(48 unique (who can't be remake) heroes in total if I count well)

FOR PLAYER 1 (HUMAN PLAYER, BLUE, RIVENDELL) :

1: Bilbo Baggins (at young age, a hobbit (« halfling ») who can be boosted by finding the Elven magic short sword « Sting » (+10 attack) in the loot of the cave of the trolls and receiving Thorin's mithrill shirt in Erebor forge; only him can find the ring of invisibility in Gollum's cave (and even enter the cave), open the gate of the Elvenking's dungeon and free the dwarves and steal the Arkenstone to Smaug with it, and also enter in Dale even in war to give the Arkenstone to Thranduil and make peace between the men of Laketown, Wood elves and dwarves ; Bilbo is necessary to tame Beorn, convice Laketown men to help the company of Thorin (instead to kill them at sight), trigger the Goblin trap to enter in Goblintown by the front porch of the west and find the hidden door of Erebor. Quite a « key » character for blue player, so don't lose him and leave him back!).

2: Gandalf the Grey (a strong and wise wizzard, who can be boosted by finding the Elven magic long sword « Glamdring » (+10 attack (beware : considering the fact that Gandalf is strong enough with regular stats, and he got them for the next scenario at start (« The Lord Of The Rings ») with Glamdring, he starts here with -10 attack but substraction of stats by trigger is not shown when you click on a character in the game) in the loot of the cave of the trolls ; he is the trigger of many missions here like the first one, by giving Thror's map and the key of the secret door to his son, Thorin ; if he is emprisoned, he can also be rescued).  

3: Thorin Oakenshield (the dwarven king under the lonely mountain, Erebor, that he must reclaim and free from Smaug the dragon ; he can be boosted by finding the Elven magic broad sword « Orcrist » (+10 attack) in the loot of the cave of the trolls, or taking a king's plate armor in Erebor forge ; he triggers many missions and only him can use the Thror's map or the key of the secret door of Erebor (after Gandalf gives them to him in Bree), or give Erebor armors to others).

4: Lord Elrond on a horse (first a strong heavy cavalry hero present at start in Rivendell in front of his house; he only can decypher the Thror's map ; he goes in Lorien to warn Galadriel and Saruman after and can come back as warrior on feet to rescue Gandalf from Dol Guldur's prison).

5: Dwalin (a strong dwarf lord hero with splash damage (thanks to a twirling war hammer): he can be boosted by an armor in the forge of Erebor like all the company of Thorin, by Thorin himself)

6: Gloin (another dwarf lord, the father of Gimli with sames stats (notably a huge piercing armor))

7: Balin (last dwarf lord in the company, the oldest and the weakest).

8: 9 other dwarves which are boosted in HP elite dwarf noblemen of Erebor (Oin, Kili, Fili, Bofur, Bombur, Bifur, Dori, Nori and Ori).

9: Beorn (a wild skin changer in a gigantic bear, who can be converted by going in his house, for Gandalf, Thorin and Bilbo ; his attack is big and hit points too ; he can match pretty much all unit in one on one combat, even the nazguls, but not sauron or Smaug ; he is first restricted in the area around his house but after the war is declared between dwarves and men and Green Elves with the death of Smaug and the rivality coming from the desire to take the treasure of Erebor, he joins the battle against orcs tranported by the great eagles and can go everywhere on the map)

10: Radagast the Brown (a distrustful wizzard who is known by Beorn and can only be triggered by Gandalf, as friend and collegue ; he got a powerful telekinetic attack and quite big magical armor).

11 : Saruman the white (the strong leader of the wizzards of Middle Earth with huge armor and far range telekynetic attack, triggered by Radagast in Lorien forest).

12 : Elrond on feet (triggered in Lorien forest by Radagast to free Gandalf from Dol Guldur's prison)

13 : Galadriel (she is the strongest unit after Smaug here, even more than in the data mod and The Lord Of The Rings scenario ; she is triggered again to save Gandalf by Radagast (in fact, all the last 3 heroes and Gandalf are nicknamed the « White Council ») ; she has a huge attack capable to kill even strong units in one blow and even repel the lord of evil Sauron easily but is weaken and go back to rest after his death (with Elrond and Saruman) and beware, she makes also splash damages on allies, and is relatively fragile, so use her carrefully).


FOR PLAYER 2 (HUMAN PLAYER, RED, DOL GULDUR) :

1: An orc chieftain (strong infantry hero in Dol Gudur ruins guarding its prison).

2: Azog (the pale orc champion, leader of the army of the orcs of Sauron of the North ; he is made in Dold Guldur's wonder, the prison ; he is a strong infantry warrior hero).

3: The 9 nazguls (on feet, they appear in Dol Guldur close to the statues of them after Gandalf is released by destroying the Dol Guldur's wonder ; note that the Witch King of Angmar (with same look : Black Numenorean) is stronger than the others and that they all don't make splash damage because are not on horse, unlike the black riders of the Lord Of The Rings scenario (and they have less armor and speed than them, but better attack and HP)).

4: The Necromancer (in fact Sauron in semi physical form : less strong than the integral physical form of him in The Lord Of The Rings scenario (he receives here no boost on the original mod), if he get back his ring, he is still quite strong but less than Galadriel ; he appears after all nazguls are dead ,on the statue in the center of the Dolf Guldur's ruins and got no limited area, so don't resign too easily and protect at least one regular unit to not be defeated by the destruction of all your production buildings; if Gandalf comes in Dol Guldur, Sauron's mind will automatically emprison him in your wonder (he is released but wounded after its destruction) ; know also that the white council (Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel) comes in Dol Guldur to save Gandalf and thus, got a restricted area around Dol Guldur and Lorien: you can flee them!)


FOR PLAYER 3 (HUMAN PLAYER, GREEN, MIRKWOOD) :

1: Thranduil (the eternal Elven king, on feet, at start in front of his wonder, his throne ; he is one of the strongest infantry in the game and thus a good complement of any kind of Elven Bowmen who can shoot from behind him to support his charge and he is resilient enough to be their shield against entire armies)

2: Tauriel (the captain of the Mirkwood Elves guard of king Thranduil: an archer hero with fast attack but low range).

3: Legolas (the prince of Mirkwood, son of Thranduil, he can be made in the wonder ; he got huge and far range attack but is quite fragile compared to other heroes).

FOR PLAYER 4 (HUMAN PLAYER, ORANGE, MISTY MOUNTAINS) :

1: The Great Goblin (king of Goblintown, the underground city of goblins in the tunnels of the Misty Mountains ; monstruous infantry warrior with splash damage and lot of HP but low armor)

2: An orc chieftain in the low levels of Moria.


FOR PLAYER 5 (HUMAN PLAYER, TEAL, DALE) :

Bard (a strong archer hero made in wonder (Laketown Town Hall) ; he can lead the dwarves safely in Laketown and must be present to convince laketown to ally with them ; he can also get the special black arrows from his father Girion with a huge attack boost to kill Smaug (if he arrives in Laketown)).


FOR PLAYER 6 (HUMAN PLAYER, PURPLE, GUNDABAD) :

1: Tom, Bert and William (3 mountain trolls heroes escaped form Gundabad, with different HP boosts, restricted in a forest between Weathertop and the Bruinen ford ; they guard a treasure in a cave, north in the Mistay Mountain)

2: 2 orc chieftains (one per gate and castle)

3: Bolg (a strong orc chieftain, the corrupted son of Azog, general of Gundabad army, in the north, in a former dwarf mine taken by the Witch King to make it the entrance of the kingdom of Angmar and his forge of weapons ; Gundabad was purified by the dwarves but left in ruins and taken back not long ago by the orcs leaded by the Necromancer (Sauron) so nobody is aware of it except the orcs).


FOR PLAYER 7 (HUMAN PLAYER, GREY, IRON HILLS) :

Dain Ironfoot (the dwarf king of Iron Hills valley, with a fortified citadel, a mine and strong gates in the entrance of the valley ; he is made in the wonder (Dain Throen Hall) and is a strong infantry with high armor).


FOR PLAYER 8 (AI, YELLOW, EREBOR) :

1: Beorn (look player 1 for more infos)

2: Gollum (restricted in his cave, only Bilbo can come in it and steal his ring, when he get it, he become blind to him by becoming in stand ground stance ; he will try to kill Bilbo at sight and beware, is more strong than him even if he got Sting)

3: Smaug (the last Dragon of Middle Earth ; he is very old, greedy, selfish, nasty (that's why only ai must play him: because he won't team anybody even for his own interest), big and strong ; he guards the infinite treasure of gold of Erebor (which is here symbolized by a monument (« Erebor Throne Hall ») giving the equivalent of the gold of seven relics to whom owns it) ; he guards also the arkenstone next to him and only Bilbo can find it and take it under his nose if he got the ring of invisibility found in the cave of Gollum ; the dwarves can prepare a trap to weaken him in the forge of Erebor if they lit it and lure him to it ; first, he is asleep (symbolized by a very restricted area on the loot under the bridge, in the underground of the Lonely Mountain and on non attack stance) ; anyone who will break the main gate or pass close to him will awake him (delete the restricted area and non attack stance) except Bilbo with the ring of invisibility who will awake him few second later thanks to his smell)

marcknop, march 2020