Been a while since I posted LOTR stuff here, but I am getting the itch again...

I am nearing the end of the current cycle in my Star Wars RPG, and will need to put together the next phase of the adventure.  While I am doing that I may run Cubicle 7's The One Ring RPG for my group. 

The One Ring Roleplaying Game

Smaug has been defeated, the Battle of Five Armies has been won, and Bilbo has returned to the Shire. But much danger still remains, and from the Orc-holds of the mountains to the dark and corrupt depths of Mirkwood a darkness waits, recovering its strength, laying its plans, and slowly extending its shadow…


The One Ring Roleplaying Game is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Chock full of incredible artwork by leading artists, including John Howe and Jon Hodgson, and with evocative rules designed by award-winning games designer Francesco Nepitello, there has never been a Lord of the Rings game that’s more evocative of Tolkien’s unique vision. Along with rich and detailed background information, rules that focus on Tolkien’s themes, character types unique to the world and a setting that changes as the Tale of Years progresses, when you play The One Ring Roleplaying Game you really feel like you are playing in Middle-earth.

The Setting

Middle-earth is a huge place, stretching thousands of miles from the Lonely Mountain in the north to Far Harad in the south, and beyond. It’s an ancient land too, with a richly detailed history going back thousands of years to the dawn of the First Age.

But The One Ring Roleplaying Game is set in a very particular place, in a very specific time: Wilderland, 5 years after the Battle of Five Armies. Wilderland is at once familiar to fans of the novels, as it's the region both Thorin’s Company and the Fellowship (once broken) traverse on their journeys.

This land is filled with instantly recognisable locations from the novels: Mirkwood, Thranduil’s Halls, Lake-town, Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, Dol Guldur. All are locations ripe for exploration and adventure. Its also home to some of the best-loved characters from the novels too, from Radagast the Brown and the Elvenking Thranduil to King Bard of Dale and King Dáin of Erebor.
You can find out more about the setting here.

The Game

Games of The One Ring are split into two phases: the Adventuring phase and the Fellowship phase. In an Adventuring phase, a company of adventurers heads off from their homes and into the Wild, in search of adventure; whereas the Fellowship phase provides heroes with the opportunity to rest and recuperate, to practise their skills or pursue a noble undertaking.

The One Ring Roleplaying Game uses a special set of dice: the twelve-sided Feat die, which is marked with numbers 1-10, as well as two special symbols, Gandalf’s rune and the Eye of Sauron, and a six-sided Success die, which is numbered 1-6, with a Tengwar rune on the 6.


 
These dice are available to buy separately in all stores where The One Ring is sold or from the Cubicle 7 web store, or you can just use a regular d12 (counting 11 as the Eye of Sauron and 12 as Gandal's rune) and some d6s.

When you make a roll, you roll the Feat die plus a number of Success dice equal to the skill you’re using, add up all the numbers shown and compare it to the Target Number of the action (typically 14).
To find out more about the game’s mechanics, check out this post here. You can find out more about the Adventuring phase here and the Fellowship phase here.

I am really thinking of doing this, especially since the Rivendell PDF is now available, and I will be able to have High Elven and Dunedain characters for the group.

This setting supplement will take your adventures west across the Misty Mountains to the Last Homely House, expanding play into eastern Eriador, covering not only Rivendell itself, but Angmar, Fornost, Mount Gram, Tharbad and everywhere in between.

There are also rules for creating your own Magical Treasure; playing Rangers of the North and High Elves of Rivendell; turning the baleful Eye of Mordor on your company; and facing more powerful adversaries than ever before.

 Plus, it will allow me to continue the adventures of Armegil of Nan Giliath, and the Guardians of Imladris, but with official rules from Cubicle 7.

Prior to Rivendell being published, I had put together my own High Elf Heroic Culture using the Elves of Mirkwood Heroic Culture from the First Edition of TOR as a starting point.

For those interested, those rules are here:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/539 ... 0Elves.pdf

High Elf Knights

Been a while since I posted. This is an update on the Elven Cavalry I have been converting. Here are the 12 finished High Elven Knights being led by Glorfindel:

























The golden armor on these have now all been washed with a mix of black, green, and chestnut ink, then drybrushed with silver, followed by an even lighter drybrush of red, and blue to get the slightly irridecent look from the films.

With the 12 Galadhrim Cavalry I have I now have a total of 24 Cavalry for my Elves. I think I will be converting some Numenorean Cavalry next.


Below is a shot of Elrohir, mounted and on foot. He is one of the twin sons of Elrond.


























Below is Elladan. He is Elrohir's twin brother. He is also presented on foot and mounted.

War of the Last Alliance

The following are some shots of my Last Alliance Army. I am really looking forward to the release of War of the Ring in April! I will finally be able to field the entire army on the table and finish the game in less than a whole weekend!

These are some shots using the Movement Trays I have. I have 12 Infantry and 12 cavalry trays, and already all will be used. Since I want to run demos of the WotR once it is released in April I ordered another 18 Infantry and 6 Cavalry Trays from my local Hobby Shop this weekend! After all, the Forces of Sauron the Deceiver will need movement trays as well. :)



Above is a shot of my Elven Cavalry conversions. They will be using the Stats of Galadhrim Knights since it looks like the High Elf Knights will not be included in the War of the Ring Expansion's initial release. (Damnit, my High Elves have been nerfed again! ARRRGHHHH! Sorry, tension breaker. Had to be done. :) )

This is a view of part of the whole army. High King Elendil and the men of Numenor are on the right. High King Gil-Galad and the High Elves form the center. King Oropher and the Elves of Greenwood the Great are barely visible on the left. Durin VI and the Dwarves of Khazad Dum (Moria) are out of the picture to the right.

Here is a closer view of Elendil and the Warriors of Numenor.

The High Elf Army of Lindon. Led by Ereinion Gil-Galad, High King of the Noldor.

Another shot of the High Elves. I have quite a few more of these guys, but could barely fit these in the picture. Might be time for a better Digital Camera.

Elendil, High King of the Realms in Exile (Arnor and Gondor) and his men.

Durin VI and the Dwarves of Khazad Dum. I have another 2 1/2 companies of these guys, but no trays to put them on. Can't wait for the ones I ordered to get here...

Another view of Gil-Galad and the High Elves (Noldor).

The Wood Elves. These represent the Elves of King Oropher of Greenwood, and Amdir of Lorinand (Lorien). Oropher is the grandfather of Legolas. He and his son Thranduil were present during the War of the Last Alliance, though sadly Oropher perished after the Battle of Dagorlad in the assault on the Morannon (The Black Gate).

I have another 3 Companys of Wood Elves but no trays for them yet...

The Companies of Armegil have rejoined the Army of Lindon after the battles fought at the Gathering in the Desert!

Another shot of the Elves of Armegil's Company of Rivendell. They are known as "The Guardians of Imladris" (Varnos i Imladris).

War of the Ring

I am really looking forward to the new GW "War of the Ring" Expansion for LOTR SBG. This is the first of some pictures I have taken of my Last Alliance themed WotR Army. Since I don't have access to a demo copy to peruse (no GW Store in AZ anymore...) I am basing the Army on rumors and tidbits gleaned from the WotR Threads on WWW.TheLastAlliance.COM

I already know I will not be able to do a "legal" Last Alliance Army that incorporates all races involved, because only 25% of your armies points can be an allied force. These rules are in place to limit the options of "power gamers" who like to exploit rules in the game, but to do the Last Alliance justice would require units from the Elves, Numenor, and Dwarves...

The allies rule has it's purpose, but it does eliminate the full "Last Alliance" and "Battle of Five Armies" Lists from being legal armies. Which is kind of sad since these iconic battles of Tolkien's Middle-earth really scream for a "War of the Ring" treatment...

2nd Annual Gathering in the Desert LOTR GT

I have to say thanks to everyone that came out to play, and a big thank you to the sponsors (Games Workshop, Empire Games, Litko, Castle Kits and AZ hot Shots, if I remember correctly)

My biggest thank you goes to Dean V. and Tim K. for organizing/managing this! All four events they have organized here in the Valley of the Sun have been incredible.

I also wanted to post a huge thank you to the Terrain Makers, the Empire Games Store Staff and all the players who made this event a huge blast to attend! Again!

I also want to send out a special thanks to all my opponents; Jerry Autieri, John Long, Mike Gingold, Kieth Hruska (Denver), and Travis Paul (California).

The games were very challenging and fun, even when I didn't win.

Thanks to Frank Brown and ChrisLS for the interesting ideas on further conversions for my Last Alliance Army. Finally a thanks to Dave "Gandalf's got a popsicle" Bishop (my carpool buddy for the GT) for making the 50 minute trip to and from the event a blast each day.

This year I came in 7th Overall out of 20... Well 19 and a ringer :)



The Battles/Results were:

1st Scenario: Bilbo's Treasure
Opponent: Jerry Autieri (Faramir and the Host of Gondor)
Result: Draw (10 pts w/ 1 Bomus pt for controling the treasure at the end of the game.)


2nd Scenario: Light the Beacons
Opponent: John Long (Knights of Dol Amroth)
Result: Draw (10 pts plus .5 bonus pt for lighting 1 beacon)

3rd Scenario: Look To The East
Opponent: Mike Gingold (Dol Gulder)
Result: Minor Victory (15 Pts)

4th Scenario: The Artifact
Opponent: Kieth Hruska ("Budwieser Knights of the Beer Court")
Result: Minor Loss (7 pts)

5th Scenario: The Last Alliance
Opponent: Travis Paul ("Dain and Balin with Iron and Khazad Guard Dwarves).
Result: Major Victory (20 pts)

Final Battle Points: 63.5




Here is another shot of my "Young Captains of the Last Alliance" Army for the 2nd Annual GitD LOTR GT 2009 (also taken by ChrisLS). The event has come & gone now & it was an awesome event. Some of the toughest competition in LOTR Gaming I have seen.

Looking forward to next years event, as well as trying to figure out how to make a few more of the GT Events this year. Maybe by next year I will actually be able to use my High Elven Cavalry conversions and give you players more of a challenge in the "Sieze the Prize" type scenarios...

I guess if not then I will do a Seven Samurai-esque Elven Captain Army to use the mounted models. Won't win much, but will be a blast to see them on the table!

Till then, "May a star light your path and guide you safely home."

Armegil
aka Aredhel of Nan Giliath

My Army for the 2nd Annual GitD LOTR GT

Well, the Gathering in the Desert (Arizona's Independant) LOTR GT has come and gone. Once again I led my High Elves into battle. Above is a picture of the Army (taken by Chris Langland-Shula, one of the competitors at the GitD).

Last year I had placed Fourth overall and won Best Appearence so I knew my Army was basically sound.

Last Years Army:

"The Army of Lindon"
Erenion Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor
1 High Elf Banner (Hvy Armor and Hand Weapon)
7 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor and Elven Blade)
18 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor, Shield, and Spear)
13 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor, Elf Bow, and Hand Weapon)

40 Models, 3 Might, 3 Will, 1 Fate, all Infantry.

My biggest problems last year had been a lack of numbers and a lack of cavalry (Most keenly felt in "Sieze the Prize"). This year I had made some changes to address these issues.

This Years Army:
The Young Captains of the Last Alliance
Armegil of Nan Giliath (High Elf Captain: Hvy Armor Shield, Elven Blade, and Horse)
10 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor, Hand Weapon)
10 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor, Shield, and Spear)
10 High Elven Warriors (Hvy Armor, Elf Bow, and Hand Weapon)

Camthalion of Numenor (Numenorean Captain: Armor, Shield, Hand Weapon)
8 Warriors of Numenor (Armor, Shield, Hand Weapon)
9 Warriors of Numenor (Armor, Shield, Spear and Hand Weapon)

49 Models, 4 Might, 2 Will, 2 Fate - 1 Mounted model for "speed" scenarios.

No F9 Named Hero (but more might/wounds/fate, and ability to have might two places on the battle field)
Lacks 2-hand option of Elven Blade.
Has 9 less F5 Elves, but adds 17 models with F4 to the list.

I figured I would give this list a try.

Celeborn and Galadriel

This is Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien. Centerpieces of my Woodland Realms (Lothlorien) Army.

Female Elven Captain on Horse

This is a miniature of Arwen on Asfaloth. I am going to use her as an Elven Captain for my "Autumn/Fire" themed High Elf Army.

Armegil of Nan Giliath (High Elf Captain)

This is one of my converted High Elven Cavalry. I currently use him as Armegil of Nan Giliath, my Avatar (High Elf Captain on Horse) in Tournaments. I have converted 12 of these. I am really looking forward to the release of the new High Elf Sourcebook, so I can field Elven Knights again in Tournaments!

Erenion Gil-Galad and Elrond Half-Elven

This is Gil-Galad and Elrond, the center pieces of the Army of Lindon.