A Chance to Show Their Quality: Faramir

In this series, we are going to look at characters who need a little bit of help in order to 'show their quality' on the SBG battlefields. It is a closer look at those heroes who often find themselves outshone by others and it will look at what can be added to their profiles to save them from becoming untouched ornaments on your hobby shelves.

Who better to start such a series than the ultimate undervalued LOTR character? A character so disappointing they were sent to battle insurmountable odds by their own father, were straight up told that they should have died instead of their golden boy brother and who was deemed to be more useful as firewood: Faramir!

In the films, and the books, Faramir remains a favourite character of mine. He is the proof that not all men succumb to evil. His men are unswervingly loyal to him and he gives his all for his country. However, aside from the Rangers of Ithilien LL, he remains a periphery hero in MESBG. Let's look at what he does well, where he needs some help and how his profile can be altered to push him up the congested Minas Tirith hero list.

The Good

Faramir's profile is not without its positives. FV5 and S4 gives him a solid start, allowing him to hold his own against most enemy heroes. His defence is initially a concern but adding heavy armour and a shield means he becomes a tricky hero to budge. Faramir's courage of 6 is very good, even better when combined with the army bonus, and goes some way to highlight his character. The final strength of his stat-line is the fact he sports 3 Will and 2 Fate, along with the always useful 3 Might. The extra Will and Fate points help to protect Faramir from enemy spellcasters and from succumbing to a cheeky wound.

His suite of Heroic Actions,  the standouts being Strike and Defence, give him great versatility as does his wide array of wargear options. Faramir is a bit of a Swiss army knife, allowing you to kit him out in his pyjamas as he leads your lightly armoured skirmishers or covering him head to toe in the finest Gondorian shining armour as he leads Gondor's knights (hopefully not whilst accompanied by Pippin's melancholic singing and the hail of Orcish arrows like in the film!).

The Bad

Look at Faramir's stats and you'll struggle to find any glaring issues. There may be an argument that 2 attacks is disappointing but even the most ardent Faramir fan would struggle to justify a 3rd attack given that it pushes him into Aragorn and Boromir territory. So if there are no major problems, why do I feel like Fazza needs a leg up? Well, when you look at him as part of the Minas Tirith roster, and not in a lonely vacuum, he struggles to stand up to his peers. 

Want someone to lead your archers? Bring Madril. He is significantly cheaper, gives you a huge benefit in Maelstrom missions and also bring 3 Might to the table, all for less points. Want to bring a mobile troop blender? Take Hurin. Rocking the same FV and number of attacks, but with the crucial addition of a master-forged hand and a half sword, he easily outperforms little Faramir, even when Fazza brings a lance to the table. Then you have to consider Hurin is both cheaper and has a great VP denying rule. Want a defensive stalwart to hold your battle line? Ingold is your man. He benefits from shield wall, has Heroic Defence and a nifty little rule which means your front line doesn't back away. Not to mention he is again quite a lot cheaper.

In short, Faramir might well be a Swiss army knife hero as mentioned before but that also means he is good at most battlefield roles but master of none of them. Particularly with the release of Gondor at War, he is eclipsed by at least one other named Gondorian hero in every role. And to make things worse, he is more expensive than them all! 

To make matters worse for Gondor's unfavoured son, the unique rule he has is more of a liability than a help. It's a lovely fluffy rule which perfectly sums up the unique father/son relationship between Denethor and Not Boromir but it doesn't earn Faramir any brownie points on the tabletop.

So how can Faramir, Captain of Gondor, 'show his quality'?

Now we've already looked at his stat line and that seems pretty well-balanced. In fact, I don't think any changes in that area are required in order to see Faramir escape from the doom and gloom of the hobby case.

What he misses is a USP, a unique selling point. A rule which helps him stand apart from the huge roster of shiny men of Minas Tirith. I'm not suggesting all of the following at once, but any one of the rules below would help Faramir become more competitive in lists outside of his LL and add extra fluff to his profile:

• Resistant to magic - Faramir is one of only a handful of men who can withstand the power of The One Ring. Resistant to magic is the easiest way to represent this. Further, I don't feel as though any of his men would be swayed by malign influences in the presence of their beloved captain so why not give Gondor warriors within 6" of Faramir resistant to magic too?

• "He was a captain that men would follow, that he [Pippin] would follow, even under the shadow of the black wings.” - The Return of the King. Tolkien makes it clear that Faramir is adored by his men. To represent this in game, I have two options. First, allow all rangers, the core group of Faramir's friends and followers, the opportunity to use Faramir's courage whilst he is alive on the battlefield. This represents his ability to instill belief in his men. Alternatively, allow rangers to use Faramir's stand fast from anywhere on the battlefield. The rangers are used to being deployed in small groups, away from one another, but all of them will follow Faramir's instructions to a fault. 

• An ambush mechanic. With the introduction of goblin mercenaries and the Defenders of the Shire LL, the game has now got a couple of ambush mechanics in place. Allowing models to appear from terrain pieces, this fits perfectly with Faramir and his rangers. Think of the iconic scene where the Mumakil are ambushed or when the rangers appear out of nowhere to restrain Frodo and Sam. I want that in the game! Now first thoughts were Faramir's warband could have the rule, but the thought of 16 models popping up from a terrain piece was a concern so here's my thoughts: If Faramir does not have heavy armour or a shield, up to 6 rangers from his warband may deploy in a terrain piece, or appear in one at the start of one of your move phases. I love the thought of specialist assignments Faramir has given to his boys and it also adds a great tactical dilemma for both players.

• Finally, and this one is more obvious from the perspective of the books, if Faramir and Eowyn are both in combat, and within 12" of each other, one of them may call a free heroic combat. If they are successful, they must end as close as possible to the other. Nice and fluff-friendly, but, given how useful Heroic Action advantage is, a potentially strong addition. It also helps Eowyn appear more often without being in the guise of Dernhelm. 

So there you have it. My thoughts on Faramir and how to push him up the tier list of Gondorian heroes. He is such a great character and I feel he is left in the shadows too often. Let me know your thoughts. Maybe he already offers value I am yet to see or are there other characters in need of the chance to 'show their quality'?

Thanks for reading,

Kieran

The Lay of the Land: Maelstrom of Battle Scenarios

Today we have the first article in a series which takes an in depth look at the different scenarios in the Matched Play Guide. Which scenarios are the most balanced? Which scenarios are accompanied by a well-earned groan in gaming halls across the country when announced? First up is Pool 1, the Maelstrom of Battle scenarios. Scenarios will be given a rating out of 5, based on how balanced, enjoyable and tactical I feel they are. 

What is Maelstrom of Battle?

The one thing all the scenarios in Pool 1 have in common is their deployment style, or lack of really! The Maelstrom rules immediately present a rather divisive topic amongst players of the game we all love so much. In short, the rules dictate that you don't start with your force neatly deployed on the field of battle in their meticulous shield walls but they instead appear on a random table edge based on a D6 during your turns. Risk is attached to this rule as a poor roll can even lead to one of your warbands not yet arriving (roll of a 1) or arriving in a position dictated by your opponent (rolls of 2 or 3). Now you can spend valuable Might points to alter this roll (in fact, one of the few occasions you can use Might to lower a roll), but that's a rather costly sacrifice. Angmar players in particular feel the pain in this situation given their spooky boys are not the mightiest of heroes, most having 0 Might points! 

One other issue with Maelstrom deployment is when considering whether to dust of that cheeky siege engine for your well-crafted army list or not. Given that they have to deploy before the game starts and within 6" of a board edge, I'm sure there are many readers who can recall that sinking feeling when your opponent's army appears within stabbing range of your helpless war machine as your crew men just spend the first turn staring into the abyss of their inevitable doom.

Now, before looking at the 3 scenarios in the pool, it has to be said that the introduction of a pool system does mean that you are now only going to face 1 Maelstrom scenario per tournament (R.I.P Guritz!). This means it has become less of an issue when list building and, for those who mostly play 1 day events like us in the EAHC, there is a strong chance it may not turn up at all. 

Heirlooms of Ages Past

Buried somewhere upon the field of battle is a long-forgotten heirloom of ages past. Having narrowed down its location , the two armies now fight for possession of this relic. However, the powers the powers that linger upon this mysterious object are easily capable of corrupting those who hold it for too long. - Matched Play Guide (pg.20)

Starting straight away with a big one. For me the most controversial scenario in all of the SBG and one I find is accompanied by a chorus of groans and tangible disappointment. For me, this is my least liked scenario. Now I know that is simply my point of view and I welcome anyone who can changed my mind but let me explain why I feel this scenario is flawed, and how to fix it.

Heirlooms is set up with 6 objectives, spread around the battlefield, that could all be the relic in question. So far so good. In their movement phase, players can use an infantry model to uncover the relic. Again, all good. However, next is the crucial issue. When attempting to find the relic, you roll a D6. Anything other than a 6 means that objective is not the relic and the marker is removed. So you have 1/6 of a chance to uncover the relic. Not very likely. Here's what happens in every Heirlooms game I play. Each player secures one objective but neither touch the objectives in questions. Basically, both armies castle up on one objective each. They then spend the rest of the game trying to uncover the rest of the objectives on the off-chance they find the relic. The most likely outcome is that the relic isn't found and both armies just sit back, twiddling their thumbs on the objective they control and refuse the risk the D6 roll as the final objective marker left instantly becomes the relic, most likely giving your opponent 6 VPs (if they control the relic) in the process. The scenario promotes negative gameplay.

So what is the solution? Remove the D6 roll for finding the relic. Make sure that 5 markers have the same image when flipped over and that 1 marker has a unique image, making it the relic. Now this is already available in the General Accessories Pack with the One Ring markers and Gollum on the other side (although paper with 5 crosses and 1 tick would suffice). This way you are promoting positive play. 

For the final VP opportunities (those not related to the relic), we have the the usual broken and leader kill. Worth a possible 4 VPs, both a core to SBG scenarios. However, my frustration with Heirlooms continues with the final way of gaining VPs, having a banner left on the battlefield. For some armies, this is a massive issue. Goblin Town or Moria or Radagast's Alliance spring immediately to mind as they have no access to banners (I'm sure there are others). Fancy playing a scenario where you are 2VPs down before you starts? No, me neither.

Scenario rating: 1/5.

Hold Ground

In the swirl of battle it becomes apparent that a certain, usually insignificant, area of the battlefield has become vital to the victory of both sides. Both forces surge towards this new tactical advantage, desperate to control it. - Matched Play Guide (pg.13)

From the worst scenario to one of the very best. Hold Ground is a great example of a positive, enjoyable scenario for everyone involved. You have the excitement of Maelstrom deployment and the choice of trying to cut off your opponents forces or doing your best impression of The Flash and hightailing it to the centre. The interest and building tension as both your and your opponent are counting models within 6" of the centre every turn and even the random game end when one force is broken continues to ramp of the pressure of the scenario. The games won or lost because the D6 roll to end the game has come at the exact moment needed are always ones you remember, regardless of the way the result falls.

With up to 7VPs for controlling the centre, the tactical priority is clear but you don't feel bottlenecked in how you achieve that. Furthermore, as both armies clash in the middle, tearing each other asunder, the VPs available for leader kills and breaking become an intrinsic and important part of the scenario. Whenever Hold Ground is rolled, whether I think my force is strong for the scenario or will struggle, I'm never disappointed and know I'm in for a fun game.

Scenario rating: 5/5

Command the Battlefield

Two enemy forces are embroiled in a deadlock on the battlefield.Only by gaining control of the grounds they are fighting upon can either side hoe to claim victory. - Matched Play Guide (pg.24)

Command the Battlefield is, tactically, the opposite of Hold Ground. In this scenario it is everything apart from the centre of the battlefield that you are looking to control. With the centre of the battlefield designated as 'Worthless Ground' (anything within 12" of the centre point), it is each table quarter that will give you those sweet VPs. An interesting concept.

Overall, Command the Battlefield is a scenario which makes most armies viable. Fancy a load of horses? Cool. Bringing a daunting gunline? All good. Want to get in your opponent's face and chop them limb from limb with a combat army? Sounds great. Combine this flexibility with the potential chaos of Maelstrom deployment and you have what is shaping up to be a great addition to the scenario list. So surely another 5/5? Erm, well no.

The way the VPs are spread, and the fact it straight up ends at 25%, means there are too many occasions where this scenario is close impossible to win. I said most armies are viable for this one, most not being all. I feel this scenario penalises elite armies far too much. With the VPs based on numbers, if you bring a nice, elite army or even an all-hero A-Team list, most conventional armies with higher numbers will just spread out and win through board control. It's not an auto-loss at all, but is rather too skewed to high numbers and mobility for me to put this at the top of the scenario list. Of course, I am aware that most scenarios favour a certain army build but I feel this scenario is particularly biased. 

Scenario Rating: 3/5

So there we have it, Pool 1 finished. A real mixed bag of scenarios. The Maelstrom pool remind me of a bag of Revels. You might pull out a joyous Malteser, a solid toffee or rue your luck and have to suffer through a coffee creme. 

Think I've got this horribly wrong? Comment below and tell me why.

Kieran

Hero Showdown: One Elf Lord to Rule Them All

Welcome to the inaugural 'At Dawn, Look to the East (Anglia Hobbit Community) blog post! Hopefully this will become a treasure trove of hobby goodness, containing battle reports, army reviews and thoughtful analysis on the Middle Earth SBG we all love. If it doesn't, it will instead be the ramblings of enthusiastic hobbyists that just might contain some useful ideas and thoughts. Either way, it's more hobby material and that can't be a bad thing, right? Anyway, we start with the first in what will hopefully become a series of 'Hero Showdowns'. Enjoy!

Hero Showdown: One Elf Lord to Rule Them All

Today we look at the constant struggle faced by every Rivendell player. Which 'Lord of the West' should be leading your shiny golden elf boys to war? We have 3 contenders for the crown: Gil-Galad, Elrond or Glorfindel. The high-king, the Lord of Rivendell or the slayer of balrogs. All are great choices. However, due to points constraints, it is often the case that you have to pick but one. 

Heroes are the centrepiece of an army and, when you are paying close to 200pts on one, you expect them to do everything. To rank these long-haired killing machines, we need to break down the different aspects of a hero. The following areas are key: killing things, not being killed by things, buffing allies, magic and those special x-factor rules. I'm going to rank each lord from 1st to 3rd in each area, with a 1st place awarding 3 points, 2nd getting 2 and 3rd only 1. At the end, only one elf will reign supreme!

Killing Power

What better way to start than looking at how many orcs your glorious leader is going to cleave in two? Before we go into specifics, it is important to note that all three heroes get access to a horse, all three have the Lord of the West special rule and all three have access to Heroic Strike. That means that, without looking at individual stat lines, all the contenders have got key offensive rules in their favour. 

Let's start with Gil-Galad, the OG high-king himself. 3 attacks, fight value 9 and strength 4. Wow! What a statline! 3 attacks is the gold standard, add an attack on the charge whilst mounted and you're looking at double strikes against infantry models. That's a big tick for Gil-Galad. But it gets better! Fight value 9. Insane. Most heroes won't even strike up to FV9 and, for those occasions you're a little worried, just strike up yourself for a guaranteed fight 10. But wait, that's a valuable might point spent to only increase fight value by 1. It's all good! With 'Blood and Glory' you get a might point back for heroes killed anyway. Strength 4 is solid. Not amazing but not bad. And then you notice that Gil wields Aiglos: an elven-made spear with plus 1 to wound. Suddenly, he is effectively strength 6 and wins tied fights on a 3-6.

Elrond Half-Elven goes next. He also sports the required 3 attacks at strength 4. Good start but then you notice he's only fight value 6! That's less than a pale orc with one arm. Don't get me wrong, fight 6 is where most strong Good heroes sit but it seems poor compared to Gil-Galad. You'll be striking more often, burning through more might, and Elrond has no fancy rule to get his might back. Flat strength 4 means 5s to kill most troops in the game too. Hadhafang (his sword) offers a niche bonus against spirits but it rarely that impactful. A solid choice but often blunted.

Finally, the balrog slayer himself. The guy so powerful in the lore that his inclusion in the film would have made everyone wonder why they just didn't give him the job of taking the ring to Mordor himself so they left him out, Glorfindel. Once again, 3 attacks at strength 4 like his Elven kin. At fight 7, Glorfindel outshines Elrond and that small increase helps to push him above most other heroes. Other than that, Glorfindel lacks any special fancy rules to turn him into more of an Elven blender.

Gil-Galad - 1st

Elrond - 2nd

Glorfindel - 3rd

Not Being Chopped Up

Back to Gil. 3 wounds, defence 7 and access to a shield for defence 8 (why would you not?), he makes a fine start. Combine that with his amazing fight value, he rarely loses fights to be wounded anway. But there is one glaring drawback. One factor that make you wince a little when reading his stats. 1 fate point. Oh dear! One cheeky wound and you have a 50% chance of giving up VPs if he is your leader. His access to Heroic Defence is handy, although you are probably not using it, it is useful to have. Finally, like all the other candidates, he causes terror. Handy to avoid being swamped and helps mess up your opponent's plans.

What about Elrond? Well this time he gets the better of his esteemed friend, Gil. Take heavy armour you're defence 7. Not quite as high as Gil-Galad but most things still need 6s to wound. Then you see 3 fate points. Wonderful and this makes him very sturdy. But it gets better! The small piece of precious metal wrapped around his finger, elven ring Vilya, lets you reroll fate points. Now that is excellent. Add in Heroic Defence and you have a tricky stone to budge.

Finally, Glorfy-boy. 3 wounds and 3 fate. Lovely! Heroic defence is missing but that is a questionable loss. His big plus though is the Armour of Gondolin. Suddenly he is defence 7 and can't be targeted by brutal power attacks. Run him into that annoying fell beast or troll and feel pretty confident your glorious elf-man will not be torn limb from limb by a rending monster.

Elrond - 1st

Glorfindel - 2nd

Gil-Galad - 3rd 

Buffing Allies

Gil-Galad only marches to war with the best. And by best, I mean King's Guard. 1 points upgrade to high elf warriors for fight value 6. Yes please. That moment when your lowly foot troop beats the Witch-King, Gothmog or Shagrat in a straight up fight: Priceless. 

Fancy a load of Elven archers on horseback with lances, all of which don't count to the bow limit? Elrond is your man. The ability to unlock all mounted Rivendell knight lists is a powerful one. Not an easy army to play but buffing Rivendell knights so they don't count towards bow limit has a high reward to those skillful enough to pull it off.

And then Glorfindel. Well, he subscribes to the 'if you want something done, do it yourself' school of thought, offering no force multiplying bonuses.

Gil-Galad - 1st

Elrond - 2nd

Glorfindel - 3rd

Magic

With no magic of his own, no resistant to magic and the standard 3 will points, magic is Gil-Galad's worst nightmare. When you see a ringwraith or two on the other side of the board, know that you're in for a lot of turns of Gil staring aimlessly at his shoes, transfixed.

Now Elrond, he takes the Elven lord magic gold medal. A solid 3 will points supports his ability to cast 2 spells, Wrath of Bruinen and Renew. Despite the nerf to the Wrath of Bruinen, the opportunity to knock down a large swathe of enemy troops (now within 3") whilst adding the small chance to kill them is still very useful. Renew, less so, save your will for a key Wrath. 

If Elrond is gold medallist of magic, Glorfindel is the gold medallist of anti-magic. No spells of his own but, with his Unbending Resolve rule, he gets two free resist dice, always. Amazing! Whilst his fellow ancient Elven lords stand around staring into the sky under the spell of evil-doers, Glorfindel heartily laughs as he chops off his enemies' heads!

Glorfindel - 1st (should an anti-magic hero win the magic round? Probably not but he did!)

Elrond - 2nd

Gil-Galad - 3rd

X-Factor Rules

This round is all about special little rules which make your heroes better across a range of areas. For Gil-Galad, his 12" stand fast and Hero of Legend status is very valuable for when you reach the nitty-gritty part of the fighting. It's also worth once again mentioning Blood and Glory. Earning back a late might point for a key Heroic Move is invaluable.

Elrond is known for his incredible foresight and, as long as the dice gods are not being fickle, you can gain up to 6 foresight points used to modify his player's priority roll. Again, the chance to give yourself priority at a key moment of the game is huge. It can help you dictate the tempo of the game or force an opponent into using valuable might points. 

What about Glorfindel? Well, his big x-factor rule (other than Unbending Resolve) is his access to a glorious 12" move fleetfoot (can move through woods unhindered) horse in the form of Asfaloth. Combine that with his horse lord to keep Asfaloth alive and you have a very mobile hero who can flank unsuspecting opponents by going on an impromptu stroll through the forest.

Glorfindel - 1st

Elrond - 2nd

Gil-Galad - 3rd

Results

Gil-Galad - 9

Elrond - 11

Glorfindel - 10

So there you have it, Elrond is the one elf lord to rule them all! It was an incredibly close fought battle and, in reality, they are all fine choices. Elrond is, theoretically, the most well-rounded but each of them has their place in leading a Rivendell roster.

I hope you enjoyed the read and looking through my ramblings. Please comment any of your own ideas, constructive criticism or feedback. 

Thanks,

Kieran