Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic Defense

Good morning gamers,

Today we visit yet another clutch and beloved heroic action: Heroic Defense. For many people, this is a great heroic action - anytime you can keep a Troll from Rending you, Azog from smashing your face in, or ignore the benefits of that burly two-handed hammer, you're a happy man. But is Heroic Defense all that it's cracked up to be? And how do you know when to punt on offense and throw your heroic action into defending yourself? Well, that's what we're going to look at today!

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic Defense is pretty straight-forward in its rules: the hero who calls Heroic Defense in the Fight phase is only wounded on a "natural 6" (that is, a die that "gets a 6" and isn't boosted to a 6 with Might, two-handed-weapon bonuses, special rules, etc.) during that Fight phase. Brutal Power attacks and modifiers don't come into play at all. If the hero would be wounded on a 6/4+ or worse, then you need to get a natural "6/6+" (which is, needless to say, quite difficult). Simple, right?

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

Throwing Heroic Defense seems like the easiest thing in the world - I mean, who won't rest easy when they know it's almost impossible to kill you? Heroes like Azog, Aragorn, and most monsters loathe fighting heroes with Heroic Defense because they become the hardest nuts in the world to crack. But the question is when do you use it? I propose that there are many ways to use this heroic action that are wasteful and only a few that are quite useful.

• Call a Heroic Defense when the models you're fighting wound you really easily OR don't wound you well at all; and
• Call a Heroic Defense when you don't feel confident that you can win a Heroic Strike-off (assuming you can Strike).

Let's begin with the first one: 

Round 1: Balin, Lord of Moria vs. Shagrat, Warleader

If you're Balin, Lord of Moria and you've been charged by Shagrat, you have good reason to be afraid - Shagrat has quite the reputation. Shagrat is one of the beastliest heroes available to the Forces of Evil and he's probably cracked a few Dwarf crowns on his way into you. Since Balin is F6, Shagrat decides to call Heroic Strike in the Fight phase. No doubt, your opponent thinks that he can take Balin out with this Uruk hero by sheer brawn (and get a Might point back for Blood and Glory). Before you reach for Heroic Defense, you check his ability to wound you: Strength 5 wounds Defense 8 on . . . 6s. Instead of reaching for Heroic Defense, you smile and say, "Okay, have fun with that."

Perhaps if this was Shagrat from the new Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion and there was an Orc in his fight (giving him a +1 To Wound bonus from the Legion's Animosity rule), this would change things. But in a one-on-one fight like this, we learn the first rule of Heroic Defense:

Sometimes you don't need to call it.

If we were facing Thrydan Wolfsbane (who can use a two-handed axe to wound Balin on 5s or 4s with Piercing Strike - and 3s for one round if he's from the Army of Dunland Legendary Legion), you'd want to call it, but not against Shagrat. Sure, Shagrat can spend Might to boost his wounding rolls against Balin (and that could be bad), but on the whole, Heroic Defense doesn't really help us here EXCEPT to keep someone from boosting their roll in some way (and if all Shagrat gets is 3s and 4s on his wounding rolls, he's probably not boosting with the rest of his Might).

Round 2: Balin, Lord of Moria vs. Thrydan Wolfsbane

To make the scenario interesting, let's change it and look at Thrydan Wolfsbane, mounted on a horse, charging into Balin, Lord of Moria - now Balin is concerned. Sure, Balin could Strike against Thrydan (who, let's assume, is already Striking) and see if he gets the higher Fight Value, but you could just say "You know what, one-out-of-six times, you're only going to tie my Fight Value, so I'm calling Defense and having a nice day. Sure, I might get knocked over and you might get 6 dice to try to wound me, but chances are, I'm not dying." And that's a good time to use Heroic Defense - when you're likely to be smashed if your Strike-off roll fails you.

Round 3: Durin, King of Khazad Dum vs. Lots of Uruk-Hai

Now let's level up and look at Durin, King of Khazad-Dum: let's assume that the great king of the Dwarves has found himself in a pickle and has been charged by 3 Uruk-Hai Berserkers, each supported by 2 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes (for a total of 12 Attacks to win the fight). Let's further posit that Saruman is on the board and knocked a Dwarf Warrior into the great lord of the Dwarves with Sorcerous Blast prior to the charge so that he is Prone (those 12 Attacks are now rolling 24 dice to Wound if the Uruks win) and the Uruks aren't worried about getting wounded this turn. With Durin wounded on a 6/4+, his chances of taking damage are not THAT great, but what do you do with Durin?

The neat-but-rare thing about Heroic Defense is that if your opponent would normally wound you on a 6/4+ (or any combo of two dice), they instead have to wound you on two natural 6s - no benefits from two-handed weapons (which the Berserkers would use here - why not), Might (which isn't in play here), or other special rules that would give you bonuses to wound (such as Hatred or Backstabbers). Hopefully, Durin will just win the fight and stand up, but just in case he doesn't win, you can rest assured that he'll be alive and well when the combat ends (or your opponent will have good reason to gloat).

Round 4: Bombur the Dwarf vs. . . . just about anybody . . .

One final example to illustrate the Defense mathematics - this time, let's look at a model with really low Defense. Bombur the Dwarf from Thorin's Company is a beefy hero: besides having the "Beefy" special rule in his profile, he has 3 Wounds and 1 Fate point, which is on-par with heroes like Lurtz and Amdur and more wounds than heroes like Theoden or Theodred. Pretty great guy - except that he's only D4. Most heroes are wounding him on 4s (if not 3s), most warriors are wounding him on 5s (if not 4s), and while having that extra wound is nice, he's not going to last long. Or will he?

Bombur typifies the other extreme of Heroic Defense: Heroic Defense is a great ability to have when your Defense is low and you need to keep a model alive on the board somewhere. Whether it's to contest an objective, keep a hero like Aragorn or Azog from chopping through your ranks, or plug a gap between some terrain, Heroic Defense on the right model can be a game-changing move.

Round 5: Faramir, Captain of Gondor vs. Shagrat, Warleader

Our second way you can use it is when you're afraid you won't win a Strike-off against someone. For this example, Shagrat is making the rounds again, and this time, he charges Faramir, Captain of Gondor - not a squishy hero per se, but not particularly resilient. With both heroes being F5, Shagrat calls a Strike. As Rythbryt covered in his analysis of Eomer vs. Faramir, a Heroic Strike that doesn't go in Faramir's favor is going to hurt a LOT (especially if he's not wearing heavy armor and carrying a shield). Instead, Faramir could rely on Heroic Defense to guarantee that, should Shagrat win, he doesn't do that much damage. In this case, we're not picking Heroic Defense because it makes it harder to wound (though it does), but rather because we aren't confident in our other options.

How Can You Waste The Heroic Action?

When I first read this rule, the easiest way to waste it was simple: if I win the Duel roll, I wasted my Might point. After some time playing with it (and thinking a lot about it), this is actually not true, because calling Heroic Defense changes the way your opponent approaches the Duel itself. Consider the following:

• Heroic Defense needs to be called at the start of the Fight phase when all of the other heroic actions are being called;
• Simply having Heroic Defense on the table will change the way your opponent approaches heroic actions: calling a Heroic Combat against a hero who can call Heroic Defense is REALLY risky (if not utterly stupid) - and since your opponent might have to call the Heroic Combat before you've committed to the Heroic Defense, he may pass on calling it entirely JUST BECAUSE you could call Heroic Defense after he calls the Combat; and
• Since it's called at the beginning of the phase, your opponent knows that you have Heroic Defense up before he chooses whether to use special strikes - he may choose a non-lethal attack option (such as Bash or Stun) just because he isn't confident he can wound you.

However you look at it, calling a Heroic Defense can have a huge impact on the duel your hero is in, even if you end up winning! So how can you waste it?

The easiest way to waste it is to call it when your opponent needs 6s to wound you and doesn't have any way to modify his rolls - he already needs natural 6s with everyone. This should be easy to understand, but because there are many heroes with Heroic Defense who can reach D7, there will be a surprising number of times when the models you're fighting will wound you on 6s anyway (so it's worth keeping in mind).

One other way to waste this heroic action is to call it in a fight that you're likely to win. This should go without saying, but calling Heroic Defense might be tempting at the start of the Fight phase, but if you've got a Heroic Combat going off with a nearby hero who can get to the fight you're worried about, you could risk foregoing the Heroic Defense and count on the Heroic Combat going off and saving your hero without having to spend Might. In this case, Heroic Defense could be useful in that you say, "I don't need my Heroic Combat to be committed to saving that hero - I'll go somewhere else." But you could waste it, if you pile models into that fight later in the phase. 

Criteria for Finalists

So with all the neat tricks you can use with Heroic Defense, let's look at the criteria we're using for our Top 5 today:

• Having more Might rather than less Might (because calling Heroic Defense for multiple turns is better than calling it just once);
• The hero's Might doesn't compete with other uses for Might; 
• Free Might points will always be welcome; and
• It's better if the hero has really, REALLY high Defense (so you can get to a 6/4+ or worse that need to be natural rolls) OR have a really, REALLY low Defense (so you would normally be wounded on 4s or 3s).

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Evil

#5: Durburz, the Goblin King of Moria (Moria)

Durburz is a Hero of Valor with 3 Might points in an army list that has very few Heroes of Valor/Legend. As such, it's pretty common to see Durburz as your army leader - and that means he's a target. With Defense 6 and 2 Wounds/2 Fate, he's not as squishy as some leaders are (but he certainly isn't THAT strong). Whoever charges into him has had to carve through ranks upon ranks of Goblins (and possibly monsters), so it's quite likely that the assaulting hero is either incredibly strong or very worn out. Heroic Defense is good in either case to make sure your opponent has to work even harder to kill you (and buying you time to get someone over to help Durburz out). While Durburz can Strike, starting at F4 means even getting to F7+ might not happen, so best not to risk it.

Durburz comes in at #5, however, because his Defense stat is "fine." D6 is neither good nor bad (most heroes will wound you on 5s and most warriors will wound you on 5s or 6s), but doesn't really showcase the benefits of Heroic Defense. However, keeping victory points from your opponent is a good thing, so Heroic Defense is definitely in the cards for Durburz (if he's not calling Heroic Resolve).

#4: Bert the Troll (The Three Trolls)

Bert the Troll has a reputation for being the worst of the Three Trolls overall: while his Fight 7/Strength 7/Defense 7 are very impressive stats, he lacks Heroic Strike and so will see many F5/F6 heroes toppling his good Fight Value and taking away most of the benefits of his high Strength stat as well. With a lackluster specialized Brutal Power Attack in the form of "Roast 'Em Slowly," Bert tends to be forgotten. However, he has one advantage over his two buddies: he has 2 Might points and Heroic Defense.

Most heroes who run up to a D7 model intend to use a two-handed weapon - even S5 models wound D7 models on 5s! If you're up against a Dwalin, Dain Ironfoot, Helm Hammerhand, or Elendil (S5 models with no-penalty-two-handed-weapons), either of the other Trolls is going to be concerned if they don't win the fight. Not so with Bert: if you lose the fight, these amazing killers need to get natural 6s to wound you - otherwise, they just bounce off you (perhaps wasting a Might point to Strike against you in the process). If you win, your "Save 'Em For Later" Brutal Power Attack will be a nasty surprise as the hero that just lost gets Paralyzed (stuffed in a sack, actually)! You can then kill the hero at your leisure, perhaps even letting an allied warrior or smaller hero finish the poor wretch off. Unlike Durburz, Bert doesn't really have anything else to use his Might for, so count on two Heroic Defenses during the game (unless he's surrounded by chaff - then a Heroic Combat isn't a bad idea).

Bert ranks slightly above Durburz because of the Might contention issue Durburz has, but Bert can't really rank too highly because being D7 means many models are wounding him on 6s anyway - there are LOTS of situations where he won't need to call Heroic Defense (unless he needs to ignore the penalty of a lance or two-handed weapon). Still, he's a great user of Heroic Defense. But not as good as . . .

#3: Gulavhar, the Terror of Arnor (Angmar)

Gulavhar is a beast in combat, but a bit vulnerable with "only" Defense 5. Unless you're facing S2 models, chances are your opponent will be wounding you on 4s or 5s - and that's not good! With F7 and no access to Strike, Heroic Defense is a nice way to make sure your opponent doesn't carve Gulavhar up into bits when he loses a fight. Of course, the best way to use Gulavhar is to charge someone who has been Transfixed/Paralyzed so that they can't do damage to Gulavhar (or, in the case of Paralyze, allow Gulavhar to win automatically and do massive damage to the poor, target hero).

Gulavhar benefits a lot from Heroic Defense - some particularly nasty heroes can wound Gulavhar on a 3+, so Heroic Defense is quite useful. Besides his Defense, he has 4 Wounds with no Fate points, so being able to call Heroic Defense to keep someone with an insta-kill shenanigan from one-turn-popping Gulavhar is really good. Unfortunately, Gulavhar has quite a bit of competition for his Might from more normal heroic actions (Heroic Move to get the most out of Monstrous Charge, Heroic Combat to fly over and smash unsuspecting heroes, or "just boosting a roll"), so I couldn't put him higher than third. To claim slot #2, Gulavhar would need to shift from having horrible Defense to having amazing Defense - which leads us to . . .

#2: Dragon with Wings and Tough Hide (Moria)

Yes, I know what you're thinking: "I didn't know Dragons has Defense!?!?!?!" Yeah, me either! Mostly when I use Dragons, I use Heroic Strike - who doesn't want to Strike from F7 with Monstrous Charge when you're rolling 5 attack dice! Yep, Dragons are great - but every now and again, you see a nasty little hero coming up and he's not afraid of your D9 because he's able to carve through it. 

Take for instance the following scenario: a Dragon with Wings and Tough Hide is engaged in a fight with Gimli, Son of Gloin from the Fellowship list. Legolas has killed a few Goblins and this is Gimli's first fight: Gimli chooses to Strike and the Moria player knows that Gimli has a 50/50 chance of making it to Fight 10. The Dragon has a slightly better chance of getting to Fight 10, but even if he makes it to Fight 10, he's leaving everything to a 50/50 proposition that Gimli doesn't win the fight.

The calculation may go something like this: "Gimli is Strength 4, but all of his weapons have Piercing Strike (and he knows I'm just going to Rend him anyway), so let's assume that he's going to be S5 after choosing to Piercing Strike. This means he's either 3 Attacks and wounding on 5s OR he's got 2 Attacks and wounding on 4s. Each wound I take requires me to pass a Courage test or flee the field - what on earth should I do?"

While you could count on your 4-5 Attacks to carry the day against just Gimli no matter what he does, would your calculation change if Boromir or Aragorn were in the same fight and one of THEM called Heroic Strike and Gimli called Heroic Strength (to go from S4 to potentially S7 - a 67% chance of getting there because he's willing to Piercing Strike)? A S7 Gimli using his two-handed axe wounds a D9 Dragon not on 6s, not on 5s, not on 4s, but on a 3+ if he's being out-scored by Legolas. That's . . . pretty dangerous.

But all of this concern goes down if the Dragon calls Heroic Defense: while Gulavhar dies after suffering 4 wounds (and becomes a lot less dangerous as he suffers 2-3 Wounds), he also has a way of getting those wounds back (by killing things). Dragons don't have that option and if they run out of Will, they can fail Courage tests on C4 pretty easily (I've had many a game where my beloved Dragon Norbert has fled the field). So how do you avoid taking wounds? Why you call Heroic Defense, of course . . . and if you really want to be clever about it, call it AFTER Gimli commits to Heroic Strength. :)

#1: Gorulf Ironskin (Isengard, but especially in the Army of Dunland LL)

For the most part, evil characters can't call Heroic Actions for free - there are some heroes with Master of Battle (Gothmog, Azog/Bolg if they're your leader and taken from the Azog's Legion list), but by and large, evil heroes have to actually spend Might for things. In trade, more of their units have Blood and Glory than good heroes do (not exactly the same thing). For Heroic Defense, we have an amazing profile that not only allows us to call free Heroic Defenses so long as you're engaged against a hero, but pairs this with a pretty low Defense value and very low Wounds/Fate stats. Enter Gorulf Ironskin.

Released in the War in Rohan supplement, Gorulf has quickly gained a reputation as one of the best combat heroes available to an Isengard/Army of Dunland LL player: with Fight 5, Strength 5, 3 Attacks, and 3 Might, Gorulf is a beast in combat (access to Strike, Strength, and Defense as specialized heroic actions). With "only F5," you can Strike if you need to, but it's risky (especially if your opponent starts at F6+). When fighting heroes (which is most of the time you'd be looking to Strike anyway), Gorulf can choose to call a free Heroic Defense instead - which not only makes life harder for your opopnent to kill you, but you can also save your actual Might for boosting your dueling roll (which will burn through MORE of your opponent's Might, unless he gets a 6 on the duel roll).

Gorulf's defense stats are also not very good - Defense 5 with 2 Wounds and 1 Fate point are not very good at all, so making it so that you're wounded on natural 6s only is a huge boon to keeping him around (and slowing down an enemy hero). While Gulavhar, Dragons, and even Durburz can call this heroic action 3 times if they do nothing more with their Might, Gorulf can keep his foe tied down for far longer - and if he's willing to spend Might from his store, he can even call it against warrior models that threaten him (like Half trolls or other monsters).

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Good

#5: Durin, King of Khazad-Dum (Kingdom of Khazad-Dum)

Similar to my thoughts on Dragons with Tough Hide and Fly, Durin comes in at #5 over the vast competition of other Good heroes because he's D9 - this will mean many heroes will need to call Heroic Strength (not Strike) if they want to wound him on natural 6s (instead of natural 6 followed by natural 4+ - which is going to be hard to say the least). With Durin's Axe, Durin pairs 3 Attacks with a reroll for one of his dice (and if he's in range of a banner - which he should be - he'll be rerolling the second lowest die as well). With Fight 6, Strength 4/5 (depending on whether he uses Piercing Strike), and a free +1 to Wound to go with those 3 Attacks of his, Durin is scary on offense (and, in my opinion, doesn't really need to boost his offensive game too much, unless you think Strike is worthwhile).

Defensively, Durin is a man's man (or a Dwarf's Dwarf): we've already mentioned that he's D9, but with 3 Wounds, 1 Fate, and a pseudo-Fate save with the Ring of Durin (6+ save, if you think that's a real save), Durin is surprisingly durable despite his lack of Fate points. While not as durable as Thror is by profile or special rules, Durin can be the hardest Dwarf to kill in the game because he has Heroic Defense. Dain is also a tough nut to crack, but Durin seals the deal and can be safely thrown into a mess of models (be they heroes, warrior grunts, or monsters) and come out alive a fair bit of the time.

So why is he #5 today? Because of that little thing we call Strike. While I think it would be safer to call Heroic Defense when facing something big (especially something that Strikes), most Dwarf players are perfectly fine with D9 being their salvation and choose to focus full-bore into their offense with Durin and call the Strike. Who can blame them - Durin is great on offense. This innate conflict makes Durin a good candidate for Heroic Defense, but not a great one (as any S5/S6 models who do not get +1 To Wound will wound him on a 6 already).

#4: Galadriel (Lothlorien)

Galadriel is, as I said in our post on Heroic Resolve, an auto-include for the vast majority of Lothlorien armies - something I went into no small amount of detail in one of my recent series on magic. She might be your army leader, so keeping her alive is kind of important. While Durin is great with Heroic Defense because his Defense value is absurdly high (getting him occasionally to that natural 6/6+ wounding requirement), Galadriel squeaks past him for two reasons. First and foremost, her Defense value is so absurdly low (D3) that going up to natural 6s when most models wound you on 4s, some models (S3 with +1 to Wound or S5+) wound you on 3s, and a select few models (like Moria Goblin Prowlers or Thrydan with his two-handed axe) wound you on 2s is really, REALLY good for her.

The second reason she's great with Heroic Defense is because of her ability to regrow her rerollable Fate points: any wounds that do get the "natural 6" are likely to be stopped and the Fate points can be reclaimed during the next round either with Blessing of the Valar or the Mirror of Galadriel (which doesn't require you to move first - it just requires you to be in range at the start of the Move phase). Heroes can get stuck railing against Galadriel turn after turn and never really do anything. All the while, Celeborn, Haldir, or a band of Elven warriors are making their way to the lady's rescue to save her from death (and victory points from being coughed up).

Now lest you think Galadriel is free to call three Heroic Defenses each game, you should think again: Galadriel is likely to spend 1 Might channelling Blinding Light if the opposing army has any threat of archery. She's also pretty good at calling Heroic Resolve as we covered in a previous post because of the Resistant to Magic that is present across her army (but this would be tied to a magic-oriented opponent). If she's forced to use both, her ability to use Heroic Defense is greatly diminished. If neither of those are present, then she's good to go for three rounds. I waffle even now on whether she or Durin should be #4, but the ones sitting in the top three are solid for me.

#3: Braga, Captain of the Guard within 6" of the Master of Lake-town (Army of Lake-town)

Braga was covered in our post on Heroic March not too long ago and the reason he did so well is simple: he has Heroic March and so long as the Master of Lake-town is nearby, he could be able to call it for free! While Galadriel and Durin have various things competing for their Might points, Braga has March and Defense (and possibly a Heroic Move). With the ability to have his Might regrown by Alfrid (though you're probably regrowing Might on the Master of Lake-town), Braga can be a Heroic Defense battery to stall an enemy hero in their tracks for several turns.

In terms of resilience, he is . . . well, a man from Lake-town: Defense 5, 2 Wounds, and 1 Fate. This isn't great - which makes him a really good candidate for Heroic Defense! Most models will wound him on 5s (a good set of models will wound him on 4s), so getting to "natural 6s" isn't that great, but it will certainly help. While Lake-town has a surprising lack of models who can call Strike, Braga can step in and stall for you so you can have your Striking heroes go somewhere else.

So what's better than a potentially free Might point? Well, how about one that is actually free. For that, we turn to . . .

#2: Gamling, Captain of Rohan (lots of Rohan lists, but particularly in the Riders of Theoden LL)

Gamling took a major hit in the August 2020 errata - his banner which for over a decade has regrown Might on all Rohan heroes near him who ran out of Might finally got changed to one friendly Rohan hero near him (which could be him OR could be someone else). This means that Gamling can "potentially" call a free Heroic Defense every round. I say "potentially" because if there is a hero nearby who needs it more (I usually run him behind Theodred - the kid fluffs his rolls a lot for me and so needs a banner . . . always). Depending on your situation, Gamling might need to be selfish and claim the Might point for himself - if the scenario gives you victory points for having a banner alive, if the banner is helping your models win fights, and if you need to tie up a big hero, Gamling is a pretty good option.

On Defense, like Braga, Gamling isn't bad but also isn't great: Defense 6, 2 Wounds, and 1 Fate. D6 is more likely to be wounded on 6s than D5, but most models that are going after Gamling are going to be bigger models (they want to kill him quickly after all). If you're using Gamling to stall a big hero, that hero is more than likely wounding Gamling on 5s if not on 4s or 3s - so in those cases, Heroic Defense is your best bet (and overrides all other heroes who might be clamoring for additional Might points). By the way, did you see what I did with the word "might" not once but twice in the last two paragraphs? Yeah, it never gets old . . .

#1: Aragorn - Strider (lots of lists, but specifically the Return of the King LL)

Once again, the question wasn't whether Aragorn was going to be at the top - but which version of Aragorn would be at the top. Today, we turn to one of the most popular versions of Aragorn: the newest Aragorn model we have leading a host of spectral ghost warriors, looking for Orcs, Mumaks, and pirates to devour. Yep, it's the scary bad-boy himself, ready for a scrap.

If you've read my post in the List Building series on the Dead of Dunharrow, you know that I much prefer allying Minas Tirith with King Aragorn with the King of the Dead and warriors from the Dead of Dunharrow list instead of this Legendary Legion. Aragorn gets a lot of buffs for being king - even if his ranger version gets Anduril for free. With everything that vies for attention in that list (Aragorn and the King of the Dead are prerequisites, Legolas is good, cavalry are good, an actual-banner can be good, Gimli kills lots of stuff, a Herald of the Dead makes the King of the Dead more dangerous, having numbers is good), you just don't get as much as you want when you take the list UNLESS you're playing at/over 800 points.

However, this is the only list where Aragorn is the "weak link" in the list: in the Fellowship/Breaking of the Fellowship, Hobbits will be easier targets than Aragorn. In the Grey Company/Rangers, Rangers of the North (or Dunedain) are easier targets. In the Defenders of Helm's Deep/Men of the West/Minas Tirith, you have warriors to pick on. In the Return of the King Legendary Legion, everyone except Aragorn and Legolas is/could be Defense 8 - which is pretty hard to crack for most warrior models in the game. When faced with the choice of charging Terrifying models that are probably benefitting from Harbinger of Evil from the King of the Dead, pursuing an elusive Elf who's hiding in the backfield, charging a Dwarf who is just as tough as the King of the Dead, or "just D5 Aragorn," I think the choice is quite simple - you're charging Aragorn!

And that's when you call Heroic Defense: thanks to Anduril, his offense is solid: Fight 6 with 3 Attacks and advantage during a roll-off thanks to being Elven-made. Since he wounds everything on 4s, you don't need to worry about the Defense of whatever you're facing (and they may just call Heroic Defense too, turning your battle into a pillow fight). By calling Heroic Defense, you turn your Defense 5 into a real asset - you didn't spend points to make your Defense higher - you're just hard to wound. Why? Because the gods love you - drink it in and call it every turn.

Heroic Defense

There are a lot more models who can call Heroic Defense and are really good, but we can't cover everyone, now can we? Heroic Defense might not seem like much (and it's certainly not as flashy as Heroic Strike), but it can be a real roadblock in your opponent's plans if played correctly. In our next post, we visit our second-to-last specialized heroic action: Heroic Strength. Rythbryt did a very in-depth discussion of the various ways you can use Heroic Strength a while back - and he loves this heroic action a lot. I, when I first read the rules, was quite skeptical about its use - I have since seen the light, but still don't call it very often. Which heroes can really get the most out of it? The answer might surprise you. Hope to see you next time - until then, happy hobbying!