Not sure when and how to use these.

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Forlorn, I remove my Iron Guard from the pile of Goblins; just staring at that 6 with disbelief.

The general rule I follow is:

Bash against Cavalry
Feint when you're already a lower Fight value than your opponent*
Piercing strike when the +S/-D odds are in your favor (i.e. it'll only takes a roll of a 1 to improve my chance of wounding, but a roll of a '2' to increase my chance of being wounded if I lose)*/**

*Or if the model is cheap and their life meaningless
**Or if you're against super high D models

Whirl is almost useless, unless used by a Goblin from goblintown (the only infatry with a whirling weapon, I think). When outnumbered, a goblin is already at the lowest fight value so dropping to one isn't really that bad. Otherwise is a very bad special strike, because is only useful when fighting against multiple enemies and yet it decrease your chance at winning.

Stun is good when fighting heroes/monster whom you wouldn't be able to wound easily. A Hobbit Sheriff has almost no chance of wounding a troll, so he may just as well try to stun ay 4+ and stop the enemy for another turn.

Feinting is used when a model is supported (the spearman will keep the fight value) or when the model is already at lower fight value, since it has nothing to lose. A Minas Tirith Warrior will always feint against elves and if the elf is supported by another he will feint as well.

Piercing Strike is usually used by models with D4 and less, since they are already at low defence value and they won't suffer much backlash. Dwarves and other heavy armored models will use it only when they know they will win (seriously outnumbered opponent) or when they really have nothing to lose (Gimli calling it against a troll since it would rend him anyway) or nothing to risk (perfect against shielding and knocked down opponent)

Bash is useful against cavalry, since it helps to get rid of the horse. However, I haven't seen many successfull attempts because of the roll-off. Many model with hammers have only S3, so any S4 model will have a +1 to his roll, while S5 will have a +2. Is good against most cavalry (only S3 for both horse and rider).

I say, just play LOTR SBG and ignore the special strikes .

As a side note. If your opponent has a lower fight value than you, and they choose to feint, you may as well feint too. I recommend this as your fight value, in theory, should still be higher than theirs and now you can reroll one's for wounding.

Special Strikes are the only Hobbit rule I don't use. If they were just straight modifiers, like 2HW, I would use them, but the whole D3 is just annoying.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Good point D. A straight rule would have been nice. The whole D3 thing seems to break from the work they have done in the past.

Anyone who follows my posts knows that I don't have many good things to say about the Hobbit SBG rules update. In fairness, I will admit there are a few rules I do like.
1. I really like the change made to the elven blades. I feel they have a real reason for being now. The boost to tie breaking is a sweet little bennie for fielding an elven blade.
2. Spear support, I love that spears can support 2HW guys now. This really made warriors of Lamedom worth it, IMO.
3. Monster special attacks. Though I still think this is power creep at its finest, I will concede that monsters needed something to up their power. They are monsters for goodness sake. Although I still think Hurl should be a copy of sorc blast as opposed to the 'roided sorc blast that it is. (Now if only someone would errata the Balrog's speed value).