In Defense of: Castellans of Dol Guldur

This is a sweet paint job (not mine...)

Photo Credit: Azazel's Bitz Box

Tiberius: Today Rythbyrt is back with a defense of one of his favorite units: Castellans of Dol Guldur. I know what you're thinking: Castellans are horrible heroes who can't be defended - not even by the TMAT team. While I could attempt a defense of the units, my experience has been tied to fighting them, not running them. So, I leave you to Rythbyrt to learn how these guys work.

Rythbryt: I'll be honest: when Tiberius asked me to do this write-up, I had two instant thoughts:

1. Absolutely, 1000% YES!

2. Wait, people don't like Castellans?

Apparently, people don't like Castellans. And I'm not sure why. They're one of the most unique profiles in the game. They're incredibly flexible. They pack a surprising whallop. They're spooky. I think the models are dope (although I admit the one with two blades is a tad flat). And they even have their own fight song!* So why all the hate?

No idea. But if your local meta isn't a fan of Castellans, yet loves all sorts of stupid, popular list ideas (like pretty elves, slogged dwarves, a mounted horse king, massed rangers, or five magical wizards storming a spooky castle), have I got some a LOT of thoughts for you!

(Gosh, I've missed this...)

Odd Man Out: Five Ways To Handle Byes At Tournaments

Good morning gamers,

Over the past ten years, we've thrown a lot of tournaments here at TMAT - and as the Tournament Organizer (TO) for most of them, I can say running a tournament for your friends is a really great experience (albeit hectic and stressful sometimes). One of the most common problems that TOs face across the world is what to do when you have an odd number of players/teams. Naturally, people come to a tournament and want to play - no one wants to sit out for 1-2 hours watching other people play. 

To answer this age-old question, different tournament organizers have taken a variety of approaches to "solve" the problem, but each has their own draw-backs. So, in today's post, we will be exploring all the options I've heard of (and tried out) for handling byes and talking through their advantages and their disadvantages. Let's get right to it.

In Defense Of: Galadhrim Knights

Good morning gamers,

In this series, we've mostly looked at heroes who get heavily critiqued in the competitive community. Today, we're looking at a warrior selection that doesn't receive much respect: Galadhrim Knights. As one of two mounted profiles in the Lothlorien list (alongside Celeborn - I mean, Galadhrim Captains and NOT Celeborn!?!?!?!), you'd think that in a game that gives incredible bonuses to being mounted, any mounted model would be beloved and prized. Some of us (I am a fairly recent convert) have used them and grown to love them (probably with a high learning curve that made us hate them for a while) and others just don't see it. So today, we're looking at these guys in detail to learn all the tricks of the trade - let's get stuck in!

Why NOT To Take Galadhrim Knights

Whenever you hear someone complain about Galadhrim Knights, the words "Rivendell Knights" are often heard in the same breath. Rivendell, like Lothlorien and the Halls of Thranduil, are either historical allies or convenient allies with every Good faction in the game - so any Good faction CAN have cavalry if they are willing to give up their army bonus (unless they're one of those rare historical allies with the Elves, which are mostly factions of the hero/monster variety).

Rivendell Knights are similar in cost to Galadhrim Knights when both are given shields and bows (22pts for a Riv-Knight and 21pts for a Gal-Knight), but the wargear is different in three key ways: first, the Galadhrim Knight is astride an armored horse vs. the Rivendell Knight's "normal" horse (which makes the Lothlorien mounts less likely to die against S2/S4 archery, but makes no difference against S3 attacks). Second, the Rivendell Knight has a hand-and-a-half sword vs. the one-handed sword of the Galadhrim Knight (which, admittedly, most players don't use two-handed, so the difference here is academic). And third and more important of all, the Rivendell Knight has a lance (+1 To Wound on the charge) while the Galadhrim Knight does not have a lance (not even an option).

Quest of the Ringbearer: Pop-up Bree, Part 3

Good morning gamers,

We're back for the last post (for now) on my Bree board - this time, talking about the other buildings I've built for the board and some of the additional 3D printed bits I commissioned Centaur to print for me to fill them. If you haven't read the previous posts in this series, you can find them on our Quest of the Ringbearer page. Let's get right into it!

The New Buildings

Here's a quick look at the old and new pieces that Centaur printed for me - this, in addition to what I already have, won't be enough to fully populate the city, but I see filling each building as a long-game (I don't want to "just print a bunch of stuff" when there might be things I find later that I want).

It's unclear if Bree had a standing militia in the books, but it had a gate-keeper (Harry Goatleaf will probably make an appearance whenever I use this building) and we know from the books that when Sharkey's Rogues began invading the Shire, they gathered in Bree and started making trouble (and those loyal to order and peace rallied behind Barliman Butterbur to defend their town, kick out the Ruffians, and establish a more secure town). As such, I assume that at least one building should serve as a bunkhouse for whatever local militia are "on call" that day. Here we have a few cots for resting on, as well as some crates for those men to refresh themselves as they await trouble. Functionally for game play, this is a pretty open space.

In Defense Of: Isildur

Good morning gamers,

Today we cover a model that is quite good - and some competitive players really love: Isildur. Isildur is one of the best slaying heroes in the game, but there are a LOT of people who don't like him. Today, I delve into a hero that I love to use at large points levels - and have been running a bunch recently. Let's dig in right away!

Why NOT To Take Isildur

The first limitation for Isildur is his dad: Elendil was commonly viewed in our evaluation of the Top 50 Slayer Heroes for the Forces of Good to be better than Isildur (I dissented) - F7 instead of F6, S5 with a Master-Forged hand-and-a-half sword that grants free Heroic Combats (vs. S5 with a mundane hand-and-a-half sword that doesn't get free Heroic Combats), 2 free dice to resist magical powers (vs. Resistant to Magic only), and all the same gear options (horse and shield), getting Elendil for the "low-low price" of 200pts seems like a really good deal.

While you can get both Elendil and Isildur in your army, Isildur takes a big hit: he loses the One Ring (since, you know, he didn't have it while his dad was alive). Isildur has a pretty great profile (F6/S5/3A with 3 Might on offense, D7-8 with 3 Wounds/2 Fate on Defense), but Striking from "only F6" isn't as great as "I will always have the higher Fight Value period." Similarly, 6" movement can really restrict your movement, but it's remarkably less restricted when you can walk through enemy ranks and provide traps to your men by attacking the spearmen in the formation from the rear. Yes, Isildur is great with the Ring and losing it is kind of a big deal.

The Most Special Special Strike: Ranking the 5 Special Strikes of MESBG

Good morning gamers,

Special Strikes were first introduced to MESBG during the Hobbit era - and some got fixed in the newest edition. With the current edition entering its fifth year of life, we've had a lot of time to try out these Special Strikes in a bunch of armies and scenarios. But from both a qualitative and a mathematical perspective, which of these Special Strikes is the best? Well today we delve in and try to determine how useful each of these are!

Mathematical Approach: Measuring Change

One of the things that makes Special Strikes interesting in MESBG is the diversity of things they can do. Feint/Stab and Piercing Strike have very clear impacts on your wounding ability, but you can also make the number of Strikes you perform larger with Whirl, make someone else's wounding ability better with Bash, and neutralize an enemy combatant for a turn with Stun. Yes, these strikes do a variety of things - so how do we measure them? Well, we can simplify all of their differences by measuring the difference in expected wounds dealt with and without a special strike.

To measure expected wounds dealt, we're going to need to have a scenario - and the one I have chosen is intended to allow each special strike to shine. The scenario is as follows:

• Good:
• High Elf Warrior with a weapon-swapped hand-and-a-half <weapon type>;
• High Elf Warrior with Elven-made hand-and-a-half sword, spear, and shield (supporting)
• Evil: 
• Orc Warrior with pick/sword and shield
• Orc Warrior with pick/sword, spear, and shield (supporting)
• Morannon Orc with mace/pick/sword

We're going to use weapon swaps on the Elves to show how each special strike situation could go. I will note that half of the special strikes can be used by the Orcs as well - and for things like Stab, we'll need to have some kind of baseline for it.

If we have these five models fighting each other as shown above, the Elves are expected to win ~50% of their fights over 2000 trials if the front-line Elf fights normally instead of two-handing (which would drop to ~40% of their fights if the front-line Elf two-hands). Should the Elves win, they'll wound either Orc on a 5+ (because the Morannon has no shield), which gives them a 56% chance/0.5556 probability of wounding at least one of the Orcs and an 11% chance/0.1111 probability of wounding both Orcs. Should the Orcs win, all three will wound the front-line Elf on a 5+ if they wound normally (70% chance/0.704 probability of wounding him).

With this knowledge as our baseline, let's see where each special strike ranks based on how it changes the combat results . . .

In Defense Of: Erkenbrand

Good morning gamers,

So today is special because we have an inaugural guest post from one of our long-time gamers here at TMAT, Red Jacket. When Red Jacket isn't talking about how great Elves are or lamenting his luck leading Uruk-Hai, he's usually going on about how great Rohan is. While he loves the usual gang of Rohan heroes, one of the heroes he often fields is Erkenbrand. Erkenbrand USED to be a really competitive choice for many players in previous editions, but with the new rules drop . . . Erkenbrand seems to be out of favor. 

My experience with Erkenbrand is limited to the Riders of Eomer LL (which I love - and almost took to a local event recently), where the very limited set of profiles you have makes him an auto-include after you reach a certain points level. With normal Rohan have a TON of hero options, it's easy to let Erkenbrand slip through the cracks, so I asked Red Jacket to give his thoughts on this hero and why you'd want to take him in a normal Rohan list. Take it away, mate!

Check out Red Jacket's work on Instagram!

“Amid them strode a man tall and strong. His shield was red. As he came to the valley’s brink, he set to his lips a great black horn and blew a ringing blast.” – Description of Erkenbrand, The Two Towers.

Red Jacket: Erkenbrand is the most underrated Rohan hero.  People pass over him without giving him a second thought.

Not only is this a crying shame thematically, since he is one of the few heroes of Rohan that Tolkien actually made a big deal about besides your star cast… but it’s also strange to me given the extremely powerful buffs he brings to the table for Rohan.

Let us summarize the profile:

• Erkenbrand starts at 75 points.  
• He is a Hero of Fortitude and boasts F5/4+, S4, D7, A2, W2, C4. On top of that he follows the standard named Rohan Captain trend with 3 might and 1 Will and Fate. 
• Similarly, he has the option to buy a horse, giving meaning to the standard issue Rohan Expert Rider, and Horse Lord Special rules. 
• Also as normal, he brings the mobility of Heroic March, and the niche killing power of Heroic Strength. 
• His unique, and very powerful selling point comes with the Horn of Hammerhand, a +2 warhorn that affects all friendly Rohan models. 
• Last but not least, for an additional 1 pt. per model, Erkenbrand can serve as a banner for any upgraders Riders of Rohan in his warband.

All around, there is a lot there. It really seems like he should get more appreciation.

“If he is as great as you claim,” I hear you ask, “then why does no-one take him seriously?” Here are a few of the most common reasons that I have heard:

1. “Comparatively expensive/points inefficient” (I put this in quotes because while I get it, I also don’t buy it. No pun intended)
2. Buffs aren’t needed
3. Lacks the “almighty strike”
4. Doesn’t fit the Rohan Meta

By looking at these common objections in turn, I believe that we will see that much of this criticism is unfounded. Furthermore, I suggest that we will see the usefulness and potential for this great Captain of Rohan.

Before we launch in however, I do need to address two caveats.  Never would I ever suggest Erkenbrand is an auto-take. (By which I mean, someone that should always be included in a list from a particular army) I’m not particularly a believer in “auto-takes.” Additionally, Erkenbrand is not an army centerpiece (obviously.) This defense of Erkenbrand is an argument to say that he deserves his place table among Rohan's secondary, supporting heroes.

With that out of the way, let’s jump in! 

Unexpected Military Formations: The Bow-Tie Formation

Good morning gamers,

In today's formations post, we're returning to a topic we've covered several times already: ways to set up your army to march across the board more effectively. We've seen already how to maximize the total area you can cover with your March (which translates into more models moving faster) with the Millennium Falcon or Pac-Man formations, but today we look at a more versatile variation of these concepts: the Bow-Tie Formation.

Marching And Adaptability

To illustrate the formations today, we'll be using the following army, an 800-point variant of the Men of the West LL that I ran at our most recent tournament here at TMAT:

• Aragorn, King Elessar [ARMY LEADER]
• 4 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields
• 10 Warriors of Minas Tirith with shields and spears
• 3 Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
• Eomer, Marshal of the Riddermark with shield
• 3 Warriors of Rohan with shields
• 3 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
• 8 Warriors of Rohan with bows
• Gandalf the White

It turns out that most Marching formations are inflexible - both in MESBG and in real life. Most players probably have a formation like this to March around:

Aragorn provides the Heroic March - everyone is in range, but where they can go will be heavily restricted

This formation loses almost half of its possible Marching area and will find it difficult to change directions without giving up drastic amounts of movement. We can fix the first problem (maximizing possible space) with a Millennium Falcon formation:

Aragorn's Marching straight forward, but everyone around him has more flexibility (and we can pack into March range in this formation)

In Defense Of: Easterling War Priests

 Hey Reader!

Today we're continuing the In Defense Of series, and Tiberius asked me to jump in and chat about the Easterling War Priest, as they have been a staple of Easterling army supports for a while, but now with the arrival of Brorgir there's a question as to whether you need these guys anymore in your army. I think you do.

We will start by looking at why people tell you not to take this model, then we'll discuss why you should take it, and then close out by discussing how to make it work effectively in your army list.

Why NOT To Take an Easterling War Priest

One of the first shamans I ever bought, painted c. 2012.
I really need to go back and redo these guys, XD

For starters, the war priest is unique among shamans in that it lacks control tools that other shamans typically have, and it costs more than shamans typically do for only marginally better stats. At F3 S3 the war priest is on-par with orc shamans, slightly ahead of goblin shamans, and behind uruk shamans, and yet it is more expensive than all of them. It still only gets the 3 Will Points, and while it has two spells like other shamans, instead of combining Fury with a control spell like Transfix, the war priest exchanges the control spell for a support spell: Bladewrath.

Bladewrath is a good spell: it increases the odds that a character wounds a target by at least 1 face, not to mention changes its Strength for the rest of the Fight Phase, so if you can sneak in an extra combat it lasts until all fights are resolved. The issue is that control spells are far more useful for neutralizing an enemy hero, as one round of maybe wounding someone on a better roll (as you have to win the fight first to roll to wound) is generally not as good as one round of a big hero not performing strikes at all.

And this doesn't even compare the war priest to shamans that get unique spells like Flameburst (with rechargeable Will, in the case of Kardush), Shatter, and Wither, all of which have their place and can dramatically change the battle on a 3+ (which is basically the same casting value as Bladewrath), often for a fraction of the cost of a war priest.