The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

The cover of official rulebook
Manufacturer(s) Games Workshop
Publisher(s) Games Workshop
Years active 2001–present
Genre(s) Wargaming
Players 2+
Setup time 5–10 minutes (depending on size of game)
Playing time Approximately 1 hour per 500 points of miniatures
Random chance Medium (dice rolling)
Skill(s) required Military strategy, arithmetic
Website www.games-workshop.com
Game length varies according to battle size, while rules complexity can vary by army.[1]

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game (abbreviated to LotR SBG), previously marketed as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game and now as The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Strategy Battle Game, is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, and the book that inspired it, written by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The game was initially released in 2001 to coincide in with the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. New box sets with updated rules were also released for The Two Towers and The Return of the King movies. Later, beginning with the Shadow and Flame supplement, Games Workshop began to add content that was featured in the original book but not in the film adaptations: e.g. Tom Bombadil, Radagast and Glorfindel. Games Workshop has also expanded its license with original material on areas such as Harad and Khand, with mixed reactions. The most recent complete edition of the rules, often called The One Rulebook to Rule them All, was released by Games Workshop in September 2005, while a compact edition entitled The Mines of Moria was also released.

In early 2009, Games Workshop also released an expansion to the original game called War of the Ring which, according to the company, allows players to emulate the large battles included in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by streamlining the game system.[2] This expansion differs from the main game in several ways. Firstly, War of the Ring uses a larger number of models but the models are placed on movement trays with two cavalry models or eight infantry models on each. This allows for much easier and quicker movement of large numbers of models at once. These are called "companies". Larger creatures such as Ents and Trolls are treated as separate models and do not use movement trays. Combat within the game is also treated differently. In the original game players both roll dice to determine who wins the fight and then the victor rolls to see how much damage is done. In War of the Ring only dice to determine damage are rolled. Also, in War of the Ring, heroes are treated more like upgrades for their company rather than individual models, as they are in the original game.

In addition to gaming, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game includes other common elements of the miniature wargaming hobby. These include the collecting, painting and conversion of miniature figures used in play, as well as the modeling of gaming terrain from scratch. These aspects of the hobby are covered in Games Workshop's monthly White Dwarf and on various gaming websites, as well as formerly in the fortnightly Battle Games in Middle-earth.

In 2015 Forge World, a division of Games Workshop focused on specialist resin miniatures and conversion kits as well as the Specialist Games ranges, assumed production of the The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game and all supplements.

Development

Background

In the 1980s, Games Workshop produced a range of miniatures for The Lord of the Rings, using original character designs based on fantasy art popular of the time. This was the first range of Lord of the Rings miniatures that Citadel created, taking over from Grenadier Miniatures in 1985, before the license passed to Mithril Miniatures around 1987.[3] The earliest releases were semi-solid base, having a small solid base; later releases were slot based.[3]

Current licensing

The current Lord of the Rings range stems from Games Workshop's rights to produce a skirmish war game based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books and films, in the 25mm miniature scale.[4] (The rights to produce a role playing game version of the films were sold to another firm, Decipher, Inc.) They also have the rights to produce Battle of Five Armies, a game based on the battle of similar name from The Hobbit, using smaller miniatures to enact larger battles (more akin to the Warmaster system).[5] Under this separate license, the game was done using a 10 mm scale for the normal warriors, and a larger "heroic" scale for the named characters.

Games Workshop has not acquired the rights to The Silmarillion, which is still the exclusive property of the Tolkien Estate, but has the right to develop its own derivative intellectual property to fill in the gaps in The Lord of the Rings universe. This is particularly true of Harad, which has a range of invented places (such as "Kârna", "Badharkân", "Hidâr", "Nâfarat", "Abrakân", and "Dhâran-sar"[6]) and characters (such as the Hasharin[6] and "Dalamyr, Fleetmaster of Umbar"[7]).

Designers and Peter Jackson

Four of the game's designers were in the extended Return of the King film as Rohirrim at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields: Alessio Cavatore, Brian Nelson, and Alan and Michael Perry.[8] They can be seen near the Oliphaunt when Peregrin Took goes searching for Meriadoc Brandybuck among the debris from the battle, and are also on the base of Games Workshop's Mûmak miniature.[9] Games Workshop created two miniatures of Peter Jackson, based on his appearance as a Breeland man during the Fellowship of the Ring:[10] one is owned by the director, and the other is kept on display at Warhammer World in England.[11] Games Workshop has also released a model of Peter Jackson as one of the Corsairs of Umbar from The Return of the King.

Hobbyist community

Collectors

Similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battle players, Lord of the Rings players commonly collect and paint one army (or more) of their choice and find opponents (with similarly collected armies) to play against.[12] Armies can be built up from through the purchase of boxed sets (usually having 10 or 12 plastic miniatures in each) or "blister packs" (usually containing no more than four finely detailed metal or resin miniatures) to build up a reasonable-sized fighting force. Others simply collect the miniatures because they like the way they look. One popular way of collecting was through Battle Games in Middle-earth — a De Agostini magazine that came with one or more free miniatures (some of which were initially exclusive to the publication) and contained detailed hobby guides.[13]

As such, there are a wide variety of miniatures in the ever-growing range, including promotional miniatures, such as "Gimli on Dead Uruk-hai". Games Workshop began to discontinue some of their metal miniatures, so that they could replace them with plastic miniatures. However, there was much complaint when they retired the popular "Boromir Captain of the White Tower" miniature, and it was later brought back into production.[14]

There are a large number of differences from Warhammer in The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, which makes it unique and more realistic, accounting for its popularity as Games Workshop's third core system.

Modelers

Mixing parts from different models is a popular method of conversion (a converted Maeglin miniature ).

Since the models are hand-painted and assembled by the player, players are often encouraged to design their own paint schemes, such as coloring them differently and so on, as well as using the pre-designed ones displayed in the various books. They are also encouraged to further modify their miniatures using parts from other kits and models (known as "Bitz" to players), modeling putty, or whatever the modeler can scrounge up.[15] These conversions are often entered into contests at sponsored tournaments and similar gaming events, such as the Golden Demon or the One Ring Awards.

Terrain is a very important part of play.[16] Though Games Workshop makes terrain kits available, many hobbyists prefer to make their own elaborate and unique set pieces. Common household items and hobby materials such as balsa wood, cardboard, and polystyrene can be transformed into ruins from the Second Age, woodland terrain, or the rocky wild of Middle-earth with the addition of plasticard, putty, and a bit of patience and skill.[17]

Dioramas, often depicting scenes from the film and books, bring terrain and conversion skills together.[18] However, due to the licensing agreements between New Line Cinema and Games Workshop, pieces of models for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are not allowed to be combined with other model lines for official tournaments or conversion awards.[19] The same is true for pieces from other manufacturers.[19]

Current state of play

Overview of rulesets

The Shadow and Flame Supplement - the first Games Workshop supplement to feature content that was not in the films.

As of September 2005, the rules for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are in their fourth edition. The first three editions of the rulebooks were released with The Lord of the Rings films, but Games Workshop used the magazine White Dwarf and various supplements to "go beyond what is presented in the films of The Lord of the Rings and delve into the rich material of J. R. R. Tolkien's books."[20] The current edition, The One Rulebook to Rule them All, contains the entire set of rules updated and presented in a single large volume, including those of previous supplements. The three older editions are to be re-released in updated supplements, while the compact Mines of Moria edition contains the updated rules only for what was shown in the films. In February 2012, preceding the release of The Hobbit movies, all of the characteristic profiles from the old sourcebooks and White Dwarf were concluded in 5 sourcebooks: Mordor, The Fallen Realms, Moria & Angmar, Kingdoms of Men, and The Free Peoples. These also contain minor edits to the rules as written in The One Rulebook to Rule them All. Currently, the official editions of rulebooks and supplements include:

Publication Type Year Main content
The Fellowship of the Ring Rulebook 2001
The Two Towers Rulebook 2002
The Return of the King Rulebook 2003
The One Rulebook Rulebook
Shadow and Flame Supplement 2003 Rules for Dwarves, Tom Bombadil, the Barrow-wights, Glorfindel, and Elladan and Elrohir.
The Siege of Gondor Supplement 2003 Rules for sieges and characters such the Citadel Guard, Beregond, and Gothmog.
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields Supplement August 2004 Rules for the Haradrim, Mûmakil, the Knights of Dol Amroth and the Dúnedain.
The Scouring of the Shire Supplement March 2005 Rules for smaller battles between the Hobbits and the agents of "Sharkey".
A Shadow in The East Supplement 2005 Rules for the Khamûl, Eorl, the Easterlings and the people of Khand.
The Fall of the Necromancer Supplement 2006 Rules for Sauron (the "Necromancer"), the Elves of Mirkwood, and the White Council.
The Ruin of Arnor Supplement February 2007 Rules for the armies of the declining northern Númenórean Realm and the rising Angmar.
Khazad-dûm Supplement May 2007 Rules for the Dwarves of Erebor and Khazad-dûm, and Dragons. Replaced the Shadow and Flame book.
Gondor in Flames Supplement August 2007 Rules for the armies of Elendil, Osgiliath, the fiefdoms of Gondor, and the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Replaced the Siege of Gondor book.
Harad Supplement February 2008 Rules for the Corsairs of Umbar and the entirely original Mahûd tribes of Far Harad. Replaced the Battle of the Pelenor Fields book.
Mordor Supplement 2008 The supposed final supplement for the game.
Kingdoms of Men Supplement 2012 Rules for Gondor, Arnor, and Rohan, as well as minor updates to the rules.
The Free Peoples Supplement 2012 Rules for Elves, Dwarves, Ents, Hobbits, the Fellowship of the Ring and the White Council plus minor updates to the rules.
Moria & Angmar Supplement 2012 Rules for the forces of Moria and Angmar, plus minor updates to the rules.
Mordor Supplement 2012 Rules for the forces of Mordor, plus minor updates to the rules.
The Fallen Realms Supplement 2012 Rules for the forces of Isengard, Harad, Umbar, and the Eastern Kingdoms, plus minor updates to the rules.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Rulebook 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Supplement 2013

For materials done under the previous iteration of the rules, there exist errata and FAQ files, to ensure potential rules conflicts between editions are resolved universally.[21]

In addition to the official rulesets, Games Workshop has also encouraged the writing of unofficial "house rules" by wargamers.[22] As such, there have been a number of unofficial fan supplements and other supplementary material on the internet; the most notable of which was The Age of the King, made by The One Ring.[23] Although some of its subject matter was later covered by official rulesets,[24] it is still considered "the benchmark against which all others are measured".[25] In many cases, supplements are written for areas where Games Workshop's license does not extend, such as The Silmarillion.[26]

Legions of Middle-earth

As of August 2006, Games Workshop released a new expansion entitled Legions of Middle-earth, centering on theming and army building.[27] It is not a supplement or rulebook, as it contains no rules; instead, it provides army lists for players to theme their forces around, and scenarios which are designed to work in conjunction with them. However, Games Workshop also released supplement summaries online in conjunction with Legions of Middle-earth, so effectively a player only requires Legions of Middle-earth and the main rulebook in order to use the rules of the supplements.[28][29] According to one review, the army lists would transform the game "from what has essentially been a scenario-based game that appealed mostly to collectors to a genuine tournament-compatible game system," although in this it "could have been a little bit more restrictive."[27] Interestingly, some of the miniatures for the point values listed have not yet been released; in this way, the book was not to become obsolete with future releases for some time.

Variants and derived games

All at Sea is an adaptation of the rules for naval conflicts. The official rules were a modified version of the Warhammer Boat rules, adapted by Nick Davis and first presented in Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine (US issue 295).[30] The game's mechanics centered on boarding parties, with options for ramming actions and naval artillery in the form of ballistae and other siege engines.[30] Model ships are built by hobbyists, just as normal miniature terrain, such as "great ships" of Pelargir, cogs of Dol Amroth and Corsair galleys.[31]

Game systems

The standard game is played with two or more armies on a board generally 4 feet long and 4 feet wide (16 square feet, or 1.486 square meters), usually deployed within 6 inches of opposite board edges.[32] Similar to Warhammer Fantasy, the game uses a "points-system" to assign values to each miniature, allowing players to ensure that their armies are evenly matched. The game is primarily a skirmish game, but can be played in varying scale:

The turn-system game was played using four phases originally, but is now played using five under the current rules:

While the game is designed usually for play by only two players (as the force lists are divided into "Good" and "Evil"),[34] very large battles (generally with more than 100 models each side) become easier to manage with multiple players working together on teams.

Troop types

There are two types of troops: Warriors and Heroes.[38] Heroes have characteristics which set them apart from the Warriors they lead, and can be named or unnamed characters: Aragorn, Frodo, Captains, etc. Warriors are the core of the army: Warriors of Harad, Riders of Rohan, Men of Gondor, etc. Each army must be either Good or Evil, and can only include miniatures from that side (each model is named in the rules as being either Good or Evil).

As Tolkien's world is very rich in detail, players generally prefer to base their armies around one of the following themes:

The Free Peoples (Good)

  • Elven Havens – The Elves of Eriador are considered the "High Elves" of the Last Alliance, and are not commonly seen in Third Age games.[43] Their powerful Heroes include Gil-galad and Elrond, with the latter sometimes used outside the Second Age.
  • Woodland Realms - Originally, the Wood Elves were limited to a small range of metal miniatures,[44] but with the release of The Fall of the Necromancer Supplement, a boxed set of plastics was released. Wood Elves include the Lothlórien Elves (also known as Haldir's Elves) as their elite troops, but the bulk of their armies consist of the Taurdirim of Mirkwood. These armies can also include the members of the White Council, and Ents such as Treebeard.[45]

The Forces of Darkness (Evil)

Additional characters

Games Workshop has taken the liberty to fill in gaps in Tolkien's works by creating new heroes and units alike. Some are heavily criticized, such as the Isengard Troll,[54] having been described as "not thematically correct";[60] whilst others have been popular additions.

Online community

Cover of The Tengwar Beacon, a hobby magazine produced by the online community

Prior to the closure of Games Workshop's official forum in November 2006, the site had 3000 forum posts per day and well over 300,000 registered users.[61][62] Since then, the online community has moved onto a large number of unofficial websites and forums for Lord of the Rings players, many of which were already in existence before the closure of Games Workshop's forums: these include "The Last Alliance", with over 6400 registered members (rebuilt in 2009 due to the host deleting their server for financial reasons), "The One-Ring", with over 5000, and "The Palantir", with over 2400 members. Collectively, the members of these websites have produced high-quality articles for the public, namely on The One-Ring, whose acceptance standards are very high,[63] in greater quantity than on the official site, and White Dwarf has commented on the community as having a "huge wealth of material".[64]

On 1 June 2005, Games Workshop launched their annual UK-based Worldwide Campaign under the name "The War of the Ring Online Campaign", featuring The Lord of the Rings for the first time. The campaign was deemed "a fantastic rollercoaster", with 3007 registered participants.[2] Games Workshop also introduced the "Wrath of Umbar Roadshow", with custom-built Corsair models and gaming boards being brought to various cities in the United Kingdom.[65] When the campaign formally ended on 8 September, Good emerged the victor.[2] The combined total of the 14 weeks was 27239 recorded wargames.[2] The forum closed shortly after, giving way to a smaller Canada-based campaign with the same name.[66]

Hobby websites have been key in organising sides in the Worldwide Campaigns, and indeed in creating their own campaigns and competitions,[67] such as the "Campaign of LoTRs", a collaboration between the two websites "The Dark Council" and "Cheeseweb".[68][69]

Another notable side of the community is the influence of its reaction to the company's products: many Tolkien purists, for example, reacted against the company's rendition of the Swan Knights of Dol Amroth, with some choosing to convert their own,[70] impacting the hobby and the sales of the products.[71] When Games Workshop subsequently showed the planned release of the Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth, it was suggested that they had taken the response of the community into account.[72]

Footnotes

  1. "Many of the special or detailed rules only apply in rarefied situations… [but] Although the basic game system might seem beguilingly simple, you will find it requires considerable skill to employ it effectively." (The Two Towers Strategy Battle Game Rulebook, page 5, 2002).
  2. 1 2 3 4 "War of the Ring". War of the Ring. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  3. 1 2 "The Lord of the Rings". The Stuff of Legends. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  4. "Note that these figures are 25 mm and not the 28 mm figures that are more popular today"; "Painting the Lord of the Rings Mines of Moria Game". 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  5. "Games Workshop Online Store". 2005-12-16. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  6. 1 2 The Battle of the Pelennor Fields Supplement
  7. 1 2 3 Legions of Middle-earth
  8. "Perry Miniatures". Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  9. "Painting a Mûmak". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  10. Peter Jackson, as a Hobbit in Bree.
  11. UK White Dwarf 265
  12. "The Lord of the Rings Army building articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  13. "Battle Games in Middle-earth". Website. DeAgostini. Archived from the original on 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  14. "Boromir, Captain of the White Tower". Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  15. "The Lord of the Rings Modeling articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  16. Mines of Moria, p 8
  17. "The Lord of the Rings Terrain articles". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  18. "The Lord of the Rings Diorama articles". Article Library. The One Ring. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  19. 1 2 "Golden Demon Competitor's Guidelines". Competition Rules. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  20. Alessio Cavatore, Shadow and Flame, page 3 (2003).
  21. "The Shrine of Knowledge". Rules Errata. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  22. "Games Workshop Intellectual Property". 2005-11-12. Retrieved 2007-06-16.:
    "We encourage fellow hobbyists to invent rules that work for them. There is no need to stick precisely to the published rules. However, if you are thinking about making your own Codex [eg.] for your Space Marine chapter (in addition to following the other guidelines in this policy), please avoid making it look official as this may confuse gamers and amount to a challenge to our trademarks. Also, do not copy our official publications or documents."
  23. "The Age of the King". Unofficial Rules Supplement. The One Ring. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
  24. Compare with Games Workshop's A Shadow in the East Supplement
  25. Dagorlad (Alan Harrison) (2005-06-20). "How to Write Supplements". Forum Sticky Topic. The One Ring. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  26. Supplements have been made depicting the Fall of Gondolin, based on The Silmarillion and The Book of Lost Tales respectively, as well as about the Kinslaying at Alqualondë and the War of Wrath.
  27. 1 2 Craig Woodfield. "Legions of Middle Earth Book Review". Review. Area 52. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  28. "Profiles of Middle-earth". Rules Summary. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  29. With the exception that the summaries do give access to a model's basic wargear, available "Magic" or the Movement rate.
  30. 1 2 Nick Davis. "All At Sea Part One". Ruleset. White Dwarf. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  31. 1 2 "The Ports of Pelargir". Website. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
  32. For example, see The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, p 34-35
  33. Mines of Moria, p 70-75
  34. 1 2 Mines of Moria, p 74
  35. "War Party". Rules. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  36. "Battle Companies". Rules. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  37. 1 2 3 4 The Lord of The Rings Strategy Battle Game: The Mines of Moria, p 13
  38. The Two Towers, p 11 & 42
  39. Mines of Moria, p 76-81
  40. Mines of Moria, p 89
  41. Mines of Moria, p 82-83
  42. "Elves". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  43. Note that Gil-galad was omitted from The Two Towers Rulebook, set in the Third Age.
  44. The Two Towers, p 71 & 78
  45. 1 2 "The White Council". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  46. "Gondor". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  47. Although the Army of the Dead Profiles were included in the compact "Mines of Moria" edition of the rules, they were accidentally omitted from the "One Rulebook". Because they were unavailable through what was supposed to have been the defining ruleset, they are available online for download: . Golfimbul had been intentionally replaced with the standard Orc Captain Profile.
  48. "Rohan". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  49. Adam Troke. "Tunnel Fighting Tactics". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  50. 1 2 "Dwarves". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  51. "Hobbits". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  52. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UK White Dwarf 326
  53. "Vassals of the Witchking". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  54. 1 2 "Isengard Troll -- A Debate, not an Argument". 2006-06-01. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  55. "Vassals of the Witchking". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  56. "Mordor". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  57. "Harad". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  58. "Vassals of the Witchking". Article. Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  59. "A discussion from the Games Workshop forum". Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  60. "Cheeseweb Newsletter" (PDF). Cheeseweb Monthly; E-zine. Cheesweb. 5: 49. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  61. "Online Community" (PDF). The Tengwar Beacon; E-zine. Cheesweb. 2: 5. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  62. "Online Community" (PDF). The Tengwar Beacon. Archives. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  63. Article Submission Guidelines:
  64. UK White Dwarf 300, UK White Dwarf 282
  65. "The Wrath of Umbar". Games Workshop. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  66. "War of the Ring Canada". Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  67. For example: "One Ring Awards". Competition. The One Ring. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  68. "Online Community" (PDF). The Tengwar Beacon; E-zine. Cheesweb. 1: 5. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  69. "Online Community" (PDF). The Tengwar Beacon. Archives. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  70. Revolutionary. "Alternative Knights of Dol Amroth". Article. The Palantir. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  71. 2005 Report
  72. "Discussion of Men-at-Arms of Dol Amroth". Forums. The Last Alliance. 2007-05-11. Retrieved 2007-05-14.

References

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