In my previous post I outlined the structure of the MESBG Ultimate Campaign. In this post I’ll delve into the houserules I’ve come up with (or found inspiration from others) to spice up the campaign and hopefully make for a more satisfying narrative experience.
I think the current MESBG ruleset is the best there has ever been in the history of the game. I think the designers did a great job modernising the ruleset further, as well as remove some of the bloat that had accumulated over the course of 6 editions. That said, I think some parts can still be improved, at the cost of a little more complexity. Because this will be a fully narrative campaign and as such is more focused on telling a great story or being realistic, I don’t have to cater to competitive play. Game balance therefore is not the ultimate goal.
I’ve categorised the rules changes in terms of impact factor (how much will they likely influence/change most games?) and complexity creep (low meaning it’ll not overly complicate things too much, high meaning it adds a lot to the cognitive load while playing). All rules changes written here are generally in addition to rather than instead of, unless otherwise mentioned.
So, without further ado, here are the changes I’ll implement in the campaign:
Priority (Impact: big | Complexity creep: low)
The Player who won Priority last turn, will get a -1 penalty on their Priority D6 roll in the current turn.
This is to prevent long streaks of Priority by one player being a regular occurrence. If you had it last turn, chances of winning Priority will drop from 42% to 28%. That in itself is not the point, and it shows that there is still a sizable chance to win Priority in consecutive turns, which is good.
The important thing is that long Priority streaks will be much less likely, as they should be. For a more thorough discussion, see the Post-game thoughts here.
Heroic Roll-offs (Impact: big | Complexity creep: medium)
The highest tier of a Hero per side involved in a Heroic Roll-off will determine the chances of winning a Heroic Roll-off, rather than this always being a 50/50.
There are 5 tiers: Hero of Legend (I), Hero of Valour (II), Hero of Fortitude (III), Minor Hero (IV) and Independent Hero (IV). These correspond with 4 ranks (I till IV; Minor and Independent are grouped together). For each rank in difference during a roll-off, there is an additional chance the higher tiered Hero will win this Roll-off, to a maximum of 2 (so there is never an autowin).
So for example Gil-galad (Hero of Legend (I) will win a Heroic Roll-off against a generic Orc Captain (Hero of Fortitude (III) on a 2-6. Normally this would be a 4-6 (50% chance), but because there are 2 ranks difference he now wins on a 2-6 (83% chance). Grimbeorn (Hero of Valour (II)) will win on a 3-6 (67% chance) against a generic Orc Captain (Hero of Fortitude (III)).
Heroic Tier is determined from the Army List which best represents the Participants being used, as well as judged by me. I will try to list the relevant tier per scenario. If the highest tiers are tied on both sides, the Roll-off will be as normal.
This is to prevent legendary Heroes such as Elrond being counter-called by a generic Orc Captain and having an equal chance of pulling off a Heroic feet. This makes bigger heroes more Heroic, as I think they should be in a narrative campaign of this size.
Additionally, whenever a side loses a Heroic roll-off, they will receive a Heroic roll-off token. These tokens can be spend to increase the chances of winning a roll-off by 1 (on a die roll of 6). This can never make the roll-off an autowin, and you can only spend a maximum of 2 tokens in one roll-off. So you can only spend 1 token when you have one rank higher Heroic Tier, and up to 2 tokens if you have a lower Heroic Tier.
The amount of tokens to be used must be decided before the roll-off. They are only depleted if you win the roll-off. Any remaining tokens stay in your bank, but your bank can never exceed 3 tokens. Both sides may use tokens during the same roll-off.
Example: Éomer calls a Heroic Move and so does a generic Orc Captain. Because Éomer is a Hero of Valour (rank II), an the Captain a Hero of Fortitude (rank III), the roll-off die reads a win for Good on a 3-6 (67%) and a win for Evil on a 1-2 (33%). However, the Evil player has already lost 3 consecutive Heroic roll-offs this game and thus has 3 Heroic roll-off tokens.
Spending 1 token would result in winning the roll-off on a 1-3 (50%). Spending 2 tokens would result in winning the roll-off on a 1-4 (67%). The Evil player cannot spend 3 tokens, as the maximum amount of tokens that can be spend during one roll-off is 2.
The Evil player decided to use 1 token, bringing the roll-off to a 50/50. The Evil player wins the roll-off, and thus loses 1 token. They have 2 tokens remaining in the bank, and the Good player now receives 1 token for losing a roll-off.
This is to prevent Heroic Roll-offs going to the same person over and over again, or at least making that much rarer. This is similar as the Priority rule, because one-sidedness due to dice randomness is just a bad play experience, and makes for unsatisfying narrative gameplay.
The caps are put here to make things not too crazy. There should still be variability.
Out of all the rules changes, this might be the most controversial. I’ll have to do some tests to see if these tokens don’t ruin the game. But I think the idea itself is pretty solid, at least for narrative campaign play where Heroes will have a particularly harder time due to Recovery.
Resisting Magic (Impact: big | Complexity creep: low-medium)
If a model resist a Spell successfully, then for the remainder of that turn the model may resist any Spell on the value rolled by the Resisting model. So if a model resist a Spell with a 5, it may automatically (try to*) resist any Spell on a 5 (but not on a 6). If a model resists a Spell with a 6, it may automatically (try to*) resist all further Spells cast on it.
*For this to happen, it requires an Intelligence test to be passed for each instant. This bypasses the rule where multiple intelligence tests are automatically passed for the same rule during a turn.
The model may still spend Will as normal to try and improve the resist score for further spells, but the new result replaces the old result. In this case no Intelligence test is needed (except for any additional free resists).
The idea here is that Magic is too powerful if the same model is targeted over and over. Most normal Hero models only have 3 Will and no way to restore previously spend points except by rolling a natural 6 while spending them. In this way, Heroes are a bit more resilient against heavy Magic / multiple enemy casters. I think this will improve narrative flavour and storytelling, especially in scenarios with all 9 Ringwraiths.
Example: A Nazgûl casts a Black Dart on Frodo. Frodo spends 2 Will and gets an additional free one thanks to his Resistance to Magic. He rolls a 5 highest and successfully resists the Black Dart. His Will store is down to 1. Now the Witch-King wants to Black Dart Frodo as well, as do 2 other Nazgûl. However, if their Black Dart would be cast on a 5, Frodo may freely Resist the spell if he passes an Intelligence test for every spell he is trying to Resist. If the Black Dart would be cast on a 6, he would need to use regular Will points and try and get a 6.
The Witch-King rolls a 6 and Frodo decides to spend his final Will point to try and resist. This time, he only rolls a 4 highest. This means that now, he only Resist spells this turn on a 4 (again requiring additional Intelligence tests).
Having 9 Nazgûl gang up on one (weak) member of the Fellowship is made slightly harder with this change.
Intelligence Tests (Impact: low-medium | Complexity creep: low)
Intelligence Tests are used more frequently. Some situations or special rules use a random D6 for deciding if something works out or not. But sometimes, an Intelligence test makes more sense given the context. This will be noted where applicable.
The Intelligence stat is a great addition to the game, that I feel is underused currently.
Example: The Golden King has the ‘The Lure of Wealth’ special rule where by spending 1 Will point, the targeted enemy model may automatically not make Strikes against the Golden King that turn. However, in my campaign this can be resisted by the targeted enemy model if they pass an Intelligence test. The Golden King can spend additional Will points to reduce the Intelligence value of the targeted model for that specific test by 1 for each additional Will point spend.
Hatred (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: low)
The rule itself won’t change, but will be rarer or a special scenario bonus. This means Hatred (X) will often be replaced by Ancient Enemies (X) in my campaign, with exceptions.
I think Hatred (X) is a tad overused in this edition and too strong, even for Narrative play.
Sentries (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: medium)
The rules for Sentries have been changed to the following:
If a player has any Sentries, they must always be the first models that Activate during their Move Phase. Before each Sentry Activates, their controlling player rolls a Scatter Die* and a DX, where X is the Sentry’s Movement value.
*A Scatter Die is a special D6 die where four sides have arrows pointing in a certain direction. The two other sides have a hit mark, with also a small arrow in a certain direction.
The Sentry Moves in the direction of the arrow as shown by the Scatter Die. It will Move Y inches, where Y is the result of the DX die. If the Scatter Die shows a hit, the player with Priority may decide what happens. If the opposing player has Priority, they may decide that the Sentry stays still or Moves Y inches in the direction of the hit arrow. If the player who controls the sentry has Priority, they may Move as normal.
This makes the Sentry Movement a lot more random and natural, which is better than the continual moving back and forth in the same line you would normally get if Priority keeps switching sides under the normal rules.
In the original rules there is a 1/6 chance of staying still, 2/6 chance of Moving half in a ‘good’ direction and 2/6 chance of Moving half in a ‘bad’ direction, and a 1/6 chance of Moving as normal.
Under my tweaks, there is (approximately) a 1/6 chance of staying still (or Moving in ‘bad’ direction), 4/6 chance of Moving a varying amount in a random direction and a 1/6 chance of Moving as normal. So generally the odds are similar, just with a greater range of variability.
Until the alarm is raised, Sentries cannot make Shooting Attacks, or use Magical Powers or special rules that need to target enemy models.
If during the End Phase of a turn a Sentry is within 3” of an enemy model and can draw Line of Sight to them, then the alarm will be raised. If a Sentry was hit by a Shooting Attack and was not slain, and has not been removed as a casualty (or otherwise incapacitated), then during the End Phase of that turn they will raise the alarm.
Once the alarm has been raised, Sentries will act normally from that point onwards.
Special case for Hobbits:
Hobbits are naturally stealthy. If all the models the Sentries are trying to spot are Hobbits, the opposing player may choose to let a Sentry perform a re-roll on their Sentry roll. This can only be done once each turn, for up to 1 Sentry roll performed by 1 model.
However, this bonus is negated if the Sentries are Wargs (who rely on smell rather than sight), or if the Sentries are Nazgûl and the scenario takes place at Night or if the One Ring is carried by one of the Hobbits.
Special case for Wargs:
Wargs who are Sentries may re-roll their Sentry roll. If they do, the re-rolled result is final.
Siege Engines and Scatter Table (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: medium)
Use a Scatter Die and a D6 instead of rolling on the Scatter Table. If the Scatter Die shows a ‘Hit’, treat the result as a ‘Dead On’ (the shot hits the initial target, who becomes the actual target). If the Scatter Die shows an ‘Arrow’, draw an imaginary line from the initial target and extend this for D6” in both directions. If this line exceeds 6” in diameter (including the size of the base of the initial target), the opponent may choose a consecutive 6” length of this line to become the target.
Now roll another D6, the result determines which inch on that line is hit, with 1 being the closest to the Siege Engine and 6 being the farthest. If there are multiple models occupying that inch, roll for In The Way.
Example: The result of the Scatter Die and D6 are an arrow pointing sideways to the left and a 5. You now draw an imaginary line of 5” to the left and 5” to the right of the initial target. The opponent chooses to utilize the line starting 2” from the left and extending 3” to the right (which together with 1” base of the initial target covers a consecutive 6”). Another D6 is rolled, this time rolling a 2. This means the space 1 inch to the left of the initial target is hit. Since there are no bases occupying this space, the shot misses.
I’ve never liked the Scatter Table much, as it promotes using models as lightning rods for Siege engines. It also means that the chances of hitting your target depend on there being other models around, which seems strange and unrealistic to me, so instead a more truly random scatter is something I prefer.
New Heroic Action: Heroic Steady(Impact: low-medium | Complexity creep: medium)
This new Heroic Action is available to: Gothmog, Faramir, Gandalf, Aragorn, Denethor, Freca, General Targg, Saruman, Gothmog’s Enforcer, Elrond.
The Hero calling this and every friendly unit within 6” may Activate and Move after the opponent has Moved, even if their side has Priority.
Additionally:
The above Heroes may once per game choose to decline ‘going first’ as a result of the Player with Priority giving it to them (thus essentially handing back the Priority given to them). This may only be done if the Hero with this ability is your General, is alive and on the battlefield and passes an Intelligence test. If the test is failed, the Hero cannot retry in another turn that game.
A rule that adds quite a lot of complexity for something that is probably not necessary. But it does feel thematic, so I’d like to try it out.
Heroic Accuracy (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low)
In addition to the rules as written:
Any models within 6” of the Hero calling this (including the Hero themselves) will improve their Shoot value by 1 until the End Phase of the turn, to a maximum of 2+.
Fight value (FV) (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: low)
Added granularity for Fight values. They can now be either plain or *, where the * basically functions like a 0.5. So a Fv of 5* would win against a Fv of 5, but lose against a Fv of 6. If both sides have an equal Fv including a *, it is tied as normal.
If a Fight value is halved, the * is halved as well. So a 5* would then become a 2,75, which is higher than a 2*, but less than 3. A halved FV of 5 would become a 2,5, which is equal to 2*.
If a Fight value is boosted, for example by a Heroic Strike, then you just add the amount as normal, keeping the * if it was there to begin with.
For models such as Théoden who would automatically win on tied Fight values, this still happens as normal.
For now, the only profile that uses this are Rangers of the North. They get Fv 4*.
Spirits / Spectral Walk (Impact: very low | Complexity creep: low)
Models with the Spectral Walk special rule automatically have Dominant (0).
These spectres are not physically there, so they should not take up space.
Fell Sight (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low)
In addition to the normal rules, Invisible models are not invisible for these models, but do require an Intelligence test to be passed to ‘see’ them.
Fell Wargs and Werewolves use their scent to locate models, so they can still locate Invisible models.
Harbinger of Evil (X”) (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low)
In addition to the normal effects, Enemy Heroes within X” of this model have their Stand Fast range reduced by half.
Magic and In the Ways (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low)
If there are any In the Ways for a Magic spell, the caster must pass an Intelligence test to actually hit the target. Otherwise, the In the Way target is hit.
This is to make things a bit more tactical.
War horn (Impact: low-medium | Complexity creep: medium-big)
All the following effects are not cumulative for multiple friendly War horns, unless explicitly stated:
- +1/-1 to Reinforcement rolls for friendly Reinforcements that share Race & Faction.
- Dominant (2) for each friendly model within 3” instead of just the war horn-carrier.
- Fight value +* for friendly models within 6” that share Race & Faction.
- Models within 24″ of a friendly War horn still get a +1 bonus to any Courage Test they’ll have to take, but this now only applies to friendly models that share Race & Faction.
- If within 6” of a friendly Hero that shares Race & Faction, their Stand Fast! range is increased by 3”. This is instead of the once-per-game action in the original rule. Furthermore, this effect can stack with other war horns.
- Once per game, at the start of any Move phase, a model with a War horn can unleash a particular fearsome blow of the horn. Until the End phase of the turn, enemy models within 6″ of the model using this ability suffer a -1 penalty to any Courage test they are required to make. This effect can stack with other war horns.
These are a lot of additional rules for probably not too much impact, but it does make war horns more realistic and worthwhile. So I think it’s worth trying out.
Paralyse (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low-medium)
An Intelligence test is required to maintain the spell at the start of each turn. When failed, the caster must either spend an additional Will point, or break the spell. If the caster is not within 6” of the model under the effects of Paralyse, the Intelligence test gets a -1 for each 3” distance outside of the 6” bubble.
This applies only to the Magic spell, as it would not make sense for Spiders who Paralysed enemies by webbing.
Another one that adds a lot more complexity for something that is probably not very relevant. But it is very flavourful and realistic I find, and also improves the play experience.
Broken (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: low)
Where applicable, Broken may be a factor in battles. This will be determined for each scenario separately.
Rings of Power (Impact: low-medium | Complexity creep: low-medium)
During the Second Age, while Sauron was alive, the Three Elven Rings were not used. Therefore, for scenarios taking place in this time frame, its benefits are nullified.
In addition to their other capabilities:
Vilya (Ring of Air; Elrond) – Its bearer may call a Heroic Move for free once during a game. This cannot be contested.
Narya (Ring of Fire; Círdan, later Gandalf) – Its bearer may call a Heroic Resolve for free once during a game.
Nenya (Ring of Water; Galadriel) – Its bearer may cast a Protection of the Valar for free once during a game. (This does not count towards their casting limit for the turn).
The One Ring (Sauron, later Isildur, Gollum, Bilbo, Frodo) – Its bearer may cast a Compel for free once during a game. (This does not count towards their casting limit for the turn). Only Sauron may use this ability.
Army bonuses (Impact: medium | Complexity creep: medium)
On a case by case basis Army bonuses will be checked for additional Special rules that will be transferred to Profiles where they make sense.
Cavalry and fleeing (Impact: low | Complexity creep: medium)
Mounts with an Attack characteristic of 0 don’t automatically flee when they are separated from their rider– instead they also perform a Courage test to see if they stay or not. If they stay, they can be (re-)mounted as normal. They are controlled as normal by their controlling player during turns.
Lone horses may even Charge enemies, but need to pass a Courage test if they do. If they fail, they automatically flee the board. If they succeed and win the Fight, they may not inflict Strikes but may choose to knock 1 enemy model they were engaged with Prone.
The original rules make sense for competitive games because they could make it unwieldy. But narratively I found them to be too much a simplification and removing some cool and realistic options.
Your input
More rules may be added as I find them or think of them, but I think this is at least a good start.
Once again, I’d love to read your thoughts. Do you like or dislike these rules changes, and do you have some suggestions of your own?
Next week, I’ll dive into special campaign rules such as for Recovery rolls, Rest Points, et cetera.
I’m a little out of touch when it comes to the rules these days but from what I can remember, I love the priority rule as it is pretty luck dependent. Its not uncommon enough for one side to lose a lot of priority rolls and feel like that has impacted their chances of winning the game to some degree. I also really like the idea that the more epic a hero is, the more powerful they are on the tabletop. A goblin captain might be able to hurt Aragorn using a heroic ability but to take him down off a crazy lucky roll shouldn’t be a common result at all.
It will be interesting to see how these rules go for you and hopefully using the most up to date ruleset results in fun scenarios too!
Thanks! Tweaking the rules and then later re-adjusting them is actually something I find I rather enjoy. So even if it would result in unfun scenarios, at least they should be a good learning experience.
Very well thought out. I like the priority change especially and heroic aspects.
I’ve always had problems with the war horn and banners issues. I feel banners mean something more to the good factions vs the evil ones. Same with horns, to me they are rallying cries for good vs evil noise makers supposedly terrifying good.
Thanks Bret. Love your ideas for more asymmetrical effects between Good and Evil!
That is not yet something I am confident enough in to pursue at this point however, at least not for banners and war horns. I did tweak the suggested war horn rules changes some more based on your input, however.
I also think maybe Banners should work a little differently. But I also kind of like the big impact they have in the game and how it makes banners a prime target for taking out, on both sides.
Very cool! I do think there might be too many of these to remember – or at least I know I forget my own house rules a lot when playing at home. But I’m curious in particular to see if Heroic Wait/Respond (maybe Heroic Steady sounds better?) works out. I respect the changes, though, and am eager to see them play out. Glad you’re sticking with it!
Thanks Caleb! There are a lot of rules, but I think most of them don’t actually come into play that much in a given scenario. And if they do, they are often part of the general preparation. The Fall of the Necromancer scenario with all 9 Dol Guldur Nazgûl, the Necromancer and the White Council kind of gave me a new outlook on this. That scenario is so packed with special rules and abilities for each individual character, but it did just work. Of course I could be very wrong here, but then I can always adjust. 🙂
Heroic Steady does sound better, I will update it in the list!
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