I noticed that there wasn't a thread for these.
We (the kids and I) played a three-way ASOBH game yesterday afternoon - a "steal the treasure from the guardians" affair, with Medusa and skeletal followers guarding a treasure chest in a ruined temple that bands of ratmen, lizardmen and goblins wanted to steal. So there were no dwarves, but we tested out a few Hammer and Forge rules, including Ball and Chain (goblins) and Arquebus (ratmen), as well as ASOBH novelties like Discipline Master, Mind Control and Lighting.
I don't have a blog, but I posted a brief report with some terrible photos here.
So how did the new rules play out? Ball and Chain worked well; the orcish wielder hurtled into the ruins and wiped out one of its guardians and a batman in one go (the extra dice came up with a six on the very first roll). He was then shot by the lizardmen, but he'd proved his worth. It struck me that Ball and Chain plus Dashing would be a powerful and pleasing combination, especially when combined with a Discipline Master (for orcish types); you'd be able to spur them on and achieve attacks from a very long range (at first, at least). It would be a high-risk investment of points, though. I've been digging out a few old Citadel goblin fanatics to paint up for this.
We liked Arquebus too. The long reload really adds to the risk/reward balance; the ratman leader used a shot to knock down a wandering troll with ease, allowing one of his rat-ogres to finish it off. But thereafter, because he was needed close to the action to give orders to his Gregarious followers, he constantly had to weigh up moving against reloading. All in all, it's a well-balanced trait.
Otherwise, the Discipline Master rules again worked well (I've previously commented on them on the Yahoo group). We've played three times now with a Discipline Master; he's yet to be killed by his minions, but he does spend a lot of time dashing off to administer the lash. It's very reminiscent of the "The Uruk-hai" chapter in The Lord of the Rings, when Ugluk has to race about to quell dissent, stop the waste of arrows and so on. A nice, evocative set-up - and again, the risk/reward balance is good. The initial effectiveness of troops boosted by the Discipline Master's whip means that they almost always end up far out of his range - so you have to gamble on activating him with three dice to get him close again and still have an action for the lash.