Guest Post: (In)convenient Allies in MESBG: Preconditions for a Competitive Alliance with Sharbie

Good morning gamers,

This weekend we host yet another article from Sharbie - if you haven't read his previous article on the Watcher in the Water, you should. Today, Sharbie explores the idea of including allies in your lists - what do you look for in an allied contingent? What can they provide that merits losing your army bonus (unless you're Historical allies, which most factions aren't)? Can you go too far with an allied contingent and lose the core of your original force? All of these questions will be covered below - take it away, Sharbie!

Guest Post: How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Love the Tentacle (A Tactica on the Watcher in the Water with Sharpie)

Good morning gamers,

So today we have a guest post that was sent to us on Facebook by one of our readers. Today's tactics discussion centers around using a model I find intriguing (but haven't scrounged up the money to purchase yet): the Watcher in the Water. As an avid Moria player who loves throwing weapons, this model has long been on my list of models to try out (though with me always running the Balrog, I'm not sure I can squeeze this guy into enough games, if I'm honest).

Our guest author, Sharbie, has some interesting thoughts on using one of the most underused monsters in the game - take it away Sharbie!

Guest Post: Army Tiers in MESBG (with MinutemanKirk!)

Hey Reader!

The following is a guest post from MinutemanKirk, one of the regulars on the blog, who wrote a very interesting post on tiers of armies in the Lord of the Rings side of the MESBG house (so there are no rankings of armies from The Hobbit in this list). We found it very insightful, and wanted to share it with you all here.

If you have questions about it, you can comment below (as I'm sure Minuteman Kirk will be following along), or he mentioned to me that you can reach out to him directly for more thoughts. Feel free to reach out to us on our Facebook page and we'll connect you with him.

And now, with no further ado, a ranking system for the Armies of the Lord of the Rings, courtesy of MinutemanKirk!

Editor's Note: MinutemanKirk wrote this piece prior to the recent FAQ/Errata changes on alliances, and subsequent FAQ/Errata changes-to-the-changes on alliances. If anything, this discussion is more timely given the current community discussion on alliances and the role of players vs. game developers when it comes to setting army lists.