Mastering Magic: Augmenting Damage Spells

Good morning gamers,

We've only got two more posts left in this series - and today we have some really fun spells: Bladewrath, Enchanted Blades, and Enrage Beast. These three spells are held by only five models - three with Enchanted Blades and two special models who alone have Bladewrath and Enrage Beast. While we've looked at spells that do damage (either as a blast, in an area, or to a single model), restore stats/resources, remove stats/resources, protect friendly models from magic, breaking items, neutralizing enemy combatants, scattering models, and provide auric benefits (either by enhancing nearby models/the caster OR by scattering models), today's spells are the only ones that make you more lethal in combat (though I guess a channelled Shroud of Shadows counts as well).

Fair warning, I only have two of the models in this list, so pictures will be scarce . . .

What Do These Spells Do?

The most common of these spells is Enchanted Blades. When cast normally, the caster picks a friendly model within range (6" for all of them) and if cast successfully, the model is allowed to reroll all failed To Wound rolls it makes. When channelled, the target model also receives a bonus of +1 To Wound (which is cumulative with similar rules, such as the bonus provided by using a two-handed weapon or having the Backstabbers/Hatred special rules).

Bladewrath allows a caster to pick a friendly model within range (6" as well) and that model makes Strikes in the Fight phase at Strength 6. If channelled, this is improved to Strength 10. It's important to note that the model itself doesn't become S6/S10, but rather resolves Strikes at S6/S10 (otherwise, this would be a great counter to the Rend/Hurl Brutal Power Attacks or special rules like Monstrous Charge).

Finally, Enrage Beast picks a friendly Bat, unridden Warg, or Spider model within range (12" this time) and increases the target model's Fight, Attacks, Strength, and Courage values by 2 until the End phase. Because this boosts the model's characteristics, this IS a good counter to the Rend/Hurl BPAs and rules like Monstrous Charge. When channelled, the target's characteristics are increased by 3 (instead of 2). While this is a powerful augment, the friendly model then suffers a S10 hit at the end of the round because of how exhausting being awesome can be (most models will be wounded on 3s - which still means a 33% chance of avoiding any damage at all).

All three of these spells are useful - especially if you are using units that "have problems wounding." Adding someone who has these spells can increase your overall damage, but picking the right model to augment is often the difficulty with these spells (and making sure they stay within range). To help with this, let's understand who has these spells and how best to use them.

Introducing: TMAT Challenge

One of the perks of Tolkien fandom is that Middle-Earth offers our imaginations plenty of room to roam. Case-in-point: you're shooting the breeze with your mates one day, and somebody says out of the blue, "Hey, you know that Haldir guy? I'll bet he couldn't beat Shagrat in a fight straight-up." To which your mate says, "Dude, you're full of it." And then you debate (and smack-talk) for an hour about who'd beat who, and how, and have a great time (while your significant other looks on, worriedly). 

We have those conversations all the time. And then it dawned on us: we have a gaming system that let's us test these theories! What are we doing!

And so, TMAT Challenge was born.

List-building and tournament tactics are fine and all, but sometimes you just need to kick back and rediscover the fun of the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. How many monsters can Theodred kill before he dies? Who'd kill more Goblins: Thranduil and Dain, or the Witch-King and the Wild Warg Chieftain? And can 350 points of barrow-wights really kill 350 points of Balrog?

Find the answers to these burning questions you've never thought about (and more) on TMAT Challenge! 

Available exclusively on YouTube

(because if there's no internet video, it didn't happen)

Mastering Magic: Call Winds and Instill Fear

Good morning gamers,

Well, we've been plowing through magical spells for a while now, but we come today to the last spell in the arsenal of MANY evil spell-casters (causing us to wrap up a LOT of models today). While Ringwraiths (and other evil casters) have neutralizing spells in the form of Transfix/Compel, a precision damage spell in Black Dart, and the ability to reduce enemy resources/stats via Sap Will and Drain Courage (the Witch-King also has access to Your Staff is Broken), Ringwaiths have a very iconic spell in the game that can scatter enemy models: Instill Fear.

While Instill Fear is a good scattering spell, we'll be talking about a more precise scatter spell as well: Call Winds (which is only available to Galadhrim and High Elf Stormcallers).

Nazgul: "I'm casting Instill Fear - SCREEEEEEEEECH (or is that Transfix now? oh well, whatever!)!"

What Do These Spells Do?

Instill Fear is an area-of-effect scatter spell that affects all models within 3" of the caster (not because the spell says it's 3", it's just always 3" for all the models that have it). All enemy models within 3" of the caster have to pass a Courage test or make a full move directly away from the caster (or until they run into something/someone) and are afterwards unable to move (basically, they run in fear). If channelled, the models that test for Courage have to roll three dice and use the lowest two dice (which, if you haven't seen the math for it, is pretty brutal for anything that is below Courage 5 - and even C5 models are only 60% likely of passing). Add to this that most models with Instill Fear have some kind of Harbinger of Evil/Ancient Evil special rule attached to them, models really have to be Courage 6 to have a better-than-not chance of passing this channelled spell . . . ouch.

The models test in the order the caster wants, so it's pretty common to test with the models furthest from the caster first, then working your way inward. You can cast this spell a few milimeters from a model (aka within an enemy model's control zone), but after the scattering, you will need to complete the charge against whatever model you entered the control zone of first.

Call Winds is a precise scatter spell, targeting a single model and pushing that model back D6" (2D6" if channelled). The model stops if it hits an obstacle (but not models) and is Knocked Prone. Unlike previous versions of the game, models aren't forced to stay on the ground for the rest of the turn (which is sad). Like Sorcerous Blast, the Strength of your target doesn't dictate whether the model can be knocked Prone - anyone is fair game. This spell is different from Sorcerous Blast in two ways, though: first, this spell doesn't knock any other models Prone if they're in the path of the scattered model. Second, no damage is done to the target (or anyone else the model would pass through - even when channelled). While not a damage spell, it certainly changes the way an enemy model can behave for the round (and usually the next round as well).

Mastering Magic: Debuff Spells

Good morning gamers,

Today we're covering four spells that will knock down your opponent's stats or heroic resources. Like our post on Restoration spells, the value of these spells is based on denying your opponent the ability to use heroic resources effectively (or reduce important stats - like Strength or Courage). Most of the characters we'll be viewing today are spooky and wraith-like, but you get some weird other characters showing up too. Today's post features such nasty spells as Curse (blows away Fate), Sap Will (blows away Will), Wither (reduces Strength), and one of my favorite spells in the game (and an often underrated spell), Drain Courage (reduces Courage).

What Do These Spells Do?

Two of the spells we're covering today (Sap Will and Drain Courage) are present on every single Ringwraith, as well as Sauron, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur and (for Drain Courage, at least) the Mouth of Sauron. Since these are spell-casters available to most of the armies of evil, chances are you'll have one of these spells available to you (if not both).

Drain Courage is a straight-forward spell: if not resisted, the target's Courage value is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0). Since most of the models with this spell also have Harbinger of Evil/Ancient Evil, you probably don't need to ACTUALLY reduce your target's Courage to 0, but still. . . . When channelled, this reduction is changed to D3 Courage (which, as I've said in a previous post on magic, means you're not guaranteed to actually get anything from the channel).

Sap Will is similar, but targets your opponent's Will store. When cast normally, the target's Will is reduced by D3 and when channelled, the target's Will is reduced by D6. While this sounds great, most models in the game (unless they're spell-casters or a select few other models) have 1-3 Will points and they'll probably use at least 1 Will point to resist this spell. This means this spell is likely to be cast against models with lots of Will only (which will make you have to decide whether channelling is worth it against your target).

The other two spells are MUCH more niche, belonging to only one model in the range each. Curse is a nasty piece of work, removing 1 Fate when cast normally or ALL Fate when channelled. Most heroes have 1-2 Fate points, so channelling this spell is really only necessary against the select few models that have 3 Fate (especially if they're rerollable). Since this spell is only found on the Necromancer of Dol Guldur (who has Drain Soul to insta-kill any model that is out of Fate AND who can be accompanied by Mirkwood Spiders who can Paralyze people if they don't spend a Fate point to protect themselves), it's quite likely that this spell will prompt a resistance attempt from your opponent.

Wither is only available to the Angmar Orc Shaman and reduces the target's Strength by 1 if cast normally (and reduces the target's Strength by D3 if channelled). A Strength penalty of 1 doesn't seem like much, but when cast against a S4 hero, suddenly D6 troops are MUCH harder for the hero to crack through. In an Angmar list where most of your units are D5, that may not seem like much - but your Cave Trolls, Ringwraiths, and Gulavhar suddenly become much harder to deal with, since your opponent can't rely on a big hero to take them out. When channelled, this could do nothing extra than a normal cast, but it will (again) probably prompt a resist roll (because you do NOT want to lose 2-3 pips of Strength).

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: Angmar in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Photo Credit: Game Art on Pinterest

Yes, we're back from hibernation with another Armies of Middle-Earth write-up! The Fall semester is usually pretty full for me (because life), so I wouldn't get your hopes up for more of these in the near-future. But I thought I'd make an exception for everyone's favorite faction to play against (just kidding): Angmar.

Those of you who have been following this series probably noticed that we skipped over Angmar when we did our cadre of evil army reviews last year. That was intentional, because my own experience in Angmar was... basically non-existent. And while there's a lot of stuff in Angmar that looks good on-paper, I had a suspicion that to truly appreciate what it can do, you had to experience it. So that's what I did, over the course of this summer, as I got ready for TMAT's THRO tournament (where I took an Angmar army). Now that the tourney is over--and armed with all the things I learned--I finally feel like I can do Angmar justice.

Spoiler alert: this army is crazy good, and I'm hardly the first person to say that. You'll find our standard list of recommended resources in the back, but I'll flag a few that I particularly liked--and used a lot when preparing my own Angmar force for THRO--here at the outset. Taylor over at The Nazgul Times has a great break-down of all the profile choices in the army. My take is slightly different than his on some things (mostly the Dwimmerlaik and Warg Riders), but his insights are fantastic. For a panoply of list-building ideas, check out Mik's Fog of War post on Angmar with Dave Nolan (Dave's instincts are more in-line with mine--WK and barrow-wight spam--while Mik loves the trolls, wargs, and especially Gulavhar that can make Angmar particularly scary). Tiberius posted his own thoughts on balanced Angmar lists last Spring in his Bare Necessities Series. Lastly, if you have painting projects and are looking for something to play in the background, I would highly recommend the Green Dragon Podcast's recap of Ardacon 2019's Masters Tournament (featuring Kylie's Angmar army), supplemented if you like by video coverage of three of her rounds courtesy of STF Wargaming Studio (though I don't know that you'll get much painting done if you have that on in the background). Tiberius, Centaur, and I also talked about Angmar quite a bit in our lengthy recap of the THRO tournament (complete with some battle reports), in the highly unlikely event you want to hear anything more from me. Edit: And, as a special treat, you can now listen to the Green Dragon's full faction break-down of Angmar. Plus a whole bunch of other links to other community resources at the end!

Alright, here we go... 

(although for full thematic effect, you'll have to run this music track in the background)

TMAT Talks: Episode 7 - The Hunters Red October (THRO) 2020

It'd been a while since TMAT's last tournament, so Red Jacket was like, "gotta shake off some cobweb legs, dudes." *

If your tournament scene is quiet (or you're looking for batreps involving Barad-Dur, Hunter Orcs, Angmar, all-mounted Rohan, or Easterlings (with Shagrat)), Tiberius, Centaur, and Rythbryt are back to give you some before-action predictions and post-action breakdowns from our recent 700 point tournament. It's a time-travel miracle! **

Now available wherever you find your podcasts (mostly):

• Apple Podcasts
• Breaker
• Google Podcasts
• Overcast
• Pocket Casts
• Radio Public
• Spotify
• Anchor

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* Okay, fine... generously, that's a very rough paraphrase.

** Patent pending.

Mastering Magic: Shatter and Your Staff is Broken

Good morning gamers,

So we come to it at last - the last post that will involved Gandalf the White (eight posts required to cover all his spells - clearly, he is a beast)! Gandalf does a lot - he can cast Sorcerous Blast if he wants to do damage to one or more models, he can cast Immobilize/Command if he needs to neutralize one particular model, he can cast Terrifying Aura and Blinding Light as augments to himself and those nearby him, he can give Will points to friendly models (including himself) with Strengthen Will, he can protect models with Fortify Spirit, and he can do precision damage against Spirit models with Banishment.

So today, we cover the most niche thing he (and others) can do in MESBG: break a weapon that is wielded by an enemy wizard (which, if paired with Fortify Spirit, gives him a distinct advantage over enemy wizards). The other characters besides Gandalf who have item-breaking power (Moria Blackshield Shamans, the Witch-King of Angmar, and the Necromancer of Dol Guldur) are also very good at fighting wizards or combat heroes (in the case of the Shaman). Let's take a look at these game-altering, hero-negating, niche-ability casters!

For the third week in a row, no pictures - just got back from vacation, don't own all the models, you've seen plenty from Gandalf, yada-yada . . .

No fair - I was totally going to ruin your day with that!

What Do These Spells Do?

These spells are, as has already been mentioned, incredibly niche. Your Staff is Broken is only possessed by three models in the range and at first glance the spell can only be used against three models in the range (five profiles): Gandalf the Grey/White, Radagast the Brown, and Saruman (or Saruman the White). While these five profiles might not seem like much, they show up in nine different army lists (eight Forces of Good, one Forces of Evil) and these casters can be VERY dominant on the table.

All three of these wizards are expensive (Radagast is the cheapest when run without extra gear at 150 points, though he can be up to 200 points with the Sleigh and Sebastian) and their free Will point each turn from their Staffs of Power is very much why they are "good" to include in any army (I've talked about Gandalf the Grey, Gandalf the White, and Saruman at length in a previous series on magic, showing how they provide good benefits to their team that simply cannot be provided by other unit choices). Taking away this free Will point not only limits the wizard's casting potential (as they move from an Unlimited Spellcasters to an Auxiliary Spellcaster), but also makes them far less cost-effective than other unit options (Gandalf the White without his Staff of Power is a vastly inferior choice compared to Boromir or Aragorn).

When channeled, this spell also does a S7 hit to the caster, which is a cheap shot to be sure (wounds most of these profiles on 3s - Gandalf the White would be wounded on 4s). 

It's important to note before we move on to Shatter that Radagast can choose to NOT take his Staff of Power by taking a Great Eagle mount. I don't generally think this is a good idea - while he becomes a great combat mage while mounted, you might want to support your Eagles with the ability to heal wounds (with Renew), Immobilize enemy heroes who want to Strike against your Great Eagle warriors, and knock models down that are trying to swarm your troops (Nature's Wrath) - and with only 6 Will points, you're just not going to get enough out of him to make him worth it, I think. Still, 6 Will can do some of this work and you're getting a Great Eagle for 50 points, so . . .

As I alluded to above, there are sneaky targets you can hit with Your Staff is Broken besides the wizards listed above, since the spell can break a "staff," which means it can disarm models like the Undying or Sharkey as well. The benefits of this will be a lot less dramatic, but will still be present.

Our other spell we're covering today is Shatter, which can destroy any item that is NOT a Staff of Power, the One Ring, or a piece of organic gear (like mounts, creatures, claws, teeth, wings, or tails). Similar to Your Staff is Broken, when channelled, this spell does a S6 hit - not as strong as Your Staff is Broken, but still quite strong.