Heroic Strike discussion

The Horde Lord · **Joined:** Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:58 pm **Posts:** 301

Ok, so with the Hobbit rulebook we got 4 new heroic actions. One of them was Heroic Strike, which is used in the Fight phase. I would be very interested in seeing what other people thought about it.

I have only played one game since the Hobbit came out and Heroic Strike was used. I personally, didn't like it. It pretty much means that heroes must save their might until they meet each other/a monster. I get that it is supposed to reflect the increased effort puit in by the Hero, but isn't this represented properly already, in the way that you modify your Duel Roll? I think so, and heroic strike makes duel roll modifying pretty, I wouldn't say obsolite, but rather weak at the very last.

What are your opinions and experinces regarding heroic strike?

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:36 am

I quite like it, as you say, good for taking out high FV models. You just have to think a bit more and decide when it is the best time to use those precious might points. It has helped my goblins hurt treebeard recently and also allowed a lowly dwarf captain to take down a isengard troll.

SMORG · **Posted:** Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:16 pm

SouthernDunedain wrote:

I quite like it, as you say, good for taking out high FV models. You just have to think a bit more and decide when it is the best time to use those precious might points. It has helped my goblins hurt treebeard recently and also allowed a lowly dwarf captain to take down a isengard troll.

I think of it more as a counterbalance to the new monster rules to prevent them from just walking through armies, or making all good armies take an ent or eagle.

It used to be that monsters would mince hero's but could be easily avoided by feeding them warriors one at a time while you reduced the rest of the force. Now you have these monsters that can throw infantry around and barrel through. Without anything to prevent it they become massively OP (imho).

Overall the game has finally gotten to the point where there is balance between enough variety and tactical flexibility. For a while it was starting to go the way of other systems where there is ONE really competitive option and a lot of fluffy ones.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:12 pm

I personally used to think that spending a point of Might to adjust a die roll was a mater of last resort. Might was for Heroic Actions primarily and I'd only ever adjust a die roll if it was VERY important to the success of my entire game.

We haven't played any games under the new rules yet (our entire group still choking on the cost of the book and starter set) so I can't say from experience how much Heroic Strike might unbalance things. But I do think the option to get a powerful boost to your Fight roll for a specific match is good. I have had some games where I would call an Heroic Combat at a time that I can dramatically influence the game only to blow the Fight roll too much to do anything about it. Of if I did want to have a Hero go toe-to-toe with a Monster. I think it's going to be nice to have more options.

TBH, the one I'm more worried about is the Heroic March (?). I think one of the less -fun aspects of WotR was the way forces were suddenly zipping around the battle field. Just the extra inch or two of movement some special rules gave you in classic SBC made a big difference. Now, with warband deployment already closing the gaps the Heroic March has a chance of putting so much more importance on initial model placement. You used to be able to deploy to your best ability but have a turn or two of adjustments. Now there's a chance that a bad decision at deployment can have far too much impact.

Of course, that's also just theory at this point...

Draugluin · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2013 7:05 pm

I recently had Lurtz call a Heroic Strike against Bolg, who's player decided to match it. I still went with Shielding, but Lurtz won and kept the Bringer of Death from getting anywhere for another turn.

Captain Andruil · **Joined:** Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:19 am **Posts:** 44

For those of us who haven't read/purchased the new rules, what exactly is the Heroic Strike rule? How is it brought into effect and what are its effects?

Draugluin · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:18 pm

We can't discuss that.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:33 pm

Think like Epic Strike in WotR. And that's as far as I'm going.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:43 pm

I think many of us agree that Epic Strike was a bit of a weak point in WotR. The simple threat of it kept certain Heroes out of the game while making others a near requirement, limited the use of unnamed Heroes and forced a tactic of keeping one point of Might "just in case".

It will be disappointing if that same mentality bleeds down into SBG as well. On the plus side, at least it's not as limited to who can use it and I think that will go a long way on balance.

Galanur · **Joined:** Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:28 am **Posts:** 1389

well the rule it was nice if it was ment for heroes to counter monsters or heroes vs heroes, now some heroes are monsters, so not only have the monsters attack rules that will also have the hero strike.

no wonder why I see mordor guys with troll chieftain like 90% of the time now.

halkias82 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:14 pm **Posts:** 15

I personally REALLY like this rule. It prevents the F value from completely dominating the game. I was always annoyed at the preponderance of value heroes that the Good side had over evil and that key F 6 and up. So it lets evil scare good a bit in that respect. and not it lets good take care of those serious monsters without needing a huge point investment. A captain and some foot troops with axes are now a serious threat to a troll (as i have found out

)

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:31 pm

In the old rules a captain was a threat to a troll as he could call a heroic move, and then feefd the troll 1 of the hero's followers. That can't be done now, so it needed balancing.

Tezzy · **Joined:** Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:42 am **Posts:** 160

With all these non hero monsters coming back maybe the elf players should reinvest in some more stormcallers :twisted:

Draugluin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:37 pm

Or maybe just some eagles?

ChristsSoldier · **Posted:** Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:51 pm

I like the Heroic Strike rules. I think it adds another tactical element to the game, and especially helps armies with lower fight values (i.e. evil or Rohan heroes). In a game I recently played, I successfully used a Heroic Strike to bring down Aragorn. I had gotten to a point where he was surrounded by several A2 troops and an injured Eomer Knight of the Pelennor. We were tied in F value, so I knew Aragorn would pretty much at least tie the fight roll (all he has to do is get a 5, and use his free might, or any of his other 3 might he had left...), so I called a Heroic Strike (Aragorn didn't counter with his own). This allowed me to win if I got a 6, which I did. I was able to finish him off right then instead of having a half chance that the roll-off would go to him and he'd get more kills/stall longer for reinforcements.

Heroic Strike discussion

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