A Noobs Guide To List-building

Kia Ora, Shire-Folk,

Welcome back from an extended hiatus for another vivifying instalment of the Middle-Earth in Middle-Earth blog. As a reminder, we talk about various thoughts, topics, games, and many other things related to the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game published by Games Workshop, better known as MESBG. As another reminder, I am no professional, but read on regardless and you might find something that you can take with you into your future hobbying.

Actual image of me trying to find ideas and motivation
to finish writing this article amongst life going on.
Source: Tumblr

In this post, I'm aiming to focus on some of the most important considerations that go into building a list to take on the unknown! To be clear, this will not be new information to a lot of experienced players, but will hopefully go a long way towards helping newer players understand what is crucial to making sure that whether they are headed into a tournament or just having a casual game where they aren't sure what they may be coming up against, they will be mostly prepared for whatever pops up.

As always, a disclaimer that although I am familiar with the game and wargames in general, I do not know everything, and I may get things wrong, not to mention that a lot of the advice I give can be considered subjective at best. Therefore, I advise you to take my words with a grain of salt and if you have any disagreements, even if they're wrong, you are more than welcome to leave them in the comments!

The Golden Rule

Before starting with this section I must once again (as mentioned in one of my previous posts) point out the golden rule of list building when creating an entry point for list-building in the hobby - If you want to play something in particular, don't feel forced to play something else because it's easier. One of the most amazing things about MESBG is the Middle-Earth part. I would put money on the statement that most people who play this game do so not just because it is a great game system but because we love the theme. As a result, some people want to just play their favourite characters (which is more than fine). 

As a person who has taught dozens upon dozens of people to play all manner of board, card, and tabletop games over the years, take my word for it when I say that interest (particularly in theme) is the absolute most important factor in picking up a ruleset. 

Some lists are naturally harder than others, and have less tools or more niche playstyles with less opportunities to respond to issues or bounce back. If you are willing to lose some games to play your favourite characters, do that. Furthermore, all lists are viable, so repeatedly playing with something you like is the best way to eventually get good at it. If you love something, play with it.

Honourable Mention: Watch your model count

I couldn't tell you where I heard it, but I remember hearing a rule of thumb for model numbers in a list - aim for a minimum of five models per 100 points (i.e. 25 models at 500, 30 models at 600, etc). While this is a good guide, and I absolutely recommend following it if you can, I have to acknowledge that obviously different lists are going to struggle to follow this, or even if they can they probably won't want to.

For example, the Three Trolls army is going to struggle to do this, as they are the Three Trolls. Goblin Town on the other end of the spectrum would be practically impossible to do this with too, as there are massive warband sizes, cheap heroes, and super cheap troops. Even disregarding these extremes, cavalry heavy lists (like anything Rohan) or others that have expensive troops and heroes (think Return of the King) that are capable of doing this often don't want to, as to do so would leave them with few significant hitters and big vulnerabilities to certain builds and playstyles.

Too many heroes meant that Aragorn's army list was a little outnumbered.
Source: Reddit

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that you generally want to try to fill (or mostly fill) the warbands of your heroes, and don't put all your eggs in one basket either way. Too few troops and you lose staying/holding power for time and objectives, but heroes are a crucial part of the game and not having enough of them leaves you with few chances for crucial heroics or access to important special rules.

There isn't a hard rule for this, which is why its an honourable mention, but just make sure you bring enough troops to hold objectives and support your heroes in not getting surrounded, but enough heroes to do some chopping and calling of heroic actions (or whatever else they do well). If you feel you need more specifics for an army, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll try my best!

Rule One: Prepare for different unit types

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure." - Colin Powell

This rule is possibly the one that will take the most time, as it both benefits most from you studying the rules and from playing many games, neither of which are quick processes. Despite this, it is almost always a major part (if not the first part) of building a list, as you start to view each unit not just as a 'cool unit' but as a counter to something specific. For example, when I start building a Rohan list I don't think "oh royal guard are cool let's bring some of them", I instead think "their Fight 5 on the charge allows me to outfight the numerous Fight 4 troops that are now present, and maybe even tie fights against weak heroes and more elite troops for a reasonable cost, while bodyguard gives me a way to tie up terrifying models with a single Royal Guard at a time".

Me and the boys getting ready to be fed to Sauron one at a time.
Source: Middle-Earth Cinematic Universe Fandom

Of course, there are a lot of profiles in the game, and something that works against, for example, one monster, may not work against a different monster due to variation in special rules or heroic stats etc. However, what I can do is suggest some tips for different general unit types to make sure you have some strategies in place for dealing with them! What are these general unit types, you may ask? Let's see if I can list them:

• Defence 6 or higher/High Fight Value warriors
• Horde warriors
• Mass archery
• Melee cavalry
• Ranged cavalry
• Big combat heroes
• Smaller combat heroes
• Non-combat heroes
• Slow monsters
• Fast monsters

Phew. That's a few groups.

Now lets do that again, but with their strengths and weakness, so you can think about some of the answers you need to bring for them.

• Defence 6 or higher/High Fight Value warriors
• Examples: Warriors of Minas Tirith, Uruk-Hai Warriors, Iron Hills Warriors.
• Strengths: Holding objectives, grinding fights against other warriors.
• Counters: Strong single models, being kited and picked apart by separating them, pulling them out of position with archery, siege weapons.
• Considerations: Don't fight them on their terms until you have them at a massive disadvantage. If they hold a point and keep formation, there's very few things that will do well taking them head-on. Either break their formation with a big model supported by smaller models (so your big model doesn't get trapped) and deal with the fragments left over, or use archery and kiting tactics to force them out of ideal positions and hopefully open gaps in their formation. Siege weapons also work a treat for this, often forcing them to spread out to avoid being easily multi-killed. Once their formation breaks, you can pick 1v1s or even 2v1s/3v1s, where their spear supports and higher fight value don't provide much or any advantage.

• Horde warriors
• Examples: Goblin Warriors, Wild Men of Dunland, Orc Warriors.
• Strengths: Weight of dice, trapping models, draining resources.
• Counters: High Fight Value/Defence warriors of your own, kiting with archery, archery in general, terror/breaking/courage.
• Considerations: Generally speaking, horde armies rely on using their warriors to drain your heroes of resources (by getting into combat with them, making them blow might on heroic combats or fixing duel rolls) before sending in bigger hitters to finish them, and on making sure you have less dice in duels than they do. The main thing you need to do is thin their numbers, and seeing as they often have Defence 4 or lower, even the most basic Strength 2 bows will inflict some casualties and force them to come to you. Using heroic combats and securing kills will start to bridge the gap in numbers, at which point your superior stats should carry the end. Also, these kind of models tend to have low courage, meaning that terror is a good counter, and aiming to break them is key. Prioritise any targets that help them with passing courage tests, and your day will become much easier. Finally, try to find good terrain positions where they will struggle to fully envelop you, as they will aim to do this to secure traps.

• Mass archery
• Examples: Rivendell warriors, Warriors of Dale, Haradrim Warriors.
• Strengths: Holding objectives, stunting cavalry, forcing your hand.
• Counters: Your own archery (sometimes), Defence 6 or higher, terrain, fast models.
• Considerations: Anyone who has played this game and tried using archers can understand that archery feels weak. Anyone who has played against archers knows that 'Death by a Thousand Cuts' is a very real problem, and even if they won't kill you in a turn, they may kill you in 10, and if you don't chase them down you give them all the time in the world. To stop enemy archers, you need to be able to either kill them faster than they kill you (by having superior archery or archer positioning) or hunt them down and root them out. Flying models, cavalry, or any other speedy units can help do this, but be aware, most armies with static ranged contingents expect you will do this, so either give the rest of their force something big to deal with and strike the archers while everything else is distracted, or you better be fast fast. Also, if you can just out-kill the other parts of their army before their archers have a chance to do too much damage, they will be easy to mop up, or run when they break.

• Melee cavalry
• Examples: Knights of Minas Tirith, Rohan Royal Guard, Mounted Heroes.
• Strengths: Killing warriors out of formation, repositioning quickly to objectives or vulnerable models.
• Counters: Dismounting with archery, magic, your own cavalry, warriors in formation (usually), heroic moves/priority shenanigans.
• Considerations: Most melee cavalry have some form of increasing Strength or wounding chance, on top of the extra attacks and knockdown on the charge, making them formidable and dangerous killers to wipe out big swathes of your models. Since most of these bonuses, however, are reliant on being mounted and charging, the best counter is finding ways to get them dismounted. One of the best options is archery, as most horses are Defence 4, and have a good chance to be hit when shot at. Furthermore, this forces them to engage you, rather than waiting for the most ideal time to do so, as every lost horse is a big deal. Other than that, magic can be used in numerous ways to dismount important models or force individual units out of position (particularly important against heroes) to be countercharged, your own cavalry can charge them to remove their charge bonuses (and yours, unfortunately), and heroic moves on a turn after they charge can mean you get to fight them without all their fancy toys. Finally, warrior blocks often pose a problem for cavalry, as although they are good at killing, they still need to win the fight to do so, and charging a spear/pike block with a banner means they still need to win against a minimum of three dice, if not more.

• Ranged cavalry
• Examples: Riders of Rohan, Rivendell Knights, 
• Strengths: Kiting models out of formation, killing warriors out of formation, repositioning quickly to objectives or vulnerable models.
• Counters: Dismounting with archery, magic, your own cavalry.
• Considerations: Listen, there's a reason Rohan did so well last edition, and probably is the same reason they implemented a throwing weapon cap. Ranged cavalry can suck to play against. It's one of the reasons Genghis Khan was able to dominate so well, however, from the Mongolian warriors we can take advice on our own counters. Traditionally, countering mounted archers was done most easily by unmounted archers. This was for two reasons, if you don't have to move, you can be more accurate, and if you don't want to move, you can take up a well fortified position and pepper away. These principles apply in MESBG as well, if you take a high ground or covered position and don't move, you will likely be hitting them on better odds than they can hit you, and because they are paying a premium in points for being mounted, you should win out eventually. Alternatively to archery (including if you're stuck with cruddy orc bows), magic again is a valuable option for ruining cavalry's day in general, and if you have any cavalry they lose some of their mobility advantage. Clever use of terrain is something that is always valuable, but particularly against mounted archers, and although it may seem like a good idea to spread your forces out to try and cut off escape routes (and it can work), be careful doing this, as they are still cavalry with scary cavalry bonuses, and absolutely love the thought of you splitting up your force.

• Big combat heroes
• Examples: Aragorn, Dain Ironfoot, Sauron.
• Strengths: Just about anything, can often sweep through warriors and other heroes alike.
• Counters: Your own (preferably bigger/higher Fight Value) heroes, magic, cheap warriors.
• Considerations: While it can be cool to watch two big heroes duke it out in MESBG, the idea of throwing your most valuable models into a risky situation where only one person will walk out is often the wrong move. The only time you should do this, is if you're fairly certain that whomever or whatever you send into that duel is sitting on very good odds to win, with some combination of higher attacks, higher Fight Value, plenty of Might points, Heroic Strike or Heroic Defence, and preferably good Defence, Wounds, and Fate to survive a flubbed duel. If you don't have this option (which is almost always the case for one of the two players), you will have to rely on mitigating the damage they will do instead, as killing them is often too big of an order. This can be done most effectively with magic, transfixing, compelling, paralysing (etc) them, or alternatively by feeding them a warrior a turn, hoping they either blow all their might on heroic combats or fixing bad rolls, and hopefully struggling to kill enough warriors to justify their large costs.

• Smaller combat heroes
• Examples: Gorbag, Lurtz, Fili & Kili.
• Strengths: Smashing through warrior lines, teaming up with bigger heroes to secure kills.
• Counters: Big heroes, monsters (sometimes), magic, cheap warriors.
• Considerations: lorem

• Non-combat heroes
• Examples: Gothmog's Enforcer, Saruman, Malbeth the Seer. 
• Strengths: Buffing their force, providing support to other models.
• Counters: Fast models, combat heroes, killing the things they are buffing.
• Considerations: lorem

• Slow monsters
• Examples: Trolls, Ents, The Goblin King.
• Strengths: Smashing through warriors, killing all but the biggest heroes, being a massive distraction.
• Counters: Big heroes (carefully), keeping away, magic, feeding them a cheap model a turn.
• Considerations: Pretty similar story here to what was said in the 'Big heroes' section, if you have something even scarier, you can chuck it in if you feel that it isn't a major risk of losing them, but failing that you can always try the same sort of approaches. If they are slow, you can often keep away or kite, but if you can't, try locking them down with magic or wasting a  

• Fast monsters
• Examples: Eagles, Gulavhar, The Terror of Arnor, the Balrog.
• Strengths: Being a heat-seeking missile for the most valuable thing they can kill.
• Counters: Big heroes (carefully), feeding them a cheap model a turn, bubble-wrapping, praying to Eru and the dice gods.
• Considerations: Okay, so obviously I'm joking about the praying to Eru part, but also I'm kinda not. Fast monsters pose one of the most challenging threats in this game, sometimes being as or more capable than most big heroes and slow monsters, while being able to get wherever they need to do the most damage easily. As with the 'Big heroes' and 'Slow monsters' sections, one of the best counters is having your own, bigger threats that can ward them off or get into them if they end up out of position or otherwise vulnerable. Otherwise again, you could opt to feed them cheaper models in an attempt to curb their efficiency, but often your main goal is going to be 'bubble wrapping' your models, meaning that you surround the most important targets in a few models to keep them from being charged. This also forces your opponents to either try to break into your bubble and end up possibly being out of position (which you can attempt to capitalise on by trapping and draining them) or they don't try at all. Thankfully, this category is probably the rarest, and each has a more specific vulnerability you can focus on, but generally working around them in some way will be your best bet.

Rule Two: Know and build for the missions

"The aim of war should be the defeat of the enemy.  But what constitutes defeat?  The conquest of his whole territory is not always necessary, and total occupation of his territory may not be enough." - Carl von Clausewitz

One of the most common things I see in games (and I will admit, definitely do) is neglecting following the missions. Oops.

VPs (Victory Points) are what win you games, not necessarily just murdering everything on the opponent's side of the table. While that can be fun, if you want to win, you need to keep in mind what you may need to do in any given match to achieve victory.

Most of the currently available missions (and likely many of those in the upcoming matched play guide) give victory points for breaking the enemy and/or wounding and killing the enemy general, but as you already likely are building a list with the capacity to kill things, we don't need to dwell on this for too long. The other VP goal that pops up frequently is having a banner/making sure your opponent loses theirs - again however, you should be aiming to kill the opponents banners anyway to make your job easier, and as I will discuss later, you should also be bringing banners!

The biggest thing that lists often lack in terms of helping with VPs, particularly amongst new players, is mobility. Many of the missions rely on getting to specific points, either in terms of grabbing objectives, or getting off of the board (Ugh, reconnoitre). If your list has the option to take even a handful of models with the capacity to move faster than 6" a turn (and can hold objectives, so not beasts or swarms), you should do so always, even if the models may not be considered particularly competitive options. Even if you end up not playing a match with objectives, it is still useful to have options in your list for fast distractions, outmanoeuvring, and surprise traps/support in fights.

Me watching my friend roll for mission selection and getting reconnoitre.
Source: The One Ring Forums

Finally, if your list doesn't do super well at certain VP objectives, it's okay to not focus on them during a game. Some lists, for example, may struggle to get wounds or kills on enemy generals, or the opposing army may be unbreakable under certain conditions. In those situations, you need to re-assess how you can score VPs elsewhere, and more importantly, how you can prevent your opponent scoring them. If you can't kill their general, don't let them kill yours, then it's a wash!

Rule Three: Always bring banners

“The best way to win at a game of chance is to remove chance from the equation.” - Daniel Silva

I know there is a great deal of controversy around the current state of banners and their value in scoring VPs in many of the scenarios, but whether or not you agree with its current implementation in that sense or not, you cannot deny that those are the current rules. As it stands, banners can offer a ridiculous VP swing in a game, where you having it can mean 2VPs up, and your opponent taking it down could put you 2VPs down. That effectively means at least a 4VP swing in some missions! As it stands, you should be bringing a banner (or two) just for VPs alone!

However, besides that sore thumb, banners are just stupidly crucial for a battleline anyway. I mean really important. Unless you are operating at ridiculously low numbers (and then, as before, that may be a list-building issue elsewhere) bringing a banner is always worth the loss of a few extra models. Let me try to convince you.

Lets say you are running a line of expensive models, like Elf Warriors, with spear supports behind. You're looking at 21 points for a warrior with a shield and a warrior with spear+shield. It costs 34 points to take an elf with a banner, so by doing this you are sacrificing about three warriors. Disregarding things like break and quarter points (where having more models would be helpful, although admittedly not by a massive amount), each of those missing warriors could contribute one die to any given fight, meaning about 3 more dice in theory. Furthermore, they could help with wrapping and trapping models, providing a better advantage in killing.

That's a lot of re-rolls.
Source: Reddit

However, if we assume a nice and tidy battleline, a 3" banner effect would on average affect 6-7 fights, providing an additional die to each of them. This means for the cost of about 3 warriors, you have the dueling bonus of about 6 or 7, and that is assuming you can't squeeze in even more fights. No this does not provide an extra die to the strikes to kill, and doesn't help with trapping, but you can't kill if you don't win. The other consideration, is that while it won't help with trapping or killing, even if you had the additional warriors you may not outnumber the enemy enough to try for traps or be able to get them into a position to do so.

Besides me saying that you can't kill if you don't win, you also can't be killed in a duel if you don't lose it! This means that even when they provide more chances to win a fight and do damage, they also keep your battleline alive longer. Not only does this benefit you by eventually improving your numbers relative to your opponents, but it also buys your killy models or heroes more time for manoeuvring or doing whatever else they need to do.

While I used Elf Warriors as a hypothetical, pointing out why it's invaluable for expensive model armies, this applies still even to armies that could bring another 5 or so models for the cost of a banner bearer, such as orc varieties. With these kind of armies, you are often relying on two things; one, you are aiming for traps or outnumbering to win duels and kill, and two, you are hoping to win duels to not just outright die with your crappy Defence. Both of these are aided by banners, either allowing you to sneak in extra dice on trapped models you couldn't fit more models into or by making the fight winning more reliable, reducing your chance of dying.

Just bring banners. Yes, always.

Rule Four: Understand your heroes roles

“Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

Heroes are a fundamental part of MESBG; Not only are they needed for a legal army list, they give you something essential to a dice game that most other models just can't - reliability.

The first and most obvious way that heroes give reliability is their capacity to utilise might points. As most players know, these can be used to fix dice rolls, automatically assume priority in a phase, change stats, and much more. This allows for essential moments in a game to not have to rely on luck as much or at all, and also just feel really cool and heroic when it happens, which is important too. Another way that heroes can do this is by having such good stats that it pushes the odds massively in your favour. An example being something like the balrog, which although it lacks might to adjust its rolls, with four attacks it has a 0.52% chance of rolling a 6 on a duel roll, which with fight 10 means an automatic win against most things, and that's only if the opponent rolls a 6 also! Finally, some heroes improve reliability simply by impacting the reliability of other models - think, for example celeborn's +1 to wound bubble, which if it brings elf warriors from wounding on 6+ to 5+ is 100% more wounds. Alternatively, heroes may be good at making other models worse, common examples being models with 'harbinger of evil' or spells like 'transfix'.

With all these different methods of helping you run a smoother game, it is crucial to know and understand which of your heroes are capable of fulfilling which of these roles, and how that translates to you operating them. Many players, myself included, can often fall into the trap of feeling like certain heroes aren't good because they are incapable of successfully duelling most other big heroes - this is a common feeling if you play something like Rohan or Isengard, where so many heroes are Fight 5 or Fight 6 in a world with Aragorns, Glorfindels, Gwaihirs and Balrogs. Despite this, it is important to remember that every hero has a job that they can do well, and that missions revolve around objectives besides 'My hero can beat up your hero'.

"My dad can beat up your dad."
Source: Reddit

Lets try first to break up heroes into six categories/styles:

    - Duellists

- What are they?: Heroes that are very good at fighting (and beating/killing) other heroes/monsters, and by extent most things. Usually this means having a high fight value, Heroic Strike, high strength or other benefits to help with wounding, high attacks, etc. 

- How to use them: Go hunting for big things! Even if you don't manage to actually catch the enemy hero or monster that you are going after, you may force them into hiding and shying away from the area that your hero is in, effectively dictating their position. Take care though, many 'Duellist' style heroes don't love being bogged down and surrounded by chaff, either because they run the risk of being trapped and killed or just wasting resources and time.

- Examples: Aragorn, Gil-galad, the Balrog.

    - Troop Munchers

- What are they?: Heroes that are very good at killing a large number of enemy troops. Usually this means having a high strength or other benefits to help with wounding, high attacks, free heroic combats, etc. 

- How to use them: Ideally stay away from things with higher fight value than you, or multiple wounds (some exceptions), and just try to hit multiple models at a time (and kill them hopefully). Keep in mind, many people see the value of heroes as if they can make their points back, but actually it often comes down more to evening out numbers. If you can kill enough enemy models to give yourself (or strengthen) a numbers advantage, your other models are more likely to win and/or kill in their fights, creating a snowball effect. That is the goal for these heroes!

- Examples: Helm Hammerhand (King of Rohan), Lurtz, Gloin the Dwarf (Champion of Erebor).

    - Roadblocks

- What are they?: Heroes that are very good not dying! They tend to have high defence, Heroic Defence, abilities that can ignore wounds, high fight value, etc.

- How to use them: Depends on what they are specifically good at not dying against. Some heroes with high defence and many wounds are good at surviving against hordes of enemies, so if you just need to stop warrior models, use them for that. Heroes that can ignore wounds or call heroic defence can be particularly good at stopping an aggressive, more expensive hero from causing too much damage, and should be used to tie them up instead.

- Examples: Treebeard, The Goblin King, Irolas.

    - Scalpels

- What are they?: Heroes that are very good at picking a specific target and removing them. They can have good mobility, high fight/attacks/strength, or a way to pick a target and damage it at range without risk of return damage.

- How to use them: Know what the priority targets are on the enemy side, whether it be banners, buffing characters, the enemy general, anything that acts as an important lynchpin. The 'Scalpel' style characters should aim to whittle down or outright remove these models, and if not possible, at least deter them from getting anywhere near important areas for risk of being taken out. These heroes tend to be more vulnerable than others, but are very killy - keep them safe until the right moment!

- Examples: Gulavhar, Gwaihir, Boromir (Fellowship), Shelob.

    - Controllers

- What are they?: Heroes that are very good at locking big, important enemy models down, reducing or even preventing their impact on the game. This is most commonly done through debuff spells like transfix, but can also be by special abilities that reduce statistics, increasing resource costs, or any other means of reducing enemy effectiveness through (usually) non-lethal means. 

- How to use them: Similar to 'Scalpel' style heroes, you need to know what the most important enemy models are to lock down. After that, it becomes a job of staying alive to keep those debuffs going!

- Examples: Galadriel, Grima Wormtongue, Barrow-wights, Hera (Bride of Death).

    - Buffers

- What are they?: Heroes that make your other models better - This can be more direct, such as buffing spells that give one model a boost, or more commonly acting as a banner, giving aura boosts to stats or re-rolls, chances to ignore damage, or many other things!

- How to use them: Stay safe, and central. Your buffs are your value, and as mentioned earlier, you don't need to kill so many points of the enemy that you match your cost, your other models can compensate because of the buffs being given out! Just hang near the area where you are providing the most value at the time.

- Examples: Malbeth the Seer, Ugluk, Faramir.

Keep in mind, that some heroes may play different roles depending on the matchup. For example, Shagrat in Cirith Ungol (with Fight 6, Strength 5, 3 attacks, Heroic Strike, General Hunter, 3 Might and easy access to +1 to wound) is a great 'Duellist' hero against lists like Garrison of Ithilien or Arnor, where he has good odds to lay a beatdown on lesser enemy heroes or even just create a bubble where they are too afraid to enter, particularly if they have already expended some resources. However, against armies like Men of the West or Azog's Legion, Shagrat is not a reliable enough duellist to take on the likes of things like Aragorn or Azog - In these situations, Shagrat is better used as a 'Troop Muncher' hero, using his high attacks and strengths alongside possible heroic combats to bring down enemy numbers, forcing breaks or just making the job easier for all your other troops by creating/strengthening a number advantage.

Additionally, some heroes may even play multiple roles in the same game! Gandalf the White on Shadowfax or the Balrog are two great examples - Gandalf is a particularly good 'Controller' style hero that can lock down opposing problem models very effectively, and the Balrog might be the best 'Duellist' style hero in the game, but both of them also play a very important and effective 'Troop Muncher' style role that they will need to frequently lean into during any given game as well.

 

Rule Five: Know what your list and army can do, and what it can't

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." - Sun Tzu.

While knowing your enemy will come with time (as there are a lot of lists in this game) knowing your own capabilities is something that you can pick up on a lot faster, and is just as (if not more) essential. Every list in this game has strengths and weaknesses and knowing them for your own lists definitely helps you both build AND play it. Admittedly, some lists are definitely easier to learn than others, but it will come with time!

Pictured: Me re-reading my army lists to double check my models
stats haven't changed since I opened the book ten minutes earlier.
Source: Tolkien Library

Despite being probably the most vital of them all, this point is a bit shorter, as we have already discussed things like hero roles, unit types, and preparing for missions. However, when list building, it is important to bring all of these things together under the umbrella of your list options. Let's look at a couple of army lists as examples:

    - Riders of Theoden:

This list is full of cavalry, and full of big heroes. This means that you can dictate engagements, leave objective claiming until a bit later, and chew through a lot of troops or a couple of heroes with the round of free heroic combats/strikes. However, if you want to lean into the heroes to make the most of the army bonus, you will be low on numbers, making any losses more devastating, and being vulnerable to archer fire or 'Scalpel' style heroes. Additionally, Eomer is the only option for Fight 6, and that's the highest you've got - paired with no access to 'Controller' style heroes, this makes enemy 'Duellist' style heroes a real problem, especially if they also have good mobility. All things considered, you need to play a kiting game to pull apart enemy forces, keeping an eye out for a good turn for your heroes to charge in simultaneously, call free heroic combats, and even out the number disadvantage.

    - Minas Tirith:

This list is packed with very capable heroes that can play multiple roles, an extremely tough infantry core, and a decent amount of ranged power. They pretty much have it all! Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of, well, cost, and you will often be outnumbered, or if you aren't, the enemy is probably playing something even more elite that your troops will struggle to dent. Additionally, with a focus on infantry, you may struggle to catch enemy forces. With less numerous heavy hitters, you may also be vulnerable to 'Controller' style heroes, particularly spellcasters, who can drain away the will of heroes like Boromir, and force him to spend multiple turns doing nothing useful. This all adds up to mean that you should likely bring some ranged capability (rangers or citadel guard, or even a trebuchet) to force the enemy to come to you first, and you should make sure to get the most out of your heroes, either butchering troops to boost your number advantage, or to beat up enemy heroes.

Overall, each list is designed to suck as something, and some lists have laundry list of weaknesses, particularly if their unit selection is very limited (*cough* wolves of Isengard *cough*). But it also has things that it does well in. This is something that would take me forever to write up individually, but the best ways to learn this are to firstly, study your options in the list, and secondly, play against enough things that you learn what lists or models out there can outdo yours in certain areas.

The Checklist

As a final wrap-up, I thought I would throw in a little checklist of the previous points discussed for you to consider and reflect on while building your lists!

Can you deal with:

• Defence 6 or higher/High Fight Value warriors?
• Horde warriors?
• Mass archery?
• Melee cavalry?
• Ranged cavalry?
• Big combat heroes?
• Smaller combat heroes?
• Non-combat heroes?
• Slow monsters?
• Fast monsters?

Can you compete in:

• Killing missions?
• Objective capturing missions?
• Objective holding missions?

Have you got:

• At least one banner?
• (Optional) A second banner over 700 pts?

Do you:

• Know what your heroes can do?
• Know what your heroes can't do?

Concluding Thoughts

Building a list is the first step to playing, but also the first step to winning, and more goes into it than just list-building restrictions. Remember the golden rule though, don't let winning take precedence over fun. That's what makes MESBG a hobby, and not a job.

If you gained anything from this, please let me know in the comments below, and if you would like to hear even more tips sometime, I'd be glad to do another one. Finally, if you have any comments, criticisms, or suggestions for future posts, leave them below or through the contact form as well.

Thank you for wandering in here for a read, remember, not all those who wander are lost!