I bought the book to this new game from Games Workshop a couple of weeks ago. I was originally put off by the cost of the book, but now, having read it and flipped through the pages, I feel like it was worth every penny. The nice thing about it is the book is full color from beginning to end, the army lists for all armies are included, and the pictures of the painted miniatures are cool. Not only that, the book encourages conversions for banner bearers, which prevents people from necessarily needing to purchase their banner bearer models. Go figure.
The rules for War of the Ring (WotR) seem like a simplified Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Rumor has it that the next edition of WHFB will be similar to WotR. I like the rules so far from justthe reading of them. Some highlights:
- Everything can be pre-measured. Charges are a die roll plus a standard modifier based on unit type.
- One roll for hitting and wounding.
- Models are effectively wound counters for the company.
- In close combat, monsters fight first then cavalry and finally infantry.
- Epic Heroes are not tied to specific units and can move around.
- Heroes have Might points and can spend those on heroic actions.
- Spellcasters automatically get their first spell off with no roll needed. Subsequent spells have to succeed with a Focus roll based on the spell previously cast.
- No wheeling like in WHFB. As long as the unit doesn’t move more than their Move value.
Looking around on the ‘Net for army lists and such have shown that the Elves are probably the least represented fo rthe Good armies and it seems lots of people want to play Evil. So far I have nearly 2,000 points thanks to the (awesome) wife “letting” me order some stuff.
I am really looking forward to this game and with a few folks at the store being excited and buying models, I should be getting a game in really soon.
