The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Arnor

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Why Play Arnor

Because the bow limit is for losers, and you want to play with an army of better-than-average humans or you played War in the North and thought the place looked pretty cool. All in all Arnor isn't the best option, but it isn't the worst. They have lots of shooting, lots of heroes, but only okay troops unless you're running grey company. Which you should be. All in all Arnor is an interesting army to play, and when done right can take on forces with a much higher point value due to how mobile they can really be.

Pros

• You can functionally ignore the bow limit
• you have some of the best support heroes available to the kingdoms of men.
• Lots of spears, so you don't have to stress positioning quite as much

Cons

• Almost universally has low defense
• positioning matters a lot if you don't want to get all your great shooting locked in with enemy melee units.
• Even with a metric ton of bows, they are still only normal bows, so you will be wounding on 5-6 on everything but the softest targest.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Arvedui, Last king of Arnor: With bog-standard stats across the board and no Fate, Arvedui seems like a mediocre choice at best, that is until you look closer and see his "the king in the North" rule, which makes your army insanely hard to remove via break check once the time comes. Pair that with his low (compared to other Good armies) price and you have a solid support Hero. Just keep him away from combat as 2 wounds and attacks makes him fear every other hero who knows how to swing a sword.

• Malbeth the Seer:Much like Arvedui, malbeth hates the idea of close combat and has middle of the road stats, however this is more than made up for with one of the single best hero rules the kingdom of men have to offer. Malbeth gives every good model (not arnor model, but good. Hello Dwarfs!) a 5+ save against wounds. This makes anything stationed near him a massive pain to remove, as these sorts of saves are usually reserved for heros and the like, not your run of the mill soldiers.

• Arathorn:Unfortunately for him, Arathorn is best summed up as a discount version of his Son. He has a generic hero stat-line, and for 15 points more than a Captain, you get more courage, attacks, and Might, but at the cost of being Defense 5 instead of 7. Really, he's only good for fluffy lists, otherwise you have better options.

• Captain of Arnor:Like mentioned above: he's the baseline for Arnor heroes. with a respectable Defense value, cheap point cost, and standard "human hero" stat-line, he's not a bad choice for getting more infantry onto the table.

• Aragorn, Isildur's Heir:The second most expensive hero that the kingdoms of men has to offer (the most expensive being Aragorn, but dressed different), we get Aragorn during his time pre-LotR and while he was hunting hobbits with Gimli and Legolas. With an above average stat line, near unlimited might, and access to elven cloaks Aragorn is a force to be reckoned with. That being said: here he lack access to Anduril and is only Defence 5, so he (like the rest of the named heroes) wants to avoid getting stuck in. It's worth noting that in this form, Aragorn acts as a Banner and gives move through terrain to Arnor units, Legolas, and Gimli while they are near him.

• Elladan and Elrohir: 2 elves in a men list, with lots of upgrade options, AND for a fair price? Oh GW you spoil us! These 2, while expensive, are the most versatile option you have available to you. with Elf bows and Heavy armour for better Defence and even more great shooting, and horses and cloaks for utility there's a lot to love with these guys. Factor in their different ways to use their swords in combat, and the fact that one gets extra cranky if the other dies, they make for a solid hero choice in mid to high cost games.

• Halbarad Dunadan:Halbarad, like most of the named Arnor heroes is really middle of the road. With only Defense 5 and 1 fate he is super squishy. what really makes him shine is his access to the Banner of Arwen Evenstar, which acts as a double range banner, however this comes at the cost of doubling his point value.

• Dunedain: Dunedain are best described as Rangers of Arnor on crack. for a little over double the price you get 2 more Courage, access to M/W/F, and extra Strength. Like mentioned above, their real value comes in unlocking the ability to take as many bows as you want, making Arnor an 'iritating' army to deal with to say the least. Pair the Dunedain with a small collection of archers to use their might to get the occasional panic move away from enemies or to call heroic shots to break priority and maintain ranged superiority.

• Ranger of the North: Rangers of the North are to Dunedain, as Dunedain are to rangers of Arnor, but on a smaller scale. For 1 extra point over a Dunedain you get the same unit, but with +1 Defence. There big difference comes in that the Rangers can pay for a horse, greatly speeding them up.

important: Remember, Dunedain and Rangers of the North can ONLY have up to 4 rangers of Arnor in their warbands, and nothing else.

Troops

• Ranger of Arnor: Rangers of Arnor are the first of the 2 troops that Arnor has access to, and MAN they are a hard act to follow. 8 points for a standard human, but with a 3+ for shooting and access to a spear if need be. While on the surface they are middle of the road, they really shine when you remember that the 'grey company' rule lets you ignore the bow limit, making them one of the best troop options in the game.

• Warrior of Arnor: Higher fight than Warriors of Minas Tirith, with spear and shields these guys are one point cheaper than a Warrior of Minas Tirith with the same gear and have a higher chance of winning a fight. Oh, and their defence is the same. But this comes at the cost of having courage on par with goblins. They can be a good supporting line if you have Warriors of Minas Tirith in the front rank with shields, but otherwise, these guys will severely struggle against terror causing units or anything that requires a courage test. Still, a good supporting unit who can hold the line right up until they have to face something scary and due to their spears you won't have to rely too much on deployment as you can support like crazy. However, their models will cost you a kidney.

Allies

Arnor, like all good armies, has free range of allies, but they work best when working with other Kingdom of men armies, the Fellowship (to make use of Aragorn's buffs), or armies with Mediocre shooting like Dwarfs. It's worth noting that all the Dwarf varieties and Minas Tirith work especially well due to how well Arnor and them patch eachother's weaknesses.

Building your Army

Unfortunately, like many of the more obscure armies, Arnor is missing many of their heroes, so you'll either have to resort to conversions or scour ebay for the official models. Cirion, Madril, and Damrod from teh Minas Tirith line all make for good conversion bases for Arnor. Beyond that, the best way to get your Arnor army rolling is a box of Rangers of Middle-Earth and a box of either Rangers of the North or Dunedain by your own preference. You end up spending $39 for ~190 points, which is perfect for getting your army rolling. Beyond that, going more rangers in general is always a safe bet, and it's relatively cheap to toss in 6 or so warriors of Arnor for flavour. For getting your Rangers on horse back, it's again a case of scouring Ebay or conversions, with some clipping and greenstuff, some of the Riders of Rohan make for a good starting point.

Tactics

Arnor isn't really the most complex army to get an understanding of. Tactically they rely a lot of using your RotN/dunedain's might to relocate your Rangers of Arnor to better spots to continue pin-cushoning your enemies. Because of this, Arnor tends to clump together moreso than other armies, which is perfectly fine since every infantry model and most heroes you end up using have spears as well. Bringing a small core of Warriors to sit on objectives so your bows can have free range of movement isn't a bad idea either, just don't invest too much into supporting them beyond a hero to stand fast with them if you're worried about them breaking.