help with a 750 pt. High Elf army...using only swordsmen and archers...have the twins , Elrond and Gil Galad ...thanks

Okay. This meets your criteria but I do not expect it to do more than help you learn the game or teach it to someone else. Without spears or banners you are fairly limited. Naturally, You could pay for shields on the swordsmen and spears on the bowmen to get a more pliable force but I do not know what you think about true to gear on model load-outs.

Gil-Galad
8 warriors with swords
4 warriors with elf bows

Elrond
8 warriors with swords
4 warriors with elf bows

High Elf Captain (Use a twin as proxy)
8 warriors with swords
4 warriors with elf bows

With this list you'll be obliged to play thin and wide to get anything out of it. But against newer players what you can do might prove entertaining. If you redeployed the warbands into one with the archers concentrated into a single warband and deployed that center with the swords in two warbands, one to each flank, you might get off a 'Zulu Horns' style double envelopment against a more compact army. Not sure how it would actually far in a prolonged melee but your named heroes are pretty dangerous so they might pull you through.

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

actually I did see that the swordsmen can take shields and the archers can take spears...would that help ?...thanks so much for the reply...

would the bowman with spears and the swordsmen with shields be a help...thanks for your opinion...

Bowmen with spears or elven blades just give them a bit more utility once the lines clash, however I wouldn't be surprised if the next release of the rules would remove the ability to take a spear alongside a bow. Take advantage while you can. If you give bowmen another upgrade, be it either Spears or Blades; I would always be advancing them at half speed, sure it drops your shoot value to a 50/50 but it saves you having to run to the fight once you have no more targets.
Shields on swordsmen is good but I would not pay for the elven blade in addition as you cannot go two handed or gain the bonus when shielding.

thanks for the advice...

If you've got a little cash, get onto the GW site and buy armored Glorfindel for $12 US, a command pack with a Captain and a Banner for $15, and even grab Erestor for $12 if you can swing it.....Glorfindel, Erestor and the High Elf Captain are all super useful heroes to lead troops or can be part of a very strong all-Hero list. And the banner is needed for many scenarios and is quite useful.

Then if money isn't an object, I'd also recommend grabbing a box of Rivendell Knights for $50 US. Very strong and very versatile mounted models. The forthcoming new Rules will very likely meld them into the Rivendell list, eliminating the Elrond's Household list from the Hobbit.

Last thought would be to jump on eBay or Amazon or a similar site and buy a load of cheap plastic spears to paint up and attach to your archers. Many tournaments require having all war gear depicted on the model, and giving your archers spears is a "must do" for any kind of competitive gaming.

Good luck !

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T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair..
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her..

thanks...and let me ask...are High Elves with spear and shield...that much better than High Elves with sword and shield...waiting for a lot of the stuff you mentioned to get back into stock...then will pop over to my local GW shop and place an order...

Just my two cents, but I'd plan it out assuming you'll be able to get all the troop types. If you wanted to start small and get a couple of games in at 250-300 points using just archers and swordsmen that's good. For a proper force though, the spear are definitely worth the wait.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

do not have a Free Peoples book yet...so kind of confused about something...

so you pay a certain cost for a High Elf/Rivendell swordsman...does that mean he comes with a regular sword...and the extra cost for sword is for the two handed Elven Blade ?

and does the High Elf bowman come with a regular bow...and you can pay the bow cost to get an Elven Bow ?

sorry to be a pest about all this...I will get to look at a friends book in a couple of days to help me out until I can get my own...

You pay the Basic cost for a High Elf Warrior with Heavy armour then 1 pt each for a Elven Blade, Spear, Shield, 2 Pts for an Elven Bow & 25 for a banner.

All Warriors are assumed to have a Hand weapon unless they are clearly stated as unarmed

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Lamh Laidir in Uachtar

Trade viewtopic.php?f=38&p=378479#p378479

and I understand that if I take a Elf with a sword and a shield...the do NOT get the Elven blade upgrade when carrying a shield...

if I take an Elf with bow...is there any disadvantage to taking a spear as well ?

thanks everyone for all the help...

If you buy the Elf both an Elven blade and a shield, they can only use the Elven blade as a one-handed weapon, not two-handed. However, either options still confers an additional advantage: more easily winning ties on the duel roll.

There is no penalty to shooting or fighting when a figure has both a bow and spear.

3 questions (I do not have my books yet)........

a) - what is the advantage of having HE King's Guard in the second rank only ?

b) - when Gil Galad is in your army , can the whole army be given king's guard status or just GGs warband ?

c) - can High Elf archers shoot thru the front rank ?

King's Guard have a higher Fight value than normal Elves. As a spear support can lend its Fight value to a duel, the front rank doesn't necessarily need to have the upgrade as well (although they could be split up in different combats if the spears are charged too).

At the moment, purchasing the upgrade is not restricted to Gil-galad's warband. However, this may change in the future...

High Elves can shoot through friendly models just like other figures can (when in base contact with a friend), but have no special ability or so.

Free Peoples book is back in stock...ordered it today...thanks for the info...