Hey Hobbiteers!
I have been looking through the factions and looking for balance issues as well as playing Roll20 with my bud from out west to play with a few factions to do more play-testing with. We are using Isengard, Mirkwood, Angmar, Minas Morgul, Arnor, and Fiefdoms at the moment.
Here is a Run-Down of the faction builds so you can get a sense of what's going on in my head:
Isengard - Orc Shields and Hero Pikers was the starter build. 2 Heroes have Throwing Spears to skirmish and assist with terror and dealing with people who kite the block.
Mirkwood - All Spiders, three heroes have Chitinous Plating for Defense 5 at the start. Simple.
Angmar - 2 Spectres, a Barbarian, Spear Orcs, and Warg Orc Lieutenant. This kinda explains itself but it is a fell-light for the win company.
Minas Morgul - Split between Black Numenoreans and Spear Orcs. Terror is the front line and f4 and d6, yikes.
Arnor - simple 4:3 split between rangers with spears and arnor with shield and spear. Your phalanx-Gunline hybrid.
Fiefdoms - "Cheese Patrol" 3 Heroes on Armoured Horse with Shield/Lance and 3 spare gold. All three are Dol Amroth so the two sergeants get banner re-rolls from their Lieutenant. Yikes
These lists were made with the intent to play test and/or we wanted our 3 companies each to be that way.
Yes we have very little bows included in the companies, that was more of an accident that we are now determined to put to the test.
After our first 2 games (Mirkwood vs Minas Morgul) and (Isengard vs Angmar) I was swiftly reminded of how powerful the latter of each pairing was. I played the former of each pairing and proceeded to get picked apart either because I was mostly D3 or I had models running for the hills.
While Spectres are mean, I want to focus on Black Numenoreans with this poll.
How have you all felt about them as Tier 1 Units? After this game and observing others, my previous suspicions that they'd be too good for Tier 1 have come back to bite me again. In the Umbar BC, we made a tier 1 which was a clone of Numenor Warriors, I'd like to do the same for Minas Morgul but call them "Warriors of Minas Morgul". It is simple, clean, and a familiar profile that makes sense progression-wise.
Additional Reason for the "nerf"? Looking at Isengard or Mordor, they get worse models as their tier 2 and they almost cost the same but do not have as big of a splash as the tier 1 Black Numenoreans do.
What are your thoughts and please allow me to collect numerical data by participating in the poll above. I will slowly but surely be going through more factions and I want you, being the community, to partake in this journey. While this might not be my first hand at development, this is first project that I have been working on which also has a playerbase beyond 10 people. It only makes sense to get your feedback on more specific topics so that I have some additional data/thoughts running through my mind.
Thank you so much for your time,
Support your Hobbit Hobby and Happy Strategy Battlegaming!
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- Wild
Battle Companies Developer
(CE) Battle Companies 2016 Edition