Good morning gamers,
TMAT just passed its fourteenth anniversary (our first post went up on February 14, 2011, but our first post with any meaningful content went up on March 8, 2011 - fourteen years ago last Saturday) and to celebrate that, I wanted to tackle what has become an absolutely impossible task: documenting the history of MESBG content creators.
I'll start by saying that I'm not doing this to toot our own horn - I'm doing it because one of the largest drivers for the creation of this blog is that back in 2011, there was basically no one doing what we do - there were very few people doing anything on the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Nowadays, you can barely cruise a Facebook group without seeing someone's article or podcast or YouTube video advertised (and if you ever watch something MESBG-related on YouTube, you'll be absolutely BOMBARDED by recommended videos). It's a great time to be an MESBG fan, but it wasn't always this way.
While I'd love to get every content creator into this blogpost . . . there is no living way that I could possibly know of all the content creators for MESBG that are active right now or that have ever posted MESBG content - so if I didn't catch you in this article, please don't be offended. I've captured here the blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels that I follow regularly, as well as those mentioned by a lot of other content creators (who, once I hear about them a few times, I definitely check out). Feel free to provide contact details in the comments if you want - here or on Facebook - if you have stuff you like (and while I won't talk in detail about everything I follow, you should check out the sidebar on the blog for the full list of things I keep up with)!
Finally, I'm also writing this to pay some homage to the content creators who used to create MESBG content and have probably fallen off the radar (and may never have been on the radars of newer players). Our game has a great and hallowed history and during times when GW wasn't actively giving us things to read, watch, or listen to, there has always been a small corps (now a veritable horde) of amateurs who shared their love for the game in print, in audio, or in video formats. It is primarily to these creators - both those still with us and those who have sunset their platforms - that I dedicate this post.
It began . . . well, it began as you might expect . . .
In the beginning, there was the legendary magazine series known as Battle Games in Middle-Earth. If you've seen the video interviews that Dewey Evans over on the Guardians of Whiltshire YouTube channel did during COVID, you'll hear a bunch of MESBG greats from the UK saying that they got their start with these magazines - and if you listen to content creators across the world, many will also say they got their start with these too. During the magazine's inception, there was only scenario play - and the miniatures were being released slowly, with rudimentary profiles and rules that grew as the magazines continued. If you'd like to see how some of this went, I'd highly recommend checking out the Battle Streams in Middle-Earth YouTube channel as well as Zorpazorp's Zorp of the Rings YouTube channel, which do in-depth views on some/all of these magazines. I was . . . too young and too poor to pay for a monthly subscription when these were running - and as an a priori complication, I had not heard of GW at all at the time. Everyone says they're great, though.
After the magazines ended, there were others who created MESBG content - in print, the amazing SBG Magazine by Tom Harrison and Damian O'Byrne was made (co-lead of the aforementioned Battle Streams in Middle-Earth channel - more on them throughout). This magazine remains one of the greatest amateur tributes to the MESBG game, with stunning photography and painted models in each issue, excellent articles from players around the world, and just generally two nice guys who love the game. If you haven't gotten ahold of the magazine, you probably should look into it (if you're into magazines . . . you're into magazines, right?). If you want a taste of what it's like, you can actually view the first issue on Scribd . . . and boy are there some young faces in that issue!
In 2005, about the same time as SBG Magazine's release, a blog was started by Dave Townsend, dedicated to showing off how different scenarios play in the various sourcebooks that GW was creating for what was being called the "Lord of the Ring Strategy Battle Game" (or LOTR SBG - this was the name it had when I got started). Dave's articles showed off his models, home-made terrain, and gave a good taste for how the scenarios played out - if you were looking for a preview of what to expect before you bought one of these sourcebooks, this was a really good stop.
On the YouTube scene, there was basically nothing at this time - except for four videos in 2009 posted by two guys playing in a basement doing a single battle report in four parts (quite possibly because memory cards on cameras at the time were so small). The video quality isn't good, but golly, I probably watched these videos 10-20 times to get a feel for how the game played before buying models - and then 10-20 more times once I had gotten into the game and had a better idea of what was going on. No idea who these guys are - but to me, they're legends.
In 2009, we saw the advent of the Veni Vidi blog by Mik Mikaloj, who was the first person I saw who did tournament reports in a blog format - something that the TMAT blog has shamelessly stolen and that lots of others have followed suit in as well. Mik is one of the most decorated MESBG players in the UK (his blog has his tournament standings from 2005 thru 2018 in the left sidebar - it's very impressive) and provided very helpful articles for players who wanted to go from casual gaming to "what is competitive", at least for the UK circuit. Mik's articles are awesome, and the older pieces that are from a bygone era of the game still hold up to re-reading.
For more in-depth blogpost battle reports, my mate Zorro directed me to check out Simmuskhan's blog, which started in 2010 and his focus was mostly on Harad (which Zorro started his foray into LOTR SBG with) and what would become the Khazad-Dum Dwarf faction (which I started my foray into LOTR SBG with - them and Wood Elves). His hobbying articles, his battle reports, and the occasional Space Wolves content were excellent - and I always looked forward to updates from him.
Also, in early 2011, after pushing miniatures around tables for about six months, some random Americans in Northern Virginia (with an inordinately large number of Hawaiians in their mix) decided to start a blog. It had . . . very little readership, but readership in general - and the number of content creators as well - was pretty sparse back in those days. All of that changed with the next wave of MESBG content creator history . . .
The "Support Your Hobby" Era (2013 - 2018)
This era of MESBG was kind of like the original Star Wars trilogy - it started very hopeful and with lots of excitement as the Hobbit films heralded a new version of the game (The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game), new models were flowing in cool, dynamic sculpts, Dwarves had access to spears, and the "warband" books governed alliance structures, so these new Hobbit-era models could ally in very interesting ways with other factions (like other Dwarves - or Hobbits, as Centaur discovered). Yes, it was a grand old time.
But then, after the Hobbit films were done, there seemed to be a change in support for the game - mostly because GW was having trouble getting our game to be profitable. Decreased support was met with a rousing challenge from the dedicated fans of the game (especially in England), which took the mantra of "support your hobby" - buy GW products so they know we don't want the game to die. Whether this sentiment was right or wrong, I won't say here - but I bought models, even as my friends and I explored other games to play (I played a LOT of Star Wars Imperial Assault at the time - check out some random Star Wars blog for more on that).
As we drew closer to 2018, news began to spread of an impending rules revamp - one which heralded the interest of GW in our corner of their intellectual property rights and the hope that we'd get cool new models, more sourcebooks, and possibly a reason to field thematic models like the Balrog and Theoden. This time period started with excitement, then seemed like the dream was dying, but then the "Jedi" returned and everything was looking good again.
In the content creation space during this time, we saw the rise of the GBHL YouTube channel in 2013, which featured a TON of videos that included tactical discussions between top GBHL players, walk-throughs of the old Fellowship of the Ring journeybook (which I own, thanks to their walk-throughs - and it's AWESOME), and TONS of battle reports. There's much to enjoy about the videos there, despite the older edition of the rules and the relatively poor video quality compared to what we're seeing in MESBG content now. The videos are great and I loved watching them.
YouTube saw others take the stage to help "save the hobby," including the DCHL (in 2015), Top Table Gaming (started by GBHL Steve in 2015), STF Wargaming Studio (which showed up between 2015-2016), and Harry Parkhill's Battle Games in Middle-Earth YouTube channel (in 2016 - now rebranded as "Entmoot Videos"). Prior to these five giants of the MESBG YouTube scene, there were only videos here and there from guys playing games in their basements, trying to explain the rules (see a note earlier about some of them). These channels provided excellent content, great resources for newer players, and a good mix of competitive discussion and thematic scenario play - and some history for where the game came from. Chances are good that no matter what kind of MESBG player you are, there will be something from these older videos that will get you excited - it certainly worked for me.
Beyond the YouTube arena, the OGs of MESBG podcasts began creating content during this time period as well - I'm referring, of course, to the Green Dragon Podcast (which started in 2014). While there are TONS of podcasts now with MESBG content, the Green Dragons were the first - and in many ways, they're still the best (no slight to any other podcasters out there - except maybe those Hawaiian guys in Northern Virginia). With Matty, Kylie, and Jeremy chatting about strategies for beating units, faction overviews, and a tactical dictionary to provide us all with a common terminology (to say nothing of tournament reports), there's a lot to like about that channel!
Also during this time, the ebb-and-flow of the initial gaming group in the Northern Virginia area for a group of guys who started calling themselves the "TMAT team" saw very sporadic updates - as was already mentioned, we were playing a lot of Star Wars games at the time and some of our cohort moved out of the area. There was never a true lull - but the loss of support for the game was certainly felt in our player base here. All of that changed when we moved to the next edition of the game . . .
The MESBG Revamp (2018 - 2020)
There was a mass hysteria of joy surrounding the new edition of MESBG - everyone seemed to be really pumped about the changes that were being made. With Jay Clare taking over the design decisions of the game, it was clear that he and his team of SBG veterans were going back to basics and finding the best things about the previous editions of MESBG and trying to add thematic flare to make it a more enjoyable game. Some profiles came through untouched while others were completely reforged - and overall, it felt like the game was in the best place it had ever been.
In addition, sourcebooks were FLYING off the presses - first with the new rulebook and two army supplements, a Battle Companies revamp (technically two of these were released in short order), then Gondor at War, followed by the Scouring of the Shire (which made Centaur the happiest person in the world), and then War in Rohan - all in the course of two years. All of these releases - and the miniatures that accompanied them - told the community one simple thing: SBG wasn't dead and the game was in good hands.
On the content creation side of the house, we had a TON of new players enter the game, but there are three that I'd like to highlight: on YouTube, we saw the revamp of the Zorpazorp channel in 2018, with Lachie doing a ton of terrain work, Battle Companies campaigns, and some tournament reports (both for tournaments he was running and tournaments he was attending). Lachie's soar to fame was well-deserved and he remains one of the pillars of the MESBG content creator community. If you, like me, had forgotten that his "official" start on YouTube began this recently . . . well, yeah - he's done alright for himself in the past seven years. :) #Zorptron
On the podcasting side of the house, Harry Parkhill decided to expand his YouTube presence into the podcasting world and he created the Entmoot podcast, which was designed to track his tournament experiences, as well as throwing in listener mail, stumping audio questions, and lots of fun hobbying bits. As a supplement to his YouTube videos, Harry's work very clearly spoke for his love for the game (and earned him a position in the GBHL marketing department).
Finally, on the blog side of the house, the Drawn Combat blog started in 2019 - and their articles covered the full range of competitive list ideas, fluffy tournaments to raise money for charity, ways to get started with different factions on a budget, and conversion ideas to get profiles-without-actual-models on the table (or get expensive models on the table for cheaper). I love their stuff - and always get excited when I see something new from them (hint hint).
For the TMAT blog, Centaur and I were finally able to convince Rythbyrt to give MESBG a try - and with a new rulebook in hand, he dove head-first into the game (it took a while, but we got him in the end). While our focus on content creation was certainly higher than it had been in the previous years, we still weren't generating the regular content that you guys know about today. Steady content, yes, but no one was really doing regular content yet.
All seemed to be well, but then the unexpected happened . . . the tournament scene dried up, GW releases stalled, and we all ended up having far more hobbying time than normal on our hands. Enter . . .
The COVID Era - and the Content Creation Boom (2020 - 2021)
Yep, a global pandemic caused the hundred-person tournaments to close down (for reasons obvious) and we all went home. With tons of hobbying time on our hands, a lot of people decided to use this undefined amount of tournament-free time to catch up on their backlogs - and many of THOSE people decided to try their hand at generating MESGB content (especially in the form of podcasts that you could listen to while crashing through your backlog). For many of the content creators during this time, written or audio material related to MESBG was a surrogate for being able to actually play with other people (though the rise of Tabletop Simulator during this time certainly helped some players get reps in with their favorite lists while forced to be spatially distant).
There were two major rebrandings that happened during this time - first, the GBHL YouTube channel rebranded itself as the Battle Streams in Middle-Earth channel, as GBHL Damian and GBHL Steve repurposed the channel to cover their hobby streams. Damian continued to post his hobby vlogs, which are excellent and show off some really great hobbying work! Also, the streams are a hoot and very fun to be on (even if you usually spend more time washing dishes than washing models, as I usually do).
A related take-over was the DCHL moving away from the "Devin Moreno show" to becoming the home of the Unexpected Podcast (which Devin is a part of, but not usually the lead for). The Unexpected Podcast team is mostly composed of American greats, but they also roped in Mik from the Veni Vidi blog (remember him?), which gave Britain a presence on the show too - and someone who could pronounce Polish names for whenever a Polish guest appeared on the show.
There were other channels that started during this time - the big one on YouTube for me was Jacob Lucas's Conquest Creations channel, which started off as an enthusiastic amateur channel and was able to become a business. I'm a huge fan of Jacob's videos (his batreps are some of the best on the internet) and his STL projects are really, REALLY good (you'll be able to see for yourself some of the fruits of his labor on this blog throughout the year).
If you like camping, Battle Camper also got started during this time - and I gotta say, I don't really like camping (no matter how often I have to do it), but Alex makes it look fun. His videos are really great - especially if you like the narrative aspect of tournament play. If you're not checking out his work regularly, you should. In the US, one of the greats from the Tennessee area started the Titan in the Deep YouTube channel - his batreps are excellent and not just because he's a big fan of the Balrog. :)
During this time, I started listening to two other podcasts (besides the Unexpected Podcast, the Green Dragons, and Entmoot): the North of the Shire podcast (who have done some really interesting podcasts on army types, how to win scenarios, and how to play Battle Companies) and the Durin Show. Perhaps it's the appeal of a bunch of brothers chatting and having good fun (plus they had a brother come late to the party too), but the Durin Show very quickly became one of my favorite podcasts to listen to - and that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that one of my click-bait articles ate up half of an episode they did.
On the blog side of the house, the GBHL started its own blog, with many articles from Ali King, talking about the state of the league and a lot of theory articles about how to play the game (either in the form of reviewing Legendary Legions or providing sound-albeit-not-convincing arguments for not mounting your heroes). It also tackled interesting issues like perceived "badly painted models" - which we're not going to drudge up here. While not regularly updated now, I always check out the email updates from the blog to see what's new in the UK scene.
Another really cool blog that I started following was the East Anglia Hobbit Community blog, which featured a ton of articles ranging from hobbying projects to tournament reports. There was even a slew of home-brewed Legendary Legions and profiles that came out from them - all of which were great for stimulating the imagination. I can't really tell you where East Anglia is in England (though all those years I played Medieval: Total War on the computer gives me a pretty good idea - east, right?), but if I were to ever find myself in that part of England, I might hit up those guys for a game - they seem like cool dudes.
It was also during this time (in late 2020) that a guy from Australia who sent us a few articles to post as "guest articles" on our blog decided to just start his own blog - and ever since then, I've looked forward to Sharbie's articles on the Against All Odds MESBG blog - I HIGHLY recommend you check out his stuff. It's mostly clean, analysis is good, hot-takes are actually hot, and he does a LOT of data analytics to help moderate his claims. I like it a lot - and I usually comment on them. :)
With COVID keeping the TMAT team apart, I started posting regularly (1-2 articles a week, eventually settling on a list-building article every Monday and hobby-related/one-off articles every Thursday), with articles from Centaur and Rythbyrt thrown in whenever they had stuff to provide. Just before COVID sent us home, we started a podcast (our first episode launched in February 2020), though our focus was never THAT heavily dedicated to podcasting. Still, it allowed us to get together, chat about the game, and generally have a good time.
But while there was much to rejoice over during this time, there were also some sad things - at least for me. Some of the blogs that I'd been following for close to a decade stopped updating - Mik's blog wasn't updating anymore (though he was still producing content with the Unexpected Podcast team), Simmuskhan's blog stopped posting part-way through the old Scouring of the Shire book, and Dave Townsend's battle reports dried up. I have no idea what happened to Scott and Dave, but I hope they're okay - and if either of them happen to read this, I miss you. :(
With a nasty pandemic behind us, the world went back to playing games with toy soldiers again - and that led to yet another change in the MESBG world - and brings us to today . . .
The Post-COVID Era (2022 - Present)
2022 seems like a good time to create the next and last break in this artificial timeline. The Into the West podcast started up in 2022 and a faithful commenter on our stuff from Europe (the Castellan) started his blog "Castellan of the Ring" during that year as well. There were also a TON of people putting up articles, posting YouTube videos, and starting podcasts during this time, which has kept the hobbying entertainment flowing, despite slow-downs from some of the aforementioned podcasters and YouTube sensations.
In the past year alone, we've seen prominent players in the UK take to the content creation stage in the form of the Gollum's Gamers and Any Heroics channels - while these guys might be new to the content-creation scene, they're all decorated UK tournament veterans and the thoughts they have to share are excellent. UK veteran Will Champion also has a Patreon-exclusive content feed, which I have not partaken in, but his reputation as the "champion" of the UK scene speaks for itself.
We also saw the introduction of the Tabletop Admiral MESBG army builder, which I believe is the first non-Excel-file, non-Battle-Scribe tool for building armies - and if you haven't spent over a decade refining your own home-made spreadsheet tool (like I have), you should definitely give the TTA MESBG builder a try - and support Andrew while you're at it (his builders for both MESBG and Star Wars Legion are ace - and he does other stuff too). :)
And that brings us at last to the TMAT blog, which has continued to provide at least 3 articles every fortnight (and has done as many as 5 articles every fortnight) since COVID began. With over 3 million page views over our history (not bragging with this next part - just telling it like it is), we are and remain the most consistent and most prolific writers about the MESBG game. While we could write for our own pleasure, the comments we get from all of you very much keep us going - so from all of us here, thanks for reading what we write (it means the world to us)! Amidst all these other content creators, we're glad to just share a space - and we hope you can use this article to base-jump into the excellent work that these other content creators are providing too (because we're not alone - and we like it that way).
Conclusion
Well, that's a very incomplete history of MESBG's content creators for you - hopefully you liked it! If there are other channels that you'd like to highlight (especially if they're not on our side-bar), please let us know! If you're producing MESBG content, thanks for what you do (and if you've been toying with starting something up, you should give it a shot)! Until next time, happy hobbying!
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