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As the mod moves closer to release, we're finishing off some minor work on the other factions. We've been concentrating on Isengard and Rohan, as these two factions were the most incomplete in the old Rhovanion Alliance Mod.



The bulk of Rohan's forces have been recently remodelled and reskinned to match the high artistic quality that characterizes the Dwarves and other factions in The Dwarf Holds. One of the key aspects of this quality is randomization. In our other factions, we've included variety within hordes - for example, there are 32,000 possible Orc Warriors that are randomly generated when the player builds a horde. Our new Rohan is no different - but the scale is even larger. Riders of Rohan have, for example, a pool of 24 million possible variations - no joke! Chances are that you'll never see the same Rider, mounted Archer or Yeoman in the same game.





We have also of course eliminated the vanilla BFME gold armour, and added a new effect for the Forged Blades upgrade - Tengwar runes are inscribed on the blades of upgraded weapons in Good factions.





I'm particularly proud of our work on the Peasants, who have also been remodeled and given a horde of amusingly agricultural weapons - your undrafted peasants will now wield pitchforks, scythes and rough axes, and gain some more professional weapons and shields when drafted.









Secondly, as Gimli son of Gloin has been moved to the Dwarf faction, we're adding a new Rohirric hero to replace him. Enter Elfhelm, a heroic Marshal of Rohan who fought in Theoden's host at the Pelennor. After the battle, he was given command of the Rohirric forces charged with the defence of Anorien and Gondor while King Eomer and the Lord Aragorn led a host to challenge the Black Gate. He was later honoured with the rank of Marshal of the East-Mark on Eomer's victorious return.





In the mod the combat capabilities of King Theoden and Eomer have been increased, and Elfhelm has claimed the role of early-game hero. His heroic powers include the ability to detect invisible units, a power that boosts his speed temporarily, and a leadership bonus to mounted troops. His late-game power is very potent - he can declare a Blinding Charge, stunning enemies that are nearby and negating their pike damage for a short period. Combined with Theoden's Glorious Charge, this is sure to be devastating.



The forces of Saruman have also recieved a facelift so they can stand beside their old foes. Lurtz and Saruman have new skins, and the Uruk-Hai now start off in the rough leather armour of the Scouts, and are upgraded to plated armour.





Warg Riders have new skins as well, and all units have a new, subtle effect for Forged Blades - runic Black Speech inscribed onto their weapons.









That's all for this week, hope you enjoyed the update!

Since Rob is busy I'll fill in.
I hope this looks alright it's my first time.

• Lone Wolf: I have concept Art for Mallor of Arnor
• MME: has some new screenshots here.

• RC Mod: RC Mod HOTW Poll, the December Poll, Elven Poll should they put them in the next release or not? Rohan's Royal Guard, Acosa Bears

• Wars of Arda: Elu Thingol has been made by EHL and there's renders of Melian, Luthien and Huan, Council of Doriath

Radspakr

I don't know what to tell you, but once more the "gods" do not favour us! Personally I must have been blessed with something, cause I've had like 10 PC's since 1997 when I bought my first Pentium II MMX 333Mhz with 32MB RAM and 120 MB HD =p... to my current AMD 2GHz, 2 Gb RAM, etc... I never EVER had any HD crash of any sort except once, when a Seagate Barracude II had some bad sectors which made some JPGs damaged. But other than that - nothing. (I've always used IBM/Hitachi in case you wanna know).

Since I joined T3A, I've had several team mates suffer from this numerous times. I have no idea why or what it is that you do, and I don't. But indeed it does happen somehow. Flameguard had it last time, and now it's Digi, for the 2nd time I think, and thus - all the polished Rhun fortress stuff is gone, yet again! Except the fortress itself ingame and the basic models that I got here in my comp. But the animations such as buildups and the Mumakil monument for the centre is gone. We still need buildups for the fortress itself, and all expansions, we need the centre column (monument) created and the staircase adjusted...

I'm not going to ask Digi to once more work on this, so until I find another modeler willing to finish the - pardon my french - god damn fuggin fortress to 110% - the mod is idle yet again (at least from me). This crap makes me lose inspiration severely, since I've been trying to have that darn fortress finished for like 1,5 years now. And no, I'm not pissed at Digi OFF COURSE... I'm pissed at circumstances and that technical shit like this affects the morale badly.

I need a modeler to do this in 1-2 weeks, or we'll just stop here until further notice... No need to work on a new beta featuring a new faction if we can't finish the most important structure of them all that also have been a thorn in my eye for years now. Considering how insanely hard this have been, things are NOT looikng that promising for a Rohan and a Harad faction for Beta 4.8 either. I guess you understand why...

Well, we'll see what happens... I'll discuss with the very small team I have left and we'll just have tro cross our fingers that I can find a modeler willing to do this. Worst case scenario, I'll hire someone to do it =p

Later

VIEW THE FULL MOVIE AT WWW.BORNOFHOPE.COM

Today, I present an update featuring a pair of the Dwarf faction's heroes. Enjoy.




Glóin, the venerable father of Gimli, was one of Thorin Oakenshield's twelve companions during the Quest for Erebor. Sent by Dain to the Council of Elrond with his son, he joins the fight against the evil pouring from Mordor.

In The Dwarf Holds, Glóin holds the position of early game hero. Because of his advanced age, his offensive power is not his strength, but he retains the stubborn toughness inherent to all Dwarves, reflected in his health and armour values. He also functions as a support hero, sporting several useful abilities. Glóin's knowledge of Middle-Earth through his travels allows him to increase the speed of nearby units slightly, and skills of survival gained give him the abilities needed to heal nearby troops and heroes. At later levels his Emissary ability grants him near-invincibility - potentially very useful when deploying his support skills. He can also use cunning and skill to lay a trap for units, immobilizing them if they enter its effect radius. The trap remains so long as Glóin maintains it - if he is moved, the trap immediately dissipates.







Gimli, moved from Rohan to aid his Dwarven kin, has also received a few improvements. At Level 5, his assaying and prospecting abilities allow him to boost a single Dwarf Mine's income. At Level 8, he dons upgraded armour from the forges of Erebor, increasing his defence slightly. These changes make Gimli even more versatile on the battlefield.