This Army Will Break Your Local Meta . . .

Good morning gamers,

Let me begin by acknowledging the click-bait title - I couldn't help myself. Centaur has recently been playing with a new army (and exercising a new 3D printer) and I have to admit, I had no idea how powerful it was until it started crushing armies that are deemed crazy powerful (the Vanquishers of the Necromancer in Command and Control, the Black Riders LL in Contest of Champions, and a Balrog/Cave Troll spam from the Depths of Moria LL in To The Death - twice). What army am I talking about? Well, Centaur's been running this one:

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Yep, today we're looking at Fangorn and how they can single-handedly change your local meta - because traditional, conventional armies (and faddish, awesome armies that are used to fighting conventional armies) have no idea how to fight them. :-)

Let's start with the army make-up: 

• Treebeard - 190pt Hero of Legend (optional addition of Merry and Pippin for 10pts, gives the army 3 Might and Strike/Defense with 6 Will to resist magical powers);
• Quickbeam - 140pt Hero of Fortitude (gives the army 3 Might and Heroic March);
• Beechbone - 160pt Hero of Fortitude (gives the army 3 Might and Strike);
• Ents - 120pt each (monster rules)

Well that was fast. To be fair, I've been playing against Fangorn with Centaur's upgrades he outlined in a post he did earlier this year (got to test them for balanced, you know) and while the changes may seem like they would have drastically changed the play style of the army (he's been favorite the Oak/tougher-one, the Birch/healer-one, the Willow/throwing-weapon-one, and the Fir/banner-one upgrades), there have been times when a down-grade to F6 and getting a bonus of some kind (like a banner boost or D9 with 4 Wounds) haven't changed how the army would have done in the match-up. Yes, these upgrades have all helped (except for maybe the Willow one - can't remember if that's made a difference), but Fangorn still plays very much the same game as it would normally.

And despite me throwing meta-breaking, tournament-grump-making lists at it (like the Black Riders LL or the Vanquishers of the Necromancer LL), they just . . . can't . . . beat it. At all. It's horrible. Maybe the scenarios did something to affect it, but honestly, each match-ups looked to favor both sides equally. So, why do the Ents keep winning? Well, let's take a look at how this army plays like NO other army in the game (and could bring an upset surprise to any tournament scene).

Army Bonus

With no historical allies, keeping the Fangorn army bonus means you're running a small number of troops (unless you accept Centaur's additions and run Huorns in your list - which are slow and only F4). At first glance (and second and third glance for me), it looks "okay" - kinda niche in what it automatically deals with but not overly powerful. Here's the text:

[Don't Be Hasty!] Ent models from this army list gain the Fearless special rule. Additionally, Ent models are completely unaffected by any Magical Powers or special rules that would prevent them from moving or move them against their will (the only exception is that they will still take the hit from a Sorcerous Blast, but will suffer no further effects). Additionally, Ent models are completely unaffected by the Nature's Wrath and Wrath of Bruinen Magical Powers.

This army bonus has three parts to it:

• Ents are Fearless - which at C6+ isn't usually a big deal, but if you're fighting something like the Black Riders LL, it means that they can't stop you from charging them, no matter how many of them are clumped together. C6 models can become C3 models (even lower if their Courage stat has been reduced with a Drain Courage spell cast against them), but even Drain Courage does no effect to these guys. But if you think being Fearless only helps against Terror models, think again . . .
• Ent models are "completely unaffected" by magical powers and special rules that prevent them from moving or moving them against their will. Spells in the game that do this include the collection of Immobilize/Transfix/Command/Compel and Sorcerous Blast (since it's called out specifically), while special rules include A Fell Light is in Them (Dead Marsh Spectres) and the Eldamar Madrigal (Wood Elf Sentinels). While neutralizing these spells alone would be devastating to many casters, these aren't the only things that are negated - more on that in a minute . . .
• Ents are not affected at all but Nature's Wrath and Wrath of Bruinen (both lethal spells against most armies because they can, at the very least, make sure that the affected models can't make Strikes that turn, if not kill models with damage from the spell). If Elrond and Arwen (and Radagast and Thranduil) want to be effective at magic, they kind of have to hope that a pure Fangorn army isn't on the other side of the board - we'll examine this later too . . .

Okay, so are you convinced that this is a really good army bonus? Chances are you might be impressed, but somewhere in your head, you're thinking, "Yeah, but they're only going to have 4-6 models . . . what's so dangerous about this?" Well, let's dig into the three conventional ways you can do damage to this team and see why each of those is unreliable at dealing with these guys.

Why Magic Doesn't Work

Magical powers do a lot of different things in MESBG - and it's clear from the army bonus that a pure Fangorn army is going to be immune to a bunch of these magical powers. Some magical powers are quite effective against Fangorn, while others are not - let's take a blow-by-blow look at how magical powers stack up against this elite army:

• Aura of Command/Fury - USEFUL: these magical powers allows friendly models near the caster (6" - or 12" for Aura of Command if you feel like channelling it is a good idea) to automatically pass Courage tests. Since all Fangorn models cause Terror (both int he list normally and in Centaur's revamp), this keeps you from taking the chance that you might fail to charge them (even if your Courage level is high).
• Aura of Dismay/Terrifying Aura - NOT USEFUL: these magical powers make the caster or all friendly models near the caster (6" for Aura of Dismay if cast normally, 12" if channelled) cause Terror. Since the Ents are all Fearless, they won't be hindered by these spells.
• Banishment - SOMETIMES USEFUL: as a general rule, this spell is not useful against Ents since they're not Spirit models - however, in the new Vanquishers of the Necromancer LL, Galadriel can use this spell against anyone (not just Spirit models). She will give them +1 die to resist the spell (so that's an automatic 1 die for normal Ents, 1 die + 1 Will for Quickbeam and Beechbone, and 1 die + Resistant to Magic + 6 Will for Treebeard if Merry and Pippin are still riding on his shoulders). Thanks to not having to roll To Wound, this spell is pretty reliable for one model in one Legion (and that Legion is really going to struggle with this list - more detailed answer later).
• Black Dart/Collapse Rocks/Flameburst - USEFUL: these three spells are high-damage spells (S6 or S9) and while they can be hard to cast by everyone except Kardush, they also have the ability to wound Ents on 4s or 5s (while other damage done at a distance is likely to be much worse). If used alongside siege weapons or archery, this can weaken an Ent just enough that you'll be able to kill them with shooting (or with melee if you charge them). You'll need to get the 5+ that they usually require (and in the case of Collapse Rocks, you'll need to be targeting an Ent near a rock feature).
• Bladewrath/Enchanted Blades - USEFUL: anything that can make your units kill Ents better will be helpful - getting a S4 Easterling model to S6 (or potentially S10) is valuable (especially if that model is an Easterling Captain or Amdur who can two-hand and wound on a 4+ instead of a 5+). Enchanted Blades can give a +1 To Wound if channelled, but is valuable with just rerolling all failed To Wounds as well.
• Blessing of the Valar/Refreshing Song/Renew/Strengthen Will - USEFUL: Regaining Fate, Wounds, Will, and 1 Might/Will/Fate/Wound (all) is, obviously, quite useful. Will is probably less useful than the rest, unless you're empowering someone else to pass Courage tests more easily OR cast spells that will do damage to the Ents. They're all mitigations of the impact of the Ents, instead of offensive in nature, so they can stall the Ents a bit longer, but won't actually stop them.
• Blinding Light - USEFUL: Ents hurl rocks - and they do it really well. Blinding Light mitigates a lot of this and if you have shooting of your own can make them come to you instead of forcing you to come to them. Because this won't last forever, you may not need to channel this spell (which makes it an Exhaust spell).
• Call Winds - NOT USEFUL: this spell says that the target is blown "D6" directly away from the caster in a straight line." This, unfortunately, constitutes moving the target against its will, and so will do nothing against the Fangorn army (UPDATE, FEBRUARY 2022: the most recent Designer Commentary points out that the Ents will also not be knocked Prone by this power, so yes, it does nothing).
• Chill Soul - USEFUL: plucking wounds is good - it will take a while, but this spell is really good.
• Command/Compel/Immobilize/Transfix - NOT USEFUL: we already talked about this, but because these spells prevent the model from moving ("may not move") AND force them to move against their will in the case of Command/Compel, the Fangorn army is immune to these magical powers.
• Curse - SOMETIMES USEFUL: removing Fate points is good against Treebeard, but Ents (warriors) don't have any Fate and Quickbeam/Beechbone/Merry/Pippin each have 1 Fate. While this might look appealing against any of the heroes, the only model that has Curse (the Necromancer of Dol Guldur) also has Chill Soul - so you could just cast Chill Soul against these heroes (on a 5+ instead of a 4+) in order to try to pluck the Fate point AND a Wound. Against Treebeard, though, a channelled Curse (which will remove all of his Fate) is particularly devastating and is likely to be even more devastating than Chill Soul.
• Drain Courage - SOMETIMES USEFUL: because all of the Ents are Fearless, Drain Courage won't make the Ents less likely to pass their Courage tests (either for charging Terror models or for fleeing the field after they're broken). If you can pair a model with Drain Courage with models that have Blades of the Dead (where you wound against the enemy Courage stat instead of their Defense stat), then this has definite utility.
• Enrage Beast - USEFUL: you know how we talked earlier about Bladewrath and Enchanted Blades being good? Well, Enraged Beast not only boosts the Strength of the target model, but also increases its Fight Value (good for catching up to the desired F7-8), Attacks Value (good for tying or beating the number of dice the Ents are rolling), and Courage Value (great for getting past Terror). Enraging a single Bat/Spider/Warg warrior is not going to beat the Fight Value of an Ent (spiders can get to F6 with a normal Enrage Beast - which is good enough if you run Centaur's upgrades, but not enough to be their base F7), but if you Enrage Shelob (who begins at F7/S7/1A and will become F9/S9/3A - or F10/S10/4A if channelled), you can do some impressive damage - AND with Monstrous Charge on her, you can also knock the Ents over (channelled or not) and double her damage. The Spider Queen (F6/S6/3A), the White Warg (F5/S5/2A), and Wild Warg Chieftains (F5/S6/3A) can reach similar (though lower) heights of absurdity.
• Fortify Spirit/Protection of the Valar - NOT USEFUL: the Fangorn list has no offensive magic in it (unless you're using the Birch upgrade from Centaur's post, I guess - though even then, you only have to worry about Drain Courage, Sap Will, and Wither), and so extra dice to resist magical powers (or just being immune to magical powers) is just not going to be useful.
• Instill Fear - NOT USEFUL: Ringwraiths aren't batting well today - and this magical power strikes out on a number of levels. First off, the models within 3" of the caster need to pass a Courage test (which the Ents pass by being Fearless). If the test is failed, the model would need to move directly away from the caster as far as its maximum movement will allow (which counts as moving them against their Will - so that does nothing either). After that, the model "may move no further that turn, for any reason" - which is yet another not-moving-as-desired rule, so it definitely doesn't apply.
• Nature's Wrath/Wrath of Bruinen - NOT USEFUL: the army bonus is crystal clear - these magical powers have absolutely no effect on the Fangorn list (not even the damage that they would normally do). Period.
• Panic Steed - NOT USEFUL: no mounts, no benefit. Even though Merry and Pippin count as passengers on Treebeard, Treebeard is very clearly specified to NOT be a mount. As such, this spell does nothing.
• Paralyze - NOT USEFUL?: Paralyze is a tricky spell to deal with for most models, but Fangorn again gets to skate (I think) because the target of a Paralyze "may do nothing until it recovers" - which means it can't shoot, can't fight, and most importantly, can't move. This seems to be a magical power that would "prevent them from moving," so . . . I think there's a good case for saying that it doesn't work on Ents if they keep their army bonus. I could see this one being argued though, so work this out with your opponent before the game (with both the army bonus and the Paralyze rules in front of you) - and ask a TO to adjudicate if you can't come to an agreement.
• Sap Will - SOMETIMES USEFUL: Sapping Will can make Treebeard unable to resist spells like Curse, Black Dart, or Chill Soul. To that extent - and to that extent alone - is this spell useful. Most of the heroes in the list (Quickbeam and Beechbone) only have 1 Will point, so if they attempt to resist Sap Will, they won't have any Will to lose. Merry and Pippin don't have any Will at all (even if they could be targeted), so it's really only useful against Treebeard (like Curse).
• Shatter - SOMETIMES USEFUL: You can't use shatter on the "roots and branches" of the Ents, so your only real targets are Merry and Pippin (and you can shatter their daggers just fine). If they are sitting on Treebeard's shoulders, then this spell has absolutely no value (since they can't be targeted by magical powers), but if they're on the ground somewhere, then it has some very limited utility (and you'll have to get past their Resistant to Magic die - which probably makes this a 1 die vs. 1 die proposition.
• Shroud of Shadows - USEFUL: making a friendly model invisible and potentially halving the Fight Value of the Ents is quite valuable - not only because you can't be rocked to death at a distance, but also because the Fearless rule won't make them auto-pass the invisible model.
• Sorcerous Blast - SOMETIMES USEFUL: Sorcerous Blast is called out in the army bonus as only dealing the S5 hit - no knock-back, no going Prone. This seems to indicate that if Sorcerous Blast is cast against an Ent who is engaged with someone that the other models wouldn't be knocked Prone by the Blast since the only thing that Sorcerous Blast does is the damage (which is good . . . I think - work this out before the game too). A S5 hit isn't very good (wounds D8 on 6s), but it can be the only damage spell available to the caster (Saruman the White), may be the only damage spell that is available because of a terrain dependency (Gandalf the Grey with Collapse Rocks) or easier to cast than an alternate spell (Saruman with Flameburst). Yes, you can cast it, but it may be "just because" instead of "because it's good."
• Tremor - USEFUL: Tremor says nothing about the Ents not being able to move, so you're knocking them Prone and dealing a S6 hit. If you can charge them while Prone, you're in good shape. Even if you don't charge, they're moving much more slowly and Merry/Pippin will be knocked off Treebeard (though they can remount) - and might even die!
• Wither - SOMETIMES USEFUL: most Ent models aren't going to feel a -1 Strength penalty (or even a -3 Strength penalty) - when you're S8 base, you aren't that worried about wounding stuff. A Channelled Wither does sound dangerous though - and if an Ent warrior is targeted (no way to resist), he could go down to S5-6 (which probably makes it so that your units aren't wounded on a 3+). Frankly, I'm not sure the Ents care about this spell that much, but there's probably a niche case for it.
• Your Staff Is Broken - NOT USEFUL: no Staffs of Power, so it's not useful. 'Nuff said.

A few things you may have noticed: first and foremost, most of the useful spells target friendly models OR do straight-up damage at S6+ (or automatically wound). This is because a) they make your other models more likely to deal wounds to the Ents (the usual issue with beating up on this army once they close with you), b) they restore stats that the Ents have taken from you (especially Wounds and Fate), or c) because they have a decent chance of dealing damage to the Ents (especially if you use Might to boost a wounding roll). None of these do that much in small quantities, so I wouldn't count on having a single caster with these abilities as a "counter" to Fangorn.

Second, the spells that are Sometimes Useful are HIGHLY situational. Some of them (Curse and Sap Will, for example) are really only good against Treebeard, while others are good if you have a specific target (like Wither or Shatter) or have brought a particular unit in your army (like Banishment and Sorcerous Blast). If you were planning to bring these units anyway, then you have them - good. Otherwise, you won't have them (and that's okay too).

Third, of the 38 spells in the game, 16 of them (almost half) are Useful while 15 of them (almost half) are Not Useful. Among these "Not Useful" spells are some of the most common spells available to Ringwraiths and wizards - models that make up two of the most dominant magical army lists in the game right now (the Vanquishers of the Necromancer and the Black Riders LLs). For clarity, here's how each of the members of those squads does against a pure Fangorn list (I did make Drain Courage red below because there's no Blades of the Dead in the Black Riders LL):

• The Vanquishers of the Necromancer:
• Saruman the White: Aura of Command (self, 2+); Immobilize (18", 2+); Terrifying Aura (self, 2+); Command (18", 3+); Sorcerous Blast (12", 4+)
• Galadriel, Lady of Light: Fortify Spirit (12", 2+); Banishment (12", 3+); Instill Fear (3", 4+)
• Elrond, Master of Rivendell: Wrath of Bruinen (Self, 4+); Renew (12", 3+)
• Radagast the Brown: Panic Steed (12", 2+); Terrifying Aura (self, 2+); Immobilize (12", 3+); Renew (12", 3+); Nature's Wrath (self, 4+); Aura of Dismay (self, 5+)
• Gandalf the Grey: Blinding Light (Self, 2+); Terrifying Aura (Self, 2+); Immobilize (12", 3+); Command (12", 4+); Protection of the Valar (Self, 4+); Strengthen Will (12", 4+); Collapse Rocks (6", 5+); Sorcerous Blast (12", 5+)
• The Black Riders:
• The Witch-King of Angmar: Drain Courage (12", 2+); Transfix (12", 3+); Compel (12", 4+); Instill Fear (3", 4+); Your Staff Is Broken (12", 4+); Black Dart (12", 5+); Sap Will (12", 5+)
• Ringwraith: Drain Courage (12", 2+); Transfix (12", 3+); Compel (12", 4+); Black Dart (12", 5+); Instill Fear (3", 5+); Sap Will (12", 5+)

Well, that's kind of crippling - these casters who usually have lots of spells at their fingertips are suddenly reduced to having 1-2 spells that will actually do anything. Poor Elrond and Radagast are reduced to healing only (which you'll need if/when you lose fights to these guys) and Gandalf and Saruman are left wondering if they can actually get 6s to wound with Sorcerous Blast . . . not a great position to be in, to be honest. I'll just mention here that the other two Wrath of Bruinen/Nature's Wrath heroes in the game (Arwen and Thranduil) are completely strapped for effectiveness - Thranduil's Circlet of Kings does nothing against Fangorn (Aura of Dismay is countered by army-wide Fearless, while Nature's Wrath does nothing) and Arwen has just the one spell (Wrath of Bruinen, which does nothing). Yikes . . .

The Black Riders have it worse - they can Black Dart guys and they can cast Sap Will on Treebeard. And that's it - oh, and those free Channelled Transfixes that go off on a 6? Yeah, you don't get those either . . . ugh . . .

Surely, if magic isn't an option, we have more that we can do with shooting, right? Well, shooting comes with its own complications . . .

Why Shooting Doesn't Work

This is probably the easiest one to cover, so here it is: S2 bows (very common across armies) wound these guys on a 6/5+, which means that statistically, only 1/18 shots that HIT the target will convert into a wound. If you hit on a 4+ (good archers that have moved and average archers that haven't moved), only 1/36 shots will actually become a wound. That's depressing (especially if you've only taken a half-dozen "honesty bows" in your army). Heroes, of course, can Might their wounding roll, but you shouldn't unless the guy you're shooting at is almost dead.

S3 bows and most throwing weapons (having access to one or both is fairly common) will wound these guys on a 6/4+, which does mean that 1/12 shots that hit will convert into a wound (1/24 shots will wound if you hit on a 4+). This is still not good, but certainly doable - you can probably get a wound in every other turn (but still not enough wounds to fell one of these guys before they get to you).

S4 crossbows (pretty rare but also very competitive, so assume you'll see them at a tournament) wound these guys on 6s only, which is better for dealing damage, but still not great (1/6 shots that hit will become a wound, so about 1/12 shots hitting on a 4+ will work). This comes out to about 1 wound ever turn, which STILL might not be enough to fell one before he gets to you (since you can't move and shoot with these guys).

Siege engines are pretty much the only thing these guys are worried about, but with heroes who have Fate points and 3 Might points, the first successful hit (usually a 4+, sometimes with a reroll) that scatters onto a hero (1/6 chance of hitting a targeted warrior vs. scattering onto nothing or scattering onto a hero) that also wounds (many will wound on a 4+, some on a 3+) will be blocked by Fate (because all that Might is coming out to make that Fate point work). 

The math on this varies from siege engine to siege engine, but your best case of killing an Ent warrior (no Fate) with an auto-kill siege engine is with an Assault Upon Helm's Deep LL Isengard Assault Ballista (hitting on a 4+ rerollable, rerollable scatter, and wounding on a 4+), which has a 12% chance of auto-killing an Ent each turn (0.75 x 0.30 x 0.5). This could be improved slightly with Might, but chances are, even with the rerolls, you're scattering onto a hero.

Now I hear you Aven*** Bolt Thrower fans (I caught myself, Jeremy) crying out, "WHAT ABOUT THOSE BOLT THROWERS?!?!?!" Yes, I thought of those too - and with an estimated 3.5 hits/turn without Rapid Reload (and ~4.5 hits/turn with Rapid Reload), hitting on a 4+ and wounding on a 5+ (S7 and all), you get an estimated 0.58-0.75 wounds each turn (<3.5 or 4.5> x 0.5 x 0.33). This is better and on-par with a massive line of S3 bows or a short line of crossbows, but still not good. With only 24" range and March in the Ent ranks, you're probably getting off 2-3 volleys before they close with you, which will probably mean you don't kill anyone.

Oh, one last note: ballistas can deal damage to you, but they won't knock your Ents backwards . . . ugh . . .

Why Combat Doesn't Work

Let's start with this: Ents (the warriors, mind you) are F7. The club of models that are F7 and above is EXTREMELY exclusive - here's the whole list across the entire range (bolded models are warriors):

• 4 Ent profiles (Treebeard, Quickbeam, Beechbone, Ents);
• 3 Eagles (Gwaihir, Radagast's Great Eagle mount, Great Eagles);
• 3 Elves (Gil-Galad, Thranduil, and Glorfindel);
• 1 Man (Elendil);
• 1 Bear (Beorn);
• 5 Spirits (Gulavhar, The Dark Lord Sauron, The Necromancer of Dol Guldur, The Balrog, and Dwellers in the Dark);
• 2 Orcs (Azog, Bolg);
• 7 Trolls (Bill the Troll, Bert the Troll, Mordor Troll Chieftains, Gundabad Trolls, Mordor Trolls, Isengard Trolls, Mordor Siege Engine Trolls);
• 1 Spider (Shelob); and
• 2 Dragons (Smaug, Dragons).

And that's it - 29 profiles across the range may seem like a surprisingly high number (I know I was surprised) and you might not think that this is such a big deal since only half of these models can Strike (15/29). If you Strike against a Dweller in the Dark from F5-6 (like most Strikers do), you will probably beat their FV (or tie it), making their innate F7+ kind of irrelevant. Sure, heroes who can't Strike may have problems (as will Warriors who aren't F7), but against Striking heroes, being F7 doesn't mean you'll win the fight necessarily.

Being Fight 7 AND Defense 8 brings some added challenges. Yes, a S4-5 hero can Strike up and get a higher FV than an Ent or a Gundabad Troll, but he's going to be wounding said model on 6s (maybe 5s if he has +1 To Wound). Heroes who are draining their Might to beat the Fight Value of an Ent are necessarily going to have fewer Might to spend killing the Ent after they win - and that's a big problem. Any of the F7+ heroes in this list don't need to Strike (if they're okay with a roll-off for those who are F7), but all of the other heroes in the game will be burning through their Might just to stay ahead of the Fight Value of the Ent (and woe betides the hero who Strikes up against an Ent and then gets a 3-high or 4-high on his dueling roll). It's the D8 that is the real kicker for Ents - nothing short of a big monster kills them well (except for siege engines that get a direct hit, I guess).

Models with Blades of the Dead can do well against these guys, as Ent warriors are only C6 (C5 if Harbinger is around), but if you don't have the Harbinger rule present, those Ents will be wounded by the likes of Dead Marsh Spectres from Angmar or Warriors of the Dead from Dunharrow on 6s - which isn't what you're used to when you run these kinds of models. Sure, Warriors of the Dead rarely show up to the fight without the King of the Dead (and Dead Marsh Spectres are commonly fielded with the Witch-King), but with 18" S10 rocks being hurled across the field (and neither of these armies have credible archery threats to drive the Ents to come to them), it's not unreasonable to think that the Harbinger Bubble might be down by the time you get into combat. Yikes . . .

Then you have heroes like Aragorn with Anduril or Azog who have a floor wounding value. Aragorn can carve through Ents in 1-2 turns (he will have to Strike if he wants the higher Fight Value - and if he wins, he will need to two-hand with Anduril to wound on 3s to have a good chance of killing the Ent in a single turn), but Azog struggles because Ents (the warrior choice) aren't heroes - so instead of wounding them on 3s, he wounds them on . . . 6s. At F7, he could rely on a Heroic Strength (which will force a roll-off at F7, but will guarantee wounding on 5s if not 4s). The Stone Flail would help with the wounding roll, but will cap him at F6, which means you're one 6 away from losing the fight automatically. Not great.

But alas, you say, maybe we can just horde out our models, trap the trees, and smash them to pieces with good, old, reliable F3-4 models. Perhaps, though Terror is an issue for many of the spammable F3-4 models (and those that have Bodyguard/Sword Protector place a big target on the heads of their leader). Can it be done? Of course. Should you lose, though, you could be facing the wrath of a Bludgeon (which could fizzle out OR could result in all of those F3-4 warriors dying). Pick your poison, I guess . . .

But what about the heroes? So far, we've only talked about the warriors - the heroes get worse. Quickbeam is the "weakest" of the heroes - and by that I mean that he's "only F7" instead of being F8. He also has no Strike, but as we just talked about, that may just mean that he depends on D8 blunting the attacks of whoever he faces. With 3 Might and Heroic March, it's unlikely that he has too much Might by the time combats arise, but if you start close together and he only needs to March once (if at all), he could have Might to boost whatever roll he gets (or a Fate roll) in order to make enemy heroes pay more dearly for their wins (further reducing the likelihood that he's wounded). 

Treebeard is ridiculous - with F8 and two little Hobbits on his shoulders who can hop down and trap any single model that he's fighting, he's crazy good at dealing with solo-heroes. With 6 Will points (to resist whatever Magic you can throw at him) and 3 Fate points to back up his 3 Wounds, he requires dedicated effort to take down (and frankly is a good target for scattering siege weapon fire into - though I'd probably scatter the first shot onto Beechbone if at all possible). With F8 and Heroic Defense, he doesn't have to Strike against his opponents if he doesn't want to - many F5 heroes who Strike will only tie his Fight Value (or not even reach it), so if you're worried about being wounded, Defense is a pretty good option.

Beechbone is "Treebeard-lite" - he is "only C6," doesn't have access to Heroic Defense, and only has 1 Will/1 Fate. Besides that, he does everything Treebeard does AND gets to reroll all failed To Wound rolls against Orcs, Goblins, and Uruk-Hai. If you're a D6 or below Orc/Goblin/Uruk (as many are), he's got an 89% chance on each dice of getting a wound - that's LOTS of dead guys. I wouldn't risk swarming him if you can possibly help it - though those F5 heroes (like Ugluk) who have no option but to Strike face instant death should they lose a fight, so maybe swarming is your best option . . . sad as that is to say . . .

Okay, so we've established that these guys are really hard to take down. This leaves us with an important question - how do you fight against Fangorn? Well, I've failed more than I've succeeded, but here are a few list that might do okay (not only against Fangorn, but against other armies as well).

Fighting Fire With Fire: Fighting Against Fangorn

So who has the best chance of toppling these guys? Well, you have to play with an army that doesn't play by the normal rules - like the Assault Upon Helm's Deep LL (here is what I'm trying at 800pts):

• Uruk-Hai Uber-Captain with two-handed axe [ARMY LEADER]
• 3 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows
• 7 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• 1 Uruk-Hai Warrior with pike and banner
• 4 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
• Uruk-Hai Captain with crossbow
• 7 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows
• 8 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• Uruk-Hai Shaman with armor
• Demolition team with 2 flaming brands
• 5 Uruk-Hai Warriors with crossbows
• 4 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
• Uruk-Hai Siege Veteran with Isengard Assault Ballista
• 3 Siege crew
• 1 Siege crew with pike

I haven't tried this list yet, but I'm curious if it will work. With 50 models, we have enough models to spread out in objective missions and try to race around them in traveling missions. As far as killing Ents goes, we have a demolition team to nuke someone. Theoretically, a demolition team could take out 2-3 Ents, but chances are the Ents will spread out if a bomb is nearby (though they'll need to be 5" or more away from each other to avoid being hit by the 2" radius of each bomb).

Similarly, Ents will probably seek cover from the Ballistas, which would kill them in a single shot (though again, if they have a hero nearby that they can scatter onto, that may not be a deterrent). Theoretically, though, a single wound on a non-hero Ent will kill it (and 1 Fate heroes will need to pass their Fate roll) and we have lots of S4 archery (16 crossbows) to threaten them into coming to you (a little better than 1 wound/turn). The Ballista will probably be the target in any maelstrom mission, so its effectiveness is unclear to me. I'm sure there are other lists that can do it, but this is the only one that I think is competitive against conventional lists AND Fangorn.

This underscores an important thing: if your opponent doesn't plan for Fangorn being on the table, you have a major advantage by running Fangorn. If your opponent tailors a list to fight Fangorn, he may place himself a huge disadvantage against more traditional armies. I find it far more likely that your opponents don't plan to face Fangorn and find themselves on the back-foot, trying to scramble up a plan on the fly. And that's an advantage you can take.

I have beaten Centaur's Ent squad once with something akin to the following list at 700pts - though it was the first time he used Ents, so I'm not sure it would win in a rematch:

• Glorfindel, Lord of the West on Asfaloth with the Armor of Gondolin
• 7 High Elf Warriors with shields
• 4 High Elf Warriors with shields and spears
• 1 High Elf Warrior with shield, spear, and banner
• 2 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows and spears
• Gildor Inglorion
• 4 Noldorin Exiles with throwing daggers
• 5 Noldorin Exiles with throwing daggers and Wood Elf Spears
• 3 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows
• Cirdan
• 3 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows
• 3 High Elf Warriors with Elf bows and spears

Why did this work? Well, we have a LOT of shooting. For starters, we have 11 Elf bows that can hit on a 3+ rerollable if Glorfindel is standing near all of them - that translates into ~10 shots hitting each turn. When you add in the 9 throwing daggers who can harass at close range (hitting with 4.5 shots if they move and shoot on the same turn), you are supposed to get 1 wound/round. That may not seem like much, but since Blinding Light should keep most of your models safe from return fire (and your Noldorin Exiles only plan to be in range if the Ents have already moved), the Ents can't just stand around and shoot at you. 

Cirdan is the rockstar here - you don't need to cast Aura of Dismay (the Ents are all Fearless, after all), you don't have to channel Blinding Light (just cast it on your free dice each turn that the Ents are advancing), you should cast (probably not channel) Aura of Command (so you can bypass Terror), and you want to cast Enchanted Blades on Glorfindel so that he can reroll all failed To Wound rolls with his 4 dice on the charge.

At first glance, Gildor isn't doing much - he can't cast Immobilize on the Ents (well, it won't do anything at any rate) and he only has 1 Might point (and can't Strike). But what he does give you is access to fast troops with throwing daggers - something that can be very useful against Ents! If the Noldorin Exiles have to move before the Ents do, they can back up so that they are outside of 6" of the Ents, which not only guarantees that the Ents won't be able to charge them, but if there's terrain between the Elves and the Ents, the Ents won't be able to shoot at them all round (and the Elves will be able to shoot at the Ents if the Ents come within 6" of the Elves). Should the Elves have to move second, they can better position themselves to be just barely within 6" of the Ents and drift closer to terrain that can screen them from cover. Gildor's Might point could be used for a Heroic Move to get away from danger, but it can also be used for Heroic Defense, which is every Ent's nightmare against a D4 2 Wound/1 Fate hero who should be easy pickings.

But Glorfindel is my main man (well, Elf) - but I do something controversial with him when I need to fight Ents: I two-hand. Yes, Glorfindel takes a penalty when he does this. Yes, dueling penalties can hurt. But when you wound Ents on a 6+ normally, even if you reroll all failed To Wound rolls, that's not going to kill much. Because Glorfindel is F7 with an Elven-made weapon, he can win the fight without calling Strike - and if he's got a banner near him, he'll be rolling 6 dice to win the dueling roll on a turn when he charges - and if you can get other guys into his fight, he's got a very strong chance of rolling a 6 (and if the opponent is a warrior, he may not get a 6 to match Glorfindel's roll). When Glorfindel rolls to wound (ideally with Enchanted Blades on him), he can have 8 dice wounding on 5s, rerolling all failed rolls (which is ~3 wounds initially and ~2 more on the second try). 5 Wounds is enough to kill anyone except Treebeard outright - and even Treebeard needs to pass both of his Fate saves. One turn flash-kill of an Ent? I'll take that.

So, are Ents destined to be the newest, hottest army in MESBG? I don't think so. Why? Because they cost so much. Money is a thing and probably the biggest impediment to army collection (that or availability of the models). Will everyone want to play an army that has a handful of monster models? No - not at $40-60/model when they could get Eagles for half that. But with Damian O'Byrne recently getting 2nd Place in the Not-Throne-Of-Skulls tournament at 800pts, I think there's a case for this being a very competitive army (if a more theme-oriented one). A good player can probably take this list and learn to play objective-based missions with it and do well. Time will tell . . .

If you have experience fighting Ents and have additional thoughts, share them in the comments below! Until next time, happy hobbying!

Merry Christmas - and we'll see you on Monday!