I have a full warband of wood elves set aside to use as those exiles Gildor can bring but I don't really know how to get the best use out of them. I was planning to use the warband as an ally for my Grey Company and Dwarf hold lists, in 700 to 1000 point games. As well as part of my third age Rivendell, which has a good number of points devoted to high elf knights, so the exiles would be the only or half of the ground support. I would like advise on how to get the most out of the exiles extra move and high fight will off setting the down sides that there are so few of them and they have no armor.

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

As skirmishers, have them go into whatever cover there is (preferably forests). Maybe have them try to flank and get the enemy's archers?

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See my WIP thread here. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25624

I was so excited to see your thread. I love playing gildor and the exiles. They are a fast moving hard hitting light infintry. I prefer to use mine to take out big bads, like trolls. One of their strengths is their speed. Foot soldiers that move with a speed of 8" is a big deal in lotr. However, their greatest strength is their throwing weapons. Make sure they have throwing weapons. This basically awards them an extra atk per turn.

My preferred gildor and the exiles tactic is to use gildor to immobilize a troll then rush him with the shruken throwing exiles. The first thing this does is give each exile a chance to wound the troll without fear of reprisal. Secondly, if the troll survives the barrage he still must survive the fight phase while immobilized/transixed.

If gildor is out of will or not nearby, I use the exiles (in groups of 3) to pick off infintry. Using the same throwing weapon tactic. Keep your exiles as close to each other as possible. Don't let them wander off alone, after all, they only have a def of 3. Their str is in numbers. Move fast, hit fast and hit often.

If you have the points it is also a good idea to run old school thranduil and get those 2+ archers out there to soften up targets during the shoot phase.

I believe you've made an error in the strategy you've just suggested, where three Noldorin Exiles charge a troll. The problem is that each Exile begins his charge, uses his throwing weapon and then completes his charge before the next Exile begins his charge. This means that for the second and third Noldorin Exile, the Troll is already in melee before they use their throwing weapon. As Good units, elves are not allowed to shoot into a melee. So the trouble with the move you proposed is that only the first Exile is permitted to use throwing weapons. The second and third ones cannot throw.

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Elrond Nine Sixteenths elven does not exactly roll off the tongue.

Second you have to test for courage before you use throwing weapons.

Also you can't upgrade wood elves with Thranduils Guards (2+ shoot) and Gidors Exiles (8" move) you can only choose 1.

If you are playing house rules though all good.

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Check out my WIP> viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26737

Use them as weapon throwers. With 8" movement just stay out of range of inf and troll the hell out of your opponent.

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Oh man, you're totally right. How did I miss that. Well, the strategy is the same, but you'll have less weapons to throw. The terror i wasn't worried about as elves have a high courage, and I wasn't suggesting using thranduil to make the exiles expert shooters. I did intent that one uses 2 warbands. One to be super shooters, and the second warband to be fast moving skirmishers.

I wouldn't change the strategy, immobilize, throw, base. You'll just have 1 throw against the immobilized target.

I can't think of a reliable good or unique way to use the exiles other than by just sticking them in wooded terrain.

As has been said, throwing weapons can only be used once (fair enough), they suffer the +1 to hit (stupid), and the elves low defence means that you would have to be extremely lucky to get a good return on investment before you lose all your troops. I suppose that only needing a 4+ to hit isn't too bad though. Added to that is that the throwing daggers are only 6" (correct me if I'm wrong), so the tactic of staying out of range and using throwing weapons does not work as well as it does for Rohan or throwing spears. So that tactic only works on armies with move of 5" or less, in which case the regular 6" is fine.
Therefore the only reason I can see to use throwing weapons is to have a 100% ranged force, given that you can only have 33% bows, which you would hope is enough to earn you some kills so that you aren't outnumbered too badly when the lines meet.

In a line on line engagement I can't think of any benefit the additional move would have, unless the opponent slips up and puts a few important units a bit too close and you can get a quick kill on it (like a shaman or wraith).

So as far as I can think, their real bonus is so that they are not outranged and shot to pieces by a cavalry force, or you have an element in your force which can corner cavalry forces. Additionally, they would do well in scenarios where you have to leave the board via an opposite edge quickly.

I do like the immobilise, surround strategy. I also like the Nature's wrath-heavy army style which makes your low defence insignificant for a turn or two.

Technically, you can't use the 2+ upgrade or the others from the old profile as the FAQs (I don't think its in the rulebook) say that whenever 2 profiles are available, you use the newest one, which also means Gandalf on cart can't be used. Quite frankly that's stupid though, so I am trying to ignore it, but you might get caught out at a tournament.

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My trade thread
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=25957&p=325932#p325932

Aside from the one tactical error I offered, the exiles worked very well for me. Historically, ancient armies were built with archery, light infintry and heavy infintry. The use of archery is obvious, heavy infintry would tank, and the light infintry would utilize guerilla like tactics. Likewise you should utilize the exiles as light infintry. They have the movement range and the throwing weapons. The 8" movement proved very valuable, and my opponent found himself overwhelmed by hard hitting elves sooner than he anticipated. I really like playing exiles. Even if they don't become a staple in your army, I recommend using them at least once so you can see how fun they are.

Problem is 8" move is useless with 6" throwing weapons, as you can't stay out of charge range of enemies if you want to be in throwing range of your throwing weapons...

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Sun is by sea-men always hoped for,
when they fare away over the fishes' bath,
until the brine-stallion they bring to land.
OERP

Is it worth taking them to add high fight spear support to a dwarf list? Because ever one seems to think they should be run as an independent skirmishing unit but I had them in mind for support. Will they work as support or should I just go with the Grey Company instead?

I had thought the extra move might be useful since the dwarves are so slow. The elves also have higher fight they both armies I'd use them alongside and better bows.

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

I never had an issue with this. But that is because I didn't use my throwing weapons as "ranged weapons" I use them to get the free attack right before basing someone. The extra move was also good for regrouping, and closing the gap between warbands as the light infintry could quickly move in and support a faltering warband.


You could try, but the 5" move dwarf is only going to slow down an 8" move elf. If you're using them for spear support I recommend using either regular woodelves or galadhrim warriors, or even galadhrim guards so you can use their pikes.

Frankly, I don't see a reason to pay extra points so an elf can move an extra 2" only to slow him down behind a 5" move dwarf.

Firstly, sorry for the double post.
Second, I don't play tournaments and I use the big blue book, not the hobbit rule book, so I don't worry about the new thranduil profile, but that is just me.

You can, as long as you take the thranduil from the free peoples book. We asked Nick Bayton (GW events team) to clarify it for ToS and he said that new profiles don't 'erase' old ones.

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Huzzah!

SD, that's good news. So just to clarify; when the Hobbit Rules manual official update says the following, it is ONLY in reference to you wanting to use a hero from the Hobbit rules or if you are wanting that hero to lead troops found only in the Hobbit books. That makes a lot more sense to me, and is better! Yay!

ERRATA
Note that some of the profiles in The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey rules manual will vary from those in
the five sourcebooks: Mordor, The Fallen Realms, Moria &
Angmar, Kingdoms of Men and The Free Peoples. When
picking a force, you should use the rules and points values
featured in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey rules
manual in place of those found in the sourcebooks

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My trade thread
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=25957&p=325932#p325932

Yes.

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12th GBHL 2013.
13th GBHL 2014
9th GBHL 2015


Mid Sussex Wargamers

Also from the main rulebook FAQ: