Legendary formation discussion

Ellorindar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:41 pm **Posts:** 111

Hi fellow Tolkien Fans!

When you're building the winning list, what is your go-to legendary formation (if you use one), and why?

I ask, because I'm a huge fan of the Osgiliath Veterans. I find their solid defence, bows, higher strength, courage, fight, and relatively cheap cost to be extremely beneficial to my Gondor army.

This question encapsulates every army: what do you find works best for you? It would be interesting to delve into some of the less used formations of WOTR.

Cheers all

Ellorindar

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:54 pm

Personally the only ones I have had experience with is Haldirs Elves and Guards of the Galadhrim court. Haldirs elves is not a bad formation, but Haldir is better as a Epic Hero rather than in this formation.
The GGC are very good for what you get, and are the bane of Warg Riders. They are the only formation in the elven list to have strength 4, but all their special rules come at a price and for two companies of the formation to come in at 265pts, they are often not worth it unless you are playing very high point games, 2000+.

Ellorindar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:41 pm **Posts:** 111

WhoelsebutHaldir wrote:

Personally the only ones I have had experience with is Haldirs Elves and Guards of the Galadhrim court. Haldirs elves is not a bad formation, but Haldir is better as a Epic Hero rather than in this formation.
The GGC are very good for what you get, and are the bane of Warg Riders. They are the only formation in the elven list to have strength 4, but all their special rules come at a price and for two companies of the formation to come in at 265pts, they are often not worth it unless you are playing very high point games, 2000+.

I think the most useful part of that formation is Orcbane personally - because a single point of strength often isn't enough to tip the roll oddly enough - whereas the Bane will definitely do so - as long as you're against orcs of course!

I have been interested in fielding Haldir's elves as well, but you're right, he is better as an epic hero. However, I think the best value for points in the elven lists (in terms of legendary formations) has to be Gildor's Household. The elves are 5 points cheaper than the equivalent wood elves with longbows, and they get the bonuses of Gildor (as a woodland spellcaster) and ambushers. The only problem I have with them is getting hold of the Gildor model!

JamesR · **Posted:** Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:43 pm

I only have limited experience in WOTR (and thats only with the Dwarves) but I like Murin's Guard. Lock shields is nice to have.

Telchar · **Posted:** Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:16 am

None? Seriously, nearly all (the Osgiliath veterans are a questionable exception) are a worse alternative then their base formation + hero.

johnny189 · **Joined:** Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:19 pm **Posts:** 88

There are some other decent ones, Sharku's raiders come to mind.

Some are really bad though (e.g. rivindell guard, they are the same as a normal cohort with captain and abnner but cost more points and cost 5 pts extra per company for a pointless rule).

Lorindol · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:30 am

If you play mordor it's really worth getting Grishnakhs trackers! For 75 points you get the special rule and 3 might to spend on it.

Plus it's just a cool model :twisted:

Harfoot · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:16 pm

The Castellans of Dol Guldur for my Mordor army, they have Indomitable, Spirit Grasp and walk and cause Terror. A bit expensive at 135 points but great against a high defense enemy with striking against the Courage.

Lorindol · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:06 pm

are they worth the pionts? special rules are pretty cool yeah!

i'm thinking about bying some but they're quite expensive. €12,50 per 2 models!!! hopefully the hobbit will have some plastic model wich i could use for this formation

Harfoot · **Posted:** Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:07 pm

Not really worth the points, but we have "house rules", one of them is you must bring a legendary formation, so I always being them

Ellorindar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:41 pm **Posts:** 111

Looking at the Mordor List, I would say that almost all the legendary formations are very good value. They each add a special rule without adding too much in the initial command company cost. There certainly aren't any MASSIVE point sinks like the elven legendary lists (aside from the Castellans - who pay those points back in their special rules and resilience 2). I like the idea of Gorbag's Morgul Rats - they have the chance to move ATD twice. Pretty great to get orcs with 2handed weaponry moving across the pitch at 21 inches per turn!

Lorindol · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:16 am

i think shagrat tower guard is pretty lame.. why would you want the berserk rule if uruks only have a defence of 4?! that means they could hit them selves with a strenght of 6.. you would need roll 3's!!!

Ellorindar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:41 pm **Posts:** 111

I wouldn't say useless. It can be helpful to have a mercenary berserker unit on hand to give the enemy pause for thought, especially at 25 points per company. Can you might up on the berserk table?

Lorindol · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:30 pm

not sure but its a good idea to save like 6 uruks none the less!

does any one have experience with the 9 nazgul formation?

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 6:34 pm

Stupidly good. Almost impossible to kill due to khamul, lord of brokenness. Fun to use, but not to play against. I usually prefer to take a couple of wraiths as epic heroes and put them in my moria formations tho.

Lorindol · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:00 pm

and the fellowship? or any other forgottenkingdoms formations?

nice topic guys!

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:34 pm

The fellowship are great, but need to be weary of taking too much damage and have to remove their dead heroes strategically. Saving Gandalf until the end so he can bring back his fallen comrades. They are incredibly fun to use and mess around with, but the problem is that all of the heroes in it are better as epics rather than in this formation.

WhoelsebutHaldir · **Posted:** Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:35 pm

Also to kill the wraith formation, I use a ton of light of the valar,epic shot, and bows to damage it.

Ellorindar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:41 pm **Posts:** 111

Looking at the nine wraiths formation, I can only imagine how much of a headache that would prove to play against. 9 Black darts would be horrendous, even with a tank like Boromir. In that instance all you can really do is fight fire with fire and utilise spells like light of the valar to the best of your ability.

I think the mirror to the nine wraiths is either the white council or the five istari (wizards). Although the five istari pack a little less punch (and cheese!) and not all the models are technically available, they're still a nice formation to really drop some hurt on the forces of evil.

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:46 am

You cannot cast 9 black darts as the Nine abroad do their magic as one, they just get a chance to do 10 in a row (providing you channel successfully)

Legendary formation discussion

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