The New Age Is Begun: The Usurpers of Edoras Army List

Good morning gamers,

This July, we'll be digging into the wild men of Dunland - we've already looked at the Army of the White Hand (which is really mercenary Dunland to Isengard), but this month, we'll be pivoting to Dunland as a primary faction and mostly focusing on the armies from the War of the Rohirrim. These guys are really fun to run and the new sculpts that they have are gorgeous! Let's dig in and see the first of these lists (and one that has been very strong in the international meta): the Usurpers of Edoras.

Editor's Note: this article has been updated for the 2026 July FAQ. I have not updated the lists at the bottom, but you could easily move the banner and war horn to other models if you want to.

The Usurpers of Edoras: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Before the July FAQ, this list only had five hero profiles and three warrior profiles. The good news is that these profiles, generally speaking, are just fine for what we need. We have Freca and Thorne who provide tactical bonuses, we have Targg for some tactical and some combat bonuses (more on him throughout), Hill Tribes Chieftains for Marching your army around, and Wulf for hammering through the enemy.

From a warrior profile perspective, we have fast strategic units with Crebain and we have two very flexible unit options for our grunts with Rohirrim Traitors (max of 12) and Hill Tribesmen. With the changes that have been made this edition to the old Wild Man of Dunland profile, these two unit options give us basically everything we'd want except mounted warriors (and heavy infantry - that was never going to be on the table). The bench was light, until the FAQ provided the option for a Mumaks and up to six Haradrim (all of whom can have bows if you take at least ten melee troops) if you don't have Freca. This means there are slightly more profiles than before, but still not many.

Stupidly Fun Lists, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Recently, we had a "longtime reader" send us the following comment:

I have 2 rather stupid but fun list ideas. This is already a suggestion for a category for you guys ;) "Just dumb fun lists" or so.

Anyway: List 1: All artillery gondor (3 Trebuchet,, 3 avenger bolt throwers, flesh out with whatever.

List 2: All fellbeast mounted nazgul, air superiority fighters. Welcome to the black dart missile age.

I always wanted to run this with allied dol guldur nazguls or castellans if somehow possible, but well.

Alternatively: Troll-only Barad dur squad. I still have to paint my trolls though

I began writing a reply when I decided that the "comments section" of an old post wasn't the right place to do it. This got me thinking as well about what lists would be "stupidly fun" to run - and maybe these thoughts will give you things to think about as well. With that, let's kick off a new series on "stupidly fun" lists to run - and how to make them viable (if not competitive). For the sake of starting somewhere, our lists today will all be 650pts - this should mean that you're probably 100-150pts off of whatever game you're playing, since many events are still run at the 500-800pt level.

The New Age Is Begun: The Rise of the Necromancer Army List

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at the Pits of Dol Guldur army list, which has a pretty limited number of profiles. Today, we're tackling the Rise of the Necromancer army list, which basically took over the Dark Powers of Dol Guldur army roster and added some of the special rules/list building options from the Rise of the Necromancer Legendary Legion. As a fan of the Legion last edition, I viewed this as a direct upgrade - we can take normal troops if we want and we get almost all of the buffs to the Necromancer/others that we had before. Great move, GW, great move.

With a decent glow-up this edition, this list doesn't seem to be catching the eye of too many people, but it's certainly seeing play (at the time of writing this, TTA tells me that there are 288 recorded games with the Rise of the Necromancer army list and it sits at 141 wins, 137 losses, and 10 draws for a 49.0% win-rate - and there were 4 players at the 2026 Adepticon tournament that took it, which puts it at the higher end of the army-lists-used spectrum . . . though it's not as popular as Men of the West, Battle of Fornost, Reclamation of Osgiliath, or Grand Army of the South and as-popular as the Beornings, the Shadows of Angmar, and the Defenders of the Pelennor - good company those lists are). Let's see what all the fuss is on the other side of Dol Guldur, shall we?

The New Age Is Begun: The Pits of Dol Guldur Army List

Good morning gamers,

Ages ago, Centaur, Rythbyrt, and I did a podcast episode where we talked about the Fall of the Necromancer Legendary Legions and that built into a bigger discussion about all-hero lists (and hero-heavy lists) and what makes them good. The episode has aged a bit, but the general consensus we had at the time was that of the four Legendary Legions released in that supplement, the least interesting was the Pits of Dol Guldur.

After the toning down of the Vanquishers of the Necromancer Legendary Legion, the premiere Legion from that book became the Pits of Dol Guldur Legion. Championed by excellent players like Evan Iverson, a free-Heroic-Combat-each-turn from Azog, paired with a you-win-priority-and-no-enemies-can-call-Heroic-Moves rule that superceded rules like the Palantir of Saruman, made the list an incredibly hard-hitting, glass-cannon style list that some players who enjoyed their big smashy heroes paired with small-but-smashy infantry really liked. Today, we're looking at the heir of this Legendary Legion - the Pits of Dol Guldur army list - and seeing how the new version of the list compares to the old . . . and yes, it's both gained some things and lost some things. Let's see how it shapes up in the new edition, shall we?

The Pits of Dol Guldur: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has all of the previous profiles and added a few more (really one more). Like last edition, you have Azog, the Keeper of the Dungeons, and Thrain the Broken as your named heroes and you have Gundabad Orc Captains and Hunter Orc Captains as your generic heroes. While you still have the three previous warrior profiles (Hunter Orcs, Gundabad Orcs, and Fell Wargs), you also have access to both Mirkwood Giant Spiders (good ones) and Mirkwood Hunting Spiders (bad ones), which gives you more strategic options for dealing with enemy heroes. 

The list has a mix of cavalry models (Hunter Orcs on Fell Wargs got broken out into their own profile now), fast infantry beasts, light infantry (who can be archers, but probably shouldn't be in this list), and heavy infantry. The list doesn't look like it has much in it, but you're covering a lot of bases with a limited number of profiles. Let's see what we've been given as army list special rules in order to incentivize taking this list over other Hobbit-era lists . . .

Back to Basics, Revisited: Monsters in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we talked about how cavalry work in MESBG and today, we're turning to an element of MESBG that can absolutely alter the way a game can go: how monsters work. When I first got started in the game, things like "Brutal Power Attacks" weren't a thing - and neither was Heroic Strike (every hero had Move, Shoot, and Combat - and that was it). This meant two things with regard to monsters: first, a Monster was quite likely to have a higher Fight Value than anything he was fighting (or at least a tied Fight Value). Second, the go-to tactic for dealing with them was hoping one poor, unfortunate soul would be brave enough to tie them down for a turn - and if the dice were kind, he'd get a 6 while the monster wouldn't and he'd live to do it all over again on another turn. Or . . . you'd just shoot the guy/tie him down with an Immobilize to make him F1 with 1 Attack. My, those were odd times . . .

While the Hobbit rulebook modified this strategy some (early versions of Brutal Power Attacks were a thing), monsters - especially Warrior monsters - were in a bit of a spot because EVERY hero could call Heroic Strike and win the Fight Value mini-game. When the MESGB rules revamp arrived in late 2017, we got a rebalanced set of Brutal Power Attacks and Heroic Strike was constrained to certain heroes. Heroic Defense was added to others in that edition, which allowed for more diverse options for dealing with monsters.

In the current edition, Heroic Strike got toned down, Brutal Power Attacks changed slightly, and Dominant X was added to monsters. With no less than FOUR things you can do when you win a fight (and for some Hero monsters you can pick from a few more options), a lot of new players (to say nothing of us old vets who have various versions of the old rules sets in our heads) might forget some of the nuances of how these rules work. So what we're going to walk through today is not only how monsters work in MESBG, but how to use them well and how to fight against them if you see them across the table.

The New Age Is Begun: The Battle of Greenfields Army List

 

Photo Courtesy of GamesWorkshop

Hey Reader!

We're back with another shire-centric list!!! This is what I knew you DEFINITELY WANTED!!!

And after looking at orc lists recently, I'm not going to lie: it's so freeing to see cheap, horrible, waistcoated infantry again. Never fails to bring me joy.

Today we're looking at the Battle of Greenfields list: the niche part of Shire history where Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took led the hobbits of the Shire to a victory over Golfimbul and his orcs of the north.

Battle of Greenfields: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list didn't technically exist last edition; you could take Bullroarer as part of a Shire list, and if you did you couldn't take any other named heroes (so all of the hobbit heroes), but it was very common to team in people like Gandalf and Rangers, so there were options.

The New Age Is Begun: The Ravagers of the Shire Army List

Hey Reader!

Today we're discussing a shire-centric list!!! GET HYPED!!! It's the orcs led by Golfimbul to attack the Shire, but still: WE'RE BACK!!!

And after all my complaining about Buhrdur's Horde, good news for you: I'm actually positive on this list. I actually think I like it more, even though it lacks a power hero, but more on that below.

Ravagers of the Shire: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is pretty different from what we had last edition, mostly because we're dealing with two faction tags: Golfimbul and the Hill Trolls have the Angmar keyword, while the captains, shamans, and orcs of various kinds have the Mordor keyword. So just know upfront that there's going to be some juggling of keywords (and it matters for a few rules).

Top 10 Hero Choices for the Realms of Men

All photos courtesy of GamesWorkshop

Hey Reader!

I've been playing around with the Realms of Men list recently (and took them to the TMAT GT this past May, where I finished with 2 Wins, 1 Loss, and 1 Draw), and as part of my experimenting with different iterations of the list, I decided to do a Top 10 post looking at the hero choices, because things are INTERESTING in this list.

There are quite a few heroes available to you (5 Kings, 6 Generic Captains, 2 specialists in the Knight of the White Tower and the Rohan King's Huntsman, and several siege captains), so all of them will make the cut! But how useful they are is another question. Before we start the review, let's look at what we'll be ranking in this assessment.

• To start, you need to take a king to field their relevant captains and warriors, but we are not going to therefore say, "Ah yes: the king is automatically higher ranked because you need him to run the captains." We'll evaluate each individually for their usefulness in the list.
• We will consider what kinds of warriors you get access to by taking a given hero, as unit options are part of why you'd consider taking a king/captain, and whether you should branch out into a second, third, or more factions because of what options will be unlocked.
• We will assume that you are playing at a standard points range (600-800pts), so that there is no assumption of only having 1-2 kings: you can run as many as you want, which means that there are reasons to mix and match factions. So just because one faction may be stronger than another in terms of options, that doesn't automatically move them to the top (or bottom), though it may give a reason for pushing deep into one or the other.
• Kings do have access to Heroic Strike; this will naturally lend them to being taken, and does make them inherently valuable. But Heroic Strike on its own does not necessitate "Top 5 Status."

So with no further ado, let's jump into the list!

The New Age Is Begun: The Buhrdur's Horde Army List

Hey Reader!

Today we're discussing a list that I got excited about when I heard Rise of Angmar was going to include it, and that I really, really want to love because it has one of my favorite heroes in the game in it, and he's the centerpiece of what they do. So before we start the semi-hate-fest that this post is going to be (because man this list is really constrained, and hard to make work, and I say this as someone who has put in the reps with it all edition so far and boy has this been hard), I just want to say upfront:

I like Buhrdur, and I want him to succeed.

So everything I say next should be taken in the spirit of constructive criticism and finding ways to make tasty lemonade, because I really do want to see this army list work! But as it is, it has a lot of limitations, few answers to common problems, and relies on a whole lot of luck to bring in the wins.

Buhrdur's Horde: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

The list of models in this army list hasn't changed from the previous edition: it's representative of the orcs and terrifying creatures common in the Third Age in the forests of Rhudaur and the mountains near Imladris, and is an Angmar army that has no undead in it (which is pretty unique, but also pretty cool). With a mix of orcs, wargs, and trolls, at the very least, you do have access to fast models, which not every army does.

The New Age Is Begun: The Battle of Fornost Army List

Good morning gamers,

Editor's Note: Before we begin the formal post, I just wanted to say that we just passed the 5 million view mark - we're so happy that you guys read our stuff and we'll keep doing what we can to provide accurate information and thoughtful articles about the game we all love!

One of the last games I played in the old edition (not including the practice leading up to our throw-back tournament we did last year) was with the Battle of Fornost. I had to proxy Earnur with Elessar, but golly was the list fun to use. In this edition of the game, the Battle of Fornost remains a powerhouse list, with a very unique flavoring of different factions that is probably only rivaled by the Battle of Five Armies, the Legions of Mordor, or the Defenders of the Pelennor. Of all the Rivendell-style armies, this one has the most warrior diversity by far and also has a really interesting array of heroes. Let's see what this list brings and why it seems to be a good list in the competitive scene.

The Battle of Fornost: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list is composed of three elements: Gondor, Arnor, and Rivendell. The "Arnor" section is incredibly fragmented, but this also makes for some very interesting options for your list building. The Arnor heroes include Aranarth (Valor) and Rangers of the North (Minor or Independent) and all of these guys can lead Hobbit Archers (more on this later in the post).

The Gondor contingent is Earnur (required, Legend) and Captains of Minas Tirith and they can lead Knights of Minas Tirith and Warriors of Minas Tirith (pretty restrictive, but really all you need). The Rivendell contingent includes Glorfindel (required, Legend), Cirdan (Fortitude), and Rivendell Captains (Fortitude) and they can lead Rivendell Warriors. Thirteen total profiles doesn't seem huge (and is less than the total number of heroes available to any of those omnibus lists I mentioned earlier!), but it has an incredible array of models to choose from - heavily-armored men (foot and mounted), heavily-armored Elves (mostly on foot), unarmored Hobbits (on foot, obviously), and hero-warrior Rangers (all on foot).

The Road to the TMAT GT 2026: Tiberius's List

Good morning gamers,

I love the week leading up to an event - lists are in (usually), spreadsheets are being made, rules are being reviewed, and final practice games are being run. It's always a good time - and I love it all. As is usually the case, there's never one list that has taken my attention during the lead up to an event, so I culled the many thoughts to five lists . . . and those are the ones I will be sharing with you today.

Pick #5: The Garrison of Ithilien 

I had a blast with this list - it gets slightly more than 50% shooting thanks to the heroes in it and it has a very healthy model count of 32. I tested several variants of this list, including one that pushed 40 models but didn't have Smeagol and Sam in it. At the end of the day, the biggest limitation on this list is that its only answers to big heroes is its volume of S2 archery and Frodo with the Ring - and I wanted more options:

I still think this list has potential and I really liked the shooting. That did become a bit of the theme of these lists and as a long-time proponent of shooting-heavy lists, perhaps it's not a surprise that I also looked at . . .

The New Age Is Begun: The Rivendell Army List

Good morning gamers,

I got started with Rivendell by accident - I got a bunch of Rivendell heroes for my White Council list . . . and then I was like, "You know, I can ally the White Council into a Rivendell list" . . . and then I was like, "You know, I could use some more Elves to support my Numenoreans", and then I finally said, "What the heck, let's flesh this thing out." Rivendell has always been a solid and popular choice - perhaps because of that awesome sequence at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring where the Rivendell Elves are fighting alongside the Numenoreans in a cool battle sequence. I knew I always wanted this army in my collection and they're in a really interesting place this edition. Let's see both what's cool about these guys, what's competitive about these guys, and how they've changed in this new version of the game!

Rivendell: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has most of the Rivendell models available in the last edition - you have Elrond and Glorfindel as your beater heroes (no Gil-Galad though), you have Rivendell Captains for Heroic March, you have Elladan, Elrohir, and Erestor as your cheaper beaters, and Arwen, Lindir, and Bilbo for support work (no Cirdan). Losing Gil-Galad and Cirdan (and Gildor for a very select few of us) does change the list a lot from the last edition, but these two heroes don't function the way they used to, so that change is to be expected. You still have Rivendell Warriors and Rivendell Knights, but with the loss of Gil-Galad, you also lose access to King's Guard, so you're "stuck" at F5 on the warriors. This is a minor change, but having F6 Elves to support your lines isn't a bad thing.

Army List Bonuses

Last edition, Rivendell had a rule that helped them with their archery if their bowmen were near their Army Leader (now General) and didn't move . . . while the Lindon army list kept that rule, this list traded it for three other rules - all three of which are situationally good. The simplest is the Protection of Imladris rule, which gives all of your models +1 to their Courage Tests. Elves already have good Courage, but no matter how good your Courage is, there's usually a chance that you'll mess things up. Having Courage 4+ across the warriors in this list is great and your top-tier heroes might have a 2+ Courage stat, which is fabulous. Sometimes this rule will matter and sometimes it won't - but it's good to have. 

Similarly situational is the Defensive Stance rule, which is the design team's attempt to represent the "windmill" thing we see at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring - friendly Elf Warrior models get to reroll 1s To Wound if they didn't move in the Move Phase. This is great for players like me who used Feint a lot in the last edition and probably doesn't look like much to others - whatever. When two-handing with your frontline Elves and you're responding to enemy charges, this is a really strong rule and can turn definitely failed rolls to potential successes. Since Might might be limited in your list (see what I did there?), this does "reward" you for stemming an assault, but only if you intend to not defend by shielding. So . . . is this a good rule? It can be, but it isn't always going to be invoked - and I think it's markedly worse than the Last Alliance "wound enemies that charge you on a 6" rule.

The New Age Is Begun: The Lothlorien Army List

Good morning gamers,

I had been playing SBG for about a year before my wife got me an eBay lot of Galadriel, Celeborn, and unarmored Haldir with no bow (that sculpt did not age well). I had been playing with Wood Elf Warriors (not called Lothlorien Warriors) in the Thranduil's Halls list (before the Hobbit films changed that list A LOT) and had Legolas leading a bunch of Elves, all of whom couldn't be shot. I used to ally in Gandalf into the list to keep them alive while crossing the inevitable no-man's-land, until our good mate Zorro told me, "You know you can ally Legolas with Galadriel and run all those Elves for like 40pts less, right?" And I basically never looked back. :)

Today, we're tackling Lothlorien - a list that I think has been good throughout the ages, but has gotten particularly good with the return of its cavalry and super-elite infantry with the release of the Armies of Middle-Earth book. I'm also not the only person who thinks this - Lothlorien doesn't have more profiles than a lot of other lists (and it certainly doesn't have a lot of army list bonuses), but the units it has are good, they're very well costed, and the whole list can play incredibly asymmetrically into big-nasty lists or horde lists. Let's see what's baking in the Golden Wood, shall we?

Lothlorien: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list both does and doesn't have the same profiles from the last edition: you have Galadriel (caster form, not war form), Haldir, Orophin, Rumil, Galadhrim Captains, Lothlorien Captains (nee Wood Elf Captains), and Lothlorien Stormcallers. The list also has Celeborn, but this version of Celeborn is vastly different from his previous version and has to be taken in his pajamas. I converted an armored Celeborn from one of the old metal Haldir's Elves sculpts . . . that guy isn't seeing much use these days. The warriors are all the same, so the only real profile change is the overhaul of the previous Celeborn (who was awesome) and the arrival of the new Celeborn profile (who is also awesome, but for very different reasons).

There is a functional difference in this list, however, when it comes to profiles: in the last edition, you would usually use Lothlorien as part of an allied list, instead of as a mono-list. While there aren't any "bad" profiles in Lothlorien, the list gave you access to a cheap "unlimited" caster in Galadriel, F6 supporting models with Guards of the Galadhrim Court, 10pt D6 front-line guys, and 18-21pt cavalry models - all of which were appealing to lists with limited unit choices, like Numenor (which brought S4 to the mix), Fangorn (which was really profile-constrained), the Misty Mountains (the dreaded "birdbath" list with the eternal Gwaihir model), and the Fellowship (Boromir/Legolas/Aragorn would love to slot in and help out their Elven friends). Not only is allying a thing of the past, but these heroes provided something that Lothlorien definitely no longer has: a fast-moving/hard-hitting Strike hero. Yes, there are some heroes with Heroic Strike in the list, but none of them are toting more than 2 Attacks, one of them is Unarmed with 1 Attack, and their only 3 Attack hero is "stuck" at F6 . . . in that comparison, having a F7+ hero with 3 or more Attacks (Boromir, Aragorn, Gwaihir, Treebeard, Isildur, and Elendil - JUST from the list of profiles above) would be most welcome.

It's a new era, but the bones of the list are still good and so I think the list itself is definitely worth a try. Let's see what our army list bonuses are.

Back to Basics, Revisited: Cavalry in MESBG

Editor's note: sorry to the 182 viewers who saw a blank page - the article was written, but didn't get pasted in on time. :-)

Good morning gamers,

We're back in our Back to Basics series today and we're looking at a part of the game that became much more balanced in the current edition of the game: cavalry!
When you could buy a horse or armored horse for 10-15pts/hero, there was basically no reason NOT to buy it. Now, for basic mounts costing 20-25pts/hero (more for elite cavalry options, like the White Warg) and with the addition of the Sharpshooter keyword on many bow-armed heroes, buying a horse is still usually a good idea, but you might choose to pass on it if you don't think you can keep the mount alive.

While we'll be covering the basics of how cavalry work today, you can find more tactical discussions about how to use cavalry in our Cavalry Charge formations series (which was written for the last edition of the game, but the mechanics haven't changed and the articles are still very much applicable to the current edition of the game).

Moving Your Cavalry

It won't come as any surprise to start off by saying that cavalry move faster than your everyday, run-of-the-mill infantry. Sure, there are things like Wild Wargs that move as fast as a horse can and are TECHNICALLY infantry, but man-sized models (and shorter ones) are going to move 4-8" and cavalry will be faster than that (10-12"). This extra movement usually means that a) they can reach a far-flung objective in a turn or two, b) can get around the enemy flanks to charge vulnerable units, and c) if equipped with ranged weapons, they can usually "kite" away from enemy infantry while still shooting at them (moving at half speed, as we talked about in the Shoot Phase post).

But cavalry are different from infantry when they move - first and foremost because their bases are larger than your standard infantry base. Larger bases are a thing when it comes to moving - gaps between models or between a model and a terrain piece have to be pretty big for a 40mm base to pass through them. These large base sizes also mean that more models can charge into a cavalry model's base (or monster's base or whatever), so cavalry should expect to be charged by more things than usual.

Second, cavalry don't treat difficult terrain the same way infantry do: an infantry model moves at half speed through most kinds of terrain (to include your generic "difficult terrain" in the form of marshes and bogs, "woodland difficult terrain" for woods, "rocky difficult terrain" for rocky ground/outcroppings, and "shallow water difficult terrain"). Cavalry work differently: shallow water is treated by cavalry models (and various other unit types, like war beasts) as open terrain, so they can splash through it without any reduction to their speed. All other kinds of difficult terrain, however, reduce cavalry speed to a quarter unless there's a rule that says otherwise. This means cavalry will move as slow as an infantry model will (and often a little slower), so avoid difficult terrain like the plague with these guys if you can help it. If you play with deep water (where models can drown if they enter it), having a mount gives you a +1 to your swim test roll (though if you have heavy armor and a shield, those will apply -1 penalties to your roll, so best not to risk it). Most players don't bother with deep water in Matched Play, but this is good to know nonetheless.

Some cavalry models have special rules that allow them to ignore the penalties for moving through difficult terrain (the most common is the Woodland Creature rule) - but please note that the mount, not the rider, needs to have the special rule in order to ignore the difficult terrain. If the mount has the rule, then the movement penalties will be ignored. There's more to talk about with regard to difficult terrain, but I'm going to put a pin in the discussion for now - we'll be revisiting this a little later, though, when we get to cavalry in combat.

Cavalry models can also dismount in the game: sometimes having a mount can actually be restriction on you as a model (which could be the result of needing to get into a piece of difficult terrain, getting into a narrow space that your cavalry base can't fit into, digging up an objective, or reducing your base size so you can escape the reach of a big monster/hero). Whatever the reason, a model can choose to dismount if they wish at any point in their move: before you remove the mount, place the infantry model for the rider in base contact with the mount. If the model has already moved more than its infantry movement allowance, then it cannot move further that turn - otherwise, it can keep moving up to its remaining infantry movement (including charging other models). You can't dismount into a combat (so if you intend to charge someone after dismounting, make sure you have the movement left).

Note that a model that chooses to dismount cannot remount his steed during the game with one exception: in the Fangorn army list, Merry and Pippin can be taken as a 10pt upgrade for Treebeard. They begin perched on Treebeard's shoulder/head and can throw rocks at people from above. They can also choose to "dismount" from Treebeard and "remount" if they want to. Treebeard doesn't count as a cavalry model while they're sitting on his head, though, so it's not TECHNICALLY dismounting from a cavalry model - and to be more accurate, Merry and Pippin are "passengers" on Treebeard.

The rules for passengers can be found in the Advanced section of the rules on page 115 of the new rulebook and only apply to a select set of models in normal Matched Play games: Eowyn with Merry, Gandalf with Pippin, Treebeard with Merry and Pippin, Legolas and Gimli, and the Warg Marauder model. Passengers don't often do anything while traveling with a mount and rider, but they can choose to dismount if they wish to (unlike a rider dismounting, the passenger can't move any further that turn - but the cavalry model can - though Gimli has a rule that changes this). These models have special rules that provide you with strong benefits if you don't dismount (unless you're counting how many models can escape a board edge - if so, you want to dismount the passenger so they count as a separate model from the rider). If you shoot at a mounted model with a passenger on it, you make the normal horse-or-rider in-the-way test, but if the rider is hit, you then roll to determine if the rider or the passenger is hit. Should the rider dismount/be killed/otherwise be thrown from the mount, the passenger will take a Thrown Rider test as well.

The final thing we need to talk about with regard to cavalry and the Move phase is charging. Sure, cavalry are fast, but if they didn't attack any better than infantry, their increased cost would make them a luxury most generals wouldn't want to pay for. Cavalry get two excellent bonuses when charging infantry (both of which we talked about in our Fight Phase post): Extra Attack and Knock to the Ground. When a cavalry model charges an infantry model (or more than one infantry model), they get +1 Attack (so a 1 Attack warrior becomes a 2 Attack warrior). If the cavalry model wins the fight and the infantry that were charged are below S6, the infantry are Knocked Prone and the wounding dice of the cavalry model are doubled (2 Attacks becomes two sets of 2 dice). This usually results in at least one dead infantry model!

Sometimes only one of these rules with trigger - when charging a S6+ Infantry model, for example (or any Infantry Monster model), a cavalry model would get the +1 Attack for charging an infantry model, but the Knocked to the Ground rule wouldn't trigger because the model has more than S5. Sometimes, however, neither rule will trigger - and the most common situation for this is if a cavalry model a) charges at least one cavalry model, b) is counter-charged by a cavalry model, or c) moved through/into difficult terrain during its move. When there are cavalry fighting other cavalry or cavalry that have moved through difficult terrain, their extra rules are cancelled and they fight . . . well, they fight pretty much like infantry models. It often pays to have a few cavalry in your army to turn off important cavalry charges from the enemy - and Rythbyrt taught me a formation a few years ago that can help do that.

Okay, that's about all we need to cover on the Move phase - let's move on to shooting!

Shooting At Cavalry

Shooting with cavalry works exactly the same way as with infantry - you can move half or all of your movement based on what weapons you have and you're good to go. Because cavalry are faster than infantry, this usually means you'll move a few inches more than an infantry shooting model will, but you're probably also moving slower than an infantry model at a dead run. Shooting AT cavalry, however, requires one additional roll (most of the time): when cavalry models are the targets of a shooting attack, the shooting model must make a random roll to see if they hit the rider or the mount.

If this sounds like an in-the-way roll, that would make sense - it is an in-the-way roll. It's important to note, however, that because your target is the "model," if you get the required roll to hit the rider and you wanted to hit the horse, you "succeeded" in passing the In The Way and so cannot reroll it to try to hit the horse (just like you wouldn't be able to reroll a different in-the-way roll to see if you hit the target). It's sad, I know - but the new Sharpshooter keyword allows you to not only skip the in-the-way roll, but you get to choose which of the parts of the model (mount or rider) you want to hit - Sharpshooters are very good at picking off horses under big heroes.

Depending on the kind of mount that's being ridden, the difficulty rating for hitting the rider can change: for most mounts, you hit the rider on a 4+ (and the mount on a 1-3). However, if you're up against a Monstrous Mount (like a Fell Beast or a Great Eagle), the rider will only be hit on a 5+.

If the rider is killed, the mount will need to see if it stays on the field. If the mount has an Attack stat of 0 (common on horses, goats, and ponies), then the mount will bolt without its rider and the entire model is removed as a casualty. If the mount has an Attack stat of 1+ (common on Wargs), the mount must pass a Courage test to see if it stays. When counting up how many "casualties" a force has taken, it's important to keep track of how many mounts have been killed/fled after their rider was killed and how many riders have been killed: every dead rider paired with a dead mount will count as 1 casualty, even if they weren't originally paired together.

If the mount dies, the rider will need to take a Thrown Rider test, which we discussed in a recent post: on a 1, something bad happens (the rider is placed Prone and takes one S3 hit - which could kill the rider!), on a 2-5, the rider is placed in base contact with where the mount was located and cannot perform shooting attacks/make strikes in the Fight phase, and on a 6, the rider gracefully recovers, is placed in base contact with where the mount was, and is able to function normally. It's important to note that if the cavalry model was engaged in a fight and got dismounted by an arrow or something, he'd STILL be counted as being engaged in the fight, even if the rider was placed in a spot that was not in base contact with the guys he was fighting.

The final thing we need to talk about are special rules that might help your cavalry: Horse Lord and Expert Rider. The "Expert Rider" rule does a few things for a cavalry model (such as not needing to dismount to pick up a light object - useful in some scenarios - and being able to reroll jump/leap/Thrown Rider tests). With regard to shooting, a model with the Expert Rider rule can gain the +1 Defense from a shield even if they carry a bow (which the Cumbersome rule for shields would normally not allow). If the model dismounts/loses its mount, they now have to choose again between keeping the shield or the bow. Horse Lord changed this edition to not only allow a hero with this rule to spend Fate points to prevent wounds to their mounts, but also grants the mount a free roll to try to block the wound (successful on a natural 6 in most cases). If you have both Horse Lord and Expert Rider, you're unlikely to take damage from a Thrown Rider test - but it does happen and most mounted heroes don't have the pair of rules (or even one of them).

Okay, we're almost done - let's talk about cavalry in combat!

Cavalry in Combat

As has already been mentioned, cavalry get the Extra Attack and Knocked to the Ground bonuses when they charge infantry, but while the most common way to lose these rules is to be charged by an enemy cavalry model (or you charged into one), there are several ways to remove these rules. Because these are Active abilities, you can also turn off the benefits by casting Transfix, which is one of the most common magical powers in the game. Transfix and counter-charging gives the guy receiving the cavalry charge a few options for dealing with cavalry - but only if the enemy cavalry are moving first (we'll get into this more later).

One other thing to keep in mind about cavalry when they fight is they are not allowed to defend by shielding - if your infantry model gets charged by someone scary, he can "defend by shielding" to double the number of dice he rolls in order to skip the "to wound roll" (some heroes can make a single strike after shielding, but as a general rule, no one gets to make strikes when they defend by shielding). Cavalry, however, can't do this - if you charge, you're going for the kill, and if you were charged, you're still going for the kill (but without all the charge bonuses). As such, it might be a good idea to dismount before being charged if you feel like you're in a bad spot.

If you beat a cavalry model in combat, you have the choice to wound either the rider or the mount - declare which one you're targeting before you roll. Often times, the mount will have the same Defense or a lower Defense than its rider - and depending on your Strength value, you may wound the mount more easily than the Rider. As has already been mentioned, killing a mount will count as a full casualty once any rider is killed, so there's some value to killing mounts that have an Attack stat of 1+, but in general, going for the rider is a much better option (as a mount with an Attack stat of 0 will just run away).

Some cavalry models (like Chariots) might have rules that have you pass a roll in order to strike at the rider instead of the mount - this can increase the survivability of the rider quite a bit (since chariots especially have quite a bit more Defense than their riders - usually) and have more than 1 Wound. When making strikes against a model like this, it's best to allocate your wounding dice one at a time (or in pairs if the model is trapped) so that if you kill the mount with the first few rolls, you know you don't need to make the in-the-way roll for the future rolls.

When Are Cavalry Good?

Cavalry are not as overpowered in MESBG this edition, but they can still feel that way sometimes - a big hero with a fast mount can be absolutely devastating and can make it feel like you have no answer to them. Similarly, a horde of cavalry in a big charge can run right over your beautiful infantry ranks and make your chances of winning disappear in a single round (especially if those cavalry are charging a single file of warriors so their dice counts are about the same). While the benefits of a good cavalry charge are clear, are cavalry always worth taking?

For some players, having a few cavalry is good enough - models that can get some extra damage potential in an important spot, run to an objective, or rapidly reinforce a flank are really useful to have, but having a LOT of cavalry can reduce your model count dramatically. For some players, that's okay - having a fast fighting force (I love me some alliteration) is worth running fewer numbers, but cavalry do reduce your model count (and in MANY missions, having more guys on the board can mean an easier time holding objectives or not handing over VPs for being broken).

Cavalry are also really good against infantry - but against cavalry they can really struggle. I did an article on this in our Cavalry Charge formations mini-series, and it bears repeating here: cavalry are great when they're rolling over infantry, but most Warrior Cavalry models are going to struggle if they're up against a D6 cavalry model - especially if they don't have the charge (or are also fighting a few infantry). Some cavarly models have lances or get bonus Fight Value/Strength when they charge and these bonuses won't be ignored if you're fighting enemy cavalry - so they don't mind as much, but they're still rolling one fewer dice, so that it's still worth avoiding if you can.

Cavalry can also struggle against infantry when there's a lot of them - if you're a 1 Attack Warrior Cavalry model and you charge into 2 infantry models, each of which has a spear backing them up (and maybe being in range of a banner), the sheer weight of their dice is going to give them a far greater chance of getting a 5- or a 6-high - and your chances of getting a 5-high or a 6-high are only floating around 56% (or roughly half the time). As a result, cavalry models should be very careful with how greedy they get when charging into infantry shieldwalls (and unless you're a hero with a good Fight Value and some Might to boost a bad roll, you probably don't want to charge headlong into a hedge of infantry).

Cavalry can also be really susceptible to three non-melee elements of the game: archery, magical powers, and the Hurl Brutal Power Attack. The value of archery should be pretty easy to see: if you paid for a mount and the mount gets shot . . . you're back to being a normal infantry guy. You might be alive, but you're not going to be as happy as you would have been if you were galloping through the enemy ranks astride your mighty steed.

Some magical powers will affect cavalry more than infantry - and these include area-of-effect magical powers (like Wrath of Bruinen and Nature's Wrath) or spells that knock models over (like Sorcerous Blast and Tremor). The larger base size of cavalry models not only means that a cavalry model that is near other models is more likely to get clipped by the area of effect range (or be in the path of a flung model/earthquake line), but if the cavalry model is the TARGET of the magical power, the actual area of effect will cover more space because the starting base size is larger. Some magical powers will automatically have a mounted model suffer the Knocked Flying rule, which means you won't be rolling on the Thrown Rider charge to see what happens to you - you're Prone and taking a S3 hit (in addition to anything else you're taking). Others will say you need to test, so there might be some mitigation for those risks.

The final thing we need to talk about is the Hurl Brutal Power Attack. We're going to talk about monsters next time, so I won't divulge everything here, but suffice it to say that like Sorcerous Blast, having a large base on the model that's being thrown means you're strafing a larger area of ground than if you were infantry, having a larger base when you're not the one being thrown means you're more likely to land in the thrown model's path, and you're also going to take some collateral damage for being Knocked Flying that you wouldn't have suffered if you were on foot. Yeah, sometimes it bites to be cavalry.

Conclusion

And that's the "basics" about cavalry. :-) I know that was a lot, but cavalry are a big part of MESBG (as they should be). If you're new to SBG and found this helpful, let us know below! If you've been running cavalry for ages in MESBG and I forgot something, let us know that too! Next time, we turn to another quintessential part of the SBG game: monsters. Yes, these things are a bear to fight (and sometimes they ARE bears who are bears to fight). So what all can they actually do? And how useful are those brutal power attacks, anyway? And how have those brutal power attacks changed in the new edition? Find out next time - until then, happy hobbying!

The New Age Is Begun: The Rangers of Mirkwood

Good morning gamers,

This post officially kicks off Elf month and we're doing so by talking about more Dwarves. :) Yes, we're tackling a really fun list from the last edition that's seen a greatly expanded roster . . . many of which you will probably not be able to throw into your final list unless you're playing at a very, VERY high points level (at which point, I'd like to direct your attention to the Battle of Five Armies army list that we'll look at later this year). Welcome one of the big powerhouses of shooting: the new imagined Rangers of Mirkwood.

Rangers of Mirkwood: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Last edition, this list had five profiles in it: Legolas, Tauriel, Mirkwood Ranger Captains, Mirkwood Rangers, and Wood Elf Sentinels. Four of these profiles (not Wood Elf Sentinels) stayed in the list, but the list picked up fourteen new profiles: Bilbo and the thirteen Dwarves of Thorin's Company (a bit awkward for a band name, but their music is alright). This gives the list some much-needed diversity and introduces another angle that you can lean into in order to expand the list to higher points levels (and honestly, I think some kind of Thorin's Company element is necessary in any list, but more on that later).

The list has two composition rules that bear noting when talking about this make up: Mirkwood Rangers can only be led by Mirkwood heroes (Legolas, Tauriel, and Mirkwood Ranger Captains) and Mirkwood Rangers don't count towards your army's bow limit (which is a much-needed carry-over from last edition). I will note that unlike Thorin's Company and to a much lesser degree the Army of Lake-town, you can't field the Thorin's Company members as part of a single warband, which makes your warband count high (good for some scenarios, bad for others).

Army List Bonuses

Besides the two list building rules that were mentioned above, we have two other general rules: you need to include at least one Unique Elf hero (so, Legolas and/or Tauriel) and if you choose Legolas, he must be your army leader (Tauriel otherwise). Both of these heroes are Heroes of Valour, so you'll get 30 warrior slots (625pts for both heroes with max gear and max warbands) - this seems like a pretty decent collection of models for 625pts, but let me assure you, this is probably all you need for this list. If you choose to take Thorin (more on him in a minute), he will only be a grenade hero . . . something he's very, very good at. The other Dwarves will likely be grenades, which can be helpful too.

The New Age Is Begun: The Army of Lake-town

Good morning gamers,

One of our readers asked when we'd do the Army of Lake-town - and I mentioned that I needed to do Thorin's Company first. This post closes out "Dwarf month" and it features . . . exactly four Dwarves. It also has one Elf and that makes it an interesting bridge into the month of May, which will be Elf month. Yes, we're reviewing the Army of Lake-town today - an army that used to be super powerful in the last edition and now really does need to lean into the non-Lake-town elements of the list (which, if we're honest, was always the strength of the Army of Lake-town last edition - see our Bare Necessities post for more on that, which did cover adding in Gwaihir, but not from the Misty Mountains list so he didn't have to be your army leader).

Army of Lake-town: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has all of the old profiles that you'd expect - the Master of Lake-town, Alfrid, Braga, and Lake-town Guard Captains for your conventional heroes, Lake-town Guard as your only warrior option, and then Alfrid, Bard, and Bard's kids as "the rest of it." This edition, however, we have the guests of Bard's home as well - Tauriel, Kili, Fili, Oin, and Bofur (though notably . . . not Legolas . . . I guess he didn't stay long enough?). These additional heroes are the only way to "ally in" non-Lake-town bodies, which is good because Lake-town has always had fine-not-great profiles that you can buy on a budget to make space for something really strong (and something that's usually better than Bard).

Army List Bonuses

This list has some of the standard rules constraints for mixed-list armies - your Lake-town Guard can only be led by Lake-town Heroes and Bard's Family can be included either in Bard's warband or in Tauriel's warband. Tauriel's warband can also take the Dwarves, which could be useful if you know maelstrom might be a thing.

The Rise of Angmar: What Models Do You Need to Buy?

Good morning gamers,

It's been nearly three years since we were in this series, but we're finally closing out our review of what models you need to play through the scenarios in last edition's supplements. Right before the new edition dropped, The Rise of Angmar was released and boy are there some interesting models in it! Since it's been so long, I thought it might be good to review the costs of the preceding sourcebooks (keeping in mind that both inflation and made-to-order are a thing):

• Gondor At War: $3500
• The Scouring of the Shire: $1100
• War in Rohan: $3700
• Quest of the Ringbearer: $2100-$3200 (depending on whether you want to play just the scenarios from the book, Fantasy Fellowships, or both)
• Fall of the Necromancer: $1100
• Defense of the North: $4951

NOTE: we have quite a bit of Arnor and Angmar Forgeworld models in this supplement, so we should expect things to be pricey. As always, I get no kick-backs from GW for doing this post, and as such, I'll do what I can to save you some cash and then offer ways to save even more money if you're willing to do some conversions or proxying at the end. We will assume that we already have the Battle for Osgiliath starter set, since that was the starter box when the book dropped (and it's actually quite handy for a few things).

Can this supplement pass the nearly $5000 investment of Defense of the North? It's gonna be hard, but let's dig in and find out!

The New Age Is Begun: the Thorin's Company Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our last post of all-Dwarves in "Dwarf month" and we're looking at what is mostly an all-hero list: Thorin's Company. I played this list some last edition (never in a tournament) and I've got to say, it's got a lot of rules to keep track of (even more now), but it's FUN to play! The models work together better now and I kinda feel like our recommendation to fix Thorin's Company was heard by GW - but let's see what this list has to offer and what you have to think about when bringing it to the table.

Thorin's Company: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has the fifteen members of Thorin's Company, as you'd expect. For about $60 (less on eBay), you can get that whole list of models - and now that they can't take ponies (sadness), that's a good 1000-points worth of this list for an insanely small amount of money (relative to what 1000pts requires in most other lists). These units are all infantry and carry the bulk of the rules - and if you choose to just play with these guys, you'll have a jolly time for sure.

That said, the list now includes Radagast the Brown (with access to his sleigh, but it isn't required) and Gwaihir (who can bring Great Eagles, but not Fledgling Eagles). Bringing Gwaihir requires you to also bring Gandalf, which makes the investment kind of hefty - but one could argue that Gwaihir is worth it. Interestingly enough, Radagast has the Thorin's Company faction keyword, so anything that's said below about "Thorin's Company" models can affect him too . . . we'll talk about that a bit in the strategy section below.

Army List Bonuses

This list has a few restrictions in it - but they're not hard to remember. You have to take Thorin and he has to be your General. If you want to take any of the Dwarves, Wizards, or Biblo, they have to be in Thorin's warband (which is great in maelstrom missions, but also gives up a lot of deployment advantages to your opponent in virtually all other scenarios). If you want to take Gwaihir in your list, you have to have Gandalf in your list (fair enough). If you want to take Great Eagles, you have to bring them with Gwaihir. Simple, right? Everyone who isn't a bird with Thorin, get birds by taking Gandalf.

The New Age Is Begun: the Army of Erebor Army List

Good morning gamers,

This is our third list in our cruise through lists that feature the Iron Hills Dwarf Warrior profile and while we've looked at Erebor Reclaimed (where the heroes were necessary to get the warriors where they wanted to go on the quick side) and the Defenders of Erebor (where we got a mix of light and heavy warriors to support some budget heroes), this list features all-Dwarves but with a more limited array of them compared to Erebor Reclaimed . . . but with some very interesting hitting power. Let's see if this list is any good - and what the potential traps are in it!

The Army of Erebor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has very similar participants to our last list (the Defenders of Erebor), but we've traded the three Dale heroes (Brand, Bard, and a Captain) for Gimli and Dwarf Kings - which I kind of feel is a trade up! Additionally, we've lost access to the Dale warriors, but haven't lost Goat Riders (so we just have to make up for the spear-carrying, banner-carrying, and bow-carrying Dale guys with Iron Hills Warriors . . . done). 

As with the Defenders of Erebor list we looked at last time, everyone in this list gains the Erebor keyword (I assume as a replacement for the Iron Hills keyword? Or do they have both?), which is good because it means more people can be affected by Bofur's Steadfast rule. All in all, we've still got lots of Champs with solid profiles, we still have good warrior profiles, and we have some new kids on the block to shake things up. Thanks to losing the Dale guys, our numbers will be smaller . . . but we'll also be more durable, so that may end up being fine in the end.

Back to Basics Revisited: All the Tests

Good morning gamers,

We're continuing our how-to-play series and we're covering seven different tests that you may need to make in a game of MESBG. We've recently looked at how to build lists and the general flow of the game, but these are oddities that everyone should know before they have to make tactical decisions in the game - and since these rules have changed from previous editions, veterans of the game would do well to brush up on these as well (as retraining old habits can be hard).

Movement-Related Tests: Jump, Leap, and Climb Tests

There have been three types of movement-related tests in the game for ages: jump, leap, and climb tests. Depending on the era of the game, these tests would allow you to charge people or not allow you to charge people, depending on the value of the roll you got. Each test effectively works the same way: you roll a single D6 and you consult a table - a 1 is bad, a 6 is good, and a 2-5 is fine.

The New Age Is Begun: The Defenders of Erebor Army List

Good morning gamers,

Last edition, one of my favorite Legendary Legions that I never took to an event was the Defenders of Erebor - I played a LOT of practice games with them, but never actually locked in with them as my list for any of the events I attended. I plan to rectify this in the coming months (maybe a year) because I think there's a lot that you can do with this particular list. The heroes are great, the warriors are great, and the rules are tricky - let's see how this Dwarf-plus-Men list squares up in the new edition!

The Defenders of Erebor: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

Our available profiles haven't changed since last edition - you can still get the four royals (Dain, Thorin III, Brand, and Bard II), the six mobile members of Thorin's Company who were still at Erebor during the War of the Ring (Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, and Gloin when he got back from Rivendell - Bombur was too fat, still think there was a missed opportunity to put him in, though!), your stock-standard generic captains, and two warrior profiles for each side (Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors/Goat Riders and Warriors/Knights of Dale). 

All in all, this both is and isn't a deep bench - it's deep because it has twelve hero choices and four warrior choices and between them all, you get a nice spread of possibilities. However, you're unlikely to be able to afford more than four of them in any given game, not only because of the relative expense of the heroes we have (many are in the 70-100pt range), but also because the warriors we have (unless we REALLY focus on the Dale contingent) are pricey. All that being true, this list doesn't have a problem getting to a healthy model count and it will do it with solid Dale archery, the occasional Dale melee guy, and lots of doughty Dwarves.

There are some list constraints, but nothing that's weird for these kinds of lists. Your Dwarf Warrior models can only be led by Dwarf Heroes and your Man Warrior models can only be led by your Man Heroes. As a result, the more you want Dwarves, the more you'll need Dwarf Heroes in the mix. Additionally, any unit with the Iron Hills keyword (Iron Hills Captains/Dwarf Warriors/Goat Riders) pick up the Erebor keyword, which is really nice.

Announcing the TMAT GT 2026!

Good morning gamers,

It's that time of year - The TMAT GT is upon us! The tournament will be held in Purcellville, VA on May 23, 2026. Without further ado, here are (in my typical style) the Ten Commandments of the Tournament (Rules):

1) Thou Shalt Understand The Canon

The ruleset we will be using is from the most recent Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual (the Fellowship walking one). The supplements for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings, the Armies of the Hobbit, the Armies of Middle-Earth, and the Legacies of Middle-Earth will govern the profiles and army lists being used. Any GW errata for these books will take precedent over the printed text of these documents.

2) Thou Shalt Honor Thy Alliance

This tournament follows the alliance "restrictions" provided in the main rulebook - players will pick one army list from one of the GW-issued supplements for this edition and follow all requirements for that army list.

The New Age Is Begun: The Erebor Reclaimed Army List

Good morning gamers,

This post was supposed to kick off our April series, but Centaur got busy, so you get this article either a day late or six days early, depending on your perspective. Today and through April, we're back with Dwarves - but this time, we're plowing through the Iron Hills Dwarf Warriors from the Armies of the Hobbit and the Armies of Middle-Earth! My son has used these guys a ton - they're a bit expensive for 1 Attack infantry, but they're incredibly durable and if you can manage to get good numbers with them, you can find yourself with the numbers advantage pretty quickly and then the battle swings hard in your favor.

The list that I think showcases these guys the best is Erebor Reclaimed. When I first read the updated rules for the Champs (three in particular) and saw the army list special rules, I was absolutely flabbergasted that they weren't the meta. I think there's a lot going for this list - so let's see what we have to work with and how it's changed from previous editions of the game.

Erebor Reclaimed: Changes for 2025

Profile Selection

This list has only lost one profile technically speaking from the previous edition of the game: Iron Hills Goat Riders. This list has actually lost another profile (the "champ chariot") and has effectively lost six other profiles (King Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Dain, and Iron Hills Captains on their mounts). While the mounted heroes are still available in their infantry forms, they function quite differently than they did before - and without warrior cavalry options, this list faces the perennial problem of all Dwarves: how do we make up for being slow and getting where we need to go when we need to be there? Thankfully, one of our army list bonuses helps us with this . . .

Army List Bonuses

The glamor rule of this army list is that everyone in your list has Heroic March and while this isn't great for Iron Hills Captains finding a place in the list, this list goes the extra mile and allows the Dwarves who are benefitting from a Heroic March to ALSO charge . . . which means if you have enough Might in the list, you can basically have 8" move infantry. Now it should be noted that the standard rules of ending within 6" of the March hero still apply, so that 8" move is going to be highly predictable, but considering that anyone can trigger it means you have a lot of flexibility with where and with whom you move 8".

Back to Basics, Revisited: Magical Powers in MESBG

Good morning gamers,

I have always been a HUGE fan of the magical powers in MESBG and how the system of casting and resisting spells works. The rules for casting and resisting hasn't changed much since I got started and the only additions that were made (Heroic Channelling casts a spell on a 6 now and you get Will points back on resist tests that get a natural 6) have been good - and I think the change to Channelling was epic in this edition. The purpose of today's article isn't to go in-depth into every spell - we'll be doing that in a later 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

Casting got both harder and easier in the new version of MESBG. This is partly due to the change to Heroic Channelling, where you spend a Might point to "get the spell off on a 6" (more on that later), but also the casting difficulties of most spells went up (nothing is cast on a 2+ anymore and many spells are cast on a 4+ or a 5+). While the casting difficulties went up (and many people would say this had made casting magic harder - and it is now), the fact of the matter is that magic itself got stronger in this edition of the game - so learning how to use it is definitely a good idea. We'll see why magic is so good at the end of the post.

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 there might be a list that 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 again, there are models that might plead an exception in certain army lists). 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 OR I'm channelling Fury and will save 1 Will for a one-off use later), 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.