The Battle of Osgiliath: Unpacking the New Rules Updates

Good morning gamers,

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community

Centaur and I split the Battle of Osgiliath starter box right before Christmas and I have to say, there's nothing quite like opening a big box of plastic right before Christmas! I started assembling Gothmog the day after it arrived so Centaur could have the instructions all for himself but then poured over the new rulebook with my son Gorgoroth.

I had heard that there were no substantive changes in the book - just incorporating erratas that have crept up through the years since the MESBG revamp. I decided I could spare a few hours for a thorough examination and compiled the list of changes here - and as best I can tell, these are the full list of changes. What surprised me was . . . not all the changes were previous erratas (and no, I'm not emailing the FAQ team to see if any of these additional changes were intentional). I would like to go on record and say that I did my examination of what the differences were two days before the Unexpected Podcast team released their review of the changes (check out their video if you want their review of a few changes - the link provided starts after the list review when they dig into the rules and runs for ~35min). Matt, if you're reading this, you don't need to read the rulebook cover to cover - I got you. :-) Anywhere that we're seeing new rules in the new book, I've placed a "NEW" at the start of the paragraph. If there's a slight change from previous FAQs, you'll see a "SEMI-NEW" instead. Here we go!

Player Code of Conduct 

NEW: This got some attention from the Unexpected Podcast team, and it's both new and not new. This is really an extension of the most important rule (have fun) but it's the first time that players have been given guidelines for how to create a good playing experience - and the inclusion of it in the rules seems to me to be an attempt to codify what has sprung up in the MESBG community organically. Things like being a graceful winner and loser make a lot of sense, and I find myself already helping my opponent from time to time (or all the time - what can I say, I like to make my life hard). I do think there's a place for letting the other player make mistakes in deployment or with a tactical decision and not having a penalty applied (some lessons need to be learned the hard way), so I would always use this code as a guideline instead of as the basis for a penal code.

Updates To Profiles, Movement, and Terrain

The FAQs had covered two things related to profiles that got integrated into the new rules (page 18): if a model has terrain features on its base, they do not affect line-of-sight. This includes things like rocks that Gulavhar is standing on or some of the new pillars that are on the Ithilien Ranger heroes. Additionally, women are in fact people, so the "Woman" keyword is effectively synonymous with the "Man" keyword. I agree with others that this was a mistake, as Eowyn was previously able to say, "I am no man" and ignore the bonuses that Gothmog's guys would have gotten against her. :-P

NEW: As regards movement-related tests (pages 30-31), we actually saw three subtle changes with regard to Jump, Leap, and Climb tests. In the previous edition, in order to charge someone after making a Jump/Leap test, you didn't need a 6 - now you do. On the flip side, previously the Climb table said you needed a 6 to charge someone and now you don't. Interesting change . . .

SEMI-NEW: Another new sort-of change has to do with backing away: in the original rules, backing away was said to not be movement (it isn't now either) and so you could back away even if you moved your movement value (you don't have to save 1" of movement to back away later). This was amended (NOT in a previous FAQ) to also allow backing away if you're affected by a magical power or special rule that would otherwise keep you from moving. I'm completely okay with this change and have always played this way (you aren't trapped just because you're Immobilized or failed an Eldamar Madrigal test). I fully support this.

Finally, there was an FAQ released about prone models not being able to defend barriers - this has now been officially rolled into the rules, so no sneaky "you-can't-see-me-so-you-can't-charge-me-and-you-can't-hop-over-my-barrier" tricks. Come on, guys, prone models don't have control zones - how in the world were they ever supposed to defend a barrier!?!?!? But I digress - let's move on to cavalry and all the changes that got rolled out with these guys.

Updates to Cavalry

SEMI-NEW: Most of the changes made to the cavalry section were released in previous FAQs - on page 61, when a cavalry model needs to take a Courage test, he uses the rider's Courage instead of the mount's Courage unless directed to otherwise, while on page 64 we find that special rules/magical powers that affect the model affect both the rider and the mount (this was slightly broadened from Black Dart specifically to include spells like Banishment, Chill Soul, Curse, Drain Courage, and the restoration spells). You also don't get any cavalry bonuses if you've been Immobilized (or Transfixed) or are fighting in deep water. I had actually forgotten the Immobilized thing and we had that question come up recently in our group - good to have it in the rulebook now.

SEMI-NEW: but one of the FAQs got changed slightly with the new rulebook. On page 61, if a cavalry model is knocked prone after it's been charged (say by a war goat or a magical power), the rider and mount will share the same space so that both are engaged with everyone they were engaged with when they were standing. This part isn't new - what IS new is that if both the mount and the rider survive the fight, enemy models will need to move the minimum distance possible to allow the rider and mount to be placed on the ground without overlapping after the fight is over. This realistically only affects Azog and the White Warg (as Warg Riders of various stripes are likely to lose and die), but it's good to know.

Updates to Heroic Actions

Most of the changes for Heroic Actions were also in previous FAQs: with regard to Heroic Moves (page 71) if two Heroic Moves are called by friendly models within 6" of each other, the second move is effectively cancelled (since the second hero needs to move near the other guy). Additionally, if a model calls a Heroic Move and moves off the board, all models within range of him have to move off the board too or not move at all. Finally, if a hero calls a Heroic Move and doesn't move off the board, no one else can move off the board as part of that Heroic Move.

Heroic Combats (also on page 71) also stayed in line with what we've previously seen - and in line with how Heroic Moves work: a model can only move off the board as part of a Heroic Combat if the hero moves off the board as well. Frankly, I don't think this change/ruling is right, since Heroic Combat movements don't have a proximity range requirement at the end of the movement, but whatever. Similarly, Heroic March (on page 72) requires the hero to move off the board in order for other models to move off the board and if the hero doesn't move off the board, no one can. I guess the Heroic Combat thing is just for uniformity . . .

Heroic Accuracy saw one FAQ rolled in (page 73): you can't reroll the result of a horse-or-rider in the way roll if you hit the rider and wanted to hit the horse. Makes sense.

SEMI-NEW: The change in this rules release that is kind of new relates to one of my favorite Heroic Actions: Heroic Challenge (page 75): we already knew that the text of Challenge would be changed to remove your Stand Fast for the rest of the game if you decline a challenge and from previous FAQs we were told that you don't need to spend resources to pass Terror tests to charge the enemy hero if you don't want to. What's new is something I thought was in the FAWs but couldn't find: you don't need to call Heroic Moves to charge the hero. Thank goodness for that - I never played it that way. :-)

Well, time for the monster sections, starting with . . .

Updates to War Beasts

A recent FAQ clarified a lot about war beasts and all of the changes we've seen to the new rules were included in those FAQs (and can be found on pages 82-83). These changes are:

• A war beast is only affected by Heroic Moves/Marches called by the driver (not any other heroes);
• A war beast cannot benefit from a Heroic Combat unless a rule says otherwise (like you get in the Grand Army of the South Legendary Legion);
• You measure the range of a heroic action called by the driver from the driver's base, NOT from the Mumak's base;
• If the driver is Paralyzed, the war beast won't be able to move, but any crew in the howdah who don't shoot in the shoot phase can attempt to make a recovery roll for the driver (they don't have to be in base contact with him like normal); and
• If a war beast is charged, only the war beast (not the driver or the crew) are engaged in the combat and only the war beast can participate in the combat. Additionally, any kills that the war beast racks up don't count as kills by the commander in scenarios where model kill counting is important (aka Contest of Champions if the driver is your army leader and Assassination if the driver is your assassin).

War beasts are one of those units that already have a lot of rules - these changes are mostly clarification on edge cases (can you even get within 6" of the driver if he's at the very top of the Mumak to cast Paralyze on him?), but they're helpful none the less. With that, we turn next to war gear and most of these changes we've seen before.

Updates to Wargear

We begin by talking about supporting models (generally with spears or pikes): the rules now clarify on pages 86-87 that, while supporting models aren't TECHNICALLY in the fight (aka, you can shoot them regardless of your affiliation), if they're within range of a banner, the entire fight is in range of a banner. Additionally, you can only spear support once (so no spear-supporting, losing a fight and backing up into another friendly model and supporting him) and you can't spear support if you've already fought UNLESS you were engaged in a Heroic Combat and moved to support a friendly model (since this would be the first fight you supported in the round). Additionally, heroes can't call Heroic Actions while supporting (they have to be engaged) and no one can support while prone (though prone models can still be supported - thank you GW team for not invalidating an entire formations post I wrote last year).

On page 88, there was a clarification about weapon swapping that we saw in a previous FAQ: keywords like master-forged and Elven-made are lost if you perform a weapon swap (so Elves don't have a lot of reason to weapon swap UNLESS they have multiple weapons, like Mirkwood Rangers do). Additionally, if a profile has a nebulous weapon type (e.g. an Orc Warrior can be given a "two-handed weapon"), you have to choose what type it is before the game starts - and ideally have the right weapon type modeled.

On page 89, there were three clarifications we'd seen previously on special strikes: if a model Feints, he rerolls any natural 1s he rolls (previous complaints were that a Feint wouldn't be valuable if you got +1 To Wound, since all 1s become 2s). This is consistent with the order of operations for fights, where rerolls are performed before modifiers are applied. Two other previous FAQs were added with regard to cavalry and the Stab and Piercing Strike special strikes: because the rider is the one performing the Stab and Piercing Strike, only the rider will take a S2 hit from a Stab and only the rider's defense will be lowered by a Piercing Strike if he fails to win the duel. All of that makes sense.

Two clarifications were made (previously seen in FAQs) with regard to throwing weapons: you can't perform a shooting attack on the charge in the Fight Phase (as part of a Heroic Combat or a Barge) and throwing weapons can only be used once per turn in the Move phase (no rapid-fire-throw-while-charging with these things - that would be crazy).

SEMI-NEW: There were MANY updates to the sections on banners, war drums, and war horns on page 91 - most of which relate to banners. The only NEW thing was that a war horn's ability was clarified to be treated as an active ability, so if you want to shut off a war horn for a turn, Immobilize the bearer. War drums picked up one change as well (seen in a previous FAQ): you can only benefit from one war drum ability each turn (I'm looking at you, armies that field 3 Easterling Kataphrakts with war drums that want to give your cavalry 25" movement!). Don't know that anyone ever did that, but hey, it's now in the rules that you can't. :)

Banners saw a lot of changes, none of which are new to us: supporting models count as being in range (repeated from above for clarity, I assume), special rules that are tied to banners are ignored if the banner is prone (so no Fearless models near a prone Halbarad and no +1 Fight Value for Gondor models near mega-Boromir) and heroes who count as a banner don't confer the banner rule if they're prone. However, consistent with previous FAQs, if a hero has a rule that says "models count as being in range of a banner" DO confer this bonus even if they're prone (#ElessarsTheBest). There were also clarifications that being in range of multiple banners does not confer multiple rerolls, banners can only be handed off when someone dies or flees (not "just because"), and models without hands can't pick up banners (no spiders or wargs or such).

There were clarifications about the Ring on page 92 as well - all of which I covered in my thoughts on the One Ring back in 2021:

• You can't put on the Ring if you've been charged (makes sense - you're kind of busy);
• You get to ignore enemy control zones when you move; 
• You can move through models so long as you don't end your movement on top of a model;
• Enemy models can step on you and move you the shortest possible distance (but only if he's not in combat);
• Failing to pass a Courage test to charge a Ringbearer doesn't prevent a model from continuing its move in some other way; and
• Ringbearers can still call Heroic Actions while they have the Ring on, but other models won't be able to take part in their heroic actions (like Heroic Combats or Heroic Moves).

Finally, there were two FAQs to Shielding that got rolled into the rules on page 93: you don't get bonuses from other weapons (be they special rules or keywords like Elven-made) and models that have been Immobilized/Transfixed cannot use the shielding rule. The rules to war gear have been pretty much in-line with what we've seen - let's look now at the updates to magical powers.

Updates to Magical Powers

Magic (pages 97 to 105) didn't see anything new that wasn't already covered in an FAQ or errata - the radius of Nature's Wrath/Wrath of Bruinen was updated to be 3" , Transfix only affects the active abilities on war gear, Blinding Light doesn't affect models that are blocked by impassible terrain, and Might can only be used to boost a wounding roll for a Sorcerous Blast against the target model - collateral hits can't be Mighted.

There were also updates to some of the more intricate interactions of magical powers: Instill Fear can't affect models that have a rule that prevents them from being moved against their will (such as a Mumak). Shroud of Shadows got the text for invisibility that we see on the Ring (see above), Paralyzed models have to take swim tests, and there were clarifications on what happens if a model that is under the effects of Protection of the Valar is in range of an area-of-effect spell (models that have Protection of the Valar are safe, everyone else is affected normally).

The big thing about the magic updates was the clarification (previously seen in a rather contentious FAQ) that only the targeted part of a multi-part model (e.g. cavalry) can resist a magical power. Rules that affect the model (such as Resistant to Magic or Fortify Spirit) affect the whole model, so any part that's targeted will benefit. While previous FAQs specifically called out Black Dart as the driver for picking which model part you were hitting, other spells like Banishment (Gandalf the White, Galadriel Lady of Light, and Tom Bombadil), Chill Soul (Sauron, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur), Drain Courage (lots of models), and Sap Will (slightly fewer models) have the same wording now and will prompt the same rules. Similarly, regrowth spells like Blessing of the Valar, Renew, and Strengthen Will use the same wording, so you can't heal Dain and his war boar in the same cast (doubt anyone thought to try that, but there you go).

Updates to Special Rules and Advanced Rules

There were three updates to the special rules section on pages 108-109 - none of which were new (and most of them related to Fly). Mighty Hero can be used even if you're out of Might, flying models that are moved by enemy models will use their Fly movement value of 12" instead of whatever their listed "hopping" movement value (makes sense), but also if a flying model lands on a piece of elevated terrain (such as a building or walkway) and a model walking beneath it is within 1" of the flying model's base, the models will be engaged (and a flying model can charge this way). I had completely forgotten about this rule . . . maybe it's because I'm new to running fliers and don't field a lot of overhead walkways . . .

Additionally, there was a clarification about what happens to light objects in the advanced rules section (p. 114): light objects are dropped to the ground if killed by a non-engaged model (e.g. with shooting or magical powers) and are taken by an engaged model if killed in combat. All of this makes sense.

Updates to Siege Weapons

Nothing new here - a lot of changes were made, mostly to demolition teams. Howdahs count as being in the way for the war beast if they are targeted by a volley fire siege weapon (p. 118) and siege captains can only take siege crew instead of other units (forgot there was an FAQ about that . . . seemed pretty fundamental to me).

With regard to demolition teams (pp. 122-123), charges are placed in base contact with the carriers and cannot overlap the bases of any models (friend or foe). Demo charges have to be in range of at least two enemy battlefield targets or one enemy siege target in order to be detonated (no blowing up just your own guys), and Fate points are used against individual wounds caused by the demolition charge (not one-Fate-blocks-all).

Updates to Alliances

There were predictable updates to how alliances work on pages 137-138, which included an extra paragraph about needing a Hero of Fortitude/Valour/Legend if you have a historical alliance and a Hero of Valour/Legend if you have a convenient/impossible alliance. There was also a wall of text for impossible alliances (all expected), which included things like banners affecting only their contingent, independent break points for each contingent to determine if they start fleeing (and for coughing up VPs for being broken), and that the whole army will start taking break tests after half of the models across the entire force are killed.

NEW: There is one thing that I think is new though - end conditions for scenarios trigger after the alliance-wide break happens. So if you have a scenario that might randomly end when one force is broken (roughly 1/3 of the scenarios are this way), you don't start testing when one of the contingents breaks - it's when the whole force is broken. For example, if you took two rather large allied contingents (let's say a 40-model Sharkey's Rogues contingent and a 40-model Goblin-town contingent), you wouldn't start checking to see if the game ends when one of those forces lost 21 models - you'd check when you lost 41 models across the army. In this case, when you make the test is probably a distinction without a difference - if you've lost 21 Ruffians, chances are good, you've also lost 10+ Goblins, so after one more round (especially if some Ruffians flee), you're probably actually broken. Where this makes a big difference, however, is if you one-model-drop Grimbeorn into an army and he dies - his force would be broken and you might be a long way from being broken as a force.

Updates to Scenarios

The Matched Play updates were pretty slim (on pages 142-143) but are good points of clarification: if your force would be broken at the start of the next turn (since break tests are determined at the start of a round, not the end of a round) and the game times out, you'll still count as being broken for the purpose of Victory Points. Additionally, if one force is wiped out the surviving player gets the win but VPs are tallied as normal (not sure this is always used in tournament play). 

We also got a set of sample scenarios, not the full 18 (which is probably good, since it doesn't make the Matched Play Guide less valuable). I know there was a lot of gripe about this, but honestly the six scenarios that they chose to include (one from each scenario pool) are some of the best in SBG:

• Maelstrom: they gave us Hold Ground (have more guys in the center), which is simpler for newer players than Command the Battlefield (have more guys in quadrants that are not the center) or Heirlooms (which is a rather contentious scenario);
• Control: they gave us Domination, which doesn't force the orthogonal objective deployment and weights all the objective markers the same (though I like Breakthrough the most);
• Objects: they gave us Destroy the Supplies, which requires more strategy than Retrieval (and is easier to play within time constraints) and isn't Seize the Prize (which can get one-sided really quickly);
• Army Slaying: they gave us To The Death, which is less record-keeping than Lords of Battle (which I like better) and isn't Contest of Champions (something a lot of players think is pre-determined once you know your match up);
• Traveling: they gave us Reconnoitre, which is probably the only critiquable scenario choice - this can be difficult for some armies to play and Divide and Conquer would probably have been a better choice for newer players, but Reconnoitre is definitely better than Storm the Camp; and
• Hero Slaying: Fog of War is a classic scenario and everyone loves it - and given how shooting-heavy lists can make Clash by Moonlight unfun, I can see why Clash wasn't chosen. I would have also been okay with Assassination, but that one can put some armies in a really difficult spot (ever had to play Assassination against a one-warband Barad-Dur list? I have . . . and I won . . . but it wasn't fun for anyone . . .).

Conclusion

Well, that's it - and apologies for the post reverting and not being finished on-time (versioning at its best - I swear I finished this before it was scheduled to go up). I hope the rules updates aren't anything ground-breaking - if there were things that surprised you, let us know in the comments! Until next time, happy hobbying!