New Faction: The Ettenmoors

 Hey Reader!

So this is something new on this channel, and we'd love your feedback on it to see what you think. As I reread the works of Tolkien, I'm reminded about how many cool Germanic mythological stuff is found in The Lord of the Rings (not surprising, considering that Tolkien was writing a mythos for Britain), and unfortunately not all of these things appear in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in prominent ways, so we are limited in what we have in our miniatures line.

So I took a moment to think about some of these creatures and where they lived, and I realized that they all lived in the Misty Mountains. And that got me thinking about a very loose alliance that would make for a very interesting fighting force on the table, which is where the Ettenmoors faction was born.

We will start by introducing this homebrew faction - what it contains, where they appear in Tolkien's mythology, and what we know about them - and then we will go into presenting the profiles for the various creatures.

The faction is a neutral faction, with some models being taken as part of a Forces of Good army, some models being taken as part of a Forces of Evil army, and some models that can be taken as part of a neutral army. Some are copied from other armies, others are similar to models in existing armies, but most of them are new, giving a unique primarily monster army that we hope you will enjoy.

I.  The Ettenmoors: The Might of the Mountains

The Ettenmoors is a section of the Misty Mountains north of Rivendell. In this region (and across the Misty Mountains) you will find a mixture of stone giants, werewolves, trolls of various kinds, and wild animals, which is the basis for this faction.

Some of these creatures are well documented: stone trolls (like we see in The Hobbit), cave trolls (like we encounter in Moria), and various bears and deer in the Carrock region of the mountain range are pretty well understood from a lore perspective. But there are others that raise questions.

The first is one that we know decently well from The Silmarillion and The Lost Tales, and that is the werewolf. A staple of Germanic/Saxon mythology (and appearing in some Scottish and Irish myths as well), werewolves are most well known for their part in the story of Beren and Luthien, and the saga of the Silmarils. They are fast, ravenous, and ferocious in battle, with greater strength than your average person.

The second is the giant, which is referenced by Gandalf in The Hobbit, and the party gets to see them later as they ascend the mountain, throwing stones to each other in a crude and dangerous game. These guys are big - at least as tall as ents, if not taller - and some can be evil, but some are a good sort, including the one that Gandalf says he will talk to about closing up the entrance to the goblin tunnel.

The third is the two-headed troll, which is a creature hotly debated by the few who really care. Mentioned in a throwaway line in The Hobbit, Gandalf insinuates that there are trolls with two heads, but whether this means they literally have two heads or whether it means that they have a mind of their own plus the will of Sauron ruling over them is a mystery. The critical thing we know about them is that they are evil and they are not the same as the stone trolls that Thorin's Company encounters (as Gandalf speaks of them as if they are different), so for the purposes of more interesting army lists we are treating them as an actual two-headed troll, different from the stone trolls of the Trollshaws.

Fourth we have the snow troll, another creature only referenced in an obscure part of Tolkien's lore, in this case in the tale of Helm Hammerhand, who went about the Dunlending camps with a white pelt on his back killing his enemies with his bare hands. The Dunlendings say that he stalked them "like a snow troll," which presumes the existence of a snow troll.

Of course, it could also just be a Dunlending "bogeyman" sort of thing designed to scare children, so we don't really know that they exist. But it seems far more interesting if they do, so we decided to build a profile for them, because Stalk Unseen on a troll is such a novel concept.

And that gave us a lot of fodder for a monster-heavy army that is admittedly short on numbers, but could be very fun to play.

II.  The Ettenmoors: Units and Stats

The stats of the Ettenmoors units can be found (and easily printed to show your gaming group) here. You'll find a version in full color with a nice background that is cool to look at but more harsh on your printer, so we've also included a black and white version for ease of printing. We will start by looking at the army bonus and army composition, and then move through a quick discussion of the heroes and warriors you can take.

The army is composed of Stone Giant Kings, Stone Giant Craftsmen, Snow Troll Chieftains, Werewolf Chieftains, Two-Headed Troll Brutes, Stone Troll Brutes, Stone Giants, Two-Headed Trolls, Cave Trolls, Snow Trolls, Stone Trolls, Werewolves, Carrock Bears, and Carrock Deer.

The army bonus for the faction is Games with Rocks, giving you the Mountain Dweller special rule, and you add +1 to your Shoot Value when you are throwing stones. This doesn't make your throwing particularly good, but hey, you get to have games with rocks like they do in the books!

Of the heroes, Stone Giant Kings and Stone Giant Craftsmen may be taken in Forces of Good, Forces of Evil, or Neutral armies. All of the other heroes can only be taken in Forces of Evil or Neutral armies. Similarly Stone Giants, Carrock Bears, and Carrock Deer can be taken in any army, while the rest may only be taken in Forces of Evil or Neutral armies. This means that you will likely be playing a Forces of Evil or a Neutral force when using this army, unless you really love giants teamed with, say, Beorn or Radagast.

For the Forces of Evil, you get access to a wide range of monstrous and deadly creatures: tough trolls, sneaky trolls, and unyielding werewolves. They are expensive, to be sure, but if you like the idea of fighting with a relentless army that is mostly monsters, you can do it with this army. And for armies like Angmar, you get access to a wider range of frontline bruisers to accompany your orcs.

It's not an amazing army, but I think it's 1) thematically cool, 2) fun to play, and 3) gives a lot of room for customization depending on what you want to do with it. As someone who enjoys the monster rules, throwing stones, and berserker-style special rules, you have a great option with The Ettenmoors.

Conclusion

We love talking about the game, best tactics, and how to build armies with unique playstyles. The idea of creating our own homebrew content is a new venture for us (and probably won't do this often), so let us know what you think! We have high hopes that as the Amazon Prime series starts we will get new models and units for some factions (and who knows, maybe even a werewolf if we're going to the Second Age!), so who knows: maybe someday this faction will be outdated/antiquated by official lines of miniatures and stat profiles. But in the meantime, if you like giants, trolls, and werewolves, may I recommend The Ettenmoors.

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane - yes, with humans alongside me if I must." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone