So, I am considering fielding a unit of war dogs by an army. Has anyone played with such a unit? If so, or if you simply want to chime in, what do you guys think would be realistic/fair/balanced traits for them?

For models I have a Zombies Bag O Dogs, which gives me 100 models to experiment with (not that I am intending on fielding so many, but 100 minis for about $10.00 is pretty satisfactory).

Great golden frith! I was going to get the same bag'o'dogs the other day!

I was thinking of fielding them as wolves, which are base 1 or base 2.

Although they do seem extremely fast for hunting dogs.

One of my primary concerns is the speed. I'm not quite sure how fast I should make them. Right now I'm thinking of giving them 1 skill 2 attack, no armor or extra strength bonus, unknown speed, and possibly Beserk or Fearless to reflect the singlemindedness that was trained into them when used for hunting, guard work or war.

Depends. The speed of 18 we see on the wolves can seem pretty excessive, but calvary tend to move between 12-20 inches in AoA. Even at 12 inches they will be going twice as fast as most infantry. I wouldnt have a problem fighting them either way. If beserk, well, watch out! The faster they are, the less control you have over them (EI very difficult to redeploy to get them back under control once you have "loosed" the dogs of war).

On a different note, we will be up your way next weekend. Fancy a game?

Certainly up for a game. What forces would you like to try? And, the more I think of it, the more I tend towards the 12" for movement, unless it proves to be too expensive for the army.

Looks like we will come up Friday after all. Up for early morning madness or does evening better suit?

Elven archer wants to set up a tourney this summer. If we get a couple of days lined up might you be interested? I think we could get batman, yonks, and a couple new recruits to have a few games going (and reserve the cultural hall)

As for armies uruks and rohan are probably easiest. But I am up for anything. Let me know if you want me to bring anything.

Look forward to facing the dogs. I would bring the new blacktree models but most of the mounts have yet to show up . Sometimes I just dont know

Around noon Saturday would be better, but no matter what, call this evening. I committed to overtime until 3AM tonight, but an early game wouldn't be out of the question. At the minimum, leave a message as to what works best for you and I will adapt. Must be finished by 7PM Saturday no matter what though.

As for a tournament, you bet. I would even use vacation time to do that.

FYI-Theoden King will be taking to the field of battle. He may even make a family reunion and bring along his son, nephew and niece for a picnic.