daersalon wrote:
Back to 2. Ed:
For the last 4 or so games we have managed to play large 2000+ point battles on a large table (2 6x4' tables making a great 8'x6' play area). The 'feel' is great and the sense of a large battle with the ebb and flow of victory uncertain as different sides have successes across the battlefront.
It would be such a shame to lose that from lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.
One point against a future mass battle release that people latch on to is the smaller boxes (10-12 infantry) and the increased price. And also people saying that GW wouldn't release a Mass battle system as it would be too expensive to amass a force. But, consider this: Has our favourite lotr figure manufacturer ever shied away from opportunities to increase its turnover and ways to enhance their lucre?
I would say, rather, that WotR was born out of a 'fading' of the franchise in sales... Most players had forces they could use for SBG, and most of the models from the films had been released, and indeed the films were 6 years past, and The Hobbit Film(s) still a dream stuck in pre-production wrangles and ifs and maybes. WotR encouraged players with a reasonable force to buy more to make a massed army.
The WotR rules I think were a marvel to utilise what was in the available boxes... generally 24 models in a box to make 3 companies of 8. Or 3 companies of cavalry.
If the same model is applied. Then after a year or two of SBG focus after the last movie and while they still have the license, they may bring out a form of larger scale battles, based on the new box sizes (10-12 infantry). As for WotR all GW has to do is make (possibly) movement trays and a nice profitable rulebook, and they can keep selling more models of already produced ranges until their license runs out... (minimal effort to maximise profit)
The only fly in the ointment is, as I pointed out previously, indirectly, is a reduced lack of commitment in the franchise. The Hobbit features on many of the last year's White Dwarf covers... yet barely a mention inside those covers, let alone a gaming or modelling article!
Hear hear!
We have some house rules but we're ust 3 gamers who play WOTR al lot. We've adjusted the pionts value for some models and have managed to make some house rules for things such as the beast of gorgoroth. (thanks you Gothmog the werewolf!)