Hi all, my love for the hobby was reignited due to DoS, and so I've started collecting again. I was originally going to go for an Army of Thror list, but I have since changed my mind and am not so sure.
I'm looking to make the army in the 500 - 750 pt range.
I really like the backstory of the Dúnedain, and so would like to have a few rangers in the force, but not have the entire force comprised of them as I have heard it gets to be a very boring playstyle. They are usually used with Arnor warriors but I'm not a fan of the models and just do not have the skills required to convert loads of WoMT into arnor warriors.
Also I'm not really a fan of the High Elves, even though they seem to be one of the more popular choices to have the rangers allied to.
What "core" force would you guys recommend allying a Ranger force into? The rangers would come up to about 250 of the 750 point list with;
Halbarad
8 Rangers
4 Rangers with Spears
3 Rangers of the North with Spears

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, James

There's quite a few thematic options for the remaining 500pts.

You could ally them to a force of Rohan, representing when they tracked down Aragorn & co. You could add in a force of Minas Tirith or the Army of the Dead for a Pelennor fields themed list. Or add in Gildor and some Noldorin exiles to keep a Northern themed list.

Have you considered Arathorn, with his extra attack?

_________________
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I have considered taking Arathorn, I'm just not a great fan of the model. It's the beard that I don't really like, it just doesn't feel right. Would much better suit a dwarf!

Also, I've heard RotN are sometimes used as scouts in other forces, usually in a group of 3. How does this work? I do not yet own the Kingdoms of Men sourcebook having only just come back from a few years break. Do they have sort of scouting special rule?

RotN and Dunedain are independent heroes, so they can be fielded with any Good army. If you're seeing reference to the term "scout", it's because as independent heroes they are their own warband. So you can drop rangers one at a time on the board, whereas your opponent has to field their whole warbands. You can then deploy your full warbands in response to your opponent, hence the "scouting" role.

Not sure where the "3" came from, unless...
If you field a Grey Company force you can make it 100% bows, but you need to include 1 RotN or Dunedain for every 4 Rangers of Arnor. So the warband in your OP is perfectly legal, you need the three RotN in order for the 12 RoA to all be able to shoot.

Ah, that explains that then, Thank you!

Elves might be a good idea - the Dunedain worked often with the Sons of Elrond, so they could bring a contingent of Rivendell Elves. A cool (but pricey) idea might be to bring a Rivendell Knight Captain and a group of Rivendell Knights (from the Hobbit) to represent far ranging Hunting Parties from Rivendell.

Otherwise, under Halbarad they went to Rohan to search for Aragorn - you could have some Rohan (as has already been suggested). You could take it further and theme them during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, which would open up Gondor, The Fiefdoms, Rohan and elements of the Fellowship as options.

Plenty of opportunity to have some fun, I think.

If you like the Grey Company fluff but are worried about a 'boring' playstyle then Rivendell Knights are probably your best allies - you still get a 100% bow limit but get to skirt around your opponents instead of having all your army constantly retreating and shooting.

If you are ok with a non-fluff theme then why not go for a 'no bow limit theme' and use the following:

Arathorn
12 rangers with spear

3 rangers of the north

Rivendell Knight captain with shield
5 Rivendell Knights

Legolas with elf cloak
10 mirkwood rangers

Kings Huntsman

That is a 748 list and packs a mighty punch in terms of shooting. Between Legolas and the Huntsman there is a good chance the enemy general will be dead before he gets to do anything.