Amazingly awesome minis, now we just need them to redo the OOP so Ebay scalpery can go away

The Foot version of that Gondorian looks really poor to me. The thigh armour is far too angular and that power-stance pose screams AoS/40K. It just doesn't look like it fits with everything else.

However...

Everything else is absolutely terrific. The mounted version is superb and will be a fine companion to my Knights. The other Gondorian looks fantastic and I love the shield design and Citadel Guard helmet. The Swan Knights actually look great, though the banner is a bit odd. And the Morannon guys are fantastic - much better than the old ones.

This is just fantastic. I am so thankful that GW is giving LOTR these new releases after so many years. I will be purchasing them all.

 Oppl wrote:
The Foot version of that Gondorian looks really poor to me. The thigh armour is far too angular and that power-stance pose screams AoS/40K. It just doesn't look like it fits with everything else.

However...

Everything else is absolutely terrific. The mounted version is superb and will be a fine companion to my Knights. The other Gondorian looks fantastic and I love the shield design and Citadel Guard helmet. The Swan Knights actually look great, though the banner is a bit odd. And the Morannon guys are fantastic - much better than the old ones.

This is just fantastic. I am so thankful that GW is giving LOTR these new releases after so many years. I will be purchasing them all.

Hells yeah!

 Oppl wrote:
The Foot version of that Gondorian looks really poor to me. The thigh armour is far too angular and that power-stance pose screams AoS/40K. It just doesn't look like it fits with everything else.

However...

Everything else is absolutely terrific. The mounted version is superb and will be a fine companion to my Knights. The other Gondorian looks fantastic and I love the shield design and Citadel Guard helmet. The Swan Knights actually look great, though the banner is a bit odd. And the Morannon guys are fantastic - much better than the old ones.

This is just fantastic. I am so thankful that GW is giving LOTR these new releases after so many years. I will be purchasing them all.

I really like the foot version of Hurin to be honest. Maybe not as a LotR model (like the Knight of the White Tower in the old Gondor Command set, I think he's maybe a little too Numenor and not enough Gondor) but as a sculpt I reckon he's really cool. Lots of potential as a high-ranking Knight or guardsman in a lot of fantasy settings, and looks to be a fun one to paint.

If you pick the set up for the mounted version and want to offload the one on foot, give me a shout, depending on the price I might well be willing to take him off your hands.

Oh, and do please post pics as and when you get around to painting this new stuff!

Im really excited for the foot knights. Im hoping theres enough helmets for all 6

 Paradigm wrote:


I really like the foot version of Hurin to be honest. Maybe not as a LotR model (like the Knight of the White Tower in the old Gondor Command set, I think he's maybe a little too Numenor and not enough Gondor) but as a sculpt I reckon he's really cool. Lots of potential as a high-ranking Knight or guardsman in a lot of fantasy settings, and looks to be a fun one to paint.

If you pick the set up for the mounted version and want to offload the one on foot, give me a shout, depending on the price I might well be willing to take him off your hands.

Oh, and do please post pics as and when you get around to painting this new stuff!

That's my only point of contention - it doesn't fit with the established aesthetic of GW LOTR for me. As a model it looks as well-designed as any of GW's current stuff.

That sounds like a good plan as I will be buying it for the mounted one only anyway! I'll try and remember to give you a shout, hopefully these aren't too far away from production!

Any word if they plan on updating War of the Ring? It seems like a wonderful game system after looking through it my first time.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
Any word if they plan on updating War of the Ring? It seems like a wonderful game system after looking through it my first time.

No, not any time soon, if ever. Middle-earth team is focusing on reviving SBG after the "dark years". Plus, new SBG rulebook and scenario books coming soon

Im gonna imagine that with the additional head and arm options, those foot knights will cost about the same as the Iron-hills spearmen. 40 poundish. Wouldnt be awful if thats the case. Im hoping they take advantage of this release and update Imrahil's model. So all the KoDA are either plastic, or resin, and have a similiar sculpt and scale to them. A men at arms kit from forgeworld would be stellar as well.

Just got back from a tourney here in Canada. Were all excited as heck.

From warhammer community

"An Unexpected Boxed Set

And that’s not all. Over the last few years, gaming in Middle-earth has seen something of a renaissance. With Forge World having vastly expanded the world of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey™ Strategy Battle Game with a range of models, gaming events across the world consistently drawing considerable crowds and Battle Companies allowing players to fight epic campaigns with only a handful of models, the Middle-earth Team have decided it’s finally time to release something big – and the Battle of Pelennor Fields is just the start. Watch this space for further announcements…"

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/06/01/codexes-kings-cawdors-and-more/

Aulë wrote:
From warhammer community
An Unexpected Boxed Set

Very interesting...

Oh yeah that's exciting, hopefully a big box set with some nice discounts!

They could release Sets similary to the "Start Collecting" Boxes with those older Plastic Kits.

I’m going to have to support this by buying it no matter if I’m super keen or not. I’m just so glad to see my first and favourite gaming world getting some love

I wonder what this Battle of the Pelennor Field Set will feature - New Plastic Models?

So with the release and price of those wonderful beserkers, Im hopeful that maybe the foot knights will be a little cheaper than 40 pound.

RazorEdge wrote:
I wonder what this Battle of the Pelennor Field Set will feature - New Plastic Models?

That's what I am expecting, I don't think a "box set" would have either resin or old plastic models in it. I am hoping to be blown away

A box set with new plastics would really invigorate the game. It will be pretty exciting to see what comes in the box.

I wonder if they will release this Box in different languages?

This wait for the Foot knights is getting bad. My wallet is swelling and I might put them out of stock all by myself.

Pls halp.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
This wait for the Foot knights is getting bad. My wallet is swelling and I might put them out of stock all by myself.

Pls halp.

I am guessing that they are saving them up until the boxed set release. Unless of course they are part of the boxed set themselves?

Going to spend some cash on this myself too

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/07/15/15th-july-forge-world-open-day-return-to-middle-earthtmgw-homepage-post-4fw-homepage-post-1/

It’s been an incredible seventeen years since the first The Lord of the Rings™ Strategy Battle Game releases, and six since The Hobbit™ was added to the range. And now, there’s an entirely new edition coming, with a brand-new boxed game!

Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game: The Battle of Pelennor Fields is a new boxed game based on the climactic battle from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™. Inside it, you’ll find plastic models for two armies and a brand new edition of the game rules. The Middle-earth team are remaining tight-lipped on the details, but they’ve been hard at work on updating the game while keeping everything you love about the current edition.

The armies feature a whopping 84 Citadel miniatures – including a brand new version of Theoden, King of Rohan on foot and horseback. This model is the first in what will be a range of new plastic characters for the setting. The model is incredibly detailed – a faithful depiction of the king, during his glorious last charge.
Alongside Theoden ride 12 Riders and Warriors of Rohan and 20 Warriors of the Dead. Against them stand no fewer than 36 Morannon Orcs, a Mordor Troll and The Witch-king of Angmar atop a Fell Beast. Also included, are all the various gaming accessories you’d expect – dice, range-rulers (themed to each army), tokens, and most importantly of all – a brand new208-pagee edition of the rules.

Beyond the boxed game…

Alongside the boxed game will be a book called called Armies of Middle-earth. This tome will be your guide to the various forces of Good and Evil during the War of the Ring.

On top of that, there are plenty of new Forge World kits on the way to expand your Middle-earth armies, starting with some fabulous new models of Knights of Dol Amroth and some Gondorian and Orc Heroes.

The Battle of Pelennor Fields will be available in August.

We’ll be bringing you more information about this new edition soon – so keep an eye out.

mini pics through the link.

Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game: The Battle of Pelennor Fields is a new boxed game based on the climactic battle from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™. Inside it, you’ll find plastic models for two armies and a brand new edition of the game rules. The Middle-earth team are remaining tight-lipped on the details, but they’ve been hard at work on updating the game while keeping everything you love about the current edition. The armies feature a whopping 84 Citadel miniatures – including a brand new version of Theoden, King of Rohan on foot and horseback. This model is the first in what will be a range of new plastic characters for the setting. The model is incredibly detailed – a faithful depiction of the king, during his glorious last charge.



Alongside Theoden ride 12 Riders and Warriors of Rohan and 20 Warriors of the Dead. Against them stand no fewer than 36 Morannon Orcs, a Mordor Troll and The Witch-king of Angmar atop a Fell Beast. Also included, are all the various gaming accessories you’d expect – dice, range-rulers (themed to each army), tokens, and most importantly of all – a brand new208-pagee edition of the rules.

The Battle of Pelennor Fields will be available in August.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/07/15/15th-july-forge-world-open-day-return-to-middle-earthtmgw-homepage-post-4fw-homepage-post-1/|Link

The new box set looks great. Would be very tempted if I hadn't just bought Soul Wars. Gw's release rate these days is bonkers.

2x Riders of Rohan: £36
1x Warriors of Rohan: £15
2x Warriors of the Dead: £30
3x Morannon Orcs: £45
1x Mordor / Isengard Troll: £25
1x Winged Nazgûl: £37.50

Total: £188.50

And that's without new theoden, rulebook and extras. I wonder what price this box will have?!

I love the dynamic posing on mounted Theoden, but the foot version seems way too squat. Oh well, I don't really mind finecast anyway.

 DanceOfSlaanesh wrote:
2x Riders of Rohan: £36
1x Warriors of Rohan: £15
2x Warriors of the Dead: £30
3x Morannon Orcs: £45
1x Mordor / Isengard Troll: £25
1x Winged Nazgûl: £37.50

Total: £188.50

And that's without new theoden, rulebook and extras. I wonder what price this box will have?!

I'll guess $160 to keep it in line with the other boxed sets.

That is a pretty nice starter! The WoR are probably a weak point being one of the older plastic kits, but other than that they've picked a good set of stuff; the Morannon Orcs are some of the best orc minis on the market even now, the Fell Beast remains one of GW's finest models and the new Theoden looks great, particularly the mounted version.

I might have liked to see a set of Morannons swapped for Haradrim, or perhaps Easterlings just to give the Evil side a bit more variety (they have one main troop choice, the good guys have 3 separate types) but equally I guess most Mordor armies can always find use for a decent number of Morannon Orcs.

I do wonder if this will actually bring many new people into the game, but on the other hand, it's the most useful starter we've had since the Two Towers and RotK sets (and even those were just bundles of troops, largely, still better for actually getting into the game that the Fellowship/Goblin Town sets). It might be too little, too late, but I also suspect this set isn't going to have cost GW that much to set up given it's all old moulds, so it's a gamble that might just pay off (and I hope it does).

Well apart from the new Theoden... I have all of these :( And the new rules, of course.

Great to see a new boxed game for LotR, and I'm sure the set will be good value, but man, that's a lot of old models. Even the plastic fell beast was, what, 2010? Although the LotR sculpts hold up pretty well for their age.

So... mixed feelings about seeing this. Am I a miserable old git? Maybe...on balance, it's good to see the game getting this level of attention.

Edit: Good point Paradigm, GW paid off the moulding costs for most of this stuff over a decade ago. The price point will be... interesting to see.

At the very least, I'm hoping some sets get parted out on ebay so I can pick up a Fell Beast slightly cheaper! Ditto for the new Theoden, but that's probably going to be fairly pricey on its own unless there's a ton of them on the market.

I was actually expecting to have Gondor in the starter, and I was expecting to play them when this comes out, but that Theoden is making me rethink my plans and consider Rohan.

Oh, wow. Was not expecting this. Will almost definitely pick this set up! Can always use more Orcs, Trolls and Nazgul. I have Rohan force too, and I do not need more warriors or horses, but I do want the plastic Theoden.

So those are old models, eh? Didn't even notice...

That puts a damper on my enthusiasm. I was really hoping for some fresh sprues. I like the current Rohan lineup and the orcs as well, but this is essentially just a discount box. Kinda hard for me to get excited about that.

I am a bit excited about the new edition of the rules. I love the One Ring book and it is my favourite GW game, but I am hopeful that the new game might even improve on things.

Plus, if there was a revival in LOTR I could get some games in!

I was there, 3000 years ago, when the last LotR starterbox was released.

Good to see a new box and rules coming. Hence that both forces don´t have enough heroes to field them with the current 12 men per hero rules. So maybe they ditched this rule.


Using the WoR and RoR is a bad move. Both are modelwise too small compared to other LotR minis and don´t hold up against the other sprues in the box. The rest looks fine, but most old players will have already enough of this minis, which were popular back then. So it is good value for a new player, but I will look for the single rulebook and my army book.

Also this Theoden doesn´t hold a candle to the old ones. I´m sorry to write this.

Oh man! That starter set looks awesome! I don't have any of these models, and the new Theoden looks fantastic. Can't wait for this one.

I'm betting $150 for the price. Well worth it as far as I can tell.

Also, Theoden is first of the new plastic characters! Sweet!

Absolutely fantastic boxed set. An exciting, pivotal and recognisable scene from the movie recreated in a boxed set with a bunch of great models - and including both a troll AND Fell Beast is just brilliant. Who wouldn't want those?! I'm not a big fan of the foot Theoden model to be honest, but the new mounted Theoden sculpt is fantastic - far better than the old one. Lots of energy and motion in the sculpt. I think there's a place for both though. The old one (mounted armoured Theoden with helmet) has served me well and has a nice steady trotting pose, but this is definitely the 'in the heat of action' one.

This is everything a LOTR boxed set should be and I am so thankful that Games Workshop have gotten back into developing this line. For those complaining about 'old models' being included just remember that this range was utterly dead years back. It seemed only a matter of time until they got rid of it all for good - and now we're here.

I am forever thankful to everyone who demonstrated the love and commitment that was still out there for LOTR SBG which undeniably led GW to recognise that their time in Middle Earth was not over.

Brilliant stuff.

 His Master's Voice wrote:
I love the dynamic posing on mounted Theoden, but the foot version seems way too squat. Oh well, I don't really mind finecast anyway.

Looks to me like all the new stuff is moving away from good proportions and towards "heroic" proportions. Not a good change IMHO.

I am interested in the set, but I'll definitely be waiting to see more pics before I order.

 Papa-Schlumpf wrote:

Good to see a new box and rules coming. Hence that both forces don´t have enough heroes to field them with the current 12 men per hero rules. So maybe they ditched this rule.

nah; it'll be a starter box with scenarios and then use a normal guy as a captain. Then a "what to get next!" section as standard

Not sure if I will get this. If it's Forge World only then no. Hate so see the costs if it's FW only.

Davor wrote:
Not sure if I will get this. If it's Forge World only then no. Hate so see the costs if it's FW only.

price is "same as Age of Sigmar set". #95 / $160.

Don't forget, Specialist Games is Forge World. You can purchase Horus Heresy, Necromunda, Blood Bowl, etc, at retail, so...

I wonder if it will come with the full kits of the fellbeast and troll, with all the options like building an Isengard troll, or non-Witch king rider on the Fellbeast?

 Slinky wrote:
I wonder if it will come with the full kits of the fellbeast and troll, with all the options like building an Isengard troll, or non-Witch king rider on the Fellbeast?

Yes, it’ll just be the full sprues.

 Slinky wrote:
I wonder if it will come with the full kits of the fellbeast and troll, with all the options like building an Isengard troll, or non-Witch king rider on the Fellbeast?

Yes, see drums and isengard shield on troll sprue on right side

New rules, at least, which was honestly the only thing I was truly interested in. Models suitable for LotR are, well, mostly the foundation of every fantasy miniatures manufacturer so I've got nothing to worry about. And that's without even considering historical miniatures!

 judgedoug wrote:

 Slinky wrote:
I wonder if it will come with the full kits of the fellbeast and troll, with all the options like building an Isengard troll, or non-Witch king rider on the Fellbeast?

Yes, see drums and isengard shield on troll sprue on right side

Awesome, in that case this set includes quite a few things that are on my "to purchase" list, and makes it an even easier decision

@judgedoug: Mostly plausible. But isn´t the "King of the dead" the only thematically correct hero for the ghosts? (Sorry if I mix up the names.)

As a Rohan player myself I wished so long for new WoR and now that won´t happen. Maybe a new commado unit and heroes. But the Perrys are missing and it shows. They were part of the reason for the love this range got in the past.

I would like to see on both sides more "small heroes" like Beregond. Also hopefully the different weapon strikes aren´t available anymore, they just prolonged the game.

And mostly I hope for a localization of the books in different languages.

I wonder if we also see a smaller Set in the Future. Like for 40k or AoS?

judgedoug wrote:

Davor wrote:
Not sure if I will get this. If it's Forge World only then no. Hate so see the costs if it's FW only.

price is "same as Age of Sigmar set". #95 / $160.

Don't forget, Specialist Games is Forge World. You can purchase Horus Heresy, Necromunda, Blood Bowl, etc, at retail, so...

I didn't know that HH, Necromunda, Blood Bowl etc was FW. This is good to know. Thank you very much.

 Papa-Schlumpf wrote:
But isn´t the "King of the dead" the only thematically correct hero for the ghosts? (Sorry if I mix up the names.)

Ahem, Aragorn.

 Manchu wrote:

 Papa-Schlumpf wrote:
But isn´t the "King of the dead" the only thematically correct hero for the ghosts? (Sorry if I mix up the names.)

Ahem, Aragorn.

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct. But no Aragorn is in the box to lead the ghosts. So maybe the squad rules are no more or there is a new Undead hero like a captain.

That Pelennor box is an instabuy. I already have more LOTR miniatures than I know what to do with, but with Theoden being my favourite character... I just can't resist buying more. It is an addiction!

Great box set.

If anyone doesn't want their Nazgul from the set i'm going to be on the market for a couple of them.

Statline from book shows that SBG officially incorporates the keyword system from AOS and 40k. Rest of stats remain unchanged.

 Taarnak wrote:

Looks to me like all the new stuff is moving away from good proportions and towards "heroic" proportions. Not a good change IMHO.

I am interested in the set, but I'll definitely be waiting to see more pics before I order.

The Warden of the Keys seems fine to me, as did the Laketown heroes from a while back. I think it's just some unfortunate sculpting decisions with the new Theoden.

The keywords arent really a surprise... I mean, the current ruleset kind of uses them already. Goblin, ork, spirit, monster... its just been a bit more formalised I guess. Though I really *am* curious about which things they may have changed...

(also, the box seems to contain most of what I thought it would - the only surprise being the fell beast and warriors of the dead.)

Wow, the new box set looks like a good deal. I haven't played the ME strategy game or collect the minis, but im a big LOTR fan and I've been admiring the minis from afar for some time. Looks like this might end up on my Christmas wish list.

I’m not sure if I can go in for this given I do have all the models already... but I must say it does look like a fantastic box and I hope it can bring more players to the game

Now if they would return the boxes back to be 24 miniatures for 18€ instead of 12 for 20€ ...

As someone who didn't find out about GW's LOTR stuff until it was already in decline, I'm interested in this. If I can get this box at online discounter prices, I'd probably be down for two of them

This box does seem to avoid a significant problem that the "The Hobbit" has: named characters. If I'm not mistaken, everyone but Theoden is a non-named character and therefore multiple boxes can actually make sense (the extra Theoden can be conversion fodder or sold).

 Galas wrote:
Now if they would return the boxes back to be 24 miniatures for 18€ instead of 12 for 20€ ...

Well that would be silly. Gw would get less than what they got then. Though price cut would be nice but at least inflation check would be expected

Having slept on this... It's a brilliant starter box. Maybe I do need another Nazgul... And a troll... And...

I think what I like about it compared to the two other starters I have bought (escape from goblin town and mines of moria) is that it is obviously two skirmish armies rather than a bunch of mooks at a bunch of heroes. I have more than enough heroes now, with the Fellowship and Thorin's Company, but SBG is actually best as a skirmish fantasy game.

 TheWaspinator wrote:
As someone who didn't find out about GW's LOTR stuff until it was already in decline, I'm interested in this. If I can get this box at online discounter prices, I'd probably be down for two of them

This box does seem to avoid a significant problem that the "The Hobbit" has: named characters. If I'm not mistaken, everyone but Theoden is a non-named character and therefore multiple boxes can actually make sense (the extra Theoden can be conversion fodder or sold).

The Witch King is a named character, at least by title. But you can make him a generic Nazgul. But yeah. You can absolutely buy a couple of boxes and have a big Mordor and Rohan army for the cheap. With extra death guys.

 Galas wrote:

 TheWaspinator wrote:
As someone who didn't find out about GW's LOTR stuff until it was already in decline, I'm interested in this. If I can get this box at online discounter prices, I'd probably be down for two of them

This box does seem to avoid a significant problem that the "The Hobbit" has: named characters. If I'm not mistaken, everyone but Theoden is a non-named character and therefore multiple boxes can actually make sense (the extra Theoden can be conversion fodder or sold).

The Witch King is a named character, at least by title. But you can make him a generic Nazgul. But yeah. You can absolutely buy a couple of boxes and have a big Mordor and Rohan army for the cheap. With extra death guys.

Plus:

1) the troll kit allows you to make a Mordor Troll, Mordor Troll Drummer, Isengard Troll, with lots of options for armor, helmets, weapons - see https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Mordor-Isengard-Troll
2) not only can the Fell-beast have the Witch King of Angmar, but it also has TWO variant Nazgul, and two Fell-beasthead options - the plastic kit allows you to make at least three vastly different poses. (Witch-King on armored Fell-Beast, Nazgul pose 1 on Fell-Beast, Nazgul pose 2 on Fell-Beast).
3) a generic Captain really is just a differently painted normal trooper, unless you really want to specifically spend the money on a metal or finecast guy.

Buying two box sets actually kind of makes sense if you want to do either of the two armies or split the two sets with your buddy.

I would expect a re-pack/re-release of the Plastic Sets with additional Sprues for a Unit's Command.

RazorEdge wrote:
I would expect a re-pack/re-release of the Plastic Sets with additional Sprues for a Unit's Command.

I would not expect that.

RazorEdge wrote:
I would expect a re-pack/re-release of the Plastic Sets with additional Sprues for a Unit's Command.

HAHA!!!!
NO.
GW will bump them from £15 for 12 models to £30 for 12 models.
That's it

Hmm....this is tempting.

 Galas wrote:

 TheWaspinator wrote:
As someone who didn't find out about GW's LOTR stuff until it was already in decline, I'm interested in this. If I can get this box at online discounter prices, I'd probably be down for two of them

This box does seem to avoid a significant problem that the "The Hobbit" has: named characters. If I'm not mistaken, everyone but Theoden is a non-named character and therefore multiple boxes can actually make sense (the extra Theoden can be conversion fodder or sold).

The Witch King is a named character, at least by title. But you can make him a generic Nazgul. But yeah. You can absolutely buy a couple of boxes and have a big Mordor and Rohan army for the cheap. With extra death guys.

Yeah, the generic Nazgul makes that part of the set not locked into a unique.

A related question: I want to see Theoden's sprues. If we're lucky, it will be easy to behead him and turn extras into generics by giving them a different head.

The mordor side is amazing for a WOTR army if you get a set or 12

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
The mordor side is amazing for a WOTR army if you get a set or 12

Well, maybe 9

 Huginn wrote:

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
The mordor side is amazing for a WOTR army if you get a set or 12

Well, maybe 9

Read my mind

tneva82 wrote:
Well that would be silly. Gw would get less than what they got then. Though price cut would be nice but at least inflation check would be expected

Nah I'm pretty sure the 'silly' part was GW halving the contents and increasing the price.

Not as much silly as shooting themselves in the foot, from what I remember. We went from selling a crapton of them to zip and none in a cold second.

When it first came out lotr minis were quite a bit cheaper than Warhammer ones and you needed fewer to make an army, but the Hobbit minis were considerably more expensive, no cheaper than the warhammer minis of the time. I am sure this contributed a lot to the failure of the game.
If they can launch the new starter at a competitive price, and keep their future plastic kits at a reasonable price they have a good opportunity to get a lot of people playing again.

My disappointment is no more perries working on them

I want so hard to start playing this game again... but the fact is FW the ones taking care of it... just sucks. They are obviously taking care of more they can handle.

In what way? It's had it's own dedicated team for a couple of years now.

In terms of the box, it's a nice thing. It's just a shame I have more Rohan and Morrannon orcs than I know what to do with. I do hope Théoden is available separately at some point.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
In what way? It's had it's own dedicated team for a couple of years now.

In terms of the box, it's a nice thing. It's just a shame I have more Rohan and Morrannon orcs than I know what to do with. I do hope Théoden is available separately at some point.

The FW team has not the same resources than the main GW studio team, most of the new stuff will be FW resin, they will probably sell the rules as with Necromunda, etc, etc..

 Galas wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
In what way? It's had it's own dedicated team for a couple of years now.

In terms of the box, it's a nice thing. It's just a shame I have more Rohan and Morrannon orcs than I know what to do with. I do hope Théoden is available separately at some point.

The FW team has not the same resources than the main GW studio team, most of the new stuff will be FW resin, they will probably sell the rules as with Necromunda, etc, etc..

You are unaware that there is a dedicated Middle-earth team (at GW) that has released several books and dozens of new models along with several re-releases of OOP models in the past year or so, it seems.

Everything new so far (barring Théoden) has been FW resin, that's not a new thing.

I don't quite understand the Necromunda rule comment. The only rules we've had so far was "There and Back Again". Which had complete army lists for basically everything in the Hobbit movies including stuff that hadn't been release yet.

The two new books we've seen are updated core rules (which have been mentioned at least 18 months ago) and what looks like new list books. No staggered releases like Necromunda.

 TheWaspinator wrote:

A related question: I want to see Theoden's sprues. If we're lucky, it will be easy to behead him and turn extras into generics by giving them a different head.

Theoden appears to have both unhelmeted and helmeted heads for each pose.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Galas wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
In what way? It's had it's own dedicated team for a couple of years now.

In terms of the box, it's a nice thing. It's just a shame I have more Rohan and Morrannon orcs than I know what to do with. I do hope Théoden is available separately at some point.

The FW team has not the same resources than the main GW studio team, most of the new stuff will be FW resin, they will probably sell the rules as with Necromunda, etc, etc..

You are unaware that there is a dedicated Middle-earth team (at GW) that has released several books and dozens of new models along with several re-releases of OOP models in the past year or so, it seems.

Then I'm glad to be wrong about this. I really want to start playing again this great game with my group, if GW really wants to give it the attention it deserves, maybe not AoS/Warhammer level but more than what they have done the past years.

But in Spain FW is nearly non existant, most stores don't even allow it. Thats why I was afraid.

It's not going to be like 40k, where it's all new units and specific rule books. Everything they put out is going to be designed to be in the core game or redo's of oop models. Key examples being the Swan Knights just previewed. Nothing they've released so far has been at all game breaking. So the FW excuse shouldn't really hold water with people for this. Barring the prices and shipping costs. (I hate their damn shipping rules)

Super excited for this. I'll probably see if I can split the box with someone as I'm only really interested in the Rohan stuff to add to my older Rohan stuff as well. New Theoden looks bad ass and will go well with the other models I already have

Pic of the back with a ghostly Adam Troke

This is one I’m in on for sure, have a few of the old source books, mines of Moria game and a box of Isengard with the warg riders in the loft that il dig out now.

I'm always down for more LotR, and this new boxed set actually has a few locals asking me to demo the game, and relaunch a community. The prospect of that makes me very happy, as i'd rather play LotR than chase the 40k/AoS meta anymore... :-p

I haven't kept up lately, but with all the restocks, etc... did Harad/Umbar become an attainable army again?

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I'm always down for more LotR, and this new boxed set actually has a few locals asking me to demo the game, and relaunch a community. The prospect of that makes me very happy, as i'd rather play LotR than chase the 40k/AoS meta anymore... :-p

I haven't kept up lately, but with all the restocks, etc... did Harad/Umbar become an attainable army again?

Yes, pretty much anything that does go out of stock is restocked in a week or so.

 judgedoug wrote:

 TheWaspinator wrote:

A related question: I want to see Theoden's sprues. If we're lucky, it will be easy to behead him and turn extras into generics by giving them a different head.

Theoden appears to have both unhelmeted and helmeted heads for each pose.

Damn. Now I will need to get two sets.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I'm always down for more LotR, and this new boxed set actually has a few locals asking me to demo the game, and relaunch a community. The prospect of that makes me very happy, as i'd rather play LotR than chase the 40k/AoS meta anymore... :-p

I haven't kept up lately, but with all the restocks, etc... did Harad/Umbar become an attainable army again?

Umbar by itself, not so much, but Harad certainly - the only thing we're really waiting on is Serpent Guard/Riders re-release and a Hasharin.

Just have to ask....well first comment...the swan foot knights look awesome. Will the mounted knights be redone to match the look of the foot knights? Those helmets look so much better.

The riders are plastic and there never has been a remake of a Lotr plastic box. It's highly unlikely they'd do one for Dol Amroth, especially since they are relatively new. There are some plastics that show their age, like most things from the first releases, Goblins, last alliance, Orks.

General Hobbs wrote:


Just have to ask....well first comment...the swan foot knights look awesome. Will the mounted knights be redone to match the look of the foot knights? Those helmets look so much better.

The resin foot knights were sculpted to match the plastic mounted knights... they are wearing the same armor and helmets.

So do we have a date for this new starter box?

Also, is it coming out with "the" new rule-book, or is there still the upcoming big-book of all things LotR?

Is it a terrible time to catch up on "older" books like There and Back again and Battle Companies, if I don't own them yet?

"by the end of summer" was the quote from Adam Troke. And summer ends in September.

And do we know if its rules will render "There and Back Again" moot... or is it potentially just the LotR to that book's "Hobbit"?

IIRC this will be a new set of rules. I can't remember exactly how it'll be broken up, but something like "forces of Lord of the Rings" and "forces of The Hobbit".

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
So do we have a date for this new starter box?

Also, is it coming out with "the" new rule-book, or is there still the upcoming big-book of all things LotR?

Is it a terrible time to catch up on "older" books like There and Back again and Battle Companies, if I don't own them yet?

1. End of August. Theoretically the preorder is August 25 with a release date of September 1.

2. As per the Warhammer Community article, the box set comes with the 208-page Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rulebook.

3. You can safely ignore the 2010 era Lord of the Rings blue army books. As per the Warhammer Community article, those are being replaced by a single hardcover "Armies of Lord of the Rings " book.
Battle Companies is safe, as it was future-proofed (see entries for "Angmar Orcs" and "Uruk-Hai Bows").
There And Back Again was written to bridge the gap into the new edition. However, I would expect it to be eventually replaced by a "Armies of The Hobbit" book that consolidates the profiles from "Heroes and Villains" (1st Hobbit film) and "There And Back Again" (2nd and 3rd films).

What is not known is if the "Armies of" books will have all of the scenarios from the (now OOP) Lord of the Rings Journeybooks or the scenarios from the Hobbit SBG book and There And Back Again book. If you are a scenario player, it is worth it to own all that stuff imho (I personally own anything with scenarios no matter how old, as they are all incredibly useful)

As it happens, I binned my existing Lord of the Rings blue books at the weekend; I'll pick up this new rulebook as and when I ever play again. I kept the Fellowship of the Ring boxed set rulebook, though, and I'd quite like to get the Two Towers and Return of the King books at some point, for he scenarios.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
As it happens, I binned my existing Lord of the Rings blue books at the weekend; I'll pick up this new rulebook as and when I ever play again. I kept the Fellowship of the Ring boxed set rulebook, though, and I'd quite like to get the Two Towers and Return of the King books at some point, for he scenarios.

By "binned" do you literally mean "throw away"?

I would suggest trying to get the Lord of the Rings Journeybooks. Each has dozens of scenarios from both the films and the books, along with terrain making guides and painting guides for the models and terrain you need for each set of scenarios.

It'll be released at Ardacon SBG international in late august

Those Journeybooks will get remakes, like we will see new Thematic Books like the Moria Expedition or the War of the Last Allainces ect (as examples by me) - Adam Troke confirmed such Books last year.

RazorEdge wrote:
Those Journeybooks will get remakes, like we will see new Thematic Books like the Moria Expedition or the War of the Last Allainces ect (as examples by me) - Adam Troke confirmed such Books last year.

I asked that question in Twitch and he said that he loved those books and they would like to plan to do them again. It wasn't 100%

I own tons of the old books, and have literally every book barring Battle Companies (which I just ordered upon finding an old, glowing Judgedoug review elsewhere), and The BIG new hardcover Hobbit book which i'll probably just skip for now while we wait for the new book releases.

The only Hobbit-era army I want to eventually expand would require a LOT of Forgeworld Dwarves, so those will be a long wait anyway...

My wife has been wanting to try Rohan for years, so I just bought her a foot/mounted Eowyn, and figure we'll wait for the value proposition of the new starter in August.

One quick question, despite knowing this isn't the ideal place to ask (but it IS the most active Middle Earth talk i've seen in ages...), but are Wanderers of the Wild represented in Battle Companies at all...?

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
The riders are plastic and there never has been a remake of a Lotr plastic box. It's highly unlikely they'd do one for Dol Amroth, especially since they are relatively new. There are some plastics that show their age, like most things from the first releases, Goblins, last alliance, Orks.

Nice! I did not know they redid the knights in plastic! They look so much better.

Ooooh boy sign me up for those sweet Knights of Dol Amorth the second they come out.

Keep looking at this set and really can’t wait. This is the first gw release that has got me excited for the first time in a long while.

Will be digging out the Isengard set I have over the weekend plus already looking at some terrain ideas for Rohan. Hmm maybe a box of Uruk hai scouts should be ordered too.

Been many years since i last dabbled in the lord of the rings, roll on the release day so can crack open some mead and start building horse riders lol.

Does look like a superb box set, hopefully it will really re-ignite the LOTR game, which it deserves as a truly great system

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
One quick question, despite knowing this isn't the ideal place to ask (but it IS the most active Middle Earth talk i've seen in ages...), but are Wanderers of the Wild represented in Battle Companies at all...?

No, I supposed it would be hard to do that - maybe a single Ent as most, and even that is a stretch (biggest guys in BC are cave troll and gundabad ogre), so you'd be looking at Wildmen of Druadan as your guys, which don't offer much flexibility in terms of upgrades and whatnot.

However, they've released multiple BC in White Dwarf - and a full BC campaign - so it wouldn't surprise me!

So had a look on the web store to see what was still available, I see that sharku is one of many that’s not on there.

That’s a shame as never got him last time around. Would have been cool to have him heading a pack of warg riders.

eBay is awash with LOTR models, and any that were sold with the magazine series can normally be had at a reasonable price

Indeed, Sharku mounted is quite easy to find. It's his foot version that's a pig.

The box content is pretty neat and so, but could someone already look into the new book. What is its content? new rules? etc

 Paintalist wrote:
The box content is pretty neat and so, but could someone already look into the new book. What is its content? new rules? etc

to be previewed in the coming weeks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 xKillGorex wrote:
So had a look on the web store to see what was still available, I see that sharku is one of many that’s not on there.

That’s a shame as never got him last time around. Would have been cool to have him heading a pack of warg riders.

Warg Attack is still available from Warhammer World if you can get someone to get you a copy (there's people on the Great British Hobbit League fb group that do WHWorld excursions to buy and ship exclusives for members of the community) which comes with Sharku

Also; the Middle Earth team has stated that every profile will have a model; several oop models have come back in production since then. I can't imagine Sharku would be left out, as he's really the only orc Warg hero.

They said last Year, they will bring back every OOP Model from the Lotr Range.

This excitement is getting my Middle Earth blood up. I didn't intend to go crazy... I really didn't.... and then I woke up from a spending haze and discovered I just ordered an Iron Hills army from Forgeworld....

RazorEdge wrote:
They said last Year, they will bring back every OOP Model from the Lotr Range.

Ah that’s good to know.

 xKillGorex wrote:

RazorEdge wrote:
They said last Year, they will bring back every OOP Model from the Lotr Range.

Ah that’s good to know.

Indeed, because I still need some ruffians to complete my scouring of the shire collection (already have all other models)

But are they coming back in metal or resin....?

There's a ton of characters I'd grab in a heartbeat if metal.

 jonolikespie wrote:
But are they coming back in metal or resin....?

There's a ton of characters I'd grab in a heartbeat if metal.

hell I would take Arnor even in resin

 thekingofkings wrote:

 jonolikespie wrote:
But are they coming back in metal or resin....?

There's a ton of characters I'd grab in a heartbeat if metal.

hell I would take Arnor even in resin

Well king theoden in the box is a new sculpt in plastic so I wonder if they’ll all get re sculpts or just released again in plastic form.

 jonolikespie wrote:
But are they coming back in metal or resin....?

There's a ton of characters I'd grab in a heartbeat if metal.

Depends what they were last released in. If they were metal (like the hobbit shiriffs, then they'll be in metal).
If they were resin (like Boromir of the White Tower) then it will be resin.
Also, not every oop model is getting a re-release. If they get Forge World releases, then the old versions aren't coming back. I.e. the new Swan Knights.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
Boromir of the White Tower ... resin.

Heart = broken.

They're not bringing every model back, just a model for every profile. so RIP fans of Aragorn version 26..

Depends. We may very well get character series releases of characters like Aragorn as we have for Thranduil, Dain, Gwaihir etc.

Oh my...they're DOUBLING number of plastic infantry per box for FREE! They're actually less then they were before the boxes were cut!

Where did you read about that?? Amazing if true!

Ninja'd. Apparently (grain of salt time) the pic was of the new Warhammer World Catalogue.

Bad news, Adam Troke has just confirmed its a typo but related to good news

I don't know why, but i'm finding the real time facebook/dakkering kinda weird.

Overjoyed and disappointed in all under 5 minutes

The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

 judgedoug wrote:
The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

Well, if they make them cheaper, like they did with the stormcast, going from 5 to 10 and lowering the price per model something like 48%, then I'll be happy enough.

Yeah I doubt that they would drop the price per model by 50%, but any discount would be welcome. e.g. £25 for 24 would a £5 discount.

It's nice to see that GW goes back to betting on The Middle Earth. As others have said, it seems like a very interesting box for introducing new people to the game.

Let's wait to see what changes they have made in the rules and see if they also think a little about the ones we have been playing for many years with new things.
Dol Amroth's new poses are great. Let's see if they also get new ones from Rohan, Gondor ..

 judgedoug wrote:
The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

Was it confirmed that they are going back to 20-man boxes as well?

dyndraig wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

Was it confirmed that they are going back to 20-man boxes as well?

It makes sense if they are, as it's a way of reducing the price per model without actually reducing prices, which is something that GW have apparently said can never happen

dyndraig wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

Was it confirmed that they are going back to 20-man boxes as well?

For those three sets, so far (two sprues per box, so 20-man for Uruk Warriors and 24-man for Uruk Scouts and Warriors of Minas Tirith)

thekingofkings wrote:

 jonolikespie wrote:
But are they coming back in metal or resin....?

There's a ton of characters I'd grab in a heartbeat if metal.

hell I would take Arnor even in resin

Heck I would gobble them up if they were cheaper. Yes I know but I still have the sour taste in my mouth how everything became more expensive for less. A reason why I quit. Only fair for me to come back is for them to do the same.

judgedoug wrote:The Warhammer World catalog only listed Uruk Hai Scouts, Uruk Hai Warriors, and Warriors of Minas Tirith as double-boxes (twenty four in each except twenty in the Uruk Warriors set), and then Adam Troke confirmed the price is a misprint on those three. So it is true they are moving back to the double boxes slowly, almost certainly with new Middle-earth SBG branding, but we're not getting 2007 era prices, folks.

As I said, only fair. Lots of us have left because of The Hobbit pricing. Can't remember when it came out. So only fair for us to come back if we got what we had before.Of course inflation included. As you said 2007 eara pricing is not fully expected but the same price wise in todays time would be fair. This is like Age of Sigmar. Prices need to be cheaper so people start. Only reason I started AoS is because prices were acceptable and rules/warscrolls are free. I don't see this here. I see 40K way. The 40K way I don't think will get lots of people playing again like AoS did.

Is there anything "free" coming out for Lord of the Rings like AoS and 40K did?

Do you tink we will see "Start Collecting" Sets for Middle Earth?

Also, they could bring back those Mounted Nazguls and repack those Riders of the Death into Packs of three.

A year of two ago GW released Stormcast Liberators in boxes of 5 for $50. Now you can get boxes of 10 for $62. Its not unrealistic at all to expect some sort of price decrease for bigger boxes.

I'm really happy we are finally getting a proper starter set for LOTR. I never understood why one was never released for WOTR, it was a fun system but it never really took off because it was more difficult to get into than 40k/Fantasy. Hope this release revitalizes the SBG at least.

Well, I would always have played Rohan if I'd taken up the game, and I've always wanted a Winged Nazghul to paint and an excuse to get some of the other kits in the game.

So while I need another game putting demands on my time and wallet like a hole in the head, this turn of events has very precisely hit a number of buttons that has me paying close attention. Much like Titanicus, a lot of it hinges on the price.

Davor wrote:
As I said, only fair. Lots of us have left because of The Hobbit pricing. Can't remember when it came out. So only fair for us to come back if we got what we had before.Of course inflation included. As you said 2007 eara pricing is not fully expected but the same price wise in todays time would be fair. This is like Age of Sigmar. Prices need to be cheaper so people start. Only reason I started AoS is because prices were acceptable and rules/warscrolls are free. I don't see this here. I see 40K way. The 40K way I don't think will get lots of people playing again like AoS did.

Is there anything "free" coming out for Lord of the Rings like AoS and 40K did?

Hobbit range was 2012-2014. While the Hobbit era plastics are more expensive than LOTR they are also of a much higher quality. Mirkwood Rangers put the old plastic Wood Elves to shame, for example. It is rather moot at this point; they've always been part of the Strategy Battle Game, and are now 100% folded into Middle-earth branded family.

However, yes, from the hints Adam Troke dropped on Facebook, it appears that everything is moving to two-sprue boxes with a price decrease. We have already seen this with the Finecast packs, which went from 3 models for $25 to 12 models for $65, a savings of 35%.

I don't think there will be any "free" stuff for SBG, but we do have a nice bonus over other ranges by having a single book for every Lord of the Rings (War of the Ring Third Age) model, profile, army, etc.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

willb2064 wrote:
I'm really happy we are finally getting a proper starter set for LOTR. I never understood why one was never released for WOTR, it was a fun system but it never really took off because it was more difficult to get into than 40k/Fantasy. Hope this release revitalizes the SBG at least.

Methinks cuz War of the Ring was always relegated to the "So, you have a million SBG models and want to play a big game? Try out this fun ruleset that Matt Ward wrote and all the studio blokes play!" and was never expected to be a serious competition game, merely an excuse to use all your toys.

I wonder if GW has gotten rights to do any of the stuff from the "Shadow of..." games.

Talion and Celebrimbor would be awesome.

 Kanluwen wrote:
I wonder if GW has gotten rights to do any of the stuff from the "Shadow of..." games.

No

judgedoug wrote:

Davor wrote:
As I said, only fair. Lots of us have left because of The Hobbit pricing. Can't remember when it came out. So only fair for us to come back if we got what we had before.Of course inflation included. As you said 2007 eara pricing is not fully expected but the same price wise in todays time would be fair. This is like Age of Sigmar. Prices need to be cheaper so people start. Only reason I started AoS is because prices were acceptable and rules/warscrolls are free. I don't see this here. I see 40K way. The 40K way I don't think will get lots of people playing again like AoS did.

Is there anything "free" coming out for Lord of the Rings like AoS and 40K did?

Hobbit range was 2012-2014. While the Hobbit era plastics are more expensive than LOTR they are also of a much higher quality. Mirkwood Rangers put the old plastic Wood Elves to shame, for example. It is rather moot at this point; they've always been part of the Strategy Battle Game, and are now 100% folded into Middle-earth branded family.

However, yes, from the hints Adam Troke dropped on Facebook, it appears that everything is moving to two-sprue boxes with a price decrease. We have already seen this with the Finecast packs, which went from 3 models for $25 to 12 models for $65, a savings of 35%.

I don't think there will be any "free" stuff for SBG, but we do have a nice bonus over other ranges by having a single book for every Lord of the Rings (War of the Ring Third Age) model, profile, army, etc.

This looks very promising. That is great if true. I didn't know Adam Troke said that. Now I am looking forward to it. Maybe I can start my small LotR collection all over again then.

Do we know if the rules will be roughly the same or will it be drastically different? I see "keywords" have been added. Is this just a small adition or will the game be different now or we don't know yet?

Keywords have always been there, though. Its how they subtly got Eowyn's ability to kill Nazgul in the game (she's a WOMAN, not a MAN, model).

 judgedoug wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
I wonder if GW has gotten rights to do any of the stuff from the "Shadow of..." games.

No

Booooooooooooooo. Talion on a Caragor would have been pretty sweet for the "Character" series.

Some extra terrain kits would be nice, maybe some new ruined statues and such. Maybe bree houses too.

Having great fun coming up with terrain ideas at the moment and building all sorts but some kits that can be thrown together would come in handy.

WOTR is seriously an amazing rule set. Unfortunately once you get into army selection there is absolutely no balance between factions. Evil is leagues more powerful than good. Since its a dead unsupported rule set and its probably never getting a proper update, Ive been updating it myself recently and were having alot of fun with it.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
WOTR is seriously an amazing rule set. Unfortunately once you get into army selection there is absolutely no balance between factions. Evil is leagues more powerful than good. Since its a dead unsupported rule set and its probably never getting a proper update, Ive been updating it myself recently and were having alot of fun with it.

Woodelves with maxed bows, no armour + Haldir + old Legolas + old Thranduil pretty much destroyed every evil army in a 500 pts game and scaled up pretty well.

Evil is not leagues above good, its just that the good armies of men underperform. Playing Gondor is hard as is playing Arnor. Rohan takes a lot of skill and also luck, but they could be deadly in the middle range. Wizards and elves are too good for their price. The White Council is another good army, every evil army struggles against. Even the Nazgul Fellbeast only lists. Dwarfs were subpar before the release of their riders.

Also there are evil armies, that underperform. Like Easterlings and Khand. Only Mordor is OP (because you can get all the toy) and Isengard weaponary. At least in 500 pts upwards games. In smaller games the meta changes.


How do you balanced them? New units and rules or changed point values?

Edit: Ignore my post, I overlooked the WOTR at the beginning of yours. I referred the skirmish game.

Davor wrote:
Do we know if the rules will be roughly the same or will it be drastically different? I see "keywords" have been added. Is this just a small adition or will the game be different now or we don't know yet?

Roughly the same. We know only what they've hinted at, which is that the core rules will be the same. Keywords have been added, but to be fair, they kind of always existed (the army books listed models as "orc" or "man" or "elf" etc), it just helps to clarify things. This model is _definitely_ an Orc, Hero, Wizard, etc.

This Thursday is the Middle-earth Takeover, and you can bet your butts that we'll be all over the chat asking all kinds of questions. LOOK AT ALL THAT SWEET "MIDDLE-EARTH" BRANDING!

 xKillGorex wrote:
Some extra terrain kits would be nice, maybe some new ruined statues and such. Maybe bree houses too.

Having great fun coming up with terrain ideas at the moment and building all sorts but some kits that can be thrown together would come in handy.

a hobbit home kit would be great as well

terry wrote:

 xKillGorex wrote:
Some extra terrain kits would be nice, maybe some new ruined statues and such. Maybe bree houses too.

Having great fun coming up with terrain ideas at the moment and building all sorts but some kits that can be thrown together would come in handy.

a hobbit home kit would be great as well

I would not be surprise if Forge World at least did a Middle-earth Terrain series for things you wouldn't buy multiples of in plastic.

 Midnightdeathblade wrote:
WOTR is seriously an amazing rule set. Unfortunately once you get into army selection there is absolutely no balance between factions. Evil is leagues more powerful than good. Since its a dead unsupported rule set and its probably never getting a proper update, Ive been updating it myself recently and were having alot of fun with it.

We had so much fun playing War of the Rings, and we painted a lot of it as well.

Going to be a hard sell to my group for anything hobbit related at this point. We were seriously pissed when they stopped production of the WoTR rule book and trays and support of an F.A.Q.

terry wrote:

 xKillGorex wrote:
Some extra terrain kits would be nice, maybe some new ruined statues and such. Maybe bree houses too.

Having great fun coming up with terrain ideas at the moment and building all sorts but some kits that can be thrown together would come in handy.

a hobbit home kit would be great as well

Or even just a sprue of the door and windows, the rest would be easy enough to knock up. It’s only half a hill with a garden I guess lol .

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
Going to be a hard sell to my group for anything hobbit related at this point.

Good thing the Hobbit releases were four to six years ago...

Very odd, though - are they specifically against ALL of the designs from the Hobbit films? I love the look of the Kingdom of Dale, for instance, and has some of the best models for the entire SBG range.

judgedoug wrote:

Davor wrote:
Do we know if the rules will be roughly the same or will it be drastically different? I see "keywords" have been added. Is this just a small adition or will the game be different now or we don't know yet?

Roughly the same. We know only what they've hinted at, which is that the core rules will be the same. Keywords have been added, but to be fair, they kind of always existed (the army books listed models as "orc" or "man" or "elf" etc), it just helps to clarify things. This model is _definitely_ an Orc, Hero, Wizard, etc.

This Thursday is the Middle-earth Takeover, and you can bet your butts that we'll be all over the chat asking all kinds of questions. LOOK AT ALL THAT SWEET "MIDDLE-EARTH" BRANDING!

Thank you. Good to know it will stay mostly the same. My memory is fading so I don't remember the key words being there or not. That is why I asked. I am getting more excited each day for this, where I thought I wouldn't. I can't make out the times, do you know what they are?

judgedoug wrote:

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
Going to be a hard sell to my group for anything hobbit related at this point.

Good thing the Hobbit releases were four to six years ago...

Very odd, though - are they specifically against ALL of the designs from the Hobbit films? I love the look of the Kingdom of Dale, for instance, and has some of the best models for the entire SBG range.

For me, it has nothing to do with The Hobbit films but they way GW has handled The Hobbit line from the begining. It leaves such a bad taste in my mind anything with The Hobbit name on it is an instant turn off. It was GW handling of The Hobbit that has turned me off the game I can't bare to see the name of it. I tried but the anger and turn off is so powerful with that name now. I like the movies, just hated GW handling of it.

Davor wrote:
I can't make out the times, do you know what they are?

Thursday 4pm to 5pm, Middle Earth Take Over. 5pm to 6pm, Middle Earth Tale of Four Warlords. 6:15pm til ? is Middle Earth Battle, Good vs Evil.
This is BST times so convert appropriately (so starting at 11 AM for me here on the US East Coast)

Davor wrote:
For me, it has nothing to do with The Hobbit films but they way GW has handled The Hobbit line from the begining. It leaves such a bad taste in my mind anything with The Hobbit name on it is an instant turn off. It was GW handling of The Hobbit that has turned me off the game I can't bare to see the name of it. I tried but the anger and turn off is so powerful with that name now. I like the movies, just hated GW handling of it.

Weird, I thought it was great -the fifth edition of the rules is without a doubt the best iteration, especially when it came to shooting and heroics. Minis-wise, I thought the first wave was great - awesome high quality plastic models that are loads better than the LOTR plastics. Then nothing sold, so then everything went to Finecast for the second and third films and models that were designed to be released in plastic were then released in Finecast (Lake-town guard and militia, Mirkwood infantry, Gundabad orcs), and then nothing happened for two solid dark years of 2015 and 2016.

But hey, all this is over now, and now it's Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game! Hurrah! A new dawn for the Third Age!

The boxed set is exciting.

I went rummaging around in my tub of unused minis and found 24 unpainted Rohan infantry. Judging by the state of them I assembled them before I learned to clean up plastic minis and to use less glue but they did survive being broken in the tub. I should be able to clean them up a bit better and make an attempt at painting them.

Its exciting to see long simmering interest bubbling up locally, as I mentioned. I have six or seven people asking for Middle Earth demos at one venue, while another has said they are committed to buying large amount of Middle Earth product, hoping to become a bit of a destination-store for the game, and asking me to set up some events for them.

At this point waiting is the most miserable part. :-p I put in my Forgeworld order, so between it, and the wait for August, my entire Middle Earth hobby energy right now is in playing the waiting game. :-p

I'll admit it's sparked me again to finish off my Mordor. I've finally got around to ordering the second beast of Gorgoroth I needed to round out the army.

I'm looking at my somewhat excessive LOTR collection again. I think I might drag them all out, fix up any damage and finally give them some decent basing. Good to see the LOTR game coming back again.

Pulled out an old unbuilt Isengard box and made a start last night.
So that gives me 18 warg riders and 20 Uruk hai. Only trouble is I’m missing two wargs somewhere. Argh.

Seeing this new information about LotR is making me glad I haven't sold my LotR collection yet. I'm sitting on quite a few unbuilt boxes, and some partially built and painted ones (was working on a Dwarf army when I lost interest due to lack of opponents in the area). I've always loved The Lord of the Rings stories ever since I was a kid, and once the movies came out my excitement about it only grew. Perhaps foolishly I bought into several factions before realizing that locally the game was as dead as the Men of Dunharrow (get it? ), but maybe with a new release some people might get into it.

Oh god this news has me digging through 10 year old boxes of super gak painted models looking at what OOP characters I have an how many of them have snapped staffs/swords.

More than I like are broken, but less than I expected.

See what you have, as some of the old metals are worth quite a bit. If you have Eomer-Marshall of the Riddermark, Faramir-Captain of Ithilien or Gildor Inglorion, you've got cash. If you have Halbarad with banner and horn, you've struck gold. He quite often reaches three figures.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
See what you have, as some of the old metals are worth quite a bit. If you have Eomer-Marshall of the Riddermark, Faramir-Captain of Ithilien or Gildor Inglorion, you've got cash. If you have Halbarad with banner and horn, you've struck gold. He quite often reaches three figures.

To be fair, those are not that old. Those are the most recent sculpts of those characters, long after the films were done and LOTR went from making so much money for GW that they didn't know what to do with it, to them having to reinvigorate the other product lines to actually sell in order to turn a profit. Translation: only the hardcore SBG players bought unhelmeted Eomer.

A new Eomer would be very nice, the one that sits on a plastic horse isn't all that great for such a mighty hero

 Slinky wrote:
A new Eomer would be very nice, the one that sits on a plastic horse isn't all that great for such a mighty hero

There's a thread on GBHL about people's wishlist for new plastic heroes and Adam Troke not only posted "following" has "love"d merely one suggestion, leading to the rampant speculation that the next kit is Aragorn at Pelennor wielding Anduril. Which would be HELLA cool as we don't have a model for that Aragorn (just the one in the Death of Gothmog diorama)

They sure will release Command Sets for all Factions in Platic.

What is GBHL?

RazorEdge wrote:
They sure will release Command Sets for all Factions in Platic.

What is GBHL?

http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=101

 Ghaz wrote:

RazorEdge wrote:
They sure will release Command Sets for all Factions in Platic.

What is GBHL?

http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=101

More accurately, https://www.facebook.com/groups/472128942815892/?ref=br_rs
which is where GW staff actively participate.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Slinky wrote:
A new Eomer would be very nice, the one that sits on a plastic horse isn't all that great for such a mighty hero

There's a thread on GBHL about people's wishlist for new plastic heroes and Adam Troke not only posted "following" has "love"d merely one suggestion, leading to the rampant speculation that the next kit is Aragorn at Pelennor wielding Anduril. Which would be HELLA cool as we don't have a model for that Aragorn (just the one in the Death of Gothmog diorama)

Oh neat. Aragorn is one of those that I think really had a small pool of good looking models for all the sculpts he got. Only really his Helms Deep and Weathertop sculpts ever really appealed too me. Foot version that is.

Edit* I forgot about Hero's of the West version. That one is awesome too.

Confirmed on Warhammer TV just now that Pelennor Fields starter box is Citadel/GW and will be available from all Warhammer stores and any game stores with GW trade/retail accounts.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Releases planned through the end of 2020 with monthly releases planned.

Theoden is the first of a range of new plastics (characters).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OOP models related to Pelennor Fields in the first 2-3 months of release will be coming BACK IN PRODUCTION: Models will cycle into production for a "while" and then back out, then cycle other models back into production, repeat.

 judgedoug wrote:
Confirmed on Warhammer TV just now that Pelennor Fields starter box is Citadel/GW and will be available from all Warhammer stores and any game stores with GW trade/retail accounts.

Great, good to know. Thanks for posting that.

 judgedoug wrote:
Confirmed on Warhammer TV just now that Pelennor Fields starter box is Citadel/GW and will be available from all Warhammer stores and any game stores with GW trade/retail accounts.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Releases planned through the end of 2020 with monthly releases planned.

Theoden is the first of a range of new plastics (characters).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OOP models related to Pelennor Fields in the first 2-3 months of release will be coming BACK IN PRODUCTION: Models will cycle into production for a "while" and then back out, then cycle other models back into production, repeat.

*Ahem*

SQUEEEEEEEE!

That is all.


Seriously GREAT news. Hopefully I can convince more people to pick up the game again with the new set AND confirmed plastic support going forward

I would love to see some more aggressively priced plastic kits. I've always had an easy time selling people on the game when I could say, "Look... the hero models can be pricey, but then your rank and file are dirt cheap..."

When the value proposition averages out, and people realize $100 can (often) get them a healthy sized army, with a couple iconic characters, they usually find themselves pretty willing to give the game a go.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I would love to see some more aggressively priced plastic kits. I've always had an easy time selling people on the game when I could say, "Look... the hero models can be pricey, but then your rank and file are dirt cheap..."

When the value proposition averages out, and people realize $100 can (often) get them a healthy sized army, with a couple iconic characters, they usually find themselves pretty willing to give the game a go.

This IS WHAT IS NEEDED for LotR to grow again. If GW doesn't do this, then we know they are content with a very small niche group and don't really plan on growing LotR anymore. Seems stupid to say that with what seems like a lot of work that is being done, but if it's the accountants that stick their nose in the game and making the prices, LotR will stay where it is and not grow new blood or even bring in the old blood like me. I hope I am wrong, I really want to see LotR succede I believe it's the best rule system out there so I am hoping they improve the rules and espeically the prices.

We should be able to buy an good size army for $100 leader included. Then we can build up on it and hopefully we have a War of the Ring game as well later on.

I'm very much looking forward to a revitalization of LOTR. The lack of availability, followed by the rising cost, was the primary issue I came to have.

Sounds like that might be turning around, so I am very happy with the direction they have chosen!

I might be tempted to give this a go, as I keep hearing great things about the game. I'm just put off by the "so tiny they aren't fun to paint" models.

That's funny... I LOVE painting that proper 28mm scale. Its nice to see models not scaled to heroic madness levels, and the models are usually gorgeous and easy to paint to an attractive level.

The size isn't the issue, they're just so old that the detail doesn't stand out as much as their newer plastics because of the sculpting and the molds. Models like Minas Tirith soldiers have parts where the sculpt just blends into one big chunk of plastic and it's up to you to paint it so you can make out what the detail is supposed to be.

Whereas models like Morgul Knights or Galadhrim Knights have nice crisp detail despite only being a few years older.

But, anyways, the plastic character news is great. I just bought the shitcast Gothmog to go with my Mordor models, but i'll happily buy a new plastic model. They straight up need to make a multi option mounted Ringwraith kit. Only one of the sculpts from the metal kit has aged well (the horses are in really goofy looking poses that only look good if you recreate the scene of them chasing Arwen and Frodo), and the really nice mounted Witchking model* is almost impossible to find nowadays.


*This model

I love the finecast for LOTR, been swapping out metals for them for a while, but ok with more plastics as well!

Anyone watch the twitch feeds today? Anything said that we don't know about or something new?

Davor wrote:
Anyone watch the twitch feeds today? Anything said that we don't know about or something new?

Yes, I posted the news above as it occurred in realtime

How'd their game go, Doug? I had to bail right after Tales of Four Generals.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
How'd their game go, Doug? I had to bail right after Tales of Four Generals.

It was pretty fun to watch (I had it on my second monitor in my office, so watched it while I was working). Couple of exciting moments, and like all the battle reports they do, really made me want to play SBG. They did seem to drop a hint that the release would be early September, and there's been huge hints that it would be available at NOVA Open, so we might see a first-release on 9/1 at NOVA and full release 9/8.

PRICE AND RELEASE DATE LEAKS

Pre-order by August 25 2018
Reelase date is September 1 2018

Item - MSRP

Battle of Pelennor Fields - $150
Middle-earth SBG rulebook - $60
Armies of Lord of the Rings - $60
Warriors of Minas Tirith (box 24) - $40
Knights of Minas Tirith (box of 6) - $32
Haradrim Raiders (box of 6) - $32
War Mumak of Harad (box of Mumak with 12 Haradrim and 1 Haradrim Warchief) - $100
Mordor/Isengard Troll (box of 1 customizable) - $40

Free-standing display unit that game stores will be able to preorder. Free standing display unit includes: 2 x Battle of Pelennor Fields boxed game, 3 x Armies of Lord of the Rings sorucebook, 2 x Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual, 2 x War Mumak of Harad, 2 x Warriors of Minas Tirith, 2 x Knights of Minas Tirith, 2 x Haradrim Raiders, 2 x Mordor Troll. FSDU bundle also includes poster and demo set for game stores.

New trade / retail boxes and packaging for Middle-earth products.

Yesssssss.

I don't understand. Are they relaunching the Mumak and the trols? I see that they are reboxing them, yes. I'll check if the prices are the same.

Warriors of Minas Tirith go from 12 for 24,75$ (2,06$ a piece) to 24 for 40$ (1,66$ a piece) so nearly a 22% discount. Knights of Minas Tirith go from 29,75$ to 32$ for the same models. So they increase in price. The same with the Raiders.
The Mumak goes 1$ up in price and the troll comes down 1$.

It could have been worse.

EDIT: Ok, they where direct only before. So on top of this, add another 15-25% discount in 3-rd party retailers. Yeah. Pretty good.

 Galas wrote:
I don't understand. Are they relaunching the Mumak and the trols? I see that they are reboxing them, yes. I'll check if the prices are the same.

They're relaunching, via retail, Strategy Battle Game. This free-standing display unit (FSDU) is the first product available for retailers to order in years, since the entire range went direct order (white box) only. This is the new edition of the rules, titled Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, and is launching with a focus of The Battle of Pelennor Fields, hence the FSDU including the new Boxed game (which has Morannon/Morgul Orcs, Witch-King on Fell-Beast, Theoden, Riders of Rohan, and Army of the Dead), so the "supplement" items in the FSDU are related to that - Minas Tirith and Haradrim. So basically, ever notice how the 40k and AOS FSDU's only focus on the kits immediately relevant to the contents of the specific starter set? Same deal here; buy the Pelennor set with Rohan vs Morannon Orcs for the initial charge itself, and then expand with Haradrim and Mumaks for the counterattack, and add Minas Tirith warriors for the fighting in the midst of Minas Tirith. Great models to immediately expand to imho

Oh, I wasn't aware that ALL of LOTR range was Direct order only.

Then yeah I understand the "relaunch". Man, I hope they start relaunching Rhûn boxes soon! They where at Pelennor afterall! I always wanted a Rhün army but as nobody played the game there I just had a small Isengard force for pure collectionism.

 judgedoug wrote:
Haradrim Raiders (box of 6) - $32

So a $2.25 price increase for something I'll no longer have to mail order? That works for me!

Yeah, the price increases, now that you can have them with the typical 15-25% discount become irrelevant. And the new Minas Tirith infantry becomes like 40-50% cheaper than before, buying it directly from GW.

 Galas wrote:
Oh, I wasn't aware that ALL of LOTR range was Direct order only.

Then yeah I understand the "relaunch". Man, I hope they start relaunching Rhûn boxes soon! They where at Pelennor afterall! I always wanted a Rhün army but as nobody played the game there I just had a small Isengard force for pure collectionism.

Yep! 2016, 2017, and most of 2018, everything was white box direct. And yep I agree! Now, GW was talking on Thursday last week that the plan is to cycle OOP models back in print for certain periods, like a 3 month window all old metal models related to Pelennor would be available, and then cycle another range for another 3 months, etc. They problem they have is that the warehouses and such are now designed for plastic kits , so SBG would have thousands of different models while even the bigger ranges of 40k and AOS have far less inventory/sku counts to control. They'll never be able to bring the full OOP range back as they're not set up for that. (all plastics will remain in production, we're just talking about older metal fellas)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ghaz wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:
Haradrim Raiders (box of 6) - $32

So a $2.25 price increase for something I'll no longer have to mail order? That works for me!

It's definitely an attempt to normalize pricing, instead of awkward $29.75 and $41.25 prices from the Kirby era.

Got to say I'm so excited for LotR coming back properly, I've been looking through my old boxes of miniatures and picking out some of my favourites to start painting up.

The biggest problem I have is choosing an army, every time I look at an army they become my new fav

So much wallet-murder will happen on that day. I really will end up buying stuff like that Mumak box, just to show that people want to see more SBG in their stores.

Oooh yes. I'm keen for this like a hobbit is for lunch.

LotR was got me into the hobby as a whole and Rohan is my army of choice. So this is a must buy for me.


Hopefully this re-launch will give the game a much needed lease on life.

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:
Got to say I'm so excited for LotR coming back properly, I've been looking through my old boxes of miniatures and picking out some of my favourites to start painting up.

The biggest problem I have is choosing an army, every time I look at an army they become my new fav

This is literally my problem. I barely have the disposable funds, but mostly the time, to build one full army let alone multiples. But there's barely a single LOTR faction I don't love and want to own. But its a massive rabbit hole with no end! I'll have to somehow choose just one (okay, maybe two... see, this is how it starts...)

An alternative is to work on small forces for the many scenarios that are out there.

Personally I am working through the old LOTR "Journey books", making all the terrain and painting the models for each scenario in turn. It keeps me off the streets, at least

Sweet looking repacks there, they should catch some attention. And Element Games have already confirmed they'll be getting the stock in, so discounts ahoy.

 Slinky wrote:
An alternative is to work on small forces for the many scenarios that are out there.

Personally I am working through the old LOTR "Journey books", making all the terrain and painting the models for each scenario in turn. It keeps me off the streets, at least

The Journeybooks are, without a doubt, my favorite supplements ever released for any game. I asked Adam about revisiting the Journeybooks and he thought it was a great idea (but we'll see).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Oppl wrote:
This is literally my problem. I barely have the disposable funds, but mostly the time, to build one full army let alone multiples. But there's barely a single LOTR faction I don't love and want to own. But its a massive rabbit hole with no end! I'll have to somehow choose just one (okay, maybe two... see, this is how it starts...)

Dude, let me help you out here. You always gotta have two armies. The Pelennor Fields box contains about $350 worth of books and models, for $150. Buy from a discount place. Problem solved.

The journeybooks are just outstanding in every regard. I had managed to hunt down the Two Towers and Return of the King journeybooks on ebay.

No luck on the Fellowship one so far. Though I do also own all 3 of the starters and their books.

I'd love to see them revisited.

Doug is absolutely right on the Battle of Pellenor Fields box. GW usually does value rich boxed sets, but that one is just insane. It would be like getting probably two 1500pt 40k armies in their starter box, instead of a third of that.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Doug is absolutely right on the Battle of Pellenor Fields box. GW usually does value rich boxed sets, but that one is just insane. It would be like getting probably two 1500pt 40k armies in their starter box, instead of a third of that.

Based on the new pricing, and the move towards two sprue (20-man and 24-man boxes) for infantry again, I figured:

Witch-King/Fell-Beast $62 (this might change with the new pricing, most likely down)
Morannon Orcs (24) $40
Morannon Orcs (12) $20 (half box)
Troll $40
Riders of Rohan (6) $32
Riders of Rohan (6) $32
Warriors of Rohan (12) $20 (half box)
Warriors of the Dead (20) $40
Theoden ft/mtd $20
Rulebook $60
plus dice and rulers and scenario booklet.

Total $366. Caveat: Riders of Rohan and Warriors of Rohan can easily be found on ebay for cheap. Caveat 2: This boxed set is CHEAPER than ebay prices for used models.

Still can't get over that deal. Its absolutely crazy by GW standards.

Just an aside, but there's a new thread in the LotR board down below for new discussion, army pics etc to get some activity going down there.

 Slinky wrote:
An alternative is to work on small forces for the many scenarios that are out there.

Personally I am working through the old LOTR "Journey books", making all the terrain and painting the models for each scenario in turn. It keeps me off the streets, at least

How big is a typical army roughly? I never really played the game just loved the minis.

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:

 Slinky wrote:
An alternative is to work on small forces for the many scenarios that are out there.

Personally I am working through the old LOTR "Journey books", making all the terrain and painting the models for each scenario in turn. It keeps me off the streets, at least

How big is a typical army roughly? I never really played the game just loved the minis.

A standard sized army maybe have 30 to 60 figures, depending. An orc-heavy force would have lots more models than, say, a Rivendell Elven force.

Also "typical size" is more relative in this game's community versus say 40k where 2000pts is almost a universal tournament size.

Middle-Earth, IMO works really well anywhere between 300 and 1000pts. This year's "big" tournaments seem to have settled at 750pts, which has been a lot of fun, and allows for 1-2 "name brand" major heroes/villains, and then the aforementioned 20-40 other models, plus a couple generic heroes.

That said, my wife runs a Wild list, that due to Treebeard, Ents, etc... can easily reach 800pts, with under ten models.

On the other absolute extreme, 36 Goblin Town Goblins, and all four of their Heroes, comes in just under 350pts... so.... yeah, you can have a lot of models.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Also "typical size" is more relative in this game's community versus say 40k where 2000pts is almost a universal tournament size.

Middle-Earth, IMO works really well anywhere between 300 and 1000pts. This year's "big" tournaments seem to have settled at 750pts, which has been a lot of fun, and allows for 1-2 "name brand" major heroes/villains, and then the aforementioned 20-40 other models, plus a couple generic heroes.

That said, my wife runs a Wild list, that due to Treebeard, Ents, etc... can easily reach 800pts, with under ten models.

On the other absolute extreme, 36 Goblin Town Goblins, and all four of their Heroes, comes in just under 350pts... so.... yeah, you can have a lot of models.

My buddy and I played a 300 point game last weekend, my Mirkwood Elves versus his Moria.

Needless to say I was heavily outnumbered.

At 300pts, Mirkwood is mean enough that I am guessing you won. ;-)

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
At 300pts, Mirkwood is mean enough that I am guessing you won. ;-)

Absolutely not lol. The scenario was one where we started very close, so I only had about two turns of shooting before the lines clashed - and Moria had gotten off channeled Fury and saved five out of six of my shooting casualties. Haven't not thinned out his lines by the time melee commenced, I was outnumbered 2 or 3 dice to 1 in most duels! :(

 judgedoug wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
At 300pts, Mirkwood is mean enough that I am guessing you won. ;-)

Absolutely not lol. The scenario was one where we started very close, so I only had about two turns of shooting before the lines clashed - and Moria had gotten off channeled Fury and saved five out of six of my shooting casualties. Haven't not thinned out his lines by the time melee commenced, I was outnumbered 2 or 3 dice to 1 in most duels! :(

I don't know why, but I just automatically assumed you would've taken Rangers which remedy the vast majority of the issue with being elite in model-count. A warband of them usually help my Dwarf stuff in terms of anti-horde duties. :-p

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
At 300pts, Mirkwood is mean enough that I am guessing you won. ;-)

Absolutely not lol. The scenario was one where we started very close, so I only had about two turns of shooting before the lines clashed - and Moria had gotten off channeled Fury and saved five out of six of my shooting casualties. Haven't not thinned out his lines by the time melee commenced, I was outnumbered 2 or 3 dice to 1 in most duels! :(

I don't know why, but I just automatically assumed you would've taken Rangers which remedy the vast majority of the issue with being elite in model-count. A warband of them usually help my Dwarf stuff in terms of anti-horde duties. :-p

There's some rangers in there! Most of them survived - though one or two did very badly (rolling like a two and a three against a couple goblins). The scenario was one where each side's leader generated VP's. I conceded after my captain bit the dust.

I'm hoping they've got this set at Nova. I think that would be my con purchase if they did.

 godswildcard wrote:
I'm hoping they've got this set at Nova. I think that would be my con purchase if they did.

I would say it's almost guaranteed.

seen at Gen Con: official Range Measurers!

I mean, I know I'll buy a set. I'm a sucker for tchotchkies like that.

Armies of LOTR looks like a hefty tome!

 Slinky wrote:
Armies of LOTR looks like a hefty tome!

I'm actually blown away by how much of a deal that Armies book is. Previously there was five separate army books for LOTR at $28 apiece, so it cost you $140 to have all the Profiles and Army Lists. This new hardcover is only $60 and has the same page count as the previous 5 books combined, except, about 1/4 of each of the previous army books had the same info (warbands, scenarios, etc) that was also repeated in the rulebook. So there's somehow even more content.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Slinky wrote:
Armies of LOTR looks like a hefty tome!

I'm actually blown away by how much of a deal that Armies book is. Previously there was five separate army books for LOTR at $28 apiece, so it cost you $140 to have all the Profiles and Army Lists. This new hardcover is only $60 and has the same page count as the previous 5 books combined, except, about 1/4 of each of the previous army books had the same info (warbands, scenarios, etc) that was also repeated in the rulebook. So there's somehow even more content.

I wonder if the "There and Back Again" profiles are included and that's what makes the extra content?

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
I wonder if the "There and Back Again" profiles are included and that's what makes the extra content?

Nope, all the Hobbit stuff will get addressed later on in it's own volume, Armies of The Hobbit, which combined the profiles from the first film with the profiles/armies of TABA.

I vaguely recalled Adam Troke saying years ago that he wanted to see one complete tome of updated rules, so that if nothing else, the game would be complete, and could persist beyond any other support. I think its pretty damn cool that just as he leaves his stewardship of the SBG system that he will have achieved that, given us Battle Companies, etc...

As for the mysterious new pages... I suppose some of it will be additional scenarios, and maybe... maybe a few additions of upcoming units (in the way Iron Hill Dwarves were all in There and Back Again before they were even shown).

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I vaguely recalled Adam Troke saying years ago that he wanted to see one complete tome of updated rules, so that if nothing else, the game would be complete, and could persist beyond any other support. I think its pretty damn cool that just as he leaves his stewardship of the SBG system that he will have achieved that, given us Battle Companies, etc...

As for the mysterious new pages... I suppose some of it will be additional scenarios, and maybe... maybe a few additions of upcoming units (in the way Iron Hill Dwarves were all in There and Back Again before they were even shown).

They mentioined 11 "historical" scenarios are in the Armies of LOTR book, so that's some content. New units, true! Probably the new Forge World stuff like the new Mumak War Leader.
Guess we'll find out in about 30 days

 judgedoug wrote:

 godswildcard wrote:
I'm hoping they've got this set at Nova. I think that would be my con purchase if they did.

I would say it's almost guaranteed.

That’s good to hear!

Also, are those range measurers shapes like swords and staffs from the movie? Because if so, hot dang...

Well, I'm all hyped up - played an excellent bit of Battle Companies and I can't wait for the releases!

Those range measures are hilarious.
"What's the range of that spell?"
"An axe length"

"How far can my kataphracts charge"?
"Andúril, Flame of the West!"


That is a hefty book though And or only $60 (assuming US, so gonna be a bit more here) not a bad buy.

Looks like $50 and late August for Quest to Mount Doom. It's kind of funny that that's the same price they want for the Fellowship on their own.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-games-lord-of-the-rings-quest-to-mount-doom-a-middle-earth-adventure-game/32462629?ean=5011921107698

Also, not sure if anyone has posted this picture yet:

Looks like this are new painted Models?

I thought that myself. Those army of the dead look like they're painted with the new green spooky paint.
The hard to tell with the foot soldiers, but the riders of rohan certainly look different.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
And upon closer inspection it appears the box comes with morannon orcs rather then mordor orcs.

 Snrub wrote:
And upon closer inspection it appears the box comes with morannon orcs rather then mordor orcs.

Since day 1 announcement it's been Morannon orcs. Which makes sense as they were the Orcs that marched from Minas Morgul to siege Minas Tirith.

Middle-earth Dice Sets, first wave - ROHAN, MORDOR, and THE ONE RING

Wallets around the world are just starting to work out how much trouble they are in

 judgedoug wrote:
Since day 1 announcement it's been Morannon orcs. Which makes sense as they were the Orcs that marched from Minas Morgul to siege Minas Tirith.

Ah. Must have missed that bit.

Those are newly-painted models, yes. The Rohirrim certainly are not traditional models we've seen GW use in LOTR publications since the dawn of time (outside of the basic painted ones from BGIME).

LOTR dice and range rulers too? This entire relaunch is going to bankrupt me!

Obligatory "My Precious, I wants it" reference.

I've been rewatching the trilogy, and finished last night. Having the actual battle refreshed in my memory, that starter set looks sort of anaemic now!

 Slinky wrote:
Wallets around the world are just starting to work out how much trouble they are in

It's that dawning moment of realization, where my wallet realizes that all is not well as I quietly close the door behind me and latch it, that I live for.

These are not limited sets correct? While I may not be able to get them now, I should be able to get them later or is this a limited run? Just want to be prepared if I miss out and can't get it later because of a limited run and sold out.

A question, is this new Pelennor Fields box a starter for the scenario-driven game (where you replayed stuff from the Jackson films) or the build your own army game? It's the latter I'm interested in, not the former. I bought the Fellowship boxed starter back in the day, but never did anything with it.

 judgedoug wrote:
Middle-earth Dice Sets, first wave - ROHAN, MORDOR, and THE ONE RING

Man, the feels. I always wanted Rohan dice, but they were to expensive for a small batch for one guy. And here they are.
Time to finish some paint jobs and getting the horselords in battle shape.

SBG is truly coming home. And I´m glad that Adam Troke has his hands in this.

I am so ready for this. Bring it on!

Man, more than ever have I come to appreciate the simplicity of the SBG ruleset, but the only thing stopping me from jumping on this is trying to build interest in my local community.

That being said, the new plastic Theoden looks ace and I'm excited to get my hands on this.

Quick question I don't think I've seen an answer for. But has the new Théoden been confirmed to be exclusive to the box? Or will he be available separately?

 Ancestral Hamster wrote:
A question, is this new Pelennor Fields box a starter for the scenario-driven game (where you replayed stuff from the Jackson films) or the build your own army game? It's the latter I'm interested in, not the former. I bought the Fellowship boxed starter back in the day, but never did anything with it.

When asked if SBG will follow the new GW methodology of OPEN - NARRATIVE - MATCHED play, Adam said that SBG did that first, it just wasn't named as such, but we can expect the same thing as SBG has had for the last ten years. Play what you want, play the scenarios, or play points match competitions.

 judgedoug wrote:

 Ancestral Hamster wrote:
A question, is this new Pelennor Fields box a starter for the scenario-driven game (where you replayed stuff from the Jackson films) or the build your own army game? It's the latter I'm interested in, not the former. I bought the Fellowship boxed starter back in the day, but never did anything with it.

When asked if SBG will follow the new GW methodology of OPEN - NARRATIVE - MATCHED play, Adam said that SBG did that first, it just wasn't named as such, but we can expect the same thing as SBG has had for the last ten years. Play what you want, play the scenarios, or play points match competitions.

And unlike AoS which becomes broken as **** if you even look at it a bit too hard during narrative play, SBG actually WORKS at any size of game, in any mode. :-p

Better look at the dice sets and accesories:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/08/09/9th-aug-middle-earth-dice-measurers-and-a-warlords-updatefw-homepage-post-2/

I really like them.

Ha! The range measurers are awesome Definitely going to have to pick up the Mordor and One dice, they're rather sexy looking.

I'm going to get the dice because I love custom dice and they're pretty I don't currently play LoTR but the new launch is tempting me.

Oh dear god I may actually be tempted to buy custom dice - the mordor ones especially! First time I have ever been tempted, but they are NICE dice!

Why are they so pretty? Why?!

Dang. Must have e those dice. Definitely the Rohan and Mordor ones. May get the One Ring set to use for my Angmar too.

Well played, GW, well played. This is getting to be a more and more expensive release for me...

Still, on the bright side, at least all the money we give to GW should encourage them to keep it going - I'm still of the opinion that the SBG ruleset is the best system GW has produced (at least that I have played), and I really hope the launch/relaunch is a success.

I just wish there were opponents to play with here but so far nobody has shown much interest :(

Those range finders are adorable. Going to have to pick a pack just for gaks and giggles if nothing else.

Interesting that the dice are square cornered instead of the usual rounded corners of other GW dice

 MangoMadness wrote:
Interesting that the dice are square cornered instead of the usual rounded corners of other GW dice

And the icons seem to be on the 6, not the 1.

The icon as always on the 6 nowadays for all GW games. They started doing these large (16mm?), square dice quite a while ago and randomly do them instead of the usual ones for faction dice.

That's standard for FW as they know the sensible location for the symbol. Thank god. Might get those with that. Never ever if they are on 1's.

 MangoMadness wrote:
Interesting that the dice are square cornered instead of the usual rounded corners of other GW dice

That's why I bought several sets of GW's Maelstrom dice. Nice square edges!

Glad they have the symbols on the sixes. That always irked me about GW's earlier dice.

The only set I got from that time was the Deathwatch dice but rerolling ones features so heavily in their mechanics that it felt better in that instance.

Just a quick note, if anyone is going to Ardacon at the weekend (or knows anyone who can third party) FW are going to be selling the Morannon captains and The Swan Knights early there.

via FB, allegedly from someone/people who were at Ardacon

NEW LOTR SBG CHANGES
-All profiles changed completely
-Tweaks to magic
-New Heroic actions
-Buidling armies radically changed
-Army special rules
-Warriors of Rohan don't change
-Minas tirith warriors gain shield wall
-New one profile Elrond
-Balrog changed and according to comments by Jay Clare seemingly competitive
-All models now have keywords
-Some special rules will only follow other warriors with similar keywords, elf standfast effecting elves but not humans/
-Heroic Tiers
-Theoden is a hero of legend
-Heroes of legend are meant to lead armies.
-Warband size 18 , and additional rule for courage, if you have a Hero of legend, on a turn you would test for courage all in the force pass*
-Universal heroic actions (move,shoot,combat)
-Specialized heroic actions only certain characters can do.
-Captains may lose the ability to do certain special strikes
-New actions - Heroic Resolve, Heroic Strength, Heroic Challenge, Heroic Defense (Model only wounded on natural 6's)
-Magic, all spells re balanced, all powers in main book and all have a channeled version
-Sorcerous blast will now stop after the target model makes first contact
-New spell, Protection of the valor, caster or friend within three inches cannot be target by spells, the channeled version of this is all friendlily within three
-Ally Matrix
-Historical alliances , Impossible alliances.
-Confirmed army bonus's, Rohan- +1 strength to cav on the charge.
Ents- Fearless, Immune to all move impeding effects and some magic.
Harad- 50% bows still good, warriors and raiders get poison rule on main melee weapon
Mordor- +1 courage, reroll ones when outnumber opponent
-Special strike, tinkered with.
-New Theoden profile, M6,F5/4, S4,D5,A2,W2,C5 3 might and will 1 fate
-Questions from the Q&A
-Armies of the hobbit coming soon.
-Banishment spell available for more then just galadrial
-Sap will harder to cast
-Nazgul changing
-Everyarmy is a viable option.
-Every profile has weapons assigned to them! (Now more Galadrial with axe)
- Hurls now throw the model DIRECTLY AWAY.
- Army of the dead a viable solo army (via rules like the denizens of mirlwood list)
-Warrior upgrades still around and new ones added
-Eagles a lot better, arguably better then fellbeasts
-Throwing weapons no more -1 when throwing on the charge
-Character upgrades for models apply to only those in warband (redshields etc)

You can regain spent will while casting on natural roll of a 6.
Balrogs resistant to fire
Army of the dead have no captains

Can anyone familiar with the last ruleset for LOTR tell me what difference a potential 'shield wall' function for WOMT would make?

Gondor is my favourite faction and I have a massive painted army, but when I last played they were pretty weak for a heavily-armoured force of well-trained warriors. Would this make your regular WOMT a bit more tough then?

Excited to hear more news and get back stuck into this terrific world. Perry's work, while suffering from soft details and the rest, is still one of my favourite ever wargaming ranges.

Shield Wall, assuming its like Iron-Hill Dwarves, would be Defense +1 when they're base-to-base with two other friendlies with the rule.

It definitely changes how you play in a tactical interesting way.

I can confirm most of these changes btw, without saying anything I shouldn't. :-p Its a bigger revision than I expected, but I haven't seen a tweak yet that I didn't believe would leave the game in a healthier place for years to come.

New preview article up..

Link

Will the rules just be released in English?

Also this looks promising, but the focus seems to have shifted to matched play.

But the spell that makes targeting with spells impossible, is not my jam. Make it hard to do, like give 2 or 3 free D6 against each enemy spell, but don´t make them impossible. Like the spell that makes ranged attacks only hit on a 6. This is as unbalanced as the auto-hit from Legolas, the worst special rule in the whole game.

I want to see the ally matrix. Hopefully it isn't too restrictive. For example, I would hope the Fellowship can ally with pretty much any Good army since, as the viewpoint characters, pretty much every Good army we see has had one of the Fellowship help them at some point.

 TheWaspinator wrote:
I want to see the ally matrix. Hopefully it isn't too restrictive. For example, I would hope the Fellowship can ally with pretty much any Good army since, as the viewpoint characters, pretty much every Good army we see has had one of the Fellowship help them at some point.

It isn't so much to deny you list building, but to add some granularity. Historic Alliances, for example keep their army-buffs as if they were still pure armies.

Almost anything Good is still at least legal, with anything else good.

Middle-earth release date and pricing.

Does that mean the army book follows later, or is it not a complete list?

 Slinky wrote:
Does that mean the army book follows later, or is it not a complete list?

These are individual order items and aren't related to the bundle deal that has been mentioned that stores could get for launch (with army books and infantry and monster and cavalry sets etc)

I wonder how much the rules have changed with this new release.

We all played War of the Ring until GW discountinued it, and others have sworn that the standard game was even better.

I was surprised at how much i enjoyed painting the models. They aren't as "busy" in detail as the other two major game systems.

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I wonder how much the rules have changed with this new release.
.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1140/685977.page#10115568

Not necessarily an exhaustive summary.

Faeit has the UK prices. The box set is £90. That's a great price.
The box would cost about £210 if bought individually.
I am very tempted.

Yeah, I did the sums based on leaked info a little while back. Add on a discount from a third party seller and it looks like really good value, especially for me off the back of AT being such a let down price wise.

Even if you’re just a little interested in MESBG, this starter is well worth it.

As Azreal said, AT being such an audacious price for such a mediocre force (all my opinion, mind, I know people disagree) REALLY drives this home as a must-buy great value.

Yeah, I'm a lot more interested in the new Kill Team and in this LOTR relaunch then I am AT. Which is a shame, because I like big robots. But I think the upscaling and lack of troops makes that game a tough sell when your core figures are $100 each.

 Azreal13 wrote:

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I wonder how much the rules have changed with this new release.
.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/1140/685977.page#10115568

Not necessarily an exhaustive summary.

Thank you Azreal. This looks good.

This re-launch is sure picking me interest in this game, but none in town plays it. Can anyone tell me around how expensive it is to get in?
Is it akin to warhammer? If it's cheaper I might convince some people to give a shot.

 GuardStrider wrote:
This re-launch is sure picking me interest in this game, but none in town plays it. Can anyone tell me around how expensive it is to get in?
Is it akin to warhammer? If it's cheaper I might convince some people to give a shot.

Significantly cheaper unless you are collecting a Forge world only army (which is Iron Hills Dwarves right now).

 judgedoug wrote:

 GuardStrider wrote:
This re-launch is sure picking me interest in this game, but none in town plays it. Can anyone tell me around how expensive it is to get in?
Is it akin to warhammer? If it's cheaper I might convince some people to give a shot.

Significantly cheaper unless you are collecting a Forge world only army (which is Iron Hills Dwarves right now).

Nice I know that it must depend from army to army, but on average on a a small-average size match (like 1000pts in AoS or 40k) how many models and what investment am I expected to do?

From what I've seen this game reminds me a lot in terms of scope with SAGA, except you put an hero in the unit instead of using battleboards.

 GuardStrider wrote:

 judgedoug wrote:

 GuardStrider wrote:
This re-launch is sure picking me interest in this game, but none in town plays it. Can anyone tell me around how expensive it is to get in?
Is it akin to warhammer? If it's cheaper I might convince some people to give a shot.

Significantly cheaper unless you are collecting a Forge world only army (which is Iron Hills Dwarves right now).

Nice I know that it must depend from army to army, but on average on a a small-average size match (like 1000pts in AoS or 40k) how many models and what investment am I expected to do?

From what I've seen this game reminds me a lot in terms of scope with SAGA, except you put an hero in the unit instead of using battleboards.

That's a very good analogy. 20 to 40 figures for a smaller-average sized match with a few heroes and maybe a monster if you're playing a baddie. Goblins are cheaper than orcs are cheaper than skilled men are cheaper than uruk-hai are cheaper than elves.

My understanding of the game as it developed is that you can play pretty effectively with a few boxes of infanatry, a box of cavalry, and some heroes, and even that might be overkill for some armies.

I remember costing out a gondor army, and you could build something playable for under $100, but getting fully optimized could get spendy fast.

 judgedoug wrote:

 GuardStrider wrote:
This re-launch is sure picking me interest in this game, but none in town plays it. Can anyone tell me around how expensive it is to get in?
Is it akin to warhammer? If it's cheaper I might convince some people to give a shot.

Significantly cheaper unless you are collecting a Forge world only army (which is Iron Hills Dwarves right now).

Honestly, Doug is right that a non-FW army will run you an absolute fraction of a 40k army cost-wise, but even Iron Hills from FW still costs less than a 40k list. I just bought 800pts worth of Iron Hills and it still came in under $300.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/08/21/20th-aug-designers-notes-middle-earthgw-homepage-post-2fw-homepage-post-2/

Middle-earth™ Strategy Battle Game – Designers’ Notes

The new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game is up for pre-order this weekend, and represents the culmination of many long months and years of hard work to create the best version of the game to date. In this first installment, wise Istari Adam Troke reveals an overview of what the new edition has to offer:

Adam Troke: It’s fair to say that this latest edition of the Strategy Battle Game has been seventeen years in the making. From the ground-breaking first edition that accompanied The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring™ to now, the game has had a long and winding path.

This new edition heralds a rebirth of sorts, with the game reborn under the long-deserved moniker The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. At last the amazing characters and events from The Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™ live together side by side in the main rules manual, and a raft of expansions that deal with one topic or another are planned into the distant future. It’s fair to say that creating this new edition has been a labour of love – and we are confident that it represents the best edition of the game so far.

WITH HELP FROM THE HOBBITS

The first thing to note with the new edition of the Strategy Battle Game is how familiar it is. If you have played any (or, like me, all) of the previous editions you will find yourself surrounded by rules and principles that have stood the test of time. With that said, there are many minor changes throughout the edition. In writing the rules, Jay Clare (the true mastermind behind the rule changes in this edition) has thoroughly combed through every single principle – leaning heavily on the constructive feedback of a truly engaged and enthusiastic community.

Both Jay and I play enthusiastically in our free time – and experience from hundreds of games at events across the globe have gone into our work. Organisations such as the incredible Great British Hobbit League (and sister leagues from Canada, the United States, Australia and beyond) have proved fertile ground for changes and improvements and at some of the grandest events in the world, we have rubbed shoulders with you – the community.

Events large and small, such as Ardacon International, Nova Open and the European Team Championship have given us the chance to see how a wide spread of people play the game… and it’s all helped to inform the new rules. If we forget to say it elsewhere – thanks for engaging with us.

UNLEASH THE NAZGUL

A small shout-out must also go to an elite group of hobbyists who have loaned us their time and loyalty during the rules-writing process. From across the world, these players have reviewed, playtested and contributed their time to making this game better. It’s probably best for them to remain un-named… but these are heroes of the hobby, make no mistake. Our work is better for their efforts.

THE WORLD IS CHANGING

So, with all that said, plenty of things have evolved in the rules – and while these changes will be the subject of a series of articles over the coming days and weeks, we’ll lay down some of the bigger adjustments here.

Greater game balance: We’ve scrutinised some of the rules and tactics that were used to often crushing effect. We’ve diminished the role of Magical Powers, so that epic heroes and awesome monsters can’t be neutralised quite so easily. We’ve tweaked Special Strikes so every weapon is a little more favourable (and added a points cost for players who want to tweak their wargear). Changes like these are what we’d call micro-adjustments – small individually but with a genuinely macro impact when combined together.

Encouraging thematic play: More than anything, this is the game of recreating battles and adventures from the fantastic stories of The Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™, and as such we want players to feel that thematic play is rewarded. Historically, the best armies were often cunningly-wrought, but aesthetically unsatisfying. Preferring carrot over stick, we’ve provided incentives for truly themed Matched Play forces with unique bonuses for themed armies.

Total, comprehensive review: We’ve examined absolutely every profile in the entire Strategy Battle Game. A herculean task that Jay embraced with the enthusiasm of a Hobbit at an all-you-can-eat buffet, this involved breaking down the statlines, special rules and points values of every single model and putting them back together again. Some of them remain unchanged (Warriors of Rohan) and some have changed dramatically (The Balrog). The result? Well, firstly, we’re happy they feel ‘right’ to us. Secondly though, these present new tactical and gaming challenges for your, the player – we’re really excited to see how you unpick the rules, create powerful combinations and spot brilliant new ways to get the best from your models.

THREE WAYS TO PLAY

Narrative: In many ways, the Strategy Battle Game has been ahead of the times for a while now. Narrative Play, through intricate and involved scenarios, has always been the bedrock of the game. When we write new rules, it is always with Narrative Play in mind first and foremost and we are proud to say this hasn’t changed. The Armies of The Lord of the Rings™ expansion has 11 Narrative Scenarios within it, and the Armies of The Hobbit™ has 11 too. In the future, we’ll be writing even more – returning to the adventures we all know and love, and hopefully creating more.

Matched: Of course, the second limb of the Strategy Battle Game is Matched Play. When it was first released back in 2001, there was no Matched Play version of the game, but over time it has evolved into a popular and enjoyable aspect of the hobby. Indeed, many consider the competitive aspect of the game to be its hidden strength. We have playtested the new rules, profiles and army lists extensively to ensure they all work within a Matched Play environment – and we’re excited to see what the wonderful established tournaments around the world do with the Matched Play rules. From the Grand Tournaments at Warhammer World and Warhammer Fest to Ardacon, Nova Open and beyond, thrilling contests of tactics and skill await.

Open: Open play is where your imagination can run wild in your games. Of course, with the Strategy Battle Game, these opportunities are perhaps more obvious than ever. What if Saruman had used his wisdom to defy Sauron? What if the Fellowship had included different members? All these questions and more are yours to answer.

With all this said, we are confident that The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game represents the best edition of our game yet, and we hope you enjoy playing with it as much as we did writing it.

Thanks, Adam! Well, if that somehow didn’t whet your appetite for what is to come, then fear not – second breakfast is on its way tomorrow in the form of Jay Clare’s overview on the changes to the Warrior and Hero profiles in the game. The mighty Battle of Pelennor Fields boxed set spearheads the new edition that is available to pre-order from this Saturday.

 GuardStrider wrote:


From what I've seen this game reminds me a lot in terms of scope with SAGA, except you put an hero in the unit instead of using battleboards.

Though the scope is similar, the scale is different as there are no units in SBG. There is also a great difference in the impact heroes have between the games. But kudos on identifying the similarities between the early medieval period and Tolkien’s LotR era. You were not alone. You can find my SAGA rules for LotR here:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/745759.page