Size Comparison, alternatives to GW

So, I wanted some Men of Dale but I refuse to buy them from GW, specifically because Men of Dale only come 10 to a box.  Really?  Ten?  Were these for some kind of special set and then just sort of thrown into a  box, with the rules?  I am sure Peter Jackson probably screwed GW's plan for The Hobbit by changing from 2 to 3 movies, but really?  Ten?  Your entire army building rules revolve around groups (warbands) of 12 warriors lead by a hero.  Not even an option to build a captain.  Anyway, I wanted Men of Dale, so with a little help of another blog I found out about Thunderbolt Mountain.  You can read about them on their about us page, but I was blown away by their great miniatures, and I found my Men of Dale.  The byzantine warriors with spear and shield fit the bill.  So I ordered some up.  While trimming away the base is a little painful it really only takes about a minute with clippers.  So far I am happy with them, they are a little skinny but are the right height which to me is more important.  Below you will see a size comparison of some Games Workshop Lord of The Rings, some Thunderbolt Mountain, and a Red Box Games mini( soon to be my Men of Dale Captain).

Reward for the campaign

The diligence of participating in our current campaign will be rewarded.  Winning the most hex tiles, and therefore having the most Kingdom Points will bring you fame and fortune throughout Middle Earth!  Which means we will know who won.  To that end I wanted to bring in something that was unique and allowed everyone to have a shot at the ultimate reward.  Okay, maybe not ultimate but a prize anyway.  So at the end of the campaign we will raffle off a pair of unique dice.


Every KP you have will get you one raffle entry.  They are machined out of a single piece of aluminum and are slightly smaller than your typical 16mm dice.  Not a lot, but I thought it would be a nice unique piece to add some incentive to the bunch.

So We are starting up a campaign

I tried to be creative, while keeping this not only simple but allowing everyone to play everyone else.  Basically not letting the map dictate who can fight who, but being a little restrictive to army lists.  I think I was successful (pats self on back).  I know there will be some kind of issue at some point, because, well I can not think of everything.

Campaign Proposal

Hero/Army selection

A player may pick an army from any of the currently available source books, with the following exceptions/additions(basically including The Hobbit armies into the sourcebooks profiles):

Angmar list: Azogs hunters, The trolls

Moria List: Goblin town

Durins Folk: Army of Thror

Eregion and Rivendell: Elrond's Household

Wanderers in the wild: Thorin's company, radagast's alliance

Rohan: Men of Dale

Once a player picks an army list, they may play any hero in that army and may ally with any other army list IN THAT SOURCE BOOK.  Ex.  If I pick Harad and Umbar, I may ally with any other list in the Fallen Realms source book, but not out of Mordor ( unless you have enough Kingdom Points, which we will cover later ).

The goal, like it is every thursday night, is to take over the world!  How do we do this?

Expansionism, Imperialism and Conquest!  The lands to the east and south of Mordor are ripe for the picking!  It is time to build your empire abroad and bring wealth and honor to your western kingdom.

The people who inhabit this eastern land are drawn to power, you must defeat your competition in combat in order to earn their trust, and more importantly their trade.  Every western lord is on a stealth campaign to gather as many trading partners as they can, without going to all out war with their neighbors back home.  To that end you are secretly fighting battles in the east, and, the politics in the western lands are tricky so neighbors come in and out of alliances as everyone strives to become the imperialist power in the east.

Each player starts out with a three hex area on the western side of “known” middle earth, these may never be lost to or annexed by another player.  To gain renown, and lands, your secret army must defeat your “friends” to gain hex tiles in the east.  Every hex tile brings one Kingdom Point, which are calculated every week, and are not cumulative.  You may freely swap tiles with other players,  negotiate at your own risk.

A win will allow players to claim up to three hex tiles that are unclaimed, a loss means you gain nothing.  If there are no free hex tiles that you wish to claim, you may annex up to 2 of another players hex tiles.   Players may also do both, a win will allow a player to annex 1 tile and grab 1 unclaimed tile.  That is it though, a ? v1(win) allows:

1)Grab up to 3 free tiles

2)Annex 2 of another players tiles

3)Annex 1 tile and claim 1 free tile

a 2(win)v ? allows:

1)The winners may grab up to 2 free tiles each

2)The winners may annex 1 tile

Hex tiles MUST be in groups of three or more to be stable.

But why annex then Jobu?  Well, if you win the next week after annexing tiles from another player, then you can annex another two or grab free tiles that connect to the annexed tile(s).  If the player does not win, or somehow negotiate a tile swap, those tiles revert back to free tiles.  Only tiles with some land on them may be claimed.  Open water may not be claimed unless it is an inland lake.

Each tile in your favor gains you 1 Kingdom Point (KP), at the end of the campaign the player with the most KP's win.  Kingdom points are calculated once a week, on friday.

What do KPs bring you?

They allow allies, they allow buying priority once a game, they allow an extra fate to be given to a unnamed/named hero, they allow you to deploy a specific terrain piece, and maybe something else if I can think of it.  You may only pick two of the following and they may not be from the same list:

1)A force of renown(based on # of models, no points values) allows allies outside the sourcebook, still limited to good with good and evil with evil:

Spend 3 KP's and you may ally up to 25% (or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 9 KP's and you may ally up to but not over 50% with another force using only unnamed heroes.

Spend 15 KP's and you may ally up to 25%(or one warband, whichever is larger) with another force using a named hero.

Spend 30 KP's and you may ally up to 50% with a named hero.

2)I swear it was Deja-Vu:

Spend 6 KP's and you may automatically have priority for one turn, must be used before priority dice are rolled – NO EXCEPTIONS

Spend 30 KP's and you may do it after the dice are rolled.

3)Luckiest Red Shirt:

Spend 3 KP's to give an unnamed hero an extra fate

Spend 20 KP's and give a named hero an extra fate

May only be given to native heroes. i.e. no allies

4)Brick in the wall:

Spend 3 KP's and you may remove one piece of native terrain from the table before armies have been deployed.

Spend 6KP's and you may place one small ( about the size of a DVD) non-native terrain piece anywhere on the board.

Spend 9 KP's and you may place one medium ( about 2x DVD ) non-native piece of terrain in your deployment area.

Fortunes/Fates

Hero of renown-You may nominate one hero in your army, that hero now acts as a banner for native troops( not allied ones).

Heroic Intervention-One nominated hero may call heroic fights without using any might.

Courageous charge-You may nominate one hero, during the game all units who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero will automatically pass all courage tests.

War Chant- You may nominate one hero, during the game all models who begin the turn within 6 inches of that hero cause terror.

Faltering nerve-Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one enemy hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 4+ nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 3- the might does nothing and is lost.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Ancient Lore-If a model or hero is the victim of a magical power, any native or allied hero within 12 inches may expend will points to help the model resist, the dice are added to the regular resist roll.  This is only allowed to be spent to resist magical powers.

Good Counsel- Before priority and for the duration of the game you may nominate one friendly hero, if that hero wishes to use might the controlling  player must role a d6, on 3- nothing happens and the might is used normally, on a 4+ the might is free.  This is only effective on the first might that hero spends each turn.

Counterspell-Nominate an enemy spellcaster, during the game if a spell is successfully cast that caster must reroll all the dice used to cast.  The second roll stands.

Mithril Coat-At the beginning of a turn declare this fortune/fate.  All wounds during the turn may be rescued on a roll of 5+.   Use this before rolling fate on heroes.

Last nights game

Eight brave souls showed up to fight mighty battles