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

Why Play Rohan

there's 2 real reasons: You like the visuals of a mounted anglo-saxon force charging into the gross hordes of evil, and if you gotta go fast. The entire army can (and should) be mostly mounted on horses, lots of decent archers, and a nice selection of models on GW's web store, they are a good starting point for a man-based good army.

Pros

• Lots of Cavalry, meaning lots of prone enemy models and a stupidly high movement across the army
• the 'expert rider' trait on all of their mounted units makes them hard to slow down and hard to throw off their mounts.

Cons

• You have a tendency to be outnumbered by a fair margin due to the point cost of a bunch of mounted warriors
• while you have lots of throwing weapons, those will rarely be hitting on better than a 5, so don't rely on them
• A lot of our heroes tend to be standard at best, if not worse

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Theoden, King of Rohan: Theoden, like a lot of the Rohirrim characters, is cheap and versatile. With access to armoured horses and a respectable Defense of 7, Theoden makes for a solid choice of first hero. His only downside, however, is his average stat line, but his low point cost balances that out.

• Theodred, Heir of Rohan: Much like his Father, Theodred is a prime example of Rohan's characters. Standard stat line, relatively low cost, and multiple upgrades. He's less tanky than Theoden, but can start threatening enemies from much farther away thanks to his access to both a bow and throwing spears. Due to his 0 Fate, however, he tends to want to avoid close combat with other heroes or high strength enemies.

• Hama, Captain of Rohan: Hama is, interesting, to say the least. For a normal hero price you get a bog standard hero with no frills. He has no fate so wants to avoid enemy heroes, has a low fight value, and standard hero courage. What makes him interesting (and not trash) is his "King's man" ability, which lets him auto pass all courage tests if Theoden is on the board. What makes this good is his 2 might let him 'stand fast' more than once, meaning that this body guard is more of a support than an actual body guard. If you use him right, however, he can be a game changer once terror or break tests come into play.

• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark: The first of Eomer's 2 forms, as a Marshal Eomer is another standard hero available to Rohan. his stat line is nothing to right home about, though his choice of wargear is nice. Really, he should only be used in narative games because....

• Eomer, Knight of the Pelennor:' He gets even better. For a modest up-charge and the cost of giving up his ranged weapons (not a real loss), you get Eomer with an upgraded stat line, more wounds, attacks, will, and fate AND an upgraded strength when you charge. As it stands, his stat line here is the first real 'fighter' stat line we have access to.

• Eowyn, Shield Maiden of Rohan: Now you too can play with your "macbeth plot twist" but in high fantasy! at 30 points base she's one of your cheapest 'effective' heroes (more on that later), though with no base armour and only a hand weapon to speak of, she's more realistically priced at a 40 point minimum with access to throwing spears and horse. with okay M/W/F and an all around terrible stat line, she's best used as a key to unlock 12 more troop models.

• Meriadoc, Knight of the Mark: Unlike his cousin in Minas Tirith, Merry may actually have the occasional use in a list. Like Peregrin, he's a cheap 25 points base, but unlike Peregrin he has access to a shield for a nice Defense 5 and the Horn of the Riddermark, which increases the courage of all Hobbits (friend or foe) by 1. while he's nice for a hobbit list, 50 points for a hobbit hero is not cheap, so think carefully before fielding him all nice and kitted out.

• Gamling, Captain of Rohan: With a stat line that is nothing to write home about and no real upgrades beyond a horse, Gamling should only be brought for one reason: the Royal Standard of Rohan. At the cost of doubling your point value, you get the ability to regenerate might on all heroes near Gamling, which can be a game changer in the final fourth of a match.

• Erkengrand, Captain of Rohan: With the ability to make your riders better fighters, a suped up warhorn, and a solid fighter stat line, Erkengrand is one of the better names heroes Rohan has access to. Fast, tough, hard hitting, AND a solid support hero, he does it all for a fair price at that.

• Captain of Rohan: You standard captain with access to a little bit of everything for maximum variety. Funnily enough one of your better options when you look at the point total: 75 points for a hero that can and will rival most of your named men (and woman)

• King's Huntsman: An interesting choice. with a standard archer statline and an elf bow base for that glorious strength 3, the huntsman is already a solid hero, but he only gets better. the 'master archer' rule makes him pass any 'in the way' roll on a 2+ and gives him the ability to restore all his might whenever he shoots at a hero or monster. factor in his cheap price, and you have a solid hero for making your enemy sweat.

• Eorl the Young: The founder of Rohan with a faster-than-average horse and a solid hero stat line. what really makes him different from the other Rohirrim characters is his ability to be a mini-Aragorn and not spend a might on a 4+, giving him on average, 5 might instead of 3, more if you're lucky

Troops

• Rider of Rohan: Your bread and butter unit. with access to throwing spears, and a bow and horse base, riders make for an interesting core choice, though they are limited by the bow limit as rohan has no way around it.

• Rohan Outrider: better at shooting but more spooked by close combat, outriders are Rohan's ranger equivalent. They have access to horses, and get to benefit from 'stand fasts' even if they are out of range for it. They do suffer from the same problem as riders in that the bow limit severely hinders how many you could opt to bring.

• Rohan Royal Guard: passable defense, a standard stat line, access to horses, throwing spears, and the bodyguard special rule Royal guard will end up being one of, if not the most common unit in your army, though they come at the downside of being incredibly expensive fully kitted out.

• Son of Eorl: Extremely expensive at 22 points a pop, you get a cavalry troop with base 2 attacks, a higher strength than normal, and horses that go faster than the normal steed. These guys are basically baby heroes in the troop section, and probably one of the best cavalry units you have access to, assuming you find the points for them.

• warrior of Rohan: your cheapest, but most unfortunate troop. A 'standard' human stat line, though with a lower defense these guys are intended to be your normal unit, but even at their cheap point value they are greatly out performed by most other units. They are solid if you're wanting to try and swarm your enemy or are playing a certain themed battle (because helms deep is cool), otherwise go for your other troops.