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The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Thorin's Company

2020-10-25T14:12:41Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Why Play Thorin's Company */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play Thorin's Company==
Because you like the Fellowship but wished they had more dwarf members. Well here you can have Thirteen of them and you can have Gandalf and Bilbo too. Most of the Dwarves are pretty good fighters and those that are lacking in that department make up for it with their special rules on supporting other units or helping you get an advantage on your turn.

===Pros===
*A good selection of mixed heroes, all specialising in certain skills to support the rest of the company.
*Everyone can take a Pony or Horse In Gandalf's case.
*Very Strong Fighters.
*No downsides on bringing the one ring.

===Cons===
*Every unit is a hero so you will be badly outnumbered by most armies you face.
*While you have some excellent heroes most of the dwarves are at best middling, with few defence values above a 5 and no 3 Might heroes other than Thorin and Gandalf. They're all worth their points, just don't expect many of them to stand toe to toe with big hitters like Lurtz or a troll.

===Army Bonus===
'''"I would take each and every one of these Dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills, for when i called upon them, they answered"''' - while within 3 of Thorin every hero from this list can re-roll to wound rolls of 1. Also, according to the Errata, every hero in the army gains heroic march.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===

*'''Thorin Oakenshield:''' The leader of the dwarves and the most expensive of them. Strangely, he is the only one without any special rules if he doesn't buy any upgrades but fortunately his stats are great. Always buy the Oakenshield, but Orcrist is less auto. It's amazing against orcs, goblins and Uruk-hais, but otherwise it's just an elven-made hand-and-a-half sword for 10 points.

*'''Gandalf the Grey:''' A great but expensive support hero. Blinding light makes shooting armies cry, immobilise/command shuts down enemy heroes and monsters and sorcerous blast is usefull for dismounting enemies or just for some general damage. He is also the only one in the company who can take a horse. Since he and Thorin are both heroes of legend you can choose which of them leads the company.

*'''Bilbo:''' The expert burglar, Bilbo is pretty weak and cant move all that fast. however he can take sting for 5 points which gives him +1 strength but he can also take the one Rings for absolutely no cost and with no penalties that other ring bearers might suffers since he has the special rule it has not yet awoken. he can also throw stones for all that's worth.

*'''Fili:''' A cheap but decent fighter that comes with throwing axes and the bodyguard rule to protect Thorin, he also has "Combatant synergy" this allows him to switch positions with his brother Kili at any start of a phase so long as they're in base contact with each other. This ability can help if one of them takes a wound and needs to get out of fight quickly.

*'''Kili:''' Exactly like his brother in stats but instead of throwing weapons he brings a Dwarf bow, with a shoot value of 3+ a bow is not a bad thing to have. He also has "Combatant synergy" so he can support his brother when he gets into trouble.

*'''Dwalin:''' The second most expensive Dwarf to bring, Dwalin is one of your best fighters, he has Burly and fearless but also has weapons master which takes away the -1 penalty for using a two handed weapon (which is a two handed hammer by the way), it also mean he's never considered unarmed. At Defence 6 and with a fight value of 6 he can take on most things thrown at him.

*'''Balin:''' Much cheaper in points than his brother, Balin's stats aren't anything too special but he does come with a unique weapon the sword-mace, this gives him the option to use either feint or bash special stikes. where he comes in worth taking is his special rule Longbeard, this allows him to spend a will point to give his side a re-roll for priority, this is very good for ruining your opponents plan on getting first into combat or nabbing an objective before you could get to it first.

*'''Oin:''' Like any good party of adventurers on a quest you should never leave without a healer, that's where Oin comes in. His stats don't say much and he comes equipped with a two handed staff, but has a whopping 4 Will points, this is where his special rule Prognostication comes in handy. Oin can spend one point of will to enable a friendly model within 3 of him to re-roll a single dice in a fight, something that Thorins Company is otherwise lacking. As previously mentioned he's also the healer so when he's in base contact with a friendly unit he can attempt to heal them by rolling a D6, on a 1-3 nothing happens, 4-5 the model regains a wound and on a 6 they regain all their wounds. The downside is that you can't move when you do this so if you can get your injured model to Oin so he can heal them instead of Oin trying to get to him.

*'''Gloin:''' Gimli's Dad is a pretty decent fighter with second best defence in the company at 7, he comes with axes and throwing axes (you can never have to many axes). He's definitely one of your front line fighters, stick him with Dwalin and watch them cut down most things sent at them, or Have his brother Oin stay close and heal every time your opponent manages to wound him, it sure to drive them mad.

*'''Dori:''' For only 55 points Dori can bring a lot in terms of combat as he has 3 attacks at strength 4 and fight value 5. Also, his special rule A Good Sort Really allows Bilbo to use Dori's Might, Will and Fate as if it was his own if he is within 3. One of the rare instances where you'll want to take him for is stat line alone.

*'''Nori:''' A decent fighter with a two handed mace, dagger and armour, unlike his brother Dori he only has 2 attacks but he instead has the Weapon Master rule meaning he wont be given the -1 to his roll when he fights. Aside from that nothing much else makes Nori stand out, he's a reliable fighter for his cost but certainly not a must have.

*'''Ori:''' The runt of the Company, Ori is not much of a fighter and while this makes him cheap to bring he does have two abailites that make him helpful for the other members of the company. Ori's first special rule Chronicler allows him to restore any member of Thorins Company a point of Might, Will or Fate if they slay an enemy hero or monster and are within 3 of him. His second rule Deadeye means that if you roll a 6 to hit then he automatically passes in the way tests and the target automaticlly suffers a single wound, it likely wont happen often but this could be hilrarious when aiming at trolls, fell beasts, other heroes (if they fail their fate roll) and even Mumakil. Remember he can shoot twice if he doesn't move.

*'''Bifur:''' Your only Dwarf with A spear... well a boar spear, which allows him to use it as a spear or a two handed axe so at least he has options. Bifur has an unusually good shoot value of a +3 but sadly can only throw stones. His Special rule Embedded Axe-blade allows him to make a single strike should he win combat. If the strike wounds his opponent then Bifur can call a free heroic move each turn for the rest of the game.

*'''Bofur:''' This guy is your counter to magic, Bofur is armed with a mattock and has the special rule steadfast which allows him to try and ignore the effects on magic by rolling a D6, if it's a 2+ then the effects do not take affect and the result can be modified by might if you rolled a +1. You can still attempt to resist magic but you must do this first before using Bofur's Steadfast rule.

*'''Bombur:''' He maybe fat but at least that gives him an Extra wound, he's also good at helping other hero's regain will points they have spent, as long as he's in base contact he can roll a D6 and if its a 4+ then that hero regains a point of Will. This can be really useful for Balin and Oin who use Will for their special rules. He can also use the Bash special when fighting use this to knock an opponent prone and then let one of the better fighters finish them off.

==Allies==

===Historical Allies===
'''Army of Laketown'''

'''The Misty Mountains'''

===Convenient Allies===
'''Iron Hills Dwarves'''

'''Rivendell'''

'''Lothlorien'''

'''Thranduil's Hall'''

===Impossible Allies===

'''Arnor'''

'''Minas Tirith'''

'''The Dead of Dunharrow'''

'''Numenor'''

'''Rohan'''

'''The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum'''

'''The Fellowship'''

'''The Fiefdoms'''

'''The Shire'''

'''The Wanderers in the Wild'''

'''Fangorn'''

'''Radagast's Alliance'''

'''Army of Thror'''

'''Garrison of Dale'''

'''The White Council'''

'''Survivors of Laketown'''

'''Erebor Reclaimed'''

==Building your Army==

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Thorin's Company

2020-10-25T14:07:45Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Heroes */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play Thorin's Company==
Because you like the Fellowship but wished they had more dwarf members. Well here you can have Thirteen of them and you can have Gandalf and Bilbo too. Most of the Dwarves are pretty good fighters and those that are lacking in that department make up for it with their special rules on supporting other units or helping you get an advantage on your turn.

===Pros===
*A good selection of mixed heroes, all specialising in certain skills to support the rest of the company.
*Everyone can take a Pony or Horse In Gandalf's case.
*Very Strong Fighters.
*No downsides on bringing the one ring.

===Cons===
*Every unit is a hero so you will be badly outnumbered by most armies you face.

===Army Bonus===
'''"I would take each and every one of these Dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills, for when i called upon them, they answered"''' - while within 3 of Thorin every hero from this list can re-roll to wound rolls of 1. Also, according to the Errata, every hero in the army gains heroic march.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===

*'''Thorin Oakenshield:''' The leader of the dwarves and the most expensive of them. Strangely, he is the only one without any special rules if he doesn't buy any upgrades but fortunately his stats are great. Always buy the Oakenshield, but Orcrist is less auto. It's amazing against orcs, goblins and Uruk-hais, but otherwise it's just an elven-made hand-and-a-half sword for 10 points.

*'''Gandalf the Grey:''' A great but expensive support hero. Blinding light makes shooting armies cry, immobilise/command shuts down enemy heroes and monsters and sorcerous blast is usefull for dismounting enemies or just for some general damage. He is also the only one in the company who can take a horse. Since he and Thorin are both heroes of legend you can choose which of them leads the company.

*'''Bilbo:''' The expert burglar, Bilbo is pretty weak and cant move all that fast. however he can take sting for 5 points which gives him +1 strength but he can also take the one Rings for absolutely no cost and with no penalties that other ring bearers might suffers since he has the special rule it has not yet awoken. he can also throw stones for all that's worth.

*'''Fili:''' A cheap but decent fighter that comes with throwing axes and the bodyguard rule to protect Thorin, he also has "Combatant synergy" this allows him to switch positions with his brother Kili at any start of a phase so long as they're in base contact with each other. This ability can help if one of them takes a wound and needs to get out of fight quickly.

*'''Kili:''' Exactly like his brother in stats but instead of throwing weapons he brings a Dwarf bow, with a shoot value of 3+ a bow is not a bad thing to have. He also has "Combatant synergy" so he can support his brother when he gets into trouble.

*'''Dwalin:''' The second most expensive Dwarf to bring, Dwalin is one of your best fighters, he has Burly and fearless but also has weapons master which takes away the -1 penalty for using a two handed weapon (which is a two handed hammer by the way), it also mean he's never considered unarmed. At Defence 6 and with a fight value of 6 he can take on most things thrown at him.

*'''Balin:''' Much cheaper in points than his brother, Balin's stats aren't anything too special but he does come with a unique weapon the sword-mace, this gives him the option to use either feint or bash special stikes. where he comes in worth taking is his special rule Longbeard, this allows him to spend a will point to give his side a re-roll for priority, this is very good for ruining your opponents plan on getting first into combat or nabbing an objective before you could get to it first.

*'''Oin:''' Like any good party of adventurers on a quest you should never leave without a healer, that's where Oin comes in. His stats don't say much and he comes equipped with a two handed staff, but has a whopping 4 Will points, this is where his special rule Prognostication comes in handy. Oin can spend one point of will to enable a friendly model within 3 of him to re-roll a single dice in a fight, something that Thorins Company is otherwise lacking. As previously mentioned he's also the healer so when he's in base contact with a friendly unit he can attempt to heal them by rolling a D6, on a 1-3 nothing happens, 4-5 the model regains a wound and on a 6 they regain all their wounds. The downside is that you can't move when you do this so if you can get your injured model to Oin so he can heal them instead of Oin trying to get to him.

*'''Gloin:''' Gimli's Dad is a pretty decent fighter with second best defence in the company at 7, he comes with axes and throwing axes (you can never have to many axes). He's definitely one of your front line fighters, stick him with Dwalin and watch them cut down most things sent at them, or Have his brother Oin stay close and heal every time your opponent manages to wound him, it sure to drive them mad.

*'''Dori:''' For only 55 points Dori can bring a lot in terms of combat as he has 3 attacks at strength 4 and fight value 5. Also, his special rule A Good Sort Really allows Bilbo to use Dori's Might, Will and Fate as if it was his own if he is within 3. One of the rare instances where you'll want to take him for is stat line alone.

*'''Nori:''' A decent fighter with a two handed mace, dagger and armour, unlike his brother Dori he only has 2 attacks but he instead has the Weapon Master rule meaning he wont be given the -1 to his roll when he fights. Aside from that nothing much else makes Nori stand out, he's a reliable fighter for his cost but certainly not a must have.

*'''Ori:''' The runt of the Company, Ori is not much of a fighter and while this makes him cheap to bring he does have two abailites that make him helpful for the other members of the company. Ori's first special rule Chronicler allows him to restore any member of Thorins Company a point of Might, Will or Fate if they slay an enemy hero or monster and are within 3 of him. His second rule Deadeye means that if you roll a 6 to hit then he automatically passes in the way tests and the target automaticlly suffers a single wound, it likely wont happen often but this could be hilrarious when aiming at trolls, fell beasts, other heroes (if they fail their fate roll) and even Mumakil. Remember he can shoot twice if he doesn't move.

*'''Bifur:''' Your only Dwarf with A spear... well a boar spear, which allows him to use it as a spear or a two handed axe so at least he has options. Bifur has an unusually good shoot value of a +3 but sadly can only throw stones. His Special rule Embedded Axe-blade allows him to make a single strike should he win combat. If the strike wounds his opponent then Bifur can call a free heroic move each turn for the rest of the game.

*'''Bofur:''' This guy is your counter to magic, Bofur is armed with a mattock and has the special rule steadfast which allows him to try and ignore the effects on magic by rolling a D6, if it's a 2+ then the effects do not take affect and the result can be modified by might if you rolled a +1. You can still attempt to resist magic but you must do this first before using Bofur's Steadfast rule.

*'''Bombur:''' He maybe fat but at least that gives him an Extra wound, he's also good at helping other hero's regain will points they have spent, as long as he's in base contact he can roll a D6 and if its a 4+ then that hero regains a point of Will. This can be really useful for Balin and Oin who use Will for their special rules. He can also use the Bash special when fighting use this to knock an opponent prone and then let one of the better fighters finish them off.

==Allies==

===Historical Allies===
'''Army of Laketown'''

'''The Misty Mountains'''

===Convenient Allies===
'''Iron Hills Dwarves'''

'''Rivendell'''

'''Lothlorien'''

'''Thranduil's Hall'''

===Impossible Allies===

'''Arnor'''

'''Minas Tirith'''

'''The Dead of Dunharrow'''

'''Numenor'''

'''Rohan'''

'''The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum'''

'''The Fellowship'''

'''The Fiefdoms'''

'''The Shire'''

'''The Wanderers in the Wild'''

'''Fangorn'''

'''Radagast's Alliance'''

'''Army of Thror'''

'''Garrison of Dale'''

'''The White Council'''

'''Survivors of Laketown'''

'''Erebor Reclaimed'''

==Building your Army==

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

2020-10-25T13:54:44Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Heroes */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum==
Games Workshops original Dwarfs of middle earth, though not as fancy looking as Erbor or the Iron Hills, they still shine in their own way, being cheaper to collect and with the most units to pick from you can create a fair few different lists. Not to mention that your army list can gain more Heroes when you take Balin as your leader.

===Pros===
*Plenty of unit options, both in warriors and generic heroes
*High Defence all round
*good amount of long range options

===Cons===
* No spears for standard infantry
* Pretty slow, not just due to general dwarf speed but you also lack any cavalry, heroic marches can help but are costly

===Army Bonus===
'''The Wealth of Moria lay not in gold or jewels, but Mithril:''' Any Dwarf with the Moria or Khazad-dum keyword may re-roll to wounds roll of 1 when fighting in close combat.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===

*'''Durin, King of Khazad-Dum''': 160 points for a Dwarf King on steroids. Strength 4, Defense 9!, 3 attacks, 3 wounds, 3 might, 3 will, a two handed axe (that doesn't take the penalty for two-handed axes) that gives him a reroll to his duel rolls, 6+ save against wounds, a reroll to 1 Priority roll each game, a War Horn AND terror. Woof, he's got a list of special rules a mile long and he can wreck almost anything in combat, but beware of his only 1 Fate point, that 6+ will only take him so far. Keep him away from guys with higher Fight Value than him, and he'll be fine.

*'''Mardin''': A Dwarf Captain with 3 points of Might, a Spear that gets +1 to wound against Monsters and does D3 wounds to Trolls, as he's armed with a foe spear his +1 can be upped to +2 if he's supporting a Vault Warden. Also has the Sworn Protector rule for Durin. He's 75 points, 15 more than Dwarf Captain, so he's only really worth it if you're expecting to run into a lot of Trolls.

*'''Dwarf King''': 15 points more than a Dwarf Captain for 1 point of Will, 1 higher Fight, 1 higher Courage and 1 higher Defense (although he looses the option to take Shields) and Heroic Resolve. Honestly, if you want a budget hero, you should probably grab a Captain and if you want a more powerful hero, you should be looking at named characters or maybe a King's Champion. Faqs have increased him to a hero of Valour so he can lead more warriors than a Captain but its still debatable if its worth it.

*'''Kings Champion''': 140 points for 3 models, 2 of whom come with Banners (so keep that in mind when you take your Dwarf Warriors), the ability to increase their defense when in base contact with each other, giving them the option of up to Defense 9. The Heralds can spend their Fate to protect the Champion and the Champion has a pretty badass statline (3 attacks, S5, Fight 6) so as long as you're willing to spend the points up front (and don't get any more Banners in the Warband, these two should suffice) this could be a pretty brutal up wedge for your battle line.

*'''Dwarf Captain''': Dwarf Warriors +1 to everything in their stat line with options for a shield or a two-handed weapon letting them reach a hefty defence 8. They're nothing spectacular but for only 60 points you don't need them to be, their main job is to lead troops and call Heroic Marches when you need them.
*'''Shield Bearer''':

====Troops====

*'''Dwarf Warrior''': The Original dwarf warriors, they come with a few more options but have no access to spears, they do make up for it however by being the only dwarf warriors that can bring a (dwarf) bow. They all come stock with an axe so every dwarf will get piercing strike and of course they all wear Dwarf armour making them D6 before even equipping them with shields.

*'''Dwarf Ranger''': An odd option but not one without merits, they have the mountain dweller special rule and although they aren't equipped with dwarf armour they still haves axes, they can be equipped to have throwing, two-handed axes and also Dwarf long bows, this gives them greater range than the average dwarf warrior but the bow is now strength 2 instead of 3, so even though the Dwarf ranger has a shooting value of a +3 it will be tougher to land a wound on some of the heavier armoured units. Don't be afraid to take throwing axes over bows, strength 3 hits on +3 while charging is nothing to be snubbed.

*'''Khazad Guard''': The Golden Boys, Heavy dwarf armour with two handed axes and axe's at strength 4, these guys can cause some major damage to your opponents best and armoured units and if you ever fell like they're in trouble you can have them use their average axes so they don't get a -1 modifier to their duel roll. they have the bodyguard special rule so make sure to stick them with a strong Hero unit to lead them. Don’t forget about the Hearthguard upgrade that you can unlock by taking Durin, giving them Burly for +2 points each, which removes the -1 penalty for using a two-handed weapon. AMAZING.

*'''Iron Guard''': for a staggering 15 points you get an armoured warrior with 2 attacks and throwing axes. As tempting as they might be they're very expensive and when you can get other units that do the same job as them but for cheaper points. The one thing you can take them for is that these guys would be very good at taking on trapped units--4 attacks at strength 4 will hurt. Their real problem is that D6 doesn't cut it. Take shielded warriors instead to hold enemies up while your hearthguard do the killing.

*'''Vault Warden Team''': Your number one choice for holding the line, coming at a pricey 25 points but this unit always comes in twos so try to look at it 1 guy coming in at 13 points and another at 12. in this team one Dwarf carries the Iron Shield, this massive shield makes the bearer defence 9, it also stops enemies from using the Barged, Hurl or Rending brutal power attack. This makes the Iron shield very anti-Monster (trolls and ogres mainly). The other Dwarf is carrying the Foe Spear, the foe spear works exactly like a spear but when it supports a unit with an iron shield that's in a fight with a monster then the foe spear gets +1 to wound. If at any time the dwarf with foe spear does not support the Dwarf with the iron shield then that dwarf will receive a -1 penalty to their duel rolls. even when shielding.

====Artillery====

*'''Dwarf Ballista''':

==Kingdom of Moria==

A subarmy, unlocked by taking Balin, taking a Kingdom of Moria also limits your alliances down to nothing and lets you take a bunch of other named Heroes from other armies. All of the named heroes associated with Moria are examined here, but the generic heroes and troops remain the same.

*'''Floi Stonehand''': Dwarf Hero with some pretty decent stats, but that isn't the reason you take him. The reason you take him is he can use one point of will (he has 3) to turn off an enemy's special rule or piece of equipment, other than the one ring. Turn of Aragorn's Might regeneration? Imrahil's Banner Ability? Hasharin's "Never Trapped" ability? The possibilities for gimping an enemy's lynchpin character are endless, and he regains a point of Will any time a friendly Dwarf kills a Hero or Monster. If you're taking Moria, he is DEFINITELY worth a look.

*'''Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria''': Essentially a miniature Durin for only 110 points. He keeps Durin's Axe but loses the horn, terror, the crown, and an attack, a defence, and a wound . However he gains the Longbeard special rule that lets him reroll the priority D6 for a single point of will. Interesting choice, definitely worth taking in lower point games.

*'''Ori the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Oin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Gimli Son of Gloin:'''

==Allies==

==Building your Army==
Great army for scaffolding. Start at 400pts with Durin and 18 Hearth Guard, then build to suit. Kings Champion + Heralds is a good beginning for a second warband. A third warband with a Captain gives you heroic march.

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

2020-10-25T13:44:42Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Pros */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum==
Games Workshops original Dwarfs of middle earth, though not as fancy looking as Erbor or the Iron Hills, they still shine in their own way, being cheaper to collect and with the most units to pick from you can create a fair few different lists. Not to mention that your army list can gain more Heroes when you take Balin as your leader.

===Pros===
*Plenty of unit options, both in warriors and generic heroes
*High Defence all round
*good amount of long range options

===Cons===
* No spears for standard infantry
* Pretty slow, not just due to general dwarf speed but you also lack any cavalry, heroic marches can help but are costly

===Army Bonus===
'''The Wealth of Moria lay not in gold or jewels, but Mithril:''' Any Dwarf with the Moria or Khazad-dum keyword may re-roll to wounds roll of 1 when fighting in close combat.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===

*'''Durin, King of Khazad-Dum''': 160 points for a Dwarf King on steroids. Strength 4, Defense 9!, 3 attacks, 3 wounds, 3 might, 3 will, a two handed axe (that doesn't take the penalty for two-handed axes) that gives him a reroll to his duel rolls, 6+ save against wounds, a reroll to 1 Priority roll each game, a War Horn AND terror. Woof, he's got a list of special rules a mile long and he can wreck almost anything in combat, but beware of his only 1 Fate point, that 6+ will only take him so far. Keep him away from guys with higher Fight Value than him, and he'll be fine.

*'''Mardin''': A Dwarf Captain with 3 points of Might, a Spear that gets +1 to wound against Monsters and does D3 wounds to Trolls. Also has the Sworn Protector rule for Durin. He's 75 points, 15 more than Dwarf Captain, so he's only really worth it if you're expecting to run into a lot of Trolls.

*'''Dwarf King''': 15 points more than a Dwarf Captain for 1 point of Will, 1 higher Fight, 1 higher Courage and 1 higher Defense (although he looses the option to take Shields) and Heroic Resolve. Honestly, if you want a budget hero, you should probably grab a Captain and if you want a more powerful hero, you should be looking at named characters or maybe a King's Champion.

*'''Kings Champion''': 140 points for 3 models, 2 of whom come with Banners (so keep that in mind when you take your Dwarf Warriors), the ability to increase their defense when in base contact with each other, giving them the option of up to Defense 9. The Heralds can spend their Fate to protect the Champion and the Champion has a pretty badass statline (3 attacks, S5, Fight 6) so as long as you're willing to spend the points up front (and be don't get any more Banners in the Warband, these two should suffice) this could be a pretty brutal up wedge for your battle line.

*'''Dwarf Captain''':

*'''Shield Bearer''':

====Troops====

*'''Dwarf Warrior''': The Original dwarf warriors, they come with a few more options but have no access to spears, they do make up for it however by being the only dwarf warriors that can bring a (dwarf) bow. They all come stock with an axe so every dwarf will get piercing strike and of course they all wear Dwarf armour making them D6 before even equipping them with shields.

*'''Dwarf Ranger''': An odd option but not one without merits, they have the mountain dweller special rule and although they aren't equipped with dwarf armour they still haves axes, they can be equipped to have throwing, two-handed axes and also Dwarf long bows, this gives them greater range than the average dwarf warrior but the bow is now strength 2 instead of 3, so even though the Dwarf ranger has a shooting value of a +3 it will be tougher to land a wound on some of the heavier armoured units.

*'''Khazad Guard''': The Golden Boys, Heavy dwarf armour with two handed axes and axe's at strength 4, these guys can cause some major damage to your opponents best and armoured units and if you ever fell like they're in trouble you can have them use their average axes so they don't get a -1 modifier to their duel roll. they have the bodyguard special rule so make sure to stick them with a strong Hero unit to lead them. Don’t forget about the Hearthguard upgrade that you can unlock by taking Durin, giving them Burly for +2 points each, which removes the -1 penalty for using a two-handed weapon. AMAZING.

*'''Iron Guard''': for a staggering 15 points you get an armoured warrior with 2 attacks and throwing axes. As tempting as they might be they're very expensive and when you can get other units that do the same job as them but for cheaper points. The one thing you can take them for is that these guys would be very good at taking on trapped units--4 attacks at strength 4 will hurt. Their real problem is that D6 doesn't cut it. Take shielded warriors instead to hold enemies up while your hearthguard do the killing.

*'''Vault Warden Team''': Your number one choice for holding the line, coming at a pricey 25 points but this unit always comes in twos so try to look at it 1 guy coming in at 13 points and another at 12. in this team one Dwarf carries the Iron Shield, this massive shield makes the bearer defence 9, it also stops enemies from using the Barged, Hurl or Rending brutal power attack. This makes the Iron shield very anti-Monster (trolls and ogres mainly). The other Dwarf is carrying the Foe Spear, the foe spear works exactly like a spear but when it supports a unit with an iron shield that's in a fight with a monster then the foe spear gets +1 to wound. If at any time the dwarf with foe spear does not support the Dwarf with the iron shield then that dwarf will receive a -1 penalty to their duel rolls. even when shielding.

====Artillery====

*'''Dwarf Ballista''':

==Kingdom of Moria==

A subarmy, unlocked by taking Balin, taking a Kingdom of Moria also limits your alliances down to nothing and lets you take a bunch of other named Heroes from other armies. All of the named heroes associated with Moria are examined here, but the generic heroes and troops remain the same.

*'''Floi Stonehand''': Dwarf Hero with some pretty decent stats, but that isn't the reason you take him. The reason you take him is he can use one point of will (he has 3) to turn off an enemy's special rule or piece of equipment, other than the one ring. Turn of Aragorn's Might regeneration? Imrahil's Banner Ability? Hasharin's "Never Trapped" ability? The possibilities for gimping an enemy's lynchpin character are endless, and he regains a point of Will any time a friendly Dwarf kills a Hero or Monster. If you're taking Moria, he is DEFINITELY worth a look.

*'''Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria''': Essentially a miniature Durin for only 110 points. He keeps Durin's Axe but loses the horn, terror, the crown, and an attack, a defence, and a wound . However he gains the Longbeard special rule that lets him reroll the priority D6 for a single point of will. Interesting choice, definitely worth taking in lower point games.

*'''Ori the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Oin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Gimli Son of Gloin:'''

==Allies==

==Building your Army==
Great army for scaffolding. Start at 400pts with Durin and 18 Hearth Guard, then build to suit. Kings Champion + Heralds is a good beginning for a second warband. A third warband with a Captain gives you heroic march.

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum

2020-10-25T13:43:49Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Cons */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum==
Games Workshops original Dwarfs of middle earth, though not as fancy looking as Erbor or the Iron Hills, they still shine in their own way, being cheaper to collect and with the most units to pick from you can create a fair few different lists. Not to mention that your army list can gain more Heroes when you take Balin as your leader.

===Pros===
*Plenty of unit options
*High Defence all round
*good amount of long range options

===Cons===
* No spears for standard infantry
* Pretty slow, not just due to general dwarf speed but you also lack any cavalry, heroic marches can help but are costly

===Army Bonus===
'''The Wealth of Moria lay not in gold or jewels, but Mithril:''' Any Dwarf with the Moria or Khazad-dum keyword may re-roll to wounds roll of 1 when fighting in close combat.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===

*'''Durin, King of Khazad-Dum''': 160 points for a Dwarf King on steroids. Strength 4, Defense 9!, 3 attacks, 3 wounds, 3 might, 3 will, a two handed axe (that doesn't take the penalty for two-handed axes) that gives him a reroll to his duel rolls, 6+ save against wounds, a reroll to 1 Priority roll each game, a War Horn AND terror. Woof, he's got a list of special rules a mile long and he can wreck almost anything in combat, but beware of his only 1 Fate point, that 6+ will only take him so far. Keep him away from guys with higher Fight Value than him, and he'll be fine.

*'''Mardin''': A Dwarf Captain with 3 points of Might, a Spear that gets +1 to wound against Monsters and does D3 wounds to Trolls. Also has the Sworn Protector rule for Durin. He's 75 points, 15 more than Dwarf Captain, so he's only really worth it if you're expecting to run into a lot of Trolls.

*'''Dwarf King''': 15 points more than a Dwarf Captain for 1 point of Will, 1 higher Fight, 1 higher Courage and 1 higher Defense (although he looses the option to take Shields) and Heroic Resolve. Honestly, if you want a budget hero, you should probably grab a Captain and if you want a more powerful hero, you should be looking at named characters or maybe a King's Champion.

*'''Kings Champion''': 140 points for 3 models, 2 of whom come with Banners (so keep that in mind when you take your Dwarf Warriors), the ability to increase their defense when in base contact with each other, giving them the option of up to Defense 9. The Heralds can spend their Fate to protect the Champion and the Champion has a pretty badass statline (3 attacks, S5, Fight 6) so as long as you're willing to spend the points up front (and be don't get any more Banners in the Warband, these two should suffice) this could be a pretty brutal up wedge for your battle line.

*'''Dwarf Captain''':

*'''Shield Bearer''':

====Troops====

*'''Dwarf Warrior''': The Original dwarf warriors, they come with a few more options but have no access to spears, they do make up for it however by being the only dwarf warriors that can bring a (dwarf) bow. They all come stock with an axe so every dwarf will get piercing strike and of course they all wear Dwarf armour making them D6 before even equipping them with shields.

*'''Dwarf Ranger''': An odd option but not one without merits, they have the mountain dweller special rule and although they aren't equipped with dwarf armour they still haves axes, they can be equipped to have throwing, two-handed axes and also Dwarf long bows, this gives them greater range than the average dwarf warrior but the bow is now strength 2 instead of 3, so even though the Dwarf ranger has a shooting value of a +3 it will be tougher to land a wound on some of the heavier armoured units.

*'''Khazad Guard''': The Golden Boys, Heavy dwarf armour with two handed axes and axe's at strength 4, these guys can cause some major damage to your opponents best and armoured units and if you ever fell like they're in trouble you can have them use their average axes so they don't get a -1 modifier to their duel roll. they have the bodyguard special rule so make sure to stick them with a strong Hero unit to lead them. Don’t forget about the Hearthguard upgrade that you can unlock by taking Durin, giving them Burly for +2 points each, which removes the -1 penalty for using a two-handed weapon. AMAZING.

*'''Iron Guard''': for a staggering 15 points you get an armoured warrior with 2 attacks and throwing axes. As tempting as they might be they're very expensive and when you can get other units that do the same job as them but for cheaper points. The one thing you can take them for is that these guys would be very good at taking on trapped units--4 attacks at strength 4 will hurt. Their real problem is that D6 doesn't cut it. Take shielded warriors instead to hold enemies up while your hearthguard do the killing.

*'''Vault Warden Team''': Your number one choice for holding the line, coming at a pricey 25 points but this unit always comes in twos so try to look at it 1 guy coming in at 13 points and another at 12. in this team one Dwarf carries the Iron Shield, this massive shield makes the bearer defence 9, it also stops enemies from using the Barged, Hurl or Rending brutal power attack. This makes the Iron shield very anti-Monster (trolls and ogres mainly). The other Dwarf is carrying the Foe Spear, the foe spear works exactly like a spear but when it supports a unit with an iron shield that's in a fight with a monster then the foe spear gets +1 to wound. If at any time the dwarf with foe spear does not support the Dwarf with the iron shield then that dwarf will receive a -1 penalty to their duel rolls. even when shielding.

====Artillery====

*'''Dwarf Ballista''':

==Kingdom of Moria==

A subarmy, unlocked by taking Balin, taking a Kingdom of Moria also limits your alliances down to nothing and lets you take a bunch of other named Heroes from other armies. All of the named heroes associated with Moria are examined here, but the generic heroes and troops remain the same.

*'''Floi Stonehand''': Dwarf Hero with some pretty decent stats, but that isn't the reason you take him. The reason you take him is he can use one point of will (he has 3) to turn off an enemy's special rule or piece of equipment, other than the one ring. Turn of Aragorn's Might regeneration? Imrahil's Banner Ability? Hasharin's "Never Trapped" ability? The possibilities for gimping an enemy's lynchpin character are endless, and he regains a point of Will any time a friendly Dwarf kills a Hero or Monster. If you're taking Moria, he is DEFINITELY worth a look.

*'''Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria''': Essentially a miniature Durin for only 110 points. He keeps Durin's Axe but loses the horn, terror, the crown, and an attack, a defence, and a wound . However he gains the Longbeard special rule that lets him reroll the priority D6 for a single point of will. Interesting choice, definitely worth taking in lower point games.

*'''Ori the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Oin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor:'''

*'''Gimli Son of Gloin:'''

==Allies==

==Building your Army==
Great army for scaffolding. Start at 400pts with Durin and 18 Hearth Guard, then build to suit. Kings Champion + Heralds is a good beginning for a second warband. A third warband with a Captain gives you heroic march.

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Rivendell

2020-10-25T13:39:10Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Cons */

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==Why Play Rivendell==
You like having knifed ears? Or maybe you like playing the aloof guys with minimal actual investement in middle earth? OR even maybe you wanna play as the guys who are kind-of-sort-of to blame for most of the bad things that happened in setting in one way or another? Or maybe even you just want to play one of the harder hitting armies in the game and don't mind the smell of elitism (in the movies) or being all around cool guys (in the books)

===Pros===
*one of the hardest hitting armies in the game, let alone for the forces of good
*Multiple amazing heroes
*some of the coolest models made by GW
*undercosted infantry
*it is good or neutral against other pure lists, so it does not have a real counter in the game unless you make a weird cheesy alliance

===Cons===
*low model count due to their high price. They're worth the price, but your still going to be outnumbered against most armies
*Killing power of infantry (heroes or troops), stuck at s3/s4 although two-handed weapons and spear support can help mitigate this issue reasonably well.
*some of the most dated models made by GW (High Elf Warriors w/ swords and or bows)
*faqs have been made in order to mitigate the huge buffs that some heroes provided to this list or its allies without any real penalties before. This means it could submitted to more faqs in the future.

===Army Bonus===
'''"Tangado haid, leitho i phillinn"''' - If your archers are within 6 of the army leader and if they don't move, they get to reroll to hit. It's a subpar faction ability, and won't come up super often, but don't forget it if you've got it.

==Unit Analysis==
Elves as a whole have access an improved version of normal hand weapons: the elven blades. these not only count as either a normal weapon or a 2-handed weapon (only a normal weapon if you have a shield), but also cause you to win ties on a 3+ instead of a 4+. So, instead of costing at least +1 point for being a possible two-handed weapon and getting that useful 4+ rule, it is free to any troop available in the list because WHY NOT?

===Heroes===
*'''Elrond:''' The two versions of Elrond got condensed down into 1. 170 points, with the usual brutal Elf Lord stats (plus the option to take Heavy Armor), Elrond comes with a few tricks. First he has an Elven ring, which allows him to reroll failed Fate rolls. He shares the Lord of the West rule with Gil-galad (and Celeborn) that allows him to reroll 1 duel and 1 wound dice, D6 Foresight points that allow you to alter priority rolls and a couple of spells (although no way to cast them for free like Wizards or Galadriel), plus a couple oddities (Rivendell Knights don't count towards your bow limit if he's there and his swords gets +1 to wound against Spirits) and Elrond is pretty beastly. Still, at 170 points, he's less powerful as a duelist than Gil-Galad, so make sure you're taking him for his special rules.

*'''Gil-galad:''' At one time he was everyone in the setting's best friend, then he got rekt by Sauron in his "give me back my rings" phase. With fight 9, '''aka one of the highest fight values in the game''' (on the side of good at least), a spear that acts like a lance no matter if he charged or not, the ability to go up to Defense 8 with 3 wounds, plus rerolling one duel and wound roll Gil-galad is a terrifying opponent to duel. Factor in his buff which allows high elf warriors to go up to fight 6 and a larger stand fast range, and he ALSO doubles as a great form of army multiplier. He actually costs 10 points less than Elrond in Heavy Armor, but you can't take him with Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir, Lindir or Bilbo and keep your faction bonus. He also only has 1 fate point, so be careful with him if he loses.

*'''Erestor:''' Erestor is the first 'normal' elf hero we have access to. with a standard stat line, 2 might, 2 will and 2 fate, and the ability to reroll wounds when using his dagger all for a fair (for an elf) point cost makes him a solid choice for any warband.

*'''Cirdan:''' Cirdan is an elf wizard with soley buff spells and no real way to harm anyone in a duel due to him being unarmed. with a normal stat line, all be it lacking in the close combat departement, he come with 4 will and the ability to use 1 point of will per turn for free, to make use of his spells. <s>Great for fluffier lists, however you generally have access to better hero options</s> As a cheap hero in Rivendell he's useful for bringing more troops, and he has 2 extremely good spells - Blinding Light keeps you safe from archers, while Aura of Dismay makes your army cause Terror. Both can be cast in the first 2 turns and then sustained for the entire battle. Keep him safe behind a few shieldmen and he makes an excellent force multiplier.

*'''Elladan and Elrohir:'''while expensive, they are one of the most versatile option you have available to you. with Elf bows and Heavy armour for better Defence and even more great shooting, and horses and cloaks for utility there's a lot to love with these guys. Factor in their different ways to use their swords in combat, and the fact that one gets extra cranky if the other dies, they make for a solid hero choice in mid to high cost games.

*'''Arwen:''' Arwen is one of the cheapest elf heroes available, and unfortunately it shows. with a mediocer stat line, low strength, terrible defense, and only knowing Wrath of Bruinen, she should only be taken for fluff or if you need a cheap hero and don't want to bring a stormcaller

*'''Glorfindel, Lord of the West:''' an elf who basically amounts to <s>jaime lannister, but with more sword play and significantly less incest</s> kick-ass elf Jesus. With 3 attacks, fight and defense 7, 3 in all of his hero stats, and a special rule where he can always roll 2 dice to resist a magical power (for free!), Glorfindel really lives up to his name. His Armour of Gondolin makes him immune to brutal power attacks, so with his higher than average fight value he is just the man to go after your opponent’s monsters. Though expensive, if he is brought he had a high chance to earn his points back and then some.

*'''Gildor Inglorion:''' Gildor is a cheap supporting character and ONLY a supporting character. with low defense and fate, he should avoid being targeted at all cost, which he can pull because of his knowing the immobilize spell. More than any of this, however, his his high movement of 8, which he confers to fellow WOOD elf warriors for 1 ppm (he also let's you take wood elves from the Lothelorien army).

*'''Lindir of Rivendell:''' An Elf Hero with average stats (only 1 attack, but 4 will) and the ability to take Heavy Armor, Lindir's real power comes in his support. First he gives everyone within 6 Resistant to Magic and second, if he stays within 6 of Elrond, Elrond can use 1 point of Will each turn without spending from his store. Good if you're planning on taking Elrond as a caster, mediocre otherwise.

*'''High Elf Stormcaller:''' A cheap elf caster with the ability to (on a 6 on any dice while casting) not spend any of his will. All he has for spells is giving other guys Will points and being able to knock other models prone, which isn't nothing, but at least his Galadhrim counterpart has Enchant Blades. If you have a use for him, he can be good, but otherwise you're probably better off with a Captain.

*'''High elf Captain:''' Just like his human counterparts the elf captain is versitile, and will probably end up being your most brought hero as, even though elves are expensive, you'll want more than few.

====Troops====
*'''High Elf Warrior:''' These are your only troop available, and outside of being tanky, these are the only troops you'll need. With a high fight value and courage, and access to elf bows and elven blades your troops will hit harder than most other armies in the game. Their only flaw comes in when we notice that their highest defense is 6 an only s3. Criminally undercosted profile, should be on par to the fair costed iron hills dwarves warriors.

====Cavalry====
*'''Knights of Rivendell:''' 21 points (22 with a shield) gets you an Elf on horseback with bow and lance. Better than a lot of other army's cavalry because of that lance, making them more likely to kill something. Still, they're expensive and unless you took Elrond, they eat into your bow limit, even if all you want them for is melee. Don't go overboard, but a small number of them is a good idea. If you just spam knights of Rivendell with Elrond and Gandalf or other support hero you are definitely THAT GUY FOREVER. Seriously, one of the meanest lists and very unfunny to play against.

==Allies==
===Historical Allies===
'''Numenor'''

'''Lothlorien'''

'''The Fellowship'''

===Convenient Allies===
'''Arnor'''

'''Minas Tirith'''

'''The Dead of Dunharrow'''

'''Rohan'''

'''The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum'''

'''The Fiefdoms'''

'''The Shire'''

'''The Misty Mountains'''

'''The Wanderers in the Wild'''

'''Fangorn'''

'''Thorin's Company'''

'''Radagast's Alliance'''

'''Army of Thror'''

'''Garrison of Dale'''

'''The White Council'''

'''Thranduil's Hall'''

'''Army of Laketown'''

'''Survivors of Laketown'''

'''Iron Hills Dwarves'''

'''Erebor Reclaimed'''

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]
i mean, do you really need help here? they're elves, they shoot good and have quick reflexes. in terms of troops you have the top of the line- good defense that makes them durable to missile fire and stand well to anything sub S4, universal F5 with elves blades means there's almost no situation that a 6 on the duel roll doesn't mean you win, and with hand-and-a-half swords plus S3 elvish shooting you can hit harder than most if you need to double down on it. be sure to bring banners though- your stats may keep you safe from courage tests and most attacks, but you can bet you're gonna be outnumbered, and if you don't have anything to save from a bad duel roll, bodies can pile up quick. your shooting isn't quite so potent as it once was (with volley fire being erased) but it nonetheless makes a dent, especially against the multitude of D5 skirmish troops, so it's usually worth it to max out your bow limit.

the big variety you'll see comes from your heroes, and man do they bring some tricks; Gil-galad is a murder machine that can kill pretty much anything single-handedly and also can bring some nice buffs to your troops, if you feel the need to re-awaken the oath and spill some blood quickly, he's your man. Conversely, if you want someone that can bring ''almost'' as much heat but take ten times more themselves, Glorfindel is your man. It truly would not be an exaggeration to say that he could take on all nine ringwraiths and come out on top, his special rules making him a perfect missile to shoot straight at enemy monsters and commanders. be a little cautious as he isn't going to bring huge buffs to the rest of the army, but in fairness when you can solo the witch-king and then dab on a cave troll right after, do you need anything else? the twins, elladan and elrohir, bring the most versatile option, giving you six(!) might, 6 attacks (with potential to more than double that on horseback), and four wounds and fate between them. even alone they're powerful duelists, but if it comes to a fight against the toughest foes, you'll want them together, and with backup. Lastly, lord elrond has a stat-bar to fit the description "noble and fair as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer." with a laundry list of special rules and gear, it's arguable he's the least combat-centric of the lot, but not the least useful. take a host of knights and rain some eldar pain, or just grab lindir for endless healing and wrath of bruinen trolling.

after you've chosen your big hero, the obvious question is what littler heroes to bring in tow. while you can always just double up and take two of the above, it may leave you a little short on points, especially in smaller games. barring anything else, cirdan brings FANTASTIC buffs to your army (making your battle-line of elves nigh unshootable, fearless, and causing terror- when that's done, why not enchant some blades too?) and erestor is a nice all-around warrior that can take care of cave trolls with little fear. lindir should only there if elrond is, but the tactic of putting your whole army on horseback, baiting with bowfire, then punching anything to the ground with infinite wrath of bruinen is pretty great.

the last choice to consider is iorveth- i mean, gildor. if you're looking to shake up your playbook, he brings some interesting tools; he and his men are about as durable as paper, but they're damn sneaky and pack a mean punch if you know how to use them right, not to mention being able to keep pace with cavalry. wood elf spears will provide them with a little more durability, but make no mistake- these are always, always glass cannons. with throwing weapons they can make for great kiting, but don't put them in a situation where they can't retreat or get heavily armored help to back them up.

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Lothlorien

2020-10-25T13:35:55Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Heroes */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play Lothlorien?==

===Pros===
* Amazing shooting no matter which theme you go for
* Solid close combat, assuming you win the duel roll
* One of the most cost effective spell casters in the game
* Reasonably diverse warrior list
* The cheapest elven army cash wise, for only £50 quid you can get Haldir+ Celborn and 24 Galadrim Warriors/Galadrhim Guard giving you a 500 point list.

===Cons===
* Low defense if you're going pure wood elves
* Traditional Elvish high point cost
* No named mounted Heroes
* Some of their warriors sculpts are a little lacking

===Army Bonus===
'''They Say a Great Sorceress Lives in These Woods:''' Resistant to Magic across your entire army. Fantastic against some armies, useless against others.

==Unit Analysis==
like the high elves, wood elves carry elven blades, which count as both a normal weapon and 2 handed weapon (assuming you don't hold a shield). Additionally, Wood elves tend to carry wood elf spears, which act just like normal spears, but give you the ability to use the shielding rule, with or without a shield.
wood elves, more than most any other faction, have access to elven cloaks, with make you invisible, meaning you cannot be shot, spelled at, or charged from any distance greater than 6"
Another thing most all elves have in common is the 'woodland creature' rule which, depending on the local boards, can be a huge boon when it comes to moving through trees and woods.

===Heroes===
*'''Galadriel:''' With a normal caster stat line, sans 3 M/F and 6(!) will Galadriel is a caster that's irritating to deal with to say the least. Much like other major casters, Galadriel gets to spend 1 will free per turn, and, thanks to her ring of power, can reroll her fate dice making her that much more annoying to kill, despite her paltry defense 3. For a few extra points, you can lug her mirror to the field, which gives you the ability to restore any good hero within a few inches of the mirror's fate back to it's starting value, making whoever is nearby infinitely more irritating to finish off. Her real value is that spell casting, which allows you to sideline or immobilise an important enemy hero each turn more or less effortlessly, which can really screw with your opponent. Plus you can theoretically use her to control an enemy Mumak, which is terrifying to think about. She's also your only hero of Legend meaning she'll have to be your armies Leader (so much for joint lordship of Lothlorien eh Celeborn?), unfortunately with only 1 unarmed, strength three attack the chances of her killing enemies is pretty low meaning one scenario is going to be impossible to win.

*'''Celeborn:''' Celeborn when fully kitted out is a melee monster with a lot of M/W/F and the ability to sling spells. On top of his own prowess, he unlocks the ability to upgrade galadhrim warriors and knights to have higher courage AND knows the aura of command and Immobilise spells, making him a great buff machine and excellent at sniping high fight/attack monsters and heroes. Trouble is he only has three will points so he's not worth taking for spells alone (especially compared to Galadriel) and to use him in combat you have going to have pay extra for his sword armour and shield.
*'''Haldir:''' The two versions of Haldir have been combined into one model, for the same price. Gets the double shot ability, the ability to punch the dudes who killed him one last time, the weird bonus if he's within 12 of Theoden or Aragorn, and all the options (Armor and Elf Bow are what you want), plus solid stats and 3 might, 1 will and 1 fate. He can't Heroic March like a Galadhrim Captain, but he can use Heroic Accuracy, Strike and Strength. Being able to double tap with bow shots is useful, and he's only 10 points than a Galadrim Captain with the same loadout, for all his special abilities, plus a point of Might. Worth taking. Haldir, like his brother below, is a standard elf captain, but instead of being able to take a spear, he gets the ability to fire his bow twice per turn. All in all a solid choice of Hero if you're looking for a named hero to bring instead of the generic captain

*'''Rumil:''' Rumil has a standard statline for an elf hero for only marginally more than a captain. What really makes him stand out is the fact that he forces enemy models fighting him to reroll 1 dice in their duel roll, making him irritatingly hard to hit. He's not going to be outfighting Glorfindel any time soon, but don't underestimate this guy, he can punch well above his weight level in a pinch.

*'''Wood Elf Captain:''' Though softer than the other elf captains, the wood elf captain makes up for it in variety of ranged weapons, and the ability to take an elven cloak to make him harder to deal with until someone gets close to him.

*'''Galadhrim Stormcaller:''' Pound for pound identical to his high elf cousin. he has theoretically unlimited will (as on any 6 during a casting attempt, he counts as not having spent any will at all). with a support spell and a "move enemy models" spell, he is a good supporting hero, so long as you keep him out of close combat.

*'''Galadhrim Captain:''' Just like the other captains, he is the baseline for the rest of the faction. with access to Defense 7, a high fight, and solid choice of wargear, he is not someone to treat at lightly you would captains of other races. all in all a solid choice on his own merits, but misses out on the increased Might and special rules of Haldir/Rumil, so should only really be considered if you need a horse mounted character (as he's the only Lothlorien character with access to a mount) or if you already have both Haldir and Rumil (in which case you might want to take a look at Celeborn or Galadriel).

====Troops====
*'''Wood Elf Warrior:''' The squishy elves we all know and love from D&D. With access to multiple shooting weapons, elven cloaks for durability, and better spears than other races, these guys make great second-line infantry as well as wonderful skirmishing units due to the cloak buffs. It is important to note that going all out with throwing knives and bows makes these guys extremely expensive, so gear wisely.

*'''Galadhrim Warrior:''' Your better front line elf infantry. With elf-standard defense 5, and the normal elf equipment they are a solid core troop. They should avoid spears (the wood elves like them more) unless you're running a pure Galadhrim force, but overall good for their rather high point cost.

*'''Wood Elf Sentinel:''' Wood Elves with an extra attack and the ability to sing a song which buffs/debuffs nearby models. While their rules are amazing, their incredibly high cost of 25 points makes them not auto includes in lower point levels, but a unit that should really be considered for high point games.

*'''Guard of the Galadhrim Court:''' Gal. Warriors with pikes and heavy armour, with a hero level fight 6. These guys are amazing front line fighters, but even better second and third line supporting infantry to bestow that Fight 6 onto any allies or regular warriors infront of them, forcing even named heroes like Aragorn and Imrahil to use Heroic Strikes to be sure of winning fights with basic infantry. In addition to all of this, like wood elves, their pikes allow them to use the shielding rule, just incase they get flanked or dive into something too big.

===Cavalry===
*'''Galadhrim Knight:''' Faster Galadhrim warriors on faster-than-normal horses. Though they lack lance options, giving them an elf bow and upgrading them to guards through Celeborn means you have guys who can move 6" a turn and still shoot (albeit hitting on on 4's), meaning you can keep moving all game shooting and never be caught by basic infantry.

==Allies==
===Historical Allies===
'''The Fellowship:''' Primarily useful if you want to grab a specific hero (read: Aragorn) without losing your allegiance ability. So if you want to take Aragorn, here is the way to do it.

'''Rivendell:''' Galadhrim Warriors and High Elf Warriors are exactly identical, as are your Stormcallers and High Elf vs. Galadhrim Captains (except Galadrhim Captains have Fleetfoot). Rivendell has much much better cavalry but you have a wider variety of infantry available, so a Warband filled with Rivendell Knights led by a powerful hero is definitely an option, but don't take them for their infantry.

'''Rohan:''' You have great magic and fantastic infantry, but underwhelming cavalry. Rohan has fantastic cavalry but no magic and underwhelming infantry. Theoden can lead a small group of Cavalry to form the spearhead of your attack. Including Théoden also means you're no longer forced into taking Galadriel as your leader.

===Convenient Allies===

'''Arnor'''

'''Minas Tirith'''

'''The Dead of Dunharrow'''

'''Numenor'''

'''The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum'''

'''The Fiefdoms'''

'''The Shire'''

'''The Misty Mountains'''

'''The Wanderers in the Wild'''

'''Fangorn'''

'''Thorin's Company'''

'''Radagast's Alliance'''

'''Army of Thror'''

'''Garrison of Dale'''

'''The White Council'''

'''Thranduil's Hall'''

'''Army of Laketown'''

'''Survivors of Laketown'''

'''Iron Hills Dwarves'''

'''Erebor Reclaimed'''

==Building your Army==

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game/Tactics/Thranduil's Hall

2020-10-25T13:26:28Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Cons */

[[The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Strategy_Battle_Game|Back to the list]]

==Why Play Thranduil's Hall==
Because you want an entire army of just bows, that and you want another Elf army for your collection. Mirkwood Elves are just as deadly as they're made out to be and where many armies may struggle to take on hordes these guys love the challenge.

===Pros===
* Loads of Bows (Or Potentially an entire army of Bows, pretty expensive in points though)
* Strong Heroes (OP in combat against hordes, which makes sense as seen in the movies, but Legolas>Bolg not possible here boys this game FUCKS ESTABLISHED LOGIC sometimes)
* some of the best Plastic middle earth models to come out for a long time.

===Cons===
* Very expensive army in points
* Awkward packaging. No seriously, their base warriors are [[finecast]] so cost {{strikethrough|four times as much as}} a little bit more than other elf armies. They are still cheaper than armies like the Shire or Arnor. On the other hand their elites come in plastic sets of twenty for only £30 which might seem great until you realise your going to be using about eight of them in your army, so your stuck with twenty four elites your not using, wishing bitterly they were [[Proxy|basic Mirkwood warriors]]. CASH CASH CASH GW WANTS CASH, SO PAY OR...choose other army that is better balanced in terms of rules and not so expensive (Minas Tirith, {{strikethrough|Rohan}}, Isengard, Mordor, Azog's hunters,Thorin's company, The fellowship, The dead of Dunharrow...) If you see someone using an entire finecast army of these dudes in the next tournament, a Ferrari must be parked nearby so...FLY, YOU FOOLS!(Not really, compared to your average 40k or aos army this is dirt cheap. A 2000!!!!! point army can be built for £190. Your average game is 750 points so...)(If you see a shire army a private jet is parked outside).

===Army Bonus===
'''"The Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They are less wise and more dangerous"''' - All Mirkwood rangers do not count toward the bow limit...just let that sink in for a second. Thranduil gives all units (except Mirkwood rangers and Mirkwood ranger captains) +1 to their wound roll when making strikes.

==Unit Analysis==

===Heroes===
*'''Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm :''' The King of smirk and sass, Thranduil is a combat monster against large hordes of foes, his fight value of 7 and 3 points of might, will and fate will help him win every fight you ge him in. But if your making Thranduil useful you have to take him on a shopping spree first. You have your usual equipment bonuses like heavy armour and an elf bow but then they're some special ones. For 30 points you can give him an additional elven sword that gives him and extra attack while on foot and unlocks the Bladelord special rule giving him an extra attack for every enemy he is in base contact with. You can also take the Circlet of Kings for 25 points that allow Thranduil to auto cast Nature's Wrath and Aura of Dismay once per a game. He can also buy a horse to fight with his knights but for only a few more points you can get him an Elk instead, making Thranduil's strikes strength 5 when charging into combat. Even without all these upgrades Thranduil is your main source of buffing your army by either acting as a banner, improving units fight value or improving their to wound rolls. The armies named after him for a reason.

*'''Legolas Greenleaf:''' While his core statline is nothing too amazing, Might and Fate of 3 paired with his special shooting rules make him a terrifying enemy to deal with. Legolas can either shoot 3 times per phase as normal, or he can make 1 shot that hits on a 2+, no matter if the target is in close combat or has a bunch of "in the way" rolls between him and legolas. with an elf bow base, and the ability to buy a horse, cloak, and armour if you feel like running him to close to enemies, which of course isn't a bad idea now that you can give him Orcrist. Legolas is a great addition for a comparatively low point cost

*'''Tauriel:''' Your number two choice for leading a warband of rangers. Tauriel is one mean Elf, her special rule "Blade Mistress" gives her the same abilities as the mirkwood rangers, giving her extra attacks for every model she is in combat with. If you include Kili (the champion of erebor version) in your army and is killed, then Tauriel increases her strength by +1 but reduces her Defence by -1. You can upgrade to have an elf bow which you will be doing because her shoot value is 3 and because its an elf bow. For just a few more points you have yourself a much better warband leader than the average Captain.

*'''Mirkwood Armoured Elf Captain:''' Improved stats and armed with a glaive, he follows the same rules as his underlings.

*'''Palace Guard Captain:''' Can be upgraded to carry a shield, making him the toughest captain you can field.

*'''Mirkwood Ranger Captain:''' Only bring him if you don't have Legolas or Tauriel... why wouldn't you have Legolas or Tauriel?

====Troops====

*'''Mirkwood Armoured Elves:''' Your Basic troops, they have a unique weapon option to bring a glaives which can be used as an elven blade or spear but you can use the shielding rule. apart from that just the usual shield, elf bow and banner options.

*'''Palace Guards:''' Almost exactly the same as Mirkwood armoured elves, they don't have the options for glaives and are two points extra, but do get the options for a warhorn as well as the usual equipment and weapons. Where they become superior to their more common soldier is their kings guard rule, this gives you +1 to your fight value while within 3 inches of Thranduil. With this rule and the army bonus your palace guard can hit harder in combat than your average troops. But is it worth the extra two points? You decide.

*'''Mirkwood Rangers:''' At a pricey 14 points you get a <s>light armoured</s> unarmoured murder machine that gain extra attacks for being in combat with more enemies (to a max of 3). Come equipped with elf bows, Two daggers and an elven cloak, they have no upgrades available except from a warhorn.

*'''Wood Elf Sentinel:''' Wood Elves with an extra attack and the ability to sing a song which buffs/debuffs nearby models. While their rules are amazing, their incredibly high cost of 25 points makes them not auto includes in lower point levels, but a unit that should really be considered for high point games.

===Cavalry===

*'''Mirkwood Armoured Elf Cavalry:''' Basic cavalry that can be upgraded to have a shield or banner. Their special rule King's Knights treat Thranduil as a banner if they are within 6 of him, you will likely have Thranduil on a horse or elk so save some points on that banner and just follow thranduil around.

==Allies==

===Historical Allies===
'''[[survivors of laketown]]:'''

'''[[The Iron Hills]]''':

===Convenient Allies===
'''[[Arnor]]'''

'''[[Rivendell]]'''

'''[[Lothlorien]]'''

'''[[Minas Tirith]]'''

'''[[The Dead of Dunharrow]]'''

'''[[Numenor]]'''

'''[[Rohan]]'''

'''[[The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum]]'''

'''[[The Fellowship]]'''

'''[[The Fiefdoms]]'''

'''[[The Shire]]'''

'''[[The Misty Mountains]]'''

'''[[The Wanderers in the Wild]]'''

'''[[Fangorn]]'''

'''[[Thorin's Company]]'''

'''[[Radagast's Alliance]]'''

'''[[Army of Thror]]'''

'''[[Garrison of Dale]]'''

'''[[The White Council]]'''

'''[[Army of Laketown]]'''

'''[[Erebor Reclaimed]]'''

==Building your Army== use elvs

==Tactics==

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Lord of the Rings

2020-10-25T13:18:45Z

2A00:23C5:F18D:4701:5048:3167:1104:C72F: /* Legacy */

[[Image:LotR.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Daddy's home]]
{{Topquote | There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''Atlas Shrugged''. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. | John Rogers}}

'''''The Lord of the Rings''''', sometimes shortened to LOTR, is the sequel to [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Hobbit]]''. He found that the setting he had built was far too interesting to abandon after a simplistic quest storyline, an experience common to modern [[GM]]s, and his publisher thought a new story in Middle-earth would be just as popular as ''The Hobbit''.

Because of its original publication scheme (the whole thing was too big for '50s era bookbinding techniques), LOTR is commonly, though erroneously, called a trilogy. Its three volumes are:

*The Fellowship of the Ring
*The Two Towers
*The Return of the King

You have, of course, read them. If you haven't, gtfo and read them. And don't you even dare ''just'' watch the movies. Although amazing films, they aren't the same experience.

==The Story==
[[Image:LotR 1e.png|right|300px|thumb|The original [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|First Edition]] nerd book]]
If you're a filthy normie or you've been living on a cave on Mars with your fingers in your ears, here's a brief refresher:

Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', decides upon his 111th birthday to leave home and entrusts his magic ring to his nephew Frodo. Problem is, Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo's wizard friend, has figured out that something's off about the magic ring once he sees how Bilbo can barely bring himself to give it up; it is in fact the One Ring, an artifact created by Sauron, Lord of Mordor, and contains a vast amount of his power. Its continued existence is a threat to the free peoples of Middle-earth and Gandalf exhorts Frodo to come to a meeting in Rivendell, house of the great elven lord Elrond, where a council of all the finest minds that can be brought together will determine what to do with it. Joined by his gardener Samwise and two fellow hobbits, Merry and Pippin, Frodo makes his way to Rivendell but not before running afoul of barrow-wights and Sauron's chief minions, the Nazgul, leading to him getting stabbed with a cursed sword by the lead Nazgul that would make him their wraith minion. Fortunately Elrond is also skilled in healing arts and magic and saves Frodo from the fate worse than death.

At the meeting, it is revealed that no mortal artifice can destroy the One Ring (demonstrated in the movie when Gimli shatters a weapon on the unassuming golden band). The only way to unmake it is to return it to the fires of Mount Doom where Sauron originally forged it. Unfortunately, Mount Doom is smack dab in the middle of Mordor and Gandalf can't ask his great eagle buddies to risk death by arrows, Fellbeasts (seriously, why does everyone forget that the bad guys could fly too?) or deadly volcanic gases to fly the ring to Mount Doom for him. Really though, stealth was the only realistic option, even if that meant hoofing it for months on end. And to make things more complicated, the ring itself is actively trying to get back into Sauron's hands, whether by alerting Sauron to its presence every time someone puts it on, or outright manipulating people with promises of power. Frodo agrees to bear the One Ring on its journey and a group is formed to escort him there. The party for this quest is called the Fellowship of the Ring and consists of:

*Frodo Baggins, the Ringbearer, hobbit;
*Samwise Gamgee, Paladin/gardener/Frodo's [[Gay|"best friend"]], hobbit;
*Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, rogue, hobbit;
*Peregrin "Pippin" Took, bard, hobbit;
*Gandalf the Grey, wizard (one of the Istari, essentially a demigod in human guise, and on the same tier as Saruman, Sauron, and the Balrog);
*Aragorn, son of Arathorn, ranger, human of Númenorean descent and heir to the thrones of Arnor and Gondor;
*Boromir, son of Denethor, fighter, human;
*Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil, archer, elf;
*Gimli, son of Glóin, fighter, dwarf;

So, off they go. After a few detours and sidetracks, the Fellowship is split into three (even though you should never split the party): Frodo and Sam go off directly to Mordor, as Frodo's the only one who really needs to go and Sam is too much of a bro to abandon him; Gandalf duels a primordial demon to the death (both their deaths, really) since he's the only one there powerful enough to stop it, but since he's a demigod on a divine mission [[skub|he gets to come back]]; Pippin and Merry are kidnapped by orcs but escape and wind up in Gondor, a formerly prosperous kingdom, and Rohan, a nation of Vikings on horseback, respectively, after having adventures with Ents; Boromir dies in an ambush but has a pile of corpses to show for his troubles and gets a river funeral; Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli form a Human-Elf-Dwarf triple threat team, ostensibly to find and rescue Merry and Pippin, but end up travelling fucking evil's shit up for the rest of the story, with Gimli as Dennis Rodman.

Despite having their own problems to contend with, somehow the members of the divided Fellowship seem to get involved with everyone else's mess and need to sort shit out. Their list of game achievements include, but are not limited to: surviving a ruined [[Dwarf Fortress|dwarf city]] filled with an insane number of goblins and a big motherfucking demon lord with weapons made of fire (the backstory behind this inspired the aforementioned game); foiling the plans of Gandalf's wicked wizard counterpart and his orc army; saving not one but two human nations (and the entire world for that matter); winning a whole campaign's worth of scenarios and battles; and defeating the big bad evil guy of the setting with enough time to go home for tea and crumpets.

Finally, after going around the most fuck-me way possible to get into Mordor (partially due to bad directions from Gollum, who was conflicted with his addictive desire for the Ring, and an encounter with the [[Arachnarok Spiders|giant spider]]/spider-demon hybrid Shelob), Frodo reaches Mount Doom and is about to drop the ring into the lava when he can no longer resist the ring's allure. Just as it had done at the end of the Second Age when it stopped Isildur from destroying it, the ring saved its existence from certain doom. Unfortunately, its twisted former owner Gollum attacks Frodo for it and bites it off of his finger, dances about happily, and accidentally falls into the lava. With the ring destroyed, Sauron's power is all but gone forevermore and his armies scatter. The eagles can swoop in for MEDEVAC, getting Frodo and Sam back to civilization to rest and recover before the hobbits return to the Shire.

But wait! The Shire's under new management, Chief Sharkey. Frodo and company help the hobbits rise up against Sharkey, who turns out to be Saruman, who has committed his greatest evil yet by trying to industrialize The Shire out of spiteful revenge. Frodo allows Saruman to leave the Shire, but his put-upon minion Gríma Wormtongue slits his throat (and is then riddled with arrows, nicely tying up that loose end). After compiling his memoirs and still feeling pain from the Nazgul attack all the way at the beginning of his journey, Frodo travels to the Grey Havens and is allowed to sail into the West, where he may find relief from his pain.

==Legacy==
[[Image:Tolkien with pipe.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The man himself]]
It's commonly accepted that the Lord of the Rings invented modern fantasy fiction, as everybody basically used it as a template for most, if not all, future stories that involved anything more than Knights, princesses, and dragons. That being said, most people tend to only pick up the surface elements of the stories without the nuances they originally came with, either to fit their own stories or because they just thought, "hey, orcs are cool, imma add them to my campaign." One example is that despite everyone basing [[elves]] on Tolkien's interpretation rather than the more pixie-like versions of previous generations, most stories' elves are universally depicted as arrogant and smug racists who were almost as commonplace as humans, whereas Tolkien hewed closer to the original mythological version of an alien, isolationist, though not outright hostile people, who seldom interacted with mortals (it helped that any racial supremacist tendencies they once had were basically stomped out of them after getting their asses kicked in the First Age, with humans giving them most of their support). On top of that, the books are pretty clear that Elven immortality isn't all sunshine and rainbows, as they are doomed to fade into wraiths unless they travel to the Undying Lands.

Even in his time, while Tolkien maintained a strong correspondence with his fans (he wrote enough letters that they essentially became a supplement on the lord of the rings stories), he felt that a lot of people simply didn't ''get'' his stories. Hippies declared Frodo to be an anti-establishment hero, despite Tolkien himself being strongly conservative and the story containing an explicitly pro-monarchy plot point in Aragorn's ascension. People would claim it to be an allegory of WWII and nuclear war, despite being based on his own personal experiences during WWI (he also hated allegories in general). And if he were alive today, he'd probably call the travesty that was the Hobbit trilogy (see below) the very "disneyfied" crap that he sought to avoid. [https://curiosityquills.com/limyaael/tolkien-cliches/ Here's a list] of fantasy cliches attributed to Tolkien that are actually misrepresentations of what he wrote because the authors would miss the point.

All that being said, the influence of his books can't be denied. The funny thing though, is that despite being a source of inspiration for Dungeons and Dragons (one could argue that DnD codified fantasy tropes moreso than LOTR, but that's for another time), the actual story of the Lord of the Rings wouldn't make for a great roleplaying campaign; rewards for battles are scant, the vast majority of enemies are orcs, orcs, and more orcs <s>with a dash of goblins</s> that's just another term for orcs, the actual fighting done by Aragorn's team is of secondary importance to Frodo's mission to destroy the ring, Sauron never appears in the flesh so there's no final boss, etc. A webcomic called "[http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612 DM of the Rings]" explores this concept quite humorously, as the tension between the player characters (as Aragorn's party) and the DM shows how frustrated they get when the story doesn't meet their hack-and-slash expectations.

To give a short list, Tolkien basically gave us:
*[[Orcs]]
*[[Halfling]]s
*[[Treeman|Ents]]
*[[BBEG|Dark Lords]]
*[[Half-elves]], though they weren't considered a distinct species. There's only a handful of them, and they have to decide whether to have the fate of the elves (immortality, but you have to go to the Undying Lands or become a wraith) or the fate of men (mortality, but you get a super-secret afterlife that not even the Valar know about). This part never seemed to catch on.
*[[Elves]] as beautiful pointy-eared superhumans; while not explicitly codified as of yet, we also got High elves in the Noldor and Wood elves in the Sindar. No Dark elves yet though (unless you count those Avari guys who sat by a lake); that would be the [[Drow]].
*[[Dwarves]] as a proud warrior race rather than just short greedy bastards. <s>Note that the Scottish accent wasn't tacked on until the New Line films.</s> Not even then; the most prominent Dwarves in all six films are Gimli, played by John Rhys-Davies, and Thorin, played by Richard Armitage, who speak with their actors' native Welsh and Yorkshire accents respectively. Scottish Dwarves do exist in the franchise, but it's not mainstream - the Dwarven accents are drawn from a wide UK spectrum. Scottish Dwarves are popular in fantasy games, World of Warcraft being perhaps the most prominent example, but even the Tolkien-esque Warhammer Fantasy has Yorkshire Dwarfs (with some exceptions).
*The [[Ranger]] archetype (historical note: actual rangers were just guys hired to keep poachers off a nobleman's land, the idea of an outdoorsy type of tracker/scout/soldier didn't exist until the 17th century.)
*Mixed race, mixed class adventuring parties
*A "Three Age" structure to history, with the earlier ages being more legendary and mythological than the more mundane later ages. (Though Greek mythology had similar ideas)
*Mithril {NOT Mythril, a name used in various other books and games to avoid copyright infringement}, a super-strong, super-light metal

==The Movies==
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Bakshi Ralph Bakshi] made an animated film based off the Fellowship of The Ring and the first half of The Two Towers, which were released in 1978. The resulting film was trippy, to say the least. It has a lot of weird animation with massive amounts of [[wikipedia:Rotoscoping|rotoscoping]], although it does work from time to time. It also decided to make adjustments and stay faithful to the text in the oddest ways. Many lines of dialogue were taken from the books word for word, with enough cut out so that you don't know what they are talking about and it does not come across as natural conversation; for example, Saruman declares himself Saruman of Many Colors without explaining the name change, but they decide to make a prince of Gondor (the largest and greatest civilization in Middle-earth at the time) dress like a Wagner opera viking. The end result both leaves you both weirded out and bored unless you are really into that era of animation. Rankin Bass produced a Return of the King animated film in 1980, a made for TV movie which didn't have near the budget. It traded in some of the trippiness (even if it does have Orcs transforming into Coutimundis) for being more mundanely bad and getting pushed into the animation age ghetto, since again, it was made for TV not theaters in an age when censorship ran strong. They couldn't even allow for people getting with swords onscreen.

But those two movies are footnotes compared to the ones that you have most likely seen, those being Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. By far the most financially successful and critically acclaimed fantasy films of all time, including winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards, which generally go for historical pieces and similar, not fantasy or sci-fi. It helped bring fantasy to mainstream audiences and probably why many of you are you are here now. It has massive battles made possible by groundbreaking special effects technology. The films also have incredible amounts of attention to detail to bring the world of Middle-earth to life. While some changes were made (as was inevitable in adaptation), many of them were for the better such as developing Aragorn as a character rather than just a mythic archetype. [[This Guy|In short what happens when you get a lot of skilled passionate people together to make something they love come to life.]] [[Skub|Though apparently Tolkien's son really hated the movies for some reason (Probably for personal reasons as the original books were written in part for him).]].

Alas, however, it seems greed got to New Line: apparently a few billion dollars in debt, they needed the profit that a new series of Middle-Earth movies would make and tapped Jackson to direct a trilogy of Hobbit movies. Since The Hobbit is a single book with less than 400 pages, the company bloated the story by making the movies a strange mix of The Hobbit, the Silmarillion and various new materials. Neckbeards were in uproar of the changes both big and small: examples include Legolas having a significant part in the second and third movie despite not appearing in the book of The Hobbit, the inclusion of new character Tauriel who enters a fanfic-esque love triangle with Legolas and Kili, the recycling of an Orc warlord who canonically died in a battle before the book even though the story had the role filled by his son who's also in the movies, the Major of Laketown having an aide who seems to be <s>a long-lost scion of the Blackadder lineage</s> a two-dimensional discount Grima Wormtongue (Admittedly, it would be a nice little Blackadder homage, as the Mayor of Laketown is acted by Stephen Fry), dumbing down the fiendishly intelligent antagonist Smaug with Bond Villain-style stupidity and other problems. Jackson really went overboard with the special effects here: instead of using sets, costumes and clever camera tricks a lot of things were CGI (probably because for no good reason there were plans to release the Hobbit films in 3D, and forced-perspective tricks don't work in 3D). This meant that a lot of actors did not need to be on the set at the same time, which reached its lowest point with Sir Ian McKellen breaking down into tears after having to act against an empty room.

(Also, Warner Bros. forced New Zealand to rewrite its labor laws, removing the ability for its actors to [[Communism|bargain collectively]], as well as granting the studio some tax breaks. [[Capitalism|Only then did Warner Bros. decide to not move the movie out of the country.]])

Unhappy with the trilogy, fans created the TolkienEdit, which is basically a four-hour film covering the entire trilogy. That means that there's been removed five hours of content. The casualties include Radagast, the Necromancer subplot, the elf/dwarf love triangle, a lot of running scenes, some battle scenes and a lot of white orc scenes. Big casualty is the Nazgul battle, that shit was [[awesome]] regardless of the half ass plot.

==What about the other books?==

Besides the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit, there are a few other books about Middle Earth. Many of them were published after Tolkien's death, but were personally edited by his son to make them available to the public. While none of these books are strictly need-to-know material, they can be thought of as great fluff books full of additional stories that flesh out the setting.

*[[The Silmarillion]] - This was an abridged history of Middle Earth, from its creation to the War of the Ring. Here you'll find more information about Sauron and the creation of the One Ring, as well as epic tales of both elvish and human heroes from the First Age, the sociopathic Elf King Feanor who played right into Melkor's schemes, the rise and fall of <s>Atlantis</s> Numenor, the War of the Last Alliance, and other things. Three stories in particular were considered by [[Matt Ward|Christopher Tolkein]] to be so important that [[Profit|they deserved their own books]]. They are:
:*The Tale of Beren and Luthien - If you thought Aragorn and Arwen had a whirlwind romance, you ain't seen nothing yet. Luthien's father King Thingol wouldn't allow her to marry Beren unless he captured one of the Silmarils from Morgoth's crown. Seemingly impossible demands aside, ''both'' of them go on an epic journey deep behind enemy lines to complete the quest. And though it costs them both their lives, they ultimately begat the line of the Half-elves after returning to Middle-Earth. Quite easily the most action-packed love story in high fantasy.
:* The Children of Hurin - Hurin was among the mightiest of mortal men, and he alone defied Morgoth during the seige of Angband. When he was captured, Hurin refused to give up the location of Gondolin. As punishment, Morgoth imprisoned Hurin and laid a curse upon his children. Hurin's emo son Turin is forced to live on the run, and many times those close to him end up getting killed, mostly due to his overwhelming ego. When he meets an amnesic girl alone and naked in the woods, he does the most logical thing and marries her. Except, uh oh, he was tricked by a dragon into [[Incest Smith|fucking his sister]]. Yes, this is a canon story. Don't believe me? Look on the Silmarillion page.
:* The Fall of Gondolin - this story has yet to be published in its own book, but the basic gist is that Gondolin is the last stronghold of the Noldor elves, hidden deep within the mountains, guided there by the Poseiden expy. Same expy sends the human warrior Tuor to warn Gondolin that it's about to fall. The elves don't pay much attention to his warning, but they let him marry the king's hot daughter. This pisses off her cousin, who's been wanting to get in on that incest action, and so he betrays the city and shows Morgoth's army how to sneak in. In the final battle, the city falls, but Tuor and his family escape, but not before shanking her cousin's treasonous ass.
*The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - Poetry centered around Tom Bombadil, who is best described as Middle Earth's equivalent of a Monty Python sketch. He's actually in the first LOTR book but is so carefree and oblivious to the War of the Ring that he's not terribly important despite being implied to be powerful enough to kick Sauron in the balls an walk away without a scratch.
*Unfinished Tales - As the name implies, Tolkien hadn't completed these stories before his death. It includes longer versions of stories mentioned in the trilogy, such as Isildur's death, the origin of the Wizards, and the founding of Rohan.
*The History of Middle Earth - A 13 volume series detailing the creation of Tolkien's mythology, includes early drafts and unused stories. While the early material here isn't considered canon, some very interesting revelations appear here:
:*Originally, Tolkien wanted to claim that he only "discovered" the stories about Middle Earth from a book he translated.
:*Which book, you may ask? Why, just a copy of the [[wikipedia:Red Book of Westmarch|Red Book of Westmarch]]. Also known as that book Frodo and Bilbo were writing as the story progresses. This is because...
:*[http://www.tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Lost_Road Middle Earth is actually our Earth.] [[wat|From before the Ice Age]] (hey, if Robert Howard could do the "lost era of history" story for [[Kull]] and [[Conan the Barbarian]], then so can Tolkien).
:*[http://www.tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Athrabeth_Finrod_ah_Andreth And that First Age humans predicted the birth of Jesus Christ] (though not in explicit terms). Did we mention Tolkien was Catholic?

==Of course GW couldn't let such a profitable venture pass them by...==
Back in the early 2000s, [[GW]] made a tabletop game based around this premise and called it [[The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game]]. Because they ran out of short titles.

In a peculiar way, this was GW coming full circle. They began by making miniatures for D&D (which as stated above, heavily borrowed from LOTR) before morphing into Warhammer.

While it let you play out your favorite scenes from the movies (in the way YOU imagined them going), it failed to light the world on fire. Likely because it lacks any of the batshit awesome insanity of their own IPs. However, GeeDubs has kept on truckin' with this line regardless of cost, eventually offloading it onto [[Forge World]] to work on in between releases for [[Blood Bowl]] and [[Necromunda]].

==The Last Ringbearer ==
Of course, there is always some weird thing people will do with an original work of an author. Such is the nature of The Last Ringbearer, a book written by this Russian named Kirill Eskov. Its supposed to be an alternate take on LOTR, and has plot points ranging from The One Ring being a red herring, the Nazgul being enlightened philosopher scientists, and Mordor being an industrialized society torn apart by unsophisticated luddites for no reason other than elf bigotry. Don't have your hopes up, for this book will not get widespread English publishing until 2043, when the copyright on LOTR finally ends, which may be just long enough for this abortion of a "book" to fall into the pages of obscurity.

The Last Ringbearer was officially published in the legal vacuum that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, which also allowed assorted other unauthorized revisions and sequels to be published. Among those are the Ring of Darkness by Nick Perumov (a Fourth Age story where the Big Bad Evil Guy collects the rings of the Nazgul to become a great conqueror, and a Hobbit fighter clad in mithril armor endeavors to stop him) and the Black Book of Arda by Natalia Vasilieva (an alternate take on the Silmarillion where the original evil Melkor is a nice guy).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Height.jpg| How the heck did a little hobbit beat this?
File:Talion_and_orcs.jpg| Actually not a scene from the books. To be fair, though, [[/v/|Shadow of Mordor]] showed us what Mordor looks like in the daytime.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game]] for the tabletop skirmish game.
*[[Mordor]]
*[[Middle Earth]]
*[[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
*[[The Last Ringbearer]]
*[[The Silmarillion]]

[[Category: Literature]][[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]