[BC Update] The Final Push

Erunion · **Posted:** Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:15 am

Greetings,

With the impending release of the Hobbit movies and the related hobby material, I'm feeling the bug to throw myself back into this wonderful hobby. Combine that with my newly recruited gaming partner, I feel like it is time to complete the Battle Company Update. The idea, from the very start, was to create a fan supplement that is just as professional as anything GW puts out and could be updated periodically to include new releases and incorporate any needed tweaks. Well, that time has come, and while the bulk of the work is completed, there remains a lot of detail work to be finished up, and some of this requires skills/capabilities that I do not possess myself. For that reason, I am asking for some volunteers to step forward and help me pull this thing together. I am needing individuals who could help in the following areas:

Copy Editor – Page Layout and creating the actual .pdf file
Art Director – working with the Copy Editor to find quality images of painted miniatures and Tolkien related artwork for the layouts and getting permission from the copyright holders to use them.
Hobby Specialist – Provide some example illustrations of ways that people can customize their Battle Companies with special paint jobs, conversions, background material, battle reports/logs, custome banners, etc.
Playtesters
Proofreaders

Please remember that the goal is to create something as high quality and professional as a GW production.

If you are interested in helping in any of these ways, or if you have photos/artwork you would contribute, please feel free to post in this thread or let me know by PM. Thanks in advance for your help!

Erunion · **Posted:** Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:25 am

Here is the Table of Contents that I have worked out:

Battle Companies: Warbands in Middle-earth

Foreward and Recognitions Page
Core Rules
Mordor – Mordor, Warg Riders, Black Numenoreans, Dol Guldur
Kingdoms of Men – Mina's Tirith, Fiefdoms of Gondor, Arnor, Rohan, Last Alliance
Fallen Realms – Isengard, Dunland, Easterlings, Khand, Harad, Far Harad, Corsairs
Free Peoples – Dwarven Holds, Elven Havens, Woodland Realms, The Shire
Moria & Angmar – Misty Mountains, Angmar
Supplemental Equipment
Scenarios & Hidden Agendas
Customizing Your Company (Conversions & Theming)
Using Battle Companies in Campaigns
Printable Roster Sheet

Erunion · **Posted:** Mon Nov 12, 2012 5:38 pm

Core Rules updated to version 3.1

Printable Roster and Excel-based rosters uploaded.

Erunion · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:41 pm

Faction: Dol Guldur uploaded

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Nov 14, 2012 4:25 pm

Faction: Warg Riders, 1.1 and Faction: Arnor, 1.1 uploaded

Erunion · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:57 pm

Harad, Isengard, and Dwarves all updated on the site now.

Erunion · **Posted:** Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:59 pm

Woodland Realms, Khand and Mordor uploaded.

RyuAzai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:36 pm **Posts:** 51

Very willing to sign up as a player tester for this.

Erunion · **Posted:** Fri Dec 07, 2012 4:31 pm

Excellent! Just use the latest updated rules on the Battle Companies website in some of your games, and take record of any thoughts/concerns/inconsistencies you might see and let me know, okay?

RyuAzai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:36 pm **Posts:** 51

Will do.

Just as a fore warning, my buddy and on will be on break in a week until the middle of January. During this time we will be able to play test a bunch, though it may take a bit to get the feedback in.

RyuAzai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:36 pm **Posts:** 51

Some first bit of feedback.

Dwarves are a power house. We did a few matches switch around who played what. No upgrades, just all fresh companies.

Vs Corsairs - They would usually just slaughter this company. They usually never lost a unit against this company.

Vs Dunlending - Numbers helped a bit, but still there was never a time that it seemed that this company had the upper hand or was going to win.

Harad - Same deal as Dunlending, but with such high defense that the dwarves have -and- their bows.... It is a hard fight. The units just don't have killing power, and if the dwarves are played well it seems impossible to over come them.

That is a few of the testing we have done so far.

Erunion · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:25 pm

Greetings, Ryuzai.

I greatly appreciate your feedback. All of the Battle Companies are designed to have a starting points value of between 58-64 points (before M/W/F is added to the starting heroes). The Dwarves and Harad have both been updated to include any point/stat changes from the latest sourcebooks, but Dunland and Corsairs have not yet been updated to version 1.1. Since the points values for the companies are so evenly matched, I'm not quite sure what should be done to help balance out these issues. Is it merely due to high Def value? You mentioned the bows...Do you find Dwarven archery to be overwhelming? Did you or your friend have any ideas about how to make things a little more even?

RyuAzai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:36 pm **Posts:** 51

Essentially archery, with the dwarves, was overwhelming. Because it is already a hard fought battle so if you lose one or even two units from their archery there is almost no hope at all.

We actually did the math and figured out the between 58-64 points. Though one thing we were thinking about is in the main game dwarves don't have spears. We were thinking that perhaps this makes them cost a little less because it is a hard thing not to have spears in the regular SBG. Where in battle companies it doesn't hugely factor in. So maybe dwarves should be more costly

Also with such high defense the player with the dwarves doesn't have to worry to much about using their two-handed weapons. Even if they lose they are still incredibly hard to kill. So against some like Harad or has little or no armor they are offensive and defensive tanks. In addition in makes all evil bows against them also relatively unless.

An idea my friend was thinking was taking away one of the archers, taking away one of the two-handed axe man or shield warrior, and then throw in a khazad guard that has to be the hero.

Mine was just lose two units.

Highlordell · **Posted:** Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:35 pm

Hey I'd be happy to proof-read anything you want, if you still need people to help.

Can PM you my email address if you need it.

black1blade · **Joined:** Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:10 pm **Posts:** 225

Not trying to be a necromancer but are you ever going to make a Easterling battle company.

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 12:16 am

And....nearly a year later....a teaser pic:

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 1:24 am

black1blade wrote:

Not trying to be a necromancer but are you ever going to make a Easterling battle company.

There is an Easterling Battle Company on the blog, however, it doesn't seem to be showing up on the sidebar. Oh well, the blog is soon to be a moot point.

belgiumfire · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:01 am

I really like your work and I'm looking out to play it.
So, will you include the new models from both the Hobbit movies?

The front page looks amazing, nice job. :yay:

mertaal · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 9:58 am

I've downloaded some of your stuff in the past, but have yet to play it.

Waiting for the finished product with baited breath!!

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:31 am

Thanks, guys.

I am hoping to get this done in time to give it to the community as a Christmas present, so I am really trying to bang this out right now. It does include three new Battle Companies (Dwarves of Erebor, Gundabad Hunters, and Goblin Town), but I don't have the DOS book yet, so it won't have anything from the new movie yet. In addition, I plan on updating and expanding this book periodically to include new releases, new scenarios, and hopefully a hobby section.

[BC Update] The Final Push

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