Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic March

Good morning gamers,

We're on our fourth specialized heroic action today - and it's my personal favorite: Heroic March! I started playing this game with (what is now) the Kingdom of Khazad-Dum, Moria, Isengard, and Lothlorien and ALL of these factions like to use Heroic March (the Dwarves and Goblins in particular). With many, many, MANY factions wanting access to this heroic action (and all but three factions actually having it), it makes you wonder who does it the best for Good and Evil? Before getting into who's "the best," let's get a little reminder of what Heroic March does - ultimately, Heroic March is how . . .

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Back to the action . . .

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic March gives the hero who calls the heroic action and is unengaged when he begins his move (and models within 6" of him when he begins his move) 3-5" of additional movement, depending on whether they are infantry or cavalry models. In exchange for increasing their max speed, the hero who calls the heroic action (and models that are within 6" of him when he begins his move) cannot charge this turn. Like Heroic Moves, any models that benefit from Heroic March need to end their movement within 6" of the hero who called Heroic March. Models that haven't moved before the Heroic March and choose not to participate in the Heroic March can't move at all during the Move phase.

There are a few nuances in this heroic action that bear mentioning before we go on: first and foremost, this is different from a War Drum. Some models (Uruk-Hai Drummers, Black Guard Drummers, Orc Drummers, Easterling Kataphrakts with the War Drum upgrade, Mordor/Isengard Trolls with the War Drum upgrade) can grant a similar increase in speed to friendly models, but it functions differently in a few respects. Since the extra movement from Heroic March and the War Drum are coming from different sources, they stack with each other (giving you an additional 6-10" of movement to friendly models that are in range of both of them). Speaking of being in range, War Drums cover a 12" radius instead of a 6" radius, granting more of your army access to increased speed. While Heroic March requires you to end within a certain distance of the hero who called Heroic March, the War Drum has no such stipulation, so your army can split up if required. Perhaps the best thing about the Drum is that you don't need Might to activate it (though you usually pay 20-30 points for the benefit of the drum).

So does this make War Drums "just better" than Heroic March? Not necessarily. While War Drums are quite valuable, they come with a major drawback: their restriction on models not being able to charge takes place at the start of the Move phase - not when the hero who declares the Heroic March begins his move. This means that if any friendly model within 12" of the drum (which is a HUGE area) wishes to charge, the drum can't be played at all.

Furthermore, War Drums have keywords for the models that can use them. In the case of Easterling Kataphrakts and Mordor Trolls, the keyword is so general ("Easterling" and "Mordor" respectively) that a pure list will find everyone benefitting. Others (like Orc/Uruk-Hai Drummers) are more restrictive ("Mordor Orc" and "Isengard Uruk-Hai" respectively) and so will only affect part of your army if you have mixed races. Obviously, if you are running an alliance (Easterlings and Mordor, for example), only part of your army will benefit - again, this could be a big problem. Heroic March has the advantage of benefitting all friendly models, regardless of their keywords - and while it comes at the cost of Might, it is quite useful that way.

Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic Resolve

 Good morning gamers,

So far in this series on heroes, we've looked at Heroic Accuracy and Heroic Channelling and who are the best heroes (for Good and Evil) to call these heroic actions. Today, we're returning to a very niche heroic action - and the heroic action that is the hardest to deny your opponent the benefits of: Heroic Resolve. This heroic action isn't held by most heroes - and some armies have only a single model with access to it. With the limitations that come with it, is it worth using? Well, that's what we'll discuss below!

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic Resolve is declared in the Move phase and allows the hero who calls it to grant friendly models within 6" (and the hero himself) to get a free die to resist magical powers during the round. In trade, the hero may not move. In order for this heroic action to take effect, the hero needs to just not die during the Move phase (which would require some kind of impact hit or throwing weapon charge).

For you rules-smiths out there, it is unclear to me whether a model that calls a Heroic Resolve can be moved by an enemy model (either with a Command/Compel or with a special rule like a Fell Light is in Them or the Eldamar Madrigal). We have no FAQ on it, but we do have an FAQ that says the following with regard to Heroic March:

Q: If a model has declared a Heroic March, can they be Compelled/Commanded to charge an enemy model? (p.70 & 97) 

A: No. A model that has declared a Heroic March may not charge that turn, even if moved by another model.

It stands to reason that if Heroic March says a model can't charge and rules that might make that happen are not allowed to make you charge, a model that calls Heroic Resolve would similarly be immune to rules that would make them move. It does seem a bit broken that it would stop things like a Hurl or Barge though, so it probably merits an FAQ submission. For the purposes of this article, I'm assuming that this heroic action grants immunity to spells/special rules that would cause them to move in the Move phase (where the action would be more-or-less voluntary), but not immunity to spells/special rules/brutal power attacks that do an involuntary move (like Hurl, Sorcerous Blast, or Call Winds).

Heroic Resolve is a rare heroic action and has a very niche use: giving you a better chance of resisting enemy magic. If you face armies that have area of effect magical powers (or Sorcerous Blast), this can be a great way to make sure your troops have some kind of resistance to the magical power (though one die to resist a spell that is cast on a 4+ or 5+ isn't a reliable defense). Paired with Resistant to Magic (which would grant you two free dice to resist magical powers), you can provide a real deterrent to enemy casters who are determined to score some quick kills with their magic. While shutting down area of effect spells is great, keeping a hero from being Transfixed (or a warrior from being Compelled towards an enemy hero for a heroic combat) can also be mitigated more by calling a Heroic Resolve.

One final note: last December, I did a post on the best anti-caster models in the game and one of the categories that helped you get on that list was access to Heroic Resolve. If you'd like to see the list of models that have Heroic Resolve (might have had one or two new ones that have been added since then), check it out here. Alight, let's look at some of the nuanced conditions for using this heroic action.

Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic Channelling

Good morning gamers,

In our last post, we looked at the heroes who can get the most out of Heroic Accuracy. In today's post, we'll be looking at the Top 5 heroes for using a far more ubiquitous heroic action: Heroic Channeling. Like Heroic Accuracy, I've talked about Heroic Channelling as one of the Top 5 ways to waste a Might point - and this is driven in no small part by how niche the increased effects of a channelled spell might be. Some spells (like Blinding Light) become a TON better when channelled, while others only have marginal benefits (like Immobilize or Chill Soul). Still others often provide D3 of something instead of 1 of something (like Strengthen Will or Banishment), but these spells can end up doing nothing more than the unchannelled version.

Before reading any further, I highly recommend you catch up on our recent series on magic, where I went through all of the magical powers in the game by topic to showcase how you can use each of the spells - and in each post, there's a discussion for when to channel and when to cast normally (spoiler alert: there are some spells that are just not worth channelling. Like ever).

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic Channelling is declared in the Move phase and allows the hero who calls it to use the "channelled" version of a spell that he/she has in his/her list of magical powers. In order for this heroic action to take effect, a caster needs to:

• Not be charged before they cast a magical power;
• Successfully cast the magical power they wish to channel; and
• If the spell targets an enemy model, the enemy model needs to either not try to resist the magical power OR needs to fail to resist the magical power.

If any of these situations aren't met, then the Might point is wasted and cannot be used. It should be clear that models that have this heroic action need to have magical powers in their profile AND need to have Might points. That said, there are a few models (Thranduil with the Circlet of Kings, Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, and Barrow-Wights) who have access to magical powers, but DON'T have Heroic Channelling in their profiles. For Thranduil, this is because (I presume) his magical powers are once-per-game and come from an item, while the other three lack Heroic Channelling because (again, presumption) they don't have any Might.

TMAT Challenge - Episode 5: Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took

 

Not every warrior of Middle-Earth is chiseled from stone or as tall as a mountain. Sometimes it is the smallest folk that strike the truest blows for freedom!

Centaur brings the legendary Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took to the monster arena, where Chuckles lies in wait. Can the inventor of golf etch yet another achievement in the annals of history?

It's halfling versus monster in the ultimate test of survival! Join Tiberius, Centaur, and Rythbryt as they pit some of Tolkien's most iconic heroes against the deadliest creatures that Middle-Earth has to offer in an escalating test of heroic mettle.

Now available on YouTube

TMAT Talks - Episode 8: Top-10 Snipers (Good & Evil)

 

Tiberius, Centaur, and Rythbryt take a break from throwing nasty monsters at under-powered heroes to finish their long-delayed discussion of the top-10 "sniper" profiles in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. Surprise, surprise: they hardly agree, and that's fair. Also, Centaur hates magic.

Now available on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts!

Music: Happy Haunts by Aaron Kenny

____________________________________________

Intro (0:00)

Good: Honorable mentions (7:45)

Good: They're really trying (16:58)

Good: Centaur hates magic (39:25)

Good: Shoot thrice, can I (?) (49:50)

Evil: Honorable mentions (1:04:42)

Evil: Aren't these guys too low? (1:30:23)

Evil: Do you like your dark lord scrambled or sunny-side? (1:39:46)

Evil: To fly, or not to fly? (1:52:38)

Evil: Divide and devastate (2:06:06)

Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic Accuracy

Good morning gamers,

Today begins a new series that will take us through the end of the year and we'll be looking at each of the specialized Heroic Actions available to heroes in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. For each heroic action, we're going to review a) what the heroic action does, b) when you would actually use it, c) how you can waste the heroic action, and then d) the Top 5 heroes for Good and Top 5 heroes for Evil who can get the most out of the heroic action being viewed.

Our first heroic action is the heroic action I like the least - Heroic Accuracy. I've discussed Heroic Accuracy in the not-so-distant past when discussing my Top 5 ways to waste a Might point and before that I was pretty harsh on it in my review of the specialized heroic actions back in February 2019. Lest you think I will be coming to this discussion from a jaded perspective, know that I do think Heroic Accuracy has its uses (which we'll cover a bit later). I do think this is the most niche specialized heroic action (and the most likely to waste Might, which we'll cover later), but figured we just get it out of the way from the get-go.

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic Accuracy is a niche heroic action that allows the hero who calls it (or all friendly models within 6" of him if he shouts "Take Aim!") to reroll all failed In The Way rolls. As I mentioned in my post on wasting Might points, this helps you with a very small (albeit sometimes important) part of shooting in MESBG:

• You roll to hit the target;
• You roll to see if you hit anything that's in-the-way;
• You roll to wound.

It's that second bullet that you can reroll - you need to hit before hand AND you still need to wound afterwards. To understand the usefulness of this heroic action, let's looking at what situations would drive you to use it.

Guest Post: (In)convenient Allies in MESBG: Preconditions for a Competitive Alliance with Sharbie

Good morning gamers,

This weekend we host yet another article from Sharbie - if you haven't read his previous article on the Watcher in the Water, you should. Today, Sharbie explores the idea of including allies in your lists - what do you look for in an allied contingent? What can they provide that merits losing your army bonus (unless you're Historical allies, which most factions aren't)? Can you go too far with an allied contingent and lose the core of your original force? All of these questions will be covered below - take it away, Sharbie!

Overly Pedantic Stats: Are Hobbit Armies better than LotR Armies?

 Hey Reader!

I'm beginning a new series on this blog centered around "overly pedantic stats," wherein we assign statistical values to different characteristics of a model to determine how strong the innate stat block is compared to other factions. We do not factor in skill level of the player, army composition, formations, or scenario, but instead just look at the raw stats of the warriors and heroes to see how good they are vis-à-vis each other. 

We looked at five different characteristics for every hero and warrior: offensive capabilities, defensive capabilities, utility abilities, movement values, and cost. Each model was ranked on a scale of 1-5 in each category, and then was assigned a final overall value for the model. This overall value will not be used in today's post, as we are instead looking at the overall score by category for each civ, to see how they line up. We can then use these stats to determine the relative strength of the models in each faction in the game.

One use case for using these stats is answering the question of "power creep": are factions that were released later in the game (found in the Armies of The Hobbit book) stronger or better than the earlier factions that were released (found in the Armies of The Lord of the Rings book)? Let's find out.

TMAT Challenge - Episode 4: Balrog v. Barrow-Wights

It's man versus monster in the ultimate test of survival! 

Tiberius, Centaur, and Rythbryt take a break from matching up iconic heroes against monsters to answer the ultimate question you never thought to ask: can 350 points of Barrow-Wights beat 350 points of Balrog?

 

Mastering Magic: Fury

Good morning gamers,

We come to it at last - the final spell in all of MESBG. We've talked about damage spells (Sorcerous Blast, Area-of-Effect damage spells, and precision spells). We've talked about augments (auric bonuses, stat/resource restoration, magical protection, and damage enhancers). We've talked about debuffs (stat/resource reduction, neutralizing with Immobilize et al, and breaking gear). We've talked about spells that scatter enemy models.

Today, we wrap it all up with one of the first spells I ever used and the spell that (in my opinion) has changed the most from the Legions era to the current MESBG gaming system: Fury.

Ah, Fury. As I've stated in many posts, I got started playing the game with the Mines of Moria starter set and one of the first things I learned was that I needed a Moria Goblin Shaman - Goblins just can't charge Gandalf or gang-up on Boromir reliably without one (that, and they seem to run away a lot)!

Back then, Fury didn't require you to have a Will point to keep it alive - you just had to not lose a fight (which, if you were spear-supporting from the second rank OR standing in the third/fourth rank, was pretty easy to pull off). Even if your opponent had a Ringwraith who could cast Sap Will on you and you lost all your Will, the Fury train kept on chugging. While it was active, all models of the same race as the caster passed all Courage tests and got a 6+ save against all wounds.

When the Hobbit SBG system redid the way magic worked, Fury became dependent on having a Will point in your store. Like the previous version of the rules, friendly models of the same race passed all Courage tests and got a 6+ save against all wounds, but you could channel the spell to improve that spell to a 5+ save. Moria didn't have to do this, as they could take Groblog (whose crown made Fury give a 5+ save so long as he was on the board).

In the newest edition, things have changed yet again - let's look at what Fury does, and to help me with this discussion, I've asked the other members of the TMAT team to help me out a few things based on their experiences (and if you haven't heard our podcast on Evil Spellcasters, I highly recommend you check that out for our extended discussion on Fury).

What Does Fury Do?

Fury is an exhaustion spell that is cast on the caster himself and affects all friendly models within 6" of the caster that have certain keywords (specified by the spell). For the most part, these keywords match the race and affiliation of the caster (Mordor Orc Shamans have "Fury (Mordor Orc)" and so won't help your Black Numenoreans - who aren't Orcs - or your Cave Trolls - who are not Mordor models). Affected models automatically pass any Courage tests they need to take. If channelled, affected models may roll a die for each wound they are dealt and ignore a wound they would have suffered for each roll of a 6 they get.