[Hobgoblin]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

I also don't think that Orcs are hard to Stat in TFT. Their ST will be as for men or perhaps less for smaller Goblins. Theyre tough and hardy so I'd give them Running and Toughness Talents, but I feel their weapons and armour will be crude compared to elves and men, so won't count for any more than Leather though it may be heavier to wear and their weapons are clumsier and more prone to breakage (just my view).

My quibble with big goblins (e.g. the Uruk-hai) as equivalent to men is that it would leave the half-orcs and Uruks mechanically identical, when they clearly have pronounced physical differences - and, consequently, different military functions.

That's a neat solution - mail counting as leather - but Tolkien does say that Orcs are good weapon-smiths:

"Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design ..."

We see evidence of quite elaborate Orcish craftsmanship in LotR (Grishnakh's dagger), and Frodo or Sam suggests that Orc-mail is quite protective. And - for example - the Isengard Orcs seem to be technologically ahead of the Men of Dunland.

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

In the books, the focus is on the heroic characters of the fellowship, who are unusually capable people and armed with fine or magical weapons and armour. It's not surprising they often cut down an Orc with one blow. (Bear in mind it only takes 8 hits to knock down an opponent, and said opponent may be more inclined to crawl away than stand up for more punishment).

Those are good points - but we see an awful lot of Orcs killing other Orcs with single blows - or single arrows. And ordinary Men do quite a bit of this too. They might simply be rolling a huge amount of threes or fours to get all those rolling heads, but it strikes me that you'd get a much more Tolkien-esque sort of combat by keeping Orcish ST low and giving them exemptions to use their typical weapons - thus reflecting both their small stature and their apelike strength.

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

TFT works well for LOTR with a bit of thought, so don't be put off.

I agree entirely with this! My view would be that a bit of thought can give you a more Tolkienesque flavour to the combat than the "balanced duel of equals" that seems to be the TFT default - and which always seems to me to be a bit more sword-and-sorcery-ish than Tolkien-esque.

It would also make encounters with Orcs a little more distinctive than, say, encounters with Dunlendings or Haradrim.

Anyway, apologies for all the pedantry - I love a good Tolkien discussion, and I think trying to translate literary representations of combat into game mechanics is quite a good game in itself!