Battle Companies 2016 -- Release!

Erunion · **Posted:** Thu Apr 28, 2016 7:16 pm

Greetings, Everyone!

Today is my birthday, and although I am not quite eleventy-one, I felt that it should be observed in true Hobbit fashion! I wanted to give you all a gift, and since I couldn't afford GW vouchers for everyone, I finished up the Battle Companies update instead. It's hosted on my personal website until we can get the Tomes of Wisdom back up and running at the One Ring, but you can find it by clicking the link below:

Click Here For Battle Companies!

In truth, it is not just a gift from me. I had invaluable input from the gentlemen listed on the Dedication page and without them, this update would not be nearly as awesome as it turned out to be. I hope that you all enjoy the newest edition of the Battle Companies rules, and I look forward to hearing new tales of heroic deeds and villainy!

Draugluin · **Posted:** Thu Apr 28, 2016 7:59 pm

After reading through it, I feel like the individual factions are a little too complicated. I liked that you always had the same starting point, and I liked that all the profiles were the official ones. I do like the non-random reinforcements, but it just seems a little too complex IMO.

Fëanor, the mighty elf · **Posted:** Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:45 pm

First of all: happy birthday!

Great job on the entire work! I've only skimmed through it, but I will try to read through it a bit more soon. Thanks for putting so much effort into this, that already deserves a lot of praise!

jdizzy001 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 28, 2016 10:38 pm

Looks great! I'm very excited to play some more! I must compliment you on your special rules. Many of them generate benefits for the character possessing them without breaking the game. My favorite are the improved swords for Dale and Numenor. In my honest opinion the watered down "anduril" they have going on (wounds on a 5+), should be what anduril is. Drop anduril's cost to say 15 or 20 and give it the special rule detailed in BC. That would be great. Anyways, happy birthday and thanks for all the fish, I mean BC stuff

ja33 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:00 am

Hey Erunion - congrats on finishing such an impressive document ! I've never played Battle Companies myself, but you make it pretty enticing, and I might just give it a go...

Happy Birthday, and job very well done on this !

Commissariat · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:58 am

Shout out to William Farquhason for his enormous help during the slow periods! Thank you all for keeping interest in the game; it was a blast playtesting and developing the system. It is not complete and never will be perfect, I have more and more tweaks with each passing game, but it is still a blast that keeps the theme of a mere company of common soldiers marching to war or wherever fate may take them.

@Draugluin
Thank you for your feedback! The changes we made were to promote balance, logical progression, and a little more personal touch Company to Company. It allows variation among players of the same faction by adopting the concepts of recruitment/upgrading in SBG that everyone should already understand. There is an example starting company for each faction, similar to the previous edition, which can be used by players for a more simple experience as desired.

You'll find that after company creation and after you have your company recorded, it is relatively the same simple game as before with only subtle changes to help improve both the casual and competitive scene.

jdizzy001 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:18 am

I would like to see a BC friendly tournament. That would be fun. 600 points, BYOBC (That is bring your own battle company)

Voyager360 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:10 am

Looks absolutely amazing! Really want to give this a try, just need to paint up the right miniatures first.

Tungdil · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:57 am

Finally it is here, well done lads

Many great and cool changes, like Mount Injury Table, Recruiting your own company from the start, Magic has been "fixed", the Special Rules/Traits for The Shire seems to be very original and cool, etc !

Sadly for my part, I feel my favorite Factions are left a bit wanting.

First of all I noticed that many Factions has got a heap of Special Rules/Traits, especially Good Factions and Races like the Elves and Humans, while Dwarves (the original Durin's Folk) are left with 3..?

It will also be interesting to see how Special Rules like Thranduil's "Bladelord" and other "Power Creep" rules will work in Battle Companies, hopefully this was tested extensively

Then I checked out to see if the Black Numenoreans perhaps had got some new units, seeing as they only really have 3 troop types (Warrior, Venomblade (if you count this as a unit) and Morgul Knight), but they are still stuck with their Orc "friends", which they of course hate, hehe. I think it would be interesting to consider giving them some sort of Archer unit, that is not of Orcish origin.

And lastly I checked out the Ruffians, but this left me a bit confused as it would now seem like they upgrade/promote to Dunlendings.
I had hoped that they would be kept as only the Ruffian/Rogues, with perhaps some exciting new troop type, and that those pesky Wild Men was removed from the list

Need to read through in greater detail though, these are just my thoughts after skimming everything last night.

The document is looking as beautiful as ever, and I also noticed what seemed like many new/updated scenarioes, which is also very exciting!

What are you plans on updating Battle Companies further, after people start playing it and giving their feedback, which might be different from what you yourself has been experiencing?

Erunion · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 2:36 pm

Thanks for the kind words, so far!

@Draugluin -- My Battle Companies project has (and always will be) a fan-made project. I just really enjoyed this style of play and hoped to keep it going when GW dropped their support. That said, you can agree with your group to only use the example companies if you want to keep everyone on an even footing, or to ignore the unofficial profiles.

@Tungdil -- Durin's folk has 5 special rules...Did you miss the ones below the photo? As for the Black Numenoreans, did you check out the Umbar list? I think you'll be pleased. The Ruffians/Dunlending combination was a decision made because as stand-alone lists they were really lacking, but by combining them into a list of "Men under the sway of Saruman" we were able to flesh it out a bit. Of course, all recruitment/promotions are now optional, so you could choose to limit yourself to just Ruffians or just Dunlendings, or simply use the Dunlending profiles to represent the "beefier" profile you crave for your Ruffians.

As far as plans regarding feedback and further updates, I've been in discussion with some of the other Mods about setting up a BC specific forum here at the One Ring where we can have BC-centric discussions, bat reps, etc. I'd like to do a series of articles on how to convert or represent some of the new profiles as well, once the Tomes of Wisdom are up and running again.

Fëanor, the mighty elf · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:29 pm

Erunion wrote:

As far as plans regarding feedback and further updates, I've been in discussion with some of the other Mods about setting up a BC specific forum here at the One Ring where we can have BC-centric discussions, bat reps, etc. I'd like to do a series of articles on how to convert or represent some of the new profiles as well, once the Tomes of Wisdom are up and running again.

That sounds great! Would be nice to host the rules on this site as well, and having a dedicated forum is a great idea! Looking forward to it!

Harfoot · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:18 pm

Happy Birthday for yesterday Erunion, haven't played Battle Companies for about a year now as we have mainly been playing scenarios. Thanks for updating i will download over the weekend and plan a few games.

MightyReek · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2016 8:23 pm

Hello guys, I'm returning to the game after 9 years of absence and it was a great surprise to find out this Battle Companies just realeased.
I'll give it a read and have some gaming with both my step-sons.
Happy birthday.

Sithious · **Posted:** Tue May 03, 2016 1:45 pm

I have not been on here in a while. but glad to see the new rule set. I will be hosting a BC night at my new house very soon and will make sure everyone gives these new rules a run through and test a few armies out. Can't wait.

Coenus Scaldingus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:14 am **Posts:** 1121

Release slipped under the radar originally - glad to see the update now though!
Although I like the set starting warbands, the added flexibility of matching one with your own collection (or particular plans for a thematic group) are certainly a solid advantage here.
The whole slew of special rules are great too, but by far the best addition has to be the new profiles, expanding lists where needed and providing promotions where none existed before. Add to that the still-excellent lay-out and incorporation of artwork and it once again is a fantastic achievement; well done to all those involved!

Erunion · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2016 11:03 am

Many thanks, gentlemen!

Little_Odo · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2016 5:46 pm

Thank you so much for putting so much time and effort into this wonderful tome. Your work is truly grand and much appreciated.

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2016 6:08 pm

Battle Companies FAQ released. Only one item, so far.

Click Here to Download

Valadorn · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2016 6:45 pm

I got late to check it. Great! Many thanks, we will play with it here in Greece in the near future!

chiefhugh · **Joined:** Wed May 15, 2013 9:53 am **Posts:** 116

Be and my buddy play about every two weeks at least. We seem to play battle companies the most and have a blast doing so. Thank you all for putting in the work.
My constructive criticism is that the ruffians and Dunland should not be combined. Wildmen and Dunland are perfect together. We use a profile called a "hurscarl" from the DCHL missing profile lists to allow the dunland warriors a promotion option though we have adjusted or house ruled their cost at 11 points.
My second suggestion is that some of the special abilities are under the new rules under costed. I believe parry, blade master, and the ability that let them take a herioic combat for free every turn are only 5 points now under the new rules. They should at a minimum be 10 points. Combined I think we have played around 50 battle company matches and there are abilities worth around 5 points and some around 10.

Battle Companies 2016 -- Release!

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