So I am considering attending NOVA next year and while considering the prospect, I am considering the hero-only event. Helm's Deep being one of my favourite scenes, I figured it would only be fair to consider that theme. I am not very experienced with named characters nor much magic but I have a year to prepare.

Below I have provided a list of the characters and their equipment that I am considering for the theme.

Pool of Characters
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List 1
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Hey, You Have My Sword!
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Aragorn, Isildur's Heir w/ Elven Cloak
Legolas w/ Armour
Gimli, son of Gloin
Haldir, Defender of Helm's Deep
Theoden w/ Heavy Armour, Shield
Gamling, Captain of Rohan w/ Royal Standard of Rohan
Gandalf the White
(865/905)
Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark w/ Shield, Throwing Spears
(950/1000)

The idea between this list is to have the core characters involved in a way that also grants buffs every which way. This list is inspired by the film.
- Aragorn grants Banner Re-rolls to Legolas, Gimli, and Haldir and they form the infantry core that can shoot 3 bows (5 shots) at the enemy cavalry/casters.
- Gandalf leads the men of Rohan in their glorious charge + Theoden/Gamling.
- Gamling provides a Might outlet depending on the situation.

There is redundancy in banner re-rolls between Gamling and Aragorn to keep the fights in my favour. The infantry can ignore terrain, mostly, so they can open new fronts on the enemy.

Weak links: Theoden exists because why not, but other than his banner/courage bonus for Haldir, he can be used as an auxiliary. Though I suspect I will go full-fluff and have him be the general if Aragorn/Gandalf do not take it. I do not know how well I can handle wraiths or magic in general but hopefully that is something that Gandalf is good at. I do not expect the bow fire to offer much other than forcing melee opponents to come to me or to dismount horses.

If I do not take any mounts, I can throw in Grimbold/Hama with little effort.

Thoughts, input, critique, kind words?

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- Wild
Battle Companies Developer

(CE) Battle Companies 2016 Edition

Hello! First of all Deadliest heroes is a great event! Its so much fun being able to use all the stuff you like to, and some stuff you never ever get to use because in a points match game its too much or not great. That being said, there are tough armies out there.

I ended up playing on top table, but lost by 3-4 vps this year at Nova. A couple different choices/rolls and I believe I had a chance. And from my experience, from what I saw, here are the tips I can give you:

-You need more mobility. Like any....I dont see any horses on your guys. That needs to change.

-Magic. Youre severely limited and most games probably Gandalf will not be worth his points.

Going on with these points, I played vs 9 Ringwraiths and Sauron in just3 games.....Two minimum per game. Gandalf will be a hugely costed 1 will per turn model, and you will be outrun and outgunned with magic. Your heroes will be immobilized.

-Monsters. You have none. You dont necessarily need any, but I personally believe you do. If you play a player with equal talent level to you, with fell beasts, he has a huge advantage over you.
Even an army of trolls/monsters will be brutal...

Imagine facing an army of ents who you struggle to wound but can hurl, double strike, rend, etc

One last thing-Gamling and bowfire. Gamlings banner is basically a waste of points here. It affects two models in your army.As for your bow shots.....dont put too much faith in them. You're going to be wounding almost everything you come up against on 6's and 6's by fours.

Basically when it comes down to it.....you're playing a fluffy army.


Let me say this:

When it comes down to it, if thats what you want to do, its a lovely army. Im just giving you an idea of what you have to fight against.

But if you want to not keep yourself at a disadvantage, I find your army is doing you a disservice.

I dont think there is a way to make it fluffy and competitive for Helms Deep.

Let me know if you had any other thoughts.



If I had a change to do a good guys two towers/Helms Deep theme, I would do the following:

Aragorn with horse and other upgrades
Legolas mounted
Gimli
Eomer KOTP
Gandalf the white(if you really need the white one for theme)
Treebeard
and something else added

Not sure what, but thats a tighter army, with mobility, a monster thats super hard to kill in normal games, and some magic.

But man......its obviously not as themed. I dont know what else to say.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Oh yes, thank you! It seems the fate of Helm's Deep Party-Crew is a dark one, but I can always be that guy who has the themed list. I'd only be looking to have a blast anyways haha.

As for the mobility, I made it unclear, but the list I proposed is 1000 points and includes horses on half of the party. Gandalf and Rohan Bros have horses. Since isildur's heir does not have an option for horse I gave him elven cloak instead.

I forgot that Gamling's banner only helps his faction, if I shed him then I am at 900 points. I don't have a banner-model for him anyways. I have everyone else though.

Sauron is scary... I also own Sauron as of a recent ebay purchase so that is a possibility, I just do not have any ringwraiths to hangout with him except the Witch-King and a broken wraith-horse model.

Do I need to watch out for Mumakil too? Are they allowed? I do not think I saw anything saying they weren't.

If I play Good, for magic am I resorting to elves and unnamed casters? If I level up the party to RotK and have the Black Gate version of the crew, is that any different?

_________________
- Wild
Battle Companies Developer

(CE) Battle Companies 2016 Edition

You would have fun with this list and it would be themed in a lovely way. If only Deadliest Heroes had prizes for best theme too....

Yeah...Idk about the fate of them, but its a tough army.

The fact that they have horses is much better at least!

If I were you I would replace Gamling with Erkebrand and Eowyn for extra might, basically an almost fearless army(so many -1 courage wraiths) and then you have a list.

I thought Erkenbrand must have come with Eomer to reinforce. I cant imagine a captain of the westfold didnt come back to help the king.


As for a mumak they shouldnt be allowed. Its not a hero anyway.

Going on with a beefed up black gate force....that could be interesting.

Aragorn the King wounding everything easily on 4's is it? Faramir decked out with a lance, Eomer KOTP, and others.

As for magic, the vanquishers of the necromancer are a tough group for evil to deal with.
All Sarumans are very good.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

I also recall there being a "What If?" scenario guide being released in one of the White Dwarf Issues I have.... stuff like "What if Saruman joined/lead the party because Radagast found the Palantir instead and what if Faramir was sent in place of Boromir".

So if I were to totally derail Helm's Deep, then that could be something indeed...

Black Gate:
(Faramir never went, he had a date to go on)
Aragorn, King Elessar w/ Armoured Horse
Gandalf the White w/ Shadowfax
Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth w/ Armoured Horse, Lance
Eomer, Knight of the Pelennor w/ Armoured Horse
Gwaihir
Legolas w/ Armour, Horse
Gimli

this puts me at 1115 points.. so I suppose I'd have to leave someone behind. It makes the most sense to have Legolas on horseback with Gimli but just never let the poor dwarf see action. That puts me down to 25 points over.. Which costs people horses. Perhaps the eagle bites the dust and someone gets an elven cloak...

Also, would I have to watch out for people bringing 40 Rangers of the North?

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- Wild
Battle Companies Developer

(CE) Battle Companies 2016 Edition

I'm extremely tired as I just finished a new game and it's 1 in the morning. I will go into it tomorrow for either but for now what I have to say is that Gandalf the White just take so many points up hopefully he will be cheaper by Nova next year.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY