In the Mind: Are the Eagles the new BEST List?

 Is the hype accurate? New META or Meme

A massive tournament recently in England saw the eagles showing something ridiculous like 6 7 of the top 15 spots in a 130 player event. That begs the question is it simply a list the best players in England think is good or is it so widely powerful that it will become a new norm for the people who want to win will run? Well you are reading the excerpts from an old eagle player going back for years when they were thought to be garbage. Here are a few simple facts. The Eagles were never truly bad. The Eagles have gotten better but not world breaking better. There are still many simple ways to take them down. Let us first go through the biggest changes to the eagles and talk of how that has impacted the army.

Great changes: So they all got dominant which is good like very good on hard to kill monster. They got better at killing more models at a time. they got better at barging into heroes. And finally they get an insane legion bonus. 

Not So great changes: Many heroes are now abase of F7 and most previously F5 heroes are now F6. Additionally Gwaihir lost heroic strike. 

This all boils down to they are a very very similar list to last edition. They will scale fine up to about 650 and will hit the top with a SKILLED player. They are still a challenging list to play but a experienced player who knows the ins and outs of when to hurl barge or just kill is what is required to make this list great. I would say the eagle list itself isn't that much of a threat if you prepare at least one trick to face it. anything from fearless to plus 1 to wound on troops to having 1 or 2 casters is PLENTY. I think the eagles look good now but as soon as the more experienced players start pulling out that nasty list called Minas Morgul the eagles meta will die instantly and I doubt it will ever return. The eagles will fluff. Heroic defense heroes are ideal. set them up in the front line and hopefully take the charge. Then just defense. Then the following turn the screech will come. defense once more then use a captain level hero from behind to call moves and just run in and strike or just mob the eagles. numbers will kill them so fast. one bad roll against even just troops especially when buffed an eagle or two can die instantly. 

So when you are writing or taking lists look for either lots of bigger heroes that eagles will struggle against like Boromir's and Aragorn's who have the base f7 lots of might and or free resources. Look for Mordor trolls and chieftains, look for ents, look at magic, celeborns, ugluks, anything that gives fearless or frankly any cheap siege engine. Yes I'm looking at you corsairs and no not you dale why would anyone want to run dale. Elrond may be one of the best eagle counters in the game quite frankly if he can get in a position to wrath two eagles without getting Gwaihir's will to deflect can be an easy way to just TAKE those eagles out. Magic is big because you dont need to move to cast so any caster can transfix an eagle. Shooting is another way to drop these guys if you can get 3-4 heroes with bows to put some might behind some shots along with say 5-6 at least warriors with bows knocking out these big birds should be no issue. Rangers of Mirkwood with the two elven heroes and the two twin dwarves along with maybe an elven captain and the rest rangers can do this exceptionally well and exceptionally fast. Nearly every list has a counter it just needs to be thought of and used to its full capability. Cav are amazing because the piercing cry is just a rule you dont win priority so cav outside 6 inches can just charge in and stop 2 or 3 eagles with ease and thus kind of nullify the whole point of the cry rule. 

So again all lists have counters whether its an Aragorn free defensing or striking or a fearless bubble to wrap up the eagles the one turn they fail to get priority. Anything has the capability to road block this list but it requires skill to play with or against this list. It is no gimme to win with and it is no gimme to win against. 

In the Mind: My new Armies for the New Edition!

 Good and Evil Army Lists:

Throughout the new edition of the Middle Earth Strategy battle game we have seen many new ideas for army lists and new styles of play emerge. Ultimately I personally have some mixed reviews on certain things but ultimately in the long run I think the new edition was a good and needed change. We need the game to evolve and to change and reach more audiences if we want it to flourish and survive. This was almost a revamp and I enjoy it so far. One of my favorite things is that player skill is now something that is much more evident in game play as list writing has much less of an impact to the game itself and rather it is how any given list is used rather then how it is made. So as result of this most lists are now competitive in my opinion at least. But there are lists i will be playing for the most part or at least trying to play for the most of this year. I will have 2 main lists one good one evil with 3 secondary lists which are 2  good army lists and an evil list. My primaries for now at least that i have been messing with, playing with, and painting up more of are The Rise of the Necromancer as my ultimate main list, and the Rangers of Mirkwood as my good main list. My 3 secondary lists are, the Eagles, Erebor Reclaimed, and The shadows of Angmar. We will start by analyzing the playstyle I have been using for my necromancer legion.

The Rise of the Necromancer: No surprise the first place I begin with this list is taking the necromancer himself. He is frankly an auto include as at 200 points base he is in my opinion the best hero in MESBG (top 5 last edition) which yes i am sure many if not all will disagree with. As well as retaining his power as the best spell caster in the game from last edition to this edition he has gotten even better as he now gets the double spell with troops in his list as well. My bread and butter with this list is the necromancer and quite a few Mirkwood spiders. These Mirkwood spiders are so potent and fill in every role I need them for. A shooting threat, a nice body block, shock troop, hero killer, slow dying troop choice, and ultimately the fastest model in the game other then flying models. The next must have in this list is a spattering of fell wargs and fell warg riders. the hunter orc warg riders are the best cavalry in the game at the moment coming in at 15 points for 3 attacks on the charge. I took a handful of these guys every time last edition and they were well worth it and now they only get better. The next must have for this list is the Witch King. I have played some lower point games and he is SO SO valuable and ten times better then the beast found int he keeper of the dungeons. Thus far we have a solid base but with no cheap troops to throw into heroes and the like. Thus we must take some hunter orcs. Take as many of these with bows as you can and the rest just normal. yes they are quite interesting this edition and play like a really weak cavalry list but they still do their job. They got better at shooting and still have access to it while being relatively cheap compared to the rest of this list and many others. 

At 600 points (the base for this article) the list i have chosen to run is as follows:

(Leader) The Necromancer 200
4 Mirkwood Spiders 80
4 Hunter orc Warg Riders (1 with bow) 61
2 Fell Wargs 16
3 Hunter orcs 24

The Witch King 80
3 Mirkwood Spiders 60
2 Fell wargs 16
7 Hunter Orcs with Bow 63

600 points 27 models 8 bows 6 might

I have thus far played 9 games with this list and have so far yet to be broken, yet to have a hero killed in my list, yet to not kill the enemy leader or assassin target, yet to lost more then 4 spiders, yet to not quarter an opponent. This list hits like a freight train and even when i built a Mirkwood list to shoot it off the table it dominated it in fog of war 16-1. The key to the list is the double cast. you can work on two heroes at once and my favorite combo which is the wither curse combo on two heroes is nasty. curse the big bad and the spiders then hit it and he will be knocked out in one turn by the necromancer while the other target is getting hit with withers. So far with Wither i have taken out a Gloin of Erebor, isildur, and kili completely out with wither. Other spells i really enjoy is letting my spiders run off doing their own thing while the necromancer runs in with the spattering of hunter orcs and stars dropping instill fear everywhere. Compelling models in contact with banners away to then drop the banner with a drain soul has also worked in several games. The possibilities are endless and this list loves finding choke points and just slaughtering armies that way. 

Rangers of Mirkwood: This list has changed a but from last edition and i actually like it now. The list to me plays like the old grey company from 2 editions ago. Lots of bows but is ultimately a low model count combat army that can cut through almost anything super fast. My favorite way to run them is with Legolas Tauriel Gloin and the twins and it is super super efficient. you have enough bow fire to knock out or nearly knock out most big threats then your sheer combat power with that many heroes can cut through the troops while your own troops thrive when outnumbered. The list is quite simple.

Legolas 
8 Rangers

Tauriel bow 
7 rangers

Gloin

Kili

Fili

600 points 20 models

This list is pretty simple and follows some basic strategies. it is a challenging list to play with very unique challenges but can beat nearly any army if played right. I love the way it plays and simply it is just different then almost all other lists in the game. 

The secondary lists will just be some basic ideas and principles for how they are run rather then the way i have intricately built each list. 

The eagles, well this is simple I've been an eagles player for a few years and love playing with them pure and now they are much more usable and i think they could do even better then my previous success with them.

Erebor Reclaimed: well as soon as i saw Bofur on brute i instantly went found an old troll and converted Bofur on top of it. Just need to finish painting it but I've gotten 3 games in with it and i love the list. I also played one all hero list and it was a blast. I love the dynamic and cant wait to keep playing the Erebor reclaimed. 

Shadows of Angmar: This list i just have some wicked ideas to play with. All werewolves and gully with stalk unseen is nasty combine that with some shamans running around. I love the idea of gully with some different lists than we have never seen and have enjoyed the one game i played so far and love the concepts you can do as well as the tricks you can use. 

So as you can probably tell from the passion and ideas just oozing from my section on the necromancer that list is the one i am by far the most excited about and i only really played him with gundabads last edition so i am excited for the new way the list plays. Check in for the first big tournament of the year in a few weeks where i will report my results with my necromancer list!

In the Mind: New META for LotR MESBG?

 Is There a New META in the MESBG game

The simple statement is no. But when you look at the extensive answer I would definitely say YES. so there are two sides to this coin. Let us look at this from a few different directions. First let us look at players who have always played casually. To these players their style will not change find what looks cool try to play it well and competitively even if it isn't that good. This is where lists like the Shire, Road to Rivendell, and controversial enough the Last Alliance. Then we have the tiers that want to run the things that have changed. This tier of people is the people that got bored with the old edition of the game and want the biggest changes. these people will be heavily playing monster mash lists since they have big changes. They will also be running lists with massive changes to playstyles or just the entire list in general. Then we have the uber competitive players. these players will instantly be looking at the most solid lists. the Trolls, dale, battle of five armies. Pelennor, return of the king, men of the west, thranduils halls, Numenor, Gundabad, Usurpers of Edoras, Army of Isengard, Depths of Moria, Harad, Laketown, and Survivors. These lists are the lists that will form to become the new meta. My specific guesses to the new meta will be, the Battle of five armies, dale, Usurpers of edoras, Numenor, and the depths of moria. Those are my top five picks for the following reasons: 

1. Battle of Five Armies: Everyone used to love allying gwiahir in. why not still do it. now you can do it with simply heroes of fortitude making this issue even worse then before. Or why not run bofur on the brute with iron hills shieldwall that have fight 5 elven made spears behind them. The previous soup lists will continue with those who liked them. simply this new edition made the soup a bit more normal soup. 

2. Dale: Perhaps the most changed army in the game comes through with girion losing his bow but getting 3 attacks as well as having all windlances giving plus 1 to wound for all models within 6 inches and getting better while getting cheaper. the list buffs are insane and everyone who wants to win will take this list with 1 or 2 windlances and a spam of troops maxing bows meaning extreme shooting advantage with numbers and killing power. what does this list not have? it has the shooting to take out monsters with ease and the numbers with buffs to take out any other troop in the game including dwarves and the dead. 

3. Usurpers of Edoras: Who doesn't like a big troll a nice hard hitting hero, smaller heroes, master of battle, and 45 models at 650 points? well thats what this list does. it is new so already that is going for them. They are good in objectives, killing, and have the tools to take out almost anything. They also get essentially free Victory Points and up to 5 of them. That is disgusting and can make or break a game. They have the tools and the beat sticks to do just about anything and are super solid while they are at it. 

4. Numenor: This list is in my opinion the best in this new edition. While it does not have the soup, the free insane bonuses, or free vps, it has something none of the others has. All models have gained plus 1 fight value. this is the only fight 5 strength 4 base army in the game. yes they have mid tier defense. but Longbows which are deadly, with insane melee power along with a f8 hero with s5 and plus 1 to wound with free combats comes in with a s5 f7 son behind him and the ability to easily gain quite the load of troops this list is designed and built to take out nearly anything. Running it isildur and a bunch of captains with fight 6 and strength 5 is perhaps the most lethal way to run it as he can one on one the likes of balrogs and mathematically win almost every time. I like this list but i think giving the fight 5 is so incredibly powerful that we will see it everywhere as it is shiny and new but also incredibly powerful. 

5. Depths of Moria: This list is hands down the best list in the game currently. free banner for troops, free leader protection points, free break points, insta win almost any objective. The balrog is now nearly untouchable by even aragorns or glorfindels and the like. He got that and got dominant 10 with 8 inch move. almost no hero can escape him meaning getting enemy heroes is almost guaranteed. They are no longer things that can be ignored. The balrog is an insane threat and his entire list got better as well. It is that simply. free no breaking, essentially free wounding and killing enemy leaders with almost no chance of your own to be touched, win most objectives simply because of the balrog. Most people have this army but didn't use it because it was a solid list but not a world breaker as it is now so you will see much more top table players using this in addition to the newer players who want a beatstick to have fun with and will do well with simply because of the list itself. 

Those are my predictions for the current meta of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game for at least the first half of the year and probably inevitably without nerfs.