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.

Who's Got These Spells?

As has already been mentioned several times, only a handful of models have these spells:

• Gandalf the White (Minas Tirith) has access to Your Staff Is Broken, which is cast on a 4+;
• The Witch-King of Angmar (Barad-Dur, Angmar, Mordor) has access to Your Staff Is Broken too, also cast on a 4+;
• The Necromancer of Dol Guldur (Dark Powers of Dol Guldur) also has access to Your Staff Is Broken and casts it (very creatively) on a 4+;
• The Moria Blackshield Shaman (Moria) has access to Shatter and casts it on a 3+.

How Do You Use These Spells Most Effectively?

As with the other spells we've covered in this series, here are some principles for using these spells:

• Cast the spell with at least a 70% chance of success;
• Think about the greatest impact;
• Don't channel this spell.

1) The 70% Success Guideline

You know the drill - 70% is a three-out-of-four chance of passing, which is an acceptable level of success when targeting an enemy figure. Yes, it's arbitrary, but we need a standard, right? These spells are ones you DEFINITELY want to go off - so cast it like it counts!

When trying to cast with a 70% chance of success, you can cast each spell as follows:

• Gandalf the White - Your Staff Is Broken (4+): free Will point + 1 Will = 75%
• The Witch-King of Angmar - Your Staff Is Broken (4+): 2 Will (or 1 Will + reroll with the Crown of Morgul) = 75%
• The Necromancer of Dol Guldur - Your Staff Is Broken (4+): 2 Will (or 1 Will with the free die from the army bonus) = 75%
• Moria Blackshield Shaman - Shatter (3+): 2 Will = 89%

It's important to note that if you're willing to spend 1 Might point to make the spell work, the Moria Blackshield Shaman can have an 83% chance of success by spending 1 Will, and the other three can have a 67% chance (nearly 70%) by spending 1 Will as well (though this is really just for Gandalf, as the other two have ways of getting that second die for free). Not sure it's worth committing to a Might point to "make it work" if it "really matters," but there you go.

2) What Really Matters (and When Do You Cast These Spells)?

Don't just cast it like it matters - target the character that matters the most! Naturally, if your opponent only has one model with a Staff of Power, you know who your target will be for Your Staff Is Broken - but is it worth casting right away? Or do you wear down the caster first? Taking away a wizard's staff is a great idea, but he'll spend the resources he needs to stop the spell from going off - and then he'll have a nasty surprise for YOU in return (and you'll have drained yourself of some resources and not really done much to him in return).

Personally, I think Your Staff Is Broken is good to cast AFTER the target wizard has less than 4 Will points - if he has 2-3 Will left and is trying to keep up an exhaustion spell, he won't be able to spend more than 1-2 Will to resist your spell (and if he uses his free Will point to assist in the resist roll, he probably won't be casting against you this turn). After one cast of this spell, the wizard is unlikely to shrug off another assault - queue the retreat music!

For Shatter, you need to identify the piece of gear that is most troublesome to you and focus on that. When facing a combat hero, you might choose a weapon they wield (like Aiglos from Gil-Galad or Anduril on Aragorn) or armor they wear (like the heavy armor on Elrond or the Mithril Mail on Durin). Specialized pieces of gear (like the Circlet of Kings on Thranduil or Nenya on Galadriel) are great things to target too, but keeping track of how useful they are can be quite difficult. 

Some models won't make good targets - any model that never counts as unarmed (or has more than one weapon) won't be harmed as much as models that would be treated as unarmed after losing one item.

Similarly, models with innate magical defense (like Resistant to Magic, Fortify Spirit, special rules that shrug off magic) aren't great targets either - the Moria Blackshield Shaman is an auxiliary caster who will only be active for 2-3 rounds and so can only take out a limited amount of gear (probably only 1 piece of gear, if any, unless you're targeting models with 1 Will or less).

Sometimes, though, a model with a single weapon and magical defense (like Sauron) is the most important target - if Sauron is the only opposing hero (or the only threatening hero), he might be your target for your Shaman (even though he has Resistant to Magic, a free Will point each turn, and 6 Will in his store). Sure, you probably won't break his mace, but you will probably eat up his resources (Will, maybe even Might) stopping you from doing it! At a point, that's worth it. Plus, there is the off-chance that the magical power goes through . . .

3) Forget Channeling

I don't think channeling Your Staff is Broken is worth it - the targets of this spell likely have 3 Fate points (rerollable Fate on Gandalf) and 3 Wounds each, so you're not likely to do THAT much damage UNLESS you've already started working him down. If you've already been working him down . . . why cast this spell on him? Normally, you'd cast this spell on a wizard so that you can just ignore the over-costed melee warrior who may-or-may-not have Might points. If the hero is close enough to death that a S7 hit makes a difference, I think you're better off just casting Transfix and smacking him with your other models.

Similarly, I think channeling Shatter is a bad idea. Depending on the model you target, dealing a S6 hit may or may not wound easily (D7-8 targets will be wounded on 5s - and these are probably the people you're targeting if you're focusing on a combat hero). Even if you do wound the target easily (breaking the Elven-made weapon of a D6 Amdur or the sword of Shagrat/Lurtz, for example), most of the models you'll be targeting will have 2+ Wounds and 1+ Fate points. Even if you manage to wound the target, how dangerous is that?

Regardless of which spell you're considering, you are channelling the spell for the chance to do a wound - and while there is a higher likelihood that you do a wound with Your Staff is Broken, you're committing 1 Might to the cast BEFORE you roll any dice and BEFORE your opponent tries to resist (and resist he will, I guarantee it). Should you fail to cast OR if your opponent resists on a 6, the Might point is wasted. Even if the spell goes off, your Might point won't translate into a wound unless it gets the requisite wounding roll (which for Shatter is likely to be very hard and for Your Staff is Broken is decently likely to fail). Not worth it to me . . .

When Do You Use It?

You'd think that casting this spell would be straight-forward - but as has been hinted at above, that's not exactly true. Not only is there planning involved for using Shatter, but when you use Your Staff Is Broken matters too. Let's look at some example, shall we?

Use Case Study: The Necromancer of Dol Guldur and Your Staff is Broken

The Necromancer has 25 Will points and the Will of Evil - but if you keep his army bonus (which you should if you're running the Necromancer), you get a free die to your casting attempts when you spend at least 1 Will point. Let's assume you're running the following list against a White Council army (since we're evaluating Your Staff Is Broken):

The Dark Powers of Dol Guldur - 800pts	The White Council - 800pts
The Necromancer of Dol Guldur	Saruman the White
Nazgul of Dol Guldur - Witch-King of Angmar	Elrond, Master of Rivendell with heavy armor
Nazgul of Dol Guldur - Forsaken	Radagast the Brown
Nazgul of Dol Guldur - Lingering Shadow	Gandalf the Grey
Nazgul of Dol Guldur - Slayer of Men x2	Galadriel, Lady of Light
Castellan of Dol Guldur with Morgul Blade x3
Castellan of Dol Guldur x1

Your allocation of Will probably looks something like this for a given game:

• Combat Store: 5 Will (you want this guy fighting - F7/S6 with Drain Soul is macho!);
• Casting Store: 8 Will (most of his spells can be cast at 75% chance of success or better with a single die, thanks to his special rule, so we can get off up to 8 casts without being too worried about our Will store);
• Special Rule Store: 8 Will (not sure how many Wounds I'm going to take, but let's assume that 8 Fate points will be sufficient, shall we?);
• Resisting Store: 3 Will (I'm assuming that we want something here, but if we need more resisting dice, it'll be borrowed from our Casting/Special Rule store);
• Life Store: 1 Will (because most of the time, staying alive is a good thing)

We've got three enemy casters with Staffs of Power, so we need to prioritize them. The most dangerous, I think, is Saruman - with just his free die, he can reliably cast Sorcerous Blast (read our previous post on Sorcerous Blast as to why that is). Radagast the Brown is also quite dangerous (Nature's Wrath and Renew are dangerous in different ways), so I'd prioritize him second. Gandalf the Grey picks up the rear - he's "dangerous," but similar in what he can to do Saruman but doesn't cast them nearly as well. 

While I'm sure the nine "Ringwraiths" in this list will keep the enemy heroes busy, we'll need the Necromancer to weaken the wizards so these guys don't get blown to pieces. I think you start by casting Curse on the Wizards (channelled against Elrond, Gandalf, and Galadriel) to weaken them, then finish them off with Your Staff is Broken after they've spent themselves a bit. You might be able to finish some of these guys off with your Nazgul/Castellans before you need to cast this on them, but whatever.

"Use" Case Study: The Witch-King of Angmar and Your Staff is Broken

The Witch-King, similarly, needs to apportion his Will out among a variety of categories. I've assumed that you have the Crown of Morgul and have allocated 15 Will here (since that's my go-to amount of Will for the Witch-King), but know that you could get +5 Will into these categories if you want to:

• Combat Store: 5 Will (you want this guy fighting - with the Crown, he's F5/S4 with 3A - and could have higher Strength if you run him on a Fell Beast);
• Casting Store: 5 Will (you get a reroll here, so you can probably get off 5 casts in a game if you focus on casting spells that aren't cast on a 5+);
• Special Rule Store: 0 Will;
• Resisting Store: 4 Will (you get a reroll here, so you shouldn't need too much Will here - split this evenly between casting and fighting if you find yourself without an enemy caster to fight);
• Life Store: 1 Will (because most of the time, staying alive is a good thing)

With only 5 casts, you're probably only getting off Your Staff is Broken once - most of the time, you're probably going to be casting a Transfix/Sap Will on someone you're about to ram into, so I'm not sure you actually do cast this. However, if your opponent has a wizard that's low on Will, throwing a Your Staff is Broken can be really useful. Obviously, if the wizards is messing with you, throwing this spell might matriculate up in importance.

Use Case Study: Gandalf the White and Your Staff is Broken

If you're running Gandalf the White, you're obviously going to cast Fortify Spirit up on the first turn (or second turn if archery is a problem) if you've got a wizard on the other side of the board. Once that's up, you've got a pretty good resilience against the caster's magic, which means you can target him with spells (or just ignore him so long as your other units are safe). Life is pretty good for you - break staffs if you want to and whenever you feel like you need to.

This post concludes (at long last) all of the spells for Gandalf the White - we've covered a lot of his stuff and he has a LOT to consider (which is why most people avoid taking him entirely). Here's my game-plan:

• On your first turn, if your opponent has a spell-caster you're concerned about, you cast Fortify Spirit on yourself;
• On your first turn (if your opponent doesn't have a worrisome spell-caster) or your second turn (if you're not in the thick of fighting), you channel Blinding Light to protect friendly models near him from archery;
• If archery and magic aren't a worry, channel Terrifying Aura to protect you from being charged (if you have three turns before the action begins, cast this normally on yourself);
• If your opponent is taking their time getting to you, cast Strengthen Will on yourself with your free Will point each turn so you can get ready for the fight when it comes in earnest;
• Once your opponent is within 12" of you, if any of his heroes/monsters are Spirit models, channel Banishment to force them to weaken themselves (or kill them);
• If there isn't a spirit hero within 12" of you, start casting Sorcerous Blast - you cast it on roughly the same difficulty as Immobilize and Command and it does MASSIVE work against groups of troops;
• If our opponent has a hero that you can't put on the ground with Sorcerous Blast, cast Command on the hero if you have a place to move him (or cast Immobilize if you are responding to a hero who has charged);
• If you have an enemy wizard who has drained himself, irk him by casting Your Staff is Broken and ruin the rest of his day.

Use Case Study: Moria Blackshield Shaman and Shatter

The Blackshield Shaman has the most thinking required in this post: personally, I think the first time you cast this spell (despite what I said above), you cast Shatter on a single Will point and have your Might point on-hand to make it work. Your target should (ideally) be a model with 1 Will, since they might be able to stop this one attack, but won't be able to stop a follow-up attack. On the next turn, you throw 2 Will at the spell IF you had to spend your Might point - otherwise, risk another 1 Will cast. Since a 67% chance is nearly a 70% record AND because you're limited on Will, I think it's worth it to risk failing a little more than we'd normally tolerate. This also gives you the opportunity for three casts in the game (which might be enough to weaken a hero who is worth more than the 50 points you spent on the Shaman).

I've also not addressed this so far - this is not a unique character, so you could run 2-3 of these guys if you wanted to, making your risk of suffering damage from a hero like Sauron much MUCH lower. True, he'll probably start sniping you, but you might just get lucky with all your casts to take away his mace!

As for the prioritization of spells for a Blackshield Shaman, you either cast Shatter or Tremor based on whether your opponent's force is dangerous because of its heroes or because of it's model count. If the former, Shatter is your go-to move. If the latter, rely on a one-time Tremor.

Shatter and Your Staff Is Broken!

These spells are niche - and you're unlikely to face them in most games (though Moria can conveniently ally with almost anyone and either the Witch-King or the Necromancer can be historical/convenient allies for nearly every army in the game too). Being aware of what they do is useful, even if you never have to play them. If these characters do show up on the table (either because you or your opponent brought them), now you know what to do!

In our next post, we double-down on the evil spells (haven't covered very many of those) and focus on debuffing spells. Antithetical to the restoration spells we've already looked at, these spells reduce enemy heroic resources or profile stats. Think these spells are a waste of resources? Ever wondered if they're worth it? Tune in next time to learn all about it - until then, happy hobbying!