Raising standards - Banners in MESBG

Rise of the Banner

Banners are increasingly common in armies across the competitive scene. It may seem odd now, but back at the start of the GBHL, there was a strong opinion that you were better off getting a few extra models than spend out for a banner.

Opinions began to change with the emergence of scenarios offering victory points for having a banner. However, this change was not fast, with only some armies taking them. Still, as more scenarios offered victory points for banners and all scenarios capped at 12 victory points, the significance of those victory points became more critical.

Today we are at a stage where most lists will include a banner, with many players considering it essential. This is not only down to the scenarios but also down to the impact of the latest edition of rules.

Heroes with banners

Many heroes come with a banner, and unlike the previous editions of the game, they often do not suffer the usual -1 to win a fight that a warrior with a banner does.

A hero with a banner is usually much harder to kill due to multiple wounds, fate and other special rules.

Gamling is incredibly hard to kill compared as he can call herioc defence over and over again

The banner cannot be passed to a friendly model if the Hero is slain. If the Hero dies, the banner is also lost. Being equipped with a banner can impact how you play that Hero, often more conservatively than you usually would do.

Positioning your Hero with the banner is trickier. As many would do with a warrior with a banner, leaving a hero behind the battle lines can potentially waste some of their potential abilities and points investment.

Borimir with banner will be near troops so you can use him for maximum impact, without it he wont need to be.

Banner like effects

Worth considering are models with banner effects; these can include Imrahil, Thror, Amdur, among several others. These models don't give you the victory point's in scenarios and will have some benefits over the traditional banner.

Thror get a 6" banner effect thanks to his army bonus, turning him into a great addition to the army

Most of these banner effects will often have more extensive ranges that can affect your troops more.

A prone hero with a rule like this still confers the re-roll, unlike a regular banner bearer.

Army type Impact analysis

Different armies will gain varying levels of benefits from including a banner and will be more likely to be able to afford the cost.

Elite armies

Elite armies have arguably the most to gain from a banner. Often outnumbered, increasing your chances to win every combat give you the best opportunity to reduce losses and increase kills.

Banners are also more likely to provide a higher % of your army with the re-roll bonus than a standard list or horde. They are essentially giving you better value for your banner.

High fight value elite armies will find that the re-roll provides them with a greater chance to win combat than lower fight value armies.

Númenor boast a strong FV but also have a lower defence, banners help to increase damage output and protect them

Elite armies often can find themselves struggling to find the extra points to include a banner due to the already low number of troops and often having to forgo the banner option at lower points levels despite arguably having the most to gain. At Higher points levels, the banner becomes almost essentially for Elite armies.

Balanced armies

Your balanced army is your typical covers all bases all-comers lists, a solid core of warriors, and heroes' reasonable selection. These lists will be the most seen with a banner at all points levels.

An average army will get slightly less % of its force within the banner's range than Elite armies.

Even though there is less to gain from banners than Elite armies, it is far more affordable for your standard army and still usually worth the investment.

A balanced army strikes a balance between cost and benefit and will often be the most common banner users across all points levels.

Horde Armies

Many horde armies do not even have access to a banner option, with significant examples that don't, including Goblin Town, Survivors of Lake-town and The Shire. However, this does not put them at the same disadvantage that some other army options may be without a banner option.

Horde armies have the least to gain from your regular banner. The 3" range will often only cover a small portion of their army.

Not only that but the impact of a re-roll to win combat is less likely to swing the combat in your favour when your troops are lower fight value.

However, the significant advantage of horde armies is that you can afford a banner's cost due to the lower cost of models in these lists.

Horde armies are more likely to benefit from banners with a larger radius of effects such as a Goblin Drum or Bards Saviour of Lake-town special rule. The larger radius of effect negates the banner, only affecting a small percentage of your force for a horde army. However, you will often not get the VP's for a banner in scenarios.

Cavalry armies

Cavalry armies are like elite armies when it comes to banners; often, they have the most to gain from a banner. An extra roll to ensure they win those combats to inflict maximum damage, protecting their numbers and mounts.

To make the most of your cavlary when you charge you want to make sure they win combat

One downside to Calvary lists with a banner is that the larger bases will often mean that the banners range of effect will hit fewer models.

A mounted banner will also have a slightly larger area of effect due to its larger base, which can help reach more models. A mounted banner also will be able to move to the place in your battle line easier to get optimum benefit.

Additionally, larger banner ranges are more critical to cavalry armies to increase the percentage of models within the area of effect. They also enable the cavalry to take advantage of their more significant movement whilst benefiting from the banner re-roll.

When to take one and how many?

If able to, you should always take a banner effect in most standard lists, that is so long as it's not detrimental to the balance to the list overall. The benefit of the re-roll means that regardless of the model's quality, you significantly increase your chances of winning those combats. Not having one will put you at a disadvantage when your opponent does.

The standard 3" range effectively give you a fighting line of 6-8 models who will benefit from the re-roll. For games below 700 points, this will cover the majority of where combat the main combat will take place.

Games above 700 points, for this reason, is where I would consider taking the 2nd banner for many armies.

Khazud-dum is a great example of an army that could not only benefit from multiple banners but require them. With minimal access to spear support banners are incredibly useful for the army to be able to win combat across their line.

Khazud-Dum have a great hero who comes with 2 banner included in the King's Champion

Other reasons to consider a second banner include building redundancies for anything that may be able to take out of your banner.

Having a banner effect or 2nd real banner to enable you to leave a banner in a safe place without then completely losing the benefit of the re-roll for your troops.

If your army has a high model count it can also be worth introducing two banners, especially if you have no access to banner effects with a larger area of effect.

Multiple banners can also be useful to help enhance the performance of your army in scenarios that may require you to split your force.

Banner Killers

With a lot more players taking banners for many of the reasons already covered what things are there to look out for that can threaten your banner or rob your opponent of theirs.

Wizards are one of the most effective tools to deal with banners. Sorcerers Blast leads the way with dealing with banners. Not only do they provide the opportunity to physically kill the model with a banner but they also knock the model back making it more difficult to pass the banner on and keep someone in base contact.

Saruman can often be the bane of banner bearers

Even if you fail to kill the model a prone banner will not confer its benefits until it is no longer prone. This enables other spells such as Call Winds and Nature's wrath to shut down banners for a turn or more as well.

Gundabad Blackshield Shamans possess the Shatter spell, this can destroy any piece of war gear on the target model, including banners! If one of these guys is around keep your banner out of his range while he has will left.

Compel and special rules that enable you to move an opponents model can also cause a real issue for Banner armed models and even models with banner like effects as you move them into a less optimal position.

This tactic can also be used to eliminate the banner as it is moved out of base contact with a friendly model so can be killed or sniped away for good.

Conclusion

Banners are great, they are fairly cheap force multipliers that can also confer victory points in games, suitable for all armies but essential for some. A banner can save a hero from dying and give you an edge in the battle. For me, unless you are really struggling for numbers I would always aim to get one in my list. A model with banner like effects are just as suitable substitutions and wouldn't be overly concerned about the victory points if I had one of these instead as some of the other benefits make the better. I have even become an advocate of including multiple banners in my lists (including Numenor and Dwarven lists). I will only consider this though once my lists have reached a comfortable model count for the points level as you can have too much of a good thing sometimes. Missed any of our other blog posts check out the rest of our blog for more