Being a newcomer to the game, I've a few queries concerning mounts and their riders.

1. Can a mount be slain?

2. Can a mounted rider engage in combat with infantry, and if so, are there any benefits for a rider, for doing so?

3. Are there any weapons that can only be used from horse(warg, etc.)-back?

I'm dread to ask such seemingly simple questions, but I digress; bless any who can solve these riddles for me!

1) yes. Mounts have defence value and wounds, like every other models.

2) yes. Riders gain one extra attack and knock down infantry if the win the fight. Cavalry do not gain bonus when fighting other cavalry.

3)yes. Lances.

Anyway, is all in the rules

I've been reading through the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey rules, and I have another question on this topic. As far as I can see, once a rider dismounts, or is separated from his mount, there is no way for him to ever mount again. Is that right, or are there some rules for "remounting" somewhere? If so, where are they? I've only read up to the "cavalry" section so far.

It doesn't make much sense to me that a rider could never remount (as long as the horse doesn't run away).

I might be wrong, but I think in the earliest editions of the game, unridden mounts remained in play but didn't move?

I think it may have disappeared with the 'retreat' rules that allowed you to keep figures that failed their courage for a broken force in play, but moving away from the enemy.

if i've imagined the cavalry version above, then you could use a 'house rule' when playing. For example, test the mount's courage when the rider dismounts ; if passed, it stands still, if failed it moves its full distance towards the nearest table edge ; if it leaves the table it is out for the rest of the game. If an unridden mount is charged by an enemy, it automatically fails it courage and flees as described above. If fleeing but still on the table, test it's courage at the start of your next turn & follow the actions as before.

Hope this helps

See page 50 of the Hobbit An Unexpected Journey rulebook. Indeed - once separated from a mount, a rider can never remount. A mount is required to take a courage test to remain on the battlefield, as JHK2005 notes, so that's an actual rule - no house rule is needed. However, models with a Courage score of 0 (which includes horses), are automatically considered to fail that roll, and are immediately removed from the battlefield in the same way as troops which fail courage tests for a force being broken. I suppose for a house rule you could allow horses to remain if they were able to pass the courage test.

But allowing horses to remain on the table, while adding realism, I think would sacrifice game playability. You'd have to have an "unmounted" horse model, and if you didn't, I'd expect confusion "wait - is that a 'real rider' or just a stray mount?" Would one courage test be enough? Or would they have to test each turn? I'd expect so with battle swirling all around them. Could horses "make way" for otherwise trapped models? It just feels like it would add confusion and lost time over situations that would have very little bearing on game outcomes, and as such, would detract from overall playability.

So, while sacrificing some realism, I find the existing rules simple and playable.

That's the way I read it also. It just seems like an odd concept to me, that you can never remount.

I mean, maybe a guy gets off his horse, goes into a pub, kills some orcs. Comes out of the tavern. His horse is still there because it passed its courage tests. But for some reason, he can't get back on the horse. Maybe he had too much to drink? I guess it's a "confusion and chaos of the battlefield" issue, and (as you say), an attempt to keep the rules simple.

Then you wonder about if a rider gets killed, what if another guy comes up and wants to use the horse. I know by game rules you can't, but it happens in movies.

I've done some background reading of the original rulebooks & once upon a time (2003 ROTK) there were optional advanced rules that covered these sort of eventualities / possibilities. So pleased that i'm not imagining things or making up rules that didn't exist It would be easy to reintroduce these options as house rules for games if you wish

The rules for mounting and dismounting were still in effect until the era of the One Rulebook to Rule Them All. It was certainly still in the A5 ruebook from the Mines of Moria set, and I find it utterly ridiculous that it was taken out.