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So I've been mucking around as the Uruk Hai for some time but have always wanted to play a Good faction. I was unsure of playing as the Fiefdoms or Arnor, but I'm so fascinated with Malbeth's ability to give everyone effectively a 5++ save in a bubble around him and the affects of the Arwen banner that Halbarad can carry, I decided to experiment with a spear/shield heavy Arnor list. I know that when people play as Arnor the go-to is pretty much to play as the Grey Company and cause your opponents all manner of misery, but I really want to try to play as a more Warriors of Arnor focused list but to do it well.

I've been scouring online and haven't been able to find very much advice on playing as a non-Grey company Arnor, I was hoping you guys who have a number of games under your belt might offer some advice on my skeleton army list!
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Arnor Army list – 500pts[b]

Warband 1
12 Warriors of Arnor - 96
Malbeth the Seer – 80

Warband 2
4 Warriors of Arnor – 32
7 Rangers of Arnor - 56
Halbarad w/Arwen banner and horse - 135

Warband 3
5 Knights of Minas Tirith with shields - 70
Beregond with horse – 31

Army Total: 500
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The obvious tactic here is to approach games with a hammer-and-anvil. My main opponents are chiefly Mordor (An army list that includes 2 troll chieftains, hence the cavalry) as well as the Rohirrim and the Easterlings. My approach is to basically have an infantry line that's hilariously durable (D6, 5++, banner that also nullifies the need for Courage checks) with archer support and a hefty amount of cavalry for desperately needed mobility and to add some punch factor.

What are your thoughts?

D6 isn't as durable as it used to be. However, unless your Mordor opponent takes a bunch of Morannon Orcs, or a bunch of Sons of Eorl from the Rohirrim, it doesn't really matter, given your opponent's lists.

It's not the most glamorous, and I'd definitely break the Arnor warbands up to each contain at least a couple of the archers (like a 8/3, 8/4 split probably).

The biggest problem you have is if your forces get split up in deployment, which can happen in the rulebook scenarios. You are very dependent on synergy. You're also vulnerable to someone with awesome heroes. (Again, given the opponents you list, that's not TOO big of a problem, though)

I went up against the Rohirrim force and with some stupid lucky rolls, managed to come out on top. It was a multi-objective game and I also kept from breaking while breaking him down enough to get the game to end.

So yeah, I have some major synergy weaknesses, but talk about durable. The banner range is incredible, the 5++ saved some very importantly placed soldiers, and the naturally higher Fight of my grunts was surprisingly pivotal. Thankfully my enemy was crippled by the time he diced up my Heroes, otherwise I'd have crumbled very easily.

 spyguyyoda wrote:
D6 isn't as durable as it used to be. However, unless your Mordor opponent takes a bunch of Morannon Orcs, or a bunch of Sons of Eorl from the Rohirrim, it doesn't really matter, given your opponent's lists.

It's not the most glamorous, and I'd definitely break the Arnor warbands up to each contain at least a couple of the archers (like a 8/3, 8/4 split probably).

The biggest problem you have is if your forces get split up in deployment, which can happen in the rulebook scenarios. You are very dependent on synergy. You're also vulnerable to someone with awesome heroes. (Again, given the opponents you list, that's not TOO big of a problem, though)

Oh yeah for real. Apart from dividing up the archers, during my first game (With proxxy models) it immediately became clear to me that if the Rohirrim player had brought anyone bigger than Erkenbrand, I would have been toast. Even with a plethora of smaller heroes (Gamling and Grimbold) he was able to beat my heroes down without breaking much of a sweat. I was lucky to have carved up enough of his infantry to win the match by that point, but if it had been any other game-mode I don't think I'd have won. He also didn't realize my glaring weakness of leaning heavily on two very average fighting heroes who were buffing the hell out of my infantry.

So yeah, a player who's actually read the army list/book would probably be able to dissect it very easily.

Yep. I totally respect what you're trying to do, but I'm not sure it works (at least not at 500 points).

Arathorn is a great addition to an Arnor force. His defense isn't great, but he has good fight, and he is one of the few Arnor heroes with three attacks.

At 750, you could add him with another block of Warriors/Archers. You should then still have enough points to upgrade Beregond to a better mounted hero for your cav contingent. I think that would help a lot.