HoME Playtesting Thread

[Son of Arathorn]

I enjoyed running him alongside Ulfrid Hornwrangler. Their Special Attacks play well off each other, IMO.

[Ninja Status]

I could run some playtests with Gandalf if you want. Do you want me to test him with any specific units?

-NS

[caps]

Originally Posted by Ninja Status

I could run some playtests with Gandalf if you want. Do you want me to test him with any specific units?

-NS

The ones WK mentioned would be good. I also think

Ana Karithon
Tandros Kreel
James Murphy
Shotgun Sullivan
Heirloom
Nakita Agents

would be good to test him with. We dropped the hero restriction in this version, so we need to make sure we test any common or unique squads that might be obnoxious alongside him.

[faure]

We dropped the hero restriction in this version, so we need to make sure we test any common or unique squads that might be obnoxious alongside him.

Overlooked that little bit when I scanned through.
Some potentially tough/obnoxious pairings since this is open now to squads:
Deathreavers
B-11 Resistance (or M-43 + Kira Jax)
Axegrinders + either Mogrimm or Migol
Marro Stingers (or Marro Warriors)
any of the unique samurai squads + Gozen Tomoe
4 Air Elementals or 4 Fire Elementals

[Garenex]

Gandalf
Raelin
Axegrinders x2
Migol

This army had excellent coordination. Order markers were split pretty evenly between the Axegrinders and Gandalf, as the dwarves and Migol did the majority of the attacking and Gandalf brought up Raelin and the stragglers, so I never had to waste an OM bringing just bringing up Raelin. My opponent was running elven wizards, and while he didn’t play them all that well, Gandalf’s leadership worked very well, and maybe seemed OP for his price. So my opinion after just the one game is that the Leadership, while it is probably one of the most fun abilities to use, it may need to be tweaked a bit, as being able to pull a figure like Raelin along just seems to good.

[caps]

Thanks for the test.

Being able to pull Raelin along is a strong ability for sure.

I wonder, are there other 2-3 figure pods that include squads we should consider testing? Have we overlooked one?

[elvenwizard9]

I might take this for a spin later -

UNIQUE-JANK-POD
Gandalf 165
Raelin 245
Tagawas 365
Kravs 465
Drow Chainfighter x2 515

Could sub the Chainfighters for MW's or Tarns. Sounds good on paper, not so sure how well it would *actually* function. Ultimate Pod formation, though.

This sounds good for mobility but would probably suck:

GANDALF AND THE ELVES
Gandalf 165
Syvarris 265
Emiroon 345
Arkmer 395
Warriors of Ashra x2 495

Gandalf tows along the heroes, Emiroon tows along the squads - sounds like a deal to me. Protect the pod with Arkmer's Engagement Strike and screen with Ashra.

GANDALF, LEADER OF MEN
Gandalf 165
Marcus Decimus Gallus 265
Sgt. Drake 375
Romans x3/Redcoats x2 525

What? It sounded like fun to drag Drake around as a bodyguard for Marcus. :P

[caps]

Someone should try Gandalf with Jandar Soldiers and the new Pathfinders.

[Garenex]

Just finished two playtests using these setups.

Gandalf - 130
Stingers x4 - 240
Raelin - 80

Gandalf -130
Raelin - 80
Kaemon - 120
Tandros - 120

In the playtests I've done so far, I can't see ever running Gandalf without Raelin. With only three defense, he's just far too squishy for my liking, and not ever having to waste an order marker on Raelin, and still having her in play makes it near ludicrous not to have her in your army.

As far as enjoyability, playing all (or nearly all) heroes was the most fun way to run him. I have thus far not even used Blazing Strike, so I do not have much of an opinion on that, except to say that a friend mentioned he didn't feel Blazing Strike was very thematic, and I kinda agree (though I'm sure that was debated earlier in the process, so I'm not too worried about it). In the end, I'm questioning if Leadership needs to be nerfed a little bit, (such as dropping it from 4 units to 3) or up Gandalf's points to 150 or so.

[TREX]

Are any of you guys still working on this project. Cause I love me some Tolkien characters. just curious.

[caps]

Originally Posted by TREX

Are any of you guys still working on this project. Cause I love me some Tolkien characters. just curious.

I am still interested in working on it, but I have even less time now than I used to.

[TREX]

If you guys are wanting to ever revive this, I would be willing to join in on it. Including play testing and design. I have a hoard of LOTR and Hobbit minis that are begging for cards. I'll keep an eye out and help you guys when you want to start it back up. The mini availability and character count is plenty for a project like this. I would guess there is a large enough fan base for it as well. I don't know what your play testing sheets are like, but c3v, c3g, and hoss have a pretty cool PT precedent to use.(I'm assuming you guys did have that already.)