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.

When Do You No-Kidding-Actually-Use-It?

Let's assume at the get-go that you have shooting in your army (at least one bow model within range of the hero calling Heroic Accuracy) and that there is at least one in-the-way roll required to hit the model you want to kill the most (let's call this a "priority target"). If either of these situations isn't in play, you aren't calling this heroic action.

As I mentioned in my post on wasting Might points, the greatest use for this heroic action is hitting a target that has a much lower Defense than a model in the front rank (Vault Warden Teams are a great example of this, where D9 is all-but-impossible to wound with bows, while D6 is "more manageable"). Since your probability of killing your target is heavily dependent on who you hit, calling a Heroic Accuracy can be really useful.

Second, if you're targeting a mount that is being ridden on by a high-Defesne hero (D7 hero on a D4 mount, for example), choosing the horse as the target and rerolling the in-the-way roll will make you far more likely to take out the horse instead of seeing your archery hit bounce off the hero's armor. 

Third, there's a big temptation to call a Heroic Accuracy to pass in-the-way rolls against priority targets that are hiding behind one or more terrain pieces. Since hits on models that are in the way could still kill something (and hits on terrain objectives generally won't remove them), it's tempting to try to pass those in-the-way rolls.

How Can You Waste The Heroic Action?

Besides calling this heroic action when you aren't near bow-armed models and wanting to hit a model that has no in the way rolls, there are two key ways you can waste your Might point on this heroic action. First and foremost, you need to pass the To Hit roll. As discussed at length in the post on wasting Might points, any models that fail to meet their Shoot Value requirements are not going to see any benefit of that Might point. If those models happen to have a 4+ shoot value and moved, only one-in-three models are supposed to hit the target - do you have enough models that are likely to hit in order to make that Might point worth it?

A second way to waste the Might point is to choose a priority target that requires in-the-way rolls but isn't THAT much of a priority target. Yes, sniping banners is important. Yes, killing the Foe Spear half of a Vault Warden Team is good. But what happens if you're "just shooting" at a hero and spending Might so that you can pass really difficult shots and you end up hitting models that are in-the-way BUT you could have taken an easier shot against a different model (a target with one model in the way - or no models in the way)? Seems like there might be better uses for a Might point.

Criteria for Finalists

With all this in mind, here's the criteria we're using for our Top 5s:

• The hero should be in an army with good archers (high Shoot Value, preference to high Strength ranged weapons);
• Shouldn't have competing priorities for your Might points; and
• Preference if the model calling Heroic Accuracy also has a bow.

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Evil

#5: Nobody

Turns out, most evil models don't have Heroic Accuracy. Perhaps this is a good thing, since most evil armies cap out at a 4+ shoot value (which becomes a 5+ to hit roll if you move and shoot in the same turn).

#4: Nobody

Yeah, this was surprising, there aren't four models that have Heroic Accuracy from the forces of Evil. Wow.

#3: Nobody

Okay, this is wrong, man - why aren't there more models to consider?

#2: Vrasku (Isengard)

FINALLY! I've included Vrasku here because he's one of only two choices available to the Forces of Evil. Yes, he has a crossbow and yes, he'll be shooting. Paired with his 3+ shoot value (which will always be a 3+ shoot value, since he can't move and shoot with his crossbow), he's a reliable shooter and can benefit greatly from Heroic Accuracy. Since using Might to boost Wounding rolls in archery is very helpful, I think there's some competition between Vrasku using his Might for Heroic Accuracy and To Wound roll boosting. 

The units that Vrasku will be helping are also great - Uruk-Hai crossbowmen are some of the most feared archers in the game (good or evil considered) and many Isengard armies take 33% of their army with crossbows if they have the models to do so. If you're like me and you despise crossbows (darn their immobile nature), you can also work alongside Uruk-Hai Scouts with Uruk-Hai bows (who are not quite as scary, but still very good archers). I don't think Vrasku is quite as free to use his Might to call a Heroic Accuracy, however, as . . .

#1: Narzug (Azog's Hunters)

Okay, let's get this out of the way: Narzug's Orc bow isn't as good as Vrasku's crossbow. His ability to move at half-speed (on a Warg, especially), means that he can move 3" on foot (5" mounted) and this will close most of the range gap you see between his bow and Vrasku's crossbow (23" potential range if he moves half-speed on a Fell Warg vs. 24" static range for Vrasku's crossbow). The S2 will wound worse than the S4 crossbow, so you have to be careful what targets you choose.

What gives Narzug the edge over Vrasku is that while he doesn't shoot twice, his 3 Might points are more free to use for Heroic Accuracy thanks to getting a free Might point to boost a To Hit, a To Wound, and (most importantly) an in-the-way roll. With the reroll he gets from Heroic Accuracy (paired with the ability to boost it for free), he can more reliably hit his targets.

While Hunter Orcs with Orc bows are not as scary at a distance as Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows, when paired with Bolg and keeping your army bonus, you can have half of your army carrying Orc bows with Morgul Arrows, which is a frightening prospect for any multi-wound models in the game. If your opponent is trying to hide his heroes so they don't become pincushions, Heroic Accuracy will be your friend (and with Narzug, you can get that cheeky wound on the heroes, monsters, or multi-wound mounts that are trying to be shielded). Useful? I think so. More dangerous to heroes than Uruk-Hai crossbows? I think so too.

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Good

Unlike the Forces of Evil, there are quite a few heroes from the Forces of Good that wanted to make this list. Today we cover those that (I think) do it the best:

#5: Duinhir (The Fiefdoms)

Duinhir exists in a list that benefits greatly from heroic actions being called in the Shoot phase: Blackroot Vale Archers within 6" of Duinhir get a reroll of 1s To Hit if they don't move (which means they only truly miss on a 2, since they have a 3+ Shoot value) and if someone nearby calls a Heroic Shoot, they also reroll all failed To Wound rolls when shooting. This means that with a Heroic Accuracy from Duinhir and a Heroic Shoot from someone else, you can get a reroll on (almost all) failed To Hit rolls, all failed In The Way rolls, and all failed To Wound rolls on your Blackroot Vale Archers. That's pretty sick . . .

So why is Duinhir so low on the list? Because of Might competition - because the In The Way reroll comes at the cost of calling a Heroic Shoot with Duinhir to get the reroll To Wound (which will always be necessary), his desire to call a Heroic Accuracy is low. Still, calling a Heroic Accuracy is very good - and very, VERY useful. So, he makes the list. I wouldn't expect to see him calling a Heroic Accuracy very often, but I could see it happening (especially if a nearby Captain of Dol Amroth calls the Heroic Shoot).

#4: Aragorn - Strider (any list, but most especially the Rangers)

So let's start with this: the Rangers are all about that shooting (though they're competent in combat as well). As I mentioned in the post on wasting Might points, Aragorn's free Might point each turn from Mighty Hero makes him one of a handful of heroes who is free to spend Might on niche things (like boosting To Hit rolls or calling Heroic Accuracy). In an army of Rangers, if you need to shoot at models who are sitting behind cover (or behind friendly models), passing those in-the-way rolls will be useful (especially since you will be benefitting models that have Might to boost their To Wound rolls).

Aragorn will be showing up a lot in this series - the reason he shows up so low on this list is because his free Might point is often used to call a Heroic March early on so you can get the positioning you want from what is likely to be a predominantly infantry force (most of their units can be mounted, but not all of them). If you want that movement, you aren't calling a Heroic Accuracy. If you're fine where you are, then Heroic Accuracy could be in your future. Also, we can't have Aragorn taking #1 in all the posts, now can we? :-)

Side note: since Aragorn shows up in many Legendary Legions and army lists, I've decided to never cover him more than once from the same legion/army list in this series.

#3: Aldor, Rohan Archer (The Defenders of Helm's Deep Legendary Legion)

So, Aldor can be taken in a vanilla Rohan list - but most of the archers in that list are probably mounted and Aldor is on foot. In the Legendary Legion, everyone is on foot (including Gamling, who can restore Aldor's Might if he has nothing better to do) so you can easily be near your fellow archers.

Aldor already rerolls failed To Hit and To Wound rolls (which will be a lot, given his 5+ Shoot value and his S2 bow), so rerolling in-the-ways is good too. He also shoots before Heroic Shoot models, so he can take out an enemy archer before he can do anything. Aldor's Might could be spent promoting rolls, but making friendly figures hit priority targets is probably better (especially because he will only hit his target half the time WITH his reroll). The reason he beats Aragorn in this category is because he doesn't need his Might for other things. If you're not using his Might for boosting a roll, you might as well use it to call Heroic Accuracy.

#2: Anborn (The Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion)

If there's a list that is more dependent on shooting than the Rangers, it's the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion. With two new Ranger heroes coming their way, any of the three Minor heroes could be used here. I've chosen Anborn because he gets the free Might point to boost his shooting rolls (same as Narzug).

With better archers than Rohan has and a vast percentage of your army able to be said archers AND all sensible enemies hiding behind as much cover as possible, I think almost anyone would want to call a Heroic Accuracy with someone. Like Aldor, Anborn doesn't have anything else to burn Might on besides boosting, so might as well call an Accuracy. At the same time, this list requires so much archery damage to work that you COULD choose to skip Heroic Accuracy and rely on boosting, ceding our top spot to . . .

#1: Dunedain (The Shire, less so from the Rangers)

Dunedain aren't great in the Shire list - they are nowhere near as good as they are in the Rangers list. In squads of Hobbit Archers (and potentially 12 Tookish Hunters if you take Paladin Took), these guys can spend a really-don't-need-this Might point to make your Hobbit archers (who are cheaper Rangers) more effective at hitting their targets.

For an army that doesn't have spears, targeting models in the back rank (who are likely carrying spears OR are firing bows) can be a huge boon, as can hitting heroes who are hiding in the back and could do serious damage to the Hobbit lines (whether through auric abilities or raw killing power). Hobbit archers are already some of the best archers in the game - getting them to hit priority targets more reliably just makes them better.

So why put these guys above the Minor Heroes from the Rangers of Ithilien? Two reasons: first and foremost, the presence of Gandalf the Grey (required to bring Dunedain in a Shire list) will mean you have some built-in resiliency against lists like the Rangers of Ithilien if he channels Blinding Light (which he should). Sure, they probably have upwards of 40 bows in their army, but if only 8 hit, you're only losing a few models. Their only saving grace in return is having actual terrain to hide behind (and while some rangers might benefit from Stalk Unseen from Mablung, many will likely be visible and taking direct damage from your bows).

Second, the Rangers of Ithilien don't have ways of getting Might points back - once spent, their Might is gone. As such, Heroic Moves are precious to them - as are Heroic Shoots against shooting-heavy lists on terrain-sparse boards. With a Shire list able to ally in Tom Bombadil and still get a healthy amount of troops (see my List Building post on the Shire for more info), you can call more Heroic Accuracies than the Rangers are likely to do if you really need it. For those of you who consider Tom Bombadil to be cheesy and not fair for competitive play, know that many people feel the same way about the Rangers of Ithilien Legendary Legion (so those players really can't complain if Tom pops up in their games).

Heroic Accuracy

I'm not a big fan of Heroic Accuracy on the whole, but I really do think it has its uses and some heroes can rely on it to give their team a tactical advantage against most foes. I'm kind of glad to get this heroic action out of the way first because, as useful as it can be, I just don't think it's THAT useful compared to the other heroic actions.

Our next post, though, is one of my favorite specialized heroic actions: Heroic Channelling. Lots of heroes cast magic in MESBG and if you've followed our "Masterclass" series on magic, you know that there are LOTS of different kinds of spells, some of which are always worth channelling, while some are never worth channelling (and some are situationally worth channelling). Curious who's going to rank high for Good or Evil? Build your own lists and we'll see how you do! Until next time, happy hobbing!