Good morning gamers,
Do you remember where you were when you first watched The Fellowship of the Ring? Do you remember when you first read The Lord of the Rings? I was a tween when I started reading Fellowship and about seven months later (yes, it took me a while - I'm sure I'm not the only person with that story) to finish it and watch the first film of the trilogy in the summer of 2002. I remember madly reading The Two Towers so I could see it in theatres with my dad and brothers and I remember going to the theatre with them and a bunch of friends on opening night to see The Return of the King on December 17, 2003. It was . . . incredible.
Today we're wrapping up this four-part series on wish-listing for updates to beloved characters in beloved lists that just don't seem like they're quite hitting the mark and we're ending where it all started for me (thanks to the Mines of Moria starter set - and the books and films, of course): the Fellowship of the Ring. This is THE best collection of heroes in Middle-Earth - or at least, it's supposed to be. I mean, they got nine first-round draft picks from all the free people of Middle-Earth and so clearly, the units they chose should be the best . . . obviously.
Okay, so this is a balanced game and there are probably a dozen profiles that could romp all over these guys, but in general, the bones of the list are good - Aragorn is great (especially with Anduril), Legolas is great (especially if he can shoot all day), Gimli is great (especially if something really big doesn't come his way), Boromir is amazing (especially if he can just fight low-Courage models), and Gandalf has a ton of tricks he can employ. But . . .
. . . I can't help but feel like the other half of the roster lets them down a little - and there are elements of the "big five" that could use some tidying up as well. Since this faction more than any other has a high visibility for new players in MESBG, it's good if the profiles here are done right. So, without further ado, let's clean up some profiles! We'll start with an easy one . . .
Profile #1: Aragorn - Strider
Fact: there's not much to change about this profile. Aragorn has all the stats you'd expect from an excellent man-sized model and with a free Might point each turn from Mighty Hero, he's easy for any player to pick up and use. However, there's one glaring issue with this profile: Aragorn - Strider's sword should be a hand-and-a-half sword.
If you need convincing that it should be able to be wielded two-handed, let me commend our House Rules page - you can find all the photos there that will prove my point. What I'd like to focus on here is why this is a necessary change. There are only three arguments I've heard for why Aragorn's sword should stay as a one-handed sword: a) he can take Anduril, so if you want him to do damage, just buy Anduril, b) fighting two-handed without a special rule that avoid the penalty is bad and shouldn't be done, and c) there are so many other things that need fixing in the game, so why bring this up.