ARE YOU GETTING YOUR MAGES WORTH?

Due to a particular part of the army combat algorithm the answer may not be what you thought. Though many of you are familiar with the nature of combat in Middle-earth you may not know that the majority of times that you have your mages cast defensive magic in a combat situation you are not getting the full benefit of the spell you are casting.

What!? you demand. How can this be possible? Well the answer is cloaked in the sample army combat listed in your rule book (yes the colorful thing with all of the really cool pictures that came with your very first setup). In the sample given on page 57 of the 2950 rulebook step O) it is stated that after arduously calculating the constitution of your entire army you must then "Compute the final Army constitution by adding any points for defensive combat spells that were cast." These are the words that spell the death knell for the mage as an effective tool in a defensive combat situation and relegates magicians to be mere info/artifact hunters and bearers of high personal challenge scores (curse squads, if you can field one, notably excepted of course!)

I know that there are many useful things that mages can do but GSI has chosen to specifically limit their abilities in defensive combat situations and it is there that I have a grievance. Right now you are probably asking how page 57 step O fits into all of this and how does it relate to me and my mages? Well, once the computer at GSI takes into account all the factors that are involved in your particular battle it then adds into that value an additional value that was generated by your defensive spell. Let's say, for example that you have 200 super elite heavy infantry (100 morale 100 training with mithril weapons and armor) under command of a 100 commander fighting in perfect terrain using standard tactics. You run through the combat calculation and you determine that your net offensive combat value is 2000 and that your net army constitution is 4000.

Now lets throw you against your opponent who just happens to be your evil twin. He matches you troop for troop down to the last detail. Now it is relatively easy to see that two exactly equal forces will mutually destroy each other. But now, you being an innovative and capable leader, had the foresight to bring a mage who just happens to know deflections (spell 106), a 1000 point defensive spell. Aha you say, gleefully anticipating your survival of this otherwise lost battle. Here is where page 57 step O bites you in the posterior.

With the defensive spell, your 'final Army constitution' jumps to 5000. However, your opponent only has 2000 points of offensive strength a mere 40% of your modified total defense. According to the combat algorithm your army takes 40% losses on the first round of combat which translates to 80 guys of your original 200. Unfortunately for you, since your spell adds into your TOTAL constitution, it too takes only 40% losses. That's right folks only 400 of those 1000 points are used in preventing the deaths of your troops, 600 points are wasted! These 600 points now evaporate and are gone since all offensive and defensive magic lasts for the first round of combat only.

In this example you just cast a 400 point defensive spell that you thought was worth 1000 points. You lost 80 guys when, if you were really getting 1000 points of defensive magic you should have lost only 50 (2000 points of enemy offense -1000 points of magical defense leaves 1000 points of enemy offense to be divided into your army's constitution, 4000. 1000/4000=.25 or 25% losses or 50 troops)

In case you were wondering if you ever get the advertised value of your defensive spell the answer is yes; when your army takes 100% losses in the first round of combat. In other words only when you are wiped out. If your commander survives such a thrashing he should thank the mage for all of that extra defense.

So, as I have illustrated, mages are getting ripped off when it comes to defensive magic. GSI should either modify the rules to clearly reflect the value of defensive spells as a range according to your losses during the first round of combat, or simply change the combat algorithm to require any defensive spell to be completely defeated or, the first round of combat to be over as in the case of the defensive spell(s) being greater than the enemy's offensive value, before the protected army starts taking damage. Personally I favor a change to the algorithm as it is easier to accomplish and more effective. This change would balance the mage's defensive capabilities with his offensive capabilities and brings the algorithm into compliance with what the rulebook says with regard to magic.

Well, that's my pitch and I hope that you found it enlightening. Good gaming and I'll see ya' on the battlefield.