I am going to my first tournament next month and probably the first tournament to be held in Canada in many years.

I would like to bring a high elf army, along with Gildor and his exiles in a warband. Obviously want it to be competitive.

So if I could get some advice and some brain storming on what to bring that would be great help!

So you cannot ally in Rivendel knights led by their appropriate hero? That's messed up, as it's part of the game.

For a 550 points force I'd start with this

Gil-galad w/shield
6x High Elves w/shield
6x High Elves w/ spear

Gildor
6x Wood Elves w/ WE spear
6x Wood Elves w/ WE spear and bow

Arwen w horse
3x High Elves w/ Elf Bow

Should be 550 exactly!

It's a solid force that's well rounded and can do a lot of shielding when need be. Allying in some knights would be ideal IMO but this would be a good second option

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Nevermind, I misread and there was a typo in the description. So I can bring the rivendell knights which I have 6 of (including the captain). I was thinking about elrond leading the knights but He's just too expensive I feel.

That makes things more interesting now, what you think would work best now?

You definitely want a big hero, like Gil-Galad or the twins, and you almost definitely don't want Gildor. He's just garbage. His 8" move and that he can have wood elves in his warband are about the only things he's got going for him, tbh. He's a hero designed for combat who you don't want to be in combat because his low defence, might and fate make him a liability in my experience.

Although being able to bring wood elf archers would help in saving points a lot. From having a full warband of them (which you would at 750 ish and upwards), it saves you enough points to be able to take a banner.

I would recommend if you want gildor that much.

High elves 550pts

Warband 1
Gil Galad with shield and Horse (use your knight captain hes like an inch close to be like gil Galad) just make sure you paint him properly and maybe change a bit the spear
3 high elves king´s guard with spear and shield
3 high elves king´s guard with shield and elven blade

warband 2
Gildor
5 wood elves with spear
7 noldorin exiles with bow and spear

warband 3
Erestor with elven cloak
4 high elves with spear and shield(1 with hand weapon)

550


Got less 5 models than JamesR list but a bit nastier in melee

I take advantage of Gil Galad and giving him an horse which makes him turn out into even more beasty like to fight. aeglos will basically count as a lance but unlike other lances, it also gets the benefit even if charged by.
Also being on horse he can go pick fights quicker.
Hes following by his personnal bodyguard and why I payed that extra point?
- well 3 front rank with blade 3 second rank spear both D6 which is harder to cut to pieces, also they can match mot of the nasty heroes in melee like aragorn and even monsters like cavetrolls. meaning half of em got blades, this will balance even fights in same fight value greatly to your side.

Warband 2
Gildor warband its a supportive warband, hes good enough to deal with stuff in melee although I gave the bow users the upgrade for noldorin exiles.
Why I did that?
- you can move half your movement (4") which wont hinder much the 1st rank that moves 6" a turn, so instead you can keep an almost good pace as dwarves or goblins and still shoot.
Gildor since hes using cloak, he can stay behind line and cast cheap paralize spells (can prove usefull to paralize something nasty before gil galad thorn it to shreds)

Warband 3

Another supporting line, they are made more of those elven warriors instead of kig´s guard, these are more for filling up points and getting some numbers and extra bodies to count. I did choosen Erestor for this warband as his major role is to cut down infantry. Despite just having 1 might, do not underestimate his noldorin daggers, in most cases I found em more usefull than actually spending might points to increase the roll to wound something, like D7 foes. This guy will give you some nice manouvers in terms of wounding stuff. I also gave him cloak so you can escort him safely into the battle lines.
Oddly enough, Erestor is also hard to crack, having an high defence of 7, combined with 2 wounds and a impressive amount of 3 fate, this guy can hold a beating for a round or 2 even against sturdy and nasty foes. (choose wisely when to spend his might point) In case he decide to win fight against equal fight skill foes, just use his elven blade for that effect to balance fights more on your favour or if hes being part of a fight with gildor or Gil Galad, simply turn him into 2 handed option, always attractive :P

Since they gave you lists with Gildor, Ill suggest what I would do in your shoes without Gildor....I dont like him. I think hes not worth the points.

Warband 1
Knight Captain

6 Knights with shield

Warband 2
Gil Galad on armored horse with shield
8 high elves spear and shield
3 high elves with bow, 1 with spear as well

550, 5 might, 10 bows.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

I only put Gildor in as the OP wants him.

Don't take Gil-galad on horse unless you bring Knights, the extra room to be based isn't worth it with one fate. And the temptation to run him ahead isn't a good thing

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Then run with Glorfindel, its 5pts cheaper

Yeah I was being lazy cause Im sick but OP I meant to say, take Gil Galad and roll around with the knights, and use the regular on foot elves as the shield was distraction as the enemy closes in.

Then shoot and charge the enemy flanks and soft targets with all the cav.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

There's no problem with having a mounted hero in an all infantry army. You just have to make sure that you keep them in cover out of sight of archers behind terrain, or if that isn't possible, then behind your own troops at least. And if you are playing against a good army, try to get so that their troops are between you and their archers, then they can't shoot you either.

For 550, I'd go with
Gil-Galad, armoured horse, shield (leader)
12 High Elf Warriors with shields

Elladan and Elrohir, heavy armour
3 High Elf Warriors, spears, shields
8 High Elf Warriors, elf Bows

It's not a problem if you're disciplined and I see very few disciplined LOTR players. On the channel or in person

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But you just have to assess your chances. Unless your opponent has left his leader open to Gil-Galad or something, then you absolutely no reason to charge ahead. You'd have to be a complete idiot to charge one man (or elf whatever) against a whole army.

you also know what the horse do to Gil Galad right? other than his combat bonus stuff..... since gil Galad got 1 fate and despite the area he cover as base is greater, it provides random splitting shooting vs shooting weapons, it willl favour Gil Galad if the horse itself intercept shooting towards the character. He can dismount his horse at any point during the movement anyway so actually no hinder on that.

And yet I see this all the time lol.

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Then the guys who you are doing this are either don't know how to use their army properly or are just a bit thick.

James and LordElrond I respect both your opinions even though I disagree with you both about certain things; as you would my opinion.

James is right that there are very few educated lord of the rings/hobbit players....

He mentioned he sees very few disciplined players while playing or in the channel. Its absolutely true.

In person.....hell......a lot of players are happy to play the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit. And sadly, dont care if they get destroyed. On the other hand...I go to tournaments here and see fellows who love Tolkein and can also play well.

In terms of the channel....most of the games are one sided....James, you are 100% correct about the channel. Most games with the randoms there involve people who have no clue about what theyre doing or put together fluff armies that are destroyed. I prefer to watch the tournaments.


@LordElrond yeah...they are thick. Thats what James is saying about them.

Youre here on the site...and we're in the army section. Imagine playing in a random tournament on this site with people from every section.....

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

To be specific I see people all the time jumping on a momentary tiny advantage that causes later problems as opposed to being disciplined and passing up a momentary advantage to instead gain a larger one.

When lines crash and each side has models back away and you win priority don't charge in haphazardly, reform your line to prevent models from being trapped etc. I see people abandon their formations all the time and end up getting units seperated and trapped

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hmmm Decisions Decisions. I just feel with gildor and the wood elves it just gives a list more variety to a quite varietyless High elf army (warrior wise). But if the majority think he is not good, I'll definitely have to reconsider.

the only real restriction to these possible lists is mounted gil-galad. I do not have the model or time/money to convert him before this tournament unfortunately .

Also matches are only an hour and 15 minutes, this seems a bit short. So could that come into play when deciding the list and most certainly playing for the objectives. I've never played a timed game before so just curious.