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 Post subject: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit)
PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:33 pm 
Wayfarer
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Hi,
I'm new to this forum and I was wondering if anyone has any good tactics for using a pure Mirkwood Elves army. Or any tips about situations to avoid when playing a pure Mirkwood force. Right now I possess this army:
Thranduil (horse and foot)
Legolas (foot)
Tauriel
6x Mirkwood Elves with glaives
6x Mirkwood Elves with bows
6x Mirkwood Elves with swords and shields
10x Mirkwood Rangers

I plan on getting another warband, namely 10 Palace Guards and two Palace Guard Captains (to use in combination with Thranduil).
I hope you guys can help me!
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 Post subject: Re: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:11 pm 
Kinsman
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I would also like to know, as I plan on starting this kind of army.
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 Post subject: Re: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:17 pm 
Craftsman
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I think, unfortunately, this is one of the Hobbit era army lists that basically adds up to how many enemy models can your heroes kill. Much like the dwarves, azogs legions, ect that have lots of huge really powerful heroes and reasonably expensive troops.
It's really hard to get your numbers because your heroes and your troops are both expensive.

These are a couple lists I like.

500 23 models, 6 might, 11 bows
Warband 1 10/12
Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm with Elk; Elf bow;
1 Palace Guard with Spear; Shield;
1 Palace Guard with Shield;
4 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
4 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;

Warband 2 11/12
Tauriel with Elf bow;
3 Mirkwood Ranger
4 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elven glaive;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;

You could very easily take Legolas here instead of Tauriel, would give you even better shooting and obviously Legolas gives you a tactical option of sniping leaders, mounts, casters, banners, ect that almost no other model does. I am not really sure which is better but I am leaning towards needing Tauriel to run in there and kill 2-3 models a turn being better then Legolas taking out specific units, maybe? Not sure.


600 points, 26 models, 6 might,

Warband 1 12/12
Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm with Elk; Elf bow;
2 Mirkwood Ranger
2 Palace Guard with Spear; Shield;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;
6 Mirkwood Cavalry with Shield;

Warband 2 12/12
Tauriel with Elf bow;
2 Mirkwood Ranger
1 Palace Guard with Spear; Shield;
4 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elven glaive;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
1 Mirkwood Elf with Banner; Elven blade;

Then at 800, 31 models, 9 might, 12 bows plus Legolas

Warband 10/12
Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm with Elk; Elf bow; 1
1 Palace Guard
3 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elven glaive;
3 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;
1 Mirkwood Cavalry with Shield;

Warband 2 9/12
Tauriel with Elf bow;
1 Mirkwood Ranger
4 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elven glaive;
2 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;

Warband 3 8/12
Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood with Elven Cloak;
1 Mirkwood Ranger
4 Mirkwood Elf with Shield; Elven blade;
3 Mirkwood Elf with Elf bow;

Warband 4 (White Council)
Galadriel, Lady of Light

These are lists that I think might be good at different point games and I know there's a lot of variability between the models and amounts per list but that is more because of what you can tetris together in the points values rather then some units being far away superior choices.
Some general things, I think the elite options in the list are useful, the Mirkwood Rangers, Palace Guard and Mirkwood Cavalry, but again they're super expensive so while you want to take as many of them as you can what that ends up meaning is where can you take 1-2 of them and not drop you're numbers drastically. I like to think of the elites as upgrades to troops rather then different units so I when I look at building I fill out the warbands with Mirkwood elves with gear then when I have extra points I see how many elites I can get in by dropping a elf with shield for a Palace Guard with shield or an elf with spear for Guard with shield or elf with bow for Ranger, ect.
I do usually try to get at least 1-2 rangers since especially at the lower points when youre pure Halls army list you can break the bow limit and I honestly do think the knife fighter rules is quite good you just have to be careful with them. I pretty much don't send them in to melee unless you can charge them into 1-3 enemies and then get a spear support behind them so you can ensure you actually have more dice then your higher fight value should carry you through.
I also really think the Mirkwood Cavalry are good, they're just really hard to fit in and since they only get their special rule near Thranduil you really can't take too many and they really have to go in his warband. On the Charge though a fight 5 elf with 3 attacks, 2 and a reroll, knocking down and getting double wounds is a great way to punch through higher defense armies or just to charge in a cut up a chunk of lower defense models out of a horde to even up the numbers they're really helpful. The banner for them is also great if they get counter charged since they can have two roll to try to win the fight.
The Palace guard are in a similar boat to the cavalry, they're good but only when near Thranduil so they really only should go in his warband and even then their best use is sitting behind and offer their fight 6 from behind a shield wall against armies like Gondor, Rohan, or Wraiths or something where their heroes cap out at f5 so you're forcing them to spend might to beat your troops in combats is pretty good but again 1-2 of them is all you need to stare down Faramir or that wraith and dare them into your line. Also good against other elf armies, since you can beat out their troops, and again potentially force their heroes to strike up.

Building your list for Thranduil's halls is especially important since its so easy to trap yourself into taking too many elites and getting swamped.

Tactics once your rolling dice are pretty similar to any of the elf lists, with the exception that your heroes will chop through tons of troops if your opponents let you. You basically want to deploy as far away as you can, scenario dependent, and shoot for as long as possible to whittle down their numbers as you will almost always be out numbered. Armies with high defense are always tough, shoot for the lowest defense targets even if they're less important. For example killing orc archers doesn't feel great when there are morannons charging you down but an orc archer is just as likely to kill your elf in a 1v1 as the morannon is and also I find that picking off the easiest targets is also good because you can break enemies faster and in that war of attrition your elves with their high courage should stick around.
Speaking of a war of attrition, elf armies tend to be pretty grinding since you start at such a big disadvantage number wise it usually feels like you're digging in your boots and trying to out last and withstand the oncoming hordes. The way to win that war is to shield as much as need be. Since your elves are so expensive per model it's really important to minimize your loses, this is of course always true but especially so with elves. When an elf is out numbered dice wise in fights, shield. You're hoping that with your higher fight value you can at least tie their dice roll and push them back, thus not risking losing your 11-16 point model to two 5 point goblins. This is how do you do not lose with elves.
How you win with elves is general, either through getting enough kills with your shoot and then once the lines crash your troops hold the lines while your heroes carve up the enemy troops. Thranduil's halls is especially good at this since Thranduil himself and Tauriel get really get into the thick of things hack through hordes of weaker models. You do have to be careful since they're reasonably low defense but when you can pick a good fight, give them a spear support go for it and take down some guys then call a heroic combat and try to leverage that swing in numbers into an advantage. I usually call 1-2 heroic with each Thranduil and Tauriel if I have them and if I have Legolas instead of Tauriel or in addition I often call one with him as well. Getting extra combats out of your heroes is one of the best ways to break through and get some wins. Again be careful to not catapult your heroes to far into enemy ranks with those heroics.
Lastly, while you're shielding with most of your troops and trying to get off a good heroic with your heroes you can be trying to set up a couple favorable combats with your other models, Mirkwood rangers are good for this as are the Mirkwood Cavalry since they can give you a baseline dice advantage. To do this you can often leave 1 elf by himself to shield against 2-3 enemies relying on that higher fight to carry your through, while taking a few of your other troops and taking one or two 3 on 1s or 2 on 1s in your favor and try to pick up a few kills there it. This won't always work and you won't always be able to manage the lines in a way to pull it off but this is where going two handed with the blades can help ect. With the Halls specifically I think you want to try to do this as much as possible since you at least have a little higher defense then most other elf armies.

Sorry for the wall of text! This one of the few armies I've actually played a decent amount with and Thranduil's Halls and the old Wood elf lists are two of my favorites! I will forever miss Thranduil's crown in the Thranduil's halls list :(

RIP the crown.

I hope it helps!

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 Post subject: Re: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 8:06 am 
Wayfarer
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Thank you so much for the tactics and the cool army lists. I will be testing them in my next games! Also I would like to thank you for taking the time to write such a huge reply to my topic!
Cheers,
Daín
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 Post subject: Re: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit
PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:01 am 
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Thank you so much!
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 Post subject: Re: Tactics for using a Mirkwood Elves army (from The Hobbit
PostPosted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 10:12 pm 
Craftsman
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Totally, yeah cheers! It's mostly theory hammering, so if you find something doesn't work by all means go for it.
They were the army I was most excited for when the hobbit stuff came out so I put some thought into it ;p

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