ok. im writing this because i have just played some games of Wotr against my brothers goblins, and been soundly THRASHED every single time. and these were his first ever games of Wotr. GAAAAAAH!!!!!! here are the armies:

elves

glorfindel
Galadriel
Haldir
guards of caras galadhon (3 companies)
galadhrim warriors, shields, captain, banner, hornblower (6 companies)
galadhrim archers , captain (4 companies)
galadhrim knights, shields (2 companies)
galadhrim knights, bows (1 company)
ent

goblins

durburz
balrog
cave troll x3
goblin warriors, shields, shaman (8 companies)
goblin archers (6 companies)
wild wargs (2 companies)
mordor orcs, shields, captain (3 companies)
warg riders, shields (3 companies)
mordor troll
shelob

due to unlucky dice rolls, and rediculous s2 elf bows, damage in shooting tends to be minimal. my cavalry are two few in number to do much damage against the large infantry formations, the ent has yet to kill anything in any game because he just gets fire-balled by the shaman, and that underpriced son of a **** durburz just kills my heroes in duels 'cause of his epic strike. glorfindel is totally useless as well. in the WD battle report he killed the balrog. i know, i'll use him to kill the balrog! unfortunately, that was when elves were the new releases, so obviously the balrog would fail its courage test. sadly, i cannot simply change dice rolls like the WD team, so have nothing to kill the balrog with. the great brute also keeps killing my supposed uber-killer-unit-of-death aka my galadhrim guards. they kill all 75 points of warg riders with ease, but that hardly compensates for the massive amount of points they cost, money they cost, and time i spent painting them.

also please note, we are using those armies because thats what we have painted, no other reason. they may not be the best tactically, but that's what im using, so please give me helpful hints based around that.

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Hello.

-Merge the Galadhrim Knights into one formation with 3 companies. A single company or two companies gets killed too easily on its own.
-If you want to kill the Balrog, or at least make the job easier, drop the captain from the archers and instead take the fortune "Inner Glory" since it can be used to have an enemy formation automatically fail a terror test. If you get the charge with Glorfindel and you call a Heroic Duel against the Balrog with it you have a good chance of putting some serious damage into it (since Fight 0 vs. Fight 7 with a +1 for callling the duel will give you a good chance).
-Use Haldir's Epic Shot ability to take down any of the monsters.
-Another strategy to weaken the Balrog is to cast "Light of the Valar" on it with either Glorfindel or Galadriel. Not only will you most likely knock off a point of courage but because the Balrog is a Spirit you have a 2/3 chance of getting a roll on its Extremely Hard to Kill Table.
-Use Glorfindel in ANY way possible to try to flank opposing formations if he cannot get to the Balrog. Glorfindel can really tear up some formations if he attacks from the side or rear.
-Use spells with Galadriel's spells to try and disrupt any formations that have a low courage value. Remember you can call one free Epic action per turn (such as Epic Channelling) to make it easier to take down the formations with low Courage.

That's all I have for now. Let me know if any of it is helpful.

here's what I would do

Elf units:

- split up the archers into four 1-company formations. this way they'll be much more flexible, able to snipe between your front line, be good at executing flank charges, hold up a unit for a turn...

- split up the Galadhrim into two 3-company units. again, multiple flexible units instead one big fat unwieldy one. read my comments on Galadhrim on how to use them: Galadhrim are NOT a normal shield formation, they shouldn't be used as such

- combine your Galadhrim Knights into a single unit. I prefer bows for 18 shots/turn. put in Haldir or a Captain

- Galadriel is great. jump her around your units, avoid Durburz and other hero-killers. combine her with your other heroes to systematically kill enemy heroes. Morannon Orcs are a lot less scary when they have to take their Terror test at C2. a cheesy trick is to use her Counsellor ability, and than regenerate her own Might with Epic Renew, potentially giving your other heroes 3 Might instead of 1

- drop the Captain with the archers, not really useful. much better used with a full formation of Knights. also drop the banner and musician on the Galadhrim formations, not really worth the points IMO

- guardians of caras galadhon, put Galadriel in here to give them D7 and regenerate their losses. at S4 and with good heroes they are pretty hard-hitting


Elf tactics:

- sacrifice Captains to kill his Shaman or force Durburz to burn Might. after you've duelled the Morannon Orc Captain to death

- combo-magic Galadriel & Celeborn to reduce Balrog to C3, than duel with Celeborn (or any Captain/Haldir really). don't be afraid to let him charge you and than counter-charge to force multiple C tests

- combo-charge the Ent and Knights, that'll be a lot of attacks, hitting Goblins on 3+ or 5+ even in the front

- against Trolls, shoot at close range to wound on a 6+, Guardians will kick their but in close combat

- against Durburz, use magic to reduce his Courage, so other units can't benefit from it, it'll make your Terror more useful

thanks everyone for the comments. they are very useful and i will definitely try some of those tactics next game

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Hello.

How many points is this in total?

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

one thousand seven hundred and something.

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Hello.