I play a hacked SBG-ish rule set based on the Decipher CODA rules, but the point remains: this lot works really well as a skirmish level game.

In theory, WOTR is really cool: most of the fights in the books are big. Tolkien didn't mess around with too many skirmishes himself. The only "real" skirmishes I can remember off the top of my head was the scrap in Moria and maybe Eomer and the Isengard Orcs. The rest of the battles are big. So why not a "big" ruleset. Good idea, in theory.

In reality, in reality it plays out a bit like those mass combat rules tabletop roleplaying games have, when you want to resolve a big battle in the background of your adventure, and don't want a pre-determined end. Those things, however, are designed to broadly simulate a battle and broadly give a result: the forces of good won, but after taking many losses! The King's Army is ruined. What will you all do now? Which is great, but its a bit boring as a game on its own. So GW added some concepts to that, such as the powerful magic.

It strikes me that what is really needed is an SBG ruleset that models skirmish level conflicts between heroes and villains while bigger formations clash in the background.

What I'd envisage is a system where, say, Faramir, Damrod, Anborn and the Rangers have to hold an objective as Orc and Easterling skirmishers led by Gothmog try to take it from them. Meanwhile, the good player controls great formations of Knights of Minas Tirith and Citadel Guard to hold the flanks. The formations are all mounted on moving trays. So this big battle plays out as background to the smaller, more intense, skirmish battle.

The key issue would be modelling how a small skirmish-level force would interact with a larger one. This might be easier than it looks, actually. Treat the skirmishers as ad-hoc formations. Objectives cannot be taken by formations, but rather by individual soldiers. So formations will have to form and reform depending on the tactical environment.

Epic Heroes cannot "teleport" between formations. They have to actually go and join a formation, which adds a whole level of tactics to the game - Aragorn is holding the gate, but the Elves on the flank are crumbling. Can the good player get Aragorn the 12" across the board to support the Elves without being killed?


Just some thoughts.

Gavin

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Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.