WotR - Merry, Esquire of Rohan

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 2:59 pm

I don't have my book with me (yeah, I do a lot of OR at work during conference calls, etc.

) so please forgive the failure to quote but...

Merry, Esquire of Rohan’s WotR profile includes a special rule (not an Epic Action) that allows him to be removed as a casualty to modify a die roll. If I remember correctly there is nothing in the rules saying specifically when this removal/modification can or cannot take place and wanted to confirm if that’s the understanding from all here as well.

I’m interested in including him in some of my larger Rohan armies for theme purposes ( :merry:

) and think he can be useful in-game as well if played carefully. One concern though is the fact that he’s pretty open to a Duel target. My thought on this is if someone does target him for a Duel, if I can call another Duel or an Heroic Fight from the same formation and it resolves first then I can remove Merry while resolving that to get his benefit while robbing the enemy of its Duel target (and causing them to burn Might uselessly in the process). Merry would most likely die in any serious Duel anyway and getting the extra bump on the more important dice

This is obviously a contingency plan, not a tactic to try to use specifically. However, when I build an army I like to look at the weak as well as strong points and have some ideas at the ready for countering the weak points if someone tries to exploit them. It appears Merry can be a useful bonus at a decent price for a large enough force. He has a couple nice rules to support the formation, and his presence means that any other Hero in the Formation is potentially stronger during a Duel which can be a nice deterrent. But, like a generic captain, does provide a gateway to a powerful dueler.

In addition to the timing clarification question, if anyone has any personal experience, positive or negative, with him in WotR I'd love to hear about it.

advTHANKSance!

daersalon · **Joined:** Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:34 am **Posts:** 265

I haven't used him yet .. but the rule on p114 is:

"Courageous Intervention: You may remove Meriadoc from the game as a casualty to immediately modify a dice roll made by his formation (or another Hero in the formation) by up to 3."

My understanding is yup... you can whisk him away at any time to modify At the double Courage tests... Charge rolls... Focus rolls... the works. Basically he is a hobbit with a knack for being at the right place at the right time. (I have even today been re-reading the Siege of Minas Tirith and Battle of Pelennor Fields sections of RotK and that aspect of his nature, even if a literary device used by JRRT, comes through) So, thematically it would seem reasonable he is able to sway a situation for his formation to advantage by some action, even if it removes him as a casualty. I mean the most obvious example in the book/film is he stabs the Witch King in the back of the knee allowing Eowyn to kill the fellow. But you get the impression he would be able to sway other things in typical hobbitty fashion.

So in my opinion, the rules allow it, it doesn't seem unreasonable, and it is thematically consistent.

Slythar · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 3:01 am

I was thinking of this aswell in theory but I never tried it. I remember a thread on using Boromir's and Faramir's might combined to outright kill a Mumak and thought of using the two Hobbits. Or use it with Saruman's Ruin spells namely Shatter Shields to nearly guarantee a 6.

Ultragreek · **Joined:** Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:03 pm **Posts:** 294

Good question but i agree with the above answers.

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2011 5:13 am

It looks like your question on Courageous Intervention was answered easily enough. However, I've only used him for that purpose in my initial games as the Horse-Lords of the Rohirrim. Killing a 75 point hero to boost a roll by 3 was less useful than killing the 75 point hero and saving an entire formation. I haven't used Merry in a long time actually.... hmmm, might have to squeeze him in the next army list... as I find Deorwine a cheaper and more effective alternative.

daersalon · **Joined:** Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:34 am **Posts:** 265

You can consider Merry as a pool of 3 additional one-shot Might points.

But they are slightly different to Might points... they can only be used to aid someone/something else. i.e. another hero in his formation or the formation he is in, not himself. So if he was in a heroic duel he couldnt use that ability to help himself.

They are also not specified as Might points as they can be used at other times. For example, to reference the film in conjunction with the game: If Eowyn was in a heroic Duel with the Witch King, he could sacrifice himself to adjust her roll by 3, which normally wouldnt be possible for a hero.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2011 1:32 pm

WayUnderTheMountain, I actually wasn't planning on bringing him explicitly for the purpose of a point capacitor. I really enjoyed his character in the books, he is so well themed for a Rohan army with Theoden that I really just want him there, and his Name of the King special rule is a nice side bonus.

His low Fight makes him so attractive to a Duel though that I would have to expect he will be targeted at some point in the game and need to plan accordingly or else your entire Cavalry formation can get wiped out in a single Duel ( F3 vs. F10 being worse case ). Calling an Heroic Fight is one great option as I think the Kings Guard on a charge, with Theoden leading it (F5 for everyone) has a great chance of winning a Fight. But that won't always be the best answer (for example, I may really want to charge back in if possible having won the Fight if I can do even more damage).

So the next option is to have a list of options to remove him using his special rule before the Duel against him resolves and be ready to turn to that. Many of those options look for having another Duel, either against a different Hero or against the Hero that elected to Duel Merry, and then sacrifice Merry to boost the power of the alternate Duel, rob the opponent from his Duel (and the wasted Might that goes with that), and protect the Rohan formation from the damage of a catastrophic Duel failure.

The big problem with this tactic is if there are multiple Duels declared in the same combat then a dice off is required to determine who goes first. I don't ever like to trust my luck in a game to a high/low die throw when so much is at stake (yes, I think Merry fighting his own Duel is pretty much going to end the game for that Formation in most cases). But there are not too many options at this point in the flow of the game.

WayUnderTheMountain · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2011 8:27 pm

Beowulf03809 wrote:

WayUnderTheMountain, I actually wasn't planning on bringing him explicitly for the purpose of a point capacitor. I really enjoyed his character in the books, he is so well themed for a Rohan army with Theoden that I really just want him there, and his Name of the King special rule is a nice side bonus.

Fair point. Totally forgot the Name of the King rule.

Beowulf03809 wrote:

His low Fight makes him so attractive to a Duel though that I would have to expect he will be targeted at some point in the game and need to plan accordingly or else your entire Cavalry formation can get wiped out in a single Duel ( F3 vs. F10 being worse case ). Calling an Heroic Fight is one great option as I think the Kings Guard on a charge, with Theoden leading it (F5 for everyone) has a great chance of winning a Fight.

King's Guard comes with Hama who can step in to fight any duel on another Hero's behalf if they are in his formation. He could be used to protect that plucky halfling until the time is right... though an ES hero will still eat Hama for lunch (F4 vs F10).

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Mon May 16, 2011 4:21 pm

Yeah...Hama's not much better than a Hobbit. I guess that's why he's the first to be eaten by Wargs in the films. :rofl:

I find it pretty lame that Rohan gets one decent "bodyguard" Hero and he has one of the most lame Fight values in the game and no special rule to help. They could have at least let him absorb extra hits or something on his way out.

But you did sort of touch on one of my ideas. If Merry is targeted by a Duel, you can have Hama fight it instead and then sacrifice Merry to help him and now you have an F7 Hero. Still not great but you're only 3 away from ES instead of 6. A little Might and some luck and you may survive.

WotR - Merry, Esquire of Rohan

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