Valourbowl II: A Fortudious Twist - Top 10 Evil Heroes

Last time we covered who we at DCHQ thought would be the best Good Heroes of Fortitude. This wasn't generalisation - it's based on who we thought would come out on top of our annual charity tournament, Valourbowl. The criteria the winner? Whichever Hero of Fortitude over the course of 4 games could rack up the most kills. Last year a Good hero took the crown, but could an Evil one usurp them this time around?

We at DC 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 Evil 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.

10th Place - Goroth, Captain of the Morannon, 7pts

To get us started, the only Mordor Orc to make it to the list but a pretty impressive Orc at that. One of the highest Fights of the Orcs but his true killing power comes from a combo of his two-handed mace and Burly. He does suffer from only two wounds and one fate, but his "Come here Maggot!" special rule does allow him to prolong his killing spree and potentially rack up a decent score. Just maybe not as good as the top 9 places...

9th Place - Mauhur, 10pts

Ah Mauhur, the glass cannon of Isengard. He has a great killing profile with a tremendous Strength of 5 and 3 Attacks. The downside being his low durability of two wounds and one fate with a lower defence and his lack of Strike - if a hero comes up against him he has a good chance of being taken out. He is however a great troop killing machine, the question is however - will he last?

8th Place - Keeper of the Dungeons, 17pts

There's a small theme going on with the Orc heroes on this list, as the Keeper also has access to Burly. Given that he's also Strength 5 and his Torturer special, he becomes a force to be reckoned with if he wins his duel rolls, almost guaranteeing kills in every combat he wins - he's got good potential to score well. So why isn't he any higher? Two wounds, and zero fate - the only model on this list to not have any! One bad duel roll could easily spell defeat for this towering orc. 

7th Place - Thrydan Wolfsbane, 22pts

The first of two Dunland heroes to make the list and one of the only two on this list to access to a mount really adds to Thrydan's killing potential - add Mighty Blow to that as well and even lesser heroes will be taken down by him. Boasting a decent statline with Strength 5, 3 Might and 2 Fate means he has good staying power and the ability to take down quite a few troops.

6th Place - Gorulf Ironskin, 23pts

Pipping in just above his chieftain, Gorulf is regarded as a great hero for his cost in general - 3 attacks at Strength 5 is nothing to sniff at with a decent Fight of 5. He's also one of the few heroes on this list who has access to Heroic Defence, and the only one at that to have access to a free version of it. Usually heroes on this list may be targeted by other, stronger heroes to take them out of the running early, but getting a free Heroic Defense (which you can read as free piercing strike, too) means he could stick around for a while and do some big damage!

5th Place - Wild Warg Chieftain, 27pts

What a profile this Warg has: 3 Attacks, 3 Wounds and Strength 6? Average troops will really struggle against this beast of Angmar, with the potential to rip through a battle line if the rolls go its way. That's a big 'if' though, and with only 2 Might and a Defence of 5 and no Strike it could be stopped early in its tracks.

4th Place - Bert the Troll, 34pts

Boasting one of the most impressive statlines in this list, Bert is a tough customer - even for enemy heroes as he comes in at Fight 7. The same goes for his Strength and Defence, meaning he'll stick around for awhile whilst taking out a good amount of models on the way. If he's feeling spicy, he can also paralyse troublesome heroes so he can continue on his rampage. Having only one fate could be a big detriment to him however!

3rd Place - Shagrat, 36pts

The head honcho of Cirith Ungol himself. Whilst he may not be as strong as Bert, he does however have 3's in all the right places and a pseudo cavalry charge when equipped with the Shield of Cirith Ungol. In general he's just quite a dependable hero to stick around and clear up in combats, especially with his Blood and Glory rule taking advantage of enemy heroes to replace his might stores meaning he can get off a good amount of Heroic Combats - and keeping heroes moving can be the difference when it comes to kill counts.

2nd Place - Mordor Troll Chieftain, 37pts

Whilst not as good as his Black Gate Opens counterpart, the vanilla Mordor Troll Chieftain is still quite a tough one to deal with, a Strength and Fight of 7 along with 3 attacks means he's likely to be killing whatever he fights against, provided it's not a massive hero - though he can potentially deal with them too, having access to Heroic Strike himself. 

1st Place - Ringwraith, 48pts

Some of you may be thinking right now "A Wraith? They only have one wound and at most, two fate. How are they getting enough kills?" Well, a flying mount has a lot to do with that. The ability to pick and choose any fight you want (providing you have priority/move) cannot be understated, especially using the Fellbeasts profile to attack results in a good amount of dead enemy troops while skirting around the main scrum. Also, despite Black Dart not having the best hit rate, it's still a strong spell to take out models from afar and add to your tally. The combo of Harbinger of Evil and Terror also mean that you're less likely to be ganged up on by enemy models and taken out early. Perhaps not the tactics you want to use to win games... But to win the Valourbowl? We'll have to see!

There we have the top 10 Evil Heroes of Fortitude for Valourbowl. Do you think anyone would be better suite to the job? If you want to attend the tournament, please check out this link. If you can't attend but want to donate to our fundraiser in aid of Cancer Research UK,we appreciate every small donation! https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/steves-giving-page-2420