Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game

Games Workshop is updating the Strategy Battle Game. The new version is getting renamed to Middle-Earth, Strategy Battle Game. There will be a new rules manual, a new starter box set and new figures. It can be pre-ordered now, and I think shipping next week. This is a major commitment from GW for SBG which has been on life support for years.

The Starter box set comes with 84 models and 2 brand new sculpts, Theoden foot and mounted. The rest of the box contains, Army of the Dead and Rohan vs a Troll, Nazgul and Orcs. You also get the full hard backed rules manual. Not some skimpy mini version. 

There will be 2 books covering the armies. One for the LOTR era models. and One for the Hobbit era models. The LOTR book will be available on launch day, and the Hobbit one will be out later this year. There is a PDF to tide you over till the Hobbit army book.

Even though I have most of the figures in the box set, I have already sent in my pre-order for the set and the army book. Can't wait.

Xin

Amazons for Frostgrave and more

I like to theme my warbands for FGA. One of the Warbands I used for my Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago game is Amazons! Made by Crocodile Games during a Kickstarter, they are now available in their webstore.

I didn't get in on the Kickstarter but stumbled across some images of them on a forum somewhere. As soon as I saw them I wanted them. The game they are made for is a big battle game, so not really sold as Warband size, however I did email them and they would do a special order if I wanted for a small number of figures.

I didn't go that route cause I loved the figures so much I orderd the Starter set, and 2 or 3 more units. I want an army of these brilliant figures. They are still processing the Kickstarter so not all the figures are up on the website, I know they have cavalry models as well.

With the sales pitch out of the way(not cause I have a vested interest, just being a massive wargaming nerd) Here are the pics.

 My FGA warband. I only used 8 figures to keep the 10 player game simpler.

My Heritor.

 My Warden.

 Specialist Freebooter.

 Specialist Archer

 For standard crew I used 4 Swordswomen. After the convention Historicon, I painted up the rest of the figures to make a full 10 figure unit.

The figures are very detailed and are a joy to paint. If I wasn't trying to work on 37 projects at once I"d be painting more right now.

Cheers, Xin

Making some Easy Peasy Movement Trays

I am play testing a set of rules. It's a big battle set, with blocks of troops on square bases. The figures I will be using are my Lord of the Rings figures, which are all mounted on round bases.

The first game we did was a little cumbersome trying to keep the lines of troops with all the round bases, so I thought maybe I could make some simple movement trays. Since this is a play test I needed quick and simple given I might not use them very many times.

 I had some scrap foamcore lying around, so that's the base. I took a piece of balsa wood and cut 1/4 inch(about 6mm) strips.

 It was pretty quick work just to Hot Glue the strips onto the foamcore. Since these were semi disposable I didn't worry about exact fit, as you can see the gaps.

 Here are my Amazons on one of the trays. Worked perfectly.

 Now just to crank out a bunch more.

 The rules use 5 man frontage for units, with 25mm being your standard base size. The LoTR cavalry are mounted on 40mm base so I have to fudge that a little.

 I'll put 3 on a tray and just call it 5. For a play test it will work.

 I make 16 trays. That is enough for a small to medium engagement. One tray is 10 guys. A unit is 10 or 20 guys. I can have about 8 units or a few less if I go double strength units, per side.

Slap on some green paint and call it a day. About 2 hours worth of work on a Saturday afternoon. I'm pleased with the results. If the rules get published and I can get some other players, I will dive in with Laser cut sabot bases for all my round mounted LOTR figures.

Cheers, Xin