Men of Dale

[Eldarion Telcontar]

You could use Radagasts rule (master of beasts or something), which gives him line of sight to any point on the board (his spells are not unlimited range though). But that would be overpowered, seeing as Bard has a bow...heat seeking arrows!

[The Oakenshield]

The Dwarf-guy returns !!!
Sorry for the small amount of replies, I am currently located in Beijing and was in Hong Kong yesterday.

I added longswords, heavy armour and banners for the warriors, the household guards also got longswords, and Bard got a longsword and the bird special rule
(not sure about his point cost, though).
I am thinking of adding Captains of Dale, and giving Bard, the household guards and the Captains dwarf Heavy Armour.

What do you think?

[Mungo the Ringbearer]

Sounds like a plan...
The warriors of Dale (when bard is there) are now the best mannish army on terms of archery, and actually have something to give to their dwarven friends...

S4+ (as usual) 3+ for HG and Bard...
Longbows
Cause of MoB rule, always shoot before the opponent if in 14cm of Bard...
D5, so enemy bow armies will struggle to compete... Only Uruk-hai have the power to out-shoot the Dale-men on the evil side, and only Elves can beat em on the good side...
And auto-seeing anywhere on the battlefield for volleys...

However, I think the ordinary soldiers are now a point too expensive... 9pts for a warrior with shield, you can either largely ignore the shield (unless the enemy has throwing weapons)... for a price that should be 8pts... Or you can use them the same as womt with shield.
With longbow he'll be 9 points, which is balanced...

[Sire Brenshar]

When are you coming back again?(@ Oakenshield) The 10th or in 10 days you said?

Anyways, just to reduce their effectiveness mabye only the archers have access to heavy armor, just a suggestion.
As for Bard, just add another 5-10 points (Wow, hes starting to get expensive)

[Sire Brenshar]

Okay, let's see what we've got:

Heroes:

Bard, King of Dale (Man)________Points value:90
__F___S__D__A__W__C____M/W/F
_5/3+_4__5__2___2__5____3/2/2

Wargear:
Bard, King of Dale carries a sword, a longbow, and wears armor.
He can be given the following items at additional cost:
The Black Arrow -20 points
Dwarf armor -5 points
Dwarf heavy armor -10 points
Longsword -5 points


The Black Arrow: The Black Arrow is a legendary heirloom of the house of Girion, slaying the mighty dragon Smaug. The Black Arrow can only be used once- the Good player must declare he is using The Black Arrow before rolling to hit with shooting. If an enemy model suffers a wound from the Black Arrow it is automatically slain regardless to the amount of wounds it has. Heroes can use Fate to avoid wounds by the Black Arrow but if this is failed, they are slain.

Dwarf armor:Dwarf armor and heavy armor add an additional defense value to the base armor. (i.e Dwarf armor gives +2 defense value while Dwarven crafted heavy armor gives +3. )
*Note that Dwarf armor replaces the model's previous armor; i.e if Bard takes Dwarf armor at +5 points, then his defense value only goes up to 6 rather than 7 due to the fact that his defense would also go down by 1 when he removes his starting armor.

Longsword: The men of Dale are armed with deadly longswords that enable them to slay even the most heavily armored foes. Longswords count as hand weapons but can also be used as a two-handed weapon simultaneously with a shield. The good player must declare he is using the longsword as a two-handed weapon before either player rolls to see who wins the fight.

Special Rules:
Master of Bowmen: Bard is a great archer, skilled in the warfare of bows. He can call a Heroic Shooting every turn without expending a point of might.

Expert shot: Bard can shoot twice instead of once in the shooting phase.

Man of Dale: The men of Dale have a inborn ability to speak with Thrushes. To represent this, whenever a Hero of Dale is in base contact with a group of volleying archers, they can volley fire at any enemy model within their volleying bow range on the board exactly as if they had line of sight.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brand, King of Dale (Man)________Points value:85
__F___S__D__A__W__C____M/W/F
_5/3+_4__7__2__2___5_____3/2/1
Wargear:
Brand, King of Dale carries a Longsword and wears Dwarf heavy armor.
He can be given the following items at additional cost:
The Black Arrow -20 points
Shield -5 points
Longbow -5 points
Horse -10 points

The Black Arrow: See the entry for Bard, King the Dale.

Special Rules:
Man of Dale: See the entry for Bard, King of the Dale.

*Note that Brand, King of Dale can not be taken in the same army as Bard, King of Dale or as Girion, Last Lord of Dale .

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Girion, Last Lord of Dale (Man)________Points cost:105
__F___S__D__A__W__C____M/W/F
_6/3+_4__7__3__2___5____3/3/1
Wargear:
Girion, Last Lord of Dale carries a sword, and wears Mithral armor.
He can be given the following items at additional cost:
The Black Arrow -20 points
Shield -5 points
Longbow -5 points


The Black Arrow: See the entry for Bard, King the Dale.

Special Rules:
Man of Dale: See the entry for Bard, King of the Dale.

Lord of Dale: As the Lord of Dale, Girion commands unquestioned loyalty. His Stand fast is 12".

Necklace of Emeralds: Girion has a powerful necklace forged long ago by Dwarfs from the Lonely Mountain. He receives a +2 on his dice roll when resisting Magic.

*Note that Girion, Last Lord of Dale can not be taken in the same army as Bard, King of Dale or as Brand, King of Dale .

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain of Dale (Man)________Points value:50
__F___S__D__A__W__C____M/W/F
_4/3+_4__5__2__2___4____2/1/1

Wargear:
The Captain of Dale represented by the profile has a sword, a longbow and wears armor.
At an additional points cost he may have the following items:
Dwarf armor -5 points
Dwarf heavy armor -10 points
Longsword -5 points
Shield -5 points
Horse -10 points


Special Rules:
Man of Dale: See the entry for Bard, king of Dale.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Warriors:

Household Guard of Esgaroth (Man)________Points value:12
__F___S__D__A__W__C
_4/3+_3__5__1__1___3

Wargear:
The base profile for a Household Guard of Esgaroth includes Dwarf armor, a longbow, and a longsword.
He can be given additional items at the following cost:
*Shield -1 point
Banner(maximum one per Hero included in the same force.) -30 points
*Note that a Household Guard of Esgaroth can only benefit from his shield's defense bonus when in base contact with an enemy model.

Special Rules:
Bodyguard: At the beginning of the game choose one Hero of Dale among those in your force for all of your Household Guard's of Esgaroth to protect. As long as this Hero is on the table, the Household Guard will automatically pass all courage tests they have to take. If the Hero is killed or leaves the table, the Household Guard reverts to the normal rules for courage.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Warrior of Dale (Man)________Points value:6
__F___S__D__A__W__C
_3/4+_3__4__1__1___3

Wargear:
The base profile for a Warrior of Dale includes armor, and a sword.
Any warrior can be given additional items at the following points cost:
Shield -1 point
Longsword -1 point
Longbow -2 points
Banner (maximum one per Hero included in the same force.) -25 points

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dale Noble (Man)________Points value:13
__F___S__D__A__W__C
_3/4+_3__5__1__1___3

Wargear:
The base profile for a Dale Noble includes Dwarf armor, a lance, a sword, and is mounted on a horse.
Any warrior can be given additional items at the following points cost:
Shield -1 point
Longsword -1 point
Banner (maximum one per Hero included in the same force.) -25 points




I'll be updating this if anyone has some good ideas or changes.
Also, please report any type-outs seen.

[The Oakenshield]

FANTASTIC!!!

I like how you did the bird-speaking rule.
I'm not sure the "dwarven crafted armour" and the "dwarven crafted heavy armour",
it should just be "dwarven armour" and "dwarven heavy armour".

I will be back on the 13th.

[Sire Brenshar]

I was trying to stress the point that it was made by Dwarves for men, or traded with. I think, however, that it looks and sounds quite dumb; I guess I'll change it.
Playtested a bit:
Bard is a bit too good (and costly) so I'm thinking of changing his fight to 4. Maybe though.
The standard warriors should only have 4+ shoot, the shooting is powerful enough! Anyways they are suppose to have traditionally good archers, not naturally good.
On a side note, look at the Household guys, they are incredibly good but very few can be taken since they come with bows (Bow limit)
The longswords sound incredibly good, but they really aren't.
I realized they are incredibly similar to elves, only with slightly lower fight and courage(obviously)
Allied with Dwarves they are looking incredibly deadly.

Will playtest more.

[Mungo the Ringbearer]

Warriors are not S4...
Bard should have expert shot and come with the black arrow auto-equipped, but cost more points... He is nearly a legolas-grade archer...

[The Oakenshield]

He did not mean the warriors are Strength 4, he meant they hit with bows on 4+.
I also think it is a good thing that Bard does not have to take the Black arrmow, he lost after his battle with Smaug.
Some new profiles:

Lord Girion
5/3+_4_7_3_3_5_3/3/2
Equipment:
Dwarf Heavy Armour, Longsword, Girion's Bow
Black Arrow (1 per army): 20 points

Special Rules:
Man of Dale (see King Bard)
Black Arrow (see King Bard)
Expert Shot
Girion's Bow: Girion's Bow has a range of 36"


King Brand
As Captain of Dale with +1 F, +1 C, +1 M/W/F and Expert Shot, he comes with a Longsword and Longbow.

Horsemen of Dale
As Knights of Minas Tirith, except no Lance.

Point costs?

[Sire Brenshar]

I'll see about what Lord Girion is known for before putting him down.
Strange thing I have discovered: Legolas costs the same as Bard but is actually better, I realized that Bard should cost 85 (Miscalculation). Still though, I cant understand why Legolas is so cheap. I suspect it's some GW balancer rule they have (like no points cost for moving courage 3 to 4) but I believe it might be no points cost for being fight and courage 6 when only 2 attacks/wounds(Just a wild thought though), however I a still really unsure. I'll see what I can find out.

I was thinking of cavalry, but 2 types:
Light cavalry, 11 points
_F___S__D__A__W__C
3/4+_3__3__1___1__3
Horses, longbows, swords
Shields -1pts

Dale Nobles, 10-12pts
_F___S__D__A__W__C
_3___3__5__1__1___3
Armor, Shields, Lances? (It does make sense)
Dwarf Armor -1 pts
Banner -25 pts

King Brand, Points: 80 points
_F___S__D__A__W__C___M/W/F
5/3+_4__7__2___2__5___3/2/2
Longsword, Dwarf Heavy Armor
Shield -5pts
Longbow -5pts
Horse -10pts
Lance? -5pts