It’s August, and that means it’s time for the latest FAQ and Designer’s Commentary for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. We caught up with the head loremaster of Middle-earth, Jay Clare, to find out what has changed this time around.
Jay: The second of our biannual FAQ updates has landed. There are numerous Middle-earth events going on around the world, and more and more players hitting the tables to do battle with their favourite armies. As always, the Middle-earth team has been keeping a close eye on the results – and on any rules debates that have occurred during this time.
We’ve noticed a couple of things recently that we wanted to address, both to help the balance of the game and to promote the themes of Middle-earth – which is always the driving force behind the Strategy Battle Game.
Assault on Lothlórien
The Assault on Lothlórien Legendary Legion is one that we are seeing grace the top tables regularly. While that in itself isn’t an issue, players tend to forgo the theme of the list in order to gain a tactical advantage. This list is intended to represent the Orc army sent by Sauron to assail Lothlórien, which was then joined by a selection of Moria Goblins. However, we are noticing that the majority of players opt to take as many Goblins as possible and leave out the Orcs almost entirely.
We have added a couple of rules to adjust how this army needs to be built. First, Muzgúr must now be taken as your army’s leader, as he is in overall command of the force. Second, you may no longer have more Goblin models than Orcs. This list is now a joint alliance of Orcs and Goblins, rather than Goblins allied with a handful of Orcs.
Master of Lake-town
Another type of list that’s on the rise is armies of low-points Warriors with cheap Heroes allied with one or two big Heroes from other lists. This is particularly prevalent for the Army of Lake-town, where the Master of Lake-town, Alfrid, Braga, and three warbands of Lake-town Guard are commonly joined by the likes of Gwaihir, Glorfindel, or Saruman, who are then used as the army’s leader.
To combat these unthematic armies, the Master of Lake-town has gained a new rule – “Who would have the nerve to question my authority?”. This forces the Master of Lake-town to be the army’s leader, regardless of Heroic Tier, and also means that in a Convenient Alliance (or lower) he counts as a Hero of Fortitude. So, if you want to take some Lake-town Guard in your army, they will need to be led by the Master of Lake-town, rather than someone who never visited Esgaroth.
In The Way
Another issue concerns flying creatures and In The Way rolls. Over the history of the Strategy Battle Game there have been a number of classic models for the likes of Ringwraiths on Fell Beasts or Great Eagles, yet depending on the one you own, it can gain a significant advantage in regards to In The Way tests.
We didn’t feel this was fair, and have altered the In The Way rules slightly to mean that only models with the Monster, Siege Engine or War Beast keyword can count as In The Way when targeting a Monster model with Fly or a War Beast.
Other Balance Tweaks
We have also taken this opportunity to rebalance a couple of other lists that are performing slightly above where we expect them to be. The Assault Upon Helm’s Deep Legendary Legion is the first, so now Isengard Assault Ballistae only re-roll 1s To Hit and Scatter rather than re-rolling any result. The second is the Beornings, which have seen their Great Resilience roll increased from a 5+ to a natural 6.
We’re confident that these tweaks, and the others included in this month’s Designer’s Commentary, will make for even better experiences. We’ll see you for our next update in February 2024!
Cheers Jay! Head on over to the FAQs page now to download the free PDF updates for your Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game publication of choice.