hi
is this right, or do we do terror tests after heroic duels?

thanks and luckily i didn't even need to call another duel because i managed to wipe out the whole formation of goblins without even having to fight so then with galadriel should i use spells to lower courage, then charge, then call heroic duels when they fail their terror test?

Yes, Galadriel (the spellcaster) is one of the more important characters for elves, due to her almost unique access to Dismay and Command. Gandalf is the only other epic hero in Good with access to that. Light of the Valar lowers courage first, with a focus roll of 2+. Then use Dismay to lower their Courage again with Sunder Spirit (3+ focus roll). Transfix, Visions of Woe, or Terrifying Aura are all good as the finisher.

This is one of the reasons we house-ruled against anything modifying FV in duels, it makes captains a serious liability.

It also makes epic strikers kinda overpowered, to compensate we also eliminated the negatives like black breath and failed courage tests.

Fluffy explanation is that it is to much about reflexes and elemental skill which allows you to focus on the enemy and drive out all other influences. fight or flight and time for flight has passed...

So far this little house rule has proved usefull.

"And favours certain types of heroes more than others. Additionally it turns a duel into one of sheer luck and brawn. Fight value takes into account reflexes and elemental skill."

exactly, with a couple of points of difference in FV shifting the odds in favor of the more skilled hero. Duels aren't supposed to be an auto-win or take out entire formations. Duelling on a battlefield should be a dangerous affair.


"Otherwise it is just simply a case of an orc captain having as much of a chance as Aragorn in a duel. That's just plain silly."

This is not accurate as aragorn has a higher FV than an orc captain. Actually, allowing epic strike in duels would mean some lesser heroes are on even footing with Aragorn, silly indeed.


"Sorry, that house rule favours mob armies instead of quality armies and the system already favours quantity over quality."


The game actually favors quality over quantity at the moment. Ever heard of something called "pinwheel of death"?
A single formation of Elven archers with about 1600 points of heroes in it. Hasn't lost a single company in a tournament if the stories are to be believed.

Having only read the gw battlereport just minuts ago, you might be right and we should change our houserule as they used epic strike in a duel.

It just leads to new timing issues however..

Even without epic strike the wraiths arent pushovers, they're just more support characters as their mere FV5 shows.

I'm pushing for only unmodified fight to be used in duels locally. My reading of RAW is that Epic Strike etc are clearly permitted, but my own experience is that, while it's not unbalancing, it does lead players to heavily favour taking Epic Strikers and avoiding captains.

AFAIK,using unmodified fight does not disadvantage anyone who should be good in duels. Elves, Aragorn etc already start with a higher fight / more might and it makes Rohan heroes with their dueling reroll, for example, actually worth taking.

Brutoni can make assumptions about what others are looking at all he wants, but the practical consequence of ES in duels is that the margin between F10 and normal Fight is so large, and many heroes get it so cheaply, that it can't help but distort list design. It's just a matter of protecting yourself. The inequalities creep in when the protections are not evenly allocated. Having ES does a Wraith little practical good vs Gondor. The duel caller gets +1 and can add might if the dice go against them, if not, then they have might for more duels next time.

Essentially, the margin is so great that it obviates other factors. Fight 10 vs fight 4 or 5 is an auto win, assuming neither side add might.

So, if you get players in a group who can and do start to maximise this, then it has implications for what others then do with their lists to cope.

Insofar as most people can (somewhat) cope ok via doing various things with their list, then it is not a major balance problem. That is, everyone can remain (somewhat) competitive by making changes to their lists.

What I am not a big fan of is what it does to lists and how it affects balance between lists.
However, it will not start to be a problem in a group until some do it.

This is why I don't like house rules that dramatically alter the game. It's far better to find ways round things by having balanced (themed) lists and how well you can play on the field.