Ghostly Reinforcements - How the spirits of MESBG play

s mentioned in previous posts, my focus this year is to build off of the core of troops I've built for various factions to increase the options available to me in various lists, adding new tricks and strategies. For the first batch, I've gone with some of the spirit models of MESBG, and we'll start with perhaps the simplest...

 

The Army of the Dead 

 

The dead men of Dunharrow got a bit of a glow up in the new edition, namely with that 8" movement rate. With the Spectral Walk ability supporting this, allowing them to never be slowed by Difficult Terrain and auto-pass Climb, Jump, Leap and Swim as if they'd rolled sixes, they are some of the most maneoverable troops in the game. Depending on the terrain, they can arguably out-move cavalry, something you only really otherwise see from Uruk-hai scouts or flying creatures.

Whilst they are only F3 base (boosted to F4 rarely), their speed, Terror and D7 (D8 with Shield) really allow them to pick and choose their fights and survive bad situations much better than anything outside of Dwarves. Where they do win, expect them to do damage as well, with Blades of the Dead allowing them to attack the Courage value rather than the (usually higher) Defence value. Assuming you aren't facing pjama elves (who outfight the Dead and actually have higher Defence against them), you should have a good chance of winning any infantry grind, even with your likely lower numbers.

In any list they are present (Defenders of the Pelennor and Return of the King) they will also always be accompanied by at least one of the Three Hunters and/or the King of the Dead, offering a wonderful boost where they'll often be the anvil to the heroes' hammer. 

In Return of the King, the Dead are your entire force both mounted and on foot. They will support the heroes perhaps more than the other way around though, with movement, high defence and Terror allowing them to be a strong screening force for letting the tag team of Aragorn and the King of the Dead to put pressure where they needs to and avoid being surrounded. At the same time, they can quickly and efficiently get to objectives or board edges without even needing March in a lot of cases.

For supporting the Dead themselves, in Pelennor they can be joined by F4 troops from Gondor, various cavalry options for the knockdown, and ranged firepower with various bows, throwing weapons and even siege weapons. There's also the option of Gandalf the White for magical support. In this list, the Dead will often be either your shock troops or a core part of your battleline, albeit an expensive one that has to compete with Gondor troops for the role.

Pelennor is also the only way to run a pure Dunharrow list, should you want to.

That latter list is where I will be using them. I'm only painting up 7 for now, but at 14pts a pop (15 with the shield) that's at least 100pts already, with the added tax of needed Legolas, Gimli or the King at minimum to field them (all 100pts base) it's a decent investment to field them. They will work well as a strike force for my Pelennor lists, which are currently a mix of Rohan Cavalry, Gondor shieldwalls and a smattering of support pieces such as Lossarnach Axemen and a single Bolt Thrower.

For the painting, I went with a light grey primer, then picked out the metals with Vallejo's Natural Steel. Everything was washed with a Citadel's Biel-Tan Green Shade.

 

Spectres

Spectres are the perhaps the closest match Evil Armies have the the Army of the Dead, but one that trades combat ability for support ability.

They match the Dead with the Spectral Walk, Terror and S3 Blades of the Dead abilities, which is nice, but move slower at 6" and are F2 and D6, one point less in each of these stats and with no option for a shield (or any other wargear for that matter). Costing the same as a Warrior of the Dead with a Shield, that's not exactly something you want to field as your main battleline.

Instead, the Spectres strength is in its A Fell Light is in Them ability. In the move phase each Spectre can force any single model it can see within 12" to pass an Intelligence test or be forced to make its full move towards the Spectre. There are some limitations to this, such as the move cannot be used to directly cause damage by falling or Charge into combat (except against the Spectre, should you wish it), but it remains a powerful ability.

Spectres can pull models out of formation, perhaps ruining a Shieldwall defence bonus, preventing shooting or even simply allowing your own troops to mob up and surround one of the opponent's warriors away from the battleline. You can pull a banner bearer out of position, or an objective holder into a trap.

Of course, it can always fail, especially if the opponent has high Intelligence stats (especially the case with heroes), but 2 or 3 Spectres could all target the same model and through sheer pressure of dice, move them forwards and cause disruption in the opponent's formation that you can capitalise on.

I've just built one for now, the base model being a Wood Elf warrior with an arm from the Mirkwood Rangers sprue, a spare sword and a mix of cuts and greenstuff to ruin the clothing. Painting was done in the same fashion as the Dead above, but I chose to include a Reikland Fleshshade wash on the areas of skin. It's a sublte different but I like it.

I'll be definitely adding more Spectres to my armies, as I feel they are key parts of the Angmar and Minas Morgul lists. I plan to run the former more often, as I already have a decent number of Orcs and Carn Dum warriors that can really benefit from some movement shenanigans.

 

 Shade  

 

The final new addition I have for this batch is the Shade. Unlike the previous profiles, this one is a Hero, but still shares the trifecta of Spectral Walk, Terror and Blades of the Dead. Like it's compatriot the Spectre, it is certainly not a combat piece, F1 and S1 don't go very far even with 2 Attacks. It is at least survivable, sporting D8, a healthy 3 Wounds and even a single Fate point.

Instead, the Shade is firmly a Support Hero, with three abilities for helping your list.

Starting with Conduit of Angmar, the Shade can be used as the casting point and Line-of-Sight for any Ringwraith's magic, similar to Crebain for Saruman. This goes further as well, where if the Wraith happens to be within 6" of the Shade, they can cause a Wound to add a one to their Casting Roll. The first half of this roll is lovely and really helps keep the magical oppression going on your opponent, as it's tough to hide from multiple angles. The second half is likely to be rarely used outside of key moments where a spell could win or lose games, but should be remembered, even if it costs you the Shade itself.

Swirling Mists is a lesser version of Blinding Light (perhaps more akin to Khazad-Dum's mirrors), and inflicts a -1 penalty to shooting attacks on models with 6" of the Shade at the cost of one of its 4 points of Will. Very useful when your lists typically comprise in majority of D4 and D5 Orcs. As an added bonus, if your Shade happens to be within 12" of the shooter it becomes a -2 penalty instead, favouring an up-close playstyle.

Finally, the Shade has Ghostly Resolve, a passive ability that gives all friendly Angmar Orcs within 12" a +1 to Courage Tests. With Orcs being as famously cowardly as they are, this at least brings them up to being on par with most Man warrior profiles and will help in those cases where the opponent also has some Terror.

These three abilities are great of course, but that's not where the fun ends. Being a Spirit Hero, it will usually provide the Terror rule to Angmar Orcs within 3" and it also has Dominant 3. These rules and it's defensive stats all come together to help make the Shade and its warband a decent enough speedbump for holding objectives. It's a solid Hero for just 75pts and I look forward to taking one in a Host of the Witch King list some point soon.

I quite like GW's official model, but ever on a budget I settled instead for building my own using some Age of Sigmar ghosts (nighthaunts?) that I picked a sprue of by random a few years back. I fused two of these together with a bit of greenstuff, removing the scythe-hands and replacing them with simple hand weapons from the Vitrix Vikings sprue. Once again, I used the same painting style.

 

Where are the Barrow Wights?

Whilst there are more Spirit models in the MESBG range, most of the rest of them are Ringwraiths and they are kind of their own beasts. The last proper ghost model is the Barrow Wight, which I've not included here. This is partly because I don't have any of the official models and have had no real ideas on how to properly represent them with the parts I have on hand. They will have to wait for a later date to join my forces. 

They are still a useful part of any Angmar list, and sport the wildly useful Paralyse Magical Power. This is one of those more controversial abilities in MESBG, especially when used en-masse, but not one that cannot be played around or countered, especially with the tiny 6" casting range. Still, that's not for a deep discussion now.

 

Thank you for your time once again. If you like what I do here, you can also follow my hobby progress via Instagram, where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying, or you can support me via the KoFi link off to the side. In any case, just your support being here is greatly appreciated, and I hope to see you again.

Until next time! 

  

  

A Ranger Caught off his Guard 2026

It's been officially a full year since my first MESBG tournament experience, and I've returned once again to that very event; Board in Brum's A Ranger Caught off his Guard. If you haven't seen last year's post (Read here), or just don't remember, the format is very simple. Five games at 395pts, with a minimum model cap of 3 and a maximum of 40.

The points level was chosen quite simply to reflect the Road to Rivendell list mirroring the scene in which the tournament's title is spoken. Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, alongside Arwen riding Asfaloth, clocks in at a 395pts.

Last year I took a Riders of Theoden list, headed by Theoden and Eomer. I struggled to get much in the way of success, but learned a lot. This year, after a rather successful 7th place result at A Pull of the Old Toby with the Grey Company, I figured I would take the Rangers again and see if I could not replicate the success. 

The List

The Grey Company is an elite list. At the previous event I'd crammed Aragorn and Legolas and 8 Rangers into 500pts, with a few bits of equipment dotted around. The 105pts difference was going to really hurt my numbers...

Seven models is incredibly low. I expected to be outnumbered in any case, especially packing two named heroes into the list, but with an average model count for the event of 21, I would later end up being outnumbered 3-1 and even 4-1. The Elven cloaks were a must for ensuring Aragorn and Legolas could act without being overly impeded, especially as neither could take armour (as Aragorn can't and I couldn't afford Leggy's). It was also a shame I couldn't spring for Aragorn's bow, but with some consideration and looking at the expected scenarios, I needed him either marching for objectives or otherwise chopping things up with Anduril.

Spears I was happy to do without, especially at these numbers, but I did miss the armour on my Rangers a little bit, as there were a number of occasions the extra Defence would have saved a wound. It can really be a pricey investment in most Ranger lists, and the extra body (and Might) is usually better, but I always slot in a few bits of armour if the points allow, just to avoid that Str 4 where I can.

The Scenarios

Once list submission was complete, the TO's released which scenarios we would be playing. This was nice as I was able to familiarise myself with each one and prep a little game plan for each. It would be match-up dependant of course, but having a couple of ideas of how to deploy and move in the early turns pre-loaded the thinking for the games. It also helped me keep the Scoring Objectives in mind, something I can forget in the thick of things. 

Round 1 - Lead from the Front
Round 2 - Divide and Conquer
Round 3 - Destroy the Supplies
Round 4 - Conquest of Champions
Round 5 - Capture and Control

Four objective based scenarios. Two with random endings on a Break. No Maelstrom. 

It felt like a fairly hero-centric day, which on the surface felt good with a full hero list. But we'd have to see how my planning survived first contact.

 

Round 1 - Edd Quick's The Last Alliance

Edd was a lovely chap and a newcomer to the venue. He'd brought Isildur and Erestor with a mixed Elf-Numenorean battleline and a small cadre of Elven Bowmen. The army looked lovely with a nice lava-riddled basing scheme and display board. (Sorry for no photos on this report, I completely forgot!)

The early game was entirely shaped around us fearing each other's archery. Five Elf Bows vs Legolas and five ranger bows. Using buildings as cover, I advanced a Ranger up each side at half-pace, with Aragorn leading a small group up the left-side centre. Legolas took up a spot on a balcony, but would be unable to get a shot for 3 or 4 turns. Isildur led the majority of the battleline wide to my right, once again skirting a building completely out of shot, though I was able to fire a few arrows his way, the stilts of the Laketown-style building offered too many In-the-Ways to get much bow fire through.

Arrows caused a couple of casualties on either side, with me heavily relying on In-the-Ways to avoid damage. Eventually the battleline came into view and I was able to start working on my plan, focus-fire the banner, taking pot-shots at Isildur where I could as both would give me VPs. 

The banner would ultimately last right up till the final rounds, including surviving two rounds of combat with Aragorn, who seemingly forgot how Anduril worked. Neither King of Gondor would see combat against each other, only expending Fate to avoid wounds, and I think we were both concerned about how that fight could go badly for us.

Eventually, Isildur would put on the Ring on take the right-hand objective, contested by a Ranger. I held the centre, with Erestor and a Ranger contesting the left. A tie for objective points

The final score was 9-6, owing to me quartering his list down to just the two heroes and an archer or two, and killing the banner to grant us both the 2VPs there.

A fun game that I actually wonder how it could've gone had Edd been more aggressive with his battleline, but his concern was valid as I believe I shot out as many of his troops as I slew in combat. An Aragorn-Isildur face of could've been interesting, especially with the Ring, but far too risky for either of us. I do hope we can face each other again in the future.

 

Round 2 - Edward Hodges' Khazad-Dum

The second Ed of the day, Edward is someone I've actually played a number of times at other events and have always lost to his dwarves, including at Old Toby with my Rangers. 

Divide and Conquer was good for me. Ed had a Dwarf King and a Captain, leading some 25 dwarves split between Khazad Guard, Dwarf Warriors and his own, arguably much more deadly Rangers. The deployment would force him to split his force in two, whereas whilst my list was built with four warbands (Aragorn + 2 Rangers, Legolas + 1 Ranger and two solo drops), the army rules gave me the option to deploy as a single warband.

I considered splitting so that the two solo drops were on the far side of the board, but opted instead to consolidate my position. The game had a chance to end on a Break, and the objectives rewarded taking and holding the centre. Being outnumbered 3-1 by dwarves, I kept my plan simple. Aragorn would take some Rangers and rush towards the Captain, whilst Legolas would try to snipe out the King's own Dwarf Rangers, trying to get them before they got into range of the more centrally deployed mirrors. If I got the chance, I would try to shoot his King as well. I'd worked out that if I could wipe the Captain's warband, I'd only need to kill a few of the King's warband to break him, and the smaller warband would be much easier to deal with.

Running up on some terrain, Aragorn's team avoided bowfire whilst also trading the odd arrow. Eventually they got stuck in a slowly ground through dwarves, with the Captain giving Aragorn a wide berth, especially as he'd spent all of his Might on Marches. Legolas succeeded in removing most of the dangerous longbows with a Ranger's support, though had to keep backing up as several dwarves were trying to hunt him down.

Eventually I broke him and started maneouvering to grab objectives whilst Aragorn tried to run at the King. His Captain pounced on a Ranger, almost coming unstuck in one round as I rolled doubled 6's to wound, saved only by Fate, and angrily struck down his opponent the following turn. Legolas had lost his Ranger pal also, but between them had taken out the Khazad's, only for him to lose every fight against the Dwarf Warrior remaining. 

The game ended as expected before I could get to the King. The scores totted up to an extremely close 6-5, and on reflection it was a matter of the Captain being a mere half inch out of range of contesting an objective, and one of my Rangers passing a Fate roll either of which would have called it a draw, and both flipping the score in Ed's favour.

Always a fun person to play against, and I look forwards to hopefully evening up our relative win-loss ratio at future events.

 

Round 3 - Matthew Hare's Halls of Thranduil

Destroy the Supplies was perhaps my least anticipated scenario for the entire day. I lacked the model count to sufficiently defend my objectives as well as target my opponents and realistically had to just try and trade out. Matthew's list had both the Elk and three cavalry though so I would be heavily outmatched in terms of speed. 

Naturally the game started with the elves doing their level-best to avoid being shot at, whilst I tried to manoeuvre to target the horses and Thranduil himself. With a large ruin offering a lot of cover, he was able to push his battleline forwards, though thankfully not without casualty. He flanked me with two cavalry, and although with some luck I was able to dispatch them with the lone guard Ranger, he was still able to destroy my supply on the the right-flank.

When combat was joined, Aragorn yet again got stuck in, with Thranduil skirting the melee and picking off Rangers whilst Legolas tried desperately wound his dad or his mount with PinPoint shots, but failed to make an impact.

Eventually, the superior numbers and mobility of the Elves won out, and he completely destroyed all of my supplies. Aragorn made a break for one of his supplies, with Heroic Combats, but was a full turn away when one of my Rangers decided he'd had enough of the multi-turn melee he was in and took out the two Palace Guard with a double 6 roll, quartering them and ending the game before Aragorn could get where he needed to be.

This was my first loss, 3-11. My only points came from breaking his army and him not having a banner, and with 3 supplies destroyed to zero, a clear loss. I always like to analyse my losses to understand what I could've done better and I do wonder if it was simply more of a deployment issue. Feinting left with a solo Ranger and deploying on the right would have given me much more clear firing lines, and I had the advantage in firepower as his list only had a Sentinel and a single Mirkwood Ranger in it for range. I'd have still needed to give up perhaps two objectives, but may have been able to draw Thranduil and his cavalry out earlier. 

Ifs and buts, and lessons learned. Matthew would later go on take 3rd place in the overall tournament, so I'll take it on the chin losing to a solid player. Well done to him!

 

Game 4 - Jack Buckler's Army of Thror

Hot off of the FAQ presses, Jack had bought the Army of Thror with it's new 50% throwing weapon limit. Contest of Champions is definitely Aragorn's chance to shine, but with the deployment forcing us to be close and the dwarves outnumbering me 2-1, this would be a struggle. Jack is another player I've faced before, where I'd take a close win against his Radagast's Alliance by utterly abusing the terrain, so I knew he was another tough player to face.

The game started with an Heroic Move-off, which I believe he won (my memory is getting foggy the day after). The line clashed quickly, and only Legolas and a couple of Rangers avoided turn 1 combat due to being deployed slightly back. We fought between two terrain pieces, which levelled the numbers initially, but several of his dwarves scaled the cliffs to the right and as the battlelines shifted, he began to start enveloping the Grey Company. 

Legolas spent much of the game once again using Pinpoint shots to attempt to avoid traps, whilst my Rangers slowly dropped one by one. In the centre, Aragorn and Thror clashed for multiple turns, Thror surviving a good few turns thanks to poor Wound rolls on my behalf and some great Arkenstone Fate rolls on Jack's. Eventually however, Aragorn remembered how his sword worked again and got a triple wound through.

With the score 1-0 on kills, Aragorn tried his best to boost the score, but was only able to kill one more Grim Hammer before Legolas was taken down and I was left quartered, ending the game.

Final score was 13-3. I don't have much to say about this game tactically, as it was just pure slog fest. Perhaps give room I could've backed off and gotten in a round or two of shooting, but the lines were so close this was unlikely to have scored more than a single wound and may have meant Thror could've gotten into my Rangers instead of Aragorn. The terrain was also helpful as it was, so all I can do is thank my dice and move on to the last round.

 

Round 5 - Dale Groves' Goblin Town

The final round, and I'm riding high, with three wins to my name, despite my low VPs so far, a 4-1 ratio could see me contesting the podium (post tourney I realise it've been a likely 5th place, but still worth pushing for!) Dale, as the TO of the event had to juggle a little bit of his duties with the game early on, but the event is really run well and he was able to focus on the match. Good stuff that he still gets to play!

If I thought I'd been outnumbered before, Dale was about to reteach me the meaning of the word. With the Goblin King, two Captains and 33 goblin warriors, it was the most outnumbered I'd been all day, and the Goblin Town's propensity for surrounding you with hordes was especially dangerous with my own low model count.

I realised early on I'd have to give up and then fight my way to the objectives, but also would need to try and deal with the Goblin King. To this end, I set up in two rough groups, with a solo ranger skirting Weathertop off to my left flank to try for that side's objectives. I ended up having Legolas across from the King and Aragorn across from one of the Captains.

Early game shooting was poor, and the few shots Legolas put into the King were all saved. Very few goblins fell as they skittered over the objectives, and even as I backed away with Legolas' group they kept coming and I soon found every model I had in combat. 

Unfortunately, things continued to go wrong for me. The goblins fell slowly despite their low defences as the dice just did not want to cooperate and a number of times I roll 5 high against sixes and was forced to spend Might just to not have the Grey Company drown in dice. Pinpoint shots continued to bounce off of the King and he took out the Rangers and then finally Legolas through sheer pressure, the Elf Prince never getting a single wound on him.

On the other side, Aragorn's band lasted longer, and mostly chopped up their own goblin horde, but as I broke, with Aragorn and that single flanking Ranger each in position to reach an objective, the random chance to end roll came and I rolled yet another two.

The final score was 16-1, with my sole point coming from breaking the Goblins. That last point could've really turned the tide had there been a turn or two for Courage tests, but alas. Dale took a well deserved win and got a solid fourth place in the tournament overall. It's funny how my two losses for the day were against top 4 players. 

Looking back, I'm trying to think how I could've fought this different. I probably should've sent Aragorn straight at the King, but it would've been tricky to ensure he didn't get surrounded and I didn't want to get into a situation where a bad roll would see him dead. Perhaps overly cautious however. The other thing is my deployment, splitting the horde into three did work out but I do wonder how running as a solid block my have helped to avoid being surrounded. Using the terrain would've really helped and the Weathertop ruins would've been a prime location to defend and stymie their numbers. 

Regardless, I could not have stayed there the whole game, and would've had to wade out to catch the objectives sooner or later.

 

Round Up

At the day's end I sat in 16th position with 3 wins to my name, and I'm very happy with that. Sure there are things I could improve, and that may have resulted in more decisive victories to give me a higher position. Still, whilst I did have the power of Aragorn and Legolas on my side, I was able to take a mere 7 models in a non-meta list to another damn good showing and I'm proud of that.

Biased as I am as it's my local, I will also always recommend Board In Brum's MESBG events, they're well run and the players that show up are a damn good bunch, so check it out if you have the chance.

Next event is the April Doubles event at BiB, Best Bit of the Book, to which I've already aluded to be attending with my girlfriend. Hobby progress on that one soon.

Once again though, thanks for reading. If you want to follow my hobby progress, Instagram is always the best shout where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying, but for now, take care and catch you next time.

FAQ Feelings and Future Wishes

It's February again and that means one thing for MESBG; FAQ time. With over a year of the new edition, there's been plenty of time for the game developers to gather data and make some balance changes. Going into this, the GBHL marks some clear targets with the lists that are topping the tables and many podiums, or otherwise looming large in many a player's mind, so let's see what we got...

FAQ February 2026

Army of the White Hand

The FAQ targets two of the pain points for opponents of this list; Saruman's Lightning spell and Grima Wormtongue. The former is quite simple, and is tied to the latter. Saruman can't target his lightning within 12" of Grima. Not a bad change, and one that doesn't reduce the potency of the ability. Rather, the player now has to consider positioning a little more, as 12" isn't an unsubstantial radius. The optimum position for the lightning likely does have some overlap with Grima's optimum position.

We may find Grima deploying with his own side much more often now, or conversely much less lightning usage, as the opponent can clump around Wormtongue simply to prevent the lightning. 

Much in the same vein, we've had multiple clarifications on Grima himself. First, for Reconnoitre and Maelstrom deployment, he must pre-select the warband he is joining and move on after that warband has completely moved on. Simple and clear.

He's also had his movement clarified, with how he interacts with control zones and how both he and the opposing forces can move through each other so long as they do not overlap bases at the end of a move, or remain in base contact. This adds a bit to the mind game of playing with and against Grima. Careful planning and spacing could see him blocking key areas of a formation, or alternatively, a canny player could block him from being able to get close enough to use his Wormtongue ability on a specific hero.

Finally, the rule that specified that Grima would no longer be considered "Friendly" when Saruman was slain has took a nerf to instead occur when Saruman takes a unsaved wound. A much simpler task, though smart players are already keeping Saruman safely sequestered in the back line, you can aim to hit with a sneaky arrow or two simply to rid yourself of Grima.

It's a fair bit, and I would say it ultimately increases Grima's skill ceiling whilst also make him much more manageable for an opposing player to deal with. It had long been a thing where he was basically impossible to deal with unless you had magic like of your own, so this is a welcome way to level the playing field without completely neutering Grima. 

Unfortunately, no changes to the Crebain spam, maybe next time...

Dragons

The Dragons saw one simple nerf, and it's a nice one in my opinion. The Breathe Fire ability still does a Str10 Insta-kill hit to the main target, but rather than also doing the same to everything within 2", it now gives them the Set Ablaze status instead. It vastly reduces the sheer power of the attack, but in a way that you'll still want to avoid clumping up. Str 5 hits will still hurt most things on a 4 or a 5+ and that will do so every turn unless you can afford two turns of reduced movement and the risk of being caught prone just to put it out.

A good change I think. Dragons aren't nearly as popular as some of the other options, but they remain devastating without being oppressively so.

Eagles

The other big monsters on the FAQ docket, Eagles have been the big bad boogeymen of MESBG since the new edition launched. No other list has been so consistently ruled against, with many tournaments levelling the points to put them at a disadvantage. The salt this single list has caused in the community is legendary and perhaps slightly overblown, but they were a tough list to beat and the big bird screech ability was the core to this with how it affected the opponent's ability to act.

The Piercing Cry rule has been specified to being those models that activate within 6" of Gwaihir on the turn it was used, and to only prevent charges, not movement entirely. There had been some community confusion as to at what point in Gwaihir's move the cry took affect, so this is a clear state of that now. How this affects the feel of what is still a fairly impactful ability, I'm not sure. It will always feel bad to be locked in place against a hyper-mobile army of monsters, but I wouldn't be surprised if the community continues to regulate the Eagles out of the majority of tournaments, especially with the (quite frankly ridiculous) reaction against players who choose to take them in spite of the restrictions.

It's not the only change to Eagles however, but the other is indirect and we'll get to it in a bit.

Depths of Moria

Perhaps the strongest list in the leagues going right now is the Depths of Moria, almost always being fielded with a Balrog. One of the big reasons for this is the board-wide banner affect from Drums in the Deep. Even with the Balrog's fairly steep points-cost, Moria Goblins are cheap enough to field in a fairly decent horde and were essentially all two-attacks base, vastly improving their combat reliability. The courage bonus didn't hurt either.

With what is perhaps the single biggest nerf in the FAQ, this has gone from a permanent passive ability for the list to a single-turn activatable buff much akin to For Frodo as an example.

On the surface this feels good. The ability completely removed any need for the old Goblin drums in the list and brings the ability very much in line with other lists' abilities. It's still available to the list at a 75pts tax and reduced range as well, which will cut into the horde a little, but retain the feel of the list.

That said, a counterpoint is that it removes the reliability that Goblins did have enough that now the list is much more reliant on the Balrog (and to a lesser extent the Watcher) for list power. 

I will be watching with interest to see if we get a spike of Drum usage or if the list continues to top the tables simple due to the power of Durin's Bane...

Army of Thror

Surprise of surprises the FAQ includes a buff! Whilst the top lists needed addressing, it heartens me to see one of the lesser used lists have something to hopefully bring it closer to the median. It's a small change, but it's something, and the list now can have 50% throwing weapons instead of the typical 33%. Nothing ground-breaking, but I wonder if the new list-building flexibility it affords will see more Thrors on the tables.

Barge

There are a couple of other small changes and clarifications, but the last thing I want to cover is the update to the Barge Brutal Power Attack. This is the other change that affects Eagles. 

Boiling it down, if models are forced to Make Way for models Backing Away from the monster's Barge, they can now move up to 3" in a direction of the monster player's choosing, but must move only the minimum distance required to make the space required, and won't be knocked prone if it is able to do so.

This change really reduces the affects of the Barge, preventing monsters from scattering whole battlelines to the winds, without also stopping them from moving as they want to. This is solidly a good change, and monsters will remain powerful regardless.

Final Thoughts on the FAQ and Wishlisting

Despite the incredibly long wait, I really feel this FAQ hit the sweet spot of subtle yet impactful changes to the meta. Nothing has been absolutely destroyed or neutered, but power has been reduced just enough to have an effect. Hitting four of the biggest threats in the competitive scene has been brilliant. 

My first wish is that it would have been great to see this FAQ's more than twice a year. Even once every three months if this is the scale would perhaps be better, and it's not as if the game designers have to do all the data gathering themselves, as the MESBG community has weekly updates in blogs, videos and tournament stats to pour through and assess. We're unlikely to ever see it, so instead I simply hope that we continue to see FAQs like this one.

Next is that Men of the West and Khazad-Dum seem almost glaring in its omission from being addressed. How either list would be altered (or even if they would be needed) is a whole discussion in itself, but when I think of the top lists, they're up there. Hopefully the changes don't see either list move too clearly into the top spot and instead we see a more balanced spread of podium lists.

Finally, I would like to see more of the changes like what the Army of Thror got. Small little buffs that make the more attractive, or improve list building options. 

My first on that list would be swapping Rohan Throwing Spears from 2pts to 1pt. Whilst they can be used as both throwing weapons and spears, they can never do both in a single turn, and it hugely increases the cost of what are otherwise fairly average troops. It would bring down the cost of Royal Guard, who are fairly overpriced as it is. For Rohan Warriors it makes those foot-battlelines more feasibly priced whilst also perhaps giving them an affordable niche in Men of the West, which let's face it, is essentially the tin-can brigade with maybe the odd Rohan bowman thrown in.

I don't think this would make Rohan a power-list in any circumstance, they're still F3, D5 men in a world of Hatred Men/Rohan and much more F4, but it will be less restricted at least.

The other would be to make Rangers of the North 2A base across the board instead of a just a portion of lists. They're good for what they are, but in a world of Beornings and Werewolves, I don't think being 2A in Defenders of the Pelennor or Arnor is going to be making them overpowered, and they'll feel much more cost-effective.

Let me know what other lists you think need that tiny boost to improve their competitiveness, and what that boost should be. 

Thank you for your time once again. If you like what I do here, you can also follow my hobby progress via Instagram, where I can be found at @Manic.Hobbying.

Until next time!