For starters, you should try to find a copy of the Kingdoms of Men FAQ - riders do not count towards the bow limit. Unfortunately I can't see the link yet on the new site, but i'm sure someone else has a copy of the rules.

As was said, charging in heroically with Rohan isn't going to end well because they are very regular fighters and you will be outnumbered in most cases (meaning your +1A for charging on a horse doesn't really give you an advantage). You are better off going with Minas Tirith or Dol Amroth as they have lances and higher defence so you will last longer - rohan drops like flies when on even footing.

I would suggest 50% spears for a table with a good amount of terrain, playtest to find out. More info to come..

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

I'm not realy a starter, but I did not play for a long time and never played an all mounted army. I only have the book, but not the FAQ. Do anybody no, where I can find it? All riders having bows increases my tactical options.

I wrote a list without the banner. What are you thinking?

Warband 1 11/12
Éomer, Marshal of the Riddermark with Horse; Shield
5 Westfold Redshield with Throwing spears
6 Son of Eorl
----
Warband 2 8/12
Erkenbrand, Captain of Rohan with Horse
3 Westfold Redshield
5 Westfold Redshield with Throwing spears
----
499 points; 21 models; 13 bows

This looks pretty good. I would suggest charging your sons of Eorl with both heroes on the flank of an army, leaving your Redshields for fire support, then when numbers are whittled down, things start to go badly for your combat group, or they look like they are being encircled, charging in. if the main body of troops are surrounding your elites then the Riders will make a mess of most armies and cut off their support. suddenly you've got them hammer and anvil, and you could be taking down 10-12 average models per turn with luck. of course, i'd need to know what your opponents are likely to field before i make any further recommendations

_________________

Your strategy is realy interesting, but I could imagine trying to deal with an whole army with only 8 riders is risky, but I sure will try it.
Of cause it depents on the scenario, too.
When I played with the army, I will tell you my experience

Hey there, good to see more people willing to go all cavalry

Personally I love cavalry, it really suits my play style being able to use mobility to run rings around enemies before they can reach me, picking my ground before engaging and generally charging in on horse back.

Your lists thus far have looked fine I'd suggest field testing some of them and getting a feel for what you think is missing.
At 500pts most cavalry armies always feel like they're missing something, its just difficult fitting in all the tools you need for the job at that level.
The most essential part though is to have some form of Might pts. I would say that 5-6 is about the minimum you can get away with.
Erkenbrand is really great for this as he brings so much for his pts cost including his horn and 3 might.

Royal guard are still a good call for their higher defence and auto pass on courage. Yes you have Erkenbrand's horn but, what happens if Erkenbrand dies? (This is also why royal guards should bodyguard someone other than Erkenbrand) and ringwraiths will make the horn a mere +1 (had to fight a fellbeast army recently :S).
The royal guard are 2pts more than a rider, you gain +1 defence, bodyguard and lose a bow. Worth it in my opinion.

Sons of Eorl are not units I take for fluff reasons but they are excellent fighters, great defence and two attacks even when charged, on the charge they are lethal. Perfect shock troops.

Your basic rider is a beauty, comes in with all the tools you need, cheap has a shield and bow and can get the benefit of both. If you've taken Erkenbrand the redshield is one point more and worth it.

Throwing spears work for me as they are great for harassing infantry and can make the difference.
Banners Definitely work for me! To field one will cost you two riders but taking them helps you win to the death but more importantly if a line of riders are charged then having a banner behind them gives them an extra roll to win the combat (almost like they had charged) while this does nothing for you in terms of killing models that turn it will help keep riders alive and this is crucial on the turns where you lose priority.

Overall, Rohan have the most versatile cavalry but you need to play it in just the right way. The rules for cavalry vary on opposition, outshoot and soften up the enemy if you'll get messed up in combat but if facing a force that has superior archery you may need to engage quickly.

The only way to learn is to try it. Get onto the field and see what works for you

At last someone who likes banners, too.

Do you think taking Eowyn instead of three riders could be worth it? She brings more might and after speding it, she can fight as good as a normal rider.


I think my last army with 13 bows can face up most every evil army (except from a 50% Harad) in a shootout, because of my grate mobility I may be able to bring his other models between my riders and his archers and things like that.
I think just running away and should will get boring. I want to win the battle in close combat, but depending on the scenario they can give me a psychological advantage.

Eowyn is pretty good for her pts cost although its been a while since I've used her.
Again it comes down to what you feel is missing, too many heroes or too many warriors...That right balance needs to be determined by you after you've had a few games.
I like 6 might, across two heroes with about 20 models. But your own experience may differ

Yes there are occasions where shooting will get boring, for both you and your opponent...BUT

How else would light armoured cavalry take on superior melee troops?
Its hardly the horseman's fault that the dwarf army maxed out on Khazad guard and left his own archers at home and remember that by taking cavalry in the first place you probably have half the number of men.

An example of this was my last game at stockport, facing a gondor army with twice my numbers, even worse the mission was take and hold with an objective in difficult ground!

I began by shooting at the 7 rangers my opponent brought, luckily I was able to take them out for the loss of a rider. After that the game became about my encircling the woods that the gondorians had taken shelter in, using my combined bow fire and throwing spears to slowly eat away at his numbers. As time drew near I charged in as he left the woods to try and catch me, the victory finally being secured by my killing Faramir and moving some Royal guards to the objective.

If I had just charged in, or tried to dismount and take the objective on foot, I would have lost through facing twice the number of enemies.
While this may seem an unsporting approach, your opponent has just as much ability to include archers or their own cavalry to counter you. Its just using one of your strengths to counter the weaknesses.

Looking on it like this you are right, but I don't want to build my army based on this tactic, because I am expecting my opponent will play a power list (thats why I have that many SoE).
I may have a game this weekend, so I will tell you, how the list worked.

That's fine mate Ultimately its your army, how you build it and use it is down to you.
You may even find that making a combat based rohan force works really well for you

Let us know how you get on.

I say keep the banner and just run in slow motion toward your enemy. At 500 points they aren't going to have all that many guys themselves so a few good rounds of shooting should even thing up. If you think the SoE are were the killing power in your list is then use the riders as living shields for them, keep archers for shooting them, other troops from swarming them and general interference running so the big guns have the best chance to kill as much as they can.

Keep the banner behind one of your heroes with a guy to catch it if the holder gets shot. Yeah a few lucky arrows could nock it right out of the game same a it could unhorse your hero or all your SoE. That's just the nature of the game, chance and a banner can change the flow of combat in your favor. As the best player of this game I ever met told me once "cavalry needs to win fights and kill thing, a banner will help them do just that". In the end you are just not very likely to win a game by shooting you'll need to charge and if your riders can't kill because of there low strength or a die because of there defense two more of them isn't going to help you much. But every SoE winning there fight might.

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

And someone more, that likes banners in mounted armies

This was exactly, what I thought about the banner. But I'll try, if it is worth it in the next games.


I don't think so, the evil armies, which a played against were around 40-50 models at 500 points and a little shooting won't even this.
If I'm lucky I may can attack one isolated warband, before I have to deal with the rest.

40 to 50 models at 500 point eh? Well I can't say I've seen such a thing done by anything aside from Goblins and Harad. I guess other armies could field a force like that too if they cut down on heroes. Morranon with captains could do it I guess and that would really ruin a Rohan force, but what kind of army is it your fighting?

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

I am playing a Goblin army with the goblin king, goblin scribe, shamane durburz and 46 goblins (we are playing with the old lome restrictions so you aren't allowed to use more than 50 models). But it could also be something like this:

Ringwraith 2/0/1 on horse
12 Morannon orks with shield (6 spears)

Orccaptain on warg with shield
6 orcs with spear
6 orcs with shild

Orcshaman
12 Morannon orks with shield (6 spears)

This are 39 models and there are still 40 points to spend till 500

I think I'll test my Rohan list with banner against a list like my Goblintown-Moria to see, if it can handle something like it.

Aye banners work really well for me, would rarely leave home without one

It depends what they spend the pts on but I fought a 40 model Gondor army not so long ago.

Goblin town eh? Well the pros are that you should outclass him and find it really easy to inflict wounds. The downside is that he will have fury to save them and a monster in the goblin king. Taking out the shaman should be a priority as without him they'll struggle to stay around once broken. Try to avoid the king throwing your riders around as well as one rider thrown down the line can make a cavalry force become infantry far too quickly.

Let us know how you get on

exactly

_________________
Conversation/Ideas over painting etc, can check here:
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=29455