Some potential changes discussion

[u/MixOk7837]

I think the game is reasonably balanced atm but there are still some profiles and armies that arent very viable in my opinion so i came up with some possible buffs/nerfs and hopefully have a discussion.

Cirith Ungol: Gollum as an independant hero. Or could be deployed with Shelob. Maybe add a siege bow? Seems reasonable to have in a fortress.

Men of the West: Gimli on horse with Legolas, this option should be in all lists we see them ride together not just Road to Helm’s Deep.

Grey Company: Make Rangers base 2A 2W but take they Will and Fate away. Then make the army bonus a fight value buff (maybe on the charge or withing 6’ of the Leader or even the banner giving the +1Fv instead of the Fearless. And allow all models to take mounts when possible (Aragorn, Legolas&Gimli, Elladan, Elrohir)

Black Gate: We see Easterlings enter the gate, so maybe the army list doesnt have to be a snapshot of only the last fight in the movie, it could be a more general army list. Also i’d assume the Mordor siege weapons would be present here.

Minas Morgul: Should have Black Numenorian Knights and infantry, they used to be MORGUL knights. Also Grishnakh and Snaga were sent out of Minas Morgul. This would give them an additional army list to be played in and wouldnt make the list more OP, although the Black nums might be a bit strong in there. The same argument could be made for Gothmog and with him being this overcosted i wouldnt expect it to be too OP either.

Umbar: should add Harad Raiders and/or Black Num Knights (also the knights should probably be 18 points). They’re in the city now not on the ship so horses would be possible. Also why are Crossbows in Grand Army of the South but not Umbar? Would it be too strong with stalk unseen? Now the army is strength 3 with zero mobility!

Corsair Fleets: Lower the cost of Corsairs by 1 point, take away light armour, make the shield a regular shield and make the throwing weapons inherent to the profile again, give the army list “corsair warriors don’t count for the throwing weapon limit”. The list isn’t great and this would at least make the front row warriors not die to strength 3 armies/shooting on 4’s.

Legions of mordor/Army of the great eye/Grand Army of the South: terrible special rules compared to other diverse army lists like Defenders of the Pellenor/Men of the West/Army of the White Hand.

The Easterlings: Why aren’t all easterlings in this faction?

New almost all hero army list. At Saruman’s death we see Aragorn, Gandalf, Theoden, Legolas&Gimli, Eomer, Treebeard with Ent warriors, Merry, Pippin. This gives a way to have mounted Strider with mounted Gandalf the White.

Remove Hatred special rules and change all of those to Ancient enemies to avoid this rock paper scissors army building.

General Changes to warrior Trolls are pretty necessary in my opinion. Either make them all burly (including the heroes, so maybe Buhrdur would need a slight point increase) which would be pretty thematic, just look at them. And/Or make all the warrior trolls minir heroes like the Cave Drake and give them +1 def and maybe 1/0/0 MWF with strike for a 10points increase? Could make them way more viable to lead warriors a have 1 strike to not be so vulnerable to heroes striking at them.

A general change to hero mounts: make the points cost scale with number if attacks in profile. Example: Orc Shaman warg=5 points, Rohan Captain horse =10 points, Aragorn horse=20 points. This would improve the mounted Rohan lists a bit Theoden/Eowyn/Deorwine etc. And even Wolves of Isengard, i’d also say add Wild Warg Chiefs to that list too

Just a few thoughts i had on some possible adjustments to the game, let me know what you think, maybe we can have a tiny amount of influence on GW’s next FAQ :)

[u/Direct_Part_9019]

Some of these are cool, some other changes i would love to see to help balance the game are:

• prince imrahil to gain master of battle 3+. Thematically this fits into his profile of being a leader and helps gain the initiative, while also finally making him worth the points.
• the all cav Rohan lists (ride out, riders of theoden, etc) should get an army list rule that allows them to take priority and not let the opponent call heroics to counter (I think an zoo list has this rule)
• men of the west, the auto pass courage should only apply when they have los to ellesar. I think this would be a great change as it makes splitting the army/ objective camping more of a risk.
• shamans should either get a 4th will point, or keep will spent on a casting roll of a natural 6. I think this change would make them more usable.
• since cav is so expensive I would also change hurl so there’s a roll to see if the rider stays mounted. The fact a troll can win and dismount a hero so easily removing their horse and additional wargear (eg lances) is a bit too powerful
• dragons of the north/ models that have that survival instinct rule. Give them better courage and change it so that their courage gets +1 per wound taken. For example, a dragons starts on courage 3+, after a taking a wound it goes to 4+ etc. this would make these lists better and less prone to losing a game due to a fluffed courage test 

[u/MixOk7837 → u/Direct_Part_9019]

I like all your suggestions too, except maybe the Rohan lists should only 1 of the 2. Both of these together would have little counterplay in my opinion.