Back To Basics: The Fight Phase

Good morning gamers,

Well, today is our fourth post in this how-to-play-MESBG series and we're covering the Fight phase. We've already talked about building an army, the Priority and Move phases, and the Shoot phase. While maneuvering your troops is an important part of the game, most of the action (and removing of models) happens in the Fight phase - so for most armies, it's kind of important to know how it works (and often times, you're maneuvering your army to either get a better combat match-up - or trying to avoid combat entirely). Let's get stuck in!

How does it work?

Like the Move/Shoot phases, heroes begin by calling Heroic Actions - while we'll cover what all of these are later, the important thing to know is that Heroic Combats (which all heroes can call) are resolved before "normal combats," in the same way that Heroic Moves are resolved before normal movements and Heroic Shoots are resolved before normal shooting (both of these actions can be called by all heroes as well).

A mess of fights - many involve one model on each side with a spearman supporting each participant.

Once the Heroic Combats have been resolved, the player with priority chooses the order in which fights are resolved. Where possible, fights are paired off to be one-on-one, so if you have two models engaged (which is the technical term in this game for being "in base contact") with two enemy models, they will break off into two one-on-one fights.

Once fights are paired off, the players compare their Attack values for the models engaged in the fight and add 1 extra die for each supporting model (usually with a spear or pike, with a max of 1 spear backing up a model or 2 pikes that are touching each other backing up a model) they have in the fight. Heroes should roll their dice separately from warrior models, since they can use Might points to boost their rolls (so you have to know which dice are theirs).

This is how the board looks in Round 5 of our example game - the Minas Tirith army has been using the hill for it's archers and is now engaged at it's base.

Once all of the dice are rolled, players may use any rerolls they wish (usually from a banner or a special rule, though you can't reroll a reroll). After all of the rerolls have been used, players apply any penalties they suffer to their dueling rolls. The most common penalties are for models wielding two-handed weapons (which we'll cover in a second), models that are unarmed (which we talked about in our first post), and models carrying banners - all of these models suffer a -1 penalty to their Dueling rolls (so a 5 becomes a 4, a 4 becomes a 3, etc.). After all of these penalties are applied, heroes may use Might (if they have any) to boost their die rolls (but not the dice of their colleagues). 

Whoever has the highest die roll at the end of all of that wins the fight. If the highest number for each side is a tie, the side with the highest Fight Value in the fight wins. If the Fight Values and highest die rolls are tied, a die is rolled by the player with priority - on a 1-3 the Evil force wins the fight (or "more Evil if two Good forces are fighting - determined at the beginning of the game), while the Good force wins on a 4-6. Some models have "Elven-made" on their wargear - if a model in the fight was using an "Elven-made" weapon in the duel, then their side wins on a 3-6 (or a 1-4) instead of the normal 4-6 (or 1-3).

The losing side backs their models up 1" - if this not possible, the model is considered to be "trapped." The winning side grabs 1 die for each Attack in the fight and rolls "to wound," using the same chart that was used in the Shoot phase (reprinted here for convenience with the grey rows being adjusted to highlight common melee Strengths):

If a wounding roll is directed against a model that is trapped, the model doubles the dice they roll (so 1 Attack would become 2 dice). These are directed against one model, so if there are 3 models that you're fighting, you can only kill one of them with each attack (even if you get two successful wounds with your doubled dice).

This Ranger lost his duel (rolled lower than the Orc spearman he was fighting) and so he backs away.

Quick note: we talked in our first post about spears - spears allow the model that isn't engaged to lend 1 Attack (or 1 extra die) to the model that's engaged with the enemy. This not only makes the supported model more likely to get a higher number (because more dice are being rolled), but the model supporting with the spear cannot be wounded. By charging the spearman, the Ranger of Gondor didn't allow the Mordor Uruk-Hai the ability to participate in the fight - if he had charged the Uruk instead, he'd be fighting both the Uruk-Hai AND the Orc . . . of course, he lost anyway, but managed to not be killed.

If any wounds are dealt, the wounded models may make any "saving" attempts they have (generally speaking, this is using Fate points, but some models have special rules or are affected by a magical power like Fury that grants a save). Any models that suffer wounds equal to or greater than their Wounds stat are removed from play and are counted as "casualties."

Heroic Actions

The Heroic Actions available to models in the Fight Phase include three of the most popular heroic actions and two of the least popular heroic actions. Let's see what they do:

• Heroic Combat: all heroes have access to this heroic action and it allows the hero (and any friendly models in his fight) to resolve their fight before the player with priority begins picking the order of fights. When multiple heroes call Heroic Combats, all of their Combats are resolved before the priority player's choice (and if heroes from both sides call Heroic Combats, there's a roll to determine who resolves one of their Combats first). If all of the enemy models engaged with the hero (and any friendly models also in the fight) are killed, then the hero (and any friendly model engaged in the fight) is able to perform a move, charging into other fights if they wish.
• NOTE: if two heroes in the same combat call Heroic Combats, if the first hero to resolve its Heroic Combat is killed, the second hero is no longer in combat and his Heroic Combat is effectively cancelled (the Might point he spent is lost).
• Heroic Strike: this seems to be a crowd favorite heroic action, probably because we've all lost a fight after both sides rolled 6s and "our Fight Value wasn't high enough." That bites - but some heroes can raise their Fight Value by D6 at the low-low cost of 1 Might point. There are LOTS of articles we've written on Heroic Strike (not least of which is my review of Heroic Strike in our Heroic Heroes series, my article on the Top 5 Ways to Waste Might Points, and Rythbyrt's five-part series on Heroic Strike), so check out those articles if you want to learn more (spoiler alert: even if you Strike, you still have to get a high roll on your dueling roll, so your victory is not guaranteed).
• Heroic Strength: Heroic Strength allows the hero who calls it to increase his Strength by D3, which means that it often results in wounding enemy models 1 pip better than you previously had. For this reason, most players avoid it, since you could save the Might to boost a roll - though Rythbyrt wrote four posts on how you can get more out of Heroic Strength (though even he thinks it remains a niche Heroic Action to call).
• Heroic Defense: probably one of the most beloved heroic actions in the game, Heroic Defense requires enemy models to wound you on a natural 6 (or a natural 6/4+, 6/5+, or 6/6+ if they would normally wound you on that). While this means some heroes (like unarmored Galadriel) will be wounded on a 6 instead of a 4+ (or better), other heroes might call this so that the benefits of two-handed weapons, lances, and special rules that help you wound models more easily won't come into effect. Rythbyrt did a great post on Heroic Defense vis-à-vis Heroic Strength a while back - it explains a lot.
• Heroic Challenge: deemed one of the most useless heroic actions to date, Heroic Challenge is one of very few ways that heroes can regain Might points. When a model issues a Challenge to a hero he is engaged with of the same/higher Heroic Tier (so a Hero of Valor could declare a Heroic Challenge against an enemy Hero of Valor/Legend, but not to a Hero of Fortitude, Minor Hero, or Independent Hero), the challenged model can choose to either accept or decline. If he accepts the Challenge, the two models must charge each other and no one else can charge into the fight or provide spear supports. If one hero kills the other model, then the surviving model gains D3 Might points (which can bring him above his starting store level). If the Challenge is declined, the challenged hero cannot call a Stand Fast! (to help their models stay in the fight, because he's a coward) and the hero will not affect friendly models with his heroic actions until the challenging model is slain.
• NOTE: Most heroes just decline challenges - and since you can only call one heroic action with each hero during each phase, it's pretty common for heroes who call a Heroic Challenge to have the opposing hero call a Heroic Strike (most model with Challenge are Heroes of Valor/Legend - and many Heroes of those heroic tiers have Heroic Strike). As such most people don't call this one - but there are some heroes (like Shagrat, the Keeper of the Dungeons, and Lurtz from the Lurtz's Scouts Legendary Legion) who can challenge heroes who probably don't have Strike, so they can use it pretty well.

Okay, so your heroes may have some choices for heroic actions to call in the Fight phase (hopefully) - let's see what wargear will help them in this phase (since it can change a LOT about the match-ups they have).

How Wargear Affects The Fight Phase: Spears, Cavalry, Shielding, Two-handed weapons, and Special Strikes

We've already talked a bit about spears, but it bears repeating here: spears can get you more dice in your fights, which makes you more likely to roll 6s, which makes you more likely to get a higher roll than your opponent, which makes you more likely to win fights, which makes it harder to kill your guys and much more likely that your opponent's guys die. While this isn't always a victory condition, most games give you at least some victory points for killing half of your opponent's force ("breaking" the force). Besides that, spears don't do anything special (no bonuses against horses, no bonuses for standing in a hedge and your opponent rushing you - nothing).

One of the most cost-effective pieces of gear you can get for a model is a horse - not everyone can get it (most heroes can and about half of the factions you can play have access to at least one mounted warrior model). When cavalry models charge infantry models, they get two bonuses: first and foremost, cavalry get +1 Attack, which increases the number of dice they roll to win the duel AND increases the number of dice they roll to wound. Second, cavalry knock Prone any Infantry models that are S5 and below, which means when they roll to wound, they will double their wounding dice (so those 2 Attacks on the charge become two sets of 2 dice to wound, for four dice total). Yep, cavalry want the charge - they can be DEVASTATING if they win duels when charging!

Some cavalry (like the Knights of Minas Tirith in this fight) have lances - and some heroes/warriors have access to lances or war spears, both of which give a +1 To Wound bonus (so if you needed 5s to wound, you now need 4s to wound). This is very helpful in making sure you kill whatever you're charging. Let's see how our Knights of Minas Tirith did in their fights:

Three knights: one wins and kills his for, one loses and dies, and one loses but doesn't die.

Interestingly enough, one of the Knights of Minas Tirith lost his duel but didn't die (top) - and that's because of a second thing you can do with wargear in the Fight phase: you can defend by shielding. The Orc near Gandalf decided that his 1 Attack against the 2 Attacks from the Knight of Minas Tirith wasn't going to help him much, so he decided to "defend by shielding," which allowed him to double his dice to win the fight (rolling 2 dice instead of 1 die) but forego the wounding roll he would have made if he won the fight (shoving his opponent away, if you will). This is a great way to give models that are trying to hold a position a better chance of not dying, but won't actually make their situation any better unless they get help.

You could also use a two-handed weapon: Gandalf has two "hand-and-a-half" weapons in his staff of power and Glamdring, which means he can use them either as one-handed weapons (rolling his dueling dice and wounding dice normally) OR he can use them "two-handed," which gives him a -1 penalty to his dueling roll and +1 to any wounding rolls he makes if he wins the fight. In the example above, Gandalf knew he had two dice (and some Might to boost his roll) against 1 die from the Uruk-Hai, so he took a chance and two-handed with Glamdring (which normally wounds the Uruk-Hai on 4s, but will now wound him on 3s if he can win the fight). When the dice were rolled, that 4-high for Gandalf turns into a 3-high, which ties the Uruk-Hai's roll of a 3. Since Gandalf has a Fight Value of 5 vs. the Uruk-Hai's Fight Value of 4, Gandalf wins the fight. Here's Gandalf's To Wound roll (looking for at least one 3+):

Gandalf wounds the Uruk-Hai on a 3+ while two-handing, so the Uruk-Hai takes 2 wounds!

Well, sometimes you didn't need the bonus, but it sure makes it more likely to happen, eh? The final thing we'll cover today are "special strikes" - each weapon someone has allows them to do different things that you declare at the start of the duel. Some special strikes increase your probability of wounding (swords and daggers can allow a model to "Feint" if their Fight Value is equal to or higher than their opponents, which reduces the Fight Value of the Feinting model by D3 and allows the model to reroll 1s To Wound - axes and picks, on the other hand, can do a "Piercing Strike", which allows a model to increase its Strength by 1 if it wins the fight and reduces their Defense by D3 if they lose the fight). 

Other special strikes skip the wounding roll for the models that use them in order to gain some kind of tactical advantage in the next round (maces and hammers can "Bash" a model, causing both players to roll a die and if the winner of the duel has the higher roll, the losing model is knocked Prone, while clubs and staves can "Stun" a model in order to reduce their Attacks to 1 and their Fight Value to 1/6+ for the next round). For the full list of special strikes (we didn't talk about Stab or Whirl here) and greater detail about how these special strikes work, check out the main rulebook.

Well, let's see how the Fight phase went in our example - while Minas Tirith certainly had the edge in shooting at the start, stalling Gandalf the White for two turns actually paid off, as the Orcs and Uruks were able to throw weight into a LOT of fights:

11 Warriors of Minas Tirith turns into 6 Warriors of Minas Tirith . . . Ouch!

Dueling Penalties and Dealing With Them

One of the most common things you'll find when you start playing is dueling penalties - most often because you bring a model with a banner, but also because you brought a model that uses his weapon two-handed (without a way to remove the -1 dueling penalty), you brought a model that is unarmed, or because your opponent brought a model (like an Angmar Shade) that applies a penalty to your models. Dueling penalties are a thing - and sometimes they come with high rewards (like two-handing or bringing a banner) and sometimes it's just a penalty. So when you find yourself with that dueling penalty, what can you do?

First off, you can throw more dice in the fight (ideally with models who don't have dueling penalties). Whether it's a lowly Moria Goblin Warrior with a spear backing up your Moria Goblin Prowler or a Wood Elf Warrior with a Wood Elf spear backing up Galadriel, you stand a better chance of rolling a high number JUST by adding another die to the fight. Spear-supporting models (and pike-supporting models) are probably the most common ways, but trying to get multiple models engaged with the enemy might be an option too, as is buying models with multiple Attacks (like Uruk-Hai Berserkers, who can go two-handed and do just fine because they're rolling two dice - and might be backed up by a pike or two).

Second, you can also make sure your models are within range of a banner - even if you have a -1 penalty to your roll, having the ability to reroll a die in the same fight is invaluable. Your opponent won't always roll 6s (or at least, he'd better not be always rolling 6s), so getting a 6 that turns into a 5 (or even a 5 that turns into a 4) is just fine. Banners maximize the effectiveness of the units around them - have one around!

Third, sometimes you just need to make sure your Defense value is high. Models like Khazad Guards are D7 and have two-handed weapons. If you're against S3/4 models, you can risk going two-handed since they'll have to wound you on a 6 if they win. Yes, they may get that - but they also might not. And if a S4 model goes two-handed, chances are they only need a 3+ or a 4+ to wound their opponents - and THAT is really good.

Finally, you can risk dueling penalties fairly reliably with heroes who have Might in their store - especially if they roll lots of dice. The Uber-Uruk-Hai Captain from the Assault Upon Helm's Deep Legendary Legion has 3 Attacks and is in an army that has access to pikes and banners - you can give him a two-handed axe and get 3 dice with a -1 penalty and 2 more dice from pike supports for five dice total. If you get a 6 that turns into a 5, you can use Might to boost the 5 back into a 6. If you don't like your Captain's roll, keep him near a banner (not in his fight, of course) so that he can reroll one of his dice, trying to get that 6 that turns into a 5 that you can turn back into a 6. 

Other heroes who benefit from this include models that are mounted and start with 3 Attacks (like Glorfindel), since they can get 4 dice on the charge (Glorfindel gets a reroll from Lord of the West and might have a second reroll from a banner) and get +1 to EIGHT dice to wound for the low-low risk of spending a Might point to boost up their dueling roll (oh, and Glorfindel gets a reroll on one of those dice to wound as well). Yes, there are a million things you can use Might for - but sometimes, boosting a dueling roll is one of them.

Okay, so if you take any of the advice on mitigating dueling penalties above (or if you have any thoughts of your own), drop them in the comments below! Now let's move on to our last topic for the Fight phase: getting the most out of your heroes.

Who Do You Target With Your Heroes?

When it comes to "combat heroes," there are basically two kinds: "mid-tier" heroes and "top-tier" heroes. Mid-tier heroes tend to be heroes with 2 Attacks (and might or might not have access to mounts) and have a fairly low Fight Value (usually F5 and below and only some will have access to Strike). These kinds of heroes can be good, but can also stall out - especially against heroes. Generally speaking, you want mid-tier heroes to focus on warriors - models that they're likely to have a Fight Value advantage against OR have a Fight Value tie against and little risk of being wounded.

Top-tier heroes tend to have 3+ Attacks and often have mounts to augment their damage (or are monsters and have ridiculous stats). Because they're overqualified to beat troops (and many of them cost a lot, so it'll take forever to "pay for the hero" just by killing troops), you want top-tier heroes focusing on the biggest, baddest models in your opponent's army. Models like Gil-Galad might even have bonuses for fighting heroes/monsters (getting Might back, perhaps) - and others (like Azog or Aragorn) can ignore high Defense when they wound (which is usually how monsters and big heroes stay alive).

These two maxims (mid-tier heroes focus on warriors while top-tier heroes focus on heroes/monsters) are guidelines though - sometimes heroes will have rules that encourage you to do the opposite. Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, Helm Hammerhand, and Elendil, for example, get free Heroic Combats each turn - which is wasted if you have to call a Heroic Strike against a big monster but is perfect if you want to smash through 2-4 grunts in a turn. Heroes like Gorulf Ironskin, on the other hand, are clearly mid-tier heroes (F5/S5 with 3A and a seemingly squishy D5/2 Wounds with 1 Fate), but gets free Heroic Defenses against heroes (and has 3 Might for Strike or Defense if he needs it against non-hero models). Similarly, you can have a hero like Gamling call Heroic Defenses every turn against an enemy hero or monster in order to slow them down - even though he's clearly a mid-tier hero. Understanding what your heroes do can direct you towards how to use them well (even if seems like they would do better in a different role based on their stats).

Finally, if you want to get the most out of your heroes, consider running 3-4 of them and call "cascading Heroic Combats," which involves a bunch of heroes charging into warriors and calling Heroic Combats on a single turn. Watch the concern sweep over your opponent's face as you have a pack of heroes slay 2-4 troops each and radically alter the board because they're avoiding the enemy heroes and bringing the numbers came closer together. All-hero factions like the Fellowship/Breaking of the Fellowship LL, hero-heavy Erebor Reclaimed armies, or the White Council do this really well - lots of F6+/3A heroes, occasionally mounts, and LOTS of Might on the board. Other armies (like Rohan/the Riders of Theoden or Minas Tirith) can do this effectively too because they can get good mid-tier or top-tier heroes for 100-points or less. The cheaper a hero is, the easier it is to include more of them.

Conclusion

Well, that was a lot to cover in one post - but we're done for now with the basics of the game. If we come up with more topics (either because we noticed we missed something or because someone recommends something in the comments), we'll revisit the series. 

Next week we're picking up the Bare Necessities series and reviewing a faction that we didn't do in our last round: the Fiefdoms. Often viewed as "Dunland done wrong," the Fiefdoms has a ton of elite troops (with average Defense) and some of the most powerful synergistic buffs in the game. With five very good hero choices, who do you jump for? What does your troops make-up look like? And how competitive are they with or without allies? Tune in next time to find out - until then, happy hobbying!