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

Why Play The Rangers

The ranger is your favorite class in D&D and you want to keep the legacy of Arnor alive. You loved the scene during the books where the Grey Company came to help Aragorn during the battle of Pelennor Fields.

Pros

• Ranged: Your entire army can field bows since heroes do not count towards the bow limit
• Reconnaissance: Since majority of your army is Independent Heroes that leads to a lot of one drops where you can see what your opponent is placing first before you deploy your warband
• Heroes: While your Rangers of the North and Dunedain can fight independently your real strength is your heroes with access to Aragorn, Halbarad and Arathorn as well as one of the best banners in the game
• Allies: Your historical allies are The Shire and the Dead of Dunharrow which are armies that can cover your weaknesses excellently

Cons

• Numbers: Since you are an army made up of entirely heroes, while not Thorin's Company, Fellowship or White Council level of elite you will be outnumbered in games against cheaper factions
• Models: Most of your models with exception to Aragorn are old metal models, but there is a way around this. It will be covered in army building
• Durability: Even though your army is entirely heroes your Rangers of the North and Dunedain are quite squishy for their point cost with only one might, fate, and will each
• No Magic: Other than your allies you yourself can not field magic

Army Bonus

• The army bonus provides Woodland Creature to all models in this army, Rangers of the North and Dunedain benefit from the stand fast of Arathorn, Halbarad, and Aragorn, and all Rangers/Dunedain get 2 attacks having the infantry keyword.

Unit Analysis

• Arathorn: Arathorn is great choice in lower point games where you can't afford Aragorn or as a means to maximize your numbers. Low defense and 1 fate, don't expect him to move mountains. He does have heroic strike, 3 attacks, & 3 might for taking on enemy heroes.
• Aragorn: Same as other Strider choices
• Halbarad: An excellent choice, Halbarad provides a 6 inch banner that makes you fearless and Halbarad doesn't take penalties for the banner. The re-rolls are indispensable for this army since your Rangers & Dunedain will die if they lose a fight. His downside is low defense and and only 2 wounds and 1 fate. Be careful to keep him out of combats he can't win.
• Dunedain Rangers: Excellent scouts. Use these guys as your one drops to get glimpses of the enemy force and are good for smaller point games
• Rangers of the North: Rangers are almost always worth the extra points over Dunedain. The +1 defense means they are being wounded by strength 2 bows on 6's instead of 5's and they are being wounded by strength 4 on 5's instead of 4's. There are a lot of strength 2 bows in the game and there are a lot of strength 4 warriors in the game.

Building your Army

Before you start building your force you must decide whether or not you are willing to put up with an entirely metal finecast army for your heroes and both kind rangers. They do have nice poses, but they are showing their age. If you are okay with that then go ahead. If you are looking to build and paint your force quicker, then you good sir have to do one thing. BUY THE PLASTIC RANGERS OF MIDDLE EARTH KIT this will make building your force way easier and the models come with the same wargear on their models as do your own models. It is cheaper and faster this way. You can use the old models to add diversity to your list.

Allies

Historical Allies

• The Shire: Where you have a low amount of models, these guys can bring more bodies at cheaper cost. Gandalf (Hero of Valour) he is brilliant for his ability to cast blinding light to prevent your squishy Rangers/Dunedain from being massacred by armies with moderate numbers of bow wielding models. If you have Aragorn, Protection of the Valar will be useful to keep Aragorn from being shut down by enemy magic, transfix can help shut down powerful enemy heroes, compel can help set up multi charges on key targets, and sorcerous blast will send enemy heroes off their mounts to reduce their damage output. Also, Farmer Maggot for scenarios that require movement (e.g., Reconnoiter), the three hounds with 8" movement can be very useful, especially since mounting your Rangers of the North comes at the expense of the +1A from the army bonus.
• Dead of Dunharrow: You can only ally them if you have Aragorn in your army. These ghosts have a higher defence than you and can do more damage due to Blades of the Dead, King of the Dead, and they can form a nice defensive line to protect your other units.

Tactics

Key Tactics

• The army bonus is strong and you need to retain it. That leaves three ways of playing this army: a) Pure, b) allied with The Shire, or c) allied with Dead of Dunharrow, who are historical allies. The latter does limit your list building since you must take the King of the Dead and Aragorn.

• Heroic Accuracy: All of the models in this list have heroic accuracy. This can be used to snipe enemy characters. It’s best used on Aragorn with his free point of might. Otherwise, use on Arathorn/Halbarad. The Rangers and Dunedain will desperately need their might while in combat and you should generally refrain from spending their might on shooting.

• Heroic Combats: Because all models in this army list have might, you are able to stack heroic combats to increase your killing potential and gain extra movement for key positioning during the fight phase. This is how you will prevent yourself from being surrounded.

Example Army Lists

200pts

• Arathorn (Leader)
• 4 Dunedain no spears
• 1 Independent Dunedain, no spear

400pts

• Arathorn (Leader)
• Arathorn Warband: 3 Rangers of the North, no spears
• Halbarad with Banner of Arwen Evenstar
• Halbarad Warband: 3 Dunedain, no spears
• 2 Independent Dunedain, no spears

Comes to 400pts exact

• Halbarad, Horse, Banner of Arwen Evenstar
• 7 Rangers of the North
• 1 Dunedain
• Farmer Maggot & Hounds

Halbarad provides the needed 6 inch banner & fearless. He also provides strike for those F6 enemies. His horse increases his punching power. Farmer maggot provides his 3 hounds for grabbing objectives. At this point level, I don't think spears are very useful.

800pts

• Aragorn-Strider (Leader) with armor, elven cloak, bow, and Anduril upgrades
• Aragorn Warband: 7 Rangers of the North, 2 with spears
• Halbarad with Banner of Arwen Evenstar
• Halbarad Warband: 6 Rangers of the North, 2 armed with spears
• 3 Independent Dunedain, 1 armed with spear

Comes to 795pts

1000pts

• Aragorn-Strider (Leader) with armor, elven cloak, bow and Anduril upgrades
• Aragorn Warband: 9 Rangers of the North, 2 armed with spears
• Halbarad with Banner of Arwen Evenstar
• Halbarad Warband: 10 Rangers of the North, 3 armed with spears
• 4 Independent Dunedain, with no spears

Comes to 1000pts even