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.

What Kinds of Monsters are in MESBG?

Middle-Earth is full of monsters and in MESBG we get lots of different kinds of monsters. As a very general taxonomy, here are the kinds of monsters you can expect to see on the tabletop:

• Faux Monsters: these are models that have stats very similar to monsters but lack the "Monster" keyword. Examples of this include Wild Warg Chieftains, Giant/Mirkwood Spiders, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, and Half-Trolls - they may look like monster models, and they may turn your models into goo, but they aren't technically monsters.
• War Beasts: these are models that have the "Monster" keyword but can't use Brutal Power Attacks. They trade these rules for a host of other rules which are beyond the purviews of this article (you'll have to come back next week to learn about how these things work). There are a small number of examples of this kind of "monster": anyone riding a Mumakil, Troll Brutes, and Great Beasts of Gorgoroth.
  
• Lumbering Monsters: these are models with the "Monster" keyword and 6" movement. While these models can be either warriors or heroes, they tend to be slow, sit on big bases (usually circular, occasionally an oval), and have MASSIVE investments in stats (most have at least F6, S6, D6, and 3 Attacks/Wounds). Examples of these kinds of models include most kinds of Trolls, most Ents, and the Dark Lord Sauron.
• Fast Monsters: these models are slightly faster than the "Lumbering" monsters listed above - they have the "Monster" keyword and have more than 6" of movement, but don't have the Fly special rule. The increased speed on these models usually means their Defense is lower than the Lumbering variety, but that's not always the case. In trade, these models might have some kind of special rule that helps them ignore difficult terrain penalties (some or all types of difficult terrain) or otherwise use their increased speed to get to the targets they want). Some (but not all) of these monsters also have Monsterous Charge - something you don't see on the Lumbering models. Examples of these monsters include Shelob/the Spider Queen, Beorn/Grimbeorn, Ogres, the Balrog, and Cave Drakes.
  
• Flying Monsters: perhaps the most potent monster class in the game, these models have the "Monster" keyword as well as the Fly special rule, which gives these models an incredible 12" of movement (so long as they don't end their movement in a piece of woodland terrain or in a building). This increased movement - and the ability to ignore control zones when they move - allows the placement of these models to be far easier than other monsters. Examples of these models include Ringwraiths mounted on Fell Beasts, Great Eagles, Gulavhar, and Dragons (because you should always take the Wings upgrade).
  

These five kinds of units can have massively different play styles - some boast big, beefy profiles with high points costs, others boast good-not-great profiles at a much reduced cost, and still others can pair their nasty melee profile with ranged attacks or magical powers. With this brief understanding in mind, let's look into three distinctives that make monster models different from other models in the range!

Distinctive #1: Interaction with "Obstacles"

No matter what kind of monster you are, you're going to have to interact with terrain. Monsters who can't fly will still treat difficult terrain as limiting their movement (not shallow water), they'll still have to move around impassible terrain, and they need to be able to fit between gaps in terrain (and models) like everyone else. While a very select few monsters have 40-50mm bases, many of them have 60mm+ bases, which are incredibly hard to maneuver without the Fly special rule. If you're very lucky, you have a rule that allows you to run through your own models (potentially or actually killing them) - while this seems like a downside, it does make sure that your monster can fight the things that it wants to . . . and often, you're going to need it to fill a very specific role in order to pay for its expense.

Maneuvering is key for all units in MESBG and if you're used to maneuvering infantry or cavalry heroes, you might think, "Oh, I'll charge this impressive combat profile into two foes, call a Heroic Combat, then whip around and crash into other people." If you're charging the end of an enemy battle line, you might be able to do this - but usually, your larger base is going to lumber 1" or less forward into whatever you can reach . . . and should you lose/blunt in an attack, you're likely stuck there for another turn or two. If you hope to reach an enemy hero by crashing through others, you have a very short time window to actually make the attack - which is why flying monsters are so appealing to most players.

Distinctive #2: Paying For Stats

The most defining characteristic of a monster is that their stats are high - or at least the combat ones, at any rate. Unless you're a War Beast, you've got at least F5/S5/2A and most are F6/S6/3A or higher. Since most heroes and warriors can only reach F5, this means that most monsters will have a combat advantage when fighting most troops. You'll find the occasional monster that's only F5 (like a Gundabad Ogre in the Army of Gundabad list) who might have the same/lower Fight Value than what's coming up against him, but most monsters live in the F6/F7 realm and while the list of F6 models in the game is quite large, the list of F7 models in the game is not nearly as big (though it is bigger than it was in the last edition). Sure, most heroes with Heroic Strike start at F5, but those heroes might not actually reach F8+ to get the higher Fight Value, not all heroes have Heroic Strike (or Heroic Defense), and many cannot keep their Fight Value at the F8+ range for more than a few turns.

Fight Value is only part of the increased stats that monsters get, however. Most monsters are at least S6 (wounding most models on 4s), but many get to S7-8 (wounding most things on 4s or 3s). Of the handful of Monsters that are S5 (the Goblin King of Goblin-town and Dwellers in the Dark), the Goblin King has a two-handed weapon, so Dwellers are really the only Monster models that are going to struggle to wound D6 models. Being monsters, though, does come with an advantage for S5 monsters: they can't be knocked Prone by cavalry (despite being below S6) - this only helps two models, but it's still nice. Being S6+ has several other advantages for monsters, as we'll discuss next when we talk about "Brutal Power Attacks."

In general, monsters pair high-Fight and high-Strength with 3+ Attacks - and it's this trifecta of Fight Value/Strength/Attacks that makes them a force to be reckoned with in combat. Not all monsters have at least 3 Attacks on paper, but all of them CAN get 3 or more Attack dice if the right situations are met. Let's look at the outliers for a moment:

• Great Eagles are base 2 Attack models, so if they're charged by someone, they'll be stuck with only 2 Attacks. Being F7/S6 base helps quite a bit even if they only have 2 Attacks, but rolling a 6-high or 5-high is definitely not a given. These models, however, have Monstrous Charge, so if they charge into models that have a lower Strength than them, they get the Extra Attack/Knock Down rules that you'd normally get with cavalry (see our post from last time about how that works). Note that Monstrous Charge provides these bonuses even if you charge cavalry models, which the normal cavalry-based rules wouldn't provide. 3 Attacks on the charge that turn into three pairs of wounding dice at S6 (or S7 if you keep your army bonus) will kill a lot of things . . .
  
• The Spider Queen also only has 2 Attacks base, but with Monstrous Charge in her arsenal, she can also do a ton of damage (and get to 3 Attacks simply by charging someone).
• Shelob is, at least on paper, the weakest of the named monsters as she begins with just 1 Attack - but she permanently added the special rule she used to get in the Cirith Ungol Legendary Legion to give her +1 Attack against Men, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits. She also has Monstrous Charge, so when she charges, she will have 2-3 Attacks, depending on who she charges. In the Cirith Ungol army list, she benefits from an army special rule that allows her to remove a friendly model to not just get a banner-like reroll, she can also call a Heroic Move that only affects herself. She won't have this in an Army of the Great Eye list, but she'll have it in Cirith Ungol.

While most monsters boast high Fight Value, Strength, and Attack characteristics, many of them also have high defensive characteristics - namely in the Defense and Wounds categories. While some monsters have low Defense (the Spider Queen is only D4, Dwellers in the Dark/Gulavhar/Gundabad Ogres/the Goblin King are only D5), most monsters make it to at least D6, which is the "magic number" for average troops (and most archery) to wound them on 6s. D5 models CAN be wounded on 6s by S2 bows (or S2 Hobbits - but beware those cheeky Hobbit Shirriffs or Battlin' Brandybucks!). Some monsters go well beyond D6 and make it to D7 (Mordor Trolls, Shelob, Dragons/Mumaks without the Tough Hide upgrade, Bill/Bert the Trolls), D8 (Ents, Eagles, Beorn/Grimbeorn in bear forms, Gundabad Trolls, Isengard Trolls, Mordor Troll Chieftains, Mumaks with Tough Hides), D9 (Dragons with Tough Hides, Smaug, and the Balrog) and even D10 (The Dark Lord Sauron).

This high Defense rating is paired with 3+ Wounds, which means a glancing blow from a warrior or an arrow isn't going to kill the thing. While 3 Wounds is where most monsters live, some go beyond that and have 4 Wounds (Gulavhar, Mordor/Isengard/Gundabad Trolls, Troll Brutes), 5 Wounds (Catapult Trolls and the Dark Lord Sauron), 6 Wounds (Shelob, Cave Drakes, and the Watcher in the Water), 7/9 Wounds (Dragons, depending on whether they took Tough Hides or not), 10 Wounds (Mumaks and the Balrog), or 20 Wounds (Smaug).

And it's these defensive stats that actually make dealing with monsters in melee difficult for most heroes - many heroes will rely on Heroic Strike to beat the Fight Value of a monster - getting above F7 is often required to have an advantage against these kinds of units - but even if they win the fight, they still have to wound them multiple times. Some heroes (like Iron Hills Dain, Elendil, Azog most of the time, or Aragorn wielding Anduril) aren't that worried about dealing wounds to monster models, but if you're in the S4-5 camp without a +1 To Wound bonus, you're looking at needing 6s or 5s to wound the guy - and if he's not trapped and you've got 2-3 dice on hand, the chances that you slay this thing after one round is pretty low. That means you're committing a second Might point to risk another round with this guy . . . that's risky.

But with this investment in stats comes two interesting trades that make some players hesitant to use these models: high points cost and large bases. Some of the cheapest monster models now are Mordor Trolls - 90pts for F7/S7/3A on offense and D7/4 Wounds on defense . . . truly a good investment compared to most other lumbering monsters. Fielding just one of these models, however, comes at the exclusion of 8-10 Morannon Orcs. For every monster you add to your list, you're usually saying goodbye to an entire warband of models - this is why Mordor Trolls and Isengard Trolls are often absent from the tabletop (despite them having excellent stats) . . . though I am a known proponent of them, especially after the 10-20pt reduction they got this edition.

Additionally, monster models have bases that range from usually 50mm to incredibly massive oval bases (Smaug's base is roughly 9"x5" in size - which is absolutely and absurdly massive) and this can make getting your model where you want it incredibly difficult. Sure, monsters can have great stats, but if you can't direct their power where you want it, what are they doing for you? The Goblin King's 40mm base and the ability to romp through his troops is quite manageable - and a 60mm base with the Fly special rule can make maneuvering a LOT easier - but the usual story for monsters is that once they get locked into combat, that's where they are for the rest of the game. If you're smart, though, you can get some additional latitude of movement by utilizing . . .

Distinctive #3: Brutal Power Attacks

The Hobbit rules update changed the way "monsters" worked with the introduction of Brutal Power Attacks (BPAs). The three generic BPAs that were introduced in that edition of the rules have remained today, but they have all been tweaked a bit. Each was designed to deal with a problem that monster models struggled with that made them subpar options compared to your more run-of-the-mill, man-sized heroes. Before we go into what these BPAs can do, however, we need to address something: Brutal Power Attacks are made instead of making Strikes. This means a few things:

• If you are supporting a model, you can't make a Brutal Power Attack (so Cave Trolls and Isengard Trolls can't spear-support with a single die and then do a three-die Rend);
• If you aren't allowed to make Strikes (e.g. affected by Immobilize/et al, started the fight Prone), you can't make Brutal Power Attacks;
• If you would have gotten a bonus from a special rule/situation (e.g. getting +1 Attack from Monstrous Charge, doubling dice against a trapped/prone opponent), you won't get those bonuses because you aren't making Strikes; and
• If you get some kind of bonus to Strikes that you make from your weapon (e.g. two-handing, rerolling 1s from Feinting, +1 Strength from a Piercing Strike, +1 To Wound from Scythe Gauntlets), you won't get those bonuses because you aren't making Strikes.
  

The last thing we need to say about BPAs is that you can only perform one BPA each turn. The most common occurrence where you'd need to remember this is if you have a monster hero who declares a Heroic Combat and uses a BPA to kill the lone blighter who tagged him. If he uses a BPA like Rend (more on that next), he won't be able to use other BPAs (like Hurl) when he's done moving. There are other triggers for this that we'll see in a minute - and most of the time, your monster is probably locked into the only fight he's doing this round, so this is moot. Okay, with this in mind, let's talk about BPAs!

Generic BPA: Rend

Our first stop is the go-to strategy for dealing with most man-sized heroes: Rend. Prior to the addition of this BPA, your only option for dealing with a hero was wounding against their Defense stat - which made dealing with Dwarf heroes in particular quite difficult. Cave Trolls have flip-flopped a lot over the various editions - this edition, they don't have Burly/two-handed weapons, but they can take a hand-and-a-half hammer with S6, so they can be effectively S8 but with a two-handing penalty if they don't get a natural 6. When facing a big hero, being S6 with +1 To Wound may only wound on 4s - and that's if you want the two-handed penalty . . .

Enter Rend: Rend allows the monster to direct all of its Attacks against a single model he's engaged with in combat and roll To Wound against its Strength stat. For most models, this is going to be easier - and for most monsters, they'll be wounding the target hero on a 3+. This means two things: first, losing to a monster who chooses to Rend is quite dangerous for a hero. Second, losing to a monster who choses to Rend is dangerous for exactly one model. Rend is limited in its effectiveness when there are two heroes in your fight: sure, you might take out one of them, but the other will still be there on the next turn. If both models have suffered wounds, it may be a better call to make Strikes normally instead of Rending because you can take out two models instead of one.

Another limitation of Rend is that some models don't invest heavily in Defense - or your opponent is a monster who invested as much or more in Strength as he did in Defense - and your probability of wounding hasn't increased at all. While there are some situations where wounding against a model's Strength gives you a WORSE chance of wounding than if you'd allocated Strikes normally (Gulavhar, the Spider Queen, Ogres, Troll Brutes), for most models you'll face, Rend gives you a way of bypassing what your opponent invested in (Defense) and gives your monsters the ability to deal good damage no matter what they're facing.

Generic BPA: Barge

The second generic BPA is Barge. Barge is the only BPA that doesn't innately deal damage to anyone and it's primary use is for something monsters can really benefit from: repositioning. Barge needs to be declared before models start making way after losing a fight (I often interject, "DON'T MOVE ANYONE!" since it's so reflexive to start making way as soon as a fight is lost) and the monster's controlling player gets to move enemy models 3" away from the monster in directions of his choice. Supporting models can be moved as well. Anyone who can't move 3" away are moved as far as they can and are Knocked Prone. Barge is the last thing you can resolve in a fight, so if you've got a Multiple Combat going, you'll want to do this after everyone else has resolved Strikes.

Once you back everyone away, the monster gets to move D3+3" wherever it wants - including charging again (in which case, it'll get to fight again, just as if it had won a Heroic Combat). A few things should be said about this repositioning: first and foremost, the amount of movement you get after barging is finnicky and unreliable, but not as finnicky/unreliable as it used to be. While you could get 6" of movement to race for an objective or run around a battle line, you could get as little as 4" of movement (instead of the very swingy 1" of movement from the last edition when it was D6"). You can plan for this by making sure there are at least two models you can charge into with 4" of movement while still having a more priority model reachable with a greater amount of movement (but watch those control zones!).

Second, because you can only use one BPA each turn, using Barge prohibits you from using Rend or any other BPA on the same turn. Barge does give you the ability to get a better match-up (or move enemy models away from an objective), but it doesn't allow you to single out an enemy hero and then use Rend (or some other kind of BPA). This means picking the model you want to charge with your variable movement is key, since whoever you're fighting, you'll have to wound normally.

Third, you can't benefit from both a Barge AND a Heroic Combat on the same turn. Just like you can't call a Heroic Combat, join another Heroic Combat, and move some more, so also you can't Barge and move in a Heroic Combat in the same turn. Heroic Combats (usually) are declared at the cost of Might, but the movement you get from a successful Combat is known (max movement). Barges are "free," but their benefits are more unpredictable (though their total distance may not be that different from your normal move). Monsters can Barge all day long, but with only one exception (Smaug), any monster that chooses to Barge has foregone potentially killing enemy models in trade for increased positioning (and potentially some killing in a second fight).

So why would you Barge? The first situation where Barge looks pretty good is when you have a monster fighting someone who's called Heroic Defense. Heroic Defense might not solve having a lower Fight Value than a monster, but it does take away most of the bite of a Rend (since it doesn't matter which stat they target - they're wounding on natural 6s) AND it makes low-Defense models much harder to kill (see any number of articles we've done on Heroic Defense since its arrival in the last edition). Getting natural 6s to wound a hero who solo'd you might not look doable, but shove him out of the way and charge into whoever that guy was trying to protect looks to be a much better option.

The second reason to Barge is to trigger Monstrous Charge. Sometimes you'll have a model that gets much, MUCH better when they're on the charge thanks to having the Monstrous Charge rule (Shelob, Gwaihir, and the Spider Queen are probably the best examples of this) and while you might be fighting the model you want to fight this round, you might not be rolling enough dice to clear that model this round. If you're Gwaihir and someone like Kili charged into you, called a Heroic Strike, and then only got up to F7, if you win the fight, you could Rend him with 3 dice on 3s . . . or you could Barge him, charge him, and then bowl him over with 4 Attacks/8 wounding dice looking for 3s or 5s (depending on the version of Kili that charged you) . . . or you could just charge into some grunts instead (your choice).

Generic BPA: Hurl

The third and final BPA is Hurl. This BPA used to allow you to chuck someone in any direction you wanted and THEN became more directionally-controlled in the last edition, but in the current version of the rules, the monster who wishes to Hurl picks an enemy model in base contact with it and needs to pass an Intelligence check: if passed, then you hit an enemy model of your choice within D3" + the difference in strength between the model you're throwing and the monster itself. If you fail, then your opponent picks a model that's within D3" + the difference in strength.

In the last edition, a straight line was drawn and everyone along that line was knocked over - that's not true here. As was the case last edition, other models in the same fight as the model you hurl into are knocked Prone if they're not S6+, but gone are the days where you can go bowling through ranks. A model cannot be thrown through obstacles, such as walls or trees (weird, huh?). You can't knock down nearly as many models as you used to, but it's still possible for a few people to be knocked Prone by a Hurl . . .

All of the models knocked Prone by the thrown model suffer a S3 hit (with cavalry models taking hits on both the mount and the rider). The thrown model suffers one S3 hit for every model it passed through, as well as a S6 hit if it collided with something that stopped it early (a tree/wall/similar terrain feature/S6+ model). The thing that stopped the target's movement also suffers a S6 hit, which could be important. Like Barge, this BPA closes off the attack, so anyone who was engaged in a Multiple Combat will need to act before the Hurl is made (and naturally, it also means you can't have a monster Hurl and a monster Barge in the same fight).

So what does all this mean? First and foremost, Hurls are most effective on high Intelligence monsters. Most monsters are, in fact, not that smart - a Mordor Troll has an Intelligence rating of an 8+, which translates into a 41.7% chance of passing (if probabilities are measured in percentages . . . which technically they are not). Models with an Intelligence of 3+ have a 97.2% chance of success and these include models like Gwaihir and Sauron - these guys are all but guaranteed to succeed. Models with an Intelligence of 4+ (like Great Eagles and Treebeard) are almost as good, with a 91.7% chance of passing. When you hit Intelligence 5+ (Shelob, the Balrog, Dragons, Buhrdur, and the rest of the Ents), you're starting to taper off with an 83.3% chance so you can try it, but you should also expect to fail at least once per game (and maybe even once per round, depending on how many things you have Hurling). 

Hurls are also great when you can throw an enemy model into someone who's engaged with a friendly model who is S6+, since all of their foes will be knocked Prone but the friendly model will still be standing (doubling its wounding dice if it wins and taking no damage it if loses). Centaur loves to field multiple Ents and knocking over heroes who are fighting against his Ents (and before the Intelligence check was a thing, he did this a lot with Buhrdur and Cave Trolls) and he's gotten very, VERY good at this tactic.

Third, Hurls are a cheeky way to deprive the enemy of mounts. Since all mounted models are knocked Prone (and therefore unhorsed), heroes who were relying on their mount to increase their speed and damage output will suddenly find themselves Prone and slower when they finally stand up (if they stand up, that is . . .). Like Sorcerous Blast, this is a way of dealing with a mount in a way that your opponent has no control over - and if he positioned himself for the Hurl, then it's his fault AND he has no solution for it. Double bummer that . . .

But Hurls are also one of the least effective ways of dealing damage with monsters: sure, in your mind's eye you might see some really epic Hurls (if the Balrog at S9 hurls a S3 warrior into a fight that has six enemy units surrounding one lone Goblin - maybe a few of them are heroes?), but S3 hits don't reliably translate into kills AND the number of models you're going to affect is now greatly diminished from where it was last edition. Against a D6-7 model, knocking over 6 guys might kill one? Maybe? That's . . . about as many as you'd get if you just killed two people that you charged. Yes, you've got Prone models now, but the actual damage you dealt isn't going to be that spectacular most of the time.

Hurls are best used for changing the situation you're in on a section of the board: they are intended to slow down enemy troops by putting important units on their backs (like units carrying objectives), deny the enemy the use of mounts on important heroes for the rest of the game (or deprive the enemy of a banner for the current turn), or for softening up a battle line by placing an important unit in a bad position (either to force out Might for a Heroic Move or to allow you to swarm them on the following turn and kill them). All worthy goals - but an experienced opponent will do his best not to give you a good hurl target if he's able to charge you first (though I will admit, this becomes very difficult the more monsters there are on the board).

Conclusion

Well, that was a lot about monsters! Hopefully this fleshed out their rules, made some things clearer, and gave you some ideas for how to use them. This discussion applies to MOST monsters, though, and in our next post, we'll be looking at a unique subset of monsters: war beasts. We both did and can't really talk about them in the same sentence as normal monsters because a) war beasts can't use BPAs, and b) war beasts have a TON of other rules/constraints that make "normal monsters" look like perfectly ordinary and normal units by comparison. If you've ever been scared off by the rules upon rules for Mumaks, Troll Brutes, or Great Beasts of Gorgoroth in the main rulebook or the supplements, then next week's post is for you! Until then, happy hobbying!