I'll start off by admitting that my opinion is that Heroic Duel Mechanics are broken (at least when they are combinable with so many other fight value modifiers) & are much less "Duels" & much more "exuctions" usually (in my experience).

I am however attempting to find balances & counters rather than just cry foul on this or that game mehcanic that may or may not be unbalanced, so...

I am asking anyone who has any suggestions what ideas they might have for possible counters to "Heroic Duel" + "Epic Strike" (or other relevent fight value modifiers that stack as such) for ideas on how to combat this seemingly unbalanced game mechanic.

P.S. This query is relevent to good armies that don't have the option of Shades, A Dwarven/Forgotten Kingdoms army primarily but any suggestions would be appreciated .

Thanks, all

In the charge phase, stacking Epic Charge works for non-ES Hero's. I don't think you can go past Fight 10. Theoden/Erkenbrand/Eorl the Young/Imrahil have it for good

In the Fight Phase call Herioc Fight or Epic Cowardice before your opponent calls Herioc Duel and you'll avoid a Duel.

Keep the Hobbits handy, they may save your life. They can add 3 to your roll. Two will add 6.

Athelas Fortune. Kinda expensive.

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Other ways to save your character are:
1 - terror causing and the fortune that causes auto fail for leadership tests. then duel away at everything in the enemy unit.

2- Saves. while there are no official saves there is epic sacrifice, kamul, and the elf that gives a 6+ save. wither these saves apply to heroes in the unit has been a long debate in my gaming circle but we generally allow it.

Hi DurinsShade,

No one else has pointed it out so I will, though it is a pretty core WOTR mechanic:

Since all 'start of phase' actions (duels, heroic fights, Epic Charge, Epic tranquility etc) get resolved in a queue, you can beat your opponent to the punch 50% of the time by calling a heroic fight (since it happens in the fight phase, like a duel does) since they can't happen at the same time, there is a diceoff to resolve order. If you win that diceoff, then your heroic fight will occur before the duel. The fight will finish, and all you have to do (unless your opponent is cavalry, which have a small chance to charge back in when they win) is not re-initiate that fight if you should win.

Then his duel will go off but there will be no one in melee to duel. I mention Heroic Charge and Epic tranquility because this is another case where many people seem to not be using heroic actions to try and disrupt other actions via the queue.

Because of the way Heroic fight activates the fights of potentially multiple units (see the rules for details) you could potentially even attempt this with another unit than the one that is the intended target of that duel.

Cheers

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