I am still relatively new to WOTR and have been perusing older posts, however could someone tell me what the battlehosts are? Thank you

You mean in general?

Battlehosts is the one supplement for WotR that has been put out. Basically, each battlehost is a list of required formations. If you take all the required stuff you can pay some extra points that add some special abilities to those formations. If you're at all familiar with Warhammer 40K, they are very similar to Apocalypse formations.

Some of them are very powerful, probably broken, some of them are kinda fluffy and maybe useful, some of them compensate for weaknesses in certain armies and some of them are just meh.

The book also includes a number of army specific fortunes and fates that are available if you use a battlehost for that army.

Is that what you wanted to know, or were you looking for a more specific rundown of what hosts are actually in the book so you can decide whether or not to get it?

A little more detail please, iv not heard of any of this before?

If you don't mind that is!

It's hard to give much more detail considering the scope. Though we can't post too much details if there is a specific force you are considering we can provide some basics about what Battlehost(s) relate to that.

In gerneral, think of a BH as a "package upgrade". You have to take certain minimum models so they are generally only usable with large collections. But if you have all those (and some of the optional ones as well to round them out) and pay the extra points for the BH itself ( 50 - 100 points ) then you get certain bonuses that apply the Battlehost force (but not any other models in your army). There are other advantages as well.

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Beowulf

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Well, a simple one if Faramir's Knights. You have to have Faramir and 2-4 formations of Minis Tirith Knights, each 6 companies strong. You can then pay the point cost of that battlehost and give those 2-4 formations Stalwart, Indomitable and allow them to be steadfast on a 4+ if Faramir is within 12". That is a battlehost.

For the most they tried to make them fluffy, most are drawn from some force the heroes of the story were involved in. Some of the notable ones are an Ent army, a host of hobbits, an absolutely massive formation of mordor orcs (12-18 companies) with some crazy special rules that give them basically every type of weapon, there is a host that is a flight of 4" Nazgul on Fell Beasts that buffs their swoop attack to cheese levels, a host of 3-6 mumaks that gain some bonuses for their terror and can all charge as a unit, the Spirit Legions of Angmar that compensate for some of the weakensses of an all ghost army.

As I recall, you play elves, yes? The elven ones include a Mirkwood host led by Thranduil and Legalos with sentinels and Wood Elves that can ambush and fortify woods well
A Lothlorien host with a whole bunch of unit requirements that can Will of Iron well and has enhanced terror.
Rivendell Guardians with Elrond and high elves with rules that mess up orcs
and Haldir's Archers that get extra dice to shoot Uruk-Hai and can ally with men somewhat more effectively.

I have honestly never played with Battlehosts. I wasn't very fond of the execution, some of them are kinda broken, and there are some unresolved rules questions about them, so all I ahve to go on is hearsay and rumor from the internet.

So to play battlehosts do both players have to know in advance that your playing that? Or could I just turn up one day and play one of these bonuses? Plus do you need the book?

You do need the book, there are too many rules involved with them to get by without it.

It is probably best to discuss with your opponent in advance whether to use BHs. Technically I guess you don't have to, but because soem of them are overpowered and not a lot of people are all that familiar with them, surprising someone with something like that might not be viewed well.

Well I don't intend to use it yet as I have only wondered what it means today as I was perusing older posts! I do have an elven army but my friend plays with a Moria army, what battle host tricks are up the sleeves for that army?

Ah, that one I know a little more about because I play Moria as well.

There are only 2 for the Misty Mountains, one for goblins and one for beasts

The Goblin one can be led by Durburz or the Balrog and includes a lot of basic Moria goblins and maybe some trolls or prowlers. If it is led by the Balrog the goblins can be stalwart easier, if they are led by Durburz, he can use his might to summon additional companies of goblins, sort of like how Druzhag summons beasts.

The Beasts of the Wild host is lead by Druzhag and has some goblins and wargs and options for bats and spiders. formations in this one are a little faster than normal and one formation a turn (that is close enough to Druzhag) can gain Spirit Grasp.

Is there a battlehost for ents?

Yes. All 3 characters and 3-9 ents. It isn't particularly impressive unless you are fighting Isengard though.

Forgottenlore, thanks. Do you mean "not impressive" as the ent battlehost doesnt do well in battle? How about if some elves help em out? Coz im gonna use trees and elves.
How many battlehosts can a person have in an army?

Either way, I will probably buy the book anyway.

I don't really know how effective any of them actually are, having never actually played with or against any of them, but all the ent one does is allow rerolls of charge distance and , if fighting Isengard, to-hit rolls for ents within 12" of treebeard. So it is potentially very good against Isengard but is just a limited banner vs anyone else.
As far as I know you can have as many battlehosts as you can afford in a given army, but heroes and formations can't pull double duty, so Faramir's Knights and Faramir's Rangers both require Faramir. Since you can only have one Faramir and he can only be in one host you can't take both of those.

Most of the hosts come pretty close to being an army all by themselves, so it is really only in very big games, or selecting very specific hosts that taking more than one would even be an option.

What are the battlehosts options for fallen realms?

There are a LOT of Fallen Realms ones. These include an Easterling one led by Khamul who gives extra support dice to pikes, there's a Corsair one with Dalymyr that turns ordinary Corsairs Bezerk, there's a Mumak War Herd one, which FL explained earlier, there's a Karna one that gives Haradrim Spiritbane, there's a Mahud one, an Abrakhan one which has a special rule similar to the Golden King's rule in SBG, an Umbar one, a Serpent Lord one which lets Suladan call heroic fights for free.

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The Ent one was probably one of my biggest let-downs in BH. I really want to field a force with lots of Ents in time but with all of them being H2K except Treebeard you're going to have trouble keeping them alive much. The Winged Nazgul one boosts those monsters to VH2K within range of the WK, in addition to a few other good bonuses, and at a good price. I had hoped that the Ents would get VH2K near Treebeard or perhaps some other general bonuses. Unfortunately it only really helps if you're fighting Isengard. On the plus side, there is a nice new Fortune you can take if you have that BH that allows you to upgrade one of your Ents to VH2K, but again you have to get that BH and it's not really price effective unless you're facing Isengard.

I like the one for Thranduil's Halls. I already take at least one Formation of Sentinels anyway, and lots of WEs. It's a cheap BH for points and isn't very overpowered. You get some extra ambush options which is very well themed, and a little better Defense bonus from woodlands. If anyone wants to gripe about that tell them to bring an all D3 army next time you play.

I think the Rohan BHs are good. Reasonable costs, well themed requirements, and some good, but not over the top, bonuses. A friend plays Dwarves and the BH's he's played have been well balanced. I haven't looked much at the Gondor ones since I don't play them myself and we don't have any local players with a large Gondor WotR force at this time.

Fallen Realms has some reasonable ones I believe, and the ones for Moria and Angmar also seem pretty good. Just as their normal forces, I think the Mordor ones are perhaps the most over the top and/or undercosted. I guess there are a couple major Mordor players on the design team.

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Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com

Can other epic heros that are being used in the game join a battlehost formation as if it were a normal formation? I know the epic heroes in the battlehost can act independtly and change formation if they wish (although the battlehost usually needs to be within a certain range of the hero for the special rules to apply) so could another hero join it?

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What army are you using a battlehost army for stormcrow?

From the clarifications I've seen, they can join AFTER deployment but not as part of deployment. Additionally, if they are not a part of the BH then they don't benefit from the special rules. Obviously if the special rule is that you can charge further, or you cause Terror, or such that's not a factor. But in the case of Angmar, for example, the special rule of the Spirit Legion BH is that they are not effected by the Shade's Fight-reducing power. You can't deploy Gohtmog separately, for example, and then have him pop into that BH and not be affected. All the models that are listed on that BH page and are included in the BH are unaffected by the Shade, but Gothmog will still be reduced.

The fact that the BH deploys as a single entity is actually one of their nice benefits. When you are playing a game where you must either deploy a portion of your force (in model numbers) or else you bring them on piece meal, the ability to bring on 3-5 Formations as a single deploy can really be powerful. This may be a double edge sword of course, but most of the time having overwhelming numbers in a location is very potent.

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Wait ye the finish! The fight is not yours.
Beowulf

http://TacticsInMiniature.com