TMAT Talks: Episode 9 - The Ultimate Uber-Slayer Podcast (Part I)

Well, it's finally that time. 

After going through the top-10 monsters, casters, supports, snipers, and big honkin' things, the TMAT team is going to attempt the impossible: rank the top slayer models in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game.

In Part I, Tiberius, Centaur, and Rythbryt begin by going over their various metrics for evaluating these models, then turn to three "special achievement" categories for the Forces of Good: the best generic slayers, the best "under-101 point" slayers, and the best slayers who can't take a mount (we have thoughts on this). 

They also spend some time talking at the beginning talking about their methodologies--for more on that (and more discussion on just how hard it is to rank heroes like this), you can also check out both Rythbryt's and Tiberius's take on Jay Clare's top-10 slayers for the forces of good.

Now available on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts!

Music: Happy Haunts by Aaron Kenny

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Intro (0:00)

Methodology (1:07)

Good: Top-10 Generic Slayers (22:07)

Good: Top-10 Slayers for under 101 points (1:07:44)

Good: Top-10 Slayers who (surprisingly?) can't take mounts (2:00:27)

Jay Clare's Top 10 Slayer Heroes - Tiberius's Take

Good morning gamers,

A few weeks ago, Rythbyrt did a re-ranking of Jay Clare's Top 10 Slayers list for the Forces of Good. The MESBG community has had a lot to say about Jay's article (both here and on the rest of the interwebs), so I thought I'd provide a different way to evaluate the heroes on Jay's list. While Rythbyrt highlighted with pictures a lot of heroes who could have made the Top 10, I'm going to skip that and just focus on Jay's guys (most of them made my Top 15, so I think it's a pretty good list).

Methodology: Categories and Weights

Like Rythbyrt, we're looking at seven categories, but we're applying weights to them in order to make the two "Slayer" categories stand out more. I also decided that my ability to evaluate these heroes couldn't be done objectively if I took a subjective, feel-based approach (there are some heroes that I just want to see do well). Why didn't I feel like I could be objective?

Because I evaluated 178 profiles for the Forces of Good.

Yes, you heard me right - I evaluated heroes as powerful as Treebeard and as weak as Rosie Cotton. I did NOT evaluate Frodo of the Nine Fingers or Lobelia Sackville-Baggins because they couldn't wound anyone, and therefore are not slayers (somehow I doubt they would rank well even if they could). I could probably make a list of 50 models and say, "Yeah, I think I could rank these 50," but invariably, I'd miss someone, have to fit them in somewhere, and then look at the list at a later date and say, "Well, I know from experience that this hero is really good at killing things - I need to make room for him on the list." The iterations would never end and each time I'd probably feel like I got both closer to "what felt right" and farther from "what felt right". So to avoid all of that, I turned to math (and let whatever iterations fall where they would - for the record, I'm not happy with some of my rankings, but that is what it is).

The Stuff of Legends: the Defenders of the Shire

Good morning gamers,

Today we continue our series on Legendary Legions and we're joined by Centaur to talk about his beloved Halflings. The Scouring of the Shire supplement brought new life to the Shire list and with a host of heroes to choose from, it helps to have someone hash through it all. To that end, here's Centaur!

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Photo Credit: Warhammer Community
Legion Tax: 90-120pts

Centaur: You are required to take Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire and Peregrin, Captain of the Shire. And truthfully, this is fine, as you were going to take these guys anyways (because S3 Hobbit Militia with Piercing Strike if you take them with axes - which you should always do - at 5pts are just incredible), so it's not a "chore" to take them. 

The units you are actually required to take includes Frodo of the Nine Fingers (because a 6" banner is necessary), Holfoot Bracegirdle (because you need killers, and that means Shirriffs two-handing all the time), Farmer Cotton (because rerolls and a spear), and Farmer Maggot (because a two-handed weapon with Piercing Strike plus three dogs with high Movement and good Courage is a must). For an additional 175-180pts, you have plenty of room for troops, no matter the points level.

Thoughts on New Legendary Legions - Forces of Good

Hey Reader!

As Tiberius continues his march through the legendary legions, I thought I'd take a moment to share two ideas for legendary legions that we will probably not get in the future (as they are pretty closely tied to books we've already seen released), but that I think would be cool and provide new avenues for gameplay. Neither are particularly groundbreaking (and I don't think either are as good as other legions that are out there, consistent with my methodology for homebrewing stuff), but I think they provide unique options for gameplay.

We will walk through the first one, which is a Rohan legion (I know, I know, ANOTHER Rohan legion), and then into a Fellowship-centric legion.

I.  Eorl Comes Legendary Legion

This is the legendary legion that, I confess, I was surprised we did not get, as it would have given love to a longstanding Rohan hero, and would have given options for a new Gondor hero: Cirion. But perhaps that is also why they didn't do it, as there is already a Cirion in the Minas Tirith army list.

But the concept of the legion is straightforward: in response to the invasion of the Balchoth Easterlings from the East and a contingent of orcs from the Misty Mountains, Cirion the Steward of Gondor fought to keep the enemy from crossing the Anduin. He was pushed back, and faced them at the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, where he was joined unexpectedly by Eorl the Young and the Eothed.

While you can technically build a list like this using a King of Men and Eorl, that list leaves something to be desired, and that's where the legion comes in (much like how you can mix Lorien and Rohan normally, but a Helm's Deep legion works better).

The Stuff of Legends: The Grey Company

Good morning gamers,

In our last post, we looked at the Men of the West Legendary Legion and how you can work with an all-infantry army that is an amalgamation of FIVE different army lists (Minas Tirith, Rohan, the Fiefdoms, the Fellowship, and Rivendell). While its buffs might make it worth trying out, I think most players feel it's not as good as a historical alliance between Minas Tirith, the Fiefdoms, and/or Rohan (though we probed ways the Legion could be tweaked to make its non-Gondor, non-Rohan heroes a bit more appealing). 

In today's post, we're covering the Grey Company (another Legendary Legion from Gondor at War), but unlike the Men of the West, this Legendary Legion provides some really nice benefits over the foundational Rangers army list (with only one or two down-sides). There are three factions that you'd need to Ally to build this Legion normally (and you'd be a convenient alliance). Let's see what you get with this Legion.

Part 1: What Do You Need?

Photo Credit: Games Workshop
Legion Tax: 160-175pts

The only model you NEED to take in this army is Aragorn - Strider. Besides his horse (more on that in a minute), Aragorn has all of his usual upgrades available to him, except that he starts with Anduril for free (which is great - and not an uncommon Legion rule in the Gondor at War book, since all three Legions with Aragorn in them let Aragorn start with Anduril for free). Aragorn's max cost is 175 in this Legion and he is a BARGAIN.

In the supporting cast of named heroes, you have Legolas (no horse, but otherwise all his options), Gimli (option for Elven Cloak), Halbarad (no horse, but option for his banner), and Elladan and Elrohir (no horses, but otherwise all their options). Four of these heroes (not Halbarad) appeared in the Men of the West Legion, but while the Men of the West Legion forbids them from leading warriors (making them difficult to include into the Legion), there are no warriors in this list - so you can take any mix of them without any real loss to your army.

Finally, your "warrior" options are Rangers of the North, which is to say you basically have some battle companies heroes in your list! A single Might/Will/Fate point won't make THAT much of a difference (you still die after taking one wound sometimes, you can only boost a roll that was just barely losing/tying to tying/winning), but it helps. And it helps a LOT.