The Lord of The Rings™: Battle of Osgiliath is hitting pre-order this weekend. It’s the official new starter box for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, and it contains enough treasure to make Smaug blush. Not least of which are the 54 plastic miniatures representing the forces of Good and Evil plus some Osgiliath Ruins to battle over.
Five of these miniatures are very special indeed. Faramir, Madril, and Damrod (the heroes who battle for Gondor) each get brand new sculpts, while Gothmog, Lieutenant of Sauron, gets two – one on foot and one on a Warg.
You can use them to recreate the running battle depicted in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™ with the fantastic new Gondor Ruins. Despite being a consistent disappointment to his father, Faramir has a range of Heroic Actions from his time working as a ranger and three Will Points for resisting magic.
At Faramir’s side stalks the veteran ranger Madril. The Captain of Ithilien is no stranger to battles against the Orcs, and has become a Master of Ambush, adept at setting up his troops in the shadows, tweaking his reinforcement dice by one either way.
On the other side of the river, the Castellan of Minas Morgul rides a Warg, bearing the scars of many, many battles. That ugly mug may repel his human foes, but for his allies it’s the face of victory. After all, The Age of Men Is Over… a handy passive ability that provides Mordor Orc models within 3” the Hatred (Man) special rule.
Naturally, it follows that The Time of the Orc Has Come, and this vicious general persecutes his prejudices with such ferocity that the Orcs he commands will fight with unprecedented brutality.
You can find all of these flavourful rules in the Armies of The Lord of the Rings™ book, but if you want to play straight out of the box without worrying about how Faramir performs on the table under the withering gaze of Denethor, then you’re in luck.
The Battle of Osgiliath box comes with a 16-page scenario booklet alongside the most up-to-date version of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual yet.
You’ll be able to pre-order this hefty box on Saturday. It’s the perfect entry into the game giving you a ready to go army to play as Good or Evil – you can even split it with a friend if you’re feeling particularly generous.
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