The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Survivors of Laketown

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Why Play Army of Survivors of Laketown

Do you fancy commanding a rabble of filthy Peasants? well look no more because the survivors of Laketown is just for you. Build a mob of angry fisherman that are braver than most professional Soldiers when lead by Bard and with enough named heroes to give them a few bonuses they will definitely need. If you feel like this list does not have enough going for it don't worry you can always just bring Gandalf the grey.

Pros

• Very cheap heroes and units
• You can build a good guy horde army
• You can bring a Whindlance

Cons

• Your units are poor fighters.
• Very flimsy in a fight if not properly supported with heroes.
• almost everything is in finecast.

Army Bonus

"Any man who wants to give their last, follow me!" - Bards Stand fast will affect other laketown hero models. Also Bards saviour of laketown rule has it's ranged changed from 6 to 12

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Bard: Now The Leader of his People. He has the options to take armour, a horse or the whindlance. Bard's best used for ranged, after all he has a great bow. and his special rapid fire rule allows him to shoot a maximum of three shots if his first and then second shots hit a target. The Whindlance is for when you really need to take something big down its a strength 10 sniping machine. Just make sure you position wisely because the whindlance cannot move after it has been deployed. However, now that he's in the laketown Survivors army list he may be a better option to have him charging in with the rest of your army. his stand fast has a range of 12 and every unit in the list (accept Gandalf and Bilbo) also in range get +1 to their fight value and treat Bard as a banner.

• Bain, Son of Bard: Same stat line as a laketown guard but costs the same in points as a guard captain. He has much better courage and an extra wound than the usual guard, and if you keep near his dad he get +1 courage.

• Sigrid & Tilda: These two are basically buffers for Bard and Bain, while within 6 they give +1 to their fight value to their dad and brother. if they are slain at any point during the game (which is likely given they have defence 2), then Bard most move to try and kill the unit responsible for killing his daughters. I would leave them to one side unless you were playing a fluff or mission game.

• Gandalf:

• Bilbo:The expert burglar, Bilbo is pretty weak and cant move all that fast. however he can take sting for 5 points which gives him +1 strength but he can also take the one Rings for absolutely no cost and with no penalties that other ring bearers might suffers since he has the special rule it has not yet awoken. he can also throw stones for all that's worth.

• Percy: This guy is your bowman captain, with a shoot value of 3 he will have a better chance of hitting (and then hopefully wounding) his target, he can also hope his fellow bowman with the special rule "archers this way" which gives bow armed Laketown militia within 6 of him the ability to reroll ones to hit, this also allows Percy to re-roll too.

• Hilda: A Captain with a slightly lower defence and strength, but makes up for it with points cost and her Special rule, "Stand by our Men!" gives any Laketown militia within 3 of her a +1 to wound if they charged that turn. useful for killing the slightly tougher enemies, now just make sure you get the charge and make sure Hilda is on your second lining supporting the front shes only defence 3 so she's an easy target if not protected.

• Alfrid: Now looking ravishing in a dress. You're still only bringing him so that he can exchange his will points to give a chose hero a point of might.

• Lake Town survivor Captain: comes with a spear already can be equipped with a shield, not much else of note, you are better of bringing Hilda or Percy.

Troops

• Lake Town Survivor: Similar in stats to a laketown guard but with fight value 2, courage 3 and can bring shields. Where they shine is with their special "Onwards men of Esgaroth" this allows them to ignore courage tests when broken if they are within 6 of a friendly from this army list. This can give you the benefit of outlasting an enemy army who could also be broken.

Allies

Historical Allies

The Iron Hills:

Thranduil's Halls: These guys are another option. You could bring a detachment of just Mirkwood rangers led by legolas or Tauriel (or just a ranger captain), since they are best buddies in the ally matrix they get to keep their army bonus with means mirkwood rangers are excluded from the bow limit. However this is a much pricer ally than Iron Hills as each mirkwood ranger is worth 14 points!

Convenient Allies

Thorin's Company

Rivendell

Lothlorien

Impossible Allies

Arnor

Minas Tirith

The Dead of Dunharrow

Numenor

Rohan

The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

The Fellowship

The Fiefdoms

The Shire

The Misty Mountains

The Wanderers in the Wild

Fangorn

Radagast's Alliance

Army of Thror

Garrison of Dale

The White Council

Thranduil's Hall

Army of Laketown

Iron Hills Dwarves

Erebor Reclaimed