Hi everyone-
I am thinking about starting a Thranduil's Halls army, and I was looking for some advice on how to start. My starting budget for this force would be about $200USD so any suggestions on how this could get me a decent army would be greatly appreciated. I want to use Thranduil because I love the profile and model, apart from that I really have no idea were to start.
Thanks,
McGarnacle

A good starting point would be get Thranduil, Legolas on foot, Tauriel with a box of Palace Guard and a box of Mirkwood Rangers. That would be around 175USD and about 600 points. It probably isn't the most efficient force but gives you a good start. You could spend the rest of your budget on a blister of Mirkwood Elves if you wanted.

Alternatively you may want to wait for the newly announced Thranduil on Elk. Although you'd then still need the foot version from somewhere. We have no idea of cost yet but I suspect that it would cost around half your budget on it's own.

Yeah its basically $100 for a warband of the mirkwood elves cause they only come in the three packs for $25, so its cheaper to buy the set of 10 rangers or palace guard for $40 buut they're the elites so you'll have a hard time using more then 3-4 in a game. I'd probably get Thranduil on foot for $20, a warband of elves for $100, a box of rangers for $40 and a box of palace guards. That will give you a variety of troops, you can proxy a ranger or guard as a captain for leading other warbands and you can always pick up the command sets later once you know what profiles you liked.
I feel like you might already have a Legolas, and if not you should be able to find one on ebay for a couple dollars. You wouldn't have a Thranduil mounted but if you want to add to your army you could pick up the new one once it comes out or any of the other older.

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Cheers,

P

Thanks for the advice, guys! Yeah, I was really leaning towards to Palace Guards, but I'm not sure about the Rangers, I've heard they are not great. When was the Thranduil on Elk announced? I was wondering if it would come out.

As to the heroes, which ones would work well with Thranduil? I have almost zero experience with elves, but most lists seem to have a hierarchy of heroes. I'm guessing the named heroes are better than the captains?

Hmmm I actually like the rangers a lot. They're expensive models but they are actually good. With the price increase of the regular elves I think they're better now too. I think the way to use them is to max out your bows in a warband, 4 elves with bows then drop one or two rangers in to sneak in extra bows. Then you can charge them into two or three enemies and support them with a spear for 3 attacks, if you have higher fight value, which with elves you should, you have a reasonable chance to win that fight.
I think the guards are the worst of the troop types since they cost more then the regular elves and all they get is body guard and +1 fight but only near thranduil so you can only really get that bonus on 3-4 of them.

AS far as heroes go, they're all good. The elf captains are actually really good I think, the Mirkwood ranger cap and the Palace guard captain are pretty strong but generally speaking for Thranduil's halls I would say Legolas, Tauriel then Thranduil. Thranduil is great but he's really expensive, especially with the elk. I think think he's only really usable at 700 and bigger since the elf troops are sooo expensive by themselves. Legolas is arguably one of the best heroes in the game so always a safe bet and Tauriel is almost as good as Thranduil but 50 points cheaper, seems good. In a pinch though I wouldn't worry about using the captains. If you're going to take Thranduil at lower points game you probably will have to take a captain to afford to get your troops in.


If you check out there new and rumors page there's an on going thread about the new releases, should be in the next three months sometime though, there's pics up.

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Cheers,

P

Thanks, sounds great!
Just had a small proxy force of Elves kill the Balrog (achievment unlocked). What do you think about this 500 point force?

Thranduil on Elk
4 MAE with Shield
4 MAE with Elven GLaive
4 MAE with Elf Bow

Palace Guard Captain with Shield
4 MAE with Shield
4 MAE with Elven GLaive
4 MAE with Elf Bow

26 Models, 9 Might, 8 Bow shots

Yeah looks good! I'd probably go 5 elves with shields and 3 with glaive per warband to be a little tougher.

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Cheers,

P

Mostly at this point game he will find himself fighting outnumbered, so to get spear support every single time its hard.

Another thing might be interesting with Legolas instead of the Captain and dropping an elf or 2. THe numbers wont drop drastically and you have the expertize shooting to prioritise nasty stuff. Good alternative would be Tauriel, he would be a 2nd Thranduil pretty much. Doesn´t seem much, but it is! being able to spread the force a bit rather than depending the captain to have his buff near Thranduil

All this wont apply however if you´re doing it movie wise fluff.
For as it is, seems solid, though you like of a banner (that on elves its extremely important)


And has it is that List with 2 Warbands its 5 Might and not 9 :P