The Road to Edain 4.6: War of the Ring - Graphics Update Part III news

After detailing the changes to models on the livingworld and to the regions and its seals, the third part of our graphic update of the War of the Ring gamemode tackles the banners of armies and heroes.

Each of the upcoming nine factions has received heavily revamped banners and, in some cases, new army leaders.

Gondor

Banners of Gondor

Gondor's banners are kept simple. The White Tree is emblazoned on a dark blue background with seven silver stars above. The lower border is adorned with smaller flourishes and frayed. The pole is pragmatically designed from simple wood. For each of the four army leaders, Aragorn, Boromir, Faramir or Imrahil replace the White Tree respectively.

For Rohan, a white horse on a green background represents the realm of the horse lords with their many grasslands. It is adorned by golden and red decorations. The wooden horse's head at the top of the pole, however, is magnificent. The army leaders are Théoden, Théodred, Éomer and Gamling.

The banner of the Wood Elves is a light blue-purple and is spangled with many stars in the lower area. In the upper area you find the crest of Galadriel on a golden-yellow background. The crowning touch is a leaf-like decoration at the top. In contrast, the banners of the army leaders Galadriel, Celeborn, Haldir and Thranduil appear quite simple, but have a special shape.

The kinship between the elven realms can also be seen in their banners. The Imladris banner, for example, has a turquoise background emblazoned with Elrond's sigil. This is playfully surrounded by ornaments. The leaf is also set on the top. There has been a change in the hero armies. Halbarad is now the fourth leader instead of Arwen, alongside Elrond, the Twins and Glorfindel.

The Arkenstone as the emblem of the Lonely Mountain is of course the focus of the banners of the Dwarves of Erebor. In the lower area, the brown background is decorated with golden patterns. The banners of Dáin II. Ironfoot, Thorin III Stonehelm, Glóin and King Brand are instead decorated with dwarven runes at the edge, which inspire the allies and promise terrible things to the enemies.

The banner of Isengard speaks a clear language: The armies of the White Hand are advancing. That is all that is needed on the dark, frayed banner. At the top of the pole, however, a crebain from Dunland spreads its wings and augurs impending doom. The banners of the army leaders are embossed with their countenances, which rest in a steel setting.

The Eye of the Dark Lord also rests darkly on the banners of his armies. Overall, the banners of Mordor have a devilish impression in colour and shape. A skull above the banners warns all enemies of Mordor of their coming doom. The armies of Mordor are led by the Witch-King, Khamûl, Mouth of Sauron and Gothmog, who are also framed by the Eye of Sauron.

The banner of the Misty Mountains should already be familiar from a previous update. Bolg's symbol stands for a united army of goblins and therefore combines features of all three major goblin realms. A little rust can also be seen at the top edge, whereas the tips are drenched in blood at the bottom. The goblins follow Bolg, the Great Goblin, the Chieftain of Moria and, of course, Smaug into battle.

Unlike the other evil races, even Angmar's banner reflects discipline and organisation within its army. The banners are uniformly shaped, have a silver border and are all united under the Iron Crown, which not only depicts the coat of arms but is also enthroned on the top. The pictures of the army leaders Witch-King, Mornamath, Dûrmath and Hwaldar already give you a glimpse of the new palantir pictures of these heroes.

Finally, we would like to mention that we have also given the joint heroes Glorfindel and Glóin a shared banner for the good campaign from BfME2, which will be playable in the War of the Ring. Mode

We hope you enjoyed the last in the series of these updates and, as always, we welcome your feedback!

Your Edain Team