War of the Ring v2 Project: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

What About Banners and Hornblowers in Profiles?

For Gondor & Arnor we have covered in detail the warrior adjustment costs and hero adjustment costs - and the only remaining profile issue that remains for them is simply the cost of upgrading the Command Company to include Hornblowers/Drummers and Banners.

HORNBLOWERS/DRUMMERS COMMAND UPGRADE

"Many armies use musicians as a swift method of communication and to drive the troops ever faster into the fray. A warband marching to the beat of a drum or the winding of a horn will reach its destination all the faster. A formation with a Hornblower or Drummer adds 1 to its Move value."

- WotR Rule Book pg 60

Based upon the analyses that were done for Warrior Profiles (since Heroes inherit their Move Value from the formation in which they are residing), a profile line increase of 1 for the Move Value costs +2.5 points [0.5*+5 points].

Based purely off of assumption, I think the rationale by GW for the point cost of 15 points for the Hornblower/Drummer upgrade was based upon the rule of Formation Size Limit - i.e., that the majority of companies have a Formation Size Limit of 1-6 companies, and they simply took the "average worst case scenario for an average Formation" (2.5 points/company * 6 maximum companies) = 15 points for the upgrade - and then just plastered it across all the companies that can support such a command model.

So, what I am suggesting is that the Hornblower/Drummer upgrade should be based upon the number of companies within a formation - and not just a flat rate upgrade point cost, thus it would be as if simply upping the Move Value by 1 of the companies within the formation:

1-2 Company in Formation = 5 Points
3-4 Companies in Formation = 10 Points
5-6 Companies in Formation = 15 Points
7-8 Companies in Formation = 20 Points
8+ Companies in Formation = 25 Points (This would apply to the Mordor Orc Warband)

BANNER COMMAND UPGRADE

"As one might expect, Banner Bearers carry the formation's banner into battle. Banners provide a point for the whole formation to rally around, whether they are charging into combat or simply advancing across the battlefield. If the Banner Bearer advances, the whole formation will advance; but if the Banner Bearer flees, the whole company will surely follow him.

When charging, a formation with a Banner Bearer is allowed to re-roll the dice to determine how far it moves. In addition, a formation with a Banner Bearer is allowed to re-roll its Panic tests."

- WotR Rule Book pg 60

Similarly, the point value given to banner upgrades is 35 Points, since it allows 2 re-rolls - one for charging and another for failed Courage tests due to Panic (not any generic terror or courage test). [Point of Note: A "Panic Test" is a very specific Courage Test that is taken by the formation that loses a fight during the Fight Phase. This doesn't mean that the Banner allows ALL Courage tests to be re-rolled, only those that are due to losing a fight. (See pg 50 of the book)]

SO, LONG STORY SHORT: A BANNER ONLY IMPACTS THE CHARGE PHASE AND FIGHT PHASE RESOLUTION FOR A FORMATION.

Another note about re-rolls from the call-out on page 27:

"In some situations the rules allow you a 're-roll' of the dice. This is exactly as it sounds - pick up the dice you wish to re-roll and roll them again. The second score counts, even if it means a worse result than the first, and no single dice can be re-rolled more than once regardless of the source of the re-roll. if you re-roll a 2D6 or 3D6 roll, you must re-roll all of the dice and not just some of them, unless the rule granting you the re-roll explicitly specifies otherwise."

A banner is only good for preventing a "Stalled Charge" (page 43) during the Charge Phase or preventing an "Onset of Dismay" (page 50) during the Fight Phase; and just because you re-roll the dice doesn't mean that fate will not frown on you again ...

Wow, 35 Points suddenly seems very expensive for such a minor game changing upgrade. Preventing a stalled charge could be pretty useful ... maybe 10 points useful. Preventing an onset of dismay could be very useful if your formation has already lost more than 50% of its starting company count - but there again, that formation already has "one foot in the grave" at that point ...really worth 25 additional points? No, maybe 10-15 at the most ...

So, I am suggesting that a Banner Bearer Command upgrade cost 25 flat points - regardless of formation size.

So there we have it ... Perhaps I will do a little more looking into other upgrades for Gondor & Arnor before attempting to hit other conversations ... Stay Tuned!

LINKS TO OTHER RANDOM POSTS

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Hero Baseline Profile Analysis

Similar to what was done for the Warrior Baseline Profile Analysis Post, it looks like there was also a base profile for hero characters in War of the Ring .

Command/Legendary Hero Baseline Profile:

Cst | Mv | F | B | S | D | A | R | C | Mt | Ar | XWpn | SpR

-------------------------------------------------------------------

6 | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 0

Epic Hero Baseline Profile:

Cst | Mv | F | B | S | D | A | R | C | Mt | Ar | XWpn | SpR

-------------------------------------------------------------------

10 | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 0

Key:

Cst = Cost of a single legendary/epic hero
Mv = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Move value of the formation in which he is currently residing
F = Fight value of the hero [Range: 1 .. 10]
B = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Ballistic value of the formation in which he is currently residing
S = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Strength value of the formation in which he is currently residing
D = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Defense value of the formation in which he is currently residing
A = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Attack value of the formation in which he is currently residing
R = Resistance value of the hero [Range: 1 .. 4]
C = Courage value of the hero; which if greater than the courage of the company in which he is currently residing will overwrite the courage for THAT COMPANY (not the entire formation)
Mt = Might value of the hero [Range: 0 .. INF]
Ar = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Armor level of the formation in which he is currently residing.

For Command Heroes and Legendary Heroes - they receive the armor level indicated in their participating profile's wargear listing:

0 = No Armor
1 = Light Armor (Typically called "armour" in a profile and provides a +1 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
2 = Heavy Armor (Typically called "heavy armour" in a profile and provides a +2 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
3 = Special Named Heavy Armor (Sometimes called something special, like "mithril-forged heavy armour" for Hurin within the Wardens of the Keys; provides a +3 bonus to the Defense value for the company in a formation)

For Epic Heroes this value will always be 0

XWpn = "-" Implies that the Hero inherits the Extra weapons of the formation in which he is currently residing;

For Command Heroes and Legendary Heroes - they receive the number of extra weapons that are equipped indicated in their participating profile's wargear listing:

0 = Hand Weapon only
1+ = Any other additional wargear listed within the profile (i.e., If a legendary profile, like Blackroot Vale Archers, has "Each company has hand weapons, heavy armour and longbows" this would imply that the number of extra weapons would be 1 ... 0 for the hand weapon and 1 for the longbows.)

For Epic Heroes this value will always be 0

SpR = Magic Spells, Epic Actions & Special rules that are assigned specifically to the hero

For all heroes, regardless of level, it appears that Heroic Actions are not counted as special rules - and are effectively free

0 = At the Double!, Heroic Move, Heroic Shoot, Heroic Charge, Heroic Fight & Heroic Duel (see pages 64-67 of the rules manual for details)

For Command Heroes & Legendary Heroes - they receive the number of special rules that are specific to the hero. Usually these are listed in the special rules and have the hero called out explicitly by name
For Epic Heroes this value will always be the total count of Magic Spells, Epic Actions & Special rules that are assigned to the hero

0 = No magic spells, epic actions or special rules (only Heroic Actions)
+1 for each magic spell (not discipline), epic action or special rule available to the profile
The "Mighty Hero" special rule appears to count as 4 SpR points by itself

When hero profiles are created it seems that statistics adjust the cost up or down by a set number of points:

Fight = +/- 5 points per value point above or below 4
Resistance = +/- 5 points per value point above or below 2
Courage = +/- 5 points per value point above or below 4
Might = +/- 10 points per value point above or below 2
Armor Value = +/- 5 points per armor level
Extra Weapons = +/- 5 points per extra weapon
Special Rules = +/- 10 points per spell, special rule, or epic action

COST OF HERO PROFILE = {[(Cst)*5]+[(F-4)*5]+[(R-2)*5]+[(C-4)*5]+[(Mt-2)*10]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*10]}

Example:

Based upon the profile for the Epic Hero Isildur:

Cst = 10 (Epic) [Although I think GW originally used 7 (Legendary+) for his profile...]
F = 6
R = 3
C = 6
Mt = 3
Ar = 0 (Epic Hero)
XWpn = 0 (Epic Hero)
SpR = 2 ("Epic Strike." and "Inspiring Leader (Men).")

Plugging all this into the equation gives:

COST OF HERO PROFILE = {[(Cst)*5]+[(F-4)*5]+[(R-2)*5]+[(C-4)*5]+[(Mt-2)*10]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*10]}

= {[(10)*5]+[(6-4)*5]+[(3-2)*5]+[(6-4)*5]+[(3-2)*10]+[(0)*5]+[(0)*5]+[(2)*10]}

= {[50]+[(2)*5]+[(1)*5]+[(2)*5]+[(1)*10]+[0]+[0]+[20]}

= {[50]+[10]+[5]+[10]+[10]+[0]+[0]+[20]}

= 105

This gives 105 Points for this profile - it appears that he is a little under priced for his functional contribution (notice some of the edits in the profile above that we had already made to accommodate for this).

It was noticed that hero profiles are probably the most unbalanced and arbitrarily set values throughout War of the Ring. In fact, it almost appears that there were random adjustments given to heroes based upon their popularity and GW's price point for the physical models. [** List has been updated - I found some discrepancies in my calculation spreadsheet from the previous version. **]

Sorting the Gondor & Arnor hero profiles from most underpriced to most overpriced produced the following results.

Key: (C) = Command Hero, (L) = Legendary Hero, (E) = Epic Hero

(C) Captain of the Dead Warriors - Underpriced by 70%
(C) Captain of the Dead Riders - Underpriced by 70%
(C) Knight Champion KoDA - Underpriced by 40%
(L) Halbarad - Underpriced by 40%
(E) Faramir - Underpriced by 39%
(L) Damrod - Underpriced by 38%
(L) Madril - Underpriced by 36%
(C) Knight Champion FKoDA - Underpriced by 30%
(E) Isildur - Underpriced by 24%
(C) Knight Champion MaA of DA - Underpriced by 17%
(C) Captain of Rangers of Gondor - Underpriced by 10%
(L) Arvedui - Underpriced by 10%
(L) Arathorn - Underpriced by 7%
(E) Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth - Underpriced by 4%
(E) Boromir - Underpriced by 3%
(C) Captain of Rangers of Arnor - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) Guard Captain Citadel Guards - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) Guard Captan GotFC - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) Malbeth - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) Hurin - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(E) Aragorn, Isildur's Heir - Overpriced by 5%
(L) Forlong the Fat - Overpriced by 7%
(L) Angbor the Fearless - Overpriced by 7%
(L) Duinhir - Overpriced by 7%
(L) Beregond - Overpriced by 8%
(C) Captain of Minas Tirith Warriors - Overpriced by 10%
(C) Captain of Minas Tirith Archers - Overpriced by 10%
(C) Captain of Minas Tirith Knights - Overpriced by 10%
(C) Captain of Numenor Warriors - Overpriced by 10%
(C) Captain of Numenor Archers - Overpriced by 10%
(C) Captain of Arnor Warriors - Overpriced by 10%
(L) King of the Dead - Overpriced by 14%
(L) Lieutenant Cirion - Overpriced by 21%
(E) Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel - Overpriced by 27%
(L) Denethor - Overpriced by 30%
(E) High King Elendil - Overpriced by 31%

So, comparing this with the warrior point balancing for most underpriced Gondor & Arnor companies the most awesome "cheap armies" using pure War of the Ring ruleset with Epic Heroes would be:

For the 3rd Age Themed Army

Minas Tirith Warriors (Underpriced by 20%) with Faramir (Underpriced by 39%)

For a Fiefdoms Themed Army

Axemen of Lossarnach (Underpriced by 20%) with Minas Tirith Warriors (Underpriced by 20%) and Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth (Underpriced by 4%)

For a 1st Age Themed Army

Warriors of Arnor (Underpriced by 20%) with Isildur (Underpriced by 24%)

If we would apply the template and sort by the cost calculated by the template for Gondor & Arnor heroes, we get the following heroes from cheapest (weakest stat-wise) to most expensive (most powerful) - as would be expected the command heroes should be the cheapest and the epic heroes should be the most expensive:

Heroes that should cost 30 Points:

(L) Malbeth the Seer

Heroes that should cost 35 Points:

(L) Denethor

Heroes that should cost 45 Points:

Heroes that should cost 50 Points:

Heroes that should cost 55 Points:

(C) Captain of Rangers of Gondor
(L) Damrod
(L) Arvedui
(E) Peregrin Took, Guard of the Citadel

Heroes that should cost 60 Points:

(C) Knight Champion KoDA
(C) Knight Champion FKoDA
(C) Knight Champion MaA of DA
(L) Beregond
(L) Duinhir

Heroes that should cost 70 Points:

(L) Forlong
(L) Angbor

Heroes that should cost 75 Points:

(L) Madril
(L) Hurin
(L) Cirion

Heroes that should cost 80 Points:

(L) Arathorn

Heroes that should cost 85 Points:

Heroes that should cost 95 Points:

(L) King of the Dead

Epic Heroes that should cost more that 100 Points:

(L) Halbarad [105 Points]
(E) Isildur [105 Points]
(E) Faramir [125 Points]
(E) Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth [130 Points]
(E) High King Elendil [155 Points]
(E) Boromir [180 Points]
(E) Aragorn, Isildur's Heir [190 Points]

LINKS TO OTHER UNIT COST ANALYSIS POSTS

Monday, October 27, 2014

Warrior Baseline Profile Analysis

From what I can tell, it looks like there was a base profile that was intended to be created and adjustments to that base profile would increase or decrease the respective cost of other profiles.

Warrior & WarMachine Baseline Profile:

Cst | Mv | F | B | S | D | A | R | C | Mt | Ar | XWpn | SpR

-------------------------------------------------------------------

5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0

Key:

Cst = Cost of a single company in a formation
Mv = Move value of the formation of companies [Range: 0 .. INF]
F = Fight value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
B = Ballistic value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 6]
S = Strength value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
D = Defense value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
A = Attack value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
R = Resistance value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 4]
C = Courage value of the company in a formation [Range: 1 .. 10]
Mt = Might value of the company in a formation [Range: 0 .. INF]
Ar = Armor level of the company in a formation

0 = No Armor
1 = Light Armor (Typically called "armour" in a profile and provides a +1 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
2 = Heavy Armor (Typically called "heavy armour" in a profile and provides a +2 bonus to the Defense Value for the company in a formation)
3 = Special Named Heavy Armor (Sometimes called something special, like "mithril-forged heavy armour" for Hurin within the Wardens of the Keys; provides a +3 bonus to the Defense value for the company in a formation)

XWpn = Extra weapons that are equipped for the company in a formation

0 = Hand Weapon only
1+ = Any other additional wargear listed within the profile (i.e., If a profile, like Minas Tirith Archers, has "Each company has hand weapons, heavy armor and bows" this would imply that the number of extra weapons would be 1 ... 0 for the hand weapon and 1 for the bows. For the Knights of Dol Amroth: "Each company has hand weapons, heavy armour, shields and lances", this would imply they would have Ar = 2 and Xwpn = 2; 0 for the hand weapon, 1 for the shields and 2 for the lances.)

SpR = Special rules that are assigned to the company in a formation

0 = No special rules
+1 for each special rule available to the profile

When Warrior (e.g., Infantry & Cavalry) non-hero profiles are created it seems that it was originally intended to use 25 points as the base cost and then add or subtract a 5 point adjustment for any of the set of statistics up or down, and finally halving the resultant value and rounding up to the nearest 5's.

For War Machines (e.g., Artillery & "Monsters") profiles, it seems that they follow the same model, but do not half the final resultant value.

COST OF NEW WARRIOR PROFILE = (0.5) * {[(Cst)*5]+[(Mv-6)*5]+[(F-3)*5]+[(B-4)*-5]+[(S-3)*5]+[(D-3)*5]+[(A-8)*5]+[(R-1)*5]+[(C-3)*5]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*5]}

COST OF NEW WARMACHINE PROFILE = (1.0) * {[(Cst)*5]+[(Mv-6)*5]+[(F-3)*5]+[(B-4)*-5]+[(S-3)*5]+[(D-3)*5]+[(A-8)*5]+[(R-1)*5]+[(C-3)*5]+[(Ar)*5]+[(XWpn)*5]+[(SpR)*5]}

++ NOTE: The adjustment for the Ballistic value is negative - since it is inverse beneficiary. Also, Might will always be 0 for a rank-and-file unit (so it is not in the equation).

++ NOTE 2: Recall that the order of operations goes: "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sallie"

Example:

Based upon the profile for the Outrider Eored:

Mv = 12
F = 3
B = 2
S = 3
D = 4
A = 2
R = 2
C = 3
Mt = 0

Wargear: "Each company has hand weapons, thrown weapons, armour and bows."

Ar = 1 (The Wargear entry has "armour" contained within it.)
XWpn = 2 (The Wargear entry gives: 0 for the hand weapon, 1 for the thrown weapons, and 2 for the bows.)
SpR = 1 (The Special Rules has "Expert Riders." listed.)

Plugging all this into the equation gives:

COST OF PROFILE = (0.5) * {[(5)*5]+[(12-6)*5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(2-4)*-5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(4-3)*5]+[(2-8)*5]+[(2-1)*5]+[(3-3)*5]+[(1)*5]+[(2)*5]+[(1)*5]}

= (0.5) * {[25]+[6*5]+[0*5]+[-2*-5]+[0*5]+[1*5]+[-6*5]+[1*5]+[0*5]+[5]+[10]+[5]}

= (0.5) * {[25]+[30]+[0]+[10]+[0]+[5]+[-30]+[5]+[0]+[5]+[10]+[5]}

= (0.5) * {65}

= 32.5

Rounding up to the nearest 5 ... gives 35 Points for this profile.

This produces some interesting results when applied to the various profiles within the book. About 48 of the profiles come in exactly at the correct points that GW assigned to the profile. Those fall within the factions of Gondor & Arnor, Rohan, and Isengard (ironically the most often played factions for WotR). The factions that deviated the most from this model are Elves, Dwarves, Forgotten Kingdoms, Mordor, Moria, Fallen Realms, and Angmar (interestingly the most often complained about unbalanced factions for WotR).

Analyzing the average deviation from the models within several of the factions produced the following:

Gondor & Arnor - Consistently about 6% higher than the results of the template.
Rohan - Followed the template pretty well. Only about 2% lower than the template.
Elves - Regularly 10% higher than the results of the template.
Dwarves - Regularly 9% higher than the results of the template.
Forgotten Kingdoms - About 22% higher than the template. Quite erratic in their points - and apparently hobbits are quite expensive.
Mordor - About 18% higher than the template
Isengard - About 6% higher than the template

Also of interest is that by sorting the Gondor & Arnor profiles from most underpriced to most overpriced produced the same results as the previous post!

Keys:

[I] = Infantry, [H] = Cavalry, [A] = Artillery, [M] = "Monster"

(R) [A] Avenger Bolt Thrower - Underpriced by 30%
(C) [I] Minas Tirith Warriors - Underpriced by 20%
(C) [I] Warriors of Arnor - Underpriced by 20%
(R) [I] Axemen of Lossarnach - Underpriced by 20%
(L) [I] The Grey Company - Underpriced by 19%
(L) [I] Osgiliath Veterans - Underpriced by 14%
(C) [I] Numenorean Warriors - Underpriced by 10% [Rounded down to nearest 5 instead of up.]
(L) [I] Blackroot Vale Archers - Underpriced by 10% [Rounded down to nearest 5 instead of up.]
(R) [I] Clansmen of Lamedon - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) [I] Rangers of Ithilien - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) [I] Royal Guard of Arnor - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) [I] Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) [I] Rangers of Gondor - Overpriced by 8% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
(C) [H] Minas Tirith Knights - Overpriced by 10% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
(R) [A] Battlecry Trebuchet - Overpriced by 10% [Due to round up to the nearest 5.]
(C) [I] Foot Knights of Dol Amroth - Overpriced by 11%
(C) [I] Citadel Guard - Overpriced by 14%
(R) [I] Guards of the Fountain Court - Overpriced by 14%
(L) [I] Denethor's Guard - Overpriced by 14%
(L) [I] Dunedain of Arnor - Overpriced by 14%
(C) [I] Minas Tirith Archers - Overpriced by 17%
(C) [I] Rangers of Arnor - Overpriced by 17%
(C) [H] Knights of Dol Amroth - Overpriced by 20%
(C) [I] Numenorean Archers - Overpriced by 25%
(L) [I] Court of the Dead - Overpriced by 29%
(R) [I] Warriors of the Dead - Overpriced by 33%
(L) [I] Warden of the Keys - Overpriced by 33%
(R) [H] Riders of the Dead - Overpriced by 38%

If we would apply the template and sort by the cost calculated by the template for Gondor & Arnor, we get the following companies from cheapest (weakest stat-wise) to most expensive (most powerful) - as would be expected the common formations should be the cheapest and the rare/legendary formations should be the most expensive:

25 Points per Company:

30 Points per Company:

(C) [I] Numenorean Warriors
(L) [I] Blackroot Vale Archers
(C) [I] Rangers of Gondor
(C) [I] Minas Tirith Warriors
(C) [I] Warriors of Arnor
(R) [I] Axemen of Lossarnach
(R) [I] Clansmen of Lamedon
(R) [I] Rangers of Ithilien
(L) [I] Royal Guard of Arnor
(C) [I] Citadel Guard
(R) [I] Guards of the Fountain Court
(L) [I] Denethor's Guard
(L) [I] Dunedain of Arnor

35 Points per Company:

40 Points per Company:

(L) [I] Osgiliath Veterans
(R) [H] Riders of the Dead
(C) [I] Foot Knights of Dol Amroth
(C) [H] Knights of Dol Amroth
(R) [I] Warriors of the Dead

45 Points per Company:

(L) [I] Court of the Dead
(L) [I] Warden of the Keys

50 Points per Company:

(L) [I] The Grey Company

65 Points per Company:

(R) [A] Avenger Bolt Thrower

90 Points per Company:

(R) [A] Battlecry Trebuchet

Interestingly enough, this almost implies that the true "cheapest" strength of Gondor & Arnor from a stat perspective is actually Knights and Archery, followed by shield walls (which makes sense given their high defense stat).

<NOTE: I've moved the Elves' Analysis to their own post.>

I'm curious how this will match up with the point adjustments that others in the WotR arena have adjusted based upon their individual analysis.

LINKS TO OTHER UNIT COST ANALYSIS POSTS

GW WotR Unit Cost Controversy

It seems like there are a lot of conversations about GW's War of the Ring's stat lines for characters. One of the biggest conversations has been about how the profiles are unbalanced and this causes playability issues for the game, since there are companies that are severely underpriced and others that are dramatically overpriced given the provided stat lines and point values.

As for overpriced formations/models, it seems like the set that causes major discussions usually include:

Shelob
Spider Queen
Glorfindel, Lord of the West
Castellans of Dol Guldur
Mordor Troll Drummer
Riders of the Dead
Warriors of the Dead
Court of the Dead
Warden of the Keys
Guards of the Galadhrim Court
Guardians of Caras Galadhon
Morgul Stalker Warband
High Elf Archer Regiment

As such, these formations are rarely played in games and don't get to see their special rules come into full fruition for impacting the game strategy.

Conversely, as for underpriced formation/models, it seems like the set includes:

The Council of Wizardry
The White Council
The Three Hunters
Ents
Eagles
Winged Nazgul
The Fellowship
The Grey Company
Gildor's Household
Moria Prowler Warband.

As such, these formation are often employed in games and get more than their fair share of time on the field.

Taking the list of 26 formations that are solely available to Gondor & Arnor it looks like the most underpriced to most overpriced formations go in the following order:

** SOMEWHAT UNDERPRICED (about 27%) **

The Grey Company
Minas Tirith Warriors
Warriors of Arnor
Axemen of Lossarnach
Numenorean Warriors
Osgiliath Veterans
Blackroot Vale Archers

** ADEQUETELY PRICED (about 15%)**

Clansmen of Lamedon
Rangers of Ithilien
Royal Guard of Arnor
Minas Tirith Knights

** SOMEWHAT OVERPRICED (about 43%) **

Rangers of Gondor
Minas Tirith Archers
Rangers of Arnor
Citadel Guard
Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth
Foot Knights of Dol Amroth
Guards of the Fountain Court
Denethor's Guard
Dunedain of Arnor
Numenorean Archers
Knights of Dol Amroth

** DRASTICALLY OVERPRICED (about 15%) **

Warriors of the Dead
Court of the Dead
Warden of the Keys
Riders of the Dead

This would imply that building an army for Gondor & Arnor, a simple strategy for number of boots on the ground would be to build from the set of formations that are mostly underpriced and avoid those that are overpriced or not feasible for the cost. Following this strategy, the player will only ever play with about a quarter to half of all the units available to the Gondor & Arnor faction. Likewise, I would almost never expect to see an army comprised solely of the Undead or and army comprised solely of Dol Amroth. By doing so, the player would be putting themselves in a losing situation - ultimately leading to frustration (since they wouldn't ever win) and eventually quitting the game - not to mention that those models are already the more expensive money-wise as well.

For example:

1000 Point Gondor & Arnor Army #1 - Using Underpriced Models:

Formation #1: Minas Tirith Warriors with 6 Companies
Formation #2: Minas Tirith Warriors with 6 Companies
Formation #3: Minas Tirith Warriors with 6 Companies
Formation #4: Minas Tirith Warriors with 5 Companies
Formation #5: Axemen of Lossarnach with 6 Companies
Formation #6: The Grey Company with 6 Companies

Total Cost: 1000 Points
Number of Heroes: 1
Total Might: 3
Total Model Count: 280
Average Defense: 6.3
Special Rules:

Shields (+2 bonus to defense from front for Formations #1, 2, 3, & 4)
Set to Receive! (+1 bonus to hit or +1 bonus to fight/cancel opponent charge bonus for Formation #5)
Pathfinders - Master (Ignore all difficult terrain penalties for Formation #6)
Stalwart (Not driven back by shooting attacks for Formation #6)
Indomitable (Fight until ALL models are removed for Formation #6)
Valour of Forgotten Arnor (Strike at the same time as cavalry for Formation #6)

PROs:

Very defensive with offensive capabilities
Large blocks and large model count that requires the opponent to chop through
Ballistic capabilities with Longbows
Calvary-like capabilities

CONs:

Not much variety in the play style
Slow moving formations
Not many heroes

1000 Point Gondor & Arnor Army #2 - Using Overpriced Models:

Formation #1: Warriors of the Dead with 6 Companies
Formation #2: Riders of the Dead with 5 Companies
Formation #3: Court of the Dead with 6 Companies

Total Cost: 955 Points
Number of Heroes: 1
Total Might: 2
Total Model Count: 136
Average Defense: 5
Special Rules:

Spirit Grasp (Attack against courage vs defense for all Formations)
Spirit Walk (Ignore all terrain penalties for all Formations)
Terror (Opponent requires courage test for all Formations)
We Stand Alone (No Epic Heroes can join for all Formations)
Shadowstride (50% chance of a free Heroic Move for Formation #3)

PROs:

Good against low courage armies (terror & spirit grasp)
No required terrain navigation
One formation could move relatively quickly
Calvary-like capabilities

CONs:

Very few models - so going to get destroyed quickly
Low defense
Mostly slow moving formations
No ballistic capabilities
Not many heroes and others can't join

The variation between the two armies above is almost funny ... Like I said, who would ever field an army comprised entirely of Undead? I guess at least it would look cool ...

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Friday, October 24, 2014

Such a Large Collection of Stuff

I've been playing Games Workshop games for a very long time. In fact I remember painting Orc miniatures for Blood Bowl with my cousin - in fact I think I still have them downstairs in my collection. My brother and I went through a phase of Warhammer Fantasy, also. He had a Skaven army and I was building a Tomb Kings army.

I also had my share of wins/losses playing Hero Quest, Battle Masters (that battle mat was AWESOME), Advanced Hero's Quest, etc...

All that said, the game that I really latched on to was GW's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. I had a full set of Gondor and Isengard warriors and heroes and scatterings of various other armies. I would spend the entire evening after work painting my miniatures and building terrain pieces. In fact when I acquired the Fellowship of the Ring Supplement Book it had a template to build Ammon Hen/Weathertop and I put that together - it turned out really cool.

I must have bought every book published under the Lord of the Rings line, and when I found out that War of the Ring was going to be released as new game system I was excited and anxious to give it a try.

My friends and I played the game every chance that we had. When we heard that it was not going to be a continually supported game, our hearts broke.

I have collected a lot of notes and modifications and ideas over the years that we played and even did some modeling via code. I plan to share a lot of this information with the greater community in attempt to keep it alive and to have a repository online.

I hope that others that enjoy the game and hobby will find this and make use of the time that has been invested.

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Pages

Friday, October 31, 2014

What About Banners and Hornblowers in Profiles?

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Hero Baseline Profile Analysis

Monday, October 27, 2014

Warrior Baseline Profile Analysis

GW WotR Unit Cost Controversy

Friday, October 24, 2014

Such a Large Collection of Stuff