I'm curious as to which of the generic allies players find the most useful and why. For me, it would be Silverlode Archer and Erebor Hammersmith. The Archer is moderately expensive, but it is a pretty good attacker, comparable to most heroes, and can help in questing, as well. The Hammersmith is outstanding all around, fairly inexpensive, can help in questing and attacking and with 3 hit points can survive a moderate amount of damage. Any others that players find most useful?

He's not terribly generic, but I've found that my Northern Trackers are insanely useful. He's by far my favorite ally. Gandalf and Beorn have their spots too, but Northern Tracker is what it's at for me

The problem I have with Silverlode Archer is that it dies so easily for its cost...it can't even block Eastern Crows without getting killed, and one Necromancer's Reach or Evil Storm kills it. It's a useful card, but I find its fragility rather frustrating. I'd generally rather have Horseback Archer, though it's nice to have Silverlode, Horseback, and Legolas all together for big ranged attacks in a Leadership/Tactics deck.

Erebor Hammersmith is very efficient, I agree. Northern Tracker is obviously great but I think we're talking more about the basic cheap allies. Leadership's cheap allies actually seem a bit worse statistically than the other spheres (compare Guard of the Citadel to Wandering Took), probably because they have Faramir and For Gondor! to boost them.

Gotcha. Then in that case my favorite cheap, useful ally is the Gondorian Spearman, especially when one of your heroes has a Horn of Gondor.

northern tracker as well, im quite fond of the wandering took as well

I like Erebor and Miner of the Iron Hills. Both provide good stats for cheap cost and have decent effects to boot. Gondorian Spearman is nice for Tactics and Snowbourn Scout is good for Leadership. Spirit doesn't really have any "good" cheap ones but Wandering Took IS better than some others.

In the Lore deck, I'm very fond of the Miner of the Iron Hills. For two resource points, he's a nice toolkit character. He wipes out conditions (take THAT, Caught in a Web and Iron Shackles!), contributes to attacks, and has just enough durability to defend against minor foes, like Dol Goldur Orcs, Wolf Riders and Forest Spiders, for two rounds. His multiple hit points also means he doesn't get eaten by multi-target effects like The Necromancer's Reach or the Hummerhorn's shadow effect.

The Erebor Hammersmith is a strong 2-point choice as well. He can rescue attachments from the discard pile and contribute to quests or attacks. He's also even more durable than the Miner and can hold off fiercer foes, like Dol Goldur Beast Masters, East Blight Patrols, Wargs or King Spiders, for two rounds, or minor foes for three. When questing I also like to use him as a target for the Dol Goldur Orcs' "when revealed" effect.

Gondorian Spearman and Snowbourn Scout are two of my favorites.

Yeah, this post was intended to talk about the allies that don't have a proper name, so they are more or less "generic". Therefore, Northern Tracker is a valid choice. I wasn't going to ask about the "name" allies, because I have no doubt that Gandalf would be almost everyone's choice. I have to admit to having a bit of a prejudice against the Took. As a solo player, his ability is of no use and his artwork, just lazily sitting under a tree, doesn't inspire me to use him. Just a personal bias, I guess. What do you guys think of Daughter of the Nimrodel? I've found her quite useful when I've played her, but I haven't played her all that much, that's why she wasn't in my list.

Wandering Took isn't great, but his stats are solid enough for 2 cost. He can survive one attack from weaker enemies, contribute to a quest, or participate in an attack. Erebor Hammersmith is better of course, but the Took is useful for Spirit.

Snowburn Scout. He explores locations, chump blocks, and gets boosted by Faramir. What more do you want?

Titan said:

She's not as versatile as the Hammersmith or Miner, but two points of healing every round is really useful. When you're already topped off, that point of Willpower is great for questing. And in a pinch I'd rather sacrifice her to an attacker than one of my heroes.

In a Leadership/Lore deck, she and Gloin team up to make a great blocking duo and resource battery.

My hands down favorite ally has to be the Northern Tracker, as so many people have already mentioned. During my first play of the Escape from Dol Guldur scenario, a pair of Northern Trackers consistently annihilated any location that dared reveal itself in the staging area, and were so effective at it that I stopped bothering to actually travel anywhere entirely. By leaving all the locations in the staging area, I was able to completely avoid any unpleasant travel requirements (i.e., discard 2 cards at random or put Orc Guards into play), and the Trackers made certain their Threat didn't count against me for long. They're just fantastic at clearing the staging area, and they're extremely useful in the second scenario as well, especially on the second quest card when you reveal an extra encounter card and locations can start to pile up fast.

Probably doesn't count as a generic ally because he is unique, but Henamarth Riversong is by far my favourite cheap ally. Being able to look at the top card of the encounter deck has helped me loads, to plan for the round.

In multi-player (or multi-deck) games the Gondorian Spearmen and the Horseback Archers are amazing since they can be used to defend and attack all over the place, respectively.

If you have several Spearmen in play, there's also an excellent combo with the card that allows you to declare several defenders against an enemy. In fact I've found it often pays to try to keep the Spearmen alive and use them to finish off wounded enemies.

The Northern Trackers are almost imbalanced even for their high cost. If you can get out a pair of them, the game's as good as won.

Nothern trackers by far.Wen an active location is on the quest card and Sauron reveales 2 brown lands from the encaouter deck i laugh in his face.

Gandalf. Gandalf! GANDALF!! GANDALF!!!

Cheers!

Gandalf is not a generic ally.

While the Northern Tracker is very powerful, and worth the investment, I think my favorite non-unique ally is Snowbourn Scout. I love having him in my opening hand, as he provides a cheap blocker, buying me time, and a progress token on any location, that might be present. Not the most powerful, but useful in almost any situation. My runner-up is Northern Tracker. Just a formidable ally, whether you like questing, defending or attacking with him.