So now that ive read the rules...

It seems you need to have either an Epic hero or a legendary formation as a leader in order to have a legal build. So I was looking through the book and I really like the Blackroot Vale Archers under the Gondor list. Now... I want to my army to at least make some sense story wise so my question to the more knowledgeable among us is would this unit ever have fought alongside warriors of Minas Tirith and Any brand of Ranger ? Thanks

In the third age it was a desperate time, so yes, Minas Tirth would and did fight alongside ANY allie.
Ranger had a specfic role; most of the time they fought gorilla tatics. However during major battles every able man was put to use.

In the LotR story by JRRT Anor rangers came from the north to assist Aragorn at the request of Gandalf.

Frantic, I am also finding some interesting rules as I spend more time reading. Like throwing weapons. You do not use the full attack vaule of the company, only half the company can count for dice, rounding up, see page 58 in the rule book.

This is a normal process with any system you are learning. I just need to invest more time in reading and painting and building terrain and .......

JerryB

Ya I saw that. Very interesting. Also single companies or the last company in a formation is eliminated when it reaches half strength. Also Cavalry get +1 on their die rolls if they are charging with lances AND if they win the fight that they charged into they can roll a d6 and on a result of 6 they can charge and fight again ! I've learned lots of new stuff...I like it more n more. The elves might be broken tho....we will have to play and see

Frantic, I thought the Urks were broken until I witness you dispatch them with your Rangers.
Just when you think LotR may be cheesy you find something that balances it.


Or are those Rangers broken...

Hehe...the rangers are probably broken. But I can assure you that JC wont let me use em like that again...lol Lesson learned...just as I learned not to be so gung ho with the cavalry

Hmm... so an army of rangers may not be in order?

Scurrdi, actually you could have up to six companies of Gondor Rangers, an additional six companies of Blackvale or Arnor, but both of these are legendary so there are army composition requirements that would have to be met in order to have them and keep the game balance.
But if you could, would you really want nothing but Rangers? Someone with Calvary, monsters, or numerous other configurations would probably tear up the Rangers in short order. I could be wrong, try it out.

JerryB

Well, All the rangers are either Common formations or Legendary formations. none are rare formations so you only have the given limits which is normally 6 companies and between Rangers of Gondor, Arnor, Ithilien Blackroot Vale and the grey company you could definitely pull it off...but Jerry is right. Lack of strong armor and Cavalry and other things of that nature would probably tear you up. You would probably inflict alot of casualties from ranged attacks but once the fight got up close and personal it would probably turn against your favor.

Well, I thought about that, particularly for the War of the Ring version.

And I came to a very simple conclusion (since they are allowed anyways).

Ents.


An Ent or two would probably solidify up the lines no? If anything I'd add a unit of Rohan guys, make 'em look like rangers on horseback and just count as the other.

I'm kinda pumped about the Ent idea though.

That might work. You cant take many though. Ents are 125 point and would count as allies. Which can make up only 25% of your force. Same thing goes for the riders of rohan. Tho they are less expensive.

Yeah, I'll have to think about it.

Having some Ents would be pretty sweet though.

Frantic,

Somewhere you had mentioned about rangers getting like 30 dice to shoot with? Where are you getting that from? The most I can see from the regular box set (3 companies) is 12 dice (8 for A value, 2 for 3+ shoot, 2 for supportive fire).

Just want to make sure I'm following this correctly.

If all 3 archer companies are unwounded and have LOS to the target, you get all 24 dice. 3+ bonus is also per company.

Really? I'll need to read the rules again. I'm playing my first game this thursday with my 1 box of rangers to see how it works.

Ya, They get a shooting bonus of +2 per company for shooting skill 3...so 10 per company. As long as each company has clear LOS and arc of sight then they can fire their full. You only use supporting fire if the other companies dont have either of those things.

Ohhh, wow...

I see, I see...

Scurrdi, you want your archers shoulder to shoulder (if possible, terrain permitting), not heel to toe.
If you have a company directly behind another formation, the best they can do is support fire (one dice) you don't want that.

JerryB