Army building has always been a key aspect of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, helping you recreate your favourite scenes and forces from the movies and books, and do battle with your favourite heroes and villains from Middle-earth. The new edition takes this philosophy one step further, providing a slew of army lists to represent all manner of alliances, battles and more.
In the past you could field characters together who never fought alongside each other in the established lore of the movies and books. This led to armies which did not fully represent the world of Middle-earth, something that we have tackled in the new edition. We have improved internal balance, and there is much more strategic decision making involved when picking your list – you can’t just tack on Gwaihir, Aragorn or the Witch-king to any army to try to cover a weakness any more!
There will be two supplements at release – Armies of The Lord of the Rings™ and Armies of The Hobbit™ – which will focus on all of the characters and forces seen within their respective film trilogies. Forces from the new The War of the Rohirrim™ movie can be found within Armies of The Lord of the Rings™.
We scoured the movies to ensure that every force or alliance seen fighting together onscreen will get an army to represent them on the tabletop. This has resulted in more army lists than ever before, many of which are new to the game. Some will focus on a very specific scene or collection of characters, while others are far broader and allow you to pick and choose which aspects you wish to focus on – and everywhere in between.
Each list states which profiles can be taken, what wargear those models can – or must – take (not every wargear option for a profile can be taken in every list they feature in), and which Heroic Tier the Heroes are when taken in the army list.
They will also all have their own collection of special rules that help to evoke the scenes they are representing, many of which are completely unique. Generally speaking, the more condensed an army list is, the more unique their special rules will feel. On the other hand, a list with more choices will have fewer special rules to balance the fact they have far more heroes and warriors to choose from.
Reclamation of Osgiliath is a great example of an army list that focuses on a specific scene, with various characters and warriors to choose from. This list revolves around the scene where we see Boromir having reclaimed the city of Osgiliath and holding the Banner of the White Tower aloft, fighting side-by-side with his brother Faramir. The special rules reflect the brotherly bond between the two, as well as Boromir’s impassioned speech to the warriors of Gondor.
As for a more broad army list, Legions of Mordor is a great example for the Evil side. Comprised of all the Heroes, Warriors, Monsters and Siege Engines we see at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, this list gives players the freedom to combine any of these together in the same force – though they will have fewer special rules as a result.
Of course, there are plenty of army lists that represent individual aspects of these scenes as well, should players want to hone in on a specific character or faction that fought for the Dark Lord – such as Army of Gothmog and Harad.
Some army lists allow players to recreate specific scenes from the books and movies. Ride Out depicts the scene where Théoden, Aragorn and their allies make that final heroic charge from the Hornburg in a desperate bid to claim victory at the siege of Helm’s Deep. Every model must be mounted, and there are few Warrior choices, but there are some impactful special rules that will provide a unique gaming experience for players, and will evoke that epic charge upon the tabletop.
There are plenty more in this vein! Minas Morgul focuses on the dread armies contained within the dead city, and some Orcs are able to benefit from the Blades of the Dead special rule. Besiegers of the Hornburg allows you to muster Wulf’s armies that assailed the Hornburg, and can be accompanied by a fearsome Snow Troll. Assault on Ravenhill gathers together the Heroes that took the fight to Azog in an attempt to cut the head from the snake, each of them in their finest hour. Road to Helm’s Deep gives players the chance to build a mounted force of those attacked on the road by Saruman’s Warg Riders. Legolas and Gimli can even share a horse in this list! The Three Trolls allows players to purchase upgrades to improve Bill, Bert and Tom – it’s possible to field them above 400 points, and they can really hold their own!
There are simply loads of options in the new edition, and we have gone to great lengths to ensure that if you see it onscreen, then you can do it in the Strategy Battle Game. Between Armies of The Lord of the Rings™ and Armies of The Hobbit™, there are a total of 68 army lists, with plenty more coming in Armies of Middle-earth™ later on.
We cannot wait for people to dive into the new Army Lists, and discover all the new evocative and thematic rules!