Hot takes on the best FAQ MESBG has ever had

Probably the biggest change in this FAQ, and a well-deserved one. They had their time

The July FAQ has released with truly shocking speed, and boy is it a big one. Games Workshop has gone back beyond the precedents set in previous FAQs to hand out a wide range of buffs to under-performing lists as well as nerfing the oppressive top players. As is standard for these FAQ articles I won’t be covering every change, so do go and read the docs yourself in order to get a grasp of all the minutiae. Instead, I’ll be giving a snapshot of the meta that was, covering off the big changes, and then assessing what they tell us about Games Workshop’s design philosophy for the game and the meta to come. That’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in.

The pre-FAQ meta

Before this mammoth set of changes, the headline news was clear: Men of the West and Army of the White Hand were the two strongest armies in the game, with Usurpers of Edoras a little behind them. MotW and Usurpers were noticeably easier armies to pick up and play, which helped to buoy up their winrates and tournament success, but in my view White Hand remained clearly stronger in the hands of a good player. MotW could be run in a few different ways but was best with the Elessar/Gwaihir/Legolas combo, while White Hand and Usurpers both went as hard on Crebain as they could reasonably afford.

I never lost a game with this list, and frankly it shouldn't have been a thing

Beneath these three lists were a whole swathe of armies that could compete but were clearly worse. This segment of the meta was absolutely packed, including almost every kind of Elf, hordes like Assault on Lothlorien, Scouts in both forms, Battle of Five Armies in several forms, Khazad-dûm and several Erebor lists, Reclamation of Osgiliath and Defenders of the Pelennor, Fields of Celebrant, the Shire, Angmar at least 4 different ways, Moria Dragon lists, Depths, Harad or Serpent Horde, Minas Morgul and Radagast’s Alliance. These lists had a lot going for them, but were fairly clearly and unequivocally worse than the top 2/3 builds.

Beneath this wedge of competitive-but-not-oppressive lists were a heap of relatively weak lists, including most of Rohan and Mordor in particular. These lists really did struggle to break through, and probably needed a little something to tip them over into competition with the somewhat bigger dogs above them.

That’s all set to change now though, because the top news of the day is…

 

Big bird down

Say goodbye to Gwaihir/Beorn combos, methinks

Perhaps the biggest change of the FAQ is a massive 50-point increase to Gwaihir in every list he can be taken in. This was a heavily-overdue change that could have happened last edition, and it’s entirely justified. Gwaihir was comically cheap for his value, being arguably better than a lot of 200-point monsters while letting you bring along an extra half-dozen warriors for free. He will now be paying an appropriate price for his excellent profile, although he is now legitimately quite vulnerable to magic. At 150 points it was never a huge deal if Saruman bullied your flappy bird all game; at 200 it’s suddenly a very different question.

That said, the one unfortunate aspect of this changes is that it affects Eagles, Radagast’s Alliance and Thorin’s Company lists just as much as it does Men of the West and Battle of the Five Armies. The former three lists really didn’t need any points hikes, and it’s unfortunate that they had to pay the price for the sins of some meta lists.

Those meta lists are also affected by the change to Legolas, allowing him to shoot in combat only while the model he’s facing is otherwise unengaged. The big impact of this is that players facing Legolas can actually shut him down on turns that they’re moving first by charging both him and a warrior with one model. That’s not a massive nerf to a comically-strong profile, but it does make him slightly less of an auto-include in lists that can bring him.

This is a bigger change than I'd initially thought, because it gives at least some way to stop Legolas shooting

Putting these two changes together, I think the most affected list is absolutely Battle of Five Armies. Both of the traditional BoFA lists have leaned heavily on these two profiles, and the double-monster variants in particular are dramatically weakened by the points nerf on Gwaihir. Single-monster builds now have an interesting choice to make between Gwaihir and Beorn, or perhaps even pivoting to go without either, and any of these choices seems reasonably viable to me. This is clearly a positive change from pre-FAQ, where Gwaihir was objectively the correct choice for all BoFA builds.

Men of the West, on the other hand, probably never takes Gwaihir again in competitive lists. Elessar’s horse has always been worth a lot more than the 25 points it theoretically costed, and the only reason to leave it at home was to accommodate a 50-point-undercosted flying monster. Now that monster is paying a fair price, I think MotW pivots to Elessar/Gandalf or possibly Three Hunters builds. I can also see an argument for Elessar/Éomer builds at lower points, especially now that there will be less opposing Legolases and Gwaihirs to dismount the big heroes.

My assessment is that MotW will continue to be a top meta list, just somewhat toned down from its previous heights. BoFA will be much more affected, and players using it may pivot back towards either Thranduil’s Halls or Erebor lists instead. Other Legolas-abusing lists like Defenders of the Pelennor will probably continue fielding him, but may think a bit more seriously about other options like Strider, Halbarad or Dernhelm.

Little birds also down

This kind of defensive bird-wall has become much weaker than before

The second massive change has been that Crebain are heavily nerfed, going down a pip of Defence and Wounds. The combination dramatically reduces their durability, and brings them back to the role of specialist tech pieces rather than the core of a list. The change to Defence 2 is most significant against S4 heroes, who can now chip away at them on 3’s instead of 4’s. Combined with the change to 3 Wounds, this means that a standard S4/A3 hero can plausibly kill them in one turn, and is quite likely to do so if getting a charge bonus or spear support. Anyone who has watched helplessly as their Aragorn fought one 4-Wound bird after the next will be breathing a massive sigh of relief. And as a seasoned bird-abuser, I can’t begin to tell you how many 1-Wound birds have survived for turns longer than they ought and wrecked total havoc. No more, says Games Workshop.

Overall, this probably does reduce Crebain to a reasonably balanced position. They’re still quite useful tech pieces to have access to, and they’ll remain excellent at hunting down lone models on flanks or flipping back objectives. But I think lists that take more than a couple are going to really feel the durability nerfs and be dramatically weaker overall.

As with the Gwaihir changes, these nerfs will affect different armies very differently depending on their capacity to pivot to other alternatives. White Hand lists have always had access to efficient cavalry options like Warg Riders and (especially) Dunlanding Cavalry, and I expect lists will melt down most of their Crebain into cavalry and Scout upgrades. On balance that will probably leave White Hand lists only a little weaker than before, with the biggest impact being at high points where they tended to really spam out the birds. And needless to say, pure bird-spam lists are solidly gone with the wind.

In passing, I’ll note that the Grima FAQ is just making an unintuitive bit of RAW clear, while the half-movement one is funny but not impactful. Dwarves travelling an additional 0.5” once per game isn’t a breakpoint on any scenario (e.g. getting to an Heirloom in Convergence one turn early), so it will be a quality-of-life buff more than anything else.

Dwarves absolutely sprinting up the battlefield with this change

Usurpers is in an interesting place post-FAQ, being much more impacted by the Crebain changes than White Hand (because they wanted to field more Crebain at any points level, and because they don’t have other mobility options to pivot to) but being dramatically strengthened by access to a cheap banner. I think on balance the list will be somewhat weaker than before, but will probably remain a competitive option at lower points at least.

And at high points they will now have access to a Mumakil, which is a very fun option now. I highly doubt that Mumakil builds will be competitive in Usurpers, given that Mumaks aren’t that competitive in Harad and fragile infantry are basically the opposite of what you want to support a Warbeast. That’s especially true because you’re giving up access to Freca, so those fragile infantry aren’t even F4. But it’s fun, and I’m really glad GW have opened up the list in this regard.

In terms of other Crebain lists, Besiegers will be very grateful for access to a banner and probably won’t be as impacted by the Crebain nerf because the Orc/Troll trio (i.e. the only reason to field this list) tended to soak up a lot of the points that would have gone to spamming birds anyway. The banner is a really big deal here, and I could actually see this list rise a tiny bit up the competitive rankings. It’s still not, like, good, but maybe the Troll will get to shine a little more. Even the FAQ on being within range of objective markers will be a tiny buff to them, although as far as I can tell it literally only applies to Heirlooms: no other scenario has a range around objective markers that can be picked up, so the FAQ doesn’t do anything in games like Seize or Retrieval.

Finally, the Army of Dunland will probably be impacted a little more than White Hand, because they wanted to spam more birds and their cavalry options are slightly worse without board-wide reroll ones. Oh well, I don’t think anyone was taking this list for pure competitive reasons anyway.

The buffs

In absolutely shocking news, these nerfs have been matched by a wide spread of buffs to underperforming lists. Even more shockingly, some of those buffs may have actual meta impact.

Starting with minor ones, Imrahil went down a sweet 20 points to return to effectively his points value last edition. Frankly I never bought into the idea that Imrahil was overcosted (he was probably the only Dol Amroth model that wasn’t!), but this effectively amounts to a well-deserved drop for Fiefdoms models as a whole. I would have probably preferred for Knights to be discounted, seeing as they’re the actually-overcosted part of the package, but I guess an undercosted hero leading overcosted troops puts us in a similar spot. Imrahil and a phalanx of Men-at-Arms is probably a decent shout in Fiefdoms lists now (off-brand Dragon Emperor let’s go!), while Grief of Éomer builds probably do fit in the big swan boy now. Defenders of the Pelennor and MotW lists still have better options.

Jumping back to Rohan, Fords of Isen can now field 50% throwing spears! Fords has some legitimately strong rules and heroes, and has been held back by a lack of efficient warrior profiles. The ability to really spam out throwing spears (doubling as normal spears) may shift the needle here, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this list putting up some respectable finishes in the future.

More impactfully, the humble Mordor Orc (and its Captains) has been added to a host of Mordor lists. Legions of Mordor is perhaps least-affected here, as it will likely remain the home of exclusively skew builds taking advantage of its variety of profiles. Army of Gothmog gets a significant boost from being able to fit in more models, but Army of Gothmog is an absolutely awful list so I expect it to remain fairly subpar.

It's all coming together now for Mordor!

Where this change is significant, however, is with Black Gate. Black Gate has some genuinely crazy rules, and while its mandatory Mouth is pretty mediocre this edition (RIP to a real one), the rest of the list had a lot going for it. This change will allow them to field Mordor Orc spear supports instead of Morannons, potentially translating into an extra 6 or 7 models in the line at mid-points. For a list with army rules that incentivise outnumbering opponents, that is an extremely big deal. I could see Black Gate lists genuinely winning events off the back of this change, especially because their Will of Sauron special rule remains comically-broad in its capabilities. Dismounting heroes and making them jump off buildings will never not be funny.

Staying on the Orc theme, Angmar Orc Shamans get some mount options they should never take, while Lurtz and Ugluk can bring along Uruk Shamans to fire up their boys. Ugluk doesn’t need an Uruk Shaman because he can already hand out Fearless on demand, but access to Fury is potentially a really big deal for Lurtz’ Scouts. Terror is a massive issue for a C7+ list with no spear supports, and even Break checks were pretty scary for Lurtz and the other heroes. A Shaman basically solves those problems entirely, and I could see one being worthwhile as the third or fourth hero selection.

Finally, Depths can take Moria Drums as well as Blackshield ones. This is probably the correct choice at some points levels (probably 800-850, where you can’t justify the Watcher but already have a horde of Goblins), but does remain a bit too expensive to be worthwhile fielding in most lists.

Rules clarifications

We got a whole host of rules clarifications and changes with this FAQ, almost all of which were commonsensical but many of which were nonetheless necessary. Ridden Wargs are Beasts, Beasts can’t uncover Artefacts, wings don’t block LoS… Broadly these all went very logically, and lots of little edge cases were shut down. Clarification on multiple heroes of the same cost in missions like Breakthrough was sensible, and hero mounts really truly not counting as heroes for anything was good for game consistency. I’m amused that Thorin III counts as Thorin for the purpose of Sworn Protector, and I’m glad that the previous silliness around mounted models and Dragonfire has been cleaned up. The change to how Strength is calculated for stopping Warbeasts from Trampling is interesting, but critically does not allow for models peeled off by charges to be excluded from the calculation, so just covers niche things like Mahud Raiders (a legitimately fun combo). 

No peeling off models fighting this guy with Crebain!

The only really surprising change here is that models engaged in the same combat as a banner (critically, not spear supports; they’re not engaged in combat) can’t be handed a banner if it dies in that fight. That’s certainly news to me, and will stop me being quite as aggressive with my banner. It was often the correct play to hide the banner and a friend in combat when there was enemy shooting around, so this should make it meaningfully easier to assassinate banners in some games.

Overall meta impact

Putting together these nerfs and buffs, I’d say five main themes come through:

First, the Gwaihir/Legolas lists are dramatically weakened. This solidly knocks MotW and BoFA down a peg, although MotW in particular can adapt quite solidly. I’d say these lists are now distinctly within the competitive pack, but no longer strike me as oppressive. The Elessar/Gandalf builds may continue to be ‘a bit much’, but otherwise this problem seems to have been resolved without the lists being left dead in the water.

Second, I think both White Hand and Usurpers have been knocked down into the pack without being shattered. White Hand in particular is likely to stay right near the top of the meta (particularly around its ideal value of 750-ish points), but I expect it will feel much easier to play into without the endless unkillable bird waves.

Third, the massive sweep of A-tier lists that were competitive but distinctly worse than the big dogs are now feeling amazing. It’s a great day to be a Dwarf or Elf player, for example, and lists like Lothlorien that were weak into both White Hand and MotW are absolutely celebrating. It’s perhaps a mixed bag for those like Minas Morgul who were actually relatively strong into the top two, but overall it’s a brilliant time to be playing one of these ‘nearly-there’ lists.

Arguably the biggest winners of the whole FAQ (Forge Brush)

Fourth, the variety of weaker armies that received some gentle pushes are all feeling happier than last week, especially given that the overall power of the meta has come down a little. I don’t think Fords of Isen or Fiefdoms is really likely to be winning many big events, but Black Gate seems like it probably could.

And finally, cavalry lists and mounted heroes are celebrating the meta shifts. Gwaihir MotW or BoFA was a horrific matchup for these armies, with Hurls and Legolas dismounting heroes with ease. And the reduction in Crebain, Sarumans and Hatred (Rohan) models at the top of the meta is excellent news for cavalry lists in general. If you were contemplating a few Sons of Eorl or Battle of Fornost combined-arms lists, then now is a great time for it.

Design philosophy

This FAQ is frankly unprecedented. The nerfs to the top of the meta were nuanced but reasonably predictable, and the many rules clarifications were competent and thorough but unsurprising. But it’s the buffs to weaker armies that are most surprising, despite the fact that only one (Black Gate getting Mordor Orcs) is really gonna shift the needle on competitive builds. GW frankly never buffs underperforming lists, or at least it didn’t last edition. The last couple FAQs felt like they were testing the waters on how this would be received, with things like Army of Thror getting 50% throwing weapons clearly a prototype for some of the sweeping changes we saw this week.

Dropping a model's points cost like this felt absolutely unexpected, in the best way possible

Overall, this feels like an FAQ from a much more involved GW that is willing to meaningfully change the balance of the game from both ends, using every tool at their disposal.

FAQ rating out of 10

And that, frankly, is amazing. More casual players who would prefer their books to remain up-to-date for longer may bemoan this shift, but I think in the long run everyone benefits from a tighter level of competitive balance. If all the competitive players in your local community feel they have to run something bird-shaped to compete at tournaments, then those same players are gonna want to practice those lists at smaller events and in casual games. If the meta is wide open, then that’s a benefit at the bottom as well as the top of game.

Overall, I give this FAQ a 9/10. It loses part marks for quite how easily MotW may be able to pivot, and there are still too many low-hanging fruit in terms of languishing armies to give it a 10. But in terms of both ambition and nuance, this is probably the best FAQ I’ve ever seen from Games Workshop.

It’s a good day to be playing MESBG.

Finally, I can stop playing Crebain

Let me know in the comments how you reckon the meta’s gonna pan out, and what you’re most excited to try now. Is Fiefdoms finally good now? Is the Black Gate the new meta menace? Are we all about to be terrorised by the Brown Riders (massed Angmar Orc Shamans on wargs)? Let me know down below or on socials.

Until next time, may your army always be one of the ones to watch!