/mesbg/ Middle-earth Strategy Battle Games

This, currently this is my exact problem.

I'd like to see shooting made more useful. -1 to hit after movement is too harsh when most bows are already too weak to do anything anyway, and removing the penalty for throwing weapons would make them more valuable as well.

>want unique looking minis
>they look like shit

Time to bust out the Lamian Medium I guess; I just want a unique colour scheme.

Guys, help me decide. I have Arnor and Angmar armies (went for them because of the fluff reasons), while my gf is collecting all of the elves.

I was thinking about picking up yet another army, this time from Hobbit - but can't decide between Iron Hills + Erebor, Azog's Legion+Hunters or Lake-town+Dale (I predict that Dwarf factions and Barding factions will be merged eventually, so I'm ready to collect models from two Dwarven factions or two Barding factions; probably same will happen with Azog's armies as either Dol Guldur or Gundabad).

While I think each of those is pretty cool and I'm fine with the lore behind them, there is some kind of con to each of them - Iron Hills are fucking expensive (monies I'm talking), Lake-town have shit-ton of models to paint and Azog... well, I hate Hunter orcs. They look fucking ridiculous.

So yeah, help me decide.

You could do Azog with just Gundabads.

>buy 3 warbands of lake-town gentlemen
>buy 6 lake-town houses
>build a fuckin great gaming table for your dudes
>fuck your GF on the table
>Houses are crashed now, so is your gf

No way, couldn't stand another gaming table getting broken.

Any other arguments behind Lake-town? :>

Iron Hills.

Nuff said.

Sadly, no. I mean, I really like them aesthetic-wise - both guards and militia - but there are more cons than pros for me
Pros
>They have amazing terrain kit - the best non-40k GW kit IMO
>Just buy the pic related and you are ready to go with battle companies
>Heroes are not really expensive and you have 4 of them so if you don't want to run a huge army it is enough for you
Cons
>Fuckin resin
>Expensive
>Militia and Guards are not the same army so if you want to mix them, you will lose your army bonus
>Not sure if the range will be expanded - they are movie based tho

I'm new here so I can't tell how good they are rule-wise but the fact they are not making up a one army together killed them for me

Is there any army with models runned mainly on 32mm bases? I feel tired with small infantry models and want to play with something bigger

Nothing uses the 32 mm bass in LotR. If you want bigger than 25 me then an all mounted force is the way to go

Dwarves IMO. Definitely got the most diverse range.
Dale could be sweet if they touch upon it again for the WotR Battle of Dale and expand that aesthetic out, but not until then

You could go with all-cavalry. Rohan or warg riders, for example (although you'd have to get dismounts as well). Alternatively, an Angmar army made up of trolls, wild wargs, bats and so on.

>Fell Wargs look great but hunter orcs seems to be a band of queers with down syndrome
>Warg Riders have nice retro vibes but they are riding on wargs with fetal alcohol syndrome
So I will have to stick with Riders of Rohan, Knights of Minas Tirith or Haradrim Raiders then

>although you'd have to get dismounts as well
Oh boy, I tried to read through mount/dismount rules but they feel so needless for the gameplay

Wow, never noticed the style of WoTR-era Dale Army. Those warriors behind Brand look awesome - will go for them in the future, surely it will be fucking FW resin but whatever.

Here's my problem with Lake-town - I've always been a fan of Dale, not the Esgaroth itself. Same goes for Hobbit models - I like Dalish armors, Lake-town - little bit less.

Well, I guess I will follow your advice and go for the Dwarves (both factions). Will see what the future brings for army of Dale (if it'll bring anything).

>Oh boy, I tried to read through mount/dismount rules but they feel so needless for the gameplay
Tell that to the guy who kills your mount

I think I would just remove the model from the game desu. This guy gets it Hobbit should be splitted into free core rules and advanced rules - mount shenanigans should stay around but as a part of advanced ruleset

how is "your mount gets killed, roll to see if you eat shit" hard to understand?

>separated mounts
>remounting
>dismounting
>dismounted models
>separate stats for mounts
>extra tests and tables
Yeah, it's just about a single roll. It's not hard to understand - it just seems to be pointless

being able to get off your horse to go up some stairs or into the woods is pointless? Hampering an enemy hero by taking out his horse is pointless?

Do you just play on a flat featureless table like one sees in all those Age of Shitmar battle reports?

>le shitmar maymay
Here is your karma

How good is the goblin town starter set for trying out the game? I love the LotR setting and want to give this game a try. Wondering if I would be better off with goblin starter or just buying the rules and 1 each of good and evil warbands.

If I go with the warbands are there any groups I should avoid? Possibly due to having exceptionally bad models and or rules?

Ents any good?

I'd go with the latter. Warband or two of two factions. In terms of rules thats up to you. Can pick up a cheap Goblin Town book on eBay or just use the pdf in the OP.

It's likely one of those "if you have the models available" rules anyway. Been to a few tournaments were someones forgot dismounts and just removed the models when his horses died.

I looked at the TABA pics but it ignores all the updates to models like Gundabad warriors, such as getting cheaper and having spears instead of pikes.

Disregard I am retarded.

Ok how the fuck does this hobbit garbage work

What even are they allowed to select warbands from? Do you just take the Hobbit Galadriel leading some erebor dwarves and an eagle because they're all from the Unexpected journey book? Does the There and Back Again book let us recreate that memorable time The Necromancer brought his trusty catapult trolls, or the classic events of The Master and his Mirkwood Cavalry?

What would an all cavalry army look like anyways? Who does it best (besides Rohan)?

I play Mirkwood Elves and Dol Amroth and both are fantastic cavalry.

Both their cavalry count as being within banner range with there respective faction leaders within range and that is a game changer.

On the charge, 2 attacks with a banner is hard to deal with for everyone even dwarves. The big thing is keeping priority. (or enough might for heroic actions)

Taba is not even complete, we miss a lot of profiles. It seems like our savior user needs to spend 10 more minutes photographing 'em. :)

What do you think I’ve missed?

Rivendell Knights is the most tournament worthy all mounted force

>Mirkwood Elves
>Rivendell Knights
Both are relatively expensive options compared to other cavalry units. There is a chance that new Pelennor Fields will bring some mounted units, right?

Not really. All the cavalry involved at Pelennor are already in plastic. If they still did plastics, it’d be possible that they could release a new Rohan Royal Guard kit, but any future releases will be FW resin. Serpent Rider re-release is the only cavalry Pelennor is likely to bring

>Rivendell knights
>Expensive
If you mean money you only really require the two boxes and Heroes for a decent sized force.
If you mean points, you get what you pay for

Could someone share the missing charts of battle companies?

still missing the scenarios and the progress and equipment charts

I believed this until you said you had a girlfriend.

>it’d be possible that they could release a new Rohan Royal Guard kit
Didn't know how much I wished we had a Plastic Royal Guard kit until you said it

Poorfag here, I recently found out that my local Geedubs store has a group of LotR players, I'm kind of interested in getting involved. How is the pricing compared to 40k? I thought about playing Rohan or Isengart if that matters.

Battle company is monumentally cheaper, depending on if you go resin or not. As far as models go, $100 would get you all you really need for hunger orcs. Rulebooks are about the same

>hunger orcs
Tfw meat isn't on the menu

Pricing is slightly better than 40k/WHFB on a model per model basis IMO, but you don't need half as many models as you would in those systmes so ends up being far cheaper.

SBG is the cheapest Games Workshop game by quite some margin. £100 will get you a larger army than you will likely ever use in games at a shop.

I found that a small store in my area still has a box of 24 Minas Tirith Warriors in stock and it's just a little bit more expensive than buying a box of 12 online. Is there any difference between 12 and 24 boxes?
>inb4 the number of models in boxes

>>inb4 the number of models in boxes
I'm not sure what you need explained. Numbers is it. One sprue vs two

>I'm not sure what you need explained
GW is updating their sculpts sometimes you know - the sculpt might be different, like the GW was selling the old sculpt in 24 boxes and the new one in 12. I'm new here so I don't know the history of every product and looking for information about them is pain in the ass

>you only really require the two boxes and Heroes for a decent sized force
>mfw we decided to start with 400pts armies
How bad idea would be running such an elite force

Warband 1 (220)
- Rivendel Knight Captain (85)
- 5 Knights of Rivendell (105 + 30 for a war horn)
Warband 2 (180)
- Elrond (160 + 10 for a horse + 10 for an armour)

Exactly 400pts

Looking at starting this game. I am thinking about some good side cavalry to go against some bad side orcs of some form. These would let me try out the game and demo it to potential new players. Sound like a good idea? What do yall recommend for each force?

They didn't update the sculpts

>nothing sbg-related and important enough to be listed
Eh

New nazgul around dat corner.

They look sweet. Anything more SBG related worth sharing?

Not that I know, yet.

My bad, I thought you are the source. Dakka leaked the big part of WD but only WH related

Neat.

it is a lot as seen in the photo. That was a sample i found before the book's release. Really blush to ask but we must complete this..

Anyone? I know it's a skirmish game but maybe I pushed it too far

The 2018 is just round the corner. What are your SBG hopes and expectations?

Can't see a problem with it. Though you are really going elite. I consider my Harad army elite, and it really is.

Betrayer (120)
6 Watchers of Karna (4 Bows) (58)
6 Venomblade Knights (60)

Suladan (Horse) 100
6 Serpent Riders (78)
6 Haradrim Raiders (Bows+Warspear) (78)
496

This is an evil elite list. And you have only one warband....

Now Im not familiar with Knights of rivendell, but I will warn you, it only takes 1 bow shot to take down a large portion of your list. Anyone with spears can mob you, and you have no way of thinning the numbers before you clash. If you play this, you will need to stick to cover, until you can guarantee a charge. My list has good shooting that brings down enough of the enemy before the clash. You don't have that advantage. An elf bow list will wipe you out though. As will Isenguard with crossbows

Not seeing any profiles that were missed.

Dropping the Captain and Warhorn to buff the numbers would be my suggestion.

A New Adventure is more narrative missions for Battle Companies, I thought.

inb4 games workstop has Sauron get the ring, ending the world and existance only for a hero to somehow survive and begin the Age of Aragorn

Preorder Gondor Marines now!

You jest, but free rules and start collecting! Drùeain would be the tits.
That level of shIlling would also be okay.

>mahud company starts with 3 blow pipes
>gw no longer sell that model

Honestly this is what stopping me from getting into this. The local comic shop near me had 4 boxes if easterlings for 20 that I got but can't get anything else for the army.

So the new Battle Company sets would lead me to believe that they're bringing some of the Arnor stuff back into production.

Thank you for that hearty kek.

I'm thinking of picking up this game. Partially for the modelling and just because I think Haldir and Galadhirm were the tits in the movie and an acceptable deviation from the books.

If I end up running a few games I was thinking this. Thoughts? It seems like the jump from 3 to 4 in defence is really powerful. 4-5 less so (Gave to characters since 10 points spare)

Warband:
12 Galadhirm (standard box set makup) (112) [No elven blades]
Haldir with bow and armour (80)

Warband 2:
12 Galadhirm (standard box set makup) (112) [No elven blades]
Legolas + armour (95)

399 (400 point match). Whats the standard points for a small-medium match? 400-500?

The only thing currently OOP for the Eastern Kingdoms is khandish cavalry tho. And they aren’t even Easterlings

400pts is common enough. 500-600pys would be the most common full game sizes.
As a general rule the jump from even to odd defences is better vs evil armies. Opposite is true vs good armies

Why no elven blades?

costs points

Fug. I'm just tired with painting another blob of 40 dudes so I want to go with low model count. That's why I want to run Knights - it would be not only elite but also based on not-so-old plastic models.
I'm also just getting in so I want to keep this on tight budget for a while - two boxes of knights or a single box and Elrond are just fitting into my budget. My other option is an army of two warbands of Riders of Rohan - I know they are old sculpts but they still look great imo

and they're shiiiiit

I never got elven blades.
You can choose to use them as a two-handed weapon or a regular sword, but the rules are written so that anyone with a two-hander (except clansmen of Lamedon and they mention it specifically) can opt to use a regular hand-weapon instead.

I think it's because they have versatility. They work with Shields and if you need extra punch you can go two handed mode with another dude.

>I think it's because they have versatility. They work with Shields
They do not. Two handed weapons used to only have the two-handed mode. They gained the ability to go one-handed in later rulesets. Elven Blades got better odds to win the fight in equal Fight value scenarios as a consolation

Your list is illegal dude.
Taking Venomblades removes Scorpion's Sting, so you're over the bow limit by 2.

Rivendell knights have Elf bows so can actually do decent damage at range, and magic users do really assist small elite armies.
Definitely drop the war horn and captain for more riders, or consider investing in Gandalf over Elrond (blinding light will save your bacon).

Says so right there though...

>The only mounted Gandalf on the GW store is metal

They did, actually. New models are noticeably bigger than old models when you stand them next to each other. Although it's not bad enough that I'd say don't get it, unless you really don't want manlets in your army.

Why isn’t LOTRSBG more popular? I don’t get it. LOTR should have mass appeal among nerds, and the miniatures and rules are fantastic. I admit I hadn’t read LOTR until recently. I was floored! After years of Warhammer, Warcraft, D&D, ASoIaF, etc it was like eating gourmet steak after a life of McDonald’s. All these other fantasy IPs are like poor simulacrums of LOTR, so why don’t more people play it?

>Too few releases
>Plenty of really old models - even metal ones
>Most stuff is GW store exclusive so say goodbye to discounts
>If you don't want to be a pirate you need to buy a rulebook just to try the game

The Hobbit as a system is a mess right now. Confusing amount of old and new books, plenty of OOP models and out-of-stock-for-few-moths ones - hell, some metal models are even tagged as resin on GW store.
For 40k and AoS players it might not be this scary but I get why tabletop newbies don't want to touch it.
>LOTR should have mass appeal among nerds
Well, Adventure Time has milions of fans. Yet, the Card Wars - great and newbie friendly card game - is fuckin dead. Franchise will not cover everything

I've noticed that older models have a much lighter plastic, but not any size difference. Anyone have any pics?

>you already know who wins
>not as much room for your dudes like in warhammer
>magic isn't as much of a spectacle
It's closer to a historical than a fantasy game.

Well yes, you can equip it with a shield. But I wouldn't consider that "working with shields". Paying a point (2 if you're going to be giving him a shield on top of it) to use your fancy two-handed weapon as a hand weapon is moronic.

>>you already know who wins
You are right, but making your own alternative endings is a great fun.
Battle for Middle-Earth was so fuckin good game. Shame you can not buy it digital i.e. on steam

The hell are you talking about? There's one core rulebook, 6 army books and a supplement to the core game. The old books are all oop and out of date. pointless unless you want the scenarios.

Yea, but you have to spend money on those books

>Hey, you just need one of the 6 army books (all out of stock), a TaBA (out of stock) and an AUJ (out of stock)
vs.
>Hey, you just need these free rules and a codex or index
Man, I get that you love this game but it is in a bad shape right now