"Why play Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG)" Topic

"Really, that's my first and foremost argument. If you're a fan of Tolkien's works, then you are guaranteed to feel the entire rollercoaster of emotions of the movies, just that this time you're part of the story! And that makes it 100 times more intense. Protect Minas Tirith alongside Gandalf, ride on a Fellbeast alongside the Witch King or create your own story and army as you see fit…."

Main page

link

Armand

Elmo's FLGS has had a MESBG renaissance with the new Battlehost boxes. Hopefully Mrs Elmo gets me Battle for Osgiliath for Christmas.

In a recent game Aragon fell to the Witch King and the Morghul Blade. It was Epic!

It is the books that capture my imagination. And I don't really imagine Middle Earth in the way that Peter Jackson does. Like plate armour for instance. I am more in late Roman Early Byzantine camp for historical analogies to Middle Earth.

I am with you Marcus Brutus in how you envision Middle Earth, with a slight difference in my perception of the "when". I imagined Middle Earth during the Lord of the Rings era in the post-Islamic Middle-ages after the Late Roman period. Southrons, Haradrim, and Easterlings all reminded me of the "Saracens" (Arabs, Turks, Pechenegs, etc.) of Tolkien's era. The Rohirrim called Minas Tirith "Mundburg" while the Norse historically called Constantinople "Miklagard". While these are very familiar, there can be little doubt that Minas Tirith was inspired by Constantinople in my opinion. One could write quite and essay of this topic! This is just my imagination of the world of Middle Earth. Maybe Tolkien would have wanted his world to fit each person's own imagination.

Thanks!

Armand

I agree about plate armor being incorrect in Jacksons interpretation and with the resulting figures by GW…but the way around this that I use is to paint the plate armored minis as if they are wearing leather and maybe with a little bit of edge highlighting in metalic. This way they dont look like tin cans walking around or late medieval-renaissance fighters.
cheers

Perris, I am quite happy with your slightly later historical analogy. Charlemagne would also fit nicely into Tolkien's world.

Besides the appearance, the cost of GW models will want to make you use proxy models. Victrix, Perry, and Fireforge plastics are just as nice, or better, and much cheaper! I've mostly stuck with the GW models, but I've two armies (Dunland and Arnor) where I use proxy models for just about everything except for characters.

I think Old Glory Dark Ages and Byzantines are the best fit for MESBG. They are also metal and very reasonably priced. For Orcs and Uruk-Hi I use Ral Partha Tom Meier and old school Citadel Hobgoblins. :)