PEEEEESOOOOO COMPLEEEEEETOOOO!

A couple of weeks ago we released a brand new RUMBLESLAM team – the Lords of the Ring (oh and a new edition of the game, you may have heard).

This weird box has six Halflings teaming up to take on the world of RUMBLESLAM. They’re small, they’re keen, and they are absolutely deadly in the right hands.

So today, we’re going to have a little look at making the most of your Lords of the Ring!

What Do They Do?

You’ve got six unique Halflings, all with different attacks. We’ll have a look at one now, as their base stats are all quite similar.

The Halflings have three key stats that are only a single dice. That can be a problem! With only Copper dice in their offensive stats, they aren’t going to be getting any Beatdowns any time soon. The team broadly has two Brawlers and two Grapplers though, with a +1 in their main stat. You can Beatdown with that, but don’t rely on it!

The DEX of this team is where they really shine. 2 Silver +1 means you’re not likely to get thrown out, and it’s easy to avoid Trips or Living Ammunition. Nice.

However, when we get lower on the card we start to see some cracks appear. Weight 1 can be a problem, as once your Halflings are KO’d they’re going to be easy to throw out of the ring, even for other rookies. Low Throw value and an overall Popularity of 2 aren’t anything to write home about either.

With 5 Stamina they’re sort of tough I guess? Not really. 5 means you’ll survive even the biggest of attacks unless your opponent gets a massive Beatdown, but generally speaking you’re going to be in trouble if you get caught. And with 4 MP you are likely to get caught.

If this all seems doom and gloom, don’t worry, we’ll get to the good stuff! Lastly in this section for example: 5 AP is great! Especially when you find out that most of your team have 5 and even Peso Completo, your Weight 3 has 4! Better than most teams. So you’re spry and nimble and have a lot of attacks.

Strength in Numbers

Alright, the first thing to talk about is that there are six Halflings here! A normal RUMBLESLAM team starts with five wrestlers, so you have the advantage here!

With six activations it means you have the tactical supremacy. There’s not harm in keeping some of your wrestlers to the end since – particularly at the start of the game – you’ll likely be able to activate two in a row.

It’s always a good idea to save your Halfling Ref until last, since his ability to give someone a pasty means you can potentially get your Halflings up again if they’re KO’d at the end of the round.

Be careful leaving your heavy hitters until the end though – with only 5 Stamina the Halflings are fragile and can easily be KO’d and ejected before they get to act! With incredible DEX all round, you should prioritise who can do the most damage to dangerous enemies at the start of the round.

Special Abilities

The Lords of the Ring might not be blessed with high stats, but they have a lot of excellent abilities. With at least two special attacks each (and often 3) you’ll be spoiled for choice when spending that massive amount of AP.

The Halfling Rudo is a great example of skills, as he has a lot of them!

His Flying Tope allows you to get darn near across the entire ring in one go, as he launches himself off the ropes. Rocket and Jump mean that he can escape pretty much any dangerous situation, or hit anyone from just about anywhere!

His Plancha Turnbuckle attack is just one of many great Turnbuckle attacks this team has (we’ll come back to that in a minute), and Patadas Frijoles sees the Rudo kick his opponent in… well, in the frijoles, doing a massive 3 Damage if it gets through. For 1AP that’s a big damage dealer, although you have to contend with Dirty when you do it.

And that’s just one guy! All of the Halflings have excellent skills you really want to be using a lot of. They often amp up the damage or potential damage of a single Halfling, meaning you get more than you expected out of these diminutive wrestlers.

Crowd Pleasers Are Key

This can’t be stated enough: to win with the Lords of the Ring, you want to be doing a lot of Crowd Pleasers.

The Halfling Ref doesn’t have a Crowd Pleaser since he doesn’t have any AP, and Peso Completo’s we’ll talk about in a minute. Every other Halfling has the exact same one though: +1 TO EVERY SINGLE STAT.

This is so massive it’s in bold! Seriously, this Crowd Pleaser is incredible, and can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Unfortunately it only last until the end of the round, so at the start of each new round you want to be very careful. Plan your plays around big finishers at the end of each round, and make sure you have some redundancy in play in case everything goes wrong. You’ll win or lose your games on a Crowd Pleaser play going right or wrong, and you’ll know which at the end and then start of each new round.

Turnbuckle Attacks

To get those Crowd Pleasers off, you’ll want to be doing a lot of Turnbuckle Attacks, and it’s easy with the Lords of the Ring!

The Cinco de Condado special rule is shared by every member of the team (excluding the Ref!). It allows you to do Turnbuckle attacks when in base contact with a friendly character with the same rule.

So you don’t need to be running around to turnbuckles, as long as you have a buddy!

This rule is huge, and allows a lot of damage each turn, and of course loads of Crowd Pleaser attempts.

The Exotico is even geared up specifically for Turnbuckle attacks! With High Flyer he’ll be able to soar all the way across the ring.

It’s worth noting though that Peso Completo can do the same thing, but damages his fellow Halflings for 3 Damage each time he does it! It’s a big move, but he’s a big guy and having him springing off of you is bound to hurt!

Peso Completo

Speaking of the big guy, let’s have a little look at him.

Peso is your hard hitter, and in fact is one of the better wrestlers in all of RUMBLESLAM!

He has great stats, is tough as nails, and thanks to his Low Centre of Gravity special rule, cannot be Knocked Down unless KO’d! He’s going to keep going and going and going.

You’ll want to be using him to deal with most of your toughest enemies, although there’s something to be said for having him go after light-weight rookies. With loads of potential damage (Golpe de Estomago does 3 Damage and gives a great chance at an additional Rope Attack if you Shove your opponent into the ropes!) he can pick off low-stamina wrestlers in one go.

And we HAVE to talk about Mini Extincion. This Turnbuckle attack can be done off another Halfling in one turn, but deals 3 Damage to them and only has a range of 1. However, set it up right and it does a colossal 6 DAMAGE to the target. If all goes right you’ll also get a Crowd Pleaser and replenish 2 Stamina from every other Halfling on the team – very useful for the one you just crushed.

El Capitan

Finally, the Lords of the Ring (at least four of them) all share one special ability that takes a bit of planning.

El Capitan allows you to pick a captain at the start of the game. That Halfling gains +1 to all of his stats for the whole game. That means he’s super reliable, especially in his main stat!

Personally I often give the role of El Capitan to the Halfling Limpio. This guy does a bit of everything, and +2 to his Grapple means you’ve got a serious contender on your team.

With a Grapple Ability, Rope Ability, and Turnbuckle Ability you may find you’re not using it THAT much, but making sure he can do everything well and defend against everything well is a big deal.

Also, get a Crowd Pleaser off and El Capitan gets +3 to his main stat! :O

That means you’ll be automatically lifting Weight 3s, and that’s no mean feat.

In Brief

Right, in conclusion:

• Low Stamina, low stats. This means you need to be really careful and don’t be surprised when you’re KO’d a lot.
• Stamina replenishment. Between Peso Completo’s Crowd Pleaser and the Ref’s pasties, you can get that low Stamina back easily!
• Lots of turnbuckle attacks. If you’re not doing 2+ Turnbuckle Attacks a turn, you’re playing this team wrong.
• +1s everywhere. Equally, if you’re not getting the crowd to cheer you a lot, you need to reassess your priorities. Those +1s will. Win. You. Games.
• El Capitan. Choose wisely! Your opponent will always target him first, so use that to your advantage, either by show them what the capitan can do, or by distracting them long enough to set up a big play.
• Peso Completo. He’s just the best. Seriously, the best.

This team is great if you love Crowd Pleasing, and with some careful planning you’ll be able to offset your low stats with excellent special abilities, loads of +1s and an odd pasty here or there.

 

If this sounds like the team for you, check out the Lords of the Ring on the webstore today, and get them in the ring!