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Yeah. Now's a better time IMO with WHFB being destroyed.

 auticus wrote:
It seems the community is split on the quality of war of the rings rules.

Half seem to love it and claim them to be some of the best rules gw wrote.

The other half says that the WOTR rules are bad.

Personally, I just never had an interest in it. I love the SBG rules for skirmish and small unit games, and if I really want to play mass battles I'd rather do it with 10-15mm figures. After years of playing WFB I finally just decided that (for me) 28mm does not work with mass battle size games.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Don't get me wrong, I liked the game. Still do actually. But I do think at it's core, it was a weird attempt to try and get the WHF crowds attention and vice versa for the LotR crowd. It just never quite gelled between the two properly.

Not really. It was Matt Ward's (and all the SBG GW fans) attempt at just using their big collections, but to keep the same stat lines etc. Which of course made the game pretty wonky.

Regardless, it's wonderful for giant games that are over quickly - especially for scenario play. Refight the Rohan/Isengard conflict easily, for example. Not a tournament game, at all.

Well, aside from the normal lotr no GW game has ever been balanced And every now and then there are still wotr tournaments Back then I've heard many people say it was basically the better WHFB, with improved movement rules and due to might points also more tactical depth. But I played both systems only 1-2 times in test games so I don't have an opinion about that.
Personally I think the scale was too large. The unit sizes worked for the troop choices, but all those elite units only existed in metal blisters of 3 - and you needed at least 32 models for a decent unit.
On the other hand cavalry armies worked better than in normal lotr.

I think the "not a tournament game at all" part is another big part of its failure.

Adam Troke: My favourite part of the Battle Companies Sourcebook is the narrative campaign you find nestled within it. A true first for the Strategy Battle Game, this five-Scenario adventure lets you take your warband on a daring quest across Middle-earth.

The Quest to Fornost emerged from a small idea we had while initially planning Battle Companies out, a germ of a concept that Jay took and ran with. The result is an enthralling adventure inspired by and humbly paying homage to those you see and read about in The Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™.

Why do I love it though? Because it adds flavour and purpose to any Battle Companies campaign – play a few games with your company, then embark on the quest, lacing more matched play games between each campaign Scenario. Best of all, there’s plenty of replay value to it – random tables included in each Scenario within the Narrative Campaign mean that the outcomes and rewards should be different each time.

read more at:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/12/07/things-look-forward-battle-companies/

So Battle Companies has sold out in the uk at the pre-order stage which is good news I guess baring a really tiny print run.

Might encourage some more new releases?

Well let's just hope that convinces the powers that be that there is still life in the old LOTR dog yet.

The game has always had a small number of local players in my area but since the news of the move to Forge World the number playing has shot up. There have been tournaments rung and a battle company campaign is being planned.

Moving LOTR to Forge World rather than dumping it completely was an excellent move on GWs part and gamers are returning as a result.

Speaking of Forgeworld....

Iron Hills Battle Company:
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-US/Iron-Hills-Battle-Company-2017


Yeah, I'm going to be grabbing that one. I love the Iron Hills fog world stuff and this is a GREAT way to snag some that I can start using right away!

Got my Battle Companies on Saturday.

Quick review: fantastic. Only a tiny amount of wasted space in th ebook (a few full page pictures). Tons of content, and was pleasantly surprised by the variety of the twelve scenarios included plus the mini-campaign. Spent an hour or two with a buddy going over all the experience and influence stuff and every skill. I'm super excited to start playing, and I've scheduled a day for some of my pals to do a day-long campaign at my house.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 LuciusAR wrote:
Well let's just hope that convinces the powers that be that there is still life in the old LOTR dog yet.

The game has always had a small number of local players in my area but since the news of the move to Forge World the number playing has shot up. There have been tournaments rung and a battle company campaign is being planned.

Moving LOTR to Forge World rather than dumping it completely was an excellent move on GWs part and gamers are returning as a result.

LOTR is still GW, only new models are FW.

Specifically, Middle-earth SBG and it's sub-brands Hobbit SBG and Lord of the Rings SBG is all very much GW.

I also grabbed the Battle Companies book. More so as a LOTR fan then anything.

After reading it, I am excited to play it. Will need the main rulebook though as I quite a long time ago and only have a smattering of random minis.

I heard word there is a new book coming next year? Im way behind the game, so is that true?

Desperately wish they would let stores carry it again. Id rather not spend the same amount of $ on a warband for LOTR as I would an army for AOS/40k

Yes the Hobbit is being rebranded "Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game" and the new edition is next year, but is supposed to largely be the same edition as Hobbit currently is with tweaks.

We're having a middle earth dinner first saturday of January to discuss a campaign and storyline that puts us many years before the books to explore some of middle earth before the movies.

Oh boy, got my book today! Time to paint those Arnor warriors!

Can you buy this book at games workshop stores or only on their online store?

 DanceOfSlaanesh wrote:
Can you buy this book at games workshop stores or only on their online store?

It's not direct only but you might have to ask them to bring it in for you. Great book. I didn't get a chance to play the first iteration but it seems like LotR's answer to the best parts of Mordheim/Necromunda.

Or you can just order it online and have it delivered to your local GW for free. Or at least they used to offer that option .

Hi

I'm a little confused about this new book. I was into LotR sbg years and years ago, but then moved away from large scale battles into skirmishes, mainly Mordheim. I recently stumbled upon Battle Companies comming out, and I want to give it a try, but here's my question: is it like a full game, fun and diverse for many encounters, or is it (since it requires you to have the base Hobbit rulebook) just a curiosity, and not realy worth much time? Tbh I'm looking for Mordheim in world of LotR and I fear I might be disapointed...

I'll also follow that question with another, similar question: Could this new Battle Companies book be used with the LOTR SBG Blue Rules Book? (Return of the King) Are there any rules updates that would need to be tweaked?

My son is getting into LOTR, and I think Battle Companies would really grab his attention.

As a Blue Rulebook player, I can't see any real issues with using the older rules - a few of the scenarios might need a tweak - IIRC, there's a mission relying on killing a cave troll, which is much less difficult if the troll doesn't have brutal power attacks. Otherwise, I cant think of any real problems.

 Bob Plociennik wrote:
Hi

I'm a little confused about this new book. I was into LotR sbg years and years ago, but then moved away from large scale battles into skirmishes, mainly Mordheim. I recently stumbled upon Battle Companies comming out, and I want to give it a try, but here's my question: is it like a full game, fun and diverse for many encounters, or is it (since it requires you to have the base Hobbit rulebook) just a curiosity, and not realy worth much time? Tbh I'm looking for Mordheim in world of LotR and I fear I might be disapointed...

It's amazing. It's better than Mordheim, by far, imho, as it has a much more fair team imbalance system.


Here is the review I posted a few days ago on GBHL:


Hey all! Finally got to play some Battle Companies yesterday. I set up two 4x4 boards (one Mordor inspired, one Rohan/Gondor inspired) on my 8x4 table and began at noon. Over the course of the next eleven hours, six other friends joined in the fray (some staying for only a few hours, but always enough people to have two games going simultaneously). There was at least a dozen or more games played, featuring the following battle companies: Moria, Mordor, Mirkwood, Lothlorien, Durin's Folk, Rohan, and Isengard.

Every game was fantastic, every game was fun. Every dice roll mattered, and every end-game sequence was a hoot. Many pizzas and many beers were consumed while the air was always filled with groans of despair as duels were lost or warriors suffered injuries, or shouts of triumph as foes were slain against the odds or a vital reinforcement was added.

I am so, so happy for the new Battle Companies. Thank you so much, Adam and Jay and the rest of the Middle-Earth team. Battle Companies is a perfect combination one of my favorite rulesets of all time, SBG, with my favorite fantasy setting, with ultraskirmish gaming, keeping a healthy balance of tactics and luck, and mixing in my favorite parts of Mordheim and Frostgrave and other campaign/experience systems. It is exactly the system I have wanted for the last twenty plus years of my life. I am hoping to make Battle Companies Day a monthly or semi-monthly event at my house. I already own at least a thousand SBG models but I am planning on ordering some more just to show my support to GW for SBG.

Oh bloody hell, how is anyone supposed to avoid buying the Battle Companies book after reading a review like that!

Better put it on my list...

 Dark Apostle 666 wrote:
As a Blue Rulebook player, I can't see any real issues with using the older rules - a few of the scenarios might need a tweak - IIRC, there's a mission relying on killing a cave troll, which is much less difficult if the troll doesn't have brutal power attacks. Otherwise, I cant think of any real problems.

The reinforcements and upgrades tables contain references to troop types with stat lines that appeared in supplements after the Big Blue book was published. Either just concoct some kind of upgraded troop yourself, or some of us still have copies of the PDF stat summary sheets that GW used to make for the supplements ;-)

Ok, one more question in that case. You guys said apart from Battle Companies I would need a Hobbit Rulebook

Is this book from the starter set sufficient?



Or should I go for the big one?

I suggest getting the small one, or finding yourself the blue one ring book. (As the rules are not much different, just weapon special strikes/channeling spells)

With a new book due this summer, no point in spending a bunch of rules.

Tiny book - all the core rules you need

Big book - all the core rules you need PLUS scenarios to play the first Hobbit film, painting guides, terrain modeling tips, scenarios from LOTR films, blah blah

I like the big book to look at occasionally cuz it's very pretty, but it stays on the shelf. I have two small tiny books that always hit the table when I'm playing.


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 Momotaro wrote:

 Dark Apostle 666 wrote:
As a Blue Rulebook player, I can't see any real issues with using the older rules - a few of the scenarios might need a tweak - IIRC, there's a mission relying on killing a cave troll, which is much less difficult if the troll doesn't have brutal power attacks. Otherwise, I cant think of any real problems.

The reinforcements and upgrades tables contain references to troop types with stat lines that appeared in supplements after the Big Blue book was published. Either just concoct some kind of upgraded troop yourself, or some of us still have copies of the PDF stat summary sheets that GW used to make for the supplements ;-)

This part is REALLY important, though. Battle Companies uses the points system from SBG to determine your battle company power rating.

After a battle and your reinforcements and wargear and skills and xp and whatnot, the last you you do is quickly recalculate the points of your models.

That's how you know how weak or powerful you are.

If two warbands have different ratings, then for every fifteen full points the difference is, the underdog not only gets one re-roll to use during the game, but also one extra influence point at the end of the game.

So, if you play my 150 point battle company and you're 118, you'd get TWO rerolls to use during the game and TWO extra influence points post-game. Considering you get 2 for losing, 3 for draw, and 4 for winning, it means even underdog teams that lose get as much influence as a winning team. Reinforcement rolls cost 3 influence points, so underdog teams even when they lose will basically get a free warrior every game until points stabilize.

Trust me you really do need the points.

But, it's pretty simple:

LOTR armies -
LOTR Mordor - Mordor.
LOTR Moria & Angmar - Moria, and, uh, Angmar.
LOTR Fallen Realms - Harad, Umbard, Isengard, Khand, Rhun (Esterlings)
LOTR Free Peoples - Rivendell, Lothlorien, Durin's Folk, Hobbits, Wanderers in the Wild
LOTR Kingdoms of Men - Gondor, Rohan, Arnor, Feifdoms, Numenor

Hobbit armies -
Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey - either the big Hobbit AUJ book or the FREE pdf from GW - https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Errata/The_Hobbit/Heroes_and_Villains_of_Middle-Earth_EN.pdf - has Goblin Town, Erebor, Dol Guldur/Hunter Orcs
Hobbit There and Back Again - Mirkwood, Dale, Iron Hills, Gundabad, Lake-town (Guard and Survivors)


If your group plans well (like hey let's do Gondor and Rohan and Isengard and Harad) there's only two books ya need. The LOTR sourcebooks are totally worth owning all five though. My copies are well-thumbed. There's something about them that just makes you want to look at them all the time. GW must have laced them with Tolkien-cocaine or something.

Good point Doug!

No pun intended...

If you're not a member of Great British Hobbit League on Facebook, you should join! It's the defacto SBG FB page, and the GW designers post there and interact with the community.

In fact, Jay Clare (GW) posted on Friday and asked for submissions for player Battle Companies to be featured in a Warhammer Community post. I submitted my Isengard list at their current composition (9 members) as of the very last XP and equipment purchases

Nice team, I like the scenery that they are on as well.

 Kroem wrote:
Nice team, I like the scenery that they are on as well.

Thanks, that was after several battles. One archer was upgraded to a crossbowman, who then became a hero. Two sword guys upgraded to pikemen. I bought two more reinforcements, both of which were sword only.

Glad to see so much love for Battle Companies! And it's also good to see this here sub-forum having a little bit of activity going on in it.

I've started playing the Evil narrative campaign from WD with a Warg Rider company and i am having a blast with it (despite them performing pretty poorly against other Battle Companies)

Has anyone else given the narrative campaigns a go?