Why play Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG)

Greetings, fellow travelers! What brings you to the Shire? In need of a night’s rest, I see. A great idea, for the forests are teeming with Nazgul and undead spirits, I hear. While we sit, why don’t I tell you a tale or two about a wargame I think you might fancy…

MESBG (Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game) is a miniatures wargame designed by Games Workshop which puts you in the middle of the greatest moments in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, right alongside all the iconic heroes and villains. In this article I will describe some of the reasons why I think this game might just be the thing you need to alleviate the Corona blues we’ve all felt lately.

1. It’s Lord of the Rings, the holy father of all of fantasy.

Really, that’s my first and foremost argument. If you’re a fan of Tolkien’s works, then you are guaranteed to feel the entire rollercoaster of emotions of the movies, just that this time you’re part of the story! And that makes it 100 times more intense. Protect Minas Tirith alongside Gandalf, ride on a Fellbeast alongside the Witch King or create your own story and army as you see fit.

2. The miniatures look exactly like the characters

Speaking of Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen has never looked better! The models are charmingly crafted and based on the design of the movies. Orcs wear mismatched dirty clothes, Uruk Hai are clad in steel armor and the Fellowship of the Ring is a miniature version of the movies’ cast. All of this just makes you want to paint them all, doesn’t it? Did I mention they’re pretty easy to paint for beginners and have a wide variety, from small Hobbits to big Trolls?

3. Easy to learn, hard to master

MESBG’s gameplay has something in common with other great computer or board games: it’s easy to learn, but hard to master. Basically, all you have to do is move your models, shoot with whatever ranged weapons you have, win duels in close combat, check if your soldiers need to retreat and… rinse and repeat. But that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have a lot of hidden flavors and tactics! Some armies rely on large numbers of cheap weak infantry, other trample enemies beneath their hooves, while others cast powerful spells to paralyze and hypnotize the opponent’s forces. All of this put together makes for a never boring game, whether it’s a competitive match or a narrative scenario.

4. It combines small armies with RPG campaigning

Recently, Games Workshop has released an alternative narrative-based game mode for MESBG named Battle Companies. Instead of commanding wide armies of men and beasts, you take control of a single small squad of basic soldiers (about 5-10 models). As the campaign progresses, they rank up, gain new equipment and skills (and wounds) and face off against each other in a series of special, interlinked scenarios. Adding to this, you can build diverse battle companies which you wouldn’t find in the larger MESBG factions, such as Wanderers in the Wild or the Dark Denizens of Mirkwood. All the game rules are exactly the same, so it’s a perfect way to start your journey into this hobby.

Last time I played Battle Companies, I had a Cirith Ungol battle company, made up of rival Orcs and Uruk hai who tried to one up each other. Towards the end of the campaign, I had leveled up some of my leaders, making them great warriors and generals, fittingly. But I wanted to do something special with my last Orc hero, so I decided to make him a Sorcerer (Warg Rider was a close second choice!).

• Did he spend the end of the campaign dueling with swords and paralyzing his enemies with fell magic while blind in one eye? Yes.
• Was there a battle royale between giant spiders, Black Numenoreans and Dwarves riding ponies? Yes.
• Was this the way Tolkien envisioned his fantasy universe? Probably not exactly.
• Was it an utterly awesome and hand-crafted experience? YES!