[BCUpdate] Additional Equipment

Erunion · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:38 pm

Okay, now that all of the Faction sheets are updated it is time to turn to additional equipment and mercenaries. I'm going to need a lot more help on this part, so I wanted to start this thread so that we can discuss various items.

First up, I want to make musicians (horns/drums) available to all the races that are allowed to have them.

Quote:

Horn/Drum....................4 Inf. (20 points)
+1 Courage for all members of the Battle Company as long as the bearer is alive.

Next, several of the companies have special rules that allow them to treat one of their heroes like a banner, so here's what I'm thinking about doing for the models that actually have banners.

Quote:

Company Standard..........10 Inf. (30 points)
+1 Fight for all members of the Battle Company as long as the original bearer is alive. If the bearer is slain, place a marker on the table to mark where the standard fell. Anyone may pick up the fallen standard and carry it off the table (treated like a light burden). If the standard is recovered by the owning Company, the standard is returned to the warrior who dropped it after the battle, or if he should die from his wounds, be passed to another warrior. If it is taken by the enemy, the warrior who captured the standard gains +2 Experience, and a battle should be fought using the standard as the objective. If the standard is not recovered during this second game, then the standard is destroyed.

In addition, a Battle Company that possesses a Company Standard gains +1 Influence at the conclusion of each battle.

I'm thinking that Heroes should be restricted from carrying either of these pieces of equipment. What do you guys think?

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:33 pm

I agree with you. Firstly I like what you've done with it and secondly making it so that heroes cant pick them up sounds right. Also in some BCs like Warg Riders there are models who can have banners and horns and some cannot, you should be specific that ed wild wargs cannot have such equipments.

Cyndra the Grey · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:48 pm

Looks good, I would also like to add that I don't think a warrior should be able to carry both, to stop people hiding him in a corner to protect him.
But nice work so far

Cyndra the Grey

Dezartfox · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 8:17 am

I like it!

Hilbert · **Joined:** Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:07 am **Posts:** 2088

Nice job... :-D

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

GothmogtheWerewolf wrote:

You should be specific that ed wild wargs cannot have such equipments.

Well it could work, perhaps the horn could be replaced by a "mighty howl" which costs a bit more than a normal horn but cannot be picked up by another model and the banner could be replaced by a "pack leader" rule, meaning that the most powerful warg instantly counts as a banner, and the effect is carried on to the next most powerful warg once the pack leader dies.

Erunion · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:53 pm

Okay, so we all seem to be on the same page as far as the horns/drums and company standards. Next the question is what about the other published supplemental gear? When you played battle companies, did you guys ever use this equipment? Do you think we need to include it in the updated version of Battle Companies?

Climbing Ropes & Grapnels (1 Inf.) -- We never used these...Never saw much of a need for them.
Concealing Cloak (2 Inf.) -- I think one guy purchased a few of these for his company, but I don't remember them being very useful.
Dwarven Courage (2 Inf.) -- Seems kind of powerful now that we will have spirit creatures in Battle Companies
Map (3 Inf.) -- I always bought one of these. I found it very useful. I think it is probably a bit undercosted.
Blade Poison (1 Inf.) -- I always purchased this.
Arrow Poison (1 Inf.) -- This too.
Burning Brands and Torches (1 Inf.) -- Seemed like it should have been scenario specific...
Rallying Horn (3 Inf.) -- This would be too confusing with horns/drums being added.
Whip (1 Inf.) -- Never saw the point in paying for these.
Hunting Dogs (3 Inf.) -- I saw a few of these in Battle Companies. I think they should return.

Mercenaries:
Wandering Elf (8 Inf.) -- No one ever purchased these, but I don't see a problem in bringing them back.
Local Scout (4 Inf.) -- Same as above.

Here is where I think we can start adding in some neat units, like Cave Trolls, Khandish Mercenaries, etc.

I'll wait until I start getting some feedback from you guys before I flesh these out any further.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:39 pm

For mercenaries why not use allow 'unofficial' profiles like mounted elf knights, duskwraiths, etc...

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:11 am

Quote:

Climbing Ropes & Grapnels (1 Inf.) -- We never used these...Never saw much of a need for them.

They would be very useful on my game tables!

Quote:

Burning Brands and Torches (1 Inf.)

Caves? as above

Quote:

Whip (1 Inf.) -- Never saw the point in paying for these.
Hunting Dogs (3 Inf.) -- I saw a few of these in Battle Companies. I think they should return.

I like Setting games in the shire I would like to be able to make a Farmer Maggot or Shire Ruffians
What about allowing Traps?
This may be out side of normal application of the rules but what about all wolf or spider factions They would make good campaign or scenario encounters. Would any one want to run them?

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

Oldman Willow wrote:

This may be out side of normal application of the rules but what about all wolf or spider factions They would make good campaign or scenario encounters. Would any one want to run them?

I would gladly run them, it's the only way i've ever considered playing battle companies. Also Wanderers in the wild/the wizards/the fellowship should be merc options if evil are gonna get trolls.

One last point: What about the Woses?

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:02 pm

SuicidalMarsbar wrote:

I would gladly run them, it's the only way i've ever considered playing battle companies. Also Wanderers in the wild/the wizards/the fellowship should be merc options if evil are gonna get trolls.

If goog gets wizards and fellowship then evil should at the very least get buget wraiths i.e No might, 7 will, 0 fate.

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

Well budget wraiths WITH their special rules (shadowlords rule only applies to himself)

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:39 pm

Yes we don't need any Shadow Lords in battle companies.

Erunion · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:36 pm

I don't think we should include unofficial profiles...Middle-earth has plenty of options. Battle Companies is more about using your collection of miniatures in a new and different way. If you wanted to add those type of units that would be more of a house rules-type situation.

As far as having Wanderers/wizards/fellowship/wraith members, I think that is straying too far into the realm of SBG. Battle Companies isn't about hiring Aragorn to come slaughter his way through the opposing company. These miniatures would be far too powerful in such a small setting. When I mentioned having trolls available as mercenaries, there would be significant drawbacks to having them. For instance, you would have to pay so many Influence points to keep him happy, or he might entertain himself by squishing one of your warriors. Khandish mercenaries might decide that they don't like the odds of the battle and so they take off before the battle begins (or even switch sides!) This would help make these options more balanced and not overpowered which is all too easy to do with such small forces.

I had not thought about including Ruffians or Woses...I could see Ruffians being more likely to form a band of warriors than the Woses, who would avoid giving open battle if at all possible. I was thinking of creating "encounter" forces for campaign purposes that could be made up entirely of Wargs/Wolves or Spiders, but if you guys think that they need to be standalone companies, we could certainly write them up. There wouldn't be a whole lot of room for advancements, equipment purchases, etc.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Sun Sep 04, 2011 3:12 am

Quote:

I was thinking of creating "encounter" forces for campaign purposes that could be made up entirely of Wargs/Wolves or Spiders, but if you guys think that they need to be standalone companies, we could certainly write them up. There wouldn't be a whole lot of room for advancements, equipment purchases, etc.

I like both ideas. I don't mind handicapping myself when I play young players. Ruffians are scum so they should be dangerous to anybody but Hobbits.Wolves and spiders should be dangerous to start up groups. They will still be fun to play.

What if ruffians could start with a hobbit leader who could never get any advancements. Wait ! were did these wild men and orcs come from? I would like a farmer Maggot like leader instead of a ranger for my Hobbits. I am not sure it would be a handicap. I also like the Trodder the Hobbit ranger idea.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:43 am

What about Barrow-wights, Shades as mercenaries, but they culd also turn on you?

SuicidalMarsbar · **Joined:** Sun Apr 24, 2011 1:14 am **Posts:** 1712

GothmogtheWerewolf wrote:

What about Barrow-wights, Shades as mercenaries, but they could also turn on you?

I misread that and was going to make a necrophilia comment......

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:37 pm

Colosseum · **Joined:** Sun Aug 07, 2011 1:38 am **Posts:** 54

I like the idea of additional equipment... somebody should invent more so it gives me more customization ideas for my heroic Captain Hunt and Leftenant Morant, both officers of Gondor named for the characters in Breaker Morant....

Dezartfox · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:46 pm

Erunion wrote:

I had not thought about including Ruffians or Woses...I could see Ruffians being more likely to form a band of warriors than the Woses, who would avoid giving open battle if at all possible. I was thinking of creating "encounter" forces for campaign purposes that could be made up entirely of Wargs/Wolves or Spiders, but if you guys think that they need to be standalone companies, we could certainly write them up. There wouldn't be a whole lot of room for advancements, equipment purchases, etc.

I like the idea of encounter forces, I was thinking of the same thing actually for the campaign I was going to run soon

[BCUpdate] Additional Equipment

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