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Introduced into the game during the Hobbit era and, despite changes in the most recent edition, special strikes are still a significant game component. With their introduction, the combat phase got an added layer of tactical options. Before we get to why bash is my favourite, let's analyse what Special Strikes are, When you can use them and why you may do that.
Note - Shielding is arguably a special strike, giving you a unique ability to double your strikes at the expense of your ability to attacks. As it doesn't come under the official list of special strikes, I will not be talking about it.
Do they slow down the game or speed it up?
The popularity of these rules varies depending on who asks. But the main criticism of the mechanic is that they slow the game down. Special strikes will often require extra dice rolling to see how your stats are modified and the decision-making process itself on whether to strike or not can also be time-consuming.
The opposite end of the argument is that the increased ability to kill models speeds up the game and gets it moving faster (a problem prevalent in the earlier days of the game). The additional tactical options also reward better generals and make battles more interesting.
As an experienced competitive player, I fall into the latter category. I do believe for new players, the arguments for it slowing games down holds value. I would not introduce special strikes to a new player until they were comfortable with the core rules for this reason.
Feint (Daggers and swords)
Notable factions: Nearly all
The most common special strike in the game. Both in terms of availability and its use in the game.
Re-rolling 1's to wound if you win a fight is a nice little boost to your killing prowess. The better the chances of a wounding roll, the more benefit you will get from this rule as well.
The downside to feint is it lowers your fight value. However, is you have another model in combat contributing an equal or higher fight value, there is no downside at all.
It is not uncommon for entire spear walls to have the front-rank feinting.
Big scary heroes with vastly superior fight value can also afford to feint without any negative downside.
It is advisable to have different colour dice, one colour to represent the feinting model and another colour to represent the rest to save even more time. A final time-saving technique is to say to your opponent at the start of the game that in situations where there are no downsides, you will always be feinting unless you state otherwise.
Stab (Daggers and swords)
Notable factions: Nearly all
For those of you who do not have a higher fight value than your opponent, you will have the option to stab instead of a feint. Conferring the same bonus to wound, but additional risk when losing the fight.
What advice applies to feint will typically apply to stab, but there are a couple of other things to think about as well.
Stabbing is only a risk if you lose combat, so if you are confident in winning the combat anyway, the risk will be minimal.
Equally, if you think you are likely to be slain regardless of if you lose combat, the threat of killing yourself will be minimal.
Being able to kill your models can also be a good thing. You may want to drop yourself below 25% or 50% to meet game end conditions while you have the advantage in some scenarios. Stabbing increase the speed and chances of achieving this goal.
Piercing strike (Axes and Picks)
Notable factions: Nearly all
Piercing strike is the second most common special strike in the game. Piercing strike provides a trade of a +1 increase in strength for a loss of D3 defence.
Due to the loss in defence only being relevant when you lose combat, there is no need to roll the D3 unless you lose combat. You can even do this after the opponent made their dice rolls, as they may kill you on your standard defence anyway. If they don't slay you, you can roll and see if the decrease in defence means they would.
Piercing strike shares many similarities with Stab as to the situations when to use it. If you are likely to win combat the risk of the downside is minimised; and the decrease in defence doesn't matter so much if you are probably going to be slain anyway.
The main difference with piercing strike to stab is that the +1 increase in strength means you will only get a wound benefit against specific defence values, so it may not always be worthwhile.
Piercing Strik can also be useful if you want to get your model slain (perhaps to quarter your army to end a game in a favourable situation). If the main goal is to make it easier for your opponent to wound you, Piercing strike does this.
Bash (Hammers, Maces and Mauls)
Notable Factions: Army of Thror, Mordor, Barad-Dur, The Shire
In my opinion, Bash is the most exciting and tactically diverse of all the special strikes. You may not use the strike as much as some of the others, but it can have more impact than any if used well.
With very few exceptions, you are more likely to win a bash roll-off than you would be able to wound. Most models in the game will be strength 3 or 4 and very rarely below defence 3. This means you will be wounding an opponent on a roll of a 4+ or higher. With Bash, you and your opponent add strength to the dice roll, but crucially you are successful in a tie result. A successful bash is nearly always more likely than a successful wound and highly unlikely worse.
In combats with multiple models on your side, you should always strike with the model bashing first. If you do this, it will mean any other combat models yet to strike will get to double their strikes. This leaves your opponent's model prone to face the same number of attacks as if you hadn't bashed, but crucially, it could be more. Keep in mind models may need different rolls to wound though.
An individual model fighting on their own will not kill the opponent's model if they bash. This does not mean that you should never use Bash. For example, in games where you want to stop the game from ending, Bash is very useful. By removing your chance to slay a model, you can stop your opponent from meeting scenario end conditions.
Bash is most useful against cavalry models, especially those with a higher defence than your strength. A cavalry model who loses to a model facing Bash will be knocked prone. They lose their mount and suffer the knocked flying special rule, meaning they will still take a strength three hit. Even models on their own have more to gain than lose in this situation as they still have a chance to wound.
You can even un-mount multi-wound mounts such as fell beasts if you are lucky this way.
Heroes have more to fear from Bash than the standard infantry model. Whilst a bad roll and lost combat can usually be shrugged off by a hero, the same is not true when facing Bash.
While they may not face any damage threat this turn, heroes who are knocked prone will lose their mount and face the prospect of not doing anything meaningful fighting on the floor next turn.
It is easier to Bash than to wound in most cases, where the hero will often only have one higher strength than you and can still only roll one dice to try and stop it.
Heroes and warriors with Burly or Master Forged two-handed hammers (get an extra +1 to your roll) are particularly good at neutralising the enemy leader in the contest of champions. Especially handy if you have a leader with inferior killing power than your opponent.
Stopping your opponent using a banner can be useful. Doing so can be difficult as even when in combat with a banner bearer, a savvy opponent will have someone within range to pick it up should the banner be slain.
However, if you bash and knock that model prone, the banner cannot be passed and its effects are negated while the model remains prone.
Remember, a prone model also cannot benefit from the shield wall bonus as well.
Stun (Clubs and Staffs)
Notable factions: White Council, Muhad, The Shire, Sharkey's Rogues
You do not see stun much, not because it's useless but because of its rarity in regular armies. Very few models in the game have a piece of war gear that can stun.
There is little use in using stun against a single wound infantry model, a 1/3 chance to stun the model is likely to be the same odds that you would need to kill the model.
However, much like Bash, it provides you with the option not to kill, useful when you don't want the game to end.
The primary use to stun is against multi-wound models and heroes. Reducing a hero to Fight value 1 with just one attack on a 5+ can neutralise them as a threat next turn and make them easier to kill.
Heroes who can stun will often not get as much benefit from the special strike - unless you do not want to kill an opponent. However many wizards who have 1 attack may find it a useful way to shut down an enemy hero and focus their magic on a different one.
For models with something that can stun, this will often be more likely to happen than wound the hero.
If fighting a monster, this only happens on a 6+, but this isn't any worse than you would usually need to wound anyway.
Once a stun is successful, it also makes it easier to repeat the action the following turn.
Whirl
Notable factions: Goblin-town, Corsairs, Serpent Horde, Mordor, Barud-dur, Angmar, Sharkey's Rogues, Umbar
Probably the rarest and least effective of the special strikes. The option to strike all enemy models in base contact at the sacrifice of your fight value means you will typically be losing the combat in situations that you would benefit from whirl. Making it more a last-ditch attempt hoping the dice gods look kindly on you.
A model with already lower fight value will have the least to lose and most gain from whirl.
Much like Stab, remember that lowering your fight value may mean your opponent can feint against you and kill you easier, though.
If you have spear support, you do not need to worry about the decrease in fight value.
Unlike Feint/Stab, this is only beneficial if your front model is engaged with multiple enemy models.
Conclusion
Special strikes have a positive impact on the game, albeit one it can take a little while to get used to and make the most of. Having an idea of the situations which will benefit you before going into a game will give you more options and speed the match up.
Once mastered, a special strike can provide an added boost to your army; it is certainly worth considering when choosing your force models. Do you lack high strength models? Maybe more axe armed troops would be better. Do you have little game end control? Perhaps models with stun or hammers are the way to go. Sometimes it can even be worth paying the points to equip a model with a different weapon to cover a weakness you see in your force. The most common occurrence of this is to give factions access to strength 4 with axes, usually on low defence models who will not suffer the downsides as much.
In short, embrace the flexibility granted by these extra rules, you'll be bashing your way to the top of the league in no time...
What do you think? Is Alastair's analysis accurate? Is Bash the best Special Strike? Comment below! ~ Harry