"Human only fantasy armies ?" Topic

Does anyone have purely human / men armies to represent or take on the characteristics of other races etc ?

Actually, more the other way around. Unless I actually need magic of some sort, I'll play "Lion Rampant" rather then "Dragon Rampant" using troop types to differentiate halflings, goblins and such.

Yes

I'm leaning to LR for fantasy also since I really don't care for magic use in gaming. I just finished an Elf LR retinue & already have most of an Orc army done.

Human "only" fantasy can just be a part of the setting.

For instance A Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin is at least 95% human as to armies and characters.

The orginal Knights & Knaves Expansion (Fire and Ice) covers human only fantistorical worlds modeling the War of the Roses type conflicts (including an historical War of the Roses campaign).

Thomas J. Thomas
Fame & Glory Games

It's the old R.E. Howard vrs. Tolkien fantasy dichotomy. Tolkien pretty much won that one in the wargame lines back in the '70's.

Don't blame Tolkien,

Tolkien, was pretty minimal for magic on the battlefield. It was the later wave of Fantasy authors who started using magic as a stand in for artillery and machine guns. The Vance Dying earth stories are of greater influence…particularly with Gygax.

Elves, dwarves, orcs, all pretty much behaved as a dark age historical army would have. Only the flying mounts of the Nazgul had any real overt fantasy aspect to the battle of Pelanor fields.. even the Army of the Deadmen of the Paths had no overt spells mentioned, Gandalf is not mentioned as casting anything remotely offensive. He is more likely to used Glamdring, which is just an ulfberht sword stand in.

Gandalf did throw fireballs in The Hobbit…

Funny how he didn't do it anywhere else. Iirc they weren't 155mm howiztzer rounds in effect, more like flaming tennis balls. As I said minimal.

We certainly don't see him mounted on an eagle blasting away fireballs like an A10 in Iraq. Even the Nazguls biggest magical weapon was causing fear. Saruman and Sauron? Making Grond?

The elvish magic by Galadriel and Elrond was more of the camouflage/ECM variety as well. Her gifts were pretty mundane: rope, cloaks, MREs, and a flashlight!

Did the dwarves use any magic at all?

Regarding the digression; Magic in Middle Earth seems mainly to involve making stuff: Glamdring, Orcrist, Narsil/Anduriel, Gurthang, Sting, the Palantirs, Grond (both the battering ram and the mace), the Elven Cloaks, Rope and Food, the Phial of Galadriel (which doesn't just create light but dispels magic and darkness), the Two Watchers (who's magic was dispelled) the list goes on.

In the case of actual let's say "Practical Magic"(though what is more practical than a knife?) we have fewer examples. Gandalf used fireballs on the Wargs in the Hobbit and seems to have used a good deal of pyrotechnics against the Ringwraiths at Weathertop (the three or four who showed up as late as he did), he used fire magic against Wargs outside Moria, was able to cloak himself in the Two Towers, broke the spell on Theoden, and broke Saruman's staff. Elrond and Gandalf used the water horses on the Ringwraiths. Saruman imprisoned Gandalf, enfeebled Theoden, used his otherworldly charisma on the Dunlendings and Hillmen, and tried to use his voice to enthrall Theoden, Gandalf and co. at the parley at Isengard. Galadriel used distant vision and saw the future with her mirror, adopted a seeming to show Frodo how bad of an idea giving her the ring is, and overthrew the fortress in Mirkwood. And the Ringwraiths used fear, darkness and possibly magic arrows in various and sundry fights.

Did I miss anything?