Workbench Update: Moria

Hello gamers,

When I got started in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game in September 2010 (LOTR SBG back then), I bought the core game: The Mines of Moria. My first tradiditonal army (read, wasn’t composed entirely of heroes) was, therefore, Moria. Within a month of getting the core game, I picked up Durburz on eBay and converted one of my archers into a Moria Goblin Shaman. With 22 Goblin Warriors (lost one and never found it again), 2 Goblin heroes, and 1 Cave Troll, I had a very impressive 25 models in a 300 point force … or so I thought. At 300 points, it’s hard to get anything in your army, but the hardest thing for most armies to get are numbers. As my collection grew (Lothlorien, Khazad-Dum, and Isengard by the end of that year – and many more armies since), Moria has in many ways fallen on the wayside. This is true for a number of reasons:

• They don’t have good magic casters and I love magic casters;
• They don't have good archery and I love archery;
• They don't have any decently priced powerful heroes and I love decently priced powerful heroes;
• Cave trolls and other monsters don't resist magic well and I love magic casters;
• Their basic troops get crushed by high-strength archery and I love archery;
• They get lots of troops UNLESS they get powerful monsters, which means they don’t spam as well as some other civs that can field powerful heroes (and I love powerful heroes).

That’s a lot of reasons (really three reasons used twice each). So, today we try to rectify it by giving these Greenskins some love and helping them look a little better on the table (with the ultimate goal of making me want to run them more). This post will primarily focus on what you can do with Goblin bowmen models and in particular highlight how you can convert them into heroes.

"Fly you Fools!": Rethinking Shield-Spear Combat

It's been a couple months since our last dedicated post on maneuvering, but after doing so many theory-crafting posts on army lists recently, and with Tiberius about to launch a new series on Shooting, I thought it was high time to dust off some models, move them around the table-top in a photogenic-esque fashion, and see if we could get them to do interesting or unexpected things.

We're kicking off the first post of our new series on tactical maneuvering with what tends to be (for most armies, at least) the default battle-line in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game: a front rank of warriors with shields (and sometimes the occasional front-rank hero) backed up by a rank of warriors with spears. This Shield-Spear formation (not to be confused with a Viking Shield Wall formation, which lacks spears, or a Shieldwall formation, which also gets a +1 defense bonus based on its position when strikes are made) generally tends to be pretty static. But that needn't be the case. As with Shieldwall, your Shield-Spear formation can be a dynamic and flexible formation, setting you up for the next turn, frustrating your opponent's plans, and even transforming "unwinnable" combats into salvageable ones.

If that sounds intriguing to you, read on for five simple tactics you can employ to accomplish just that! (No, that doesn't sound click-baity at all...)

Warning: lots of text, photos, and maths ahead. But it's the weekend, so it's not like you have anything better to do, right? ;-)

Photo Credit: VaderFan2187

Armies of Middle-Earth SBG: The Serpent Horde in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

With the Easterlings and Khand behind us, we're moving down south to the land of the Haradrim. We'll begin with traditional Harad (rebranded the Serpent Horde in the new edition of the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game), before moving on to Far Harad and all their camels (so, so many camels) next time. Like any serpent, these guys move fast and strike fast, with venom dripping from their fangs. There may also be mumakil involved...

Photo Credit: upabovetodownunder.blogspot.com

The Fellowship: The Strength of the Company, Revisited

Good morning gamers,

In our previous two posts, we revisited the Fellowship's tactical units (Gandalf the Grey and Bill the Pony) and the Hobbit characters in the Fellowship (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Smeagol). Today, we wrap up our revisit of the Fellowship to the four characters who really do it all - not only the predominant kill generators, but also provide the well-roundedness the team requires to be truly frightening. At long last, we tackle Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and Aragorn - Strider. This post revisits a post we did back in 2012 and will be quite different in some areas, but much of what was written there still holds true (so you should read that before you continue if you haven't already).

"Fly you Fools!" - Formations and Maneuvering in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Army lists, rules updates, and theory-crafting are all well and good, but as any experienced player knows (and any new player learns quickly), having troops with the greatest stat-line in the world won't save your force if it gets caught out of position, or can't bring its superior firepower to bear on the enemy. In a war game that exists in three-dimensional space, the ability to maneuver your troops into position, and adapt their position to meet the objectives around you and the enemy before you, is a critical key to success.