GW's new round of FAQs is up on warhammer community.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/faqs/#middle-earth-strategy-battle-game

Nothing quite as major as the kneecapping of Cirdan/Arwen last year, but still a fair few changes. A few I personally found interesting are that if a war beast or chariot is set ablaze it can loose the effect only by entering a water feature, blinding light cannot effect models that are in range of the caster but have a piece of impassable terrain between them, and when Floi Stonehand shuts off a Dol Guldur Nazgul's resurrection special rule it stops the marker from going down and prevents resurrection. Glad to hear the old dwarf is still out there causing problems after all these years.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

The ruling about blinding light is interesting. I don't think the new rule is particularly a problem in terms of the game. And it kind of makes sense if you think of light coming from say Galadriel's phial.

But when Gandalf charges down the valley with Eomer at the battle of Helm's Deep it doesn't particularly look like the light is coming from Gandalf's staff, more from the top of the valley. And the Shadow Lord's power might be perhaps caused by thick clouds or darkness in the sky, rather than directly coming from the shadow lord? So you could make an argument that the powers should come from above the board and be able to pass over a small wall etc.

Well, the light when Gandalf and the Eomer come down the hill is from the sun rising and not a spell of Gandalf. Blinding light is when he lights his staff up in Moria and the flash of light he creates in Goblin-Town to free the dwarves. It definitely comes from the caster. With the Shadow Lord, it says he summons clouds to block out the sun in the fluff, but the rules regard it as functioning the same as blinding light. I'd be inclined to think that whatever he does is more like a cloud spreading out from his robes into the intimidate vicinity rather than forming over the sun higher up. Something like that would have a map wide effect after all. So, I don't think, in a practical sense, the powers would work in the way they need to for them to get over impassible terrain, which is why the change was made.

As for making a rules argument, I don't think the FAQ leaves that open. The powers just don't function that way. Now, arguing about what terrain is impassible, that is still an option.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Yes, I wouldn't argue in a game that it came from overhead, the FAQ is pretty clear. Was just thinking it is funny how Gandalf often manages to save the day at dawn (eg. the charge into Helm's Deep, or when the trolls turn to stone in the hobbit). Has Gandalf just got lucky timing, or can he sometimes speed up the dawn? (Probably just lucky!)

@Alex123:

It's not that he is lucky, it's because: "A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to"
That rules lucky out, isn't it?

Yes, I think that quote explains it!