Then that's a good thing, and not at all like how SBG was in its' infancy before LoMe. Certainly good news.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

Well, its been a while since the Warband rules have been out and I'm sure, like me, we've played a lot of games with it.....soooooo....what are your thoughts?

*We don't do tourneys*
My group instantly saw the Power Gamer Force, ridiculous, having the option to field anything now is annoying and sours the game. The way we fixed it was to play, once again, small point battles (500-750). This got us back to fielding normal captains, maybe a low-cost named hero and at least 24-26 warriors (depending on the faction that is). We have one individual that continues to field the PGF and the way that some of the Gaming Group deals with it is to concede the game-remove their models-start another game with someone else. Right or wrong: he'll wise up soon or leave.

BUT over all, with common sense used, I like the potential for the game under the new system. The mixing of SBG and WoTR units, those that you can upgrade under the right Hero, is nice. We pretty much stick to M.E. book-theme forces, with the occasional "what-if" theme like in the movies. (again, we had that under the old system but the upgrading is what is winning over a lot of my gaming group).

Again: What do the rest of you think??

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Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. -B.M.

What was this "power gaming force" exactly? I'm quite curious now.

We just had our first warbands game tonight, and I didn't miss LoME as much as I thought I would. We used some major heroes, but it didn't feel like overkill. Forces:

Mordor:
Troll chief
12 Morannons (shield, spear)
Gothmog on warg
6 Morgul knights
6 warg riders (normal box)
Drummer
12 orcs (spear, shield)
732 points

Gondor:
Boromir, Capt on horse
6 Fountain Court w/ shield
6 KoMT, shield
Faramir, bow
12 Rangers of Gondor (8 spears)
Beregond
12 WoMT (shield, some spears)
4 Rangers of the North on a visit
733 points

Pretty basic, and a lot easier to set up because you spend less time tweaking exact warrior counts.

One thing I thought was interesting was the ability for captains to now take any option from his army list. It sounded cool to take Durburz with a two-hander or shield. But does this stop you from giving a goblin captain fire breathing? o.O

I probably wont be buying the new source-books and just sticking to the paper-back rules and my old Mordor sourcebook.

I just don't like the shift towards a 40k style game personally, for me at least, when playing SBG, 1-2 heroes, and large numbers of regular troops were what made it unique, especially since there was no way to upgrade troops except by buying equipment which would seem to be what they would normally have access to anyway...

There's that and I can't see why each group of 12 soldiers needs to have a captain... in terms of having someone to lead them yes, but again it comes down to the style of it, in the films for e.g. you just have a focus on the big named heroes, Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo etc, and the regular troops, even if there are captains, are largely the same, admittedly I haven't read the books, in which they probably appear more, but since my only source is the films, I like to keep as close to them a possible when having battles...

Yes, because thats not Wargear.

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My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

The many captains of Rohan were mentioned by name (even if they aren't given a name in game) during the Muster of the Rohirrim. The 12-1 ratio is more realistic then having one man leading dozens of troops. It merely represents the fact that you have to have a leader to lead groups of men in most cases. Think of the unamed captains more as sergeants then as captains.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

I don't have the new rulebooks at home, but what I read sems awesome. Since you will have to get captains or heroes or something for each 12 warriors (hope I'm right with this), I can finaly name my army like "deomir's knights" or something. Hope I think the same about it after a battle

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Ours is the fury!

Durburz cannot take a shield or two-handed weapon. He has to have the wargear listed in his own profile to be able to use it - that rule has not changed thankfully, otherwised there'd be a lot of saruman's with heavy armour and shields which cannot and thankfully does not happen.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

I played a few games yesterday between Dwarves and Goblins. The GW-invented "Kinband" concept of the Dwarves actually works well with the books, as Balin was mentioned as having several under-captains such as Oin, Ori, Loni, ect. Goblin Captains are so weak (and cheap) that it also didn't feel out of place. In our games, the Dwarves almost always came out on top. We played a couple of 800-ish point games and then a few 600 point ones as well and had a blast.

Overall, I like the new system a lot.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

I don't think I will try the new rules.
But you never know, it sounds interesting.
A lot like battle companies.

The "old" rules where so simple (not that it changed much) and it was/is really flexible.

Yes and no. It was flexible if your opponant was also trying something odd. In most of the competative games I played it was "buy all the troops you can get!" If your ally brought a troll or extra hero, a part inside of you died a little knowing victory was already lost.

Warbands gives you better flexiblity with your armies. For example:

Rohan army potential cost of allying in some Galadhrim elves:

LoME: 80 points (or 8 shield helmingas). So 8 attacks and wounds traded for 2 attacks, 2 wounds and a fate point. Nobody could afford that kind of sacrifice in order to have some elves join in.

Warbands: 10-20 points (or 1-2 rohan units) You need to buy another capitain anyways, so why not spend a little extra to get an elf hero allied in for some of that elf fight and archery into your force? Much easier to swallow if you ask me.

Playing my first warbands game tomorrow. Started writing my lists at 10:30 and only just finished.
I find the warbands idea completely changes how i construct armies. I was building for 600pts. Normally a good 60 models and only fitting in 30-50.
A major hero used to be great but now you have to take another minor hero too means imrahil is now over 220pts really.

I look forward to playing a bit and getting used to how big a punch I can get out of these points but I don't see myself enjoying building for anything less than 800pts.

I like how each Faction has to stick to the bow limit still. It means no return to the kazad, elf bow with spear, men at arms, days.
I also like the re organising. Cave drakes leading mordor armies... SWEEEEEEEEEEET! OM NOM NOM!

I dont like that i lost my Cirdan model who i never used due to him being poop. Only to find him on my computer screen stuck with blu-tac...
He is great now. 90pts with blinding light and terror, leading high elves who butt kick.
Im thinking Arwen, Cirdan and Erestor for 600pt games.

Are you sure? Becuase it says in the intro that Captains can pick any option in their army list. It seems strange for them to spell this out but it not actually mean anything.

I think it means captains, not named characters.

_________________
"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Are you referring to



To get the impression that Captains can take any equipment available to anything in the army list.

I don’t think that is what it means, it just means the Captain’s individual entry, so a Moria Goblin Captain can only take an Orc bow or Shield but not a Spear (from the Moria Goblin Warrior).

As Maggot says, the rule says a hero can take an option in their list entry so a Goblin captain could take an Orc bow or shield, whilst Durburz cannot take anything as he hs no additional equipment listed. It was the same with LoME with people misinterpreting that rule. The rason it exists is if a hero is in more than one list but has different options in different lists. For exaple Gimli may be able to take an Elven Cloak if he is part of the Fellowship but may not be able to as part of Durin's Folk.

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"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

Ya, I just kinda skimmed that part at first. After rereading it, they just mean whatever's under the "Options" in his profile.

_________________
"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

one of the things i have found from playing a few games is that "overkill" forces, using aspects from loads of different armies just to get the best force, do not seem to be used very often, and most gamers i see do not add in from more than 1 different army to their main one. reason is, like me and many other gamers, they have a favourite army and having a fantastic storyline to play is really important, more so than winning all your games.

although maybe this is just because the games i played weren't part of a highly competitive tournament, just a bit of fun

just thought i'd say as a few people seemed concerned about the fact that any army could ally as long as it is all good or all evil.