Rivendell Tactica

Introduction
Elves are an ancient race. Favoured by the valar and immortal. They are the most powerful and wise of all races in Middle-earth but are dwindling as the race of men comes to power. Of the few strong-holds that that the elves occupy is that of Rivendell. Home of the high-king of the elves, Gil-galad, it is now ruled by the wise lord Elrond after Gil-galad's down-fall in the noble battle of the last alliance. Rich is this small kingdom in colour and life equaled only by the grace of its buildings and the beauty of its people. Welcome to the Rivendell Tactica! Here I will give a few tips and tricks and all-round strategy for using a Rivendell, Eregion, or Grey havens army. I hope you enjoy reading this guide as we go through all the units and heroes a Rivendell player can field. Warriors First thing's first. The base troops and core of all Rivendell armies. These are high elf warriors. With the highest fight value and courage of any base troop in the game, these are definitely deadly. Being this dangerous comes with a price, though. They are not cheap, measuring in at 10 points per normal unit so generally your army will be rather small in numbers. Now I will come to using these nasty pointy-eared chaps. Having a defence value of 5 and elven blades is all well and good but it is often worth swapping the elven blades for shields boosting their defence to 6 which makes them twice as hard to kill by strength 3 opponents but you will lose the ability to have a two-handed weapon. One of the most effective ways to use these troops is in a long line supported by spearmen (we'll cover that later). This way they won't be surrounded as easily and your opponent won't be able to fit many models around them. Now we move onto the ranged side of things. High elf bowmen. These are some of the most feared ranged units in the game. And rightly so; a 3+ shoot value and a strength 3 bow is nothing to laugh about unless, of course, you are the player rolling the dice. In objective games, it is best to keep all these archers in a separate group from your close-combat troops where you can get into the best position and give your enemy a lot of arrows in the face. But in just open-field battles, or take-andhold battles and all other game-types where it doesn't matter if you are moving slowly, it is often worth giving these guys spears. Although this does knock there price up to a rather costly 12 points, it can come in very handy. When they have spears, keep them behind your swords-men so you can slowly progress whilst giving your archers cover (not the best cover but cover none the less) and shoulder-shooting past their comrades and when the fight-phase finally arrives, they can use their spears to support their friends making them the perfect all-round troop. Marvellous! These nasty boys are one of the coolest-looking (in my opinion) units in the game. With a mighty defence of 6, they are very hard to slay all the more when they have that superb fight value of 5. These guys can be sent in blocks to do the dirty work for your army or they can be used to support (which kind of makes their shields useless). Again, do not under-estimate the power of shielding. Having 2 fight value 5 attacks is definitely worth it if you're against the numbers and is generally more effective then rolling 1 dice and then having 1/3 or even 1/6 of a chance to wound your opponent.

Heroes and Command The classic Elf captain and banner-bearer are usually found sprinkled around an elven battle line. The elf captain, being an elf, makes him already a tough hero with a formidable fight value of 6 and another 6 in courage. However, the elven captain is not to be over-estimated. 2 attacks is not really enough to cleave a huge path through dozens of orcs but you can still give him 3 attacks by supporting him with spearmen and effectively 4 to win the fight if he is near a banner. High elf captains are very expensive compared to other captains so you usually won't be able to sensibly field more than 2 in games around 500 points especially if you are planning on taking several other heroes. The banner-bearer is a very handy tool if put in the right place at the right time. Effectively granting all your troops and heroes within 3" an extra attack, this is particularly good as all your troops will be having at least 5 in fight value. Make sure this valuable piece is safely tucked away at the back of your battle line and always keep him in contact with other troops if the worst comes to the worst so they can pick up the fallen banner. Elven storm-callers, powerful heroes if used in the right hands. This is the elven response to shamans. A good option to take rather than a captain, he has a healthy stock of will and access to a couple of great spells. Many players will look at the storm-caller's first spell, call winds, and say: "What the heck is the point of this stupid spell? It doesn't even do damage!" but that's where a lot of players would be wrong. Call winds is a very under-estimated spell which has many uses. It can be used to throw enemy banner-bearers out of the picture depriving the enemy troops of a valuable bonus for a turn or two. It can also be used to thrust an enemy hero away (your opponent probably won't bother to resist 'such a rubbish' spell) and then if the enemy is broken, then the hero will probably be too far away to give his troops Stand Fast!. It can even be used to push a valuable enemy model into a chasm or off the board or to push an enemy hero out of the way so you can follow up with nature's wrath the next turn without any fear of having it be resisted. Nature's wrath is a very, very mean spell if used at the right time. The ability allowing you to have a rock-hard shield wall enemy troops all bowled over to the ground is indeed invaluable. Although you must be careful how you use him, a careless spell or an unwise charge can render this guy useless (or dead).Erestor is a reliable side-hero. With a very tough defence of 7 and an inevitably high fight value of 6, he can prove deadly on the table. He can reliably lead your troops and stay alive for a very long time thanks to his high defence and 3 fate points. His only real weakness is a lack of might and low (for an elf) courage though he is still very fairly priced for such a hero. Again, do not toss him into a fight with a lot of orcs hoping he will muller them all, a lot of my elven heroes have died by overestimating them. He is best used to thin out enemy numbers and can reliably kill one or two orcs a turn.Cirdan is one of the (if not the) most defensive heroes available to the good side. His rules (I thought so too) look very unattractive and thus he is not used much however he can prove his worth though it is difficult to do so as he requires rather a lot of skill to use. He only has defensive spells so he can be used to defend your troops with blinding light or if there happens to be a terrifying creature(s) around he can use aura of command to make all units within 6" to pass courage tests. But his most useful (and hardest to cast) spell is aura of dismay, if fighting low-courage enemies like orcs you can virtually pick your charging targets without fear of being charged back. But remember not to get him stuck in a fight because he will likely lose (even with fight 6).Gildor is a very balanced hero. An able spell caster, stealth hero, or just plain leader all built into one macho chunk of elf flesh. As he is so balanced, you can use him in nearly any situation. He is also affordable so you can fit him in most games. He lacks might, though, so it is probably worth including a captain as well to give you that little extra might. Arwen is a cheap and efficient hero. She is not suited to close-combat so it is best to keep her out of any fights including more than 1 more enemy because she can fall very quickly due to her low defence but she does have

a fate point if things get ugly. Another elven hero with nature's wrath, it is a very powerful spell as I mentioned earlier. Just because she is weak in combat doesn't mean that she makes a bad leader. Courage of 6 helps her keep troops in line. She can be mounted on Asfaloth so she can pretty much keep up with anyone (unless you put her in a great eagles army). If you are low on points she is the cheapest, named elf hero available so she can be a good choice. Arwen's twin brothers, Elladan and Elrohir. These two are astonishingly good for their points' worth. 6 might, 4 wounds, 6 attacks (if they wield two swords) is their combined stats and all for 140 points! It is usually a good idea to give them both heavy armour as defence 5 is quite fragile for such heroes. These guys are normally played with in different parts of the army where more troops will benefit from their heroic actions and Stand Fast!. However, it is often a good idea to bring them together if there is a tough hero or monster which you are struggling to bring down. The legendary power-house, Glorfindel is one hero which you wouldn't like to mess with. If fielding this fine hero you will likely get a lot of groans from your opponents most sounding rather like "Oh, (confined), Glorfindel." or they will probably just stare down the table, silent. Glorfindel is truly a hero to be feared. With a healthy stock of heroic stats and an amazing fight value which make him perfect for downing trolls and uber enemy heroes. Don't be afraid to get Glorfindel into a lot of fights but do not let him go too from your battle line because otherwise he will be surrounded and when he eventually doesn't roll a 6 you can start praying for a lot of high fate-rolls. There are two great upgrades which you can give Glorfindel. You can either upgrade him to Glorfindel Lord of the West who is resistant to magic and has +1 defence which is very useful if your opponent is casting a lot of low-required spells like drain courage on him. Or can mount him on the noble steed, Asfaloth, which makes him very scary to face indeed but (and that's a big but) keep him at the back of your army until your army gets into combat otherwise your opponent will just shoot his horse from under him and you will have wasted 10 points. Anyone been noticing the build-up of heroes yet? Gil-galad is one of the most powerful heroes available to the good side. He has the highest fight value available to any good hero (or troop for that matter) and has a great defence of 7 (or even 8 if you give him a shield!). And if all that isn't enough, he gets plus 1 to wound everything, this paired up with his insane fight value makes him the ultimate monster slayer. You can even put him against the Dark lord himself on even terms! His only real weakness is 1 fate point but this is easily countered if you give him a shield knocking his defence up to 8. Gil-galad is best used as an epic leader. He can very capably carve a path through orcs (only needing 3+ to wound most of the time) but again, don't let him be surrounded and always keep him supported by spearmen and a banner. And if things go pickleshaped in the end, you can use one of his many might points to just give him that edge although you will rarely be surrounded as he causes terror (just like Glorfindel, Elrond, Gildor and several other elf heroes). He also has a 12" Stand Fast! so you will find that not many of your troops at all will be running (not that they would be in the first place). He is a very good choice as your army leader and only for 140 points which is not much for such a hero. Here we have the icon of Rivendell, Elrond. He is a very balanced hero, a spell-caster as well as a killing machine. Elrond, like many of the other elf heroes we have seen, has very impressive stats. On top of this, he can re-roll fate-rolls which is surprisingly useful. He has nature's wrath as well and is fully capable of using it to its best, or if that doesn't suit you, he can restore wounds on friendly heroes with renew. His only down side is his price tag. 170 points is a lot to pay for one hero so don't be counting on including many more in an army involving him. In battle, make sure he stays away from Nazgul (unless he is capable of getting into combat with it, of course) as a well-cast sap will can really cripple him. Other than that, use him similarly to the other heroes which have been mentioned. One note, though, if you have a lot of points, it can be a good idea to include Gandalf in that army. Not only is this still very thematic, it is also useful. Gandalf can cast Strengthen will on

Elrond if he runs low on will and if either of them suffer wounds, Elrond can cast renew with the will which he gained from Gandalf to heal either one of them. Doing this can keep your heroes alive for much longer. Finally, we have Elrond, Master of Rivendell, just as tough a customer as the previous Elrond just with a lower defense and some awesome special rules chucked in there as well to compensate. Elrond, Master of Rivendell is just as good as normal Elrond but with a lower defense which makes him a little less consistent in combat but still formidable to say the least. He has a very nice special rule that allows you to modify priority rolls. This can be particularly handy if you have allied in cavalry as it can get you priority on those vital turns where the cavalry has to charge. As well as this you will notice that he has the same spells as the normal Elrond except he has an even nastier variation of nature's wrath (yes it is possible). As well as knocking the enemies over, it inflicts strength 2 hits on all of them as well. This may not sound much but if you think about the amount of models this can affect it can be devastating. But there is a little detail. These hits are increased to a staggering strength 8 if the target is in a river, stream or something similar. Of course your sensible opponent knowing that this can happen will strongly avoid rivers which you can take to your advantage and create a river into a very useful holding or barrier spot. Use him as other elven heroes with the inclusion that you need to be slightly more careful with him because of his low defence. Allies Here are a few of the famous allies which you can add to a Rivendell army whilst still keeping a good theme. Numenoreans. These are inexpensive as to complement high elves and they share the blessing of high fight value. Although there is no variety in the Numenorean army list for troops, they can still be added to a Rivendell army without losing any "flavour". These are best used in shield walls (much like Gondor) and are tough when doing so. These troops are great to knock up your troop count and are also very thematic to take in a Rivendell army. A solid, reliable hero, Isildur is an excellent choice especially in small-sized games. With strong all-round stats, for only 100 points, he nearly always plays his points' worth. He is also simple to use so even for beginners he is a good choice. Elendil has the highest fight value and joint highest defense of any human hero in the game. Capable of calling a heroic fight for free every turn, he can literally shred through dozens of orcs. And generally you should keep him in multiple combats so as many models as possible can benefit from his heroic fights. He is probably not a good choice in small games, weighing in at 165 points. But in large games where you have the points to spend, he can prove unstoppable. The grey company are also a thematic option to take with Rivendell. The only force that does not have an archer limitation, these are perfect if you are looking for more shooting force in your army. Rangers are good to work with elves as they (once again) have a high fight value like the elves and have shooting good enough to match them. However, if you wish to have no archer limitation for your rangers, you're going to have to include some Dunedain as well. These are closer to shock-troops than minor heroes but they can do the work of both. In a grey company army, you will find that you're going to end up with a lot of might from all the Dunedain which gives you a lot of flexibility and options. But just remember that all rangers have low defence so try not to get them into combat with strong enemies (like Isengard uruk-hai) or you will see them all kicking the bucket with alarming speed. Cheap and effective heroes, both stocked up with might, Arathorn and Halbarad make good leaders in a grey company army. With 3 might each and neither of them weighing above 75 points, they can be used in small games as well as large. A good option to give Halbarad is the Banner of Arwen Evenstar which will ensure that your troops are as brave as they can possibly be (very useful when playing with Arnor, but that's another story). Arathorn is a hero

between a captain and an uber-hero and so is reliable and you can count on him felling a couple of orcs each turn but remember that none of them are invincible. Be careful not to get them into risky fights as they have relatively low defence and thus aren't as endurable as, say, Isildur. Often called the best hero available to the good, Aragorn is an incredibly powerful hero. With excellent all-round stats and a free might point every turn, he is capable of near anything. And things don't just stop there, if you give him the mighty blade, Anduril, he is capable of wounding anything on a 4+ (even Sauron). This makes him excellent in taking out tough heroes and monsters (though their fight value may be better than his). His free might point, though, is usually considered his best 'feature'. You will find this very useful when you pair him up with cavalry as he'll be able to call a heroic move every turn for free. But being one of the most powerful heroes in the game in-turn makes him one of the most expensive. 175 points to 260 points is a lot to spend so I suggest using him in >600 points to get maximum effect from him. Gandalf has always been a friend to Rivendell and is accounted as one of the most wise in all of Middle-earth. In gaming terms, Gandalf is a very powerful spell-caster with the unique spell; strengthen will. He is good for many things, you can use him to protect your archers with cast blinding light or you can use him to break a tough enemy formation with sorcerous blast. On top of this, you can mount him on Shadowfax to get him where you need him when you need him. Another powerful wizard. Radagast is in many ways the perfect magic caster to ally with elves. Able to move full speed through woodland and counting as having an elven cloak, he complements elves in many ways (especially wood elves). Although he isn't as directly powerful as his fellow wizards, he is definitely worth his points and he is also armed with renew and aura of dismay which makes him good for defensive tactics. He as well has a unique magical power; panic steed which will make a mess of cavalry. Saruman was the greatest of wizards before his fall. His power came with pride which led to greed and the lust for more power which eventually led him down the path of the Dark Lord. An excellent choice to take with Rivendell, Saruman is arguably the best spellcaster available to the good side. With extended ranges for his spells and the ability to effortlessly immobilize, he can easily render an enemy hero useless. And once all enemy heroes are disposed of, you can sorcerous blast enemies which, if used at the right time, can kill lots of enemy guys. Ents are the main monsters you'll be using in any elf army (except eagles, perhaps). As well as being great killing-machines, they can take out heroes equally well as they will nearly guaranteed have the higher fight value and they will wound them easily as well. Ents are also excellent siege engines, able to smash down walls with thrown rocks or with their sturdy limbs. The only thing you will want to watch out for when using an ent is magic. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to stop an ent being transfixed so keep them a good way away from evil spell-casters. Of course, you could counter this by using Treebeard as he has plenty of will, but being more expensive than even Elrond, you'll have to use him in large games to receive his proper benefit. All in all, not bad for an old tree!

Tactics
I will now come to the tactics part where I will give a few tips, tricks, and tactics. The Bottle-Neck Models required: banner-bearer (not essential but preferable), some high elf warriors (preferably with shields), some spear men, and (optional) a combat-designed hero This is a tactic that requires to pieces of terrain close together preferably no wider than about 8""-10". The aim is to get a good few models to "plug" the gap with a banner at the rear

giving support. Have the swords-men in front and the spear-men in the back and the hero (if he's there) in the middle somewhere. Now the enemy won't be able to fit more than 2 models (if he's lucky) on each troop plus spears. The plan is to keep the shield wall straight and complete so don't let your hero go away onto some crazy slaughtering exhibition as that will leave a gap where the enemy can seep through and you'll be in some very hot water. The main purpose of the hero is to keep your troops in the game if you're broken and to put some of the extra weight of numbers onto himself. If performed correctly, you should end up with a very tough little shield wall with 2 (3 if you took the banner) fight value 5 attacks which not many enemies will break through. Also, having the shields will allow you to shield if you are badly against the numbers and it will also make your troops twice as hard to kill by strength 3 enemies (as I mentioned before). A note of advice, this tactic will not always last forever, e.g if the gap is between two fairly short bits of ruin your opponent would be able to climb over the ruins and he'd be on you in the rear within about 2 turns which is why you will need some backup to counter this and to fill up casualties.

The woodland noob Models required: Anything with woodland creature, some archers, and optionally something with might (also with woodland creature) This is a pretty nasty tactic which requires quite a lot of wooded difficult terrain. Get a good few models in a large chunk of wood, sprinkle them around fairly evenly. This a effectively taunting your enemy to come and get you which he will eventually be obliged to do as you will almost certainly have the superior shooting. When he comes into the woodland you will easily be able to outmaneuver him , you can move as far as him and still shoot so you can take pot-shots at him without much fear of return fire. For combat you can charge him at your leisure as he will not have enough move-rate to reach you. Use this to take easy pickings of your enemy. If you lose priority the turn after you charged call a heroic move and move back out of charged range (this is how this tactic has earned its name) and then next time you lose priority, charge into them again and take some more easy pickings . Continue repeating this process until you have knocked the enemy down to manageable numbers and then make a big charge and butcher them all. A clever opponent with a lot of models will just make a big circle around the forest and then slowly compress your troops in a lasso fashion. The way to counter this is to leave some of your troops outside the forest that can counter this. Attack the enemy in the rear and as they do that, try and break through a part in the circle and escape and then have a good few turns of shooting leisure and easy pickings as your enemy tries to regroup. If you are not feeling confident enough to try this then as soon as you sense your opponent to trying to perform this just try and escape ASAP. If your opponent has absolute heaps of troops he may try and send a small contingent to deal with your guys outside the forest. If this happens try and flank him and make a super-quick getaway like mentioned earlier using a combination of heroic moves and heroic combats. This tactic is even more devastating and irritating if using wood elves but I'll come to that in another article. This is also the best way (in my opinion) to counter cavalry as they will lose all their charging bonuses in difficult terrain and they can only move speed through it. The angry mamma nature

Models required: something with nature's wrath and some archers (and troops, obviously) As you can see in the requirement, you'll be pulling off nature's wrath in this, frankly, not particularly kind tactic. You'll have your typical shield-wall with your caster at the back. You should be facing the enemy's main formation (presumptively just a shield-wall with a hero somewhere in the middle of the front) and stay just out of charge-range of the enemy. Hopefully the enemy will be moving full speed towards you because you should be peppering him with archery forcing him to get into combat. The caster should be in line with the enemy hero and slightly on the flank where you are trying to cast. Wait until a turn when you lose priority then move as many warriors as you can to the extreme flank which you chose and cast Nature's wrath trying to hit as many as possible without knocking the enemy hero over as he might be able to resist it. Hopefully, this will knock a lot of models over and then try to engage all of them whilst they're on the floor. You will obviously have a massive advantage but this will probably only last one turn unless you split up your force so the other bit was tying up the rest of the enemy in combat. This tactic can also be used to down trolls (though troll chieftains will be harder as they have will). General tips for Rivendell Always, always max out your archer limitation (unless you've figured out a good army and can't fit any more archers in without ruining it) for Rivendell and you will find that you didn't regret it but don't be afraid to get them into combat when there isn't much shooting to do (they still count as having hand weapons). I usually use them as a flanking force for shooting any supporting enemy troops and to give me an extra punch in combat. Use terrain! The use of terrain has won me a lot of games for elves. You'll normally want to fight the enemy in as compressed areas as possible where the enemy won't be able to get many troops in at a time. And make sure your troops are supported. This won't work against Isengard or any other force with pikes or vault wardens for that matter but it would work against any other dwarves as they have no other spears. When deploying terrain (if you do it in your games) try and stuff as much woodland as possible in the middle of the board as this will give you a significant advantage. I've said it once and I've said it twice and now I am saying it the third time. Give those high elves shields! A 5 or a 6 is really to easy to kill someone who is worth 10 points. Also shielding will come in very handy as you will often be outnumbered. In elf armies, be very careful how you use your might as you will normally not be able to get very much as elf heroes are traditionally expensive. Do not waste might on killing another guy because "every little helps" to quote Tesco's, but use it for the important stuff like wounding tough enemy heroes and calling heroic actions. With your tough elf heroes, do not be afraid to call a heroic combat as this is the thing that elf heroes flourish in. Gilgalad or Glorfindel on Asfaloth are excellent at shredding through enemy ranks. This is amazingly useful if you want to get to a pesky Nazgul at the back of the enemy battle line or a banner that is proving useful to the enemy. Or, if you are feeling confident and you have some support, just use them to get into more combats as this will disrupt the enemy formation. This will get you much more kills than using a might point to kill an extra orc. Be very careful not to use too many heroes. You may see a lot of Gondor forces with lots of heroes but they have relatively cheap warriors and heroes so they can afford it. You normally shouldn't do this as you want to spend a lot of points on as many troops as you can get as high elves are expensive so you still want to get a decent amount of troops. As

a rule of thumb, never use more than 1/3 of your maximum points on heroes unless you're planning on allying a lot of fairly cheap troops. Watch out for cavalry, they hurt a lot when they smash into your expensive and extremely-not-expendable troops. Always go for the enemy cavalry first with your archers even if they're just a small pack of warg riders. This is the best way to counter them. If they try and use the "Hammer and Anvil" tactic on you, keep the archers on the flanks to intimidate them and to try and stall the enemy "hammer" for a while whilst your core of warriors will be dealing with the probably larger block of infantry which will be making up their anvil. A well timed heroic combat from a strong hero can really butcher cavalry here. Nature's wrath will hurt the cavalry even worse, the nastiest way to deal with cavalry, though, is to use the woodland noob tactic as that will completely rob them of all their advantages. Do not waste half your move so you can volley, a shoot value of 6 is rubbish and you'll get 4 times as few kills as you will normally. Instead, get them into normal range ASAP. This is an exception if the enemy has a lot of vulnerable troops tightly hidden away behind their lines. Instead of taking 2000 in-the-way rolls, it may be better to volley him instead especially if he plays an important roll in the victory conditions.