Very glad to see a full-fledged release for this little system, with a hardback rulebook, White Dwarf support and special bundles on the webstore (the latter rather meaningless, but I feel it does add a bit more commitment).
Got my copy on release yesterday, and the book looks great. Not just with the expected scenarios and decent list of possible companies, but some nice pictures of various players' bands (the Middle-earth team and other familiar names), rules for terrain and upgrades, and some hints for releases and rules changes to come.
I figured the 'no profiles without models' policy would mean no elite profiles would be invented for this book, and this is indeed the case. From a player's perspective, I like the fan-edit for this, but simultaneously they have actually limited the very extensive lists by having various troops only available as reinforcements rather than upgrades, simplifying/streamlining the promotion system (and requiring rather less specific miniatures) along the way while balacing the different companies. The injury tables have I think changed for the better being rather less harsh, and heroes have gotten some very nicely altered tables to roll on for upgrades.
Overall, I love it (as I was sure I would), can see the reasons for the changes (or indeed lack thereof) that I somewhat dislike and see loads of things I'm a big fan of. As a final note, the introduction mentions extra material may be added not just in White Dwarf but also free PDFs apparently, so plenty to look forward to.
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