical scope in combinations or foot and mounted troops, reasonably priced but effective heros and a few different types of infantry with interesting upgrade/wargear options, balancing a mix of these troop types has worked best for me in the past, but experimenting with a few different lists should give you an idea of how you like to play and which troops you like you use, hopefully my brief reviews of each type has helped shed some info on Rohan lists at any rate.

_________________
Having sworn fealty, must I spend my whole life in servitude?