Monday, December 31, 2012

the Hobbit & SBG


LotR SBG rules got an update in the form of the just released Hobbit rules. The major changes are as follow:



Heroic Uses of Might.
Heroic Move, Shoot, and Fight remains unchanged. There are four additional heroic actions.
Heroic March: allows all friendly models within 6" to increase their movement by 3" if on foot, 5" if mounted. Models cannot charge as part of the march. It is not clear to me whether this increases movement is in addition to other bonuses, such as that provided by a Uruk Hai drummer for instance.
Heroic Channelling: allows magically effect of spells casted to be more powerful.
Heroic Accuracy: allows all friendly models within 6" to reroll their in the way roll when shooting.
Heroic Strike: allows the hero to increase his Fight by D6 and it applies before any other effect (such as transfix).



Monster and Monster Mount Attacks.
Rend: all attacks against one model but applied against its strength rather than defense.
Hurl: allows the monster to grab a model in base to base whose strength is less than the monster's, compare Strength +D6 and if the monster's is higher, the model is thrown a number of inches equal to difference in the modified roll off. The hurled model suffers a S3 hit for each model caught in the path of the hurl, and an additional S6 hit at the end. This appear great against multi wound models.
Barge: all enemy models in the fight back away 3" chosen by the monster and the monster then gets a D6" charge to fight again. This seems the equivalent of heroic fight and thus not available if the monster is part of a heroic fight.
Note: a chariot is considered a monstrous mount so it can hurl, rend and barge? LOL!




Special Weapon Attacks.
Declared before the Fight/Duel rolls.
Piercing strike with axes and picks: wielder gains D3 strength but defend at minus D3. Does a two handed axe also get to pierce?
EDIT by Jobu: special weapon rules only apply to one handed weapons, so a two handed weapon does not get any special rule.
Stun with clubs and staffs: wielder cannot wound but a defender is reduced to Fight 1 and Attack 1 on a roll of 4+. This is only good when attacking with a companion. But since this attack is declared after the fight/duel has already been won, I am not sure how reducing the enemy's Fight makes a difference.
EDIT by Jobu: This applies until the end of the FOLLOWING turn, so it may be useful if you need to get another model into the fight the next turn.
Whirl with flails, scourges and whips: wielder is fight 1 but a win allows a strike against all enemy models in base to base. This should be used when surrounded.
Bash with maces, mauls and hammers: allows the wielder to roll off on a D6 + Strength against a single enemy model in the fight. If the wielder's roll is equal to or greater than the defender, the defender is knocked to the ground. Not sure if an infantry model can bash a cavalry model to the ground, or even a monster/monster mount.
EDIT by jobu: this is very useful to trap a model for any subsequent strikes against it in the same duel/fight.
Feint with daggers and swords: allow a model to fight at minus D3 fight but reroll to Wound roll of 1. Should always be used when facing a higher Fight enemy.
Support with spear and pikes: allows a model to directly fight one base away rather than adds an attack to the front model. It appears pikes are no different from spears.
EDIT by Jobu: yes, but at least a pike can support another pike.  Pike blocks just got more expensive.

Elven blade wielder wins tie Fight rolls on 3+ rather than 4+ unless fighting against another elven blade. Khand chieftains and kings wield elven blades by the way.
Edit by Jobu: they are also usable when mounted now, which they were not before.

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