Cavalry numbers

D0Cdeath · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:20 am

Hi all , I was just wondering at a 750 point game how much of my army should be mounted ?, at the moment I've got prince Imrahil and 12 KoDa all mounted would this be too many points on cavalry?. How do you think I should fill out the rest of my army ?.
Many thanks

Dr Grant · **Joined:** Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:50 pm **Posts:** 1339

I think this is one of those 'how long's a piece of string' questions as it really depends what you're going for.

It's fairly common knowledge that cavalry in SBG aren't particularly competitive and work better as support troops but that's not necessarily a reason not to take them.

With my Rohan army at 750pts I've played all cav, no cav or a mix, it's really down to preference. Personally I've been playing an all cavalry Ride of the Rohirrim 1000 point army a lot recently and having mixed success but a LOT of fun, I truly believe you should take the models/theme/fluff that you like the most, you'll enjoy the game more that way and be more motivated to paint your figures.

However, from a competitive point of view I'd say that you need to worry about cavalry numbers per warband rather than per army. I rarely field warbands of more than 6 cavalry as they tend to end up getting in each other's way due to the large base size, you almost end up with 2 ranks of cav with 1 rank unable to do anything. This is exacerbated if you're playing with a lot of scenery as the rules suggest as that funnels your cavalry through thinner corridors.

You've got the advantage that KODA are regarded as good cavalry, particularly when combined with Imrahil and they can pack quite a punch. If you want to use all your models I'd take Imrahil leading 6 Knights and then possibly another captain leading the other 6 and put them on opposite flanks to try and smash the weaker ends of the battle line and get round the flanks whilst your infantry advances up the centre. However, a more competitive build would probably have you just taking Imrahil with 6 and spending the rest on infantry.

As for what else to take I'll leave that to others, I don't have a lot of experience with fiefdom armies, the thoughts above are based on my general feelings about cavalry rather than KODA specifically.

Most importantly, have fun, it's really all that matters

whafrog · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:39 pm

Great points, Dr. The only quibble I'd have is that splitting the cavalry into two warbands on opposite sides of the board denies one of them Imrahil's banner effect. Over the course of the game, this might be more important than Might, and if there's anyone you'd want benefitting from a banner, it's cavalry. Still, having a second mounted hero nearby can't hurt.

Imrahil is designed for a "strong center" type of army, if you're not filling out his 24" diameter banner-bubble, his potential is wasted. From a competitive viewpoint you'd have lots of warbands be foot knights backed by pikes, but that is expensive in both money and point costs.

Dr Grant · **Joined:** Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:50 pm **Posts:** 1339

Ah of course, I'd forgotten about his banner rule, just demonstrates my fiefdom naivety! :-)

My 2 flank approach is certainly more suited to cavalry that won't suffer from being away from a particular character.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 15, 2013 5:20 pm

With the Warband format I'm of two minds on this. I like the idea of splitting Cav across two Warbands so you can spread out a little, but I have personally found Cav almost needs to have a Hero close for Heroic Move when Priority goes bad. If you are split then do you mount the Hero of both Warbands? If not, then aren't you leaving half your force at risk?

Of course, along the same lines it is not likely you will be able to have more than a few Cav within range of the Heroic Move of a single Hero anyway.

For example, one of the lists I may play tonight was originally set up like this:

Warband 1 12/12
Haradrim King with Horse; War spear;
4 Haradrim Raider with Bow;
3 Haradrim Raider with War spear;
5 Serpent Rider
----
Warband 2 11/12
Haradrim Chieftain with Bow; Spear;
5 Haradrim Warrior with Bow;
3 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
1 Watcher of Kârna with Bow;
2 Abrakhân Merchant Guard
----
Warband 3 11/12
Haradrim Taskmaster
4 Haradrim Warrior with Bow;
3 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
1 Watcher of Kârna with Bow;
3 Abrakhân Merchant Guard
----

My thought was that the two infantry Warbands are fairly balanced between each other for support and punch with a little light ranged fire. The Cav Warband would deploy as a large group, keeping the Serpent Riders close to the King while the others are used for flank and support.

If I can bring the two infantry Warbands together then the Taskmaster has a chance of making the Chief even more potent and it would also put several tough hitters (Merchant Guard) together with Heroes that can make good use of them.

Would you suggest something like this instead:

Warband 1 12/12
Haradrim King with Horse; War spear;
5 Serpent Rider
4 Haradrim Warrior with Bow;
3 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
----
Warband 2 11/12
Haradrim Chieftain with Bow; Spear;
5 Haradrim Warrior with Bow;
3 Haradrim Warrior with Spear;
1 Watcher of Kârna with Bow;
2 Abrakhân Merchant Guard
----
Warband 3 11/12
Haradrim Taskmaster
4 Haradrim Raider with Bow;
3 Haradrim Raider with War spear;
1 Watcher of Kârna with Bow;
3 Abrakhân Merchant Guard
----

So my mounted Hero would have the 5 Serpent Riders as the 'heavy' Cav and a few basic infantry. My third Warband would have 7 light Cav plus a few tougher infantry.

I suppose for another option I could always replace the Taskmaster with a mounted Chieftain as well as the Cav swap. This would give two mounted Heroes, each with about half of a warband of Cav and the other half infantry that would need to hook up with some more to be useful

D0Cdeath · **Posted:** Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:58 am

Thanks very much for your thoughts I ended up playing 5 KoDa with lances along with imrahil , they look great on the battle field and I'm glad I didn't play anymore , they struggled to get into position due to scenery and weren't game changes , but they did prove quite a distraction to my opponent and helped to tie up a balrog long enough to sort out the rest of the enemy.Prince imrahil was great though , he even survived being hurled by a troll cheiftian then got back up with no horse or fate and with his last might point took it down , think we'll be seeing more of this guy!!

Jazlotus · **Joined:** Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:23 pm **Posts:** 170

He won't last long against my nice shiney new Watcher in the Water!!! I will drag the wee prince to his death!!! They may look nice on the battlefield, but even nicer on the floor dead!! Haha

Jazlotus · **Joined:** Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:23 pm **Posts:** 170

So with a Fallen Realms army, without a hero as good as prince imrahil would it still be a good idea to split up mounted guys? Also is it wise to under fill a warband? Because everyone said that you should utilise all 12 available spaces for warriors.

Dr Grant · **Joined:** Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:50 pm **Posts:** 1339

As for the Fallen Realms mounted question I'd say it depends on the army, what list are you going for? If it's Isengard I can give you a fair few tips as I've been playing them for a while, Harad and Eastern Kingdoms I'd have to defer though!

As for the full warbamd thing it depends, more troops = higher break point and more models for Hold Ground and Recconoitre etc. but less points for heroes. I had quite a lot of success at the Throne of Skulls with warbands of about 8/9 infantry. I didn't max out my warbands as I was really keen to cram in 7 heroes. Generly speaking I wouldn't go much lower than 8/9 for infantry and 4/5 for cavalry, you need to make sure the hero has a bodyguard in case you roll badly for deployment in Hold Ground etc.

Cavalry numbers

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