Hero Showdown: One Elf Lord to Rule Them All
Today we look at the constant struggle faced by every Rivendell player. Which 'Lord of the West' should be leading your shiny golden elf boys to war? We have 3 contenders for the crown: Gil-Galad, Elrond or Glorfindel. The high-king, the Lord of Rivendell or the slayer of balrogs. All are great choices. However, due to points constraints, it is often the case that you have to pick but one.
Heroes are the centrepiece of an army and, when you are paying close to 200pts on one, you expect them to do everything. To rank these long-haired killing machines, we need to break down the different aspects of a hero. The following areas are key: killing things, not being killed by things, buffing allies, magic and those special x-factor rules. I'm going to rank each lord from 1st to 3rd in each area, with a 1st place awarding 3 points, 2nd getting 2 and 3rd only 1. At the end, only one elf will reign supreme!
Killing Power
What better way to start than looking at how many orcs your glorious leader is going to cleave in two? Before we go into specifics, it is important to note that all three heroes get access to a horse, all three have the Lord of the West special rule and all three have access to Heroic Strike. That means that, without looking at individual stat lines, all the contenders have got key offensive rules in their favour.
Let's start with Gil-Galad, the OG high-king himself. 3 attacks, fight value 9 and strength 4. Wow! What a statline! 3 attacks is the gold standard, add an attack on the charge whilst mounted and you're looking at double strikes against infantry models. That's a big tick for Gil-Galad. But it gets better! Fight value 9. Insane. Most heroes won't even strike up to FV9 and, for those occasions you're a little worried, just strike up yourself for a guaranteed fight 10. But wait, that's a valuable might point spent to only increase fight value by 1. It's all good! With 'Blood and Glory' you get a might point back for heroes killed anyway. Strength 4 is solid. Not amazing but not bad. And then you notice that Gil wields Aiglos: an elven-made spear with plus 1 to wound. Suddenly, he is effectively strength 6 and wins tied fights on a 3-6.
Elrond Half-Elven goes next. He also sports the required 3 attacks at strength 4. Good start but then you notice he's only fight value 6! That's less than a pale orc with one arm. Don't get me wrong, fight 6 is where most strong Good heroes sit but it seems poor compared to Gil-Galad. You'll be striking more often, burning through more might, and Elrond has no fancy rule to get his might back. Flat strength 4 means 5s to kill most troops in the game too. Hadhafang (his sword) offers a niche bonus against spirits but it rarely that impactful. A solid choice but often blunted.
Finally, the balrog slayer himself. The guy so powerful in the lore that his inclusion in the film would have made everyone wonder why they just didn't give him the job of taking the ring to Mordor himself so they left him out, Glorfindel. Once again, 3 attacks at strength 4 like his Elven kin. At fight 7, Glorfindel outshines Elrond and that small increase helps to push him above most other heroes. Other than that, Glorfindel lacks any special fancy rules to turn him into more of an Elven blender.
Gil-Galad - 1st
Elrond - 2nd
Glorfindel - 3rd
Not Being Chopped Up
Back to Gil. 3 wounds, defence 7 and access to a shield for defence 8 (why would you not?), he makes a fine start. Combine that with his amazing fight value, he rarely loses fights to be wounded anway. But there is one glaring drawback. One factor that make you wince a little when reading his stats. 1 fate point. Oh dear! One cheeky wound and you have a 50% chance of giving up VPs if he is your leader. His access to Heroic Defence is handy, although you are probably not using it, it is useful to have. Finally, like all the other candidates, he causes terror. Handy to avoid being swamped and helps mess up your opponent's plans.
What about Elrond? Well this time he gets the better of his esteemed friend, Gil. Take heavy armour you're defence 7. Not quite as high as Gil-Galad but most things still need 6s to wound. Then you see 3 fate points. Wonderful and this makes him very sturdy. But it gets better! The small piece of precious metal wrapped around his finger, elven ring Vilya, lets you reroll fate points. Now that is excellent. Add in Heroic Defence and you have a tricky stone to budge.
Finally, Glorfy-boy. 3 wounds and 3 fate. Lovely! Heroic defence is missing but that is a questionable loss. His big plus though is the Armour of Gondolin. Suddenly he is defence 7 and can't be targeted by brutal power attacks. Run him into that annoying fell beast or troll and feel pretty confident your glorious elf-man will not be torn limb from limb by a rending monster.
Elrond - 1st
Glorfindel - 2nd
Gil-Galad - 3rd
Buffing Allies
Gil-Galad only marches to war with the best. And by best, I mean King's Guard. 1 points upgrade to high elf warriors for fight value 6. Yes please. That moment when your lowly foot troop beats the Witch-King, Gothmog or Shagrat in a straight up fight: Priceless.
Fancy a load of Elven archers on horseback with lances, all of which don't count to the bow limit? Elrond is your man. The ability to unlock all mounted Rivendell knight lists is a powerful one. Not an easy army to play but buffing Rivendell knights so they don't count towards bow limit has a high reward to those skillful enough to pull it off.
And then Glorfindel. Well, he subscribes to the 'if you want something done, do it yourself' school of thought, offering no force multiplying bonuses.
Gil-Galad - 1st
Elrond - 2nd
Glorfindel - 3rd
Magic
With no magic of his own, no resistant to magic and the standard 3 will points, magic is Gil-Galad's worst nightmare. When you see a ringwraith or two on the other side of the board, know that you're in for a lot of turns of Gil staring aimlessly at his shoes, transfixed.
Now Elrond, he takes the Elven lord magic gold medal. A solid 3 will points supports his ability to cast 2 spells, Wrath of Bruinen and Renew. Despite the nerf to the Wrath of Bruinen, the opportunity to knock down a large swathe of enemy troops (now within 3") whilst adding the small chance to kill them is still very useful. Renew, less so, save your will for a key Wrath.
If Elrond is gold medallist of magic, Glorfindel is the gold medallist of anti-magic. No spells of his own but, with his Unbending Resolve rule, he gets two free resist dice, always. Amazing! Whilst his fellow ancient Elven lords stand around staring into the sky under the spell of evil-doers, Glorfindel heartily laughs as he chops off his enemies' heads!
Glorfindel - 1st (should an anti-magic hero win the magic round? Probably not but he did!)
Elrond - 2nd
Gil-Galad - 3rd
X-Factor Rules
This round is all about special little rules which make your heroes better across a range of areas. For Gil-Galad, his 12" stand fast and Hero of Legend status is very valuable for when you reach the nitty-gritty part of the fighting. It's also worth once again mentioning Blood and Glory. Earning back a late might point for a key Heroic Move is invaluable.
Elrond is known for his incredible foresight and, as long as the dice gods are not being fickle, you can gain up to 6 foresight points used to modify his player's priority roll. Again, the chance to give yourself priority at a key moment of the game is huge. It can help you dictate the tempo of the game or force an opponent into using valuable might points.
What about Glorfindel? Well, his big x-factor rule (other than Unbending Resolve) is his access to a glorious 12" move fleetfoot (can move through woods unhindered) horse in the form of Asfaloth. Combine that with his horse lord to keep Asfaloth alive and you have a very mobile hero who can flank unsuspecting opponents by going on an impromptu stroll through the forest.
Glorfindel - 1st
Elrond - 2nd
Gil-Galad - 3rd
Results
Gil-Galad - 9
Elrond - 11
Glorfindel - 10
So there you have it, Elrond is the one elf lord to rule them all! It was an incredibly close fought battle and, in reality, they are all fine choices. Elrond is, theoretically, the most well-rounded but each of them has their place in leading a Rivendell roster.
I hope you enjoyed the read and looking through my ramblings. Please comment any of your own ideas, constructive criticism or feedback.
Thanks,
Kieran
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