What Would a WotR Blog be without a Discussion of Epic Strike?!?

Ahh - The beloved/hated Epic Strike. The "I am going to spank your puny hero's trash" go to for Epic Heroes! The "My Fight 5 Hero is now Fight 10 and more Epicly Dueling powerful than Aragorn" Special Rule ... No wonder this one special rule has caused so much contention. In fact, I think that anyone who has played even one game of WotR and used or have had it used noticed the glaring problem that this rule presents. It's not just an Epic Strike ... it is an Epic-Epic-Epic Strike and unless you could immediately counter with your own Epic Strike - it pretty much became an "I win" special rule.

As we have shown in previous posts when doing the analysis for Hero profiles:

• Fight = +/- 5 points per value point
• Special Rules = +/- 10 points per spell, special rule, or epic action 

Using these two point values logically together:

Epic Strike = Special Rule = +10 Points = 2*(+5 Points) = 2* (+1 Fight)

There we have it ... Epic Strike is a 10 point special rule, so the equivalent Fight Value boost for that would be an increase of 2 Fight Value Points.

Looking around the internet and on the posts on one-ring.co.uk it seems like this is actually a fairly "accepted" change for the Epic Strike rule. The rule for Epic Strike would then read as follows:

Epic Strike will increase the Fight Value of a Hero by +2 to a maximum of 10. Furthermore, if there are other special rules that have taken effect (even after Epic Strike has been applied) the minimum that a Epic Hero's Fight Value with Epic Strike applied can be reduced to is 2 (0 + 2).

The cool part about this change is that it allows all heroes to maintain their Heroic status with respect to other heroes while still providing a boost to Fight Value when needed.

Furthermore, there has been discussions about the application of an Epic Hero's abilities to the formation in which he is participating. We have found that applying the bonus from an Epic Hero for offensive abilities (like Epic Strike) should only apply to his company within the formation and not the entire formation. To accomplish this, we use a different colored set of dice for the Hero's company - just to keep them separate from he other companies in the formation. I realize that this means that the game play will slow down a little to keep track of the differentiation, but let's be honest - do we really want the game to "go fast" anyway? Of course not ... that means we have to do "other stuff" - like dishes, cleaning, watching kids, homework ... forget that! If only I could Epic Duel my responsibilities in life and call an "old school" Epic Strike, LOL!

LINKS TO OTHER RANDOM POSTS

1. GW WotR Unit Cost Controversy
2. What About Banners and Hornblowers in Profiles?
3. Legendary Formations and Their Point Costs
4. The "About Face!" Errata - More Game Changing than Expected
5. What Would a WotR Blog be without a Discussion of Epic Strike?!?
6. Blog Introduction
7. WotR Army Roster Sheet - Available for Download 
8. WotR Army Roster Example 1000 Point Gondor Army
9. Ideas for iPad Simulator of WotR