This is great stuff. I was looking for ideas for a mercenary band in my game, and bought 4 different titles. This is the one that works for me and will be used.

Plusses: "Realistic" D&D mercenaries. Highly lawful LE/LN, highly organized, well equiped, well trained. The troopers are Warrior 4 - not ridiculously overpowered but very tough if, like me, you default to a world where typical soldiers are Warrior 1, 5th level parties probably have a reputation (Fireball!), and 9th level is a big deal. They make good use of Fighter/Clerics, Bards, and Rangers as well. Even some air power.

Minuses: None.

Notes: Adaptable to most D&D settings. For me, in Greyhawk, they earned their stripes fighting in the civil wars that collapsed the Great Kingdom.

Hobgoblins of the mailed Fist

The second installment of Raging Swan‘s TRIBES-series of supplements is 23 pages long. This includes 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 blank page on the inside of the front cover, 2 pages editorial and general overview, 1 page ToC with a feat-list, statblocks organized by CR, Magic items by cost and new spells by level as well as half a page SRD. That leaves 17.5 pages of gaming material, so let’s jump in.

The pdf kicks off with a page explaining how to read the statblocks and then, after a chapter-header page, kicks off with 5 pages of a gazetteer-like treatment of the tribe: Being mercenaries that are sometimes even employed by humans to harass and kill other humanoids, the Hobgoblins are an interesting bunch that even rides giant bats into battle. Names, appearances, nomenclature, views of religion and magic as well as a very cool sidebar on the organization of warband of the tribe, in the nomenclature of the mailed fist, a battle.

The Hobgoblins of the Mailed Fist get 7 new feats to use in battle, all of which fit their theme. The 3 new spells create variations of trenches, which are quite frankly, gold for PCs who are fighting last stands or against all odds and which make nasty surprises for PCs. I really love them. The 3 new magic items are nice and feature beautiful artwork as well as several different Lore-sections.

After that, we’ll get to the chapter statblocks, Allies & Encounters: The chapter kicks off with two pages of fluff introduction as well as 4 suggested encounters as well as 9 sample personalities to breathe life into the company. After that, we get 6 pages of statblocks for the Hobgoblins, ranging from the humble CR4-soldiers to the CR11 war-leader. We get 4 statblocks for soldiers (2 melee, 2 ranged), 3 Black Wing Riders (2 warriors, 1 sorceror) and 5 specialists (War Chanter, Battle Cleric, Mailed Fist [Cleric/Fighter], War leader, Beast Master) as well as tactics typically employed described in sidebars. We also get a page of fluff description for the carnivorous bat-mounts and two statblocks for them as well as a minor modification for plate-wearing black wings. The pdf closes with half a page of advice to design more members of the tribe. Formatting and editing is, once again, top-notch. I didn’t find any glitches or typos. Layout is concise and printer-friendly and writing, once again, is extremely concise and information is densely packed. The old-school b/w-artwork is beautiful, as is usually the case with Raging Swan products.

Conclusion: When buying this pdf, I thought: “Oohoo, another Hobgoblin-warband write-up. Haven’t seen that in a while…yawn.” I was wrong. While not reinventing the wheel, the Mailed Fist has enough unique and exciting ideas to make them stand out – from their focus on killing other humanoids and their battle-feats and trench-spells (AWESOME idea!) to their giant bats, they are a worthy addition to the gritty canon of The Lonely Coast and continues Raging Swan’s streak of excellent products. Although I would have loved to see some more unique magic items, this one criticism does not warrant a downgrade of the final verdict: 5 stars. Well done, Raging Swan.

Another excellent suppliment from Raging Swan Press, to expand the Lonely Coast setting. Focusing on the Hobgoblins of the Mailed Fist, this is a very detailed and expansive addition to the Tribes of Lonely Coast.

Starting with a background to the Mailed Fist, there is a vast amount of information to hand; which any GM could incorporate into their new or existing Pathfinder campaign. From the structure of society within the tribe, to specific personalities; there is a lot of detail included.

In several short months, Raging Swan Press have added so much detail to the Lonely Coast; all of it rich with uses to add flavour to any Pathfinder campaign. Hobgoblins of the Mailed Fist, is just another suppliment that shows off the excellent products from this company.

Second in the Tribes series, this product details a well-organised and prosperous mercenary band of hobgoblins. Their default base is three hill-forts on the Lonely Coast, but they will transport readily to a suitable location in the campaign world of your choice. It's no rag-tag band, either, they are well-organised and several thousand strong. Wisely they have no territorial ambitions of their own and live in relative peace with neighbouring kingdoms, generally preferring to seek work further afield unless a nearby kingdom requires other humanoids to be dealt with on a pest-control basis.

The first part of the work covers the history, organisation and habits of the Mailed Fist hobgoblins. There's plenty of detail to make them easy to use, whether you meet them far afield participating in someone else's war, visit one of their hill-fort basis, or play a member (or former member) of the tribe. They include sorcerers amongst their forces, as well as aerial troops, the Black Wings, mounted on huge black bats.

Next comes a selection of new feats and spells that they use (although most are available to anyone should the opportunity arise). The feats are constructed around the style of fighting employed by the tribe, while the spells should prove interesting in pitched battle as they look at the creation of trenches, some filled with flame or spikes, which might be very effective ways of herding the opposition in the direction in which you want them to go! There are also some magic items which, like the feats and spells, are aimed primarily for use on the battlefield.

This is followed by a comprehensive array of stat blocks and other necessary material for running encounters with the tribe. Due to the way in which the tribe operates, a meeting with them does not automatically descend into a brawl - they can be quite diplomatic and after all, being mercenaries, normally only fight if they have been paid! So meetings may be with envoys or messengers, a column travelling to war elsewhere and so on. Even patrols are unlikely to use the characters for target practice without provocation. Several leading personalities of the tribe are described as well, should you happen to meet them. The bats they ride are also detailed, they are a new species of giant bat which the tribe saved from extinction and trained for riding and warfare.

This is a delightful little package, jam-packed with evocative details that will make the tribe come to life within your game world, and plenty of ideas spawn just as you read through for ways in which you might use them.