Good morning gamers,
On Valentine's Day, we got some love from the GW team in the form of an FAQ drop - the first of the new edition (and really the first in a year)! There weren't a lot of changes, but I thought the clarifications were good and nothing really changed. You can view the updated PDFs here (which have been periodically updated since the drop of the new books - and the Armies of the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings actually had their drops the day before, but without the date change), though I have included the relevant FAQ text for context (but not the errata text - we'll be summing that up instead).
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| Photo Credit: Reddit I submitted a few things - but I was mostly happy with the changes in the actual books, so . . . yeah, I wasn't digging furiously this time through. |
What Didn't Have Changes
There was quite a bit that hasn't changed - most notably that we still don't have a release date for the next supplement (Armies of Middle-Earth) or the Legacies document. Most of the rules sections were unaffected - there were individual profiles that had weapon/stat changes, some profiles/profile options were added to army lists for completeness, and some rules that sentences that were present in past editions have snuck back in for clarity. Most of the errata were "tidying up" changes, not mega changes.
Most of the rules clarifications fall into one of three categories: to what extent does new text for old rules change the way things have always been, how powerful are cavalry (and what are my options in lists that have new cavalry mechanics), and how do objective markers work? Let's start off with the errata and then we'll dive into the FAQs.
I'm going to hit the highlights for the errata - if you're an Army of Edoras player, Haleth can take throwing spears in the Army of Edoras, Frealaf can't take a bow, and you can take Rohan Royal Guards with horses and throwing spears (that pairing was originally missing). We still don't have a Frealaf model yet, but if you're converting one from a Rider of Rohan like I am, you'll need to cut off the bow/quiver.
There was a scare when the new edition dropped that Mirkwood Elves were actually Strength 4 - I think the errata for this dropped within a week of the book's release, but Mirkwood Elves are actually Strength 3. You know, like all other Elf Warriors. Yes, a good change. Also, Elrond doesn't get a price drop in the White Council list . . . probably a good change for consistency, though it's unclear to me how much of a meta-shaping issue that was. Whatever.
Radagast's Nature Wrath spell now has a 3" range, which once again brings it into parity with Wrath of Bruinen as a limited-range splash spell, but is still a ridiculous area size if you use it while on the sleigh. If you've taken Burglar Baggins in either of the lists he's available in, he doesn't get a second Attack while carrying an objective anymore . . . which is irrelevant for the current set of scenarios, but is likely to matter once we get the full set of 24 scenarios.
There were some army list clarifications - Uruk-Hai Drummers can be taken in the Muster of Isengard list (which I really like - though I don't know how necessary Drummers are since you get free Heroic Marches with your Captains on the first turn?) and Cirith Ungol has the Orcs-lead-Orcs, Uruks-lead-Uruks thing that they used to have (that was probably supposed to be the omitted bullet point on their army list page). The latter was provided basically on day one, but it's nice to see the Uruk-Hai Drummer thing added as well.
Some profiles got clarifications as well - Bolg's Warg being on a 40mm base was clarified mostly with the announcement of a new sculpt (totally rad), though the mention that your TO can allow the old base size was . . . a bit surprising to me, as I doubt Cave Trolls/Buhrdur are getting the same treatment (or the Watcher?). Seems like a bit of an oversight in the Watcher's case, but whatever. Also, Goblin Captains for Goblin-town are Heroes, not Warriors (who woulda thunk?).
Other changes include that Mounts with the Hero keyword can't declare heroic actions, which affects a very small set of mounts, but it's good to have that clarified, as a Heroic Combat or Heroic Move from one could be incredibly useful. Additionally, War Beasts are unaffected by special rules that prevent them from Activating, moving them their full Move, or attempting to move them out of sequence (which is the way things used to be).
Finally, there was clarification that you can only have one spear-supporting model at a time . . . which is consistent with the entire life of the game. It's good to have that officially fleshed out, I guess . . . play as normal.
Most of the FAQs fall into the category of "yeah, that's how I assumed that worked," but they're also good to have spelled out. If you've played for a long time and understand the intricacies of warband creation when multiple heroes are involved or how certain special rules have worked in the past, some of this may be review. Still, for both new player and veterans alike, it's good to see these questions provided and answered definitively. We'll start with Legolas, who picked up a ton of new text for "Deadly Shot," which includes the ability to not suffer the scoot-and-shoot penalty while on foot. The rest of the text didn't explicitly say that the Infantry keyword was required for the rest of it and it was clarified that the rest of the text (like shooting while Engaged) are not limited to being infantry:
Q: In Legolas’ ‘Deadly Shot’ special rule, does the ‘so long as he has the Infantry keyword’ caveat apply only to the ‘not suffering the -1 penalty To Hit for Moving and Shooting’ part of the rule, or also to the ‘being allowed to make shooting attacks whilst Engaged in Combat’ part of the rule? (p.14)A: This caveat only applies to the not suffering the -1 penalty To Hit for Moving and Shooting. Legolas may still make shooting attacks whilst Engaged in Combat if he is mounted.
The Crown of Morgul has undergone some changes and it prevents units from benefitting from "special rules that would allow them to automatically pass Courage Tests, with the exception of Heroic Resolve." Someone (or several someones) asked a very good question about whether this prevented models from benefitting from a Stand Fast - but since a Stand Fast isn't a special rule (strictly speaking), Stand Fasts are not prevented by the Crown:
Q: Does the Crown of Morgul prevent a model benefitting from the Stand Fast of a friendly Hero? (p.141)A: No.
There was a question asked about how the Unholy Resurrection special rule works, since it involves dead models coming back. It has been clarified that like in previous editions, any Might, Will, and Fate spent before the Nazgul's death will remain spent when they come back:
Q: If a Nazgûl of Dol Guldur is resurrected via their ‘Unholy Resurrection’ special rule, do any Might, Will and Fate Points that were spent remain spent? (p.130)A: Yes.
There are several models who have "compulsory charge" rules and the question was asked if they can choose not to move - it was clarified that they cannot voluntarily choose not to move (though if they're benefitting from a Heroic March, you can still prevent them from charging as that procs before the "start of move" part of their activation):
Q: If a model has a special rule that states it must Charge when it Moves if able, can it choose not to Move and therefore not to Change? (p.28)A: No. The model will still follow all the steps of the Activation Phase, the second of which is Start of Move. If at this stage the model could Charge, it must do so.
There are certain situations where a model might have to take multiple Courage tests for different things (most commonly to test for Courage after the army breaks and then if they pass that Courage test to charge a terrifying model). It was clarified that the new Fearful rule will require you to test for the Fearful rule first, THEN test for Terror if you want to charge a terrifying model (and this would actually be three tests if you were also broken):
Q: If a model with the ‘Fearful’ special rule wishes to Charge a model with the ‘Terror’ special rule, how many Courage Tests does it need to take? (p.124 & 130)A: Two, one for each special rule that requires a Courage Test.
Finally, we have a rule that I had no idea was in the book - apparently, Monster models get a free Strike against supporting models (that's new to this edition - must have passed over that in the rulebook). If you're supported by two pikes (one supporting the other), you get a free Strike on each of them:
Q: If a model fighting a Monster is being Supported by a model with a pike, who is then themselves being Supported by another model with a pike, and the Monster slays the model it is in Combat with, does the Monster get to make its free Strike on each of the pikes that were Supporting? (p.89)A: Yes.
List Building Works Like We Thought
There's a new dynamic appearing in several profiles/army lists where passengers, who were previously only available as an advanced rule and scenario play, are entering matched play more. In the previous edition, you could have Merry as a passenger with Eowyn in the Dernhelm profile and Merry/Pippin were like passengers with Treebeard, but now there are other ways you can get passengers into lists. If you're running the Road to Helm's Deep list, Gimli can be taken as a passenger with Legolas, and like other situations where multiple heroes appear together, they can't each lead a warband:
Q: In the Road to Helm’s Deep Army List, if Gimli is taken as a Passenger on Legolas’ horse can he also lead a Warband? (p.93)A: No.
There was a slight oversight in the LONG list of rules for the Realms of men army list - the list requires you to take at least one King of Men (and no more than one from each of the five factions of Men available in that list) and if you do, you can take generic heroes that share the same keyword (so Captains of Minas Tirith if you took a Gondor King of Men, Captains of Dale if you took a Dale King of Men, etc.). Now that heroic tiers are not listed in the unit profiles, it had to be clarified that generic heroes taken with Kings of Men are Fortitude models:
Q: In a Realms of Men Army List, what Heroic Tier are other Hero models included in the Army? (p.134)A: Any Hero models included in the Army, with the exception of Kings of Men, will be classed as Heroes of Fortitude.
We also got a new Eagle Warrior profile (Fledgeling Great Eagles) in this edition, and a question was asked whether or not Gwaihir (who is an Eagle) or Radagast's Eagle mount (who is a Great Eagle) count towards the number of "Great Eagles" in your army when determining how many Fledgelings you can take (you can't take more than the number of Great Eagles you have). The clarification was made that Gwaihir doesn't count (it's a different profile) but Radagast's mount does count (since it uses the same profile):
Q: Do Gwaihir or a Great Eagle Mount for Radagast count towards the number of Great Eagles in your Army when working out how many Fledgeling Great Eagles you can take? (p.109)A: Gwaihir does not count towards the number of Great Eagles as he does not use the Great Eagle profile. If Radagast takes a Great Eagle as a Mount, this will count towards the number of Great Eagles taken.
Finally, Grima Wormtongue used to require that Saruman be in your list in order to be included in Isengard armies - but now, he can be fielded without Saruman. Is that a good deal? Well, not exactly - since he has to start in an enemy warband and begins the game revealed as an enemy . . . so no, don't take Grima without Saruman:
Q: What happens with Gríma Wormtongue’s ‘A Traitor Within’ special rule if he is taken in an Army that does not include Saruman? (p.160)A: If Gríma is taken in an Army that does not include Saruman, then he must be deployed as part of the enemy Army and will begin the game already revealed and is treated as a normal enemy model – just as if Saruman had been slain.
Clarifications on Cavalry
There were a few questions about cavalry interactions that I thought were worth binning on their own. While the Road to Helm's Deep list already had a question about Gimli leading a warband of troops as a passenger, the unique mechanic of that list is the ability for infantry models to "borrow" the horse of a friendly mounted model, which allows you to have your Riders of Rohan or Rohan Royal Guards give horses back to friendly heroes. Hama is one of a few Rohan heroes who can't take a horse and since he's in the Road to Helm's Deep list, the question was asked if you could start the game with Hama taking the mount of a Rider of Rohan . . . and the answer is unfortunately no:
Q: In the Road to Helm’s Deep Army List, can Háma benefit from the ‘Back on your horses’ special rule as he cannot normally have a horse? (p.93)A: No.
I get why the answer is no - because GW never made a mounted Hama model. However, I'm certain someone out there has done a conversion and can't use their model (and he started with a horse at the start of the attack), so honestly I would have allowed a loophole and said, "Yes" but I'm not on the design team. There was also question about what wargear a Warg Rider keeps when it dismounts (since the wargear options for Warg Riders doesn't mirror the wargear options for Orc Warriors). The list is a bit surprising to me in one case:
Q: When a Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider dismounts, what wargear does it get to keep? (p.151 & 171)A: The wargear a Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider is allowed to keep will depend on the wargear they had whilst mounted, as described below:• Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider with shield and throwing spears → Mordor/Isengard Orc Warrior with shield.• Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider with Orc bow → Mordor/ Isengard Orc Warrior with Orc bow.• Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider with shield → Mordor/Isengard Orc Warrior with shield.• Mordor/Isengard Warg Rider with throwing spears → Mordor/ Isengard Orc Warrior with spear.
I get that the Warg Rider with Orc bow, shield, or throwing spears becomes a bow, shield, or spear Orc (though note that the Orc Warrior has a spear, not throwing spears). What I don't understand is why Riders of Rohan with no extra gear can choose to keep their shield or their bow but the Warg Rider with throwing spears and shield can't choose whether to become a spearman or a "sword-and-board". I would have left it up as a choice, but again, I'm not the design team. Heroes, however, are apparently excluded from these sort of rigid restrictions:
Q: If a Hero dismounts for whatever reason, and that Hero has selected multiple pieces of wargear, are they forced to discard chosen wargear if there is no legal model to represent the model on foot in the same manner as a Warrior? (p.69)A: No. Hero models are exempt from this rule.
I honestly don't know what models would qualify for this FAQ - leave a note in the comments if you have ideas - but my guess is that there's no unarmored Theoden infantry model or some such limitation that prompted the question. The final question related to cavalry was whether a model with the Monstrous Charge special rule and the cavalry keyword would get +2 Attacks while charging and the answer is that they are "monstrous mounts" like in past editions - you don't count the charge bonuses twice:
Q: If a Cavalry model with the ‘Monstrous Charge’ special rule Charges into Combat, do they gain +1 Attack or +2? (p.128)A: They will gain +1 Attack; the two special rules do not stack.
Glad that works the way it always has - but also, 4 Attack Fell Beasts would have been epic in the Wraiths on Wings list.
Scenario Questions
Our final questions relate to scenarios - specifically deployment rules and objective markers. Both Bard and Girion can take the Windlance and this changes them from deploying with their warbands normally in "maelstrom" scenarios (currently just Hold Ground) or starting on the board. The question was asked what becomes of their warband if they start on the board - and the answer is that they too start on the board, but have to be within 6" of Bard or Girion and within 6" of the edge of the board:
Q: If Bard or Girion are upgraded to take a Windlance, and also have a Warband, how does the Warband deploy in Scenarios that use the ‘Maelstrom of Battle’ special rule? (p.43 & 53)A: The Siege Engine will be deployed first following the normal rules for deploying a Siege Engine in a Scenario using Maelstrom of Battle. The Warband will then be deployed within 6" of either Bard or Girion; however, every model in the Warband must be wholly within 6" of the edge of the board.
I believe this was a requirement (and is a requirement) for siege crew anyway, so basically the warband uses the same deployment rules as any other siege weapon crew . . . fair enough. With regard to objective markers/special rule markers, we know that these are open ground, but the question was asked if they can be placed under the bases of other models. The answer, to my surprise, is no:
Q: Can Objective Markers, or Markers that are placed as part of a model’s special rule – such as the Vine Marker from the Writhing Vines Magical Power or the Marker placed as part of the ‘Invoke the Bruinen’ special rule in the Rivendell Army List – be placed underneath the bases of other models? (p.157)A: No.
On a practical note, this is probably a good thing - having to lift up models, put a marker down, then put all the models back "where they were" sounds like it would be time-consuming and difficult. However, it also means you can clump up your units (in, I don't know, a Pac-Man formation) to prevent a Bruinen token from being placed . . . or your opponent could use that clump and put the token near the ball to affect a lot of people but not the units he most wants. I don't know what the meta call is there, but apparently you can fight against it by not allowing space for the token to be placed.
A similar question was asked about whether models can end their move overlapping the special rule markers (not objective markers) - and the answer to this is that yes, they can end their move on them:
Q: Objective Markers state that a model cannot finish its Move overlapping them. Is this also true for Markers that are placed as part of a model’s special rule – such as the Vine Markers from the Writhing Vines Magical Power or the Marker placed as part of the ‘Invoke the Bruinen’ special rule in the Rivendell Army List? (p.157)A: No, models may Move over these Markers and end overlapping them, unless otherwise specified. However, as many of these Markers are required to be removed at the end of a specific Phase, players will need to be careful when removing them so that they do not move models overlapping them from their original position.
This makes sense, but I find it a little comical that they have a "be careful" warning for precisely the reason I outlined above. Still, it makes more sense to be able to walk over these tokens than that they become a sort of pillar that reaches to the sky, so that's fine I guess. Also, don't walk on top of your opponent's Bruinen token, yeah? :)
As an added bonus, a week after the arrival of the FAQs, we got a batch of three narrative play scenarios from the Fellowship of the Ring - Weathertop, Balin's Tomb, and Amon Hen. These are probably three of the best scenarios from the old Quest of the Ringbearer supplement and there are some small tweaks that I think are good (the Witch-King has a Might Point at Amon Sul!). We'll look at these in more detail in a later post, but it would appear that other downloads are on their way - and even if these are repackaging old scenarios, the fact that we're getting steadier content is an encouraging thought.
Conclusion
The new edition has officially begun (I feel like without a proper errata released, things haven't officially begun). Yes, we got a few of these on day 1 or day 2 of the new edition, but hey - we got a few much-needed clarifications and things are looking good. We'll see if the new Bolg sculpt is followed by others and frankly we'll see if There and Back Again gets revisited and we get some sculpts for things like Catapult Trolls and Braga that we never got in past editions. Let us know your thoughts on these FAQs and erratas in the comments below or over on Facebook. Until next time, happy hobbying!
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