Alpha Strikes in MESBG

 DISCLAIMER

I don't (do not) actually want alpha strike abilities or army rules in MESBG. It could make a fun tournament or scenario gimmick, but otherwise I don't think it fits well for the game. Even the example ability that does exist isn't explicitly an alpha strike, it's just best used as one, and I think that there needs to be some changes made to it for this reason.

With that out of the way, welcome once again to ManicHobbying where I am once again "what-iffing" rules for our beloved game. This particular posts comes from me fridge-logicing what was initially a response email to Harry (Entmoot Podcast) regarding people's thoughts on Army of the White Hand. One of the standout abilities that makes this army one of the top lists in the game right now (at least according to complaints) is Saruman's ability to call down a 2" radius S6 Lightning Strike anywhere on the table. At the beginning of the edition I believe this caught many people out, especially when deploying in formation. 

I myself fell afoul of it early on. Thanks to Maelstrom deployment and tightly spaced terrain, my Riders of Eomer saw their banner and 3 other riders get blasted away or at least dehorsed, thoroughly neutering the list early on (this was 400 points in a Doubles format). Now, there's more mind for people spacing out deployment to prevent multiple casualties, but the lightning can still pick off a key piece such as a banner or hero's mount, or even just be saved until turn two to hope for the enemy to group up or even keep them spaced out of fear,

To be clear also, I don't necessarily want to see this ability removed. It is somewhat fun to recreate in some fashion Saruman's attack on the Fellowship, and I'm at a loss on how to satisfactorily tweak it. At the same time, it's not outright game-winning and Army of the White Hand has more than a few useful tools. Between one of the best casters in the game, Grima, Crebain, good troop variety and some useful supporting heroes, it really is the combination of all of them that makes it such a successful list. 

Alpha Strikes

Moving on from the White Hand specifically, I got to thinking about bringing other armies up in power via similar abilities. More tools for the toolbox could really level the playing field on other lists and shake up the meta a little. The first one that game to mind was Army of Gothmog:

Release the prisoners

Fires a shot as if there was a catapult firing with the severed heads upgrade. This does not replace the shot of an existing catapult in the army list, and is assumed to come from off of the table. Courage tests can be taken as normal, with all bonuses and abilities applying. 

This one is to simple parallel the opening shot of the Siege of Minas Tirith. Nice and simple, it forces a Courage test in a small area. It is also eminently counterable with various Courage boosting abilities

Give them a Volley

3" Radius, all take a S2 hit. 

Defenders of Helm's Deep. Another simple one to parallel the movie scenes, and even simpler in ruling. Despite the wider radius it's a very toned down variant of Saruman's lightning. An argument could be made for two radii, one at S2 and one at S3.

Birdcalls

3" Radius, all take a S2 hit.

Garrison of Ithilien. Yes it's exactly the same as DoHD, and simply there to represent the Ranger's ambush tactics. The same ability, but for different flavourful reasons.

I won't list more than the above, but this ability could be extended to Rangers of Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and Azog's Hunters. For the Elf lists, you would naturally boost the strength to 3. In a similar vein, should The Grey Company, Return of the King or Road to Helm's Deep lists contain Legolas, he gets a free shot at the start of the game. For the Evil side, another variant is a shot from a Hasharin in the Umbar list.

The horns of the Rohirrim lifted up in music

Intelligence test in nearest enemy models, 3" radius. For each test that is failed, Theoden's player may move the enemy model up to half of its move rate, moving away from Theoden as directly as possible.

This ability is for Riders of Theoden, and perhaps could also be used in Army of Edoras, Fields of Celebrant and Ride Out. The inspiration is from the line in Return of the King, coupled with the Orcs reaction in the movies where they stumbled back at the onset of the Rohirrim's charge. The rule structure is simply Spectre's ability with the direction tweaked.

The Cry of the Nazgul

Choose an area within the opponent's deployment zone with a 3" radius. All models within this zone must take a Courage test or go prone. Cavalry models must test for both mount and rider. Normal bonuses or ability effects apply.

Both Black Riders and Wraiths on Wings. A potentially fun alternative to a normal courage test is to make those that fail simply go prone rather than fully run away, with only mounts then fleeing should the check be failed. This ability would then be about disruption rather than outright removing models.

It was around this point I realised that these abilities essentially boiled down to two effects: do damage, or force courage/intelligence checks. The damage, radius and result could differ, but otherwise it just one or the other. Rather than continue to write out a bunch of rules for every army, I think it's easier to just list a few others. It'd be up to TOs or houserulers to actually work out the details.

I did have one more thought, but I'm unsure on the impact of it; a movement ability. This could take the form of a free move (for a single warband) or a free heroic march. Movement is fairly key to MESBG, so this might be a tough one to balance. Cavalry forces for example would find this extremely powerful for gaining ground. As an example, I have this one for Paths of the Druadan:

One with the forest

Ghan-Buri-Ghan's warband may make a free heroic march in the first turn. This does not affect their ability to shoot that turn.

I have no doubt that in the lists that would make the most sense for a movement ability, it would in turn become perhaps overly powerful. Ugluk's Scouts come to mind. But then neither Uruk Scouting list is consistently in the top tables to my knowledge, and that's rather the point of this.

A small warning, many lists won't have anything unique, and it'd probably be better that several lists just don't have a alpha strike ability at all. Not every list has every tool after all, and some just don't need them. When I list it out, the number of suitable lists is quite small, just 28/95 lists (and good lord there are 95 lists!). Of course, I could be missing a few ideas, let me know!

Good
Arathorn's Stand - See Give them a volley#

Army of Dale - None

Army of Edoras - Horns of the Rohirrim

Army of Erebor - None

Army of Lake-town - None

Army of Thror - None
Arnor - None

Assault on Ravenhill - None

Atop the Wall - Free Trebuchet shot?
Battle of Bywater - None

BotFA - None

Battle of Fornost - None

Battle of Greenfields - None
Beornings - None

Breaking of the Fellowship - S3 version of Give them a volley! if Haldir is present.

Defenders of Erebor - None

Defenders of Helm's Deep - Give them a volley!

Defenders of the Hornburg - None

Defenders of the Pelennor - None

The Eagles - None

Erebor & Dale - None

Erebor Reclaimed - Movement ability (represents Thorin's charge, so specific to his warband)

Expedition to the East - None

Fangorn - None

The Fellowship - None

The Fiefdoms (Nothing to do with this blogpost, just give them back their synergies)

Fields of Celebrant - Horns of the Rohirrim

Fords of Isen - None

Garrison of Dale - None

Garrison of Ithilien - Birdcalls

The Grey Company - Legolas shot

The Grief of Eomer - None

Halls of Thranduil - None

The Iron Hills - None

Kingdom of Khazad-Dum - None

Kingdom of Rohan - None

The Last Alliance - None

Lindon - None

Lothlorien - S3 Give them a volley

Men of the West - None

Minas Tirith - None

Numenor - None

Paths of the Druadan - One with the forest.

Radagast's Alliance - None

Rangers of Mirkwood - Birdcalls

Realms of Men - None

Reclamation of Moria - None

Reclamation of Osgiliath - None

Return of the King - Legolas Shot

Ride Out - Horn

Riders of Eomer - None

Riders of Theoden - Horns of the Rohirrim

Rivendell - Free Bruinen

Road to Helm's Deep - Legolas Shot

Road to Rivendell - None

The Shire - None

Survivors of Lake-town - None

Thorin's Company - None

The White Council - None

Evil

Army of Carn Dum - None

Army of Dunland - None

Army of Gothmog - Release the prisoners!

Army of Gundabad - Free Tremor to represent worms?

Army of the White Hand - Already exists.

Assault Upon Helm's Deep - None

Assault on Lothlorien - None

Azog's Hunters - Birdcalls

Barad-Dur - None

Besiegers of the Hornburg - None

The Black Gate - None

The Black Riders - Cry of the Nazgul

Buhrdur's Horde - None

Cirith Ungol - Perhaps add a single web marker as per Spider Queen list

Corsair Fleets - Ballista shot

Depths of Moria - None

Desolator of the North - None

Dragons of the North - None

The Easterlings - None

Far Harad - None

Fell Beings of Mirkwood - None

Goblin-Town - None

Grand Army of the South - None

Harad - None

Host of the Dragon Emperor - None

Host of the Witch King - None

Legions of Mordor - None

Lurtz's Scouts - Free March for single warband

Minas Morgul - None

Moria - None

Muster of Isengard - Literally give Saruman the same abilities.

Pits of Dol Guldur - None

Ravagers of the Shire - None

Rise of the Necromancer - None

The Serpent Horde - None

Shadows of Angmar - None

Sharkey's Rogues - None

The Spider Queen's Brood - None

The Three Trolls - None

Ugluk's Scouts - Free March for Single Warband.

Umbar - Blowpipe shot per Hasharin

Usurpers of Edoras - None

Variags of Khand - None

Wolf Pack of Angmar - None

Wolves of Isengard - None

Wraiths on Wings - Cry of the Nazgul

Maybe I shouldn't have written absolutely list out...

I'd love to hear your ideas on this, and what you would do to elevate lists and introduce more variety to the top lists. For those armies where "alpha strikes" don't thematically fit, what would you do instead? If inspiration strikes I'll come back to this in another post.

Until next time.