Top 10 Good Heroes of Valour

So in the run up to Valourbowl (see here: LINK) we will be doing a series of articles on the Heroes of Valour in the game, starting out with which ones we think are the best! In short, Valourbowl is a 500 point tournament where, in addition to the usual 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc, the grand prize is for the player whose nominated Hero of Valour achieves the most kills over the tournament. Now we should say straight away that this ranking is as it pertains to trying to win the Valourbowl, i.e. who is going to get the most kills over a 4 game tournament. We considered each hero with their most common loadout, as they are usually seen at tournaments (with only a couple of exceptions), and we also considered them more or less in isolation (i.e. we didn't give too much thought to the lists they might be in).

The way we did it was we made a big list of all the Heroes of Valour in the game and then we each chose our top 10. We assigned 10 points to 1st place, 9 points to 2nd etc and then added up everyone's scores to get an amalgamated top 10. 

Honourable Mentions

After we amalgamated the top 10s we had 16 characters altogether. The 6 who didn't make the top 10 were:

Eorl the Young (1 point): 10th place on Colm's list, this guy has all of the Rohan hero stats (F5 S4 3A + mounted) with the added benefit of getting his Might back on a 4+

King of the Dead (1 point): 10th place of Dave's list, this guy's mediocre stats (F5 S4 2A) are made up for by the fact that he can 1 shot kill almost anything in the game using his Drain Soul ability.

Galadriel (2 points): 9th place on Dave's list, the Lady of Light is actually surprisingly good in combat. F6 S4 3A are not what you'd expect for someone whose main job is casting.

Haldir (3 points): 8th place on Dave's list, Haldir has an impressive F6 but S4 2A and no mount stop him getting much higher.

Eomer (5 points): 10th place for Steve and 7th place for Dave, Eomer can be scary on the charge with F5 and S5 thanks to his army bonus. Should Theoden or Eowyn die he goes into beast mode and gets +1 to wound too!

Dwalin, Champion of Erebor (7 points): 8th place for Dan and 7th place for Steve, Dwalin on a goat is fearsome indeed. F6 S5 3A Burly, two handed axe and mounted on a Goat for a possible knockdown is not something that is easily dealt with.

So those are the honourable mentions, lets get on to the top 10.

10th Place: Boromir of Gondor (9 Points)

6th place for Dan and 5th place for Colm, Boromir of Gondor is a very common ally when a force needs a cheap beat stick. We considered him to be fully kitted out (Horse, Shield, Elven Cloak) as that is how he is most commonly used. He has Might coming out of his ears and is F6 to boot, plus he'll have 4A on the charge. However he does have some obvious downsides. 1 Will means he is easily blunted by magic and 0F means that he won't stick around as long as some of the other heroes on this list. He is also "only" S4 and has no way to improve his wound rolls so that stopped him climbing much higher up the list.

Joint 8th Place: Gwaihir (10 points)

The first model on 3 out of 4 lists (10th for Dan, 8th for Colm, 5th for Dave). Now I know what you are thinking, Gwaihir is a Hero of Legend, and that is true unless he is taken as part of Radagast's alliance in which case he is Valour. Monsters with Might are excellent and Gwaihir is no exception. He is F8 S6 3M (only 2A but with Monstrous Charge it goes to 3), and S7 if the army bonus is up. Having Fly is also huge as it means he can choose his targets much more easily than most other models. Really it is just the 2A that stops him climbing higher up the list.

Joint 8th Place: Isildur (10 points)

This guy managed 5th place for Dan and 9th place for both Steve and Colm. We considered him mounted with shield and The Ring, and the blood of Numenor is strong in this one! F6 S5 3A are about as good as a "Man" model gets, and when coupled with being mounted you have a scary hero indeed. The Ring also gives him a bit of utility with all of its various abilities.

7th Place: Beorn (11 points)

9th for Dan, 8th for Steve, 5th for Colm. This guy is just a beast (obviously). In his human form he is already great (F6 S5 3A Burly with a 2 handed axe) but in his Bear form he is just terrifying. Mv 8", F8 S8 3A and he gets whatever MWF that Beorn had. F8 cannot be overstated, there are very few models in the game out fighting him without the aid of Strike. Added to this is his Crushing Strength brutal power attack. Basically you choose a model and continue doing S10 hits to them until they die or you fail to wound. Absolutely horrifying. The thing that holds Beorn back is a really disappointing (and surprising) lack of Monstrous Charge.

6th Place: Celeborn (14 points)

This guy only made it on to 2 lists but Steve placed him very highly at 2nd, while Dave placed him 6th. It't not hard to see what Steve likes so much about this guy. F6 S4 3A are becoming the standard in this top 10 so we have to look at what then makes him stand out: Lord of the West. Getting a reroll in the duel roll is really good but not that uncommon here, however also being able to reroll a wound roll is huge. Added to which he is a good spell caster and will mostly be using spells to benefit himself. Enchanted Blades gives him even more re-rolls to wound (and +1 to wound if Channelled) and Immobilise allows him to get the upper hand in a Strike-off if needed. If this guy had a horse he would be a force to be reckoned with.

5th Place: Aragorn, Strider (26 points)

The first hero to make all 4 lists (7th for Dan, 6th for Colm, 4th for Steve, 1st for Dave). Now it is important to note that we have taken Strider on foot with Anduril. This is because he is overwhelmingly seen in the Return of the King Legendary Legion and that is how he comes there. Now I am sure that I don't need to tell you about Strider but in case you don't know, he is all about his free Might point and his 4+ to wound anything. Something oft-forgotten is that he can also go two handed to wound anything on a 3+. The reason he didn't climb higher than 5th in total is that he will only ever have 3 dice to wound as he isn't mounted. You absolutely could mount him but then he costs so much that you have to start wondering is it worth allying him in.

4th Place: Glorfindel (27 points)

This guy only made it on to 3 lists (3rd Dan, 2nd Colm, 1st Steve) but placed so highly on those that he has ended up 4th altogether. Glorfindel distinguishes himself in three ways: he is naturally F7 which is higher than most heroes without needing to Strike; he has Lord of the West (see Celeborn); and he counts as always having Fortify Spirit active. That means he is very good in combat and also hard to control in the normal ways (through magic). He's also really good at riding Asfaloth, with both Expert Rider and Horse Lord to keep him mounted longer.

So now we come to the top 3, all of whom featured on all 4 lists. You'd be doing well with any of these 3, though I think at this point the army around them becomes more of a factor as they all cost a pretty big chunk of your points. 

3rd Place: Dain Ironfoot (28 points)

5th Steve, 4th Dan and Dave, 3rd Colm. Dain (like Gwaihir) is normally a Hero of Legend but when taken in Erebor Reclaimed he becomes Valour. That does mean he won't get his Master of Battle rule but otherwise he is still an absolute beast. F6 S5 (and Burly with a two handed hammer) 3A and mounted on his trusty Pig. Not having the Master of Battle definitely hurts against Striking heroes but against troops there isn't too much that can stand up to him. He'll be wounding most troops on a 3+ and elite ones on a 4+ and if he doesn't kill them he has a 1 in 3 chance of knocking them down anyway thanks to Headbutt. His Pig is also very hardy with D6 and 2 wounds so he'll be able to stay mounted longer than your average hero. 

2nd Place: Bard the Bowman (30 points)

6th Steve, 4th Colm, 3rd Dave, 1st Dan. We have kitted out Bard with a horse and armour (alas no Windlance) and have also assumed that Sigrid, Tilda and Alfrid are in his warband. For 50 points there is really no reason not to take these 3 considering what they do to Bard. He goes to F6 (standard for this list) but also gets to call a free Heroic Combat every turn. This cannot be overstated. He gets to fight twice as often as everyone else FOR FREE (ok obviously he'd have to win to fight twice but you know what I mean). He also gets up to 3 shots per turn with his S4 Great Bow which means he can start the killing earlier than most heroes and has utility even if he can't get into combat. Bard's biggest drawback is his defence of 5, meaning if he does lose a duel he'll need to be careful not to go down quickly. He also needs to stay within 6" of the girls to stay in his Final Form but this isn't too bad as they can be safely behind the lines.

1st Place: Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (36 points)

3rd Steve, 2nd Dan and Dave, 1st Colm. Super Boromir retains all of the positives of Fellowship Boromir while also addressing his weaknesses. He gets an extra pip of defence, 2 extra Will and 3 extra Fate as well as becoming the coveted F7 (obviously we have taken the Banner because why would you not). Anyone who has played against Boromir knows how scary he can be. I could regale you with stories of him taking out Strider in one go via a surprise Heroic Combat, or taking down Bolg in single combat but I would imagine most of you have felt his effects before. His biggest downside is that he is 215 points which does limit your numbers, but as Minas Tirith has a plethora of cheap heroes he can bring with him this isn't too much of a problem.

So that's it! What do you think of our Top 10? Anyone unexpectedly missing? Perhaps your favourite Valour hero didn't make the cut? Or do you think our ordering is just all kinds of wrong? Well tune in next week where we'll be pitting the Top 8 against each other in a single elimination bracket to see who comes out on top! Place you bets now!