February 2024 FAQ Review - Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game | MESBG

Joined by Andrew of A Hobbyist’s Tale podcast, we dive into all the changes of the highly anticipated February 2024 FAQ!
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00:00 Introduction
01:27 Dragon Emperor Nerf
11:39 Control Zones
14:02 Pairing Fights
18:02 Bludgeon
20:40 Fog of War
25:34 Leaving the Board
26:42 Missile Weapons
28:38 Fortify Spirit
28:54 Swapping Weapons
29:54 Impassable Terrain
34:26 Closing Thoughts
Credits:
Music: Tavern Loop One by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@user-cp8ej8id8y]

Great review! I do wish Rutabi would go down to F5. I also wish movement of the Dragon Emperor, on the palanquin, would correspond to the number of bearers. So all 6 alive, it has a full 6 inch move. If one dies, it goes down to 5 inches, etc. That would actually encourage targeting the bearers, make more sense (that thing looks heavy), and be easier to remember. Instead of changing the buff aura or any additional points changes I would like to see a nerf to the drum in the legion. Maybe something like it does not affect the DE while on the palanquin because how are those dudes sprinting across the battle field while carrying that? I think that would limit some of the insane mobility that a predominantly infantry, heavily armored army should not really have (the Greek phalanx wasn't known for its speed), without being oppressive. It also encourage taking a captain in the list. Thoughts?

[@intothewestpodcast]

Some great ideas here, especially the change to the Palaquin’s movement. Not sure if the LL needs all of these changes to be balanced, but I like the direction of reducing their overall mobility. -Charles

[@donbarnett7137]

Good summary guys. Thanks for saving me from having to ready through the FAQ. Sadly they didn't answer my six questions on Battle Companies. I guess they were not Frequently asked.

[@danielwielki3490]

thanks for the summary report, you can always learn something new , 😉😊

[@austinrittle1356]

I think a big issue with Rhun is the black dragon upgrade is arguably not worth 2 points. Like it is fine at 2, but it always feels steep. Honestly I have been a little jaded since he came out because Boromir of the white tower has existed for years and in my opinion is a much better model in a faction with much better options but no one has ever called for his nerf. I have always felt like the Emperor thrives in the current meta. The 30 point bump up seems somewhat reasonably, but I think it's a meta question, not an emperor question.

[@shishisei]

My problem with the Dragon Emperor Nerf is that it didn't fix the problem they had. When I look around the Meta, Easterlings exists pretty much only as Host of the Dragon Emperor. He was very cheap, but the only way to get F5 outside the LL is to pay for an upgrade that makes an easterling warrior as expensive as an elf, but with -1F,-1C and no elven blade. Either that or spam Acolytes that, at the end of the day, are 11 pts for a D4 model. If anything, the nerf reinforces the need to play the Legion if you want to play easterling, which may counterproductive in the long term.

[@intothewestpodcast]

There definitely was a better and more nuanced way to nerf it, we all agreed but this is better than nothing... I was so tired of seeing the DE LL just roll people with little skill and effort. -Richard

[@shishisei]

@@intothewestpodcast Personally, I would have removed the free upgrade from the emperor warband and limited it to the Dragon Knights warband (then consider increasing DK to fortitude). Either that or decrease the Black Dragon Upgrade to 1 pt, so that the normal easterling wouldn't be too affected.

[@yvanloppe5650]

I love easterling. There are my fav faction since I started to play years ago. The emperor needed def a nerf, however the vector was probably not the optimal one. I’m would have preferred the upgrade to black dragon going from free to one point which would have almost the same impacts. Now we will just stop to alliance him and for the LL we will swap Rutabi for dragon Black knights which player in EU already started to do to max out phalanges. Now we will have to find solution against Lorien & Rohan or 5 armies build 😂😂

[@jajen2003]

Great analysis. Good job, boys.

[@joshhartley8998]

Where are you lads finding your MESBG memes? The Suladan one at the end was golden.

[@intothewestpodcast]

Andrew found it on one of the Facebook groups!

[@robertstephens3847]

Ruling on a model can only leave the board via movement. It is probably my doing, I had a dwarf ballista firing at WK but couldn't kill them. The ballista nearly sent him off the board. Me and the other player joked that WK had Looney tunes fall off the board.

[@intothewestpodcast]

Great work, now we know for sure :D

[@Gusmil89]

I can see how the Emperor need a nerf or tweak, but I wish they'd hurt the LL not the normal alliances, then again they don't like normal alliances.

[@mediocreranger]

Thanks again! I've been listening to everything you guys put out and love it. Will I see any of you in Portland in April for Battle for Bridgetown? -Daniel

[@intothewestpodcast]

Yep, at least one of us and maybe all 3 will be coming down!

[@mediocreranger]

@@intothewestpodcastGreat! Here's to hoping we get a match!

[@hunsler1006]

Surely that deployment faq is intended as, how did your model get up there in the first place if it's impossible. A cliff or whatever wouldn't be impossible for a flying unit

[@intothewestpodcast]

Agreed, the intention is fair, we just think it could be worded better in order to not require more FAQs.

[@AngmarCaptain]

😂 Ian at 27:40

[@samfricke1400]

need more Andrew all the time

[@intothewestpodcast]

He's the best!

[@HodgePodgeHobbies]

do you guys think this FAQ actually will change the meta scene in the west here? and if they do get nerfed again come august what do you think it'll be?

[@intothewestpodcast]

We’ll have to see to know for sure, but our prediction is there not being a massive meta shift, as the LL is still very powerful and virtually unaffected at higher points. As we said in the episode, this nerf is a good start, and our hope is that there will be a nerf to the LL so that there’s a reason to take him outside the legion. -Charles

[@HodgePodgeHobbies]

@@intothewestpodcast yeah I'm curious to see what happens, i wonder if the next one we could see is the 1 point increase for the black dragons in the ll, i wonder what kind of affect that would have, might be too much though as well not sure

[@ChrisFrosin]

... or if you shatter one of Erestors daggers... as he seems to have an unlimited amount... 😊

[@intothewestpodcast]

😂

[@jmaccsarmiesofmiddleearth]

Honestly, what a wet fart of an FAQ changes absolutely fk all about the game. I'm hoping it's because something big is coming so they didn't waste time on lots of changes. Also we always played FOG after deployment here so its no change for us.

[@intothewestpodcast]

Same, we’re hoping a big release is just around the corner!

[@Stepcloserr]

What's wrong with the game? I've only been playing for a few months now and haven't played against a lot of factions.

[@jmaccsarmiesofmiddleearth]

@@Stepcloserr Nothing at all wrong with the game its still amazing. Just seeing the same few armies at events can be anyoying, My last big event I played half my games against the same army. I think its just a bit of frustration that weve not had anything new in a few years but that will hopefully change soon :D

[@Stepcloserr]

@@jmaccsarmiesofmiddleearth I mean fair, what are the "problems"? besides Suladan allied in everylist and the dragon emperor LL.

[@mattallen9629]

Now we just need gwahir to not be a hero of Legend! I think the nerf is fine. Don't want to run a model to the ground so it's never played again, small changes over time will be fine

[@intothewestpodcast]

I would be okay if he was downgraded to a valour, small nerf but still playable! -Richard

[@lutzeichmeyer9338]

As a WK player, when is WK nerf happening?

[@intothewestpodcast]

Never :D

[@lutzeichmeyer9338]

Yay!

[@NeuralWraith]

increasing his points instead of tweaking the LL or the black dragon upgrade cost is so stupid. The Legion is still viable and any non-LL list is now just pure trash.

[@naugladur8534]

Take Khazad Dum or Kingdom of Moria and you might have the biggest chances of defeating the emperor LL

[@NeuralWraith]

@@naugladur8534 I'm coming from the opposite direction, I play Easterlings but mostly outside the legion because I like to run chariots and/or the other heroes like Khamul. These lists are much better for our local gaming group and we think about houseruling this change by only applying the new points cost inside the LL.

[@Yoheiyohey]

The dragon emperor was an expensive model, over costed irl and too cheap in game 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@intothewestpodcast]

Spot on! 👌🏻

[@Chapter-Master-Kosh]

First!