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So I finally convinced the club to give LoTR SBG a try.
4 of us played out the "Long Night" Scenario from the RoTK rulebook, which was also the rulebook we used. We don't have enough LoTR figs for the game, but the club only fields painted minis so it was really no surprise that in the deep collection of one our members we found a bunch of Celts to stand in for Men of Rohan and a horde of Celtos orcs that had already been painted in a LoTR white-hand paint scheme. For our first run at the rules we played just Men of Rohan and Uruk Hai with no heroes.

Reaction to the game was mixed, but I quite enjoyed it. I hope to play again soon with heroes and perhaps slightly fewer miniatures per side.

The full battle report is here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2015/05/game-report-lotr-strategy-battle-game.html
A few pics from the report to whet your appetite.

Hooray, new blood! Who said this game was dying?

Glad you enjoyed it, I personally think it's one of the best, most fun and most balanced rulesets out there, and once you get the basics down, very easy to expand with new scenarios, special rules and even whole new army lists without getting bogged down. It's the perfect blend of simplicity and depth, and as you note, gives you far more control over individual minis within the scope of the engagement that similar size games (which is a love it or hate it type thing, but I think it's great. I've got KoW if I want abstracted mass battles).

Adding Heroes will certainly help you get more from the rules; I can't think of any game that handles them as well, and in smaller games, even a humble Captain can be instrumental in holding you plan together or breaking the enemy's apart with a well timed Heroic Action. This will, as you mentioned, also allow you to expand the points size without flooding the board (not that Orcs can't throw down a proper horde if they want, not to mention Hobbits!)

For the record, the current rules allow 0-12 Troops per Hero, so while you're not playing the current edition, that is a nice balance to aim for in terms of hero-men ratio. The new rules also have even more weapon-specific rules, which you may want to check out at some point if you really like the way soears/bows/shields are handled.

Thanks!

I agree about the degree of abstraction. I also like KoW for my big battles. I've also bought the Fellowship, Two Towers and a couple of the other supplement books so I've got a wealth of scenarios to choose from. The narrative quality of the game is very enticing.

I don't know what the future of this game is, but I've been hording whatever bargains I can find on the figs so that I can play the game with my kids when they're old enough.

I'll definitely be trying this again with heroes. As for the rules special rules I don't think I necessarily want more. I like the ones in the book, but I'm generally wary of even more complication. Plus, I bought everyone in the group a copy of the ROTK rules, something I couldn't afford to do with the new rules. 1 to 12 is a good guideline though I might try that.

Your club's games always make me jealous. Bastard!

 Azazelx wrote:
Your club's games always make me jealous. Bastard!

I'll take that as high praise!
Thanks!

Does anyone know where I can get terrain like that? The roads are awesome, as are the houses and moss covered blockades.

XvReaperXv wrote:
Does anyone know where I can get terrain like that? The roads are awesome, as are the houses and moss covered blockades.

Sure!
The vinyl cobblestone matts are Sold by LEMAX as "pebble" in both wide pieces like in the report and rolls of road-width sections. Also available in a brick pattern.

The houses and fences are all porcelain christmas village houses. I've done a few minor modifications (mostly a couple of plastic doors) but for most it's just brush-dipping the whole thing with minwax polyshades and then painting and flocking over the "snow" and christmas decoration sections. These kind of things often appear in resale shops quite affordably, though even at full price, they're often a bargain compared to other pre-painted resin buildings. Of course buildings from companies like Miniature Building Authority have crisper lines, interiors and removable roofs, but it's all about how much you want to pay.

You can see my whole process for making them and some bridges as well here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/03/28mm-on-cheap-fast-and-cheap-fantasy.html
and Here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/05/medieval-village-grows.html

Hope this is useful. I've got a couple more than I'll probably paint up since the club is considering making our summer Song of Blades and Heroes campaign urban themed.

 Eilif wrote:

XvReaperXv wrote:
Does anyone know where I can get terrain like that? The roads are awesome, as are the houses and moss covered blockades.

Sure!
The vinyl cobblestone matts are Sold by LEMAX as "pebble" in both wide pieces like in the report and rolls of road-width sections. Also available in a brick pattern.

The houses and fences are all porcelain christmas village houses. I've done a few minor modifications (mostly a couple of plastic doors) but for most it's just brush-dipping the whole thing with minwax polyshades and then painting and flocking over the "snow" and christmas decoration sections. These kind of things often appear in resale shops quite affordably, though even at full price, they're often a bargain compared to other pre-painted resin buildings. Of course buildings from companies like Miniature Building Authority have crisper lines, interiors and removable roofs, but it's all about how much you want to pay.

You can see my whole process for making them and some bridges as well here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/03/28mm-on-cheap-fast-and-cheap-fantasy.html
and Here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/05/medieval-village-grows.html

Hope this is useful. I've got a couple more than I'll probably paint up since the club is considering making our summer Song of Blades and Heroes campaign urban themed.

Very helpful! very amazing work you have done.

XvReaperXv wrote:
Very helpful! very amazing work you have done.

Happy to help. Thanks for the kind words.

Very nicely done!

Always nice to see folks playing LotR SBG! And the terrain does look great, as well!

Kudos!

Thanks!
Glad you like the terrain. Over the years the club has developed a pretty high standard for terrain and we're always adding more.

I think I'm going to trim the edges of the matts to match the pattern of the cobblestone though and maybe give it a drybrush. It looks a bit too strait-edged and clean to me.