In Defense of: Castellans of Dol Guldur

This is a sweet paint job (not mine...)

Photo Credit: Azazel's Bitz Box

Tiberius: Today Rythbyrt is back with a defense of one of his favorite units: Castellans of Dol Guldur. I know what you're thinking: Castellans are horrible heroes who can't be defended - not even by the TMAT team. While I could attempt a defense of the units, my experience has been tied to fighting them, not running them. So, I leave you to Rythbyrt to learn how these guys work.

Rythbryt: I'll be honest: when Tiberius asked me to do this write-up, I had two instant thoughts:

1. Absolutely, 1000% YES!

2. Wait, people don't like Castellans?

Apparently, people don't like Castellans. And I'm not sure why. They're one of the most unique profiles in the game. They're incredibly flexible. They pack a surprising whallop. They're spooky. I think the models are dope (although I admit the one with two blades is a tad flat). And they even have their own fight song!* So why all the hate?

No idea. But if your local meta isn't a fan of Castellans, yet loves all sorts of stupid, popular list ideas (like pretty elves, slogged dwarves, a mounted horse king, massed rangers, or five magical wizards storming a spooky castle), have I got some a LOT of thoughts for you!

(Gosh, I've missed this...)

Odd Man Out: Five Ways To Handle Byes At Tournaments

Good morning gamers,

Over the past ten years, we've thrown a lot of tournaments here at TMAT - and as the Tournament Organizer (TO) for most of them, I can say running a tournament for your friends is a really great experience (albeit hectic and stressful sometimes). One of the most common problems that TOs face across the world is what to do when you have an odd number of players/teams. Naturally, people come to a tournament and want to play - no one wants to sit out for 1-2 hours watching other people play. 

To answer this age-old question, different tournament organizers have taken a variety of approaches to "solve" the problem, but each has their own draw-backs. So, in today's post, we will be exploring all the options I've heard of (and tried out) for handling byes and talking through their advantages and their disadvantages. Let's get right to it.

In Defense Of: Galadhrim Knights

Good morning gamers,

In this series, we've mostly looked at heroes who get heavily critiqued in the competitive community. Today, we're looking at a warrior selection that doesn't receive much respect: Galadhrim Knights. As one of two mounted profiles in the Lothlorien list (alongside Celeborn - I mean, Galadhrim Captains and NOT Celeborn!?!?!?!), you'd think that in a game that gives incredible bonuses to being mounted, any mounted model would be beloved and prized. Some of us (I am a fairly recent convert) have used them and grown to love them (probably with a high learning curve that made us hate them for a while) and others just don't see it. So today, we're looking at these guys in detail to learn all the tricks of the trade - let's get stuck in!

Why NOT To Take Galadhrim Knights

Whenever you hear someone complain about Galadhrim Knights, the words "Rivendell Knights" are often heard in the same breath. Rivendell, like Lothlorien and the Halls of Thranduil, are either historical allies or convenient allies with every Good faction in the game - so any Good faction CAN have cavalry if they are willing to give up their army bonus (unless they're one of those rare historical allies with the Elves, which are mostly factions of the hero/monster variety).

Rivendell Knights are similar in cost to Galadhrim Knights when both are given shields and bows (22pts for a Riv-Knight and 21pts for a Gal-Knight), but the wargear is different in three key ways: first, the Galadhrim Knight is astride an armored horse vs. the Rivendell Knight's "normal" horse (which makes the Lothlorien mounts less likely to die against S2/S4 archery, but makes no difference against S3 attacks). Second, the Rivendell Knight has a hand-and-a-half sword vs. the one-handed sword of the Galadhrim Knight (which, admittedly, most players don't use two-handed, so the difference here is academic). And third and more important of all, the Rivendell Knight has a lance (+1 To Wound on the charge) while the Galadhrim Knight does not have a lance (not even an option).

Quest of the Ringbearer: Pop-up Bree, Part 3

Good morning gamers,

We're back for the last post (for now) on my Bree board - this time, talking about the other buildings I've built for the board and some of the additional 3D printed bits I commissioned Centaur to print for me to fill them. If you haven't read the previous posts in this series, you can find them on our Quest of the Ringbearer page. Let's get right into it!

The New Buildings

Here's a quick look at the old and new pieces that Centaur printed for me - this, in addition to what I already have, won't be enough to fully populate the city, but I see filling each building as a long-game (I don't want to "just print a bunch of stuff" when there might be things I find later that I want).

It's unclear if Bree had a standing militia in the books, but it had a gate-keeper (Harry Goatleaf will probably make an appearance whenever I use this building) and we know from the books that when Sharkey's Rogues began invading the Shire, they gathered in Bree and started making trouble (and those loyal to order and peace rallied behind Barliman Butterbur to defend their town, kick out the Ruffians, and establish a more secure town). As such, I assume that at least one building should serve as a bunkhouse for whatever local militia are "on call" that day. Here we have a few cots for resting on, as well as some crates for those men to refresh themselves as they await trouble. Functionally for game play, this is a pretty open space.

In Defense Of: Isildur

Good morning gamers,

Today we cover a model that is quite good - and some competitive players really love: Isildur. Isildur is one of the best slaying heroes in the game, but there are a LOT of people who don't like him. Today, I delve into a hero that I love to use at large points levels - and have been running a bunch recently. Let's dig in right away!

Why NOT To Take Isildur

The first limitation for Isildur is his dad: Elendil was commonly viewed in our evaluation of the Top 50 Slayer Heroes for the Forces of Good to be better than Isildur (I dissented) - F7 instead of F6, S5 with a Master-Forged hand-and-a-half sword that grants free Heroic Combats (vs. S5 with a mundane hand-and-a-half sword that doesn't get free Heroic Combats), 2 free dice to resist magical powers (vs. Resistant to Magic only), and all the same gear options (horse and shield), getting Elendil for the "low-low price" of 200pts seems like a really good deal.

While you can get both Elendil and Isildur in your army, Isildur takes a big hit: he loses the One Ring (since, you know, he didn't have it while his dad was alive). Isildur has a pretty great profile (F6/S5/3A with 3 Might on offense, D7-8 with 3 Wounds/2 Fate on Defense), but Striking from "only F6" isn't as great as "I will always have the higher Fight Value period." Similarly, 6" movement can really restrict your movement, but it's remarkably less restricted when you can walk through enemy ranks and provide traps to your men by attacking the spearmen in the formation from the rear. Yes, Isildur is great with the Ring and losing it is kind of a big deal.