Asteroid X | 13 Jan 2019 5:47 p.m. PST |
I was wondering about the quality of the LOTR mass battle rules 'War of the Ring'. Are there better rule sets for mass battles? |
Tony S | 13 Jan 2019 6:27 p.m. PST |
Better fantasy rulesets, or specifically rules for LoTR? |
MiniatureWargaming dot com | 13 Jan 2019 6:55 p.m. PST |
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Asteroid X | 13 Jan 2019 7:17 p.m. PST |
Tony S: I guess both. Better fantasy sets as well as ones that could be used for LOTR. |
LostPict | 13 Jan 2019 8:50 p.m. PST |
I played in 2 GW WOTR campaigns and enjoyed both. I also played in some one offs. The deal is magic users (like the 9 ringwraiths) are very tough to oppose for the good side. I think well crafted scenarios are a lot of fun and it captures the feel of LOTR. It also has all the legwork done for a LOTR setting so you can play without too much effort. |
IUsedToBeSomeone | 14 Jan 2019 2:46 a.m. PST |
We use Kings of War with the free fan lists that are available Mike |
Ed von HesseFedora | 14 Jan 2019 7:29 a.m. PST |
wmyers, "Quality" is very subjective. Can you be more specific? Do you want mass armies where individuals are relatively weak? What scale? What size battle? Helm's Deep or the entire Battle of Pelennor Fields? GW's War of the Ring is beautifully made and has a huge range of figures made for it although many are out of print at the moment. Magic is quite overwhelming. It uses a lot of those beautiful figures. There was a free intro version available as a teaser PDF if you want to try the basic mechanism. And it is, of course, no longer supported if that bothers you. link My favorite mass armies fantasy game is Warmaster. And if you can find it there was even a GW version of Warmaster for The Battle of Five Armies. Warmaster is written for 10mm but can easily be scaled up to 15 or 28mm. Warmaster is also out of print and no longer supported by GW but there are a lot of websites with info out there. Good luck, Ed |
Asteroid X | 14 Jan 2019 12:01 p.m. PST |
Thanks Ed. Quality should not be too subjective when it comes to rules. I did not mean production values for rules, but quality of play. I like the Strategy Battle Game rules – I find them very straight forward and including a lot of detail at the same time. I will be using the rules, if I get them, with 1/72 (20mm) figures as GW charges way too much for their figures (or other companies' figures). While the GW figures may look nice, they are primarily based on the movies. |
Captain Avatar | 15 Jan 2019 2:37 p.m. PST |
War of the Ring is specific to Middle Earth and uses many of the same stats as GW's Strategy Battle Game. The base mechanics for dark age style warfare are great, but you will be rolling a lot of D6s. The scenarios play very well, but it really is a mass battles game and you need a lot of figures. Heroes are buffs to formations and Epic Heroes can bounce from formation to formation and add their buffs and also challenge each other to duels, slashing troops along the way. They can also call Epic Actions that can have devastating effect, but are limited to doing this only a few times per game spending "Might" points. Magic users can slow things down as they can cast anywhere from 1-3 spells that have a tendency to hinder other enemy formations or make them weaker. It's best only to use one or two magic users per side in a game for balance, and not have all nine Nazgul paralyze the other player. I don't know if there are "better" rulesets for mass battles in Middle Earth, but they are Middle Earth specific and go far beyond the films and deep into the books. I find grognards like the game better than competitive style players. Great for scenarios from the Lord of the Rings, but not designed for tournament style play. |
Tony S | 15 Jan 2019 3:49 p.m. PST |
Yes, like most of the above posts, I also think the rules really capture the feel of the movie. Stunning figures too, or at least the early ones the Perrys did. Not too fond of some of the later ones by other sculptors – too heroic sized instead true proportions and true 25mm. As for better mass fantasy battle rules, yes I think there are a lot simply because LOTR rules are designed solely for LOTR. I think good fantasy rules should let players design their own fantasy world and armies. I'm not really a fantasy player, but when I do (or did) Hordes of the Things is (or was) always fun, as was 3rd edition Fantasy Rules! |
Narcisista | 17 Jan 2019 2:23 p.m. PST |
In general I enjoyed them, but not enough that I would reverse engineer them for other settings or time periods over Warmaster, Rally Round the King, Hordes of the Things or Pride of Lions. You may want to consider Kings of War as well. There is a historical version that can also be reverse engineered for additional fantasy options. |
Asteroid X | 17 Jan 2019 9:21 p.m. PST |
Thank you guys for the replies! I really enjoy LOTR books and the movies to a lesser, but still very high, extent. I will give them a try! There are so many rules sets out there it is very hard to figure out where to spend money on. It sounds like the LOTR rules are unique in they try to focus on LOTR, as opposed to just general fantasy (the latter of which seem like each rule writer is trying to come up with something that will not be confused (law suit?) with D&D or Warhammer and end up, sometimes, to seem to end up being rather mundane and predictable; not to mention downright silly. |
IUsedToBeSomeone | 18 Jan 2019 2:58 a.m. PST |
KOW is free to try out: Kings of Wars LOTR lists are here: link KOW rules are here PDF link Mike |
pigasuspig | 20 Jan 2019 11:07 p.m. PST |
+1 for Kings of War. My favorite rules set, by far. I also use their fantasy and historical lists for a variety of Middle Earth armies. |
Asteroid X | 21 Jan 2019 8:34 p.m. PST |
I have heard good things about the Kings of War ruleset. Is that link to the 27 pages of rules ALL the rules or just a simplified/intro version? |
Thomas Thomas | 24 Jan 2019 3:24 p.m. PST |
If your looking for fast play mass battle that accomodates fantasy I would stick to the DBX family of games: DBA, HOTT, Knights & Knaves. I liked the mass battle game for LOTR but be aware it uses specific types of bases designed to hold GW round based miniatures. So you would have to make some for 20mm figures. Thomas J. Thomas Fame & Glory Games |