"Alternative Rules for Large LotRs Battles" Topic

I've recently been assembling some forces for GWs Lord of the Rings Strategy Battles (or The Hobbit actually) and I've enjoyed the rules for some skirmish sized gaming. My hope was to eventually play some larger battles but it's pretty obvious the rules aren't designed for anything of the size I'm considering. I've also read somewhere that there was another system written for this but was a bit of a let dow.

So my question is: has anyone any recommendations for staging battles like this or better still, has anyone tried this with success with any available system?

Thanks in advance

Since there is little or no magic in the mass battles in the books, simply use your favorite set of Ancient or Medieval rules. Make sure they allow for startling game changing deus ex machina events.

Try kings of war. Some people have already converted kings of war for LOTR.

HotT. A great quick set of rules easily adapted to large battles and to LotR.

GW did a mass battle game called "War of the Ring." I have not played it so cannot comment. It called for basing your models on movement trays in large units, so may be what you are looking for.

Sword & Spear is ideal for LOTR battles.

This is a 15mm Battle of Five armies game played with Sword & Spear:

There is more about this game on this thread:
link

Here's some links to some other LOTR AARs with Sword & Spear:
link
link
link

My long-running project is Middle Earth battles with Hostile Realms (based on Piquet). With turns deck-driven, it allows for swings of fortune, one-off events and solitaire play.

@Marshal Mark, eagerly awaiting the official fantasy Sword & Spear!

Really all you would need to do is use the same infantry basing for LOTR but just have 4 figures on each base for infantry and 2 for cavalry. Using a marking system for casualties, You could use centimeters instead of inches for measurement or just halve the measurements. Or you could just individually mount 15mm figs and halve the measuring.That's really all the changes you would need.

I've considered doing this myself.

Thanks to all for the responses.

Winston/John That sounds like a decent idea that I didn't really think of. I'm not really familiar with ancients apart from SAGA which is skirmish too but it's something to look into.

I've heard a few things about kings of war that sound very promising but I'm not sure what HotT is (apart from the beverage 😈)

Extra Crispie : originally I was reading terrible reports on The War of the ring but after further enquiry there seems a lot of very positive reviews out there too. I'd like something more definitive before I commit ; it seems quite expensive

M Mark S&S looks really great. I'm going to take an extensive look at this. Thanks for the images and links; very inspiring.

Spudeous I'm a fan of card driven games so another definite option.

Son of Thor thanks, sounds like a doable option as well
I'll probably try most of these rules if they're not terribly expensive. I'll give a few reviews if I do.

I am using Armies or Arcana. Last big battle had a Mumakil, 35-45 Cavalry, 200+ infantry and the game lasted about 3 hours. Thane Morgan created the LOTR variant for his rules and it still available for free (though you do need AoA to use them).

Thanks,

John

Thanks John I'll check that too.

BTW I just downloaded War of the Ring off "scribd" for free

MAYHEM

Just a thought.. not so much on which rules, but an idea on a variation on "order of play".
I have played a few and like the Bolt Action draw a die from the bag system. However for this I would suggest simply use something like Koplow's mini chips
Just choose a color for each force; Blue men, Yellow Elves, Black Uru-ki etc. Use one chip for each unit in each force.

If your basing for larger battles, say 4 figs per base, w/ 50 chips to a pack, that would allow for at least 200 Dwarven figures for example.
Also, by drawing from a bag / box, you never know 'which force' will get the opportunity to take action next. So this helps to add that 'fog of war' factor in.

And here are all the army lists if you feel like doing HotT.

lukeuedasarson.com/HotTME.html

Yep. It's HotT for us too. have played both large and single army games – great fun!

Terry

GW had a nice Warmaster variant called Battle of the Five Armies, which would easily work with 15mm, otherwise there are a lot of good games mentioned here. Warhammer Ancient Battles might also work.

You could download basic impetus from the dadi piombo site and take a look. It's free. There's a fan made fantasy adaptation.
Impetus is ancients through late medieval. Including mechanisms for empire like mixed units.

War of the ring is pretty good at it's core. The lists aren't thought through and I'd want to tinker with it myself.
Probably best to read some reviews and see if you can borrow a set to see if you like em. Unless you can find a cheap copy. They were never very well known so didn't take off

I like Basic Impetus and it's fantasy variant as well. Enough depth yet plays fast enough and smooth enough to play in a couples of hours.
Otherwise Kings of War, or Mighty Armies with multiple general's generating command points, would be great as well.

I vote for Legions of Battle from Crusader Publishing. All of their rules are good.

link

Armies of Arcana would work well also

D3H2 which is HOTT brought up to DBA 3.0 standards (so you can use the same rules for both games). Has more troop type variations so more flavor.

Good for any medieval fantasy setting with strong historical ties (like Middle Earth or Westeros). Sound medieval strategy/tactics at least as important as fantasy elements (which still have an important supporting role).

TomT