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).
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.
Sentries (Impact: low | Complexity creep: low)
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.
New Heroic Action: Heroic Respond (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.
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)
+1/-1 to Reinforcement rolls.
Dominant (2) for each model within 3” instead of just the war horn-carrier.
Fight value +* for models within 6”.
If within 6” of a friendly Hero, its Stand Fast! range is increased by 3”.
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.