We all do it, theory-crafting different lists at various points levels just to see what we can do. Often these lists are just for fun or theme and are unlikely to be competitive, but they can sometimes be a hidden gem to keep the game fresh and run something unexpected and different.
All-Cavalry Army of the White Hand
Yeah, I know, Wolves of Isengard is right there, but that list is limited in its profile selection, and Army of the White Hand offers everything WoI does (with the exception of Sharku and mounted Captains) and a few more options besides. Don't get me wrong, I think WoI is great, it can field a fairly high number of cavalry models and Sharku got a rather nice boost in this edition. If he'd been available in other lists as well, I reckon we'd have seen him more, as he'd only lose the free Heroic Combats.
Going to need more than just this handful of Warg Riders to run this list!
Enough about that however, this here is a White Hand list. The first and primary draw for using AotWH is Saruman. He of course can bring a horse to fit the full cavalry theme, and not only gives the list a big magical boost (much above WoI's, even though it did get Shamans), he also brings the incredibly useful list specific spells; Conjure Lightning, Summon Gale and Call Thunder.
All three are incredibly useful for a cavalry list in my opinion. Call Lightning's power is well known, and the chance to take out a few enemy models early on to level the numbers disparity you're likely to have cannot be overlooked. Even if the opponent spreads out to avoid you taking out too many troops, you can still target a banner, wound a hero/general or knock out siege crew, all key targets that can level the playing field or gain you an advantage and key VPs.
Then there's Summon Gale, which quite simply halves the opponents movement for a turn. When you already likely have the speed advantage as all cavalry, this is doubly powerful. You can much more easily set up a key charge, by preventing an opponents own charge or them escaping from your range. In the turn after a charge, or perhaps if you moved first, you may be able to prevent counter charges. As the ability is activated when Saruman himself activates, there is scope for him to call a Heroic Move from a distant spot and fire off the Gale to protect your charging cavalry elsewhere. The opponent is unlikely to counter Move in these cases, as Saruman may be too far away to actually affect the battlelines they would not see it coming.
And of course, in the race to objectives or board edges you vastly outpace your opponent when they have to spend a turn crawling at half speed.
Finally, Call Thunder does a lot for preventing counter-charges as well, making charging when you win priority much safer to pull off. A one-two punch of Call Thunder and Summon Gale could see your cavalry completely smash through enemy lines without much resistance as the opponent either can't reach your or fails to charge at all.
All this without getting into his normal suite of spells, Palantir, +1 Courage aura or Saruman's Deceit ability. It's crazy how good Saruman is, making it doubly important to keep him protected as he is undoubtedly the core of the list.
Supporting Saruman of course there are Isengard Orc Shamans. Naturally being able to be mounted on Wargs, they're likely to see a place in the list, and they do what Shamans always do; cast Fury so your Orcs are able to charge into Terror or stick around when the army is broken. This is pretty handy in a list where the majority of your troops will be Warg Riders (ie. Isengard Orcs) and they aren't exactly known for being courageous.
Isengard Shamans do also have the standard Transfix as well, a damn good candidate for Channelling when you absolutely have to stop a rampaging enemy hero. It's likely to force out Will points to resist as well when cast at the right time, allowing you to follow up with Saruman's magic to increase the chances of it going off.
Their signature spell is Enrage Beast, which always felt like an interesting choice in Isengard lists, but you do have plentiful access to Wargs and of course Crebain. This latter is likely to be the usual target for raging out, F4, S4 and four attacks is good for dealing a quick bunch of wounds to troops or potentially even a transfixed hero, but in this list outside the fight value, your cavalry is already doing 4 S4 attacks against infantry so it's not really a gain unless you need the Fight Value or are facing something that can't be knocked down. There is also the potential to Enrage Wargs themselves, which is much more interesting. That riderless Warg that stuck around is suddenly F5, with 3 S6 attacks and can do some real damage to whichever unsuspecting warrior or hero that thought it an easy target.
Shame that the Warg then dies at the end of the turn, but it'd be a fun surprise to drop on your opponent.
So that's the magical might of the list clear, how about physical? Without Sharku, the only mounted martial hero in the list is Thrydan Wolfsbane. He's fairly decent mid-tier hero, but won't be hurting your opponent's heroes without support from Saruman or Shamans. F5 is middling, even though he does have access to Strike, and D5 with 2W and 2F means he won't be able to take many hits either. The selling point for him is the 2 S5 attacks with Mighty Blow, which when mounted can jump to 6 strikes and a potential 12 wounds. Coupled with Heroic Strength if you ever feel you need it, if this guy is able to hit he's going to feel very much like Helm Hammerhand has come to town.
Thrydan Wolfsbane, hits like a truck, but not necessarily built like one.
He's got 3 Might for Moves or Combats if you need them, so you'll really want him smashing through enemy troops as he'll quickly decimate enemy battlelines so long as you avoid letting him get overwhelmed.
His 12" Stand Fast is really the cherry on the cake also, supplementing your Fury if you brought it, but best of all doubling up with Saruman's own Stand Fast for some impressive coverage.
So that's the Heroes, how about the troops. Going all cavalry, you've really only got two options; Warg Riders and Dunlending Horsemen (though an argument could be made for including a couple of swarms of Crebain, as they're just too damn good).
On the surface, the two options are functionally the same as both are F3, S4, D5 cavalry, and both cost 12 points, with only Throwing Spear and Shield armed Warg Riders costing more. Warg Riders bring your ranged options if you want them, bows and throwing spears, plus the potential for the mounts to stick around. They also benefit from Fury and Enrage Beast. Dunlending Horsemen have no wargear options, and instead get to re-roll wounds against mounts, which is situationally useful, and boast a slightly higher Intelligence and Courage score.
I don't think there's enough to focus on the Dunlendings over the Warg Riders. The Orcs are just much more tactically flexible, and the potential for the Warg sticking around is just a great boon. I would certainly always try to include a couple of Dunlendings however, there are some mounts that do just need to die and it may be difficult for you to remove the rider. More importantly the higher courage and intelligence stats on them make them the best choices for securing objectives, especially with Saruman in sight providing an extra +1 bonus to Courage tests.
So, are there weakenesses to this list? Well of course. Firstly, being an all-Cav army, it's going to have low numbers even with the relatively cost-efficient Warg Riders making up the bulk of the list. Expect to be outnumbered, but your speed, range and Army Bonuses can mitigate this.
Second, you lack a real power combat hero. The combination of Saruman and Thrydan can emulate this somewhat, but directly opposing Aragorn, Gil-Galad or the Balrog is going to take some finesse. Your magic really needs to be working for you against these threats, and you should be focused on removing their support.
Third, no March. Saruman, Thrydan and Shaman lack Heroic March, which could matter in certain match-ups or situations. That said, we covered the speed advantages this list will have earlier, so it's less of an issue here than in other lists.
Finally, whilst your core troops are fantastic for their points, they are limited to F3 and D4-5 with no way to boost these even temporarily outside of casting Enrage Beast on Wargs. You have no banners either, so you're gonna be heavily reliant on outrolling your opponent to win fights in an awful lot of matchups. As previously mentioned though, you will likely have the mobility advantage that you can use to skirmish with throwing spears and bows before ganging up 2-1 or more to ensure you have the dice advantage. Your Crebain, if you take them, are great for getting extra attacks into a fight and the traps they can facilitate can really ensure those Str 4 hits do what they need to do.
Until next time!
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