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War's Aftermath

Following each game of Battle Companies, both sides will have a few things to work out. You will have to see if those that fell in battle recover, become injured, or perhaps even perish; as well as working out the amount of Experience that each model gains, and if this allows them the chance to promote or potentially become a Hero in their own right. You will also have a chance to spend your hard earned Influence Points on Reinforcements, wargear or other items from the Armoury should you wish. Finally, after all of this has been completed, you will need to work out your new Battle Company Rating ahead of your next game.

Whilst at first this may seem a little daunting, trust us, it is very easy once you get the hang of it. It is also a good idea to go through this with your opponent so that you can both see how each other has progressed, and chat about the game you just had over a nice cup of tea and a cake!

STEP 1 — INJURIES

After your battle has reached its natural conclusion, it is time to work out what Injuries, if any, your Battle Company has sustained following their encounter. This is a very important part of maintaining your Battle Company and should be the first thing you do after the battle is finished — ideally while the kettle is boiling in the background!

Every model in your Battle Company that was removed from the board as a casualty (with the exception of models that fled the board) must roll to see how their wounds have affected them. Some may make a full recovery, shaking off their injuries and soldiering on; some may be permanently hurt and suffer long-term wounds that may affect them in the future; and others may simply succumb to their wounds and perish upon the field of battle.

Warrior models must roll on the Warrior Injury chart, whilst Hero models must roll on the Hero Injury chart if they are removed as a casualty; both of these can be found on pages 10-11. You may have noticed that Warriors are more likely to die than Heroes; this is to reflect the heroic nature of Middle-earth, and also helps to streamline the game, allowing you to focus on the stories and deeds of your Heroes, and prevent too much bookkeeping getting in the way of having some fun games. Injury rolls should always be done with your opponent present.

Models that fled the board as a result of a failed Courage test do not roll on their respective Injury chart — they only ran away after all. They are assumed to have made a Full Recovery; however, they will not heal any previous wounds as a result of having made a Full Recovery.

If any model suffers the Dead result when rolling on their respective Injury chart, remove them from your Battle Company Roster — their adventure has come to an abrupt and untimely end. All of their Equipment is lost and cannot be given to another member of the company. If a model's mount fled or was killed during the course of game, do not roll on the Injury chart for it. Instead, it is assumed that they simply get a new mount in time for the next battle, or are reunited with their four-legged friend as they regroup. The only way that a mount can be permanently lost is if the model riding it dies, in which case it is removed from your Battle Company along with all of their other wargear and possessions.

STEP 2 — EXPERIENCE

Once you have resolved all of the Injuries that your Battle Company has suffered, it is time to work out how many Experience Points the members of your Battle Company have earned, and if any of them have gained enough to potentially progress and improve their skills. Experience is gained in a variety of ways, the most common of which are listed below, and is used to calculate when the members of your Battle Company are ready to improve.

Hero and Warrior models gain Experience Points in slightly different ways.

HERO EXPERIENCE

Hero models gain Experience Points in the following ways:

  • Each time the Hero causes a Wound on an enemy model, even if it is subsequently prevented by Fate, they will gain +1 Experience Point.

  • Each time the Hero participates in a battle, they will gain +1 Experience Point.Each time the Hero model's Battle Company wins a Scenario that they participated in, they will gain +1 Experience Point.

  • Each time a Hero gains 5 Experience Points, they may roll on any of the Hero Progression charts that are available to them. All of these charts, along with any restrictions as to which Hero models may roll on them, are listed on pages 14-17.

WARRIOR EXPERIENCE

Warrior models gain Experience Points in the following ways:

  • For each game in which the Warrior causes one or more Wounds on enemy models, even if they are subsequently prevented by Fate, they will gain +1 Experience Point.

  • Each time the Warrior participates in a battle, they will gain +1 Experience Point.

Whenever a Warrior gains 5 Experience Points, they may roll on the Warrior Progression chart found on page 12.

No member of a Battle Company may have more than 105 Experience Points. Should a model reach this lofty total, they cannot increase any further — they have got as good as they can get!

Some Scenarios may have extra ways to generate Experience during the game. Where this is the case, it will be clearly listed in the Scenario.

If, during a battle, two or more models win a Duel roll and the number of Wounds inflicted exceeds the enemy model's total number of Wounds, the controlling player can choose which friendly model actually caused the fatal Wound and therefore gains the Experience Point.

For example: Two Orc Warriors are in combat with a Warrior of Minas Tirith. They win the Duel roll and both score a Wound. As the Warrior of Minas Tirith only has 1 Wound, only one of the Wounds inflicted can count for the purposes of gaining Experience. The player controlling the Orcs chooses which of the Orc Warriors (it cannot be both) has slain the Warrior of Minas Tirith.

STEP 3 — INFLUENCE

Now that you have sorted out your Injuries and Experience, it is time to move onto Influence. This represents the allies of a Battle Company providing them with aid; whether it is Lord Denethor sending reinforcements to a Gondor company embroiled in battle, The Elvenking providing extra provisions to a band of Elves as they roam the pathways of Mirkwood, or Sauron bolstering his forces in Mordor — it is Influence that we use to represent this. The more victories the Battle Company earns, the more resources their allies will send to them in the form of Influence.

A Battle Company will always gain 2 Influence Points for participating in a Scenario. Additionally, players receive the following:

  • +1 Influence Point for a Draw
  • +2 Influence Points for a Win

There are three ways for you to spend your hard-earned Influence Points following a battle:

REINFORCEMENTS

The first way you can spend your Influence Points is to roll on your Battle Company's Reinforcement chart. This will bring in new members to your company, sent by the lords or rulers that your company is sworn to. Each Battle Company has its own unique Reinforcement chart, which can be found on the Battle Company's own page. These will detail which models you can potentially recruit to your company, and what you need to roll to do so. It costs 3 Influence Points to roll on a Reinforcement chart, so make sure you spend them wisely!

ADJUST A REINFORCEMENT ROLL

The second way you can spend Influence Points is to adjust a roll you have made on a Reinforcement chart. This works in a similar way to using Might points to adjust the score on a D6, in that for each Influence Point spent in this way you may increase the result of your Reinforcement roll by 1. Note that unlike Might points, spent Influence Points do not carry over to a second roll should there be one. Only a maximum of 3 Influence Points can be spent in this manner per Reinforcement roll.

PURCHASE ITEMS FROM THE ARMOURY

The final way that you can spend Influence Points is to buy additional equipment and wargear for the Hero and Warrior models within your Battle Company.

You may buy all manner of things for your Battle Company from the Armoury on pages 18-29, including wargear, Equipment, Wanderers and Creatures, for the cost given in Influence Points.

Warrior models may only purchase wargear that is directly available to them; if you are unsure what your Warrior models may take, simply check their profile in the relevant Army book to find out what options they have.

Hero models are much less limited by what wargear they may purchase, and may take any piece of wargear available to any member of their Battle Company. This is explained in more detail on page 18.

Unlike wargear, Equipment is not as restricted as to which members of your Battle Company can take what. In the Armoury is a list of all of the Equipment options, as well as a list of Wanderers and Creatures, you can purchase for your Battle Company. These can all be purchased for the members of your company, but will be lost if the owner is slain.

Models in your Battle Company cannot swap wargear between each other. However, any model may freely discard any wargear they are currently equipped with.

STEP 4 — CALCULATE YOUR BATTLECOMPANY'S RATING

After you have sorted out all of your Injuries, Experience and Influence, and the effects that has on your Battle Company, it is then time to work out your Battle Company Rating. This is a very important step as, when you play a game, the difference in Battle Company Ratings can have significant impacts on the outcome of that battle.

Whilst at first it may seem tricky, working out your Battle Company Rating is easy, and won't take you very long following your battle — leaving even more time for another exciting encounter!

WARRIORS

Warrior models are simply worth the same amount in points as they are in their profile in the relevant Army book, including any wargear options they might possess.

HEROES

Hero models are a little more complicated to work out, but the process is still relatively simple.

The first step you need to do is to work out the points cost of your Hero model, following the simple guide below:

  • Every Hero started out life in Battle Companies as a Warrior of some description, so start by noting down the cost of that Warrior using the system above.

  • For each point of Might, Will or Fate that your Hero has gained, add 5 points.

  • For each increase to the Hero model's Fight value (do not count any change in Shoot value), Strength, Defence or Courage characteristics, add 5 points.

  • For each increase to the Hero model's Attacks or Wounds characteristics, add 10 points.

  • For each special rule that the Hero has gained, add 5 points.

Now that you have worked out the points cost of your Hero, you will need to work out the value of their wargear. The cost of the Hero model's wargear is dependent on the number of Attacks and Wounds the Hero has on their profile. If the number of Attacks and Wounds a Hero has adds up to a total of three or more, they will pay more for their wargear. In the Wargear section of the Armoury (page 18), every piece of wargear will be followed by a set of brackets containing two numbers separated by a slash — e.g., shield (1/5). The first number is the points cost of the piece of wargear if the Attacks and Wounds of the Hero total two or less, whilst the second number is the points cost of the piece of wargear if the Attacks and Wounds of the Hero total three or greater.

Another important thing to note is that a Hero will not pay any points on any wargear that was built into their profile as a Warrior — that cost has already been taken into account.

For example: A Hero who started life as a Warrior of Minas Tirith will not pay any points on their heavy armour as that came into account in the Warrior of Minas Tirith points cost, however, as a shield was bought as an option, the Hero would still pay the points cost for that as normal.

Adelmar is Adam's Rohan Hero, and the leader of his Battle Company. Over the course of his adventures, Adelmar has gained the following profile:

Mv F S D A W C M W F
6" 4/4+ 4 6 2 2 4 3 1 1

WARGEAR: Heavy armour, shield & sword.

EQUIPMENT: Lucky Talisman

SPECIAL RULES: Heroic Presence

  • Adelmar started out life as a Warrior of Rohan with shield (7 points).
  • He has gained +1 Fight, +1 Strength and +1 Courage (+15 points).
  • He has gained +1 Attack and +1 Wound (+20 points).
  • He has 3 Might points, 1 Will point and 1 Fate point (+25 points).
  • He has a Lucky Talisman (+5 points).
  • He has the Heroic Presence special rule (+5 points).
  • As his Attacks and Wounds add up to greater than 3, he pays 5 points for his heavy armour (+5 points).
  • As he started out with a shield, he is not charged for it.

This brings Adelmar to a grand total of 82 points, making him quite an impressive Hero on the battlefield!

One final important thing to note is that models that are missing the next game due to Injury do not count towards your Battle Company's Rating for that game.

'AGAINST THE ODDS' BONUS

Now that you have calculated your Battle Company's Rating, you will need to compare it to that of your opponents at the start of your next game. For every full 15 points of difference between the two company Ratings, the Battle Company with the lower Rating receives one re-roll that they can use at any point during the game (but not the post-game sequence), to a maximum of 10. Additionally, after the game, the company with the lower Rating will receive an additional Influence Point for each 15 points difference in Rating, to a maximum of 10.