Back to Basics: Magical Powers in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

I am a HUGE fan of the magical powers that are in MESBG and (generally speaking) how the system of casting and resisting spells (as well as channelling them) works. The rules for casting and resisting hasn't changed much since I got started and the only additions that were made (Heroic Channelling and restoring Will points on resist tests that get a natural 6) have been good - though perhaps not always implemented the way I would have done it. The purpose of today's article isn't to go in-depth into every spell - we've actually already done that in a previous series - but rather to explain how casting works, things to think about for different caster types, and how to pick the right targets for your spells. Furthermore, you should be aware that I'll be using the term "spell" and "magical power" interchangeably in this post (and have already done so in this paragraph). Let's dig in!

How It Works: Casting and Resisting Magical Power in MESBG

If you want a slimmed down version of this, you can check out my post from 2019 on the Top 5 Ways to Waste Might Points - the third topic covers the basics of casting. That article was specifically focused on whether channelling certain spells (some heroes have the ability to declare a "Heroic Channelling" with a Might point in the Move phase - if they do, the spell/spells they cast that round have a "stronger effect" than normal), while this article will be focused on the nuts and bolts of casting spells, regardless of whether they're channelled.

In order to cast a spell, a model with at least one magical power has to be unengaged in order to cast one of its magical powers (though the Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion gives its members the ability to cast some of their spells while engaged). This means that if you can charge an enemy caster before they get to cast, you can prevent them (most of the time) from being able to cast a spell. Perfect!

As you probably noticed in the statements above, each model with at least one magical power can only cast one magical power each round (though Saruman in the Vanquishers Legion and the Necromancer of Dol Guldur in the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion have rules that allow them to do a little more). Since many casters have access to more than one spell, they have to be selective and intentional with which spell they're using this round. It's often a good idea to figure out BEFORE you play a game what spells you intend to use and in what situations you intend to use them. For casters like Moria Goblin Shamans, this may be decided pretty easily (I'm casting Fury with two dice and then I'm done), while casters like Ringwraiths and Wizards might require an entire chart to figure out what spell you're going to cast. Experience and practice helps with this a lot.

Models are able to cast at any point in their move and don't have to reduce their speed to cast magical powers (like most bowmen have to do if they want to move and shoot). This means models can move a little, cast, and move back to safety if they want - or they can cast before they move and charge/retreat, or even complete their move and cast from their final position. Be careful though: a model needs to be unengaged to cast, so if you intend to charge, you need to cast while you're at least 1mm away from your target (though it's best if you do it from outside the control zone of the model you intend to charge).

If you have a model that's eligible to cast a magical power and know which magical power you wish to cast, you need to choose your target. The target might be either a friendly model (including the caster) or an enemy model, so you'll want to check the casting radius of the spell to make sure you pick a legitimate target. Most spells have a 6-12" range and in most cases, the casting radius for one spell on one character will be the same casting radius for the spell on other characters (e.g. most models with Immobilize or Transfix have a 12" radius for casting it).

Once you've identified the caster, the spell being cast, and the target, you need to form your casting pool. To cast a spell, your caster must spend 1 Will point for each die they wish to roll. Each spell has a casting difficulty (varying from a 2+ to a 6+) and your goal is to have your highest value die equal or beat the specified casting difficulty. While spells that are cast on a 2+ or a 3+ are easier to get off, they also tend to be "less powerful" than spells that are cast on a 4+ or a 5+. This doesn't make them bad - or even worse - than those other spells, but you should manage your expectations for what they do.

It's important to note that you have to form your casting pool BEFORE you roll any dice - you can't "buy a die" and roll it, see if it worked, then buy another one and roll it, and so on and so forth until "it works" or "you give up." The caster needs to settle on how many dice to roll, pay the necessary Will points, and then roll them all. At the end of the article, I'll go through my general thoughts on determining how many Will points to throw at different spells - there are a few things to think about with this.

Once the dice are cast, you can compare the highest value die to the casting difficulty and perform any modifications to the roll that your caster has access to. For some casters, they may be able to reroll a die - and all casters who still have Might points in their stores can pay Might points to boost the highest roll. For some casters, special rules might allow you to regain Will points based on whether you had at least one natural 6 - there are currently only two profiles that do this, but this is the part where you'll want to do what those rules say. If you don't meet the casting difficulty, the cast fails and all of the Will (and possibly Might) spent on the cast are lost. 

If you meet or beat the casting difficulty, the spell is successfully cast and if it targeted a friendly model, its effects are implemented immediately. One of the great things about casting on a friendly model is that any Might you spend to boost the highest die roll are going to result in the spell working - there's no opposed roll to stop the spell. If you've played Warhammer Fantasy, you know that magical powers in that came could be resisted, even if they were augmenting friendly models - not so in MESBG. If you target a friendly model, the spell won't be resisted.

If the spell is successfully cast and it targeted an enemy model, the opposing player can attempt a resist roll by spending Will points on the target model (or one of the models being affected by an area spell) or by using Will points provided by special rules. If there are no Will points that can be spent, then the spell cannot be resisted. Like casting a spell, the target forms a Will pool for resisting, spending 1 Will point for each die they wish to roll. Once the pool is formed (and not before), the dice are rolled and the target can use Might to modify the roll (performing any rerolls before Might is used).

If the enemy model can tie or beat the highest roll of the caster, the spell is resisted and no further effect occurs. Furthermore, if any dice that were added to the resist pool came from the Will store of the target and result in a natural 6, the Will point spent for that resist roll is returned to the target's store. If the targeted model has a mix of Will that comes from their Will store and special rules, dice of different colors should be used so that it's clear what dice can result in Will points going back and which dice were "free" from special rules.

If the spell isn't resisted, it is successfully cast and its effects are resolved. This may involve moving models, knocking models prone, dealing damage, or just placing a token near the model to show that some effect is present. It's best to talk through with your opponent what's going to happen before any models are moved or picked up - this is particularly true if there's a Sorcerous Blast, Tremor, or other kind of line-drawing kind of spell, since the actual positioning of models is important for how those spells play out.

With this understanding of how casting and resisting magical powers works, let's take a quick tangent to cover the different kinds of casters that you'll find in MESBG.

Types of Casters

I made a four-part taxonomy back in 2019 for the kinds of casters that are in MESBG - and like so many other articles I'm mentioning in this article, those articles have held up surprisingly well. The first category is the smallest category: Combat Mages. There are a few magical powers that are on models that have really good offensive profiles - these heroes are Celeborn, Elrond, Thranduil with the Cirlcet of Kings, Gildor Inglorion, and the Mouth of Sauron. The distinctives of this crew is that they have good combat profiles (2+ Attacks, more than half have access to mounts/Heroic Strike for added damage, and F5-7) and usually limited Will stores (Elrond can get a free Will point each turn if he's near Lindir and Thranduil can cast his two spells once per game each, but doesn't use Will points to do it). These are heroes who are bringing magical powers to augment their damage or make their nearby friends better - they're not dedicated casters.

By contrast, there are also Unlimited Mages, who get a free Will point each turn or can regrow their Will points. These include wizards, Elves like Galadriel and Cirdan, Sauron (both forms), Dragons with Wyrmtongue/Smaug, and Kardush the Firecaller. These heroes CAN cast a spell each turn all game long if they want to (though Smaug may need to choose between casting and breathing fire eventually). While most of these heroes don't have great combat profiles (the Dragons and Sauron excepted), their utility is going to be the way they employ magic to mess with the enemy's troops. If a hero like Galadriel keeps a big hero or monster from doing anything with an Immobilize each round, she's probably doing enough to give her team the win.

The third category of casters are the Auxiliary Mages, who are a balance between the two previous categories: they have spells that help their teammates or penalize enemy models, but they do so with a limited Will store. Like the Combat Mages, their casting is on a timer, but unlike the Combat Mages, these heroes only have 1 Attack, so their not great in combat. That said, some of them can boost their offense a bit with mounts (like Arwen) or have spells that are nasty enough that they're forgiven their weaker combat profile (like Blackshield Shamans and Barrow-Wights). They're not as flashy as Unlimited Mages, but they're also a lot cheaper than most of those guys, so it all works out in the end.

The final category of casters are the Multi-Purpose Will Casters, who have a massive pile of Will points (usually), but also have to spend their Will points for more than just casting (or resisting) magical powers. These models include all Ringwraiths, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry. Since these models need to use their Will points to cast/resist magical powers (most of these models have more than one spell at their disposal), participate in combats, stay alive, and sometimes trigger unique special rules, these are casters who LOOK like they can cast for the entire game, but they usually have 4-6 Will points for actually casting spells. While you could certainly make some of them cast for longer than that, it's best to assume that you'll only be casting for half the game.

If you want to dig deeper into any of these, check out the articles linked in each paragraph. We'll be looking at the Multi-Purpose guys a little deeper a little later, but let's move on to the different kinds of magical powers that you'll find in MESBG.

Magical Power Categories

If you want all the categories, I'd recommend you check out our "Mastering Magic" series that we did back in 2020 - only a handful of models have been released that have changed that series (as of this writing) and my thoughts in those articles still rings true today. If we had to group magical powers together into categories, these are what they'd be:

• Moving magical powers (Sorcerous Blast, Call Winds, Instill Fear)
  
• Rooting magical powers (Immobilize/Transfix, Command/Compel)
• Stat restoration magical powers (Blessing of the Valar, Renew, Strengthen Will, Refreshing Song)
• Stat reduction magical powers (Curse, Drain Courage, Sap Will, Wither)
• Area of effect magical powers (Collapse Rocks, Nature's Wrath, Panic Steed, Tremor, Wrath of Bruinen)
• Direct damage magical powers (Banishment, Black Dart, Chill Soul, Flameburst, Paralyze - in a way, this could fall under Rooting if you don't have someone swooping in for the kill)
• Auric augment magical powers (Aura of Command, Aura of Dismay, Blinding Light, Fury)
  
• Targeted augment magical powers (Terrifying Aura, Bladewrath, Enchanted Blades, Enrage Beast)
• Anti-magical-power magical powers (Fortify Spirit, Blessing of the Valar, Shroud of Shadows)
• Item Destruction magical powers (Your Staff is Broken, Shatter)

That's all 36-38 magical powers grouped into 10 categories - here's what you need to know about them. I've organized the categories into push-pull contrasts - some magical powers move their targets, while others force them to stay where they are. Some magical powers restore previously lost resources/stats, while others drain heroic resources or reduce stats. Some magical powers do damage (or cause some ill effect) in an area, while others will only harm a single target. Some magical powers provide benefits to one friendly model, while others benefit the target and those around the target. 

Finally, we have two odd piles of magical powers - those that help your models fight back against hostile magical powers and those that break things that your opponent brought to the fight. While all magical powers allow you to fight asymmetrically against your opponent, these last two categories are the most asymmetric of the bunch.

None of these categories are "good", "bad", or even "better" - they can all be incredibly useful to your army, depending on what you want it to do. If you want to do rooting instead of moving or directed damage instead of area damage, then a Ringwraith might be a good choice for you. If what you really want is directed damage, then someone like Kardush is probably worth investigating. If you prize stat restoration and auric buffs, give Radagast a try. If you read our previous series, you'll get a good feel for how the heroes that are in the game stack up against each other by type (though my post topics didn't follow this taxonomy to a tee).

Okay, let's dig into some tips for casting and resisting magical powers . . .

Top Tips for Casting and Resisting Magical Powers

If you read the posts in my Mastering Magic series that I did back in 2020, you'll be familiar with my "70%/50%" rule, which basically goes like this: if you're casting a spell against an enemy model, you want to use enough dice to have at least a 70% chance of success. If you're casting a spell against a friendly model, you want to use enough dice to have at least a 50% chance of success. While the posts within that series break it down by spell and by caster, some examples of this include:

• If Gandalf the Grey wants to cast Sorcerous Blast (5+ casting difficulty) against an enemy, he should use 3 Will points (probably one of those is the free Will point he gets from his Staff of Power), since this will give him a slightly better than 70% chance of getting the required roll.
• If Galadriel wants to cast Blessing of the Valar on Celeborn (3+ casting difficulty), she should use 1 Will point (probably free from her Lady of Lothlorien special rule), since this will give her a 67% chance of getting the required roll.
• If the Witch-King with the Crown of Morgul wants to cast Compel (4+ casting difficulty) against an enemy model, he should use 1 Will point (because with the reroll he gets from the Crown of Morgul, that Will point has a 75% chance of getting the required roll).

The values of 70% and 50% are arbitrary, but since this is a dice game, you can't have a 100% chance of succeeding each time, so we need to make reasonable benchmarks that we want to hit depending on whether the spell might be resisted (targeting enemy models) or not (targeting friendly models).

Models also have limited Will points and the importance of getting the spell to actually work (vs. failing) is a balance you always have to weigh, so I use a 70%/50% system. You're more than welcome to figure out a different tolerance level for yourself, but if you're looking for something to start with, I'll recommend this one.

After you know how many dice you need to meet your threshhold, you'll want to add one extra Will point if you declared a Heroic Channelling this round or if the spell MUST get off on a high number. While Galadriel can cast Blinding Light on a 2+ (which would only require 1 die to be higher than our 50% threshhold for casting on a friendly model), the fact that we ALSO need to spend a Might point to channel it means that if we get a 1 on our single-die cast, we'll be out two Might points to have the spell channelled. By throwing a second Will point, we reduce the likelihood of having to spend a Might to boost the spell from 17% to 2.5% . . . that seems worth a single Will point to me.

Alternatively, if you have a Barrow-Wight that is trying to Paralyze an enemy army leader before he racks up a bunch of kills in Contest of Champions, you "should" only need two dice to get the 4+ that you require for Paralyze to work, but if he's got 3+ Will in his store and you only get a 4-high, there's a very good chance that he'll be able to throw 2 Will points and stop it himself. By throwing 3 Will points, you have a 70% chance of getting a 5- or 6-high, which will probably force out 3-4 Will points, making your next cast more likely to be unresisted. While you might always get lucky and get off a 1-die cast on a natural 6, he might also get lucky and get a natural 6 on a 1-die resist - luck aside, the best way to make sure a spell actually has the impact you want in the moment you're casting it is to throw more dice at the problem. Since Will is a limited resource, I recommend adding one more Will point.

Speaking of Will being a limited resource, here's a tip for using Multi-Purpose Will Casters: split your Will points up into buckets so you know how much Will you have to perform different actions. If you don't make separate buckets for your Will, you're likely to fall prey to the assumption that you have a lot of Will. You don't - you  just don't. If you have a Witch-King with 15 Will points (usually my max for him unless I literally can't put anything else in the list), you probably want your buckets to look like this:

• 1 Will: staying alive
• 6 Will: participating in 6 rounds of combat
• 8 Will: casting spells in 6-8 rounds

These bins tell us that if we only do single-die casts with the Witch-King, we can probably cast a few times before we engage and then each turn that we engage. We'll only be able to fight for 6 rounds, so we'll want to think about where we want to be - and where we want to head to if the game goes longer than that. In most situations (read, not in a Barad-Dur list), the Witch-King will have to be our army leader, so a dead Witch-King means VPs for our opponent in all but one scenario. If we burn 8 Will casting spells and 6 Will fighting, we'll be sitting on 1 Will point and a single charging model will kill us off. Yikes . . .

Additionally, if you throw 2 Will points (with a reroll from the Crown of Morgul) at a Black Dart, you've shrunk your available turns of casting - and if you do that several more times, you may have to reallocate Will from the fighting bin to the casting bin to keep enemy heroes from getting to you (or to cripple them before you slam into them). If you're careless with your Will early, you will pay for it later.

The final tips I have cover when to channel magical powers and when not to channel magical powers. If you want the run-down of which ones to channel all the time, some of the time, or none of the time, I'll refer you to a post I did back in 2019 (which is, amazingly, still relevant today). Here's the TL;DR summary of that article: the spells you should always channel are the ones that get game-altering benefits by doing so, specifically Blinding Light (since it goes from an archery-mitigator for the current turn to an archery-mitigator until your Will store runs out), Drain Courage against C5+ targets, and Wither on S4+ targets. The latter two are debatable (and actually fall in my category of spells NOT to channel when I talked about wasting Might points back in 2019 - another article that has aged pretty well, I feel), but the threat of going from C5 to C2 or S4 to S1 is enough of a risk that heroes with limited Will might choose to resist the spell JUST so they can act normally later in the game. Most of the models with Drain Courage also have Harbinger of Evil or Ancient Evil, so a reduction from C5 to C2 is really a reduction from C4 to C1 . . . our goal with the channel has far less to do with ACTUALLY reducing the Courage (or Strength) of our target, but rather forcing the use of Will points (and sometimes Might points) to resist THIS spell instead of a nastier spell later.

This brings us to our next rule: there are some spells that are situationally good to channel, but in general, channelling these is the exception, not the rule. Channelling spells like Banishment or Bladewrath can be very powerful (if Banishment does 3 Wounds to a Ringwraith, almost ALL of them will be dead by default - and the Witch-King will need to pass all three Fate points to not die), but since channelling a spell costs you a Might point, you can't do this every turn. As such, you want to think about what the channelled benefits are of a spell - and whether you can live with just the normal effects of the spell (a single wound with Banishment can be just as good as 1-3 wounds if you're targeting a Ringwraith with limited Fate OR if they've burned all their Might points).

Finally, there are some spells that you should never channel because the extra boosts they provide are just not that valuable. Spells like Aura of Dismay and Enchanted Blades got grouped into this category in my article (though I've since made an exception for channelling Aura of Dismay with Radagast if you know your army is going to be really spread out, and channelling Enchanted Blades with Celeborn in very, VERY select situations). You also can't channel Paralyze or Refreshing Song at the moment, which is good because their channelled versions are a bit busted.

Conclusion

And that's magic in MESBG. I really enjoy the magic system, though I do wish that both casting and resisting rolls got Will points back on natural 6s (I know that Stormcallers can get all their Will back if they get at least one natural 6 and that Brorgir gets 1 Will back if he gets at least one natural 6, but I want that on everyone). I also think that declaring a Heroic Channelling should give you +1 to your casting attempt (max of 6) so that channelling a spell makes it easier to cast (like you spent a Might point to boost your attempt) and harder to resist (though still not impossible), but whatever. It would also be nice if spells that go from a +1 to a +D3 when channelled (or something like it) become a +D3+1 so you knew you'd be getting a bigger benefit than if you just cast it normally. Now you know something I'd do if I were king for a day. :-)

Still, the system requires you to make interesting choices, regardless of how much Will you start with (though it's definitely influenced by how much you have) and despite having played this game a ton, there's always more to learn about how to use different spells and how many dice to throw at them.

Next time, we're digging into one last "back to basics" topic (for now): heroic actions. These are the things that make heroes awesome (and we've already covered some of them in brief in our posts on how to play the game), but we'll be synthesizing a LOT of TMAT content on the various common and specialized heroic actions in the game - and when to use them (and when NOT to use them). Hope to see you then, and until that time, happy hobbying!