Okay, here is an abridged version of the current Battle Companies core ruleset. I figure we can work off of this and note any changes in green.

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Battle Companies 3.0
Rules for Playing Experience Based Campaigns in Middle-Earth

Step One: Gather Your Force
Choose a Faction, whose reference sheet will list the models required for a starting company. You should name them individually, and record their details on a record sheet. Then choose three warriors to be your Heroes. One will be referred to as the Lieutenant and the other two Sergeants, although you may come up with a more suitable name depending on your Faction. Add one point each of Might, WIll, and Fate to the profile of the Lieutenant. Add a point of Fate to the profile of each Sergeant. These models are treated as Heroes from here on. A Battle Company may never have more than 15 members unless otherwise noted.

Step Two: Play A Game
Find an opponent and play a scenario. Keep models removed from play as casualties to one side for later record-keeping. Also, track how many Wounds each Warrior or Hero inflicts on the enemy. If two or more Warriors win a combat and inflict Wounds together, the controlling player may choose which of the models counts the Wound as his own.

Step Three: Injuries
Immediately after the game, roll on the Injury Table for every Hero and Warrior removed as a casualty. These rolls are to be made in front of your opponent. If anyone rolls the Dead result, he is removed from the roster and all his equipment is lost. It cannot be given to another member of the Battle Company. Mounts killed during a game do not roll on the Injury Table and are always assumed to survive their wounds. Mounts may only be lost if the rider himself dies.

Warrior Injury Table (D6)
1 -- Dead
2-3 -- Injured. Miss the next game.
4-6 -- Full Recovery. No effect.

Hero Injury Table (2D6)
2 -- Dead
3 -- Lost In Battle. The Hero lies wounded on the battlefield. As soon as possible play a scenario with the Hero as the objective. He may not act or be attacked during the game. If his side wins, treat this result as a Full Recovery. If not, then he is Dead.
4 -- Arm Wound. May not carry a shield, two-handed weapon or second weapon anymore. A second Arm Wound forces your Hero to retire.
5 -- Leg Wound. Hero suffers a -1" Movement penalty while on foot. A second Leg Wound forces your Hero to retire.
6-7 -- Full Recovery. No effect.
8 -- It's Just A Scratch. Miss the next game or roll again. The second result will stand.
9 -- Flesh Wound. Miss the next game.
10 -- Old Battle Wound. Before each game, roll a D6 for each Old Battle Wound. On a 1, the Hero's injury prevents him from taking part in the battle. A Hero may have more than one Old Battle Wound.
11 -- The Wounds of a Hero. The Hero's patrons are impressed with his performance. The Hero makes a Full Recovery and the Battle Company receives +D6 Influence Points.
12 -- Protected by the Valar/Dark Powers. The Hero makes a Full Recovery and permanently gains +1 Fate.

Step Four: Experience
Now you may calculate Experience. A Hero gains one point of Experience for 1) each Wound caused on an enemy model [even if recovered by Fate], 2) Participating in a battle, 3) if his Battle Company wins the battle. Every time a Hero gains five Experience points, the controlling player may roll once on the Hero Advanceent Table for for him. If you roll a result for your Hero that you cannot use, you may choose any other result from the same table.

Hero Advancement Table (D6)
1 -- Fight/Shoot. The Hero's Fight or Shoot characteristic is improved by 1 to a maximum of 6/3+.
2 -- Strength/Defense. The Hero's Strength or Defense is increased. Each my be improved once.
3 -- Courage. The Hero's Courage characteristic is increased by 1 to a maximum of 6.
4 -- Attack/Wound. The Hero's Attack or Wound characteristic is increased by 1 to a maximum of 3.
5 -- Special Rule. Roll again on either the Fighting, Shooting or Leadership Special Rule Tables. Alternatively, The Hero may choose to select the Special Rule that applies to his Battle Company instead.
6 -- Choose One Of The Above.

Fighting Special Table (D6)
1 -- Blade Master. The Hero may re-roll one of his die per turn to determine who wins his fight.
2 -- Deadly Strength. The Hero may wield a two-handed weapon without the -1 penalty to his dice.
3 -- Parry. The Hero may force his opponent to re-roll a single die to determine who wins the fight.
4 -- Furious Charge. The Hero receives a +1 Attack bonus when he charges into combat on foot.
5 -- Heroic Presence. The Hero may fight a Heroic Combat without expending Might to do so.
6 -- Might/Will Point. The Hero gains either a Might or Will Point to a maximum of 3.

Shooting Speical Rules Table (D6)
1 -- Cunning Shot. The Hero may re-roll failed In The Way rolls.
2 -- Expert Shot. The Hero is allowed to shoot twice in each Shoot Phase.
3 -- Rapid Fire. The Hero may call a Heroic Shoot without expending a point of Might to do so.
4 -- Lethal Accuracy. The Hero may re-roll a failed roll to hit each turn in the Shoot Phase.
5 -- Seasoned Archer. The Hero can move at full speed and still shoot, although he will need a 6 to hit.
6 -- Might/WIll Point. The Hero gains either a Might or Will Point to a maximum of 3.

Leadership Special Rules Table (D6)
1 -- Favor of the Court. WHen you roll on the Influence Table, you may re-roll one die for each Hero with this ability in the Battle Company at the end of the game.
2 -- Courageous. The Hero may re-roll any failed Courage tests.
3 -- Master of Battle. If the Hero is within 6" of an enemy Hero calling a heroic action, he may immediately call an action of the same type without expending a point of Might. He may not call a Heroic Move or Shoot if he has already been engaged in combat.
4 -- Heedless Determination. Each time the Hero is wounded, roll a D6. He may ignore it on a 6, just as if he had passed a Fate roll.
5 -- Rally To Me. The Hero's Stand Fast! range is doubled.
6 -- Might/Will Point. The Hero gains 1 Might or Will point to a maximum of 3.

A Warrior may gain a point of Experience in the following manner: 1) each time he wounds an enemy model (even if it is recovered by Fate), 2) participating in a battle. Every time a Warrior gains five Experience Points, the controlling player may roll once on the Warrior Advancement Table for him. No member of the Battle Company can have more than 105 Experience Points. He's become as good as he can be!

Warrior Advancement Table (D6)
1-3 -- No effect.
4-5 -- Promoted. The Warrior is proofed if he is elegible. If not, treat as No Effect.
6 -- A Hero In The Making. From now on, the Warrior is treated as a Hero and adds a point of Fate to his profile. He retains the Experience Points gained thus far and gains Experience and advances like a Hero from the next game on.

Step Five: Influence
Battle Companies receive two Influence Points for playing a scenario. Additionalyy, Battle Companies receive the following: +1 Point for a Draw, or +2 Points for a win. These points may be used in three ways. First, you may use three Points to make a roll on the Influence Table. Second, you may use points to adjust the roll you made on the Influence Table, much like using a point of Might. Finally, you may purchase additional equipment for your Heroes and Warriors. Points may be spent immediately or stored up for later use. All members of a Battle Company must by WYSIWYG regarding weapons, and may only select war gear that is normally available to them, unless otherwise noted. Heroes are not bound by this restriction, and may select any equipment available to their race.

Step Six: Calculate the Battle Company Rating
To calculate the rating of your Battle Company, you must work out the value of your Heroes and Warriors in points. The total is your Battle Company Rating. For Warriors, simply work out their value using their profile in the rule books. For a Hero, begin the sae way, but add the cost of his Advanceents and Wargear. The following is a quick guide:

Basic Cost -- Take the Basic Cost of the Warrior Type as which the Hero began.
Might, Will & Fate -- For each point of Might Will or Fate, add 5 points.
Advances to Fight, Strength, Defense, and Courage -- For each addition to the Hero's Fight (count only the Fight value, not the Shoot score), Strength, Defense, and Courage, add 5 points.
Advances to Wounds & Attacks -- For each addition to the Hero's Wounds and Attacks, add 10 points.
Skills -- For each Skill the Hero has gained, add 10 points.
Wargear -- The cost of the Hero's war gear is determined by the number of Wounds and Attacks the Hero has. If the Hero's Attacks + Wounds is 3 or greater use the second listed cost.

Wargear Cost Table
Free/Free -- Hand Weapon
6/10 -- Warg/Horse
9/15 -- Armored Horse
1/5 -- Spear, Pike, Two-handed Weapon, Lance, Bow, Shield, Elven Blade
2/5 -- Throwing Weapon, Crossbow, Longbow, Elf Bow, Dwarf Heavy Armor

Add the cost of all the wargear that the Hero is equipped with to the cost of the Hero's characteristics and special rules, and you have the total value of your Hero.

Before you play a game, compare the ratings of the two Companies. For every full 15 points of difference, the Company with the lower rating may have one re-roll that can be used at any point during the game, but not in the after-game sequence. Additionally, after the game, the smaller Company receives 1 extra Influence Point for every full 15 points of difference in ratings.

Reinforcements
No Battle Company may receive bow-armed reinforcements or purchase bows with Influence Points if 33% or more of its members already have bows (of any sort). If you roll for a reinforcement that has a bow in this situation, treat the result as Choose One Of The Above. Models that are promoted are an exception to this rule and will exchange their weapons and equipment in the usual way.

Courage In Small Battles
Battle Companies games use an alternative to the normal Courage rules as presented in the One Rule Book.

Retreating
Whenever a model fails a test for his force being broken, instead of being removed from play, the model retreats instead. A retreating model immediately moves its maximum distance directly away from the nearest enemy model. If no enemies are visible, the model moves towards the nearest table edge. The retreating model suffers the usual movement penalties or tests for difficult terrain and obstacles. The retreating model can move around obstacles, terrain, or other models to avoid them, so long as it finishes its move as far as possible from the enemy model it is retreating from. Sometimes, a direct move away from the nearest enemy will take a model closer to other enemies as it runs in blind panic. A model may not move closer than 1" to an enemy as it retreats -- it will always move around enemies in its path and cannot charge them. If a model cannot retreat the required distance because its path is blocked by other models, impassable terrain, or for whatever reason, then the model retreats as far as it can. The model in this case is still considered to have expended its full movement distance, so it is unable to shoot a bow that turn, for example. However, it can still use any magical powers it has, so long as it can normally use them while it is moving.

Models That Have Retreated
Once a model has retreated, it suffers no further penalty. It is possible for a model to suffer a series of retreats, one after the other -- in which case, it may find itself fleeing from the battle althogether -- but each failed Courage test only ever results in one retreat move. Models that have retreated may fight as normal if they are charged.

Fleeing the Battle
If a retreating model's move is enough to reach the table edge, it will move to the table edge and leave the battle. It will do this regardless of the direction, even if by doing so, the retreating model moves closer to the nearest enemy. The warrior flees the battle and the model is removed from the game.

_________________
Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

The retreating rules are a nice touch, I like them a lot. One question though: can a model that has retreated still be charged?
Great work though, are you going to do the different factions or leave them as they are?

Keep up the great work.

Cyndra the Grey

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{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

The Retreating rules are basically the old Courage rules from before the One Rule Book. It's a little more forgiving than just removing the model after the force is Broken.

Yes, we will be working on new/updated Factions...I just was tired of typing last night!

_________________
Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

I propose the following changes:

Hero Advancement Table -- change the result for rolling a six from Choose One Of The Above to Might/Will Point. I have found that it is very difficult to get additional Might/Will because with the current tables, you only have a 1/36 chance of rolling that result. Might/Will is very important to have your leaders actually able to lead and your Shamans able to...sham? :p Anyway, I don't think that this change would break the system... What do you guys think?

Also, I somehow left out this part of the abridged rules:



I also propose a few changes in this section. They are as follows:

-- Models forced to sit out a game due to injury should not be included in the Battle Company rating. I have seen games where a Battle Company in the 120 point range was only able to field about 75 points worth of models because of injuries, yet their opponent still received bonus points and re-rolls as though they were facing the full strength of the company.

-- In addition to the re-rolls and bonus points, I feel like the smaller company should be able to choose whether they will be the attacker or defender and whether they want first turn in a given scenario. It would help to even the playing field just a bit more and makes sense that an outnumbered and outclassed force would do everything in their power to dictate the terms of any engagement in which they participate.

What do you guys think of these proposed changes?

_________________
Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

Ah so I'll just use the courage rules from my old Return of the King book then.

The might/will bit is a major improvement because my friend always had an inability to roll 6s

The only fault I can pick out is that it makes quite a slow game to work out which models are taken out of the points, especially if you are playing a series of games.

If you add in the first turn, attacker or defender rules, alter the points in which you get re-rolls (instead of 15 change it to something higher).

All in all it's turning out great.

Cyndra the Grey

_________________

{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

Thanks for the feedback, Cyndra!

Regarding the Battle Company Rating: My friends and I house-ruled this a long time ago and we never found it to slow the game down at all. You have to re-calculate the BC Rating after each game anyway so you just take the total rating, subtract the guys who are sitting out, and boom you've got the effective BC rating. e.g. 110 point BC - 13 points for Sgt. Whosit - 8 points for Archer Whatsit = 89 point BC.

Regarding increasing points for re-rolls and bonuses: I initially thought the same thing about bumping it up to 20ish points, but I wasn't sure if it was actually worth that kind of difference. At 15 points, you're talking about getting a bonus if they have 2-3 more warriors than you. If you bump that up to 20 points that becomes 3-4 more warriors. I'm not against it, but it does radically alter one of the game mechanics, so I was reluctant to make that kind of change without some sort of playtest.

_________________
Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

I have to say, battle companies are probably my favourite form of the game. I enjoyed the system so much I started a special Middle Earth campaign with my brother, slowly evolving the rules until finally reaching a point where hero advancement more closely resembles an RPG than a tabletop game (a spreadsheet helps with this). If I had more opponents, I would like to start playing the traditional battle companies again, but even so, I have plenty of ideas for improvement.

My first suggestion would be to create a battle company spreadsheet. I have a good one myself. Is there anywhere I can upload it?

Edit: I would also STRONGLY recommend changing the system for evaluating an enemy hero's point cost. I run off a system where a 3 3 3 1 1 3 stat warrior costs 5 points, and an increase to any stat costs 1 point. For heroes with too many attacks/wounds, I use 4 4 4 2 2 4 2/1/1 for 40 points as a standard, and adjust the cost as normal. It can break down for goblin captains with too many attacks but no other stat upgrades, but is in line with GW pricing in most cases.

I have adjusted my spreadsheet to use a 3 tier approach to calculating hero cost (A+W>3, A+W=3, A+W>3), which makes for a more steady increase in points cost, and cancels out the "goblin glitch" a little. It still creates the possibility of a 3 attack 5 point goblin hero with all other stats minimal (assuming standard wargear), but I feel that the benefits far outweigh the consequences, which I think would be rare (there is only a 1 in 36 chance of a goblin's first 2 upgrades being A/W, after all. This glitch is also a minor problem for orcs, but not so much for most other races).

Spreadsheets are great for keeping track of things. I'm not sure how to upload files on here...I haven't tried.

I'm not really understanding what you're trying to say about the Hero costs (goblin glitch?). What is your reason for changing the hero scale. Personally, I've never had any problems with it...

_________________
Respectfully,
Jonathan

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly

Battle Companies

Maybe I wasn't clear. I suppose the problem is that if you have a high elf hero, for instance, with a 5 3 5 2 2 5 0/0/1 profile and a goblin with the same profile, the elf would cost 7 (base cost)+10 (heavy armour)+ 10+10 (attacks and wounds) + 5(fate) = 42 points, while the goblin would cost 4 (base cost) +15 (3 fighting skill upgrades) +5 (armour) +10+10 (attacks and wounds) + 15 (courage) + 5 (fate) = 64 points. Both models are almost identical, but the goblin one is over 20 points more expensive. By contrast, a standard GW hero with that stat line should cost around 35 points.

The change I was talking about was to instead compare the points cost to existing models. I usually use the old RotK wild man of Dunland profile when calculating the price of warriors, and the RotK captain of men base profile when calculating the price of heroes. This does have one problem though; if the battle company hero as a stat line which is too low, you reduce the cost by so much that the hero can cost almost nothing. For instance, a goblin hero with stats 2/5 3 4 2 2 2 0/0/1 (which is the cheapest profile possible where attacks + wounds is greater than or equal to 4) it works out to cost 5 points (remember, the goblin needs some wargear, which would cost 5 points), which is around 15 points too cheap. I think it is best to try and keep costs consistent with existing GW rules (you could even use your companies in standard points matches this way), but there are conditions where the system breaks down. Under most conditions though, it should work very well. If you do want to do it this way (I have a calculator on my spreadsheet which does all the maths for you), you could set a minimum points cost for heroes with higher attack + wound values (say, 25 points for A+W=4. They can standfast, so this isn't unreasonable).

I've been playing Battle Companies for many years - like yourself, more often in a campaign 'story mode' than in direct competition between companies. We found the points calculation for heroes much too harsh - not only do Battle Company heroes cost much more than heroes in the normal rules, but one of the major benefits of heroes is the effect they have on normal troops (heroic actions, lending their fight value, courage tests). With Battle Companies, you have far more heroes to normal troops than you normally would, so you're losing a lot of these benefits.

To address the latter problem, we imposed a cap of three heroes per company. It was a tough call to make, but several years on, it's been absolutely the right decision.

For the points calculation, we use a fairly simple formula:

Points cost = Base cost (with no armour or wargear) + wargear + (# of increases * race multiplier)

Race multipliers:
Goblins: 3
Orcs: 3
Human: 3.5
Uruk-hai: 4
Dwarves: 4.5

Here are some example captains:

Goblin captain: base (3) + wargear (5) + increases (10) * multiplier (3) = 38
Orc captain: base (4) + wargear (5) + increases (10) * multiplier (3) = 39
Rohan captain: base (5) + wargear (5) + increases (10) * multiplier (3.5) = 45
Gondor captain: base (5) + wargear (10) + increases (10) * multiplier (3.5) = 50
Uruk-hai captain: base (7) + wargear (5) + increases (10) * multiplier (4) = 52
Dwarf captain: base (7) + wargear (5) + increases (10) * multiplier (4.5) = 57

As you can see, these compare very closely with the actual costs for the captains, varying at most by 3 points. It gives a smooth progression from starting warriors to captain level and beyond. We don't charge extra for Attacks and Wounds, although it does still increase the cost of their wargear as per normal BC rules.

As we have very long-term battle companies, we also changed the rules for progression, to make it much slower to get rolls as heroes get better. Getting a roll every five kills (plus bonuses for playing and winning) is just way too quick. That's a topic for another day though...

I remember finding a few years ago a hero/troop generator for SBG online. You could choose the race and stats and stuff and it would pop out the points value, it was really in line with the actual costs, almost no variation, but I haven't been able to re-find it since my hard drive crashed and I lost all my bookmarks!

I've had a google, but still haven't been able to find it, but I think it would be really useful for battle companies (as well as just for general fun making your own guys).

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My LotR and 40k blog, Realm of Battle board, dwarves, gobs, space wolves and battle reports. http://simbattleboard.blogspot.com/

I never found that I had too many Heroes personally. The max I had was 4 and my friend had 5, but maybe you should set a cap on heroes at 4 or 5 if other people are having hero heavy companies. Points wise my games were fine as well.

_________________

{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

I think it is best to keep the 15pt difference as it is. I've found that it is very helpful when you're starting a new company or have just taken a big hit to you company. It is a lot better to just not include the warriors that can't play. My friend and I usually write down each models point value on the sheet which makes it very easy to calculate the companies rating when a model is sitting out or promotes.
My friend also started work a while back to adjust the BC rules. He started to update some armies and changed the specials rules he felt were worthless. At this point of time it is not finished and not much has been added to it though you may find it useful.
http://battlecompanies.webs.com/

_________________
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

I have made a Dunland battle company as well, but you may want to edit it:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/49048128/Dunl ... le-Company

What do you think?

Cyndra the Grey

_________________

{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

Seems pretty good to me. I would probably give the special rule "Hardy" a different name though, as the dwarf company has a rule with the same name, but different effect.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to, instead of creating an enormous list of different races, set up some guidelines as to what a battle company should be like, and let people create their own. I would recommend basing the companies on the Legions of Middle Earth army lists. This could be used to select allowable warriors, wargear, and so on.

Since every race needs its own special rule, I think it may be a good idea to create a list of approved special rules, then let players choose which rules they would like their race to have access to. I also think it would　be nice if each race had two unique rules, so that races who want Shamen can get something else special. Here are some ideas:

Rule: Description. Allowable races
Terror: As in book. Elves, wargs
Stormcaller: Provides the hero with the spells the stormcaller has. Elves
Resistance to magic: As in book. Elves
Hardy: Allows hero to re-roll their result on the wounded hero table. Dwarves, Dunlandings, Uruk-Hai
Drain Soul: As in book. Purchasing this rule imposes a limit of 1 attack on the hero. Warriors of the dead
Shaman: Grants hero the spells fury (3+) and transfix (5+). Orcs, Goblins, Uruk-Hai
Bezerk: Hero loses all reason and becomes a mindless killing machine, gaining +3D and 7 courage. Hero can no longer wear armour, call heroic actions for other warriors, or standfast. Uruk-Hai
Demoralise: Hero reduces the courage of enemies within 6"/14cm by 1. Orcs, goblins, uruk-hai
Monstrous warg: Provides hero with a warg (mount) so large and fierce that it causes terror to all around, and may knock even horses to the ground. Orcs
Rider without equal: When jumping obstacles while mounted, hero receives +2 on all jump rolls. Rohan
Mearas: Grants hero a special horse with the profile of Shadowfax. Rohan
Horse Lord: Allows hero to use his fate to save his horse. Rohan
Elf Cloak/Camoflauge: As in book. Elves, any ranger
Valiant Defence: When shielding, hero gains 3x normal attacks (instead of 2x). Gondor

Another idea would be to allow each race up to one special hero, who could have their own unique special rules and restrictions on how their profiles can advance. These heroes would represent named heroes in Middle Earth. Acquiring one of these heroes should cost a great deal of influence, which should depend on who you choose. This would be particularly useful to introduce more spellcasters to the game, particularly Nazgul.

Afterthought: When this is done we should publish it in the library, thereby saving people from having to scour the forums for it in the future.

I second the idea of lots of battle companies and the special rules, but I think a limit of one per hero for the race specific ones. An "either or" option as such.

I'm not too keen on the named heroes idea because battle companies is all about creating your own stories with your heroes and personalizing them, just my honest opinion. And spellcasters are supposed to be pretty rare (apart from elven races).

So, Erunion, do you like any of the ideas so far?

Cydra the Grey

_________________

{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

Actually, I think I agree. I was thinking about how difficult it would be to incorporate all these additional heroes into the rules, and don't really think it would be worth the bother. That being said, I think it would be nice if we could somehow allow teams to get access to trolls, and more advanced magic. The latter is quite important; at the moment will is next to useless. An alternative would be to invent some other use for will (I realise you can use it to pass courage tests, but might is still better than it in every way). I'll let you know if I can think of anything which remains true to the whole battle companies concept.

I usually play dwarves, and their captains cannot carry bows. Can I still give one of my heroes a bow? I also would like to ask about Thompson's special rules. how do you know that an uruk-hai captain goes berserk? Can you simply MAKE him do that? Also, I don't happen to have the Battle Companies Book. Could you give me the Factions for Dwarves, Uruk-Hai, and Goblins? If not, and there is nothing else to be found out about it on the internet, where can I find this? Another thing, do you roll on the special rules table automatically, or do you have to do certain things in order to roll on certain tables?

I was just throwing ideas around for special rules, in case we do end up creating a new, revised version of the rules. My idea was to create a tutorial on how a person can create their own battle company races, with the idea that a person could choose two race-specific special rules that their companies could have access to, which would help make them more unique. The bezerk rule was just an idea for a bezerker hero, who would be a killing machine with no leadership ability. If you were to follow my idea, you would choose an army from the LoME book, then create a battle company from that army. It would look something like this:

Step 1:
Create the influence table for the race. It will look something like this:

1. Nothing
2. Basic warrior with 2-hand weapon
3. Basic warrior with shield
4. Basic warrior with spear
5. Basic Warrior with bow
6. Roll again on the advanced warrior table

1-2. Elite warrior with shield
3-4. Elite warrior with bow
5-6. Mounted elite warrior



The basic idea is that the higher the result, the better the warrior you get. If you can't think of 3 different elites, just have two (one on a 1-3, the other on a 4-6). If your base warrior is very expensive, make results of 1 and 2 do nothing.

Step 2:
Create the initial starting force of the battle company. I think it is usually around 60 points, though don't hold me to that. It should be composed of basic troops where possible. Three of them will be made into a hero, but don't count his heroic stats into this value.

Step 3:
Create a list of allowable wargear. This will be any wargear available to any of the warriors you can get.

Step 4:
Choose your company's unique special rules. I think you should be able to choose 2. You will be able to give your heroes these when you roll a 5 on the influence table, instead of rolling for a combat/shooting/leadership rule. These rules help make your company more unique, though they will need to be balanced, and rules you won't want every one of your heroes to have.

Step 5:
Decide whether the team should have any special advantages/penalties. For instance, goblins are traditionally able to have up to 25 warriors in a company, as opposed to 15, and a warg company requires 4 influence to roll on the influence table. It would be nice if we could get a list of team bonuses as well for these companies to make them even more unique, but for now I can't think of any good ones.

Just my idea though.

Oh, and dwarf heroes can get bows in battle companies. I think we should start compiling some rules here. I might draft an article for the website, and let anyone who is interested have a look. Erunion, with your permission I was thinking of just copy and pasting a lot of what you have written, and I'll include you as a co-author.

This has been posted in another thread, though for anyone who doesn't feel like searching for it, the official battle company rules can be found here:

http://www.tabletopgeeks.com/wp-content/downloads/lotr/LotR-bcrulesredux.pdf

Alternatively, there is this link, which is the complete document and includes the official companies:

http://www.tabletopgeeks.com/wp-content/downloads/lotr/LotR-BattleCompanies.pdf

Also, I've had a look at the original battle companies, and am starting to think that it might all be a little too complicated to simply give people a template. It would be better to have "official" unofficial companies, for all members of The One Ring. Anyone who wants to contribute may create their own battle companies based on any army in LoME. We can then compile the list and format it, and put them all somewhere where they can be publicly available. Please follow the general structure of the official battle companies found in the second link.