That time of year is drawing near to us once again, here at DCHQ we're gearing up for our annual charity ME:SBG tournament! (Event Link) For those of you who missed out on last year, we held a little tournament at Element Games in Stockport to try and raise some money for a good cause (for that particular year, we had MIND as our chosen charity) and we ended up raising over £1,000 in a spectacular show of generosity by our players. In this tournament there was a little twist however, as we weren't looking for whomever won the most games in the day. Instead, we wanted to see who's nominated Hero of Valour would take home the crown by killing the most of their enemies. Last year, Boromir, Captain of the White Tower secured the win with a staggering 37 kills over 4 games, incredible stuff!
This year however, we're delving lower into the ranks and we want to see who's Hero of Fortitude will be the one to come out on top! With that in mind, the DC lot have banded together to pick who we think would be the best hero for the job over 4 games with their best loadout, more or less considered in isolation (not really thinking too hard about what lists they'd be in). It's worth noting we also aren't accepting Heroes of Fortitude who are then promoted to Valour via special rules in a Legendary Legion and we also aren't counting impact hits towards scoring.
The way we went about this was each of the team choosing their top 10 heroes for the job. We assigned 10pts to 1st place, 9 points to 2nd and so on, after which we'd add up everyone's scores to get an amalgamated top 10.
(Just a reminder that these are Good heroes only, our Evil Top 10 will follow)
10th Place - Tauriel, 11pts
Coming in last on the list, but by no means last out of all the Fortitude heroes comes Tauriel. She shows good promise - the ability to shoot adds to her killing potential and can have access to an insane amount of attacks if ganged up on. To get her even Kili-er, throw Kili into your list and get him killed so Tauriel can soar to strength 5. Even with a great fate score of 3, she does suffer from one of the lowest defence scores on this list which could end up with her dying before she's truly able to contribute to the Valourbowl score.
Joint 8th Place - Erestor, 12pts
A humble profile for this lesser known Elven hero, but when it comes to killing models he has good shout; his daggers whether thrown or used in combat always re-roll failed wounds. With him also being one of the few heroes on this list with the ability to kill outside of combat means he has good potential. Sadly like many Elven models, one bad fight can take him out of the running quite early and only two attacks hurts his chances a little in the long run.
Joint 8th Place - Iron Hills Captain, 12pts
The only generic Captain to make the list, so what makes him different from the rest? Decent fight (matching other, named heroes on this list) and incredible defence keep him going, but access to a war spear and war goat mean this this humble captain has the potential to inflict some real damage on the battlefield, backed up by Master of Battle (5+). That being said, he still is a captain and suffers from a lower amount of attacks and might than others on this list.
7th Place - Deorwine, 14pts
The only entrant from the race of Men on this list, and with a modest Rohirrim hero statline he's certainly not the best. Where he shines however is his For Theoden! special rule, allowing him to call free heroic combats to go help Theoden out. The ability to potentially have two fights, free of might cost per turn could lead to a decent amount of kills from horseback for this particular horse lord. The aforementioned standard Rohan statline, however, does hold him back a bit.
6th Place - Galadriel, Lady of Light, 24pts
With the recent errata to the Lady of Light profile, she may now being kept out of a lot of lists, but on the flip side she's now a part of this one! The mistress of Lothlorien is a foe to be reckoned with, especially with a host of spells at her disposal, a decent attacking stat line due to her war aspect and if taken as part of a Vanquishers list (the boost to her Banish spell being a good way at picking models off). Whilst she has the potential to take out a lot of models, her very low defence means that if she's caught in a trap with a bad duel roll, it could be curtains for her, but not before getting a few hits in herself.
5th Place - King's Champion, 26pts
This hero is quite interesting, as he automatically comes backed up with two other models who are there purely to support and keep him alive - a model who survives for longer, can kill for longer. On top of that he boasts a good attacking stat line - 3 attacks at strength 5 with a a fight of 6, almost always backed up by a banner mean he's not going to find it hard to carve up some lowly warriors. Where he falters however is his smaller stack of might - with only two to call upon, he could be found lacking. Also if his Heralds fall or get separated from him, he can be caught in quite a tricky situation.
4th Place - Young Dwalin the Dwarf, 27pts
Whilst not as good as his older counterpart, Young Dwalin can still tally up his kills with an impressive strength of 5 and three attacks, backed up by by his risk/reward play of sacrificing fight to re-roll wounds. His lower fight and defence however does keep him from a higher spot, namely due to the next Dwarf on our list...
3rd Place - Gloin, Champion of Erebor, 35pts
Not someone you'd generally expect on a list like this - he's not exactly a big ticket hero, but then again not many on this list are. Gloin brings the highest fight out of the Dwarven Champions of Erebor (in the Fortitude class), a permanent +1 to wound and always re-rolling 1s to wound mean that if he wins a fight, he's likely to be taking down his opponent(s). Having a high defence also means he's likely to chug along nicely and weather any fights he does lose.
2nd Place - Quickbeam, 47pts
The fight for first place was pretty fierce, with only one point between both Quickbeam and 1st place. Each of the DC members put him in either first or second on their respective top ten's, so it could have gone either way! What makes Quickbeam so good for Valourbowl though? The impressive statline is nothing to sniff at; three attacks at strength 8, chucking big hefty rocks a massive 18 inches, his 8 inch movement and a healthy supply of might, will and fate will keep this tree going to rack up those kills.
1st Place - Beechbone - 48pts
So Beechbone -may- not have an official model just yet. This however is the Official Drawn Combat model for him! (You too can make your own with this handy guide...). In the end was a toss up between Beechbone and Quickbeam with only one point between them. The latter may outpace Beechbone, but the added Deep Rooted Hatred for Orcs, Uruks, Isengard and Goblins just means that he's a much more reliable stomper of enemy troops. Being able to Strike and Strength when in a sticky situation also offers a branch of comfort if he gets tangled with a hero!
There we have Team Drawn Combat's top ten Good Heroes of Fortitude who may take home the coveted Valourbowl trophy this year. Do you agree with the choices? Let us know your thoughts!
Tickets available via the link.
