500 Under 50: Halls of Thranduil (Mirkwood Style)

You may have noticed all of the previously published 500 Under 50 articles feature armies from the Armies of The Lord of The Rings book, rater than the Hobbit... Well, it's no secret why! Unfortunately Hobbit era armies are generally more expensive than their LoTR era cousins. That being said, I've actually had this list written for a while, I've just been hesitant posting it, since it's very similar to the first one we did on Ithilien. Well, forget that logic now, cause here it is!

In this Halls of Thranduil list, we'll be taking a Mirkwood themed list, which comes in a few Elves worth of points under the 500 limit, which leaves you with the option of picking up a few more Elves, if you can find them, or spending an extra £10, and kitting out your main hero completely.

The list we've come up with is very simple and is as follows:

Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood
10 Mirkwood Rangers

Tauriel with Elf Bow
10 Mirkwood Rangers

465 Points

To get this list on the table, you'll just need to pick up:

1 Box of Mirkwood Rangers: £30
Legolas and Tauriel: £20

Total Cost: £50

You can instead pick up the pack that has Legolas mounted on horseback, for £30 taking you up to £60, but putting you at pretty much 500 points if you kit him out with Orcrist and a Cloak as well.

So, similar to Rangers of Ithilien, this list relies heavily on its use of bows. Mirkwood Rangers don't count towards your bow limit, so you're able to have all 20 warriors armed with bows (Elf bows, no less - that extra point of strength is great!)

Your biggest downside is your potential in combat. Whilst you're boasting a solid Fight value of 5, you don't hit hard, and can't take a hit either, since your Strength and Defence is 3, with no options to improve either stat.

Playing the list, you'll want to keep your opponent well within your bow range, but far enough away that they won't be able to charge you and stop you shooting. Your heroes aren't bad at combat, but your warriors will struggle to kill, and since you have no banner, you'll be living and dying by the dice.

You have Woodland Creature on all your models in this army, so keep that in mind when deploying, if you can take advantage of woods, definitely look at that option, as you'll be able to slow your opponents charge when they eventually close the range.

Fast moving armies could cause you some trouble, so if the option is there, why not consider killing the opponent's mounts? Legolas can use his “Deadly Shot” rule to consistently hit them, not something to count on, but definitely worth thinking about.

That's all I really have to say about this list, have a read of the Ithilien list, as a lot of the tactics between the two lists are transferable, so you may find something helpful in there!