Welcome to RJ - RotWK
Robert V. Johnson's modification to EA's BFMEII : The Rise of the Witch King
December & January '07-08 RJ News



 1/30/2008: Hero Powers and new models/skins

 1) First up are the Blue Wizards. While all the powers are not complete, I'll walk through a couple of things.
- When the blue wizards are near each other they enhance each other's power (Company of Isari). The bonus gained is a toned-down Gandalf the white (+Spell Damage, -Recharge Time). Video
- Of the Istari in the mod, Morinehtar is unique that he has 2 commandsets that you can switch between. The first are his normal powers, the second is a set of power to summon illusion units. These range from basic rhun/harad/khand infantry/cavalry to nature units (spiders, wargs, horses, etc.) to massive illusions etc. The illusions really don't do any damage, and when struck disappear in a puff of smoke. Video
- Morinehtar's level 10 power is "Blinding Light". He creates a brillant white light that knocks back enemy units for minimal damage and virtually blinds them for a time, reducing their vision. Video
- Romestamo's level 10 power is "Rock Formation". He summons an animated rock unit for massive damage to enemy units. Summon Battle

2) Wulf, Isengard's Wildman chief has been re-done to be an axe-thrower instead of toggle unit. Screenshots - 1 2 3 Raze Building Power

3) Many elven units are being worked over with new skins, new units, etc. Here are some of the ones you can look forward to:
Mirkwood Archer (reskin by Shikari) - 1 2
Mirkwood Warrior (skin by Shikari) - 1 2 3
Rivendell Spearmen (skin by Shikari) - 1 2 3 4
Celeborn - 1 2 3
Elrond (skin by EHL) - 1 2 3

4) The last item for the update are the goblins. I've never been satisfied with any HA version of the basic goblin units, so I thought I'd try another approach. To start goblins have absolutely no armor, and when they buy the HA upgrade they gain their armor of their normal skins, which I think works well for a heavy armor skin.
Goblin Fighters - 1 2
Goblin Archers - 1 2
Goblin Pikemen - 1 2

While this doesn't cover everything that is being worked on, it should give you an idea of what's happening right now in RJ.

As always, thank you for playing!
Robert J.


1/17/2008: Dwarven skins, Elven Skins, Milestones, and more

1) First thing I'd like to do is give a great "THANK YOU!" to everyone who has helped this mod along. We just crossed the 5000(!) download mark at lordoftherings.filefront.com, and I could not have asked for anything more in the response to the mod so far. Thank you to the Beta team, all of the those who've contributed, to T3A for hosting RJ, and to all of you who have played the mod. This has just been a great experience creating this mod.

Searching across the web I've also found another site that has uploaded my mod. I did not even know this was up, but here we are:
Strategy Informer

Also, lordoftherings.filefront.com if you did not know has been holding polls for BFME mods. While they are not comprehensive as they miss, in my opinion, some of the best mod releases of the year, it's a great place to support a number of mods on The 3rd Age - TEA, SEE, WotE, RJ, and other affiliates like BoG.

2) Well, one thing that seems to be done over an over, including in RJ, is a re-working of the dwarven skins. Shikari has really developed his talents from art to skinning and I'm proud to show of his new dwarven skins. These skins bring all of the dwarven units a little better in an overall scheme. I still need to adjust the coding so they have their own upgraded randomized textures, but here you go:
Dwarven Guardians - 1 2 3
Dwarven Phalanx - 1 2 3
Dwarven Axethrowers - 1 2 3
Dwarven Porter - 1
Dwarven Catapult - 1
Dwarven Demolisher - 1 2
DWarven Battlewagon - 1

3) Lorien Warrior/Archer Skins, Nazgul Skins, & Arnor Heavy Armor Skins. Here are a few of the other skins done by Shikari. The elven and arnor skins have not been randomized, but they bring a great addition to the mod:
Lorien Warriors - 1 2 3
Lorien Archers - 1 2 3
Nazgul - 1 2
Arnor Soldiers - 1 2

4) Arvedui is no longer a clone! The first of Arnor's hero models, credit to cahik for this great model, has been added.
Screenshots - 1 2 3

5) Lastly, as different opportunities have arisen and the mod continues to improve/expand it is quite clear that the website needed an overhaul so I've begun this process. There is still a lot of work left, but a lot of content has been added included 100s of screenshots and all of the new items:
Check it out!

Hopefully the next update will have a lot more information on what will be worked on for the next version and with the holidays over there should not be as much time in between.

As always, thank you for playing!
Robert J.



12/19/2007: 1.05.06 BETA has been released

 The newest BETA vesion of RJ-RotWK is out! So much mod to explore and enjoy with 10 factions (Rohan, Men of the East, & Arnor Added), combo hordes, the first 10 maps of a non-linear War of the ring campaign, new map play styles that blend BFME1 & BFME2, over 25+ maps with the new camera system and skies. Explore Middle Earth once again and rediscover the joy of BFME! (All screenshots below were taken directly from actual gameplay!)

Follow the link below to find out all of the details: Detailed Description

Download 1.05.06: Download Link










 12/15/2007: Art of RJ-RotWK, Arnor Fortress, and more

 1) First this week, I wanted to show off some of the art that is included in RJ-RotWk. Some of it has been seen, but a lot of them have only been in the beta forum and not seen in general. So here is some of the art in the mod:

Astrinax - Portraits Buttons
Shikari - 2d Art
Thorin - 2d Art
Caluadan - 2d Art
Allathar - 2d Art

2) The Arnor Fortress is coming along quite well. While the expansions are not yet done the citadel is ready. What's going to make this faction different than others? To start they have 3 of the more generic upgrades - banners, statues (healing), & flaming munitions. One top of that there are 3 more upgrades:
- Ally with the Dunedain - cost right now - 750 - gives 20% vision bonus to the fortress & 10% armor bonus, and allows construction of the camp.
- Ally with the Elves - cost right now - 1250 - gives 20% vision bonus to the fortress & 10% armor bonus, and allows contruction of the Elven Barracks (I think this needs a new name)
- Ally with the Istari - cost right now - 2500 - lowered from the 5000 it was (prerequisite - both alliances). Grants 20 armor bonus, extends the amount of time the Istari stay on the battlefield when summoned, & gives each of the Istari their 2nd power.

Screenshots: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Build-up Statue Build-up

3) The first of the hobbits have been added to Arnor as the 4th sub-faction. As of right now there are 2 units, the regular hobbits and hobbit pitchforks. I'm working on hobbit cavalry/pony riders but they will most likely not be included for public beta. Also, these hobbits now come from a hobbit house building. Like other structures I've done, the build-ups and level upgrades are ready.
Hobbit House: 1 2 3 Build-up
Pitchforks: 1 2 3

4) There is a small contest going on to design the Arnor buildplot and faction symbol. Details can be found: http://forums.revora.net/index.php?showtopic=56511

5) The public beta will be released in the coming week, the next news item will be the release and everything that it includes. Basically everything in the news is included and you can see how the mod has continued from them.

6) I thought I'd mention it again - remember to vote for RJ in moddb mod of the year if you would like. http://www.moddb.com/mods/9030/rj-rotwk

As always, thank you for playing and I hope all will be happy with the next release. It won't be a finished product at all, but so much has been added since 1.05.02 and especially 1.04.
Robert J.

 12/5/2007: Buildings, Skies, and more

 Well, it has been a while since the last news release, but that does not mean that there has been no progress. This update is filled with a lot of stuff for you to look through and see how the mod is developing.

1) Rhun Armory - Rhun now has their own building:
Screens: 1 2 3 Build-up Animation

2) Arnor Buildings. A lot of progress has been made to change Arnor to their own unique faction. When I add buildings to RJ-RotWK I got for the full effect - build-ups, level-ups and such.

Arnor Armory Screens: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Build-up

Arnor Tower Screens: 1 2 Build-up

Dunedain Ranger Camp Screen: 1 2 3 4 5 Build-up

3) ElrondHighLord has provided many new skins for the units I've been working on. (More than I can keep up with.) Here are two of them, for Elladan and Elrohir. While the twins will not be heroes for the Elven faction, they will be featured in a number of areas of the mod. Hopefully next update I'll be able to highlight more of the models.
Screens: 1 2

4) More skies have been added to a number of maps. Here are some high resolution screenshots reflecting the maps:
Dol Guldur Screens: 1 2 3 4
Minas Tirith Screens: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Grey Havens screens: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Lastly, Nazgul from SEE has provided me permisison to use his Black Gate sky. I took the opportunity to take a bunch of screens to show off his great work in a mini-battle.
Black Gate screens: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

A number of these have been made into wallpapers of varrying sizes to be used for your desktop along with a number of other screens from RJ:
http://forums.revora.net/index.php?showtopic=55968

Last note, I hope to have the next public release in the next 1-2 weeks. It's not the finalin the 1.05 series but there is a LOT of new content, bug fixes, maps, build-plot test map and more. Look for it as an early Christmas present.

Thank you for playing,
Robert J.

Don't forget to vote for you favorite mods at ModDb for the annual awards this year. To vote for RJ-RotWK follow the link, register, and vote:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/9030/rj-rotwk

One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to Find Them,
One Ring Bring Them All and in the Darkness Bind Them