Back to Basics, Revisited: Magical Powers in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

I have always been a HUGE fan of the magical powers in MESBG and how the system of casting and resisting spells works. The rules for casting and resisting hasn't changed much since I got started and the only additions that were made (Heroic Channelling casts a spell on a 6 now and you get Will points back on resist tests that get a natural 6) have been good - and I think the change to Channelling was epic in this edition. The purpose of today's article isn't to go in-depth into every spell - we'll be doing that in a later series - but rather to explain how casting works, things to think about for different caster types, and how to pick the right targets for your spells. Furthermore, you should be aware that I'll be using the term "spell" and "magical power" interchangeably in this post (and have already done so in this paragraph). Let's dig in!

How It Works: Casting and Resisting Magical Power in MESBG

Casting got both harder and easier in the new version of MESBG. This is partly due to the change to Heroic Channelling, where you spend a Might point to "get the spell off on a 6" (more on that later), but also the casting difficulties of most spells went up (nothing is cast on a 2+ anymore and many spells are cast on a 4+ or a 5+). While the casting difficulties went up (and many people would say this had made casting magic harder - and it is now), the fact of the matter is that magic itself got stronger in this edition of the game - so learning how to use it is definitely a good idea. We'll see why magic is so good at the end of the post.

In order to cast a spell, a model with at least one magical power has to be unengaged in order to cast one of its magical powers (though there might be a list that gives its members the ability to cast some of their spells while engaged). This means that if you can charge an enemy caster before they get to cast, you can prevent them (most of the time) from being able to cast a spell. Perfect!

As you probably noticed in the statements above, each model with at least one magical power can only cast one magical power each round (though again, there are models that might plead an exception in certain army lists). Since many casters have access to more than one spell, they have to be selective and intentional with which spell they're using this round. It's often a good idea to figure out BEFORE you play a game what spells you intend to use and in what situations you intend to use them. For casters like Moria Goblin Shamans, this may be decided pretty easily (I'm casting Fury with two dice and then I'm done OR I'm channelling Fury and will save 1 Will for a one-off use later), while casters like Ringwraiths and Wizards might require an entire chart to figure out what spell you're going to cast. Experience and practice helps with this a lot.

The New Age Is Begun: The Expedition to the East Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our second army list that comes to us from the Legacies document (we'll be back with non-Legacy stuff next time for all you who go to GW-official events and can't take these) and we're still looking at Dwarves . . . but this time with Minas Tirith guys thrown in! Yes, it's the army list that harkens back to the old "Shadow in the East" sourcebook that features our favorite wandering Dwarves (Murin and Drar), their unlikely acquaintance (Cirion), and a bunch of cheap plastic core troops for Khazad-Dum and Minas Tirith. Yes, we're diving into the Expedition to the East army list - a list that I think has a lot of play and one that I'm interested in fielding. Let's see what this list has to offer!

Expedition to the East: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is really lean on the units - you have four heroes (three of which are unique) and five warriors (two Dwarf-based, two Man-based). The good news about collecting this list is that all of the warriors come in big plastic boxes and while the heroes can be hard to find, you really just need a Minas Tirith command blister (or convert your own Captain), Cirion, and Murin and Drar. All told, it's a very light bench, but it's also everything I'd expect (though I wouldn't have missed putting Knights of the White Tower in this list - it would probably be a little out of place for them to be here, but golly would it have been fun).

The New Age Is Begun: The Reclamation of Moria Army List

Good morning gamers,

This article is special for us here at TMAT as it's our first look at a Legacy army list - you can't run this list at an event that doesn't allow for Legacy profiles. The irony, of course, is that half of the heroes in this army list (and all of the warriors in this army list) are not Legacy profiles - and you could actually run a list very much like it using the Khazad-Dum army list that we looked at last time. Your army list bonuses would change, of course, but the profiles on the whole would be the same.

What makes this list different (and interesting) is that you have to take Balin in it - and the King Balin profile has been one of the best Dwarf hero profiles that we've had since it was first released. So let's see what happens when we get a "beater hero" who costs 60pts less than Durin, change a bunch of rules, add a bunch of hero options, and lose one warrior option, shall we?

The Reclamation of Moria: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

In the last edition of the game, the primary difference between the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum (with Durin and Mardin) and the Kingdom of Moria (with Balin, Floi, Gimli, Oin, and Ori) was the named heroes. Everything else was the same. In this edition of the game, we have all of the generic heroes from the Khazad-Dum list (King's Champions, Shieldbearers, Dwarf Kings, and Dwarf Captains), plus a few named heroes (King Balin, Champ-Ori, Champ-Oin, and Floi). Sans Gimli, this is the same hero corps we had last time.

Except we don't have ballistas in this list anymore. As for warriors, we basically have the same guys as last time, but we don't have Vault Warden Teams. If you liked these last edition, run them in Khazad-Dum (they're still very good). If you liked Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Rangers, Iron Guard, or Khazad Guards, they're still available to you and they're very, VERY good.

Army List Bonuses

To start off with, there's no overlap between the army list bonuses from the Khazad-Dum faction and the Reclamation of Moria faction. This is good in that there isn't a Dominant (2) consideration to drive us towards the cheaper warriors/March heroes, but on the other hand makes us have to be a bit more intentional about what we need in units because . . . well, what we see is what we get.

The most generic rule of the army is that at the start of the Fight Phase, any of your heroes who would be considered Trapped can declare a Heroic Defense for free (even if they don't have it naturally). This is good, but what makes you "considered Trapped" is a bit of a difficult question to answer. This certainly applies to any hero who starts the Fight Phase Prone and it would also include any hero who starts the Fight Phase with two models that would need to make way for him. However, if a Dwarf hero has been charged by a cavalry model, he WILL be Prone and hence Trapped IF he loses . . . but he won't be Trapped if he wins. So . . . does any Dwarf hero who has been charged by a cavalry model get to declare a free Heroic Defense? I don't think so.

Back to Basics, Revisited: The Fight Phase

Good morning gamers,

Well, today is our fourth post in this how-to-play-MESBG series and we're covering the Fight phase. We've already talked about building an army, the Priority and Move phases, and the Shoot phase. While maneuvering your troops is an important part of the game, most of the action (and removing of models) happens in the Fight phase - so for most armies, it's kind of important to know how it works (and often times, you're maneuvering your army to either get a better combat match-up - or trying to avoid combat entirely). Let's get stuck in!

The New Age Is Begun: The Khazad-Dum Army List

Good morning gamers,

I got started in my MESBG journey with the Mines of Moria starter set in September 2010. That got me collecting Goblins and the Fellowship. That Christmas, I picked up a box of Wood Elf Warriors and some Dwarf Warriors and Centaur and I started playing (he was running Rohan and Isengard at the time - I would branch into Isengard shortly after Christmas). My "bearded fellows" - the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum (who at the time were the Erebor army list) quickly became "my main faction" and I took them to the first GT we threw here at TMAT. I went 1-2 but had a really great time with them (and have always had a good time with them).

Last edition, the faction was cleanly split between the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum and the Kingdom of Moria (though there was a lot of overlapping profiles) and in this edition, we still have that distinction. Today, we're tackling the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum list and next time, we'll be looking at the Legacy-only Reclamation of Moria (I'll be foregoing the legacy-in-red text there to save all of our eyesight). The traditional Khazad-Dum list wasn't my first love last edition, but I like what they've done to it this time. Let's see how things have changed - and why these Dwarves have the potential to be a dominant force on the tabletop, despite their less-than-average speed (that oh so important resource in MESBG).

The Kingdom of Khazad-Dum: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list includes everyone you'd expect to find. It has Durin and Mardin as your named heroes (as of yore), it has Dwarf Kings/Captains and Siege Veterans (for those pesky ballista crews) by default as your generic heroes (and King's Champions and Dwarf Shieldbearers if you play with Legacy profiles), and Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Rangers, Khazad Guards, Iron Guards, and Vault Wardens (besides the obligatory ballista crewmen) for your warriors. If you're a Khazad-Dum player from the last edition (and especially if you have access to Legacy profiles), not much will feel that different.

Army List Bonuses

The old Khazad-Dum army bonus from the last edition was preserved in this edition: Dwarves get to reroll To Wound rolls of a natural 1 when making Strikes - and as had to be clarified in the old edition (and I don't think is needed in this edition, thanks to changes in the rulebook), even if you're using a two-handed weapon and you get a 1 that would promote to a 2, you still get the reroll if you want it (since . . . you know, wounding on 2s is in fact quite hard to do now).

The Dwarves of Khazad-Dum picked up three new rules: first, before using any rerolls, if your Dwarves are rolling fewer dice than their opponents, one Dwarf in each fight can reroll one D6 just as if they had a banner in range (but if they also have a banner, they can reroll a second die). This is GREAT when you don't have a banner near your units and like the Depths of Moria banner rules, this is battlefield wide and can't be taken away from you! Additionally, if you really like Dwarf Warriors (which I do), Dwarf Rangers (which I do), and Dwarf Captains (which I do now), they all get Dominant (2). Remember what I said about spamming models with Dominant (2) in the Men of the West and Defenders of the Hornburg lists? Well, all those D5-9 Dwarves have Dominant (2) as well . . . slick, slick, slick . . .