Classic Scenario Balance Under Hobbit Rules

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2013 2:06 pm

Greetings all.

I haven’t been around a lot lately but have been trying to keep up with some of the discussion and of course browsing the painting and terrain posts (always inspiring). I have a game related question though which I hope someone out there may have some personal experience with.

I’m wondering if there are any insights on how the new Hobbit rules may impact the balance of some of the older scenarios. For example, the weapon and monster rules may have really shifted the balance in the Moria scenarios in Fellowship or Khazad Dum. Or the new -1 penalty for moving and shooting (bows or throwing daggers) may have had consequences to many of the Fall of the Necromancer scenarios. There are many scenarios with Rohan in TTT and RotK where the shoot penalty may make things harder for them and need some adjustment.

I don’t have much personal experience with the new rules still…only a few games so far…so it’s hard to make a gut feeling on this. The scenarios I did play all felt pretty balanced under the old rules but it may not be hard to tip scales a bit one way or the other. Balin’s Tomb was always a real fun way to introduce the game to new players as well as a good event scenario, but an upgraded Cave Troll can be a real beast as the scenario was already close many times. Fall of the Necromancer and TTT each have scenarios where you have a thin force of Good trying to hold off the Evil player and ranged fire is critical…but now you can’t move and shoot as effectively.

Theoretical input is defiantly welcome but I’d really like to hear from anyone that has gone back and played some of the older works with the Hobbit style rules. It would be great if GW would release an update PDF of some adjustments to the published scenarios (not full rewrites, just FAQ-style changes like “reduce Goblin force by XX” or “reinforcements don’t start until Turn 3”, etc.). But considering how they would probably rather do fully updated publications (at $30+ apiece) I don’t expect that sort of guidance except from the player community.

advTHANKSance!

Dr Grant · **Joined:** Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:50 pm **Posts:** 1339

Yeah there's definitely been a shift, I can't speak about all the examples I mentioned but I've played through a lot of the Fellowship and Two Towers Journey Book scenarios with the new rules and have some notes.

The monster rules don't change things too badly, they actually give the cave troll a nice boost and help to aid Evil in what was a very Good biased scenario.

The changes to magic also help evil with Gandalf having to burn Might if he wants Blinding Light in play all game, Immobilise not completely crippling the Cave Troll etc.

The biggest changes are the new Heroic Actions which massively favour the Fellowship side as they have 21 Might (+ 1 a turn from Aragorn) compared to about 2-6 for Evil. This means they can happily Heroic Strike away at the Cave Troll pretty much risk free. Heroic March also has a massive impact on any scenario that involves getting off the board (Lothlorien, Aragorn's Stand, Let's Hunt Some Orc etc.) as the Fellowship can just burn Might early and are all but uncatchable.

My preference is to ban Heroic Strikes and Heroic Marches for those scenarios. They've all been balanced with a certain amount of movement over a certain amount of turns, Heroic Marches can really unbalance that.

Remember, narrative scenarios should be about fun, engaging, cinematic games and not about winning. My advice is to play them as they stand with the Hobbit rules and then amend anything you didn't think worked, swap sides and play it again. The best scenarios are fun to play as both sides and should finish with roughly equal Good/Evil wins. My journey books are full of post-it notes making corrections that, IMO, improve the balance of the scenarios.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:48 pm

Thanks! I forgot about the Heroic March. Our group felt really let down by the dramatic impact of heroic actions in WotR tbh and we have only used the traditional Heroics from the SBG version so far. So I didn't even take that into account.

I appreciate the comment about the change in magic as well. There were some 'given' actions of Gandalf which, as you note, are not the same any more.

And I do agree that many of the scenarios with the Fellowship were a bit biased but they seem to be trying to create a situation of the Good side most likely winning "but at what cost".

Bilbo · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2013 7:01 pm

Scenario 10/Battle of the pelennor fields from the Return of the King 3rd edition rule book plays actually very well.

The monsters used to get bogged down but now get to wreak utter havoc, as they should. Fittingly heroes using heroic strike are an effective challenge.

I really enjoyed the battle and used the suggested protagonists. What I would suggest as crucial as the good player is moving Aragorn and the dead with with a "Heroic march" "at the double" so that they can get into action as soon as possible I would recommend prioritising ring wraiths and trolls.

Is also well worth channeling sorcerous blast at the ring wraiths on fell beasts.

The new rules allowed the heroes and monsters much effective as they are in the books and films, where I felt that they were lacking effectiveness previously.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:41 pm

Well that's really awesome feedback. Thanks!

Sticky Fingersss · **Joined:** Sat Oct 09, 2010 11:20 am **Posts:** 1776

Yeah, I think the new rule somewhat balance themselves out as most units have got somewhat better. I think the only way to find out is by simply playing it out.

Classic Scenario Balance Under Hobbit Rules

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