Firstly, the new thing with cavalry. This is important for my Easterling Kataphrakts and Khandish Horsemen (all Khandish btw are painted with a simplified version of the Khandish Mercenary color scheme from this sourcebook), because now those of them that win fights against infantry can roll two dice for every 1 attack, in addition to having the extra attack bonus. Which means a charging Khandish Horseman who knocks an infantryman prone rolls 4 dice, a charging Easterling Dragon Knight who wins a fight against an infantryman rolls 8 dice to wound, and so on.
Next, the new thing with Monsters (including Monstrous Cavalry like, in my case, Khandish Charioteers). They can still knock cavalry prone, but winning fights now also lets them do this gorgeous thing called "Brutal Power Attacks". This allows Khandish Charioteers and other Monstrous Troops to do one of three things:
- Rend allows Khandish Charioteers, Isengard Trolls, and other Monster-class units to compare their own strength against enemy strength instead of enemy defense.
- Hurl allows Monster-class units to throw lower-strength units a number of inches equal to one-dice result plus difference of two strengths in any direction. If the enemy hits another enemy, they both suffer a strength 3 hit. When the enemy makes his or her landing, he or she suffers a strength 6 hit.
- Barge allows the Monster-class model to force enemies back a whole 3 inches instead of the usual 1 inch away, and then move an additional (dice result here) inches, including for a second charge-attack (or a first one, if the Monster-class model itself was charged).
Finally, probably my favorite thing, is the new thing with Pike-men. Two of them at a time can still support a comrade by adding 1 dice apiece to the duel roll, but they can now support charging cavalry, monsters, and two-handed weapon bearers this way. They can even stand up for prone models in this fashion if they want to. These permissions did not exist in the The Lord of the Rings version of the rules.
Oh, wait, I forgot; the new thing with swordsmen and axe-men and other types of short-range combatants. Special Strikes. The Feint option that my Easterling swordsmen now have allows them to re-roll wound-rolls of 1 should they win a fight. I like the Piercing Strike option my Khandish now have much, much better. It allows them to, if they win the fight, increase their strength by half of dice result rounded up. So, Warriors and Horsemen and Chieftains can increase their strength from 3 to either 4, 5, or 6; while Kings and Chieftains can increase theirs from 4 to either 5, 6, or 7! All before making the attack, of course. This means Kings in Chariots, Chieftains in Chariots, and non-heroic Charioteers can basically unlock the ability to Hurl another human-representative model!
I very much look forward to cutting down every Thorin's Company member other than Dwalin with these new abilities, and then allow Amdur, Lord of Blades to fight Dwalin one-on-one, for if there's any Dwarf in the The Hobbit movie awesome enough to challenge Amdur, it is irrefutably Dwalin, in my eyes.
Good bye for now,
~KP
