500 Under 50: Lothlorien

Dave: I've always seen Elves as an expensive army, mostly because of the Rivendell High Elf Warriors that'll set you back just short of £20 for a mere 4 models. I'm not big on Elves myself, so I never had the need to look into them further, I just saw 1 pack of costly models, and I let that form my whole opinion of the price of all Elves. 

Well, someone suggested to me on Reddit I should have a look into Lothlorien, and boy, this is going to be my first list that actually gets to under £50, even if you buy it all direct from Games Workshop!

The list is built around Haldir and his company of Elves who come to the aid of Rohan during the Battle of the Helms Deep... With Celeborn thrown in, just because he comes in the same pack as Haldir!

For this list you will need:

Haldir and Celeborn - £15

1 box of Galadhrim Warriors - £26 for 24 models.

Total cost: £41

The list is as follows;

Celeborn with Heavy armour, Shield and Elven Made Hand-and-a-Half Sword. 

6 Galadhrim Warriors with Swords.

6 Galadhirm Warriors with Spears and Shields.

Haldir with Heavy Armour, Elven Bow and Elven Cloak. 

8 Galadhrim Warriors with Elven Bows.

2 Galadhrim Warriors with Swords.

2 Galadhrim Warriors with Spears and Shields.

480 points, 26 Models

This list clocks in at 480 points, leaving you with 20 points in change, so to speak. This could be spent by dropping the Cloak on Haldir in favour of giving one of your Spear-Elves a banner if you fancy doing some converting, or just adding a couple more Elves if you can source them from somewhere. Of course, there's still £9 of the £50 budget left, so you could check out eBay or your local Buy/Trade group on Facebook. I won't go into the extra £9 here, since there are few things Games Workshop sell for that price, though you can get a pack of 3 Wood Elf Sentinels for £8.20! However adding something like a Wood Elf Sentinel would spoil the theme of the list somewhat (Celeborn not withstanding!). 

The list should be fairly self explanatory in terms of using the Galadhrim Warriors effectively. The Swords and Spears want to get to combat and let their solid Fight Value put in as much work as possible, meanwhile, the 8 Archers can help soften up targets from a distance.

Haldir is armed with a bow too, the choice is yours whether you keep him back or send him into the fray, he's certainly no slouch in combat with a healthy F6!

Celeborn however, is the real combat piece in the list, he has some strong rules helping him be a reliable fighter, even on his own. To top it off, he has access to some powerful spells, really letting him get the edge over an opponent who may normally be harder for Celeborn to deal with. Whilst not as thematic a pick as Haldir in the list, he certainly adds a level of potency that you wouldn't want to go without.

Why not add in some heroic allies to make the list up to 700 or even 800 points!

Dan Slb: Thanks Dave! With the promise of a Helm’s Deep Legendary Legion just round the corner I may well invest in this myself! Not that I need any more models to add to my painting queue! What do you think of Dave’s list? Let us know! Also let us know if you have any requests for future factions!