Hey I run several sessions and I'm having some troubles to find good enemies and create a good combat situation.

For example, yesterday, the fought against tons of orcs. I use a lot of uruks to be sure the combat would be difficult. All chose defensive stance. Some of them have a good parry plus shield. So the difficult to hit was 19. Some have 2 to 3 dices. The uruks just 2. The uruks didn't have any chance.

I added a hill-troll. I use fear and hideous thoughness to resist but it couldn't land a hit.

I'm missing something? What do you do to make the enemies more fearsome, hard? I started to think to bend the rules. Give some creatures two attacks or increase the skill.

Another thing I don't complete understand is some creatures have skills underlined. Does this mean they can spend a hate point to add their attribute level?

against tons of orcs. I use a lot of uruks to be sure the combat would be difficult. All choose defensive stance. Some of them have a good parry plus shield. So the difficult to hit was 19. Some have 2 to 3 dices. The uruks just 2. The uruks didn't have any chance.

I added a hill-troll. I use fear and hideous thoughness to resist but it couldn't land a hit.

I'm missing something? What do you do to make the enemies more fearsome, hard? I started to think to bend the rules. Give some creatures two attacks or increase the skill.

Another thing I don't complete understand is some creatures have skills underlined. Does this mean they can spend a hate point to add their attribute level?

it's my understanding that when a skill is underlined you should always add the attribute bonus (without spending a hate point) I'm guessing that this will make a big difference.

If I recall correctly, uruks actually have favoured armour. That means that whenever they make a protection roll, they add their attribute score. Your party should not be finding them easy to deal with. My party has difficulty with one, and they all have 2 or 3 dice in their weapons

Also, could you tell us how many enemies you were using? Your opinion of 'lots' might be different to mine

Yeah B.Uruks favour armour and swords so add their attribute level (5) to all dice rolls invloving them. Which makes them fairly tough opponents.

This is also added as a DMG bonus when they hit.

Hill Trolls don't favour anything I belive, but you could always tweak that

To clarify Steve's point there, the attribute level is added to damage on great successes (and twice the level on extraordinary successes). It's not a flat bonus to damage.

@OP - I would also bear in mind that there are Fatigue penalties for wearing the heavier armors (in addition to shields and helms).

Obviously, your PCs won't necessarily be Weary if they've encountered the Uruks/Trolls early in their travels but, a few failed Travel tests and even one hit from either type of enemy should easily push them into the Wearied condition.

Having their success dice cut in half should pose a serious enough challenge.

I didn't know that in case of enemies you should always add the attribute level when the skill is favoured. That should make the things harder.

A lot means more that 3 orcs per character.

About getting a Sauron, means an enemy have the chance to do a called shot which means that depending on the weapon, it could destroy the shield, disarm for one turn(?) the player or poison it but just if this enemy hit it. Right?

And in case the npc doesn't have the skill underlined. To add the attribute level, has to spend a hate point?

You're right about both of those last two questions.
And I am impressed with your party being able to cope with more than three orcs per character. My party tends to slip when everyone in melee has two opponents to deal with

No if an NPC doesn't have a skill underlined then they simply do not add their attribute rating. There's no mention of being able to spend a Hate point. At least this is as the RAW in the Loremaster's Book. People may have house ruled differently.

Bluejay is right on this point.

Unlike heroes use of Hope Point, Hate Points do not just add a static number - but are used for a great deal of other a la carte benefits.

Oops. I've been doing it wrong then

Did you remember that the TN added for a stance is added for the TN to hit the enemy, as well as to the players' defenses? 3 dice shouldn't be enough to regularly hit an enemy with a decent to good parry. When I've run the game 1 orc per PC is usually quite a challenge, and those orcs are usually the weedy goblin archers. Also remember how the game is set up enemies have the advantage of attrition over PCs in an adventure, you might only do a few fatigue during a combat, but over the course of 5 of those the party can become seriously banged up to the point any serious combat can become a threat.

Yeah I think it's just a combination of missing a few rules.

If the PCs are in defensive stance then they are having to roll 19 to hit Uruks. Even with 3 dice that's quite tough to do regularly.

We're they spending Hope to do this? You're aware that Hope is a limited resource and does not simply refresh between adventures, right?

Missing the favoured rule does make like hard for the Uruks. They get 2d with swords but get to add 5 (their attribute rating) to the result. That means their rolled number will on average be higher than someone rolling 3d so the odds are that they'll hit the PCs fairly regularly.

Then don't forget that Uruks have Hideous Strength meaning for a point of Hate they can add their attribute level to damage done. That means 10 points of Endurance damage on a regular hit. Even with the PCs rolling with the damage it won't take too many hits to make them Weary.

Also Uruks have 20 Endurance meaning it usually takes around 4 regular hits to kill them. Obviously a Wound will drop them but again their Protection roll is 2d+5 which means they should deflect a significant number of Piercing blows.

Hope this helpful in clarifying rules here.

Totally do. The only missing rule was the + favoured attribute when underlined.

If the hero misses the attack AND roll a Sauron, then the monster try a Called Shot.

For the Called Shot to succed, the monster has to hit AND roll at least a "6" (great success or better).

A Called Shot can break the shield, disarm (hero has to spend a full round to retrieve the weapon), pierce (roll armour to avoid being wounded), or poison the hero (automatic wound -pag 144 Adventurer Book?- AND special effect -found in the monster's description).

Poison is particularly nasty since it's a wound that cannot be averted by the armour.

Corvo, what exactly do you mean by 'poison cannot be averted by armour'? Do you mean no protection roll is allowed?

By my reading of the rules, no: no protection roll is allowed to save against poison, as no protection roll is allowed against disarm and break shield. Only pierce can be averted by armour (as written under piercing blow, page 161 A-Book).
Broad bladed sword and bow of horn are really deadly, as a called shot that roll a piercing blow potentially can inflict 2 wounds to a hero at a time: the wound from the piercing blow (that can be avoided with armour) and the wound from poison (no save).

On the point of a Smashed shield,

If a villain makes a Called shot in response to a fumble, and is wielding a Mattock or an Axe, and manages to smash a Hero's shield, there is a condition where the shield will not break, and that is when the Shield is "Reinforced" as per the Reward.

Would it be fair, that instead of the shield being smashed, it would be disarmed and fall to the ground a some feet away out of reach, forcing to Hero to continue the remainder of the combat without the shield?

Probably it will be fair.
Yet I will avoid it. I think the player already "paid" a steep price in xp for a +1 to parry. I will not rob him of the satisfaction of hearing something along "the mighty blow would have splintered a lesser shield, but not yours. Crafted in ancient time by your forefathers, the orc's axe cannot dent it".
Heck, being a dwarf is a lot about weathering violence undaunted!

A fair argument in favor of keeping the shield intact Corvo.

On the other hand, if the tables were turned and it is the player trying to invoke a called shot against an enemy with a reinforced shield, they might be disappointed that their successful attack was for naught.
I know there will be arguments against the enemy possessing such a "Reward", but I argue in favor of the idiom, "Sauce for the Goose"

The sticking point is that such an item could never become loot, just as such an item could never become lost by a hero.

Hmm, perhaps a more fair judgement might be the player must spend a round retrieving his shield, or continue fighting without it?

Or the severity of the temporary "loss" of the item dependent on the Quality of the Success.

Sauce applied liberally for the Goose...