In one month's time, the final Hobbit film will be released, and from then onwards, I think it will be save to say that support from GW for LotR/The Hobbit SBG will start to dwindle away, until this once get game is relegated to the dusty corner full of the games of yesteryear, the likes of Necromunda and Mordhiem that have been abandoned by GW. These games still survive, though, through a vibrant online community determined to keep them alive. Of course, us LotR players will keep a similar community going, but every little helps. So what follows is part plea and part challenge that will ensure that this transition goes off with a bang. It's also largely a bit of fun, so don't take it too seriously, and yes, it's overly melodramatic!
"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!" Aragorn Ellessar, at the Black Gates of Mordor
So, the plea: Get posting! Whether it's on your own sites, this sub-forum or anywhere else, do something LotR-related between now the end of the year! Whether it's a batrep, a painted mini or army, or even just an inventory of your collection, it's all good. Also, take this info the two world; demo LotR at your LGS or hold a painting contest, even start up a league or campaign!
And to help with that, the challenge. In this very thread, I'll be running something of a challenge between now and the Hobbit release to motivate some friendly competition and general hobbying. I'm afraid there won't be a prize beyond bragging rights, but I hope some of you can get into the spirit of it and join in! The basic premise is that you accrue points based on your LotR hobby activity over the month, and at the end of it, when The Battle of the Five Armies hits cinema screens (17th December), one winner will be pronounced Lord of the Rings/King of The West/Ring bearer/any other suitably grand title!
Points will be given for the following categories, so just post in this thread what you've done, with a link in your post if applicable, and I'll keep a total of points in the OP.
Gaming: points will be given as follows (points marked with a * are cumulative with other points in this section)
But a Taste of the Terror: play a game of LotR of up to 300 points- 3 points awarded
Stand, Men of the West: play a game of LotR between 301 and 700 points- 5 points awarded
The Great Battle of Our Time: play a game of LotR of over 700 points: 10 points awarded
A Member of the Fellowship: play a game of LotR with someone who has not played before: 10* points awarded
Leader of Men: run a demo game of LotR with 2 new players- 15* points awarded
The Road Goes Ever On: play a game of LotR as part of a campaign or league- 5* points awarded
Hobby: points will be given as follows (all points from this selection are cumulative)
Elven Artisan: paint a LotR figure: 2 points awarded
Dwarven Skill: display a picture of painted LotR figures on Dakka or another site: 2 points awarded
Things That Yet May Be: post a WIP photo of a LotR figure: 1 point awarded
The Courage of Hobbits: paint your first LotR figure: 5 points awarded
The Red Book: produce a written battle report of a game of LotR and post it online: 3 points awarded
The Book of Marzabul: produce a battle report with pictures or video and post it online: 5 points awarded
Palantir Visions: produce a LotR SBG related thread, article or discussion on Dakka or another site (please don't post spam topics just for points, though!) 3 points awarded
There we go. So, post here when you do any of the above and I'll tot up the points! Couldn't be simpler. Hope to see some LotR goodness flooding Dakka in month to come...
"Will you follow me, one last time?"
Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, at the Battle of the Five Armies
LOTR is coming to our local GW and I was asked as the biggest fan of the SBG in the community to help lead the way. Ill be making sure we get some batreps and new painted minis coming. Maybe a few demo games as well
Da Boss wrote: Or, as I suppose I should have said: "And my axe!"
Yes! Was Waiting for someone to finish that quote for me!
It's nice to see a lot of enthusiasm for LotR on a Warhammer/40k based Forum. Can't wait to get going...
Btw, it would be a fun challenge to promote LotR more within the Dakka community itself as well, spreading the Hobbit love and getting away from the cliche of 'Lord of the Rings the Specialist game that no one cares about'.
@Namiel the more people you can get into the game the better, I myself am trying to get a friend back into it, though on a much smaller scale than what are planning.
It's nice to see a lot of enthusiasm for LotR on a Warhammer/40k based Forum. Can't wait to get going...
Btw, it would be a fun challenge to promote LotR more within the Dakka community itself as well, spreading the Hobbit love and getting away from the cliche of 'Lord of the Rings the Specialist game that no one cares about'.
.
Yeah, I'm hoping that will be a side effect of this, it's always a refreshing change to see some LotR stuff in the Painting subforums, hopefully this challenge will change that and get it more common, if even for a while.
I doubt the game will ever get back to it's RotK era glory days, but the longer we can keep it out of the Specialist/unsupported Games forum the better! GW haven't really helped with their pricing strategy, but between eBay and alternate manufacturers it's still a pretty cheap game to get into; you can get rulebooks/sourcebooks for a pittance second hand, and companies like Wargames Factory and Gripping Beast do some great kits for some of the more generic factions. 24 WGF Vikings for £15 is basically the core of aRohan/Dunland army, same for their orcs for Mordor/Angmar.
Sadly, I think GW will drop the game as soon as they can, instead of keeping it going like they did after Return, but with any luck the community can keep it alive!
True that, I certainly will be posting more stuff here now (been sticking more to TLA and OR at the moment) so hopefully will spark some interest if only from a collectors point of view. That is if I can actually motivate myself to paint
The move to Fine(or not)cast has also been a real dagger in the side, as even troops now from the Hobbit are in resin making it expensive to build cool armies. I think GW have fallen into a catch 22 now as they feel as if they can't lower their prices for new Hobbit stuff. It is a shame really as some people don't like paying for even one game system...
Aye, eBay is such a saviour nowadays, got 46 Warriors of Minas Tirith and 24 Knights the other day for 99p. Yes you read that correct! If only other people were willing to delve into the treasure trove, it is really quite easy to start older better established (and thus nerfed by GW) armies.
Great, added you to the OP! Mounted Elendil sounds cool, is that a conversion or was there a model for it? (Because there just might be some bonus points for conversions! )
Nice minis! Really want to paint some stuff now...
Have organised a game for tomorrow in my local GW at a time when there are normally quite a few 40k players so hope to have an influence on a few! Am thinking of asking the manager to run a points increase tournament to get more people in the hobby especially with the new film coming out.
Just come back from a game at GW 300pts. Was really good fun and the member of staff I was player was a great guy. Played Reconnoitre on a narrow board so it ended up as a bloodbath between my Gondor and his dwarves which lasted quite a while as you can imagine. Really tense moments though and not a dull moment.
Need to paint up some more stuff now over the weekend for a 500pt battle in the near future...
Yeah, became a bit of a stalemate but eventually I managed to start surrounding him. I think next time he might be Mordor so should be a bit easier to chew through units!
Wolf wrote: Dwarves are such a nasty bunch to get through so many defence 7's !
You really have to treat each army differently. I play my elves against dwarves differently from orcs, from men, ect. Same lists but different strategies.
You're generally going to outnumber your opponent as dwarves are tanks so cost a lot. Mobbing war of attrition is a good way to go, or just spear/pike support to get some extra attacks.
Don't spread your lines too thin either, as dwarves will carve through quite easily once given momentum and they are good at taking armies apart piecemeal - don't let your opponent split your forces too much!
Also, Rohan have axes so make use of piercing strikes when you can, and also cavalry so make sure you charge in for the extra attack and leave a fella knocked over so he counts as trapped next turn.
Elven blades are nice as well so you can opt to go two-handed which softens dwarves up a bit. Elves also have same FV as dwarves so you will give away less drawn fights.
Easterlings are just spear phalanxes. Very useful here too. Numenoreans are actually really good at being forgotten as they are destroyed by everything around you.... But can make a good distraction...
Of course magic is also a great tool for taking down high defence armies, especially a well placed Sorcerous Blast to knock down dwarves.
Edit: Oh, and banners can be invaluable if placed well.
I think, if you have them, lancers of some kind are good against dwarves. The straight +1 to wound the charge (which you will get first as cavalry) helps negate the high D somewhat, and cavalry are also good for getting around the Dwarves and hitting them from angles hey don't expect. Knights of MT or Dol Amroth should do well.
Outside of that, weight of attacks will do a great job. Get spear/pike support and Trapped bonuses wherever you can, and maybe take a tough hero as a line breaker.
Ahh that ois very helpful actually I think on a few of my games my forces have been spread a bit too thinly leaving me open for attack. Which version of the rules are axes in as me and my buddies play using is it 4th edition ?
The unique rules for axes (and every other type of hand weapon) are in the Hobbit/5th ed rules. I'm not really a fan of them if I'm honest, but I think the special attack for axes is -d3 defence value if you lose the fight, but+d3 Strength if you win. So it's a risk/reward type thing, but might help you get through Dwarf armour.
Ah I see, yeah I don't think we'll be using them as we prefer the older rules. Thanks for the help though, I can direct my forces a little bit better now.
I'll work on getting photos of my various armies up soon I'd love it if you all put some pictures up too.
I used to have a very dim view on Special strikes, but having played with them in a non competitive environment i think it adds more tactical options to the game, except feinting. I don't like it when people deliberately change a models weapons for special strikes though, axe Reavers spring to mind...
I'll add you to the OP, ckig! If you're just looking to dip your toe in with minis, check eBay, you will probably find some really cheap ones there!
Today, I've actually made a real start on the Gondor army I've had in boxes for years; ironically, despite how much I love the game, I've never actually had a fully painted/based army! That changes here, as I start on a pre-Fellowship army led by Boromir, Faramir and Denethor and themed on the battle for Osgilliath seen briefly in flashback form in LotR.
Looking forward to that, your painting is great! Absolutely love my Boromir as General and he normally manages to do quite well. So will there be a mix of Warriors and Osgilliath Vets and Rangers?
Probably not a good thing to be saying now that you've started your new army, but I was thoroughly disappointed at how poorly my WoMT did yesterday. My 500pt army now has none at all! Probably just because they were up against Dwarves and needed sixes the whole time...
Captain Galenus wrote: Looking forward to that, your painting is great! Absolutely love my Boromir as General and he normally manages to do quite well. So will there be a mix of Warriors and Osgilliath Vets and Rangers?
Cheers! At the moment, I have a WoMT warband led by Boromir, Rangers led by Faramir, and Denethor well have either WoMT or Osgilliath Vets if I bust out the GS. I also want to fit some Knights in there later on, but they aren't a priority.
Probably not a good thing to be saying now that you've started your new army, but I was thoroughly disappointed at how poorly my WoMT did yesterday. My 500pt army now has none at all! Probably just because they were up against Dwarves and needed sixes the whole time...
Oh dear! I must admit I remember them being quite good when I used to play more, and I have nearly 50 of the blighters (the core of a long dead WotR army). I favour high-Defence units in most game systems, so it was them or Dwarves, and basically, Boromir swung it. I have the minis for a small dwarf force, though, so they might materialise further down line.
I have to say, though, with the state my gaming group is in (or rather, isn't in, as most players have dropped out of the hobby), the chances of this army seeing the tabletop are minimal, so at this point it's Armchair Generalship for the win!
Cool, knights are a good way to go so I'd recommend them sooner or later. WoMT normally do form great battlelines and can be really effective, I just think my poor rolling to kill high defence dwarves and the fact that one flank got overrun quickly cast a dim view on them. That or the fact that my GotFC did so well it made everything else look bad!
Tbh, a solid core of Warriors supported by Rangers/cav can be really effective, especially with Boromir's 'banner of kill f***ing anything' holding the centre. I'd also recomend madril as he's only 55pts and has 3 might points and a cool special rule allowing you to reroll reserves. Thematic as well, just make sure he dies...
' I have nearly 50 of the blighters (the core of a long dead WotR army)' tell me about it! I boight so many and now no one plays it and i'm left with boxes of them. Probably going to convert them into Arnorians or make a diorama.
It's a shame it's so hard to find opponents because it can be a really fun and quick game. The guy I played on Thursday said after wards that he had forgotten what such a great game it was!
Actually, I have some GotFC I can fix up, I might use them as a bodyguard for Denethor and fill the rest of his Warband with Knights to run interference. I have a feeling Madril is actually really hard to get now, but I could probably convert a Ranger.
And without further ado, the first Warband of the army. 298 points of Boromir-led goodness!
The paintwork is nothing special, but they pass the 3-foot test and look good ranked up. Next will be some Rangers:
Cool! Really nicely painted! Tbh they only really need to look good on the table, and they look better than table quality!
GotFC are really effective, and you almost HAVE to give them shields. Defence 8 spears is not something to turn your nose at! It also puts a lot of dread into your opponents, in the last game my enemy kept making comments about the phalanx coming up his flank and started over committing to take them down leaving the rest of my army an easier job. Bodyguard is also a nice rule. I'd recommend running them with a banner for more nastiness.
Madril is pretty rare at the moment, so I just use a Ranger conversion at the moment until I get one off eBay. Normally go for about £5-10 at the moment if you're lucky.
Think I'm going to do some painting now as well. You've inspired me!
Well, here's a tentative list. It will probably change before I'm done, but it at least gives me some ideas and barring Madril, I have all the minis needed:
Warband 1: 298
Boromir
4 sword and shield
4 spear and shield
1 banner
2 archers
Warband 2: 140
Madril
5 Rangers
5 Rangers with spears
Good strong list, gotta love the flexibility of Gondor. In Boromir's warband I'd swap out the two bows for shields, because you have a perfectly good shooting strength in the rangers and you don't want to split your warbands up too much as the two archers won't move to shoot so be isolated and your battle line will be down on numbers meaning your opponent can tackle your army in small lumps rather than one big one. Other than that it is a solid core.
Madril with Rangers = very nice. Spears on rangers is very useful (i normally give a lot of my rangers spears) but don't be afraid to sacrifice some spears to free up points elsewhere, like more spears for Boromir's warband. Of course it depends on enemies/play styles. No real need to change.
The knights are very good, though imho i'd give them a mounted hero for support and Might etc.. Also, although GotFC are bloomin effective, in small numbers they will get overrun, especially with Denethor. If you don't have more models for them don't worry, WoMT can help out here. Of course the main restriction would be numbers with the knights.
Love Faramir with Osg. vets, but my suggestion would be to get Faramir (potentially Boromir or just a Captain) on a horse with the knights then have the GotFC with Osgiliath vets and remaining hero. By doing this you don't get to use the special rule they have which is an inconvenience... It's also less thematic, but more tactical.
Overall it is a perfectly sound list, I am just being pedantic! Fluff is more important than cheese but sometimes you have to make sacrifices... Keep up the great painting, I'm about to go and sit down myself in this lovely British weather...
I put the archers in Boromir's warband just as a) I had them to hand when I was painting and b) because it means I can play that Warband as a single 300 point army should I want a smaller game and still have some shooting, albeit meagre! I think down the line I'll swap them for extra shields to put on the ends of the line to stop flankers getting to the Spearmen easily.
I like the spears on the rangers so they can shoot and contribute to fighting while using the front rank to provide 'in the way' rolls against them. It's worked well for me in the past, so I guess it's one of my go-to setups.
The Denethor Warband isa bit of a mix. Denethor himself is there for cheap might points and thematic reasons as much as anything else. The plan with the GotFC is to give them shields and put them in a triangle of overlapping control zones around Denethor until they are needed, so that if he fails the Broken Mind test, all the enemy do with him is ineffectually head but high defence. I'll also be using them close to the Boromir battle line, so ideally the Guard can plug holes in the battle line and Boromir and Denethor's might can overlap. The knights are just to keep back and countercharge. I could put them in own warband with a captain, but I'd have to cut something somewhere else.
I want to keep Faramir with the vets to make use of their rule as much as possible, otherwise I'm just overpaying for WoMT.
I appreciate the advice, though, and I'll be sure to bear it in mind as and when I get to playtesting the list.
They are some very good reasons to keep the list as it is. I didn't think of deploying Denethor next to Boromir's warband... works perfectly well though. Spears on Rangers are very effective and I'd defo keep them, I was just saying don't be afraid to ditch them if you really need a spare point or two. Yeah you kinda need Faramir with the vets to make them worthwhile.
Here to help! The wonderful thing about LotR is that often tactics and strategy is a lot more important to what the list is on paper.
Well, I've just taken a break from some solid painting. Currently painting 3 Knights of Dol Amroth, 4 GotFC, and Prince Imrahil mounted, all at the same time! So much detail I don't know why I'm doing it...
In case you are interested, here is a quick 500pt list that I want to try out for fun. I'm pretty sure I'll be up against a horde army, but oh well. Should be good fun to play...
Looks like a solid list, Imrahil and the mounted Knights are just awesome against pretty much anything, and a Fountain Guard shieldwall should be very hardy indeed. Hard to tell at that angle, are those Men of Numenor you're using as Knights of DA? Because that's an awesome idea.
And of course, points are pouring your way for the photos, 8 of them in fact as there are 8 models in the photo!
Cheers. Imrahil/knights combo is pretty beast, but a massive points sink...
I am indeed using Numenoreans for when the horses get killed. Cheap and effective seeing as how poor Numenoreans are in the game as I love their models . Here's a finished one that I did quite a while ago:
Paradigm wrote: ...until this once get game is relegated to the dusty corner full of the games of yesteryear, the likes of Necromunda and Mordhiem that have been abandoned by GW. These games still survive, though, through a vibrant online community determined to keep them alive. Of course, us LotR players will keep a similar community going, but every little helps.
"Vibrant"
It makes me sad when I think about it, but LotR/The Hobbit are not going the way Mordheim, Necromunda, or the other old classics have gone (where many people still remember them fondly/are willing to play them). I think that they're instead going to go the way of Warhammer Ancients- where when you mention that you collect them, people go "Huh? What's that? Never heard of it."
This is because they never really had the fanbase support in terms of people actively going out and playing them that the Specialist Games did. Games Workshop wanted to drop Specialist Games for a long time, but a dedicated fanbase kept it going. Contrast this with LotR/Hobbit, where Games Workshop has kept trying to promote in the last few years, but never really picked up that dedicated fanbase.
Regardless, good luck with your promotion. If this section of the forums started to get active, I'm glad to join in.
I actually got a game in! I convinced my brother to take command of a Fallen Realms list of Easterlings, Corsairs and Khandish against my painted-so-far Gondor list. We played a custom scenario about controlling 3 bridges in Osgiliath, and at the end of the game I held 2 of the 3, largely thanks to some heroics from Boromir (taking a whole bridge by himself) and my block of WoMT proving damn hard to kill. Fun was had on both sides, so we're going to try and get a campaign going. Tomorrow, I think the mission will be one half of the Gondor force coming to the aid of the other and then trying to escape... With any luck, I'll get some more painted for that as well.
Mysterious Pants wrote:
Paradigm wrote: ...until this once get game is relegated to the dusty corner full of the games of yesteryear, the likes of Necromunda and Mordhiem that have been abandoned by GW. These games still survive, though, through a vibrant online community determined to keep them alive. Of course, us LotR players will keep a similar community going, but every little helps.
"Vibrant"
It makes me sad when I think about it, but LotR/The Hobbit are not going the way Mordheim, Necromunda, or the other old classics have gone (where many people still remember them fondly/are willing to play them). I think that they're instead going to go the way of Warhammer Ancients- where when you mention that you collect them, people go "Huh? What's that? Never heard of it."
This is because they never really had the fanbase support in terms of people actively going out and playing them that the Specialist Games did. Games Workshop wanted to drop Specialist Games for a long time, but a dedicated fanbase kept it going. Contrast this with LotR/Hobbit, where Games Workshop has kept trying to promote in the last few years, but never really picked up that dedicated fanbase.
Regardless, good luck with your promotion. If this section of the forums started to get active, I'm glad to join in
I think the lack of interest in The Hobbit comes from the horrible way in which he GW have tried to sell it. Doubling the price of most minis (even the old ones) and building up from there make the game far harder to get into. I was thinking about this earlier, and how much higher the cost is now.
In the RoTK era, you could get a force together from one box of troops (20-24 guys for £15) and a Hero (ranging from £7-12 or so). Now, for that same force, you're looking at double that cost, with the old troop boxes cut in half for the same price and the heroes now around £12-15. Now there's no way that's inflation, or even the rising cost of materials, it's just greed. It's as if GW didn't realise why the LotR game was so popular; largely because you could literally play it on pocket money.
Regardless, I think there's still plenty of us vets from the original game left, even if the new intake is lower, and forums like One Ring and The Last Alliance are still pretty active with discussion on it. So I'm content to believe that all is not lost, and that this great game will survive in fan-driven form even if GW drop it like a stone.
Great models Paradigm very nicely painted, and it does sound like you have a strong army to use as well
I'll put my models back in the display case in a few minutes and take some photos for you guys, I'll also get some photos of my mounted Elendil. I'm just currently painting him up would you guys maybe like a WIP shot of him too ?
I agree on your point about the sheer price of the models now ! Have you seen on the GW site with the new pre orders for the wood elves. £27 for a mounted hero and on foot !
Thanks! More incoming tomorrow, I've painted up my Fountain Guard and Denethor, and started converting some Citadel Guard for those nice S3 bows. Yesterday my shooting was a little ineffective, so it's time to up the weapons!
Looking forward to seeing the minis, and WIP shots, especially of conversions, are great (and get points!).
The worst part of the new pricing is that, had this Hobbit stuff come out at LotR prices, I'd probably be sitting on a few hundred points each of Dwarves, Wood Elves and Hunter Orcs, but instead, all I've been able to justify buying is EfGT.
Yeah I mean I am really apprehensive of buying any of the hobbit miniatures just because of how some of them look. I'm sure it's just the paintjob they have on the website but some of them seem to lack some real detail which is kind of off putting for me.
Have you or anyone for that matter bought any hobbit miniatures and think they are actually ok for detail ?
The Thorin's Company minis in Goblin Town are all very nice sculpts, as good as any of the LotR hero minis in terms of accuracy and likeness to the cast. The Goblin King is very nice as well, and the Goblins, while I don't massively like the aesthetic, are decent enough for horde troops. If you want, I can take some pics of that lot (painted and unpainted) tomorrow?
I think all of the AUJ plastic sets are going to be good, the newer ones I'm not sure on as the paintjobs on the site aren't exactly stellar. I've not known GW to make a bad kit (in casting terms) in recent years, so they're likely fine, but some of the poses on the Ranger elves look a bit off to me.
Cool. I got no idea how these lists works and warbands etc. Does the hobbit contain everything I need. Lotr used to have a million different books. Hope its all consolidated into one now. GW don't sell the old books anymore :/
Here's what i picked up:
Fellowship
24 moria goblins with assorted weapons
Cave troll.
Good setup for some moria scenarios i guess. Just need a balrog now heheh.
20 uruks with pikes and swords
Lurtz
12 rohan guys with assorted weapons.
Kind of a hodgepodge collection but it was cheap lol. Guess some some advice to expand would be good. A uruks vs rohan seems fitting and i got a bit of a start. I also want to get into the big mordor and gondor forces since they have a good range of plastic. But for now. Baby steps :p
And the stuff from the 3rd film is going to be in WD in a couple of weeks. As it looks like they sourcebooks for LOTR are sold out, your best bet is to look for either the Big Blue Book (3rd ed rules) or Legions of Middle Earth, both of which have rules for most LotR stuff.
As for what you've got, the Fellowship are worth having for special scenarios, and are good minis to paint as well.
Warbands are how you build your force, and have to have 1 hero (named or just a captain ect) and then 0-12 troops of any type. So for Isengard, I'd go with
WB1:
Lurtz
5 shields
5 pikes
WB2:
Captain (probably a good one to look for as a next purchase)
5 shields
5 pikes
Comes to about 320 points, not a bad level to start at and a good base to build from.
You've got a good core for Goblins, but will need some heroes of you want to play a 'legal' list. That said, they will be good for testing your armies against if you do that kind of thing.
If you want both Mordor and Isengard, orcs are your friends, as they can be included in both armies. There are also very loose ally rules, so if you want you can easily combine any good/evil armies you want.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Really nice stuff Wolf! Adding up the points now, but suffice to say many are coming your way! The Last Alliance stuff in particular looks great!
Thanks paradigm, points are always a welcome thing I have enjoyed painting the last allince models the most, but I am proud of my rohan force too, I think I need to take better pictures to do them amy justice
What edition were the war and rules implemented ? As the big rule book me and my friends play with says nothing of the sort.
I wasn't doubting you, just stating that they were still available this side of the pond as an option. They're probably sitting in a corner of GW's warehouse, collecting dust...
Some nice models there Wolf! I too loved the Last Alliance stuff, but I think all mine is being converted...
Welcome to the fray ckig. Paradigm has given some sound advice on army building there, but on the collecting front if I were you I wouldn't try and start collecting too many armies at once, because you'll create a backlog and become stressed and won't get to use your fully painted army. I say this because LotR and especially new games are quite easy to get swept up in and buy more than you need.
Good luck though and I look forward to progress.
Also, regarding rulebooks, I'm afraid I am not allowed to tell you that there is a PDF version of the actual Hobbit RULES not just stats online. But of course I can't tell you that as that is unprofessional...
I've only just recently started playing LOTR and am doing all i can to encourage it within my local club. I will be posting up some pics soon i what i have shortly. It would be shame to lose this game.
Really nice models again Paradigm! I'm jealous of you having the time to paint! I also used Numenorean shields for my GotFC (but did a slightly different conversion) and I think they just look so badass!
Fine, I'm in. Played a 700 point game on Saturday (list below) and painted angry Galadriel on Sunday and started on Elladan and Elrohir as well.
I played:
Azog on White Warg
Knight of Umbar on horse
Gothmog on Warg with Shield
Shaman on Warg (really just there for Fury; failed to cast)
Yazneg on Warg with Lance
Fimbul on Warg
Sharku on Warg
My opponent had Thranduil and Tauriel with a bunch of Mirkwood Rangers and some Palace Guard and a Elven noble with a bunch of the Rivendell knights.
The scenario was the one with an objective in the middle and random deployment. I hit up the objective pretty quickly. We spent a turn or two with him shooting me (killing a warg or two) and resisting my black dart. Then I sent Azog and Sharku to go fight his cav. They wiped them out around the same turn my ringwraith died to bows (I failed both my fate rolls on a previous turn and had to might one of them up just to live). Then they swept back around as Gothmog and friends went up the middle towards the Elven battleline. Azog wiped out a bunch more elves and Sharku somehow held his own against Thranduil and five buddies (the elves even had a banner!). Then Gothmog managed to kill Thranduil and Azog finally wiped the grin off Tauriel's face. Unfortunately, several of the rangers had managed to make their way to the objective and I lost 7-4.
Welcome aboard! Gaming and painting points coming your way as well.
Very interesting list! I've often been underwhelmed by all-hero lists myself, while a ton of might and specials keeps them in control I find once they get outnumbered and cut off. I'd be intrigued to see how that list would do against an orc/goblin horde setup!
Yeah, that is a bit of a problem. I think I would have done slightly better against a horde because they would have had far fewer bows (and S2 bows at that). This means they would have had to come towards me rather than waiting for me to make the first move (oh, and all the turns where I wanted to go second? I went first. All the turns I wanted to go first? I went second). All that might did come in very handy, but I did use up all of it except for one of Azog's. And Yazneg might have had a couple when he died.
At any rate, against such poor individual opponents you'll kill a ton of them every turn. Once they're broken they'll start running. Even orc/goblin heroes don't have great Courage (with a few exceptions, obviously). The real problem is that you'll have 3-4 dice with which to roll a 6 every turn you're in combat, and, assuming spears, they'll have a good 6-8 dice. If you're not rolling 6s, it will turn against you very quickly.
Another all heroes list I really want to try out is the white council. Glorfindel, Elrond, Saruman, Angry Galadriel. Sounds like fun
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, question, I noticed a couple of you say you don't like the new rules. I'm wondering why not. The only things that have really changed are the special strikes (and the monster versions). Also magic has changed a bit, but I rather like it all.
The White Council could be fun, plenty of magic too throw around, but you'd be relying on Glorfindel and Elrond to do the real ass kicking while the casters buff/rebuff and throw the odd Sorcerous Blast.
On the new rules, I at first didn't like the Warband stuff as it has, in general, caused me to up the points I spend on heroes. In the old days, I used to do about 1 hero to 20 guys, so felt the 1:12 ratio was a bit restricting, but it works well with enough now I've actually got some games in. I also wasn't a fan of the Special Strikes, but in general I just ignore them. If I were playing Battle Companies I'd probably use them, but at an army level I think they'd slow things down a bit. I've not tried the Monster rules yet.
Yeah, the warband stuff can quickly feel a little limiting. There's nothing stopping you from houseruling it to 1:20, though. In fact, there's a couple of armies where I think you kind of need to (orcs/goblins for example). I was kind of skeptical about them at first as well, but I've always kind of preferred hero-hammer, so there's that.
Pretty much the only special strikes I worry about are the piercing (axes) since it really helps with high defense guys, and I would occasionally feint with things like orcs since their fight is gonna be lower anyways. It doesn't take up too much time once you have that down. Just say "feinting/piercing" right before you roll.
The monster ones...hurl is the only one that's worth anything for the most part. Picking dudes up and throwing them at things is pretty sweet. Rend is almost useful, but you're not often going to need a lower number against S rather than D unless they're D7 or higher.
Here are some images from the new army challenge we had at our local gw. All armies were selected randomly so we had to pick a system and then pulled a random army and were stuck with it. Luckily I picked a good one. These are from before this started so please no points. I brought these with me to adepticon last year. I literally finished them the morning of.
Cool stuff! Dwalin with the Grimhammers must do some serious damage! I'm not sure what you've done, but the Erebor dwarves also look a lot better and more cohesive there than in the GW product picture!
Paradigm wrote: Cool stuff! Dwalin with the Grimhammers must do some serious damage! I'm not sure what you've done, but the Erebor dwarves also look a lot better and more cohesive there than in the GW product picture!
I didnt do anything special with the grimhammers. They barely meet the tournment 3 color minimum. Same with the erebor dwarves I just tried to eyeball the box art and did the best I could in about 6 hours. I was the only one of the 3 hobbit players to finish my army challenge in the months time, though i spent only about 15 hours painting total.
Well, congrats because they do look pretty good. I don't know what it is, but I've always found it easier to make the LotR range of models look good than I do any of GW's other lines.
spyguyyoda wrote: I don't know what it is, but I've always found it easier to make the LotR range of models look good than I do any of GW's other lines.
Speaking for myself, I think the fact they lend themselves to fairly muted and 'realistic' schemes helps; you don't need to do more than a couple of highlight layers, washes work wonders on them, and you don't usually need to worry about NMM/OSL or anything like that to make them look good.
In the last week I've painted up 30 minis for my Gondor force, there's no way I could have painted 30 Space Marines in that time, and I think the Gondorians look just as good as any of my SM armies.
Just played a cracking game (albeit against myself), 650 Gondor vs Mordor, a baptism of fire for the newly painted men of the West.
To say it went badly for the Gondorians is an understatement! 2 of the 3 D7 Fountain Guard went down to their first fight off the game, a Khandish cavalry charge left the WOMT in tatters, and everything singularly failed to wound the Witch King, from volleys of Ranger fire to a couple of Sorcerous Blasts from Gandalf. Faramir scored 2 wounds over the whole game, and several times my heroes failed to charge the Witch King, who did down swathes of the army.
It wasn't all bass luck, though; Boromir, predictablely the last man standing, had a kill count well into double figures (and bagged the Witch King at last), only going down to fired-into-combat crossbows!
Great fun indeed! Anyone else get any hobby in over there weekend?
It wasn't all bass luck, though; Boromir, predictablely the last man standing, had a kill count well into double figures (and bagged the Witch King at last), only going down to fired-into-combat crossbows!
Great fun indeed! Anyone else get any hobby in over there weekend?
Oh Boromir! Always getting yourself shot.
Sounds like a fun game
Thanks for the list help! Haven't gotten round to painting yet. Had to repair a few broken pikes. Man those things are fragile lol.
I didn't get any games in this weekend, but we're looking at starting a league. I've got to talk to the store manager again, but I won't have a chance to do that until this weekend (if even then).
Would anyone be down for an army painting challenge? The idea is it would be something new(you dont have to go buy it but me painting more elves isnt really exciting), 300~points or so, 2 warbands minimum, and say a month to do it in?
Good luck with that! Getting a store league going is sure to drum up some interest!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
namiel wrote: Would anyone be down for an army painting challenge? The idea is it would be something new(you dont have to go buy it but me painting more elves isnt really exciting), 300~points or so, 2 warbands minimum, and say a month to do it in?
Yeah, certainly. I am getting close to the end of my Gondor list (just 5 Knights to go) but am looking at grabbing some Dwarves soon as well, and still have plenty of Mordor to do!
It could fit in with this challenge well enough, or we could save it until the new year, but it's a cool idea!
Paradigm wrote: Good luck with that! Getting a store league going is sure to drum up some interest!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
namiel wrote: Would anyone be down for an army painting challenge? The idea is it would be something new(you dont have to go buy it but me painting more elves isnt really exciting), 300~points or so, 2 warbands minimum, and say a month to do it in?
Yeah, certainly. I am getting close to the end of my Gondor list (just 5 Knights to go) but am looking at grabbing some Dwarves soon as well, and still have plenty of Mordor to do!
It could fit in with this challenge well enough, or we could save it until the new year, but it's a cool idea!
How about we shoot for january to do it. From jan1-jan31 everyone posts pics of unpainted minis to paint up by the end of the month then as the month goes along we post up what we have done.
Both lists look nice! Personally, I'm not really a fan of the Blackroot archers (while rerolls on Monsters is nice, I don't like the F and C drops), they certainly seem interesting to paint.
Depending on I get done between now and then, I think I'll go with either:
I am looking at a fallen realms army or fiefdoms. I like the odd men out besides my elf army. I only want to paint the vale archers simply because of their look. I have more minis that I REALLY REALLY want to paint but im saving to use for future armies and to paint them would be a waste as the process will ruin the paint.
I was thinking of going with something similiar to your 2nd army using a unit of haradram, raiders, corsairs, and easterlings with a few ring wraiths mixed in.
Would defo be interested in that challenge. Need to start my galadrim army...
I've just bought Deathstorm so probs won't be doing much LotR related stuff for a while. I've also got a commission for some gladiator models... Oh no so much to paint :(
Paint the rangers however you like and it doesn,t matter what stat line you use for them tbh. Just have fun! I personally don't mind the BVAs but I also don't really use them much...
I've been meaning to start LotR for some time but didn't know what i needed,i have the Mines of Moria set rulebook,do i need any other books?
As for models,this is what i have:
-46 Moria Goblins(15 bows,15 spears,15 Sword and shield)
Grôblog,King of the Deeps
-Moria Goblin Commanders (2 Drummers,1 gob with spear and 1 with sword)
-Cave Troll with Hammer/Spear
-Fellowship of the Ring
In terms of books, you have two options: the big blue book (4th ed rulebook) that is just like the mini one on MoM but with more profiles, or the Moria and Angmar sourcebook, which has all the profiles you'll ever need for Goblins and friends. The latter is technically the most up-to-date and comprehensive, so go for that if you can. It should be pretty cheap if you shop around.
In terms of minis, you're off to a good start. Plenty of Goblins is always good, and you have the commanders to lead them (Groblog, and the sword and spear guys in the Command set). The Troll adds some punch, but another wouldn't go amiss, they're very nasty with the Hobbit edition Monster rules (if you can get the Hobbit mini rulebook, it's also worth having). You might need another Captain or Shaman, it you want to use all the Goblins (you need a 12:1 ratio of troops to heroes), but there's plenty there to get going with.
Jinx Magiga wrote: I've been meaning to start LotR for some time but didn't know what i needed,i have the Mines of Moria set rulebook,do i need any other books?
As for models,this is what i have:
-46 Moria Goblins(15 bows,15 spears,15 Sword and shield)
Grôblog,King of the Deeps
-Moria Goblin Commanders (2 Drummers,1 gob with spear and 1 with sword)
-Cave Troll with Hammer/Spear
-Fellowship of the Ring
Is there anything useful i can make with that?
You can always use more goblins but taking advantage of the other units that they have available to them is where the armys true strength is. Goblins themselves while cheap wont put out a whole lot of damage unless amassed on targets, which is a viable approach but the way I see it is you need to enhance those mass numbers through things like was already said. Trolls, characters, bat swarms, ect will make your goblin army far more effective. Give us a list and let us see what you come up with.
The fellowship is over 700 points by itself. Thats an army already, not very effective but an army. There are some great characters in there that would be good building blocks for future good armies.
Jinx Magiga wrote: I've been meaning to start LotR for some time but didn't know what i needed,i have the Mines of Moria set rulebook,do i need any other books?
As for models,this is what i have:
-46 Moria Goblins(15 bows,15 spears,15 Sword and shield)
Grôblog,King of the Deeps
-Moria Goblin Commanders (2 Drummers,1 gob with spear and 1 with sword)
-Cave Troll with Hammer/Spear
-Fellowship of the Ring
Is there anything useful i can make with that?
You can always use more goblins but taking advantage of the other units that they have available to them is where the armys true strength is. Goblins themselves while cheap wont put out a whole lot of damage unless amassed on targets, which is a viable approach but the way I see it is you need to enhance those mass numbers through things like was already said. Trolls, characters, bat swarms, ect will make your goblin army far more effective. Give us a list and let us see what you come up with.
The fellowship is over 700 points by itself. Thats an army already, not very effective but an army. There are some great characters in there that would be good building blocks for future good armies.
Currently i'll have to manage with the models i have,i'm a Blood Angel/Tyranid player so my budget is tight for the rest of the year,that along with the fact that nobody in my area plays LOTR means i don't rlly wanna get alot more,i would greatly apreciate it if you guys could give me a quick 300p list with my current models so i can get straight to work,
As the owner of an Angmar army that I have been meaning to repaint for a year now, I am hoping that this thread will stop me procrastinating, and fiddling with bits of killa kan conversion. It may be a while, due to a large unit of skinks that I have also been meaning to paint.
I own:
The Witch King on fell beast
The Dwimmerlaik foot and mounted
Gulavhar
Buhrdur
8 barrow wights
A shade
A shaman on warg
60ish orcs
12 orc trackers
12 warg riders
12 spectres
I also have:
The Shadow Lord
Aragorn (Weathertop)
6 Warriors of Arnor
40ish warriors of the dead
4 riders of the dead
12 morrannon orcs for conversions or proxying as captains
NathanD298 wrote: I'm guessing I don't get points simply for finally buying the finishing touches (kind of) for my Isengard army?
Cannot wait to get my hands on them though, and thought I would share that fact!!
I'm afraid not, but as soon as you go near them with a paintbrush or camera points will cascade your way! Remember, you get points from showing off stuff you've already painted, so feel free to throw up some photos of your current force!
Also, general announcement, we passed the halfway stage yesterday, and so far there are a total of 44 points on the board! Wolf leads with 19, Captain Galenus is in second with 13 and spyguyyoda is just a point behind in 3rd! I'd love to see the total hit 100 by the end of the challenge, so everyone, get hobbying!
As promised here are the pictures,i'm currently starting with Warband 1 and 3 so i can leave the troll for last.
Another thing i forgot was that when i bought the Moria Goblin Commanders box there was a fifth miniature in there that wasn't supposed to be in there,i'm not sure what it is (i think a shaman) or where it's supposed to be from (if any of you could identify it that'd be great),he'll lead warband 3 as pictured below:
So if my math's right that's point-wise for the painted minis (6 completed archers,2 completed swordsmen and 5 completed spearmen) 26points (unless basing is required to count for that) and for the WIP minis 4 points (the 4 swordsmen) which would total to 30 points or did minis painted prior to discovering this thread not count?
Also as a slight side note,you forgot a 'g' in my name in the OP
Stop long as they were painted after the 17th of November they count for points! So that's 4 for 2 pics, 28 for painting the minis and an extra 2 for the WIP pics, for a total of 34 and a firm lead! Well done!
And yes, that's a shaman, great for buffing warriors with the Fury spell that gives them a 6+ chance to ignore any wounds.
I'll have to try get some more lotr related stuff done soon ! Not had much chance recently. I am currently working on some knights of numenor converted from the plastic knights of dol amroth
Does anyone have any tips on how to take down Aragorn? I have a game on Friday and I know he'll be making an appearance. From past experience, I'm going to need some input on how exactly I can get rid of him as he was most definitely, and more thank likely will be again, a thorn in my side!!
Depends what army you are using. There are two techniques:
A) The Speed-bump - throw figures (not literally) into his path and create a physical barrier with weaklings. Or form a diamond formation so he can only charge one or two then sweep round and surround him on your turn.
B) send something really big and gribbly (not a Hobbit...) to go and tie him up and bosh him a bit. Doesn't matter if Aragorn wins because he would have been held up for a reasonably long time.
Of course another option is to magic/shoot him to death, though this is unlikely if in a small point game. If he has Anduril there is really only one thing to do: drop your minis and run!
Sorry for my inactivity recently, might be able to paint some more next week... or maybe Deathstorm.... Bloody 40k!
NathanD298 wrote: Does anyone have any tips on how to take down Aragorn? I have a game on Friday and I know he'll be making an appearance. From past experience, I'm going to need some input on how exactly I can get rid of him as he was most definitely, and more thank likely will be again, a thorn in my side!!
As said, speed bumps work, the only issue is that if they die too easily, he'll soon get into the swing of using his free might to call a Heroic fight and be double-killing every turn. So shield where possible, it gives you that much more chance to roll high.
Another trick is to shoot him early on with everything you have; unless he had H. Armour his Defence isn't spectacular, and a lucky shot will be worth far more against him than, say, a Warrior of Minas Tirith.
In that case, Crossbows will mess him up a lot, and if you can use the Wary Riders to get a charge off and knock him down, he'll be far less dangerous!
Ah, it did work then. For some reason I'm not seeing it...well, anyways there's a couple of things I'd like to touch up on it, but I consider it a finished model.
Elladan and Elrohir are WIPs, and you can kind of see them in the background there. Hopefully I'll have a chance to finish them up and post pics before the end here.
So I just played a gigantic 1200 point game with my Isengard against Gondor!!
Though it didn't look great to start with, eventually I pulled through and managed to win the game comfortably!! (At last I get some points for the comp )
1200! Wow, I can't remember the last time I played a LotR game that big, or at least actually finishing one! Scores have been updated!
5 days of the challenge left now, and Wolf still leads with 19 points, Spyguyyoda is in second with 14, and namiel and Captain G are tied for third! We're at 75 points in total, so what say you to one big push to get it to 100 before H-day?
I'm afraid they're not sitting showing up. Give me a minute and I'll try to quote/fix them...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Hmm, I can get some working but not others. For reference, you need to right click the image and copy its URL, and then put normal img tags either side.
Well I can add to my score ! Me and my friends played a 5 way deathmatch of 500 points per player, one player had 2 Mordor Trolls, a cave Troll and 9 Beserkers... It was not pleasant
Wolf wrote: Well I can add to my score ! Me and my friends played a 5 way deathmatch of 500 points per player, one player had 2 Mordor Trolls, a cave Troll and 9 Beserkers... It was not pleasant
Sounds awesome! Full gaming points incoming. Out of interest, how did you handle Priority with 5 separate players?
Automatically Appended Next Post: And that's 100 points on the board!
Yeah re roll when people tie and it solves out the order eventually We like to keep it kinda simple and just have a good time fighting eachother and trying to achieve whatever objectives we have decided on
I do enjoy multiplayer battles, but the most I've ever played is three players. Five sounds epic and lots of opportunity for alliances and backstabbing!
I will be painting up my Rangers as Grey Company, just because I love the army, especially with the Twins as well. Will probably use them as rangers in some games though; the wonders of proxy-painting!
Just hit the bazaar today and scored a pile of lotr minis. Lots of good oop minis a new minas tirith army and a harad and umbar army with a pile or orcs and urks. Oh and a high elf army. Not bad days take for about 15% retail. Just some paint stripping and minor repairs to do(honestly the broken ones could be trashed). Pics to come.
Uh-oh. I may not make your deadline lol D: I have failed you nooo. Instead of painting I've been constantly browsing ebay for more stuff instead hah. The January comp seems feasible though
No worries, this was just a bit of fun. Namiel is running an army building competition in January, so maybe you'll be able to do that. And feel free to post some pics of your stuff here even after the deadline, old or new!
Last few hours guys, im stuck at work or id be painting up minis. I missed my chance to run a demo game last week but will soon enough. When are we calling the cutoff? Midnight?
(Although if anyone manages to sneak in anything before I check the thread tomorrow morning then I'll 'forget' to look at the exact time of posting...)
And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the West... And then it seemed to him the grey rain-curtain turned all the glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.
JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King
Aaaaand we're done! The scores are settled, oaths fulfilled, and it is time for the tallying. So without further ado, the scores (drumroll please)!
In third place:
Spoiler:
namiel, with 19 points!
In second place:
Spoiler:
Wolf, with 29 points!
But there can only be one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share First Place! Ladies and gentlemen, a big hand for
Spoiler:
Captain Galenus with a whopping 31 points! Feel free to post something suitably boastful about being the winner of the Dakka LotR challenge 2014!
I must say I have been very impressed with the uptake for this challenge, there have been some great minis on display and plenty of good duscussion along the way! We've dragged at least one newcomer into the game (welcome aboard, ckig!) and proved that there's some LotR gamers yet on Dakka that still draw breath! Thanks again to everyone who has taken part and kept the game alive! Hope you all enjoyed taking part!
And finally, a shout out to the next LotR event coming our way on here, namiel's LotR army painting challenge 2015!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/627078.page The idea: simply pledge what you think you can paint in a month, paint it and show it off!
Sculpting and everything ! 
. Here's a finished one that I did quite a while ago:
Looks like all of the sourcebooks are available on the 
