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Thursday, April 8, 2021

Fixing the Orc Fight Value Problem

Hey Reader!

Welcome back to the TMAT blog! In today's post I'm going to address my overall annoyance at how good some of the Hobbit era orcs are at fighting, because it seems like in their haste to make the microcosm of the Hobbit line work thematically they inadvertently snubbed a lot of the best heroes across the three ages of Tolkien's primary history of Middle Earth. And today I'm going to recommend a simple fix that would solve this issue.

First we're going to build the case for a change, because I hate recommending changes to stats in profiles if I don't have to. Once we establish that, thematically within the world, the Fight Value of specific models is too high (and it won't just be orcs - we'll address some Forces of Good models as well), we will present a simple, semi-elegant way to fix this problem that is consistent with current rules in the game that will allow for those thematic battles between orcs and dwarves without encroaching on the territory of the likes of Elessar, Glorfindel, and some of the greatest elf lords in all of Tolkien's legendarium.

I.  The Problem: Why High Fight Values?

Let's start with the biggest perpetrators of "Fight Value Bloat," which is Azog and Bolg. First off, in Tolkien's world, Bolg is a scary dude (as is Azog in his day, to be fair): these guys are good fighters. But we have no indication that it would have taken a heroic feat involving one of the best elven lords of all time tying either of these guys in their fighting prowess, which is the current state of the models in our game.

Both Azog and Bolg are Fight 7, which makes them better than Imrahil (a half-elven descendant of both the Quendi and the Numenoreans, and among the strongest three warriors of his time), Elrond (herald of the Faithful and among their best warriors in the Second Age), Celeborn (another of the strongest elf lords that ever lived), and Aragorn (the best warrior of his time) to name a few. That...doesn't seem right to me, any which way you look at it.

It also means that they are on-par with Elendil (one of the greatest Numenoreans who ever lived), Glorfindel (a slayer of a BALROG among other things), Elessar (again, the best warrior of his time), massive trolls - you get where we're going with this.

As great as Bolg is portrayed in The Hobbit book and as good a treatment as Azog gets in the various stories of the fall of Khazad Dum in Tolkien's works (and his portrayal in the movies), they are not at this level. So in my opinion they shouldn't be at this level. Full stop.

Of course, the reason why they are at this level is because they need to be able to beat Thorin and his boys, and that makes perfect sense thematically. And I love this: this should totally be the case. So what we need is a simple way to insure that guys like Azog and Bolg can beat dwarven heroes for thematic reasons without also wrecking the whole Fight Value system. And we recommend a simple change to bring this about.

Now, before we move into the quick fix, it's also worth noting that I tend to find dwarves might have too high a Fight Value in general as well, which exacerbates the issue. I'm not sold on Thorin being qualitatively better in his fighting prowess than Eomer, Faramir, or other F5 heroes (especially since none of those guys got put in sacks, captured by spiders, etc. in their quests), and I'm not sure why a random Dwarf King is F6 when these named heroes are F5. So to be fair it's not just an "orc problem": it probably extends further into the game than we'd like to admit. But the fix also works for this as well, which is where we turn next.

II.  The Solution: Preferred Enemy

I recommend a new special rule to fix the issue, which we will call Preferred Enemy (Race):

Preferred Enemy (Race): When fighting [RACE], the Fight Value of this model increases by +1.

Do you have any idea how useful this special rule would be? You can use this to make specific models better at fighting specific people, allowing you to thematically get the benefits you want and fit the story that is found in Tolkien's legendarium, but you also don't have, "Pale Orc better than Aragorn, hur hur" shenanigans.

It also means that, for example, specific orcs could be better at killing men, or Rohirrim could be better at killing Dunlendings, or Dunlendings could be better at killing Rohirrim, or whatever. You could make it so that thematically a warrior or hero choice would be better in some fights than in others, allowing them to perform at a higher level when confronting that race.

In terms of points and profile changes, the changes are simple: you reduce the Fight Value by X, and then you reduce the cost of the model by 10 points for each reduction in Fight Value. You then add Preferred Enemy (Race) any number of times to a model for 5pts each. If you add it more than once for the same race, the Fight Value bonus goes up by 1 for each application you make, to a maximum of 2 (as I don't see a person's effectiveness going up by more than 1-2 "levels" just because they are that skilled at fighting those guys).

So you could reduce Azog and Bolg to F5 (which sounds about right to me - equal with Eomer, Faramir, Gothmog, etc.), give them two applications of Preferred Enemy (Dwarf) for -10 points to their cost, and have them be F7 against dwarves (which is good enough to do the job) without encroaching on the turf of Elrond, Glorfindel, Aragorn, etc. in the process. And it means Bolg will still lose to Legolas who is still F6, so that works out.

Similarly you could take, say, Dwarf Kings (which are currently F6) and make them F5, but make them F6 against Orcs and Goblins, keeping their cost the same. 

You see what you can do with this? We can make people better against specific foes so that we can get the thematic, "My dude will crush his nemesis" feel, without compromising the already delicate balance of the game as regards Fight Value. And all with a small change.


Conclusion

A simple special rule like this allows you to get bonuses to your stats, whereas rules like Ancient Enemies and Hatred help you with your rolls. Mix these two together, and you've got a winning combo.

Do you like this fix? Too complicated (or simplistic) for your taste? Let us know below! 

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"We watch the skies for the great tides of evil or change that are sometimes marked there." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

18 comments:

  1. I mostly don't care about this either way (you learn to live with it as-is), except that I wouldn't reduce the Fight Value of combat dwarf heroes from F6 (which I think is where they belong, given our current 1-10 scale). I'm already on-record as saying Eomer's Fight should be at least as high as Imrahil's (and Helm's too, for that matter), so I'd approach that particular problem by bumping his up, instead of down. I wouldn't make that change for Faramir, however, unless he's going to get 3 Attacks (and a 30-40 point cost increase).

    I'm also not adverse to the Green Dragon's suggestion that Fight should scale up to 20, which would allow for much more nuance--and reduce Heroic Strike from a top-2 Heroic Action to a good-but-not-absolutely-essential Heroic Action (https://soundcloud.com/the-green-dragon-podcasts/ep-87-critical-analysis). Uncapping Strike (so you could get above F10) would also add an interesting nuance (though it'd neuter the Balrog, so I expect Tiberius will disagree).

    Realistically, I doubt this ever changes (the 1-10 scale for Fight, plus Heroic Strike mechanics, have been in place for long enough that I think they've become core mechanics in a lot of ways). But it's a fun hypothetical discussion to have.

    Finally, for a contrary view, I thought I'd flag this write-up from friend of the blog Sharbie: https://againstalloddsmesbg.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-bolg-and-beautiful-defending.html. Lots to think about.

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  2. First, I agree that some of the profiles should be revisited and balanced - the Azog and Bolg from one side and Eomer and co. on the other are good examples. Second, I think this mechanic is interesting and could be implemented in lets say Legions, that are being created nowadays. It could add them a flavor, remaining thematic at the same time

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  3. The biggest problem I have with Fight Value is that you can have Warriors who are F6 and good heroes who are F5. Is a Knight of Dol Amroth who is within 3" of Imrahil and within 6" of Boromir's resplendent flag more skilled in combat than Eomer? How about a Captain of Dol Amroth near Imrahil? That FV has to go up, man.

    I don't mind Azog being F7 so much, but I think more people should be F7 - too many people are F6. Is Elessar (regardless of Sharbie's thoughts) worse than a Mordor Troll? What about a Dweller in the Dark? I mean, he could be F7, right? With only 3 models who are F9-10 and about that many at F8, you could grow those bins a little to make more of a difference down below.

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    1. I should mention that the idea of a preferred enemy already exists for Ruffians - their rule is seen as pretty niche, so unless the preferred enemy race was common, it probably wouldn't make someone more appealing on it's own.

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    2. For what its worth, I'm a big fan of bumping a few LoTR heroes up from F6 and F5 (and even F7 in the case of Glorfindel). I don't personally think Aragorn needs it, as discussed ad naseum, but taking Glorfindel up to F8 seems an easy slam dunk, as does letting Eomer and Helm get to F6 under certain conditions. I would generally like it if next edition, assuming that comes, allows for a bit more variety amongst those core stats. It would be nice if not every hero had F5-6, A2-3, S4, M3. We get annoyed about Azog equalling Glorfindel's Fight value, but where is the outrage that Snaga equals his Might points?

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  4. A great article, very interesting take. I considered an approach like this when writing my own article on the subject, and it definitely has a lot to recommend it. As you've pointed out, it allows us to create favourable or unfavourable matchups for characters that get them onscreen, without then impacting the other characters that we feel deserve an equal or greater Fight value. That is a genuine upside, and I think is worth considering for that reason alone.

    Why I ended up leaning away from it (aside from the classic 'it adds complexity to the game') is that a rule like that would imply that Azog and Bolg are specifically better fighters when facing Dwarves. While I guess you could argue this, I don't really see anything in the films or book that backs it up. Azog leaping forward on his Warg and KO-ing Thorin with one hit would surely have worked just as well if it was Eomer, Imrahil or even Aragorn on the receiving end, right? Do we really have any reason to believe that his effortless take-downs of Thror or Thrain were because they were Dwarves, and not just because he's an unstoppable killing machine?

    I like the Preferred Enemy solution as a way of resolving some of the Fight value disparities between Hobbit and LoTR models, but I think it raises its own weirdnesses. In effect, it swaps one unfortunate abstraction for another, to my mind at least. There clearly isn't a perfect solution to these difficulties, and this is a pretty good one all things considered, but I do still remain a bit hesitant about it.

    As a final, minor quibble, I also think that the pricing you've given to this ability is a little off for Azog and Bolg. Master of Battle turbocharges the value of Fight value increases/decreases, so going down to normally F5 would need to drop their price by way more than 10 points. Obviously that's not the main point you're making, but I think it's worthwhile remembering that no one would pay 165 points for Azog if he was a slightly less durable, somewhat more killy version of Gothmog with worse auric buffs and a better upgrade suite.

    Great article, a really fun read!

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  5. I think its pretty clear those profiles are based off of the movies and not the books, in which case they fit fine. Fight Value isn't just representative of skill with weapons, its physical size and strength too. Azog and his son are like 7 foot tall bodybuilders, and if you have a problem with that the blame goes to PJ, not the rules writers

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    1. Absolutely. I kinda hate the way they were portrayed on screen, but that's just what we have to live with, and F7 probably fits it reasonably well

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  6. Instead of creating a new rule, I'd just replace the "Hatred" rules with the one you proposed. IMO, there are too many underused or similar special rules that simply aren't used (i.e. Ancient Enemies is too similar to Hatred).

    I'd also revisit placement on the "top half" of the fight list for the reasons you've already addressed. There is what, only three units with fight of 8+? I'd have to create a spreadsheet, but I can easily see how the VAST majority of warriors are in the 3-4 range and the vast majority of heroes is in the 5-6 range. That could easily be spread out so better heroes (such as those you've listed) are bumped up into that 7-9 range. Granted, this makes it more difficult for lesser heroes with Heroic Strike to have a chance of matching a higher hero, but that's also kinda the point.

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    1. Three heroes are F9-10 (Sauron, Gil-Galad, and the Balrog). Treebeard, Beorn in bear form, and Gwaihir are the most well known F8 models - there may be a few more, will check tomorrow.

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    2. Smaug is also F8... but I believe that’s the complete list. The vast majority of heroes (I’d say 80%, if not more) are F5 or F6, and most of the other 20% are F3 or F4. :-P

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    3. And Beechbone, apparently. :-)

      I may have double counted someone, but I counted 98 distinct hero profiles are F5-6 for the Forces of Good (of nearly 200 profiles). When half of your models live in the F5-6 band, only 4v models for the Forces of Good live in the F7 band, and only 7 profiles live in the F8+ band, I feel like we could distribute things a bit more. :)

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    4. Let me rephrase that, then: 80% of the profiles that are good in my head are in the F5-F6 band. :-P

      Seriously, though, that's interesting. I suspect the distribution tilts heavily towards F5, too (and that the number of F6 models who also have 3 Attacks base is going to be a relatively elite subset, as well).

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    5. I absolutely agree. Seeing Glorfindel as F7 is a bit of a sting when someone like Treebeard is F8 (he's a walking tree, not a well-trained swordmaster!). And it would mitigate one of the biggest problems with Heroic Strike if people like Cirion couldn't reliably beat some of the best fighters in Middle Earth for Fight value.

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    6. Before the Hobbit came out, Heroic Strike wasn't a thing - and guys like Eomer and Shagrat struggled against Elven armies pretty badly. Then Heroic Strike was added, but everyone had it . . . we stuck with the old rules for precisely the reason you mention. I think the current method makes more sense (certain heroes can up their FV), but I'd prefer it to be a D3 roll instead of a D6.

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  7. I gotta say f7 is too much I think thorin and Azog should both be f6. I mean both kill eachother and TBH Thoring had been fighting a while so he might be tired and wounded giving azog and advantage. Also its F****** thorin I am pretty sure Thorin would not tie and Elf in a fight, (unless it was Elrond or something)

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    1. Without having thought it through extensively, I suspect the toughest profiles to rebalance would be the F5-7 models. Some of them are easy (I'm not sure why a Dragon is only F7, when good's equivalent big monster heroes are all F8), but figuring out whether Thorin and Azog should be F6 (on par with Aragorn? Ahead of Eomer? Behind Boromir with a flag?) or F7 (better than Legolas? the equal of an Ent or Great Eagle?) or the same/different Fight from each other is an interesting exercise.

      Having said that, I do think Azog would still be plenty playable at F6, so I wouldn't be adverse to that change.

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    2. People who love the Stone Flail already accept him at F6 . . . and the Stone Flail is plenty competitive. :)

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