War of the Ring v2 Project: Lurtz

Showing posts with label Lurtz. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Extending The Fortress of Isengard List with Missing Profiles [Part 10/13]

The next Army List to be extended is The Fortress of Isengard. Recall from Part 2/12 that the set of missing profiles for the Isengard Army List included the following:

Bill Ferny
Sharkey
Worm
Dunland Berserker
Royalblood Huscarl
Royalblood Chieftain of Dunland

Each of the SBG profiles were considered carefully and determined the best means by which they would be integrated into the WotR list. It was finally decided that there would be 2 new rare formations (the Dunland Berserkers and the Royalblood Horsemen that include the Huscarl and Chieftain as a command hero) and 1 new legendary formation (Sharkey's Ruffians which includes Bill Ferny, Sharkey and Worm) from the list above. Also, there are updates for the Uruk-hai Sappers, the Isengard Troll Captain, and the Isengard Battering Ram. There is also a new epic hero (that wasn't included in the list above, but by the nature of having a mounted and un-mounted version, is technically also available).

UPDATED RARE FORMATIONS FOR ISENGARD

Uruk-hai Sappers
Isengard Troll Captain
Isengard Battering Ram

1) URUK-HAI SAPPERS

Now, here was an enigmatic profile ... it was marked as an Infantry formation and I suspect that they were implying that it would just be the Heavy Armor wearing guys in the front of the picture - and not the Berserker or the explosive charge. We scrapped that idea and decided to make it instead a Monster.

This gives all the models that come in the blister a use and allows for a more interesting dynamic with the unit ... it now is effectively a Monster-light (similar to the battering ram) but without the Hard to Kill rule, that can still strike faster than Infantry and cavalry and provide the explosive punch!

2) ISENGARD TROLL CAPTAIN

The update for the Troll Captain was to make him comparable to other captains. He gained the Inspiring Leader (Trolls) special rule as well as the Troll Charge special rule.

These changes provide Isengard with the leader needed for an all Troll based Army!

3) ISENGARD BATTERING RAM

Similar to what we did for the Mordor Battering Ram ... we have updated the Isengard Battering Ram in sort.

So we adjusted the Move Value down, and gave it a unique ability to be more effective against Artillery (so now it has an actual purpose within an army instead of just a "light troll"), with the Disarmament Special Rule.

NEW RARE FORMATIONS FOR ISENGARD

Dunland Berserker
Royalblood Horsemen

1) DUNLAND BERSERKER

Models with the Berserk Special Rule are interesting ... The new Dunland Berserker allows the Isengard Army to create an Army of pure Dunland Men - to be the anti-Rohan force.

Since the formation can be comprised of only a single formation, they get the Indomitable Special Rule and to provide the true anti-Rohan punch they need, they get Manbane as well.

2) ROYALBLOOD HORSEMEN

Here is the profile for the Elite of Dunland - the Royalblood. Notice that the profile also includes the Royalblood Chieftain as a command hero upgrade.

They get the Manbane special rule and also the equivalent Heroic Strike for the Chieftain (filling the role of the King of Men that you've seen in the Gondor and Rohan posts). Bane on Cavalry ... I think they are unique in that regard ...

NEW LEGENDARY FORMATIONS FOR ISENGARD

Sharkey's Ruffians

Sharkey's Ruffians is a new Legendary Formation that includes Bill Ferny, Worm and Sharkey. They are the formation that can effectively fight against a formation of Hobbits from The Forgotten Kingdoms army list. They have a nice mixture of special rules, heroic and epic actions, and magic that can provide a nice new flair to the Isengard Army.

Furthermore, Sharkey has the new Epic Ability Epic Distress that can improve the Dismay spells that he has access to.

NEW EPIC HEROES FOR ISENGARD

Sharku, Lieutenant of Isengard

Sharku gets his own Epic Hero profile, now. He has a new unique bane ability that targets an entire formation type - Cavalrybane. This will provide an interesting dynamic as he jumps from formation to formation - using his Epic Hero movement ability to join the fight against Cavalry. Sorry, Rohan ... you are in trouble, now (as if Isengard wasn't already a massive headache to play against).

UPDATED EPIC HEROES FOR ISENGARD

Grima Wormtongue

Grima has gotten an update similar to the one that Gollum got. Since he is used as basically a "curse" on other Infantry enemy formations he has a similar set of Special Rules and Epic Actions. This update actually makes him a little more useful for the 75 Point cost that he has.

Well, there we have it for The Fortress of Isengard! Any thoughts? There is still a few updates needed for some of the Legendary Formations from Vanilla WotR, but Isengard is definitely getting there!

LINKS TO OTHER PARTS OF THE SBG TO WOTR CONVERSION SERIES

Describing the Process [Part 1/13]
Creating the Full List of Needed Profiles and Assigning WotR Armies [Part 2/13]

Extending the Gondor & Arnor List [Part 3/13]
Extending The Kingdom of Rohan List [Part 4/13]
Extending The Elven Kingdoms List [Part 5/13]
Extending The Dwarf Holds List [Part 6/13]

Sneak Peak at the Profiles for Thorin [Part 6a/13]
Common Formations [Part 6b/13]
Legendary Formations [Part 6c/13]
Epic Heroes [Part 6d/13]

Creating The City of Dale List [Part 7/13]
Extending The Forgotten Kingdoms List [Part 8/13]
Extending the Mordor List [Part 9/13]
Extending The Fortress of Isengard List [Part 10/13]
Extending The Misty Mountains (Moria) List [Part 11/13]
Extending The Fallen Realms List [Part 12/13]
Extending the Angmar List [Part 13/13]

Common and Rare Formations [Part 13a/13]
Legendary Formations [Part 13b/13]
Epic Heroes [Part 13c/13]

Thursday, August 6, 2015

The Fortress of Isengard Epic Heroes' Special Rules [Part 7/10]

The last army on the list is The Fortress of Isengard. Isengard has an interesting "problem" with the fact that Lurtz has the same Epic Action "Mighty Blow" that exists in Gondor & Arnor. Notice that those have been reconciled and both have been updated to be a single rule that applies to the company in which the Hero is located. Likewise, with Thrydan Wolfsbane - he has the "Bestow Wargbane" special rule which makes absolutely no sense to include for an anti-Rohan hero. For that reason he has been also given the "Bestow Manbane" rule to reflect his true anti-Rohan nature and make him useful for more than just fighting against a single other army. There are only 4 Epic Heroes in the list, so the list isn't extremely long - but regardless, here is the applicability list for Isengard:

So, there it is ... If we look at the applicability column, it is interesting to see that the following spread exists:

Only the Hero - 3/25
Hero's Company - 5/25
Hero's Formation - 9/25
Target Enemy - 4/25
All Friendly Formations within Range - 4/25
Target Friendly Hero - 0/25

One thing that stuck out to me is: None of the Isengard Epic Heroes have Bestow Terror. I guess they just are not scary enough to be terrifying!

LINKS TO OTHER SPECIAL RULE EVALUATION POSTS

LINKS TO OTHER UNIT COST ANALYSIS POSTS

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Fortress of Isengard Unit Cost Analysis

My buddy, Jeremy, would be infuriated with my blog … all the examples for Warriors and Heroes and Legendary Companies have been focused around Gondor & Arnor. He would want to see the analysis from a "bad guy's" perspective and have that resource available, also.

My initial response would probably be a little passive aggressive: "I've laid out the equations and process for doing the calculations - why can't you just do it and figure it out yourself?!?" However, thinking about it in the sense that "If he doesn't have the information available easily, then who exactly am I going to play against?".

OK, bad guys, here you go … Don't ever say I am "Gondor-biased", again, Jeremy!

ISENGARD WARRIORS

Keys:

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

(R) [I] Wild Men of Dunland - Underpriced by 25%
(L) [I] Mauhur's Marauders - Underpriced by 25%
(L) [I] Ugluk's Raiders - Underpriced by 14%
(R) [M] Isengard Troll - Underpriced by 5%
(C) [I] Uruk-hai Warband - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) [I] Uruk-hai Scout Warband - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [I] Uruk-hai Sappers - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [I] Ferel Uruk-hai Warband - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [I] Dunlending Huscarls - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [H] Warg Rider Warband - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [A] Isengard Assault Ballista - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) [H] Sharku's Hunters - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) [I] Uruk-hai Phalanx - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(R) [MH] Isengard Troll Captain - Overpriced by 3%
(R) [A] Isengard Battering Ram - Overpriced by 11%
(L) [I] Vrashku's Talons - Overpriced by 17%
(R) [H] Dunlending Horsemen - Overpriced by 33%
(C) [I] Isengard Orc Warband - Overpriced by 50%
(R) [I] Uruk-hai Berserker Warband - Overpriced by 100%

(R) [I] Sharkey's Ruffians - Overpriced by 100%

Applying the template from cheapest (weakest stat-wise) to most expensive (most powerful) gives:

5 Points per Company:

(R) [I] Sharkey's Ruffians

10 Points per Company:

15 Points per Company:

(R) [H] Dunlending Horsemen

20 Points per Company:

(R) [I] Wild Men of Dunland
(R) [H] Warg Rider Warband

25 Points per Company:

(R) [I] Dunlending Huscarls
(L) [H] Sharku's Hunters

30 Points per Company:

(C) [I] Uruk-hai Scout Warband
(R) [I] Uruk-hai Sappers
(L) [I] Vrashku's Talons

35 Points per Company:

(C) [I] Uruk-hai Warband
(C) [I] Uruk-hai Phalanx
(L) [I] Ugluk's Raider

40 Points per Company:

(R) [I] Ferel Uruk-hai Warband
(L) [I] Mauhur's Marauders

45 Points per Company:

(R) [A] Isengard Battering Ram

55 Points per Company:

(R) [I] Uruk-hai Berserker Warband

75 Points per Company:

(R) [A] Isengard Assault Ballista

105 Points per Company:

(R) [M] Isengard Troll

145 Points per Company:

(R) [M] Isengard Troll Captain

ISENGARD HEROES

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

(E) Thrydan Wolfsbane - Underpriced by 47%
(E) Saruman the White Hand - Underpriced by 9%

(C) Uruk-hai Captain UP - Underpriced by 9%
(C) Uruk-hai Captain UW - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) Orc Captain WRW - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(L) Sharku - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(E) Grima Wormtongue - Accurately Priced (0% deviation)
(C) Dunlending Chieftain DHu - Overpriced by 11%
(E) Lurtz - Overpriced by 17%
(C) Uruk-hai Shaman UP - Overpriced by 18%
(C) Uruk-hai Captain USW - Overpriced by 25%
(C) Dunlending Chieftain DHo - Overpriced by 25%
(C) Uruk-hai Shaman UW - Overpriced by 25%
(C) Isengard Shaman WRW - Overpriced by 25%
(L) Mauhur - Overpriced by 33%
(L) Ugluk - Overpriced by 35%
(L) Vrashku - Overpriced by 36%
(C) Orc Captain IOW - Overpriced by 43%
(C) Uruk-hai Shaman USW - Overpriced by 43%
(C) Isengard Shaman IOW - Overpriced by 54%

Applying the template and sorting by the cost calculated by the template for Isengard heroes, we get the following from cheapest (weakest stat-wise) to most expensive (most powerful):

Heroes that should cost 35 Points:

Heroes that should cost 40 Points:

Heroes that should cost 45 Points:

Heroes that should cost 50 Points:

Heroes that should cost 55 Points:

Heroes that should cost 65 Points:

Heroes that should cost 70 Points:

(L) Vrashku
(C) Uruk-hai Shaman USW

Heroes that should cost 75 Points:

(L) Sharku
(L) Mauhur
(E) Grima Wormtongue

Heroes that should cost 80 Points:

Heroes that should cost 85 Points:

(C) Uruk-hai Shaman UP
(L) Ugluk

Heroes that should cost 95 Points:

(E) Thrydan Wolfsbane

Heroes that should cost 150 Points:

(E) Lurtz

Heroes that should cost 265 Points:

(E) Saruman the White Hand

TASKMASTERS COMMAND UPGRADE

"By ensuring that their fellows fear them more than the foe, Taskmaster can instill an enthusiasm for battle in even the most cowardly of Orcs! A formation with a Taskmaster adds 1 to its Courage characteristic, on top of any other bonuses."

- WotR Rule Book pg 60

Similar to the analyses that were done for Hornblowers, a profile line increase of 1 for the Courage Value costs +2.5 points [0.5*+5 points].

So, what I am suggesting is that the Taskmasters 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 Courage 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
8-9 Companies in Formation = 25 Points