Introducing people to Middle Earth : Strategy Battle Game

Over the course of lockdown, I have seen a lot of posts from people who have started up the hobby and used their new-found free time to paint up their first army. We in this community are very fortunate to have such a stable, constructive outlet during what has been, for many, a time filled with uncertainty and frustration. 

Now that measures are tentatively easing in some areas, and gamers are emerging bleary-eyed from their hobby caves, we find ourselves with a fresh audience of eager gamers ready to play their very first games. So at DC, we thought it'd be good to create a resource to help both students and teachers to get in to the game as quickly and painlessly as possible! So without further ado:

How to introduce people to Middle Earth SBG – and board games in general!

Newsflash - teaching is a very difficult skill to learn. It’s something that we often see done very well in gaming circles, but it can also be done quite badly, and lack of effort on the part of the teacher is not to blame. I haven’t had many chances to teach somebody how to play SBG from the ground up, but I have played and taught an enormous amount of board games in my life - and exactly the same rules apply. I’ll go over a few of the things I think it’s crucial to keep in mind in order to get somebody actively engaged in the game, and on track to beating you in future tournaments!

I’ll be assuming that you’re teaching your newbie through a ‘demo game’, and they haven’t yet picked up the rulebook.

1: Their first game is not about you.

The most important rule. For the first game, you are not a competitor – you are their full-time mentor. This is not the time to showcase your tactical skills. Every decision you make should not be a step towards victory, but towards giving them an engaging learning experience. It is important that they understand everything that they are doing, why they are doing it, and what consequences this will have for the outcome of the game. And it is your job to deliver this information in a digestible and fun way.

If you have brought your most competitive yellow alliance list down to the gaming centre, and are looking for some hardcore tournament prep games, it might be best to hand over to your friend with the fluffy Minas Tirith list for some tutorial games. Your newbie will learn nothing from being stomped. Which brings us to…

2: First Impressions Matter!

Perhaps even more important than teaching the mechanics is providing a positive, fun gaming experience for their first outing. Nothing will send a new player running for the iron hills faster than getting mercilessly stomped on game one. Those impressions really stay with people, and if you let it happen, you’ve lost a potential valuable community member, competitor, or future friend! Try to play on the same ‘wavelength’ as your newbie – don’t use rules they haven’t yet learned against them. Use what they have learned to provide an enjoyable game where they can make meaningful decisions. That being said…

3: One step at a time.

We all know the feeling of trying to take in too much information at once- it’s unpleasant, and you don’t want that to be your newbie’s first impression. Take baby steps, and keep everything relevant to what’s going on. Don’t begin by explaining victory points, heroic actions, magic powers, break points and ally matrices. If you do decide to use a matched play scenario, ensure it’s a simple one like ‘To the Death!’ – with points for wounding the leader, breaking and quartering your opponent, and killing banners - which are all things that will be useful to think about in all future games. But for a learning game, I think just forgoing a scenario entirely and just having a skirmish is totally OK.

How quickly you bring in new rules will depend on your newbie’s level of experience – but generally you’ll start by explaining warbands and deployment, and then begin moving your forces across the board. Maybe also go in to a tiny bit of detail on how to successfully engage – but again, don’t get bogged down in the details. If they are putting spears in front of swords or running off the map, by all means correct them, but this isn’t the time to start reciting Sun Tzu.

As the game goes on, you’ll bring in duel and wound rolls, control zones and pairing off, shooting and fight values, making way, traps and courage tests. Keep this snappy, keep the dice rolling, and make sure your newbie is happy with each mechanic before moving forward. If they’re confused, don’t drag them by the hand - hold back on introducing the next new mechanic until they feel comfortable. 

Remember that what is very simple to you might be completely baffling to them, and don't get frustrated if they struggle with certain concepts. Remember, we were all noobs once!

By the end of their first learning game, you want them to feel comfortable with the core combat loop - with maybe a few basic heroic actions and special rules thrown in. It might seem like baby stuff to a seasoned player, but it will be plenty for a demo game. It's important to remember that the area-based combat mechanics hold a lot of hidden complexity, which can melt the brain of even a seasoned player during long sessions, and just taking this in may be plenty for their first game. For a second game, you could try bringing in a matched play scenario and start talking through victory conditions, and if they’re comfortable, get your newbie thinking about overall strategy.  

4: Keep armies simple and balanced.

Odds are, your newbie will want to throw down a Gandalf, Sauron, Balrog or Mumak on game 1. Who can blame them? These are awesome units and will add a lot to any game of SBG. But are they really going to help them learn the game?

Bitter pill though it may be, it’s probably best to leave these units at home until they have a couple of games under their belt. Stomping an entire force with a Mumak feels awesome, but it won’t teach your newbie much about the game other than how to stomp guys with a Mumak.

For game number one, I suggest playing 300-400pts of troops, cavalry, archers (optional) and generic captains. Include a range of fight values. Try to stay away from characters that ‘break’ the core mechanics of the game, E.G. Ingold – you’re teaching the rules, not the exceptions. This will give a solid foundation, and will get your newbie making important decisions using the game's fundamental mechanics – which should be plenty to sink their teeth in to for the first few hours. I would use something like the following:

Minas Tirith (400pts)

Faramir, horse, lance, shield
3 x Knight of Minas Tirith, shield
6 x Ranger of Gondor, spear
5 x Warrior of Minas Tirith, shield

Captain of Minas Tirith
6 x Warrior of Minas Tirith, shield
6 x Guard of the Fountain Court, shield

Mordor (395pts)

Goroth
6 x Morannon Orc, shield
6 x Morannon Orc, shield, spear

Orc Captain, shield, warg
4 x Warg Riders, throwing spear

Orc Captain, shield
5 x Orc Warrior, orc bow, spear
5 x Orc Warrior, shield 

Are they optimised? Not at all! But they’re generic, roughly balanced, and will give your newbie a snippet of all the mechanics they’ll need. It’s also quite a nice thematic matchup between the more elite Minas Tirith guards and the Orc rabble. Faramir is the unit with the most potential here, so I’d give the Gondorians to your newbie so that they can pull off some fun shenanigans.

The ‘learning curve’ is something we actually see done very well in video games – they don’t start you off by fighting the final boss, or using the game’s most powerful and situational toys. They start you on the basics, and bring in complexity at a rate that the player can digest. The trick is to introduce fun new mechanics steadily to keep up engagement, but slowly enough that your newbie can digest everything to build up an understanding of the core gameplay.

On this same point, a lot of people recommend Battle Companies as a way of learning the game, but I personally do not agree – BC is great, but I find that the mass of extra rules can get in the way of the basics. I think the lists above equip your newbie far better for an actual game of SBG.

5: Sell sell sell!

When I said you’re a full-time teacher, I wasn’t actually telling the truth. You are also a salesperson! The second job you need to do in the first game is to demonstrate how great SBG is, and why they need it in their life.

This is done by presenting the game in a way that showcases its strengths. Make sure you hit all the highlights in the first game – not just by explaining them, but by making sure your newbie interacts with them. When this game is played well, it captures the feeling of clashing, grinding battles, where positioning is everything and one crucial breakthrough can win the day. A newbie picking up the game by themselves might not see this right away – they’ll be too busy grappling with rulebooks. But, with your guidance, they can get right in to the ebb and flow of battle. Think of yourself as the ride-along salesperson on their first test drive.

In the first game, I think the key points to hit are:

• Give a really clear example of control zones. It’s one of the cooler but more confusing parts of the game, so make sure to demonstrate it in a really engaging way.  
• Have your newbie set up a daring cavalry charge – Ride of the Rohirrim quotes optional, but encouraged.
• Show your newbie the devastation that happens when a rank of soldiers gets surrounded and trapped (if they’re the sensitive type, maybe have them do this to you, rather than you to them!)
• Showcase the duel mechanic, and if you can, how to leverage higher fight values to your advantage.
• Showcase some heroic actions, and make sure your newbie does some fun stuff with their heroes. Try to engineer situations where their heroics have a high impact. (And speaking of which…)

6: Take a dive if you have to.

If you’re in a position where your newbie friend has made some errors (which is likely) and you could crush them easily – don’t!

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to lose the game. But it does mean that you should pull enough punches that your tutee still gets to make meaningful decisions and see the consequences of them. For example, if they set up a smart cavalry charge, perhaps don’t counter it with a heroic move (even if you could). Reward them for using the mechanics in a smart way – don’t shut them down immediately. Save that for your later games!

On the flip side, neither should you roll over and let them win with no effort. You should be providing engaging scenarios that they have to overcome by using what they’ve learned about the mechanics so far. It’s really rewarding when a first timer starts to understand how to play and how to win, and it shows you’re doing a good job, too!

Also, I wouldn't recommend pointing out all of their tactical blunders, and how you could exploit them - this will only serve to demoralise. I mean, it should go without saying that you will be better at the game than the person who has literally never played before - there is no need to hammer the point home. 

7: Talk things through.

You shouldn’t just be guiding your newbie through their turn – talk through yours, too. Share your own strategy and talk through your options. This has 2 benefits – they will learn more quickly, and it tells your newbie that you’re there to teach, not to win. I’m sure we can all remember a time as kids when someone ‘teaching’ a game pulled a rule out of nowhere that felt made-up and unfair – this is what we need to avoid.  

Throughout your turn, explain the rules you are using, and how they’re letting you achieve your aims:

“I have left my horses more than 6 inches away from your infantry. This is because they can move further than your infantry can, so next turn I guarantee that I’ll be able to charge and can get my charge bonuses.”

And the other side is – have your newbie talk through their own decisions as they play. Once they have a few mechanics under their belt, encourage them to talk about what they’re trying to achieve each turn, and the options available to make it happen. This leads us on to…

8: Show, don’t tell.

It’s really important that you don’t just play their game for them. In order to digest what’s going on, it has to be your newbie that makes their own decisions. Obviously you’ll have to explain any new mechanics, but try to encourage them to use what they’ve already learned under their own initiative. The sooner they start actively making their own decisions, the sooner they’ll get engaged in the game – teaching becomes easier and both parties have more fun.  

9: Keep it consistent.

This one almost goes without saying… But make sure you’re familiar with the rules before you teach somebody the game. Maybe have a flick through the rulebook the week beforehand – especially the basics! We’ve all sat through a tutorial game where the teacher was referring to the rules every 30 seconds, and contradicting themselves frequently. It really kills any momentum or enjoyment – and it doesn’t exactly build confidence that you’re learning the game the correct way.

10: It’s just a game!

The game can be cruel. Dice will betray you and Heroes will fall flat on their faces at the worst possible times. Seasoned tournament players know to take these setbacks on the chin - but your newbie might find it extremely frustrating when Aragorn dies to a nameless orc after losing the duel 5 turns in a row.

The investment in tabletop gaming is high. We get really attached to our little plastic guys, and if your newbie has spent a couple of weeks assembling and painting their brand new Pelennor army, they are probably hoping to see them dominate on the table. As we know, this won’t always be the case.

Losses in tabletop games can be drawn out and disheartening. If your newbie doesn’t have a history with tabletop games, this can be rough. They may get salty. Compare this to video games, where victories and losses often both happen quickly - if you lose a match in a videogame, you can just pick yourself up and jump in to the next one. It's understandable that a newbie might find take a few games to adjust.

The important thing here is to remind your newbie that both players are participants in a shared, interactive storytelling experience – especially if there’s any salt over some duff dice. Yes, there will be a time for skill, mastery and heroic victories, but that's a long way away. During a tutorial game, neither party has anything to prove - all you need to do is enjoy yourselves. If the battle sways one way or the other, that’s just part of the story you’re both telling.

And for an intro game, more than any other: winning or losing doesn't make a damn bit of difference, as long as both players are having fun (and hopefully learning a thing or two along the way)!

 

And that’s it! If all goes according to plan, you’ll have a new player who has a good grasp of the basics and is eager to get stuck in. Watch in amusement as they proceed directly to the nearest game store and spend their last paycheck on a new army. After a few games, it’s probably a good idea for them to read the rulebook properly and get a fuller understanding of the rules, but until then, just throw some dice and have a good time.

Fantasy Fellowship

 With the recent release of Quest of the Ringbearer, the Drawn Combat crew had a think about who they'd want in their Fantasy Fellowship - a great addition to play through the campaign with a Fellowship of your own design. Safe to say it looks like we had some different themes and concepts in mind between the four of us, so let's dive in!

Dave:
As soon as Games Workshop announced Quest of the Ringbearer, I was immediately excited by the idea of Fantasy Fellowship. I remember reading about it in an older issue of White Dwarf and at the time I didn't play SBG, but I remember thinking it was such a good idea!

Well, Jay Clare has outdone himself this time! Fantasy Fellowship is incredibly well put together, and there's been a lot of hype around it already. Naturally, I had to have a go at my own, whilst I love the original Fellowship, I couldn't help but wonder how they would have done on their quest if, lets say Gandalf, was replaced by Radagast! Here's what I put together for mine

Frodo was still my Ringbearer, I love Frodo, so I couldn't get rid of him! Sam was also not replaced, honestly, who could get rid of Sam!? In place of Merry and Pippin I've gone with Gaffer Gamgee and Farmer Maggot... They're just lke Merry and Pippin but older, right? Gandalf was replaced with Radagast, I'd loved to have replaced him with Gildor, but alas that model is long out of production.

In place of Aragron, Legolas and Gimli I've gone for Halbarad (with his Banner), Faramir and Haldir respectively. I absolutely love all 3 of these characters. Halbarad is great in the books, and Faramir is one of my favourite characters in the whole series. Controversially aswell, I really like Haldir from the films, when he shows up at Helms Deep. Finally, in place of Boromir, Prince Imrahil joins my Fantasy Fellowship. Again, he's an absolutely fantastic character!

I can't wait to give these guys a go on the table as soon as I can, I've already painted them all up!

Colm:

The theme of my Fantasy Fellowship is family and how they come together to support each other during their quest. Bilbo decides to take on the quest to destroy the ring after his 111th birthday, and his nephew Frodo comes as his companion to support him. Bilbo’s old friend Gaffer Gamgee won’t let him go alone and Sam won’t let either Frodo or the Gaffer leave him behind. 

Gandalf and Legolas are replaced by the husband and wife team of Galadriel and Celebron, destined to be separated by the Balrog in Moria. Gimli and Boromir’s spots are taken by Elladan and Elrohir with tragedy in store at Amon Hen. Lastly, Aragorn has long been known as a loner patrolling the wilds, but he is the perfect leader to bring the fellowship together as the 9th member and rightful king of men.

When pulling this force together I was struck by how many possibilities there were for fellowship compositions and stories to be told. I almost made Celebron Boromir’s replacement, but his death would be before he discovered his wife had lived was a Shakespearean level of tragedy I couldn’t handle. Elrohir will instead have to spend a large chunk of his quest grieving for his brother. This also allows for some interesting story telling in how the twins’ special rules are carried across the campaign. 

After writing this I’m already itching to get working on the next one! Hopefully some games will be possible before too long to see how this Fellowship gets on.

Dan Slob:

I love the idea of doing a fantasy fellowship campaign, I think it lends itself to doing something theme-y better than anything else in the hobby. With that in mind (and also with the thought that I wanted to only use models I own) I came up with the following:

Frodo with Sting and Mithril Coat

Sam

Gandalf 

Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (Aragorn) with Flag and Shield

Faramir (Legolas) with Bow

Hurin the Tall (Gimli)

Denethor (Boromir)

Beregond (Pippin)

Damrod (Merry)

I call this The Strength of Men. The idea here is that Gandalf has taken Frodo and Sam to Gondor for their aid. Frodo has his gifts from Bilbo who gave them to him before they left. Sam needs nothing more than his frying pan. 

Boromir is, of course, the mightiest warrior Gondor has so he will replace Aragorn. He has brought along his Banner of Minas Tirith because he has heard about “stealth” and wants no truck with it.

Faramir replaces Legolas as he is also pretty hot with a bow and has always felt that he could take down a Mumak single handedly. He’ll be competing for kills with Hurin the TALL who replaces Gimli (see what I did there?). No boxes needed for this giant, and he probably won’t need tossing across the gap to the causeway, he can just stride over it! 

Denethor is replacing his son as the one who goes mad and tries to take the ring. This definitely seemed like something Denethor would do, but at least now he has the chance to redeem himself by protecting the little ones; Beregond and Damrod. These two troublemakers are always smoking on the walls of Minas Tirirth and stealing old farmer Madril’s carrots. 

Gandalf is reprising his role as himself as he’s always enjoyed the bright lights of the big city. 

And so it came to pass that Gondor’s mightiest heroes did sally forth from Minas Tirith to do battle with Sauron. Though their path may be long and treacherous, the strength of men will conquer all. 

Steve:

As I did in our Evil Fellowship article - it's time for a heist.

Bilbo Baggins (Frodo)

Hamfast 'Gaffer' Gamgee (Sam)

Radagast the Brown (Gandalf)

Aldor (Merry)

Denethor (Pippin)

Celeborn (Aragorn)

Eómer (Boromir)

Rumil (Legolas)

Floi Stonehand (Gimli)

Bilbo Baggins is our main man, and he's getting the old gang and a few new faces together for one last job. When I say old, I mean old. The new faces are needed since most of my Fellowship are getting pretty far on in their years and are about to go out in one last hurrah. Gaffer, his long time friend, is along for the ride but he's not all to happy about it - and he'll let Bilbo know it was a bad idea! For a caper like this, you always need a Wizard. Unfortunately Gandalf was needed at the West End so Radagast filled in at the last second - not entirely a bad decision though as he has a guy on the inside...it's Sebastian. Sebastian is his guy on the inside. Who doesn't want to see some fun hedgehog infiltration shenanigans?

For the rest of the crew, they had to wake up Aldor, nearly got shot in the process but who knows when those twitchy reflexes will come in handy? Denethor seems a bit sketchy, but no doubt Bilbo has some plans up ahead for an inevitable double-cross twist regarding his potential liability. Floi, being the longtime bookkeeper for the crews ill gotten gains was brought back on with his encyclopedic knowledge of what they'd have to get through and how to use it against the enemy. Whilst not looking old, he certainly is in years as Celeborn brings some of his stoic-ness and level-headed thinking to the table - but not too bad in a punch up either. 

The young blood is brought in the form of Rumil - the blade man who no-one is taking down in a hurry, and Eómer brought on as the getaway driver in the end (although, as we know with the story of the Fellowship, it was a one way journey - and Eómer's ends sooner than the rest...).

What do you think to our Fellowships? We certainly had fun writing them. Let us know what choices you've made for yours along with any fun themes you're running with!

The Making of: Dwarrowdelf, a Khazâd-Dum Display Board

 After what feels like a long time, we're back! With the global pandemic going on we at Drawn Combat (along with many of you fine, reputable Hobbits) have been at a loss for games over the past few months. Instead, we've been knuckling down on the hobby side of things whether it be finishing up armies, starting entirely new ones or, in the case of a few of us, finally getting to work on some display boards we'd had planned. Today I'll be walking you through how I went about bringing a little piece of Khazâd-Dum to life in miniature form.

In this board, there are three main components: The pillars, the scaffolding and the board surface itself. First of all, we're going to start with the pillars as they're probably the longest part of the board itself (at least the way I went about doing it!). During lockdown, I got my hands on a resin 3D printer and after printing a few small bits of scenery I wanted to see if I could take it any bigger. The problem was, I'm not the best sculpter both physically and digitally. After a bit of searching, I found a spot on digital file by Angelo's Workshop (a full list of links and materials will be at the end of the article) of the pillars from Dwarrowdelf. I know not everyone has access to a printer, but there are a variety of services available online to print 3D files, and I would recommend resin over plastic purely for the smoother finish. 

After a good amount of trial and error, I was left with some pillars! 

In the end (due to the size of my printer and available resin) I had to print each pillar in three sections and it didn't leave me with the smoothest connecting points - out comes the green stuff and files. There was also the issue of the cracks in the pillars (as originally sculpted). My vision was for a Dwarrowdelf in it's prime during Durin's reign over the mountain kingdom. These were easily filled in with green stuff, but when working on the pillars I had the idea to leave one slightly damaged to add a little more flavour to the build. 

This flavour was going to be achieved by adding a scaffolding around the 'damaged' pillar, I imagined maintenance work and construction would still be going on, so gave the opportunity to break the board up a little and add some more details. To work on this I picked up a pack of balsa wood of varying sizes and a bag of matchsticks from a craft shop and broke out the hobby knife. Starting with a sheet of 3mm thick balsa, I cut 3mm width strips to form the main scaffolding skeleton and started sticking all the bits together with wood glue leaving adequate time to dry between constructing each part. One of the pillars was constantly on hand to reference make sure I had enough room to work with.

With most of the structure built, I did a preliminary section of boards made from matchsticks to solidify the structure a little more and make it easier to work with. It was at this point it struck me that the joints looked a little bare and odd, so I cracked out some 0.8mm braided rope to do a small wrap around to give it the impression it was all lashed together. 

 

All that was left now for the construction was the long process of cutting to size attaching all of the remaining boards made from the matchsticks. This took some time. I did however decide to add another level of scaffold skeleton on top, but after some conferring with the DC team left it bare of floorboards to avoid it looking too cluttered.

All that was left now for this part of the build was a bit of colour to bring it to life. This was achieved with a 1:1 mix of Citadel Contrast Wyldwood and Lahmian Medium to make the pot go a little bit further as the balsa wood just drinks it straight up! Afterwards the ropes at the joints were coated in Screaming Skull and washed with Agrax Earthshade to add a little bit of tone and shade. Some more detail would come later, but I left that until I had the board mostly finished and also decided to make a ladder with some left over bits that I had!

The next step was the big one - assembling and coating the board. The board size I had in mind was to fit into my Kallax shelving unit, so after cutting a chunky 2cm thick piece of mdf to size I gave a heavy coat of masonry paint and then smoothed over with a hard piece of card to give some nice semi-smooth surface detail (enough to not look lumpy, but not so much that there was no texture at all) and when dry I added the pillars with some wood glue.

Now onto the painting - I picked up a can of grey spray paint close enough to the final colour I was aiming for and coated the entire thing, making sure to get into the small nooks on the pillars and not miss anything off. Once dry, a watered down coat of Nuln Oil was applied to the entire board and pillars, taking care to not allow it to pool too heavily in ares of the pillars, removing any excess. After what felt like an eternity of waiting for the shade to dry, a combined mix of Dawnstone and Terminatus Stone (both Dry Citadel colours, mixed 3:2) was then used as a drybrushed coat all of the board and pillars, and then worked more into on the parts that would have been more foot travelled. The scaffolding was then added, and using the same paint mix, signs of wear and dirt were added along the floorboards, ramp and ladder to make it appear more used. The sides of the board were then coated in a very matte black (Stuart Semple) to frame it from every angle.

Now that the main construction was done, it was time for some more details. Once again I broke out the printer and got to finding files for various tools and masonry items: a wheelbarrow, sledgehammers and pickaxes. This would be placed around the scaffolding section of the board, and some old sprue was also cut up to form bits of chiseled stone to be used. With all the pieces in place, it was time to arrange the Dwarves and get the whole thing into the studio to photograph!

After this section of images were shot, I had the urge to do something a little more dramatic with the lighting, cue the fiery presence of the Balrog!

Well that about covers it for the making of this display board, we'll hopefully have some more hobby content on it's way for you soon. If you have any questions at all, please let us know in the comments!

Materials:

Balsa Wood, Wood Glue, Matchsticks (all of these available at hobby and craft shops).

0.8mm Braided Rope by Gale Force Nine

Masonry Paint - Goodhome Masonry Tester

Grey Spray Paint - Halfords

Citadel Paints - Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade, Dawnstone, Terminatus Stone, Lahmian Medium, Wyldwood, Screaming Skull

Black - Stuart Semple

Pillars made using Angelo's Workshop sculpt (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3652943) and printed on Elegoo Mars 3.

Community Content: Why you should go to an MESBG Tournament

In a very laborious and roundabout way Harry Parkhill (of the Entmoot podcast, and Battle Games in Middle Earth Youtube channel) discusses why you should join him at a tournament when the Great British Hobbit League restarts later this year.

I always had this preconceived notion about wargaming tournaments; that they were full of the kind of nerds you never like to think of yourself as. You know the ones, they’re a little too into the game, they know just a little too much about the profiles and they’re perhaps a little bit more touchy about how long 6 inches is.

“That’s a long Six inches”, they’d say.

I had this notion because it had been inherited from ‘groupthink’ at the gaming club in my hometown. When I told them I was heading off to Warhammer World for a 40k school league event, they said they hated tournaments. It was all “too competitive”; people were unwelcoming and often downright rude they claimed. Even though that tournament was great fun (we actually won!), I never made the effort to go to one again. I guess I was young, I didn’t have access to a car, and my mum has always been the first to laugh at my ‘nerdiness’ when I mention Warhammer so it’s fair to say I wasn’t keen on the idea of convincing her for a lift to spend the weekend doing it.

So I didn’t.

That tournament was consigned to history. History became Legend. Legend became myth. And for six-and-a-half years (roughly) that memory passed out of all knowledge.

Then the unlikeliest thing happened. I picked out one of my oldest and favourite plastic models (a Minas Tirith Warrior) from the Middle Earth range and put paint and brush to it. The reason was that in 2016 rumours had circulated that Games Workshop weren’t going to renew their license to make Middle Earth models (don’t trust rumours). I was horrified. This was my childhood; the reason I got into wargaming. I began pouring through eBay (back when it had a Capital B in the middle – aah, those were the days). I bought pretty much anything – but particularly the old metal sculpts I assumed would be first to go. It was a furious and addictive spending spree. My quizzical girlfriend was confused as to why I was buying so much and painting so little, but what does she know of such necessities!? They’re mine, I didn’t feel like parting with them, they came to me (in the post).

Then as luck would have it, I stumbled on the unlikeliest of videos. Whilst searching for painting tutorials, I stumbled across a battle report. What’s this? A ring… of people still playing the game?

I had never really played the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, I’d only played a bit on my own, and maybe with some of my friends when I was at primary school. But it was never the ‘actual’ game, using the official rules, just some weird quasi-dice-rolling-army-man game. Here were people actually doing it, and not all that long ago (I watched it, according to my Youtube watch history, in April 2016 and it had been released in November 2014).

From there I discovered the GBHL Facebook page, and the league itself. “What must I do?” I thought. I couldn’t live vicariously through these videos when the world was on my doorstep. So I bundled my sleeping roll together, grabbed my walking staff and headed to a tournament in Nottinghamshire. I met a few people who made a fantastic impression (Dan Entwistle, as the welcoming organiser particularly stood out) They helped shepherd me into a world which was simultaneously challenging and exhilarating. It’s never easy making new friends, but I tried with gusto to ingratiate myself into the groups of people who clearly knew one another (hopefully I wasn’t “that guy” who was a bit too friendly). I was taught valuable lessons about the game (mainly how to play it… but also about putting heroes behind your troops so crossbows don’t cut them down) but I also found there was passion and heart in the Middle Earth Scene.

These weren’t the finicky, unpleasant nerds I’d worried about – these were warm-hearted people I shared a great passion with. Not just the gaming and the models, but the worlds of Tolkien too. I was joining an exciting adventure, a new phase in my life with friendships that were no longer defined by school, university, work, or even where I lived, but by a fierce passion. These people were willing to travel to Nottinghamshire from around the country (and I’d been willing to travel on the gamble that I’d enjoy it), we had been united by that cause.

 From there, came more tournaments, including meeting and/or playing against various members of the Middle Earth team at Throne of Skulls, but also seeing familiar faces and building on those early games, slowly adding people to the list of people I could feel comfortable wandering over to for a chat between games.

This feeling of belonging is something difficult to find in adult life – and is something which I think most of us probably search for. We connect with people for a number of reasons, but common interests are probably top of that lists.

So think about it; SBG tournaments combine so many niche passions – reading, painting, modeling, the worlds of Tolkien, the films of Peter Jackson, the pleasure of pulling together the puzzle pieces in an army list, the delight of challenging someone to a game of wits, the spirit of adventure that comes by travelling to another part of the country (or world), and of course the social interaction that comes from spending time in the company of strangers who share all these interests. That’s a long list, and if you think any of those sounds like fun then you’d fit right in.

So why should you go to an MESBG tournament? Ultimately, you’re already interested, because you’re reading this. There’s already a box of tinder, and pyramid of wood waiting, all you need is the spark which roars into all consuming fire that this hobby can be. You can be the next companion in this Fellowship of tournament goers.

Great… When are we going?

Dan Slob: Thanks so much Harry! Check out the excellent Entmoot Podcast here! 

Conversion Corner: Corsair Reavers

Today Will is going to show you how to do some simple but effective conversions for Corsair Reavers. Enjoy.

So here we are again in Conversion Corner, this article is going to show you how to convert some of your unused Corsair bowmen models into Reavers. Seeing as there is no model for these and the fact the bowmen are the most underused model in the faction it makes sense to at least use these to your advantage. I am going to show you the 4 different bowmen models and show you different ways to convert each one. Also a nice little trick even if you don't have any bits at all. Being pirates you can use all sorts of different styles of weapons so raid your unwanted/unused models and see what you can come up with.

Things you'll need:

The sculpting tools and tweezers aren't 100% necessary. A cocktail stick will do the job just as well.

Bowman 1

So here is the trick using the first one and probably the easiest. Firstly, cut the bow bits off the top and bottom...DON'T throw the cut off bits away.  Clean up the model's rough bits left from cutting and flatten off 1 of the off cuts at the bottom using a hobby knife or file. The other one should be left with a V shaped end.

A) Using Plastic cement glue the flat ended piece to the left hand of the model. You can create a less curved style sword by cutting at a different angle, but I liked the funky style of this one and thought it suited their pirate nature.

B) Again, using plastic cement glue the second one into the recess of the hand. You will notice it is much easier to place due to the v shape created by the clippers. 

And hey presto, one simple and easy Reaver using no extra parts or much hassle.

**You could if you wanted to create a more pointed shape on these "swords" before fitting them if you wished but for the purposes of this and who I wanted to target with this I didn't bother.

Bowman 2

The beauty of this bowman is he basically comes pre-prepped for you. Firstly, find a sword/axe or any sort of weapon you like that can be placed in the hand and a right hand and weapon off an old model or out of a bit box. I found here that a Morannon Orc axe hand was perfect and a serpent horde sword from the serpent rider kit fit perfectly. File down the hand to sit as flush as possibly with the rest of the arm. If you need to cut down the inside, you can as this will not be seen.

Simply glue or stick the hand with weapon and the weapon green stuff making a smooth transition using water and a tool or even a cocktail stick. and you are done.

Bowman 3

This one takes a little more finesse than the previous 2.  Initially you need to cut the bow off, but this is also attached to the leg so be as careful as possible and just clean up the leg as you would normally if you were cutting it from a sprue. The hand is a little trickier. Cut off the hand from the end of the fabric up to the hair and the feathers of the arrows. You essentially want to cut out the block like in the third picture. Don't worry too much about how smooth it is as this will not be seen.

Again, for this I used the same morannon axe hand as I did in the previous model.  I had to play around with my hobby knife for a little while to fiddle with the correct fit, but it didn't take long. I then used the green stuff to stick it in place and shape some more hair. You can again use plastic cement for this which is also great as it melts the plastic creating a smooth transition.

The left hand I used a random sword I had lying about and used the same method as the previous models. Like I said, these are pirates not soldiers, so I like the fact they have different weapons.

After an hour I revisited any excess green stuff I didn't like the look of and just cut it out. Another one done.

Bowman 4

Again, another tricky on but believe me when I say if I can do it you can too. Cutting off the bow...no change. The hand though was a little more difficult. In order to cut the hand, you must cut it flat along the model initially and then chop in at the wrist. I then dry fitted the hand I found in my bits box which after a little shaving on the model fit nicely. Here I have used an axe but I previously had a practice model using a Minas Tirith sword hand which also fit well. This will take a little time and shaving the flat part of your cut. Just be patient and don't expect it to fit perfectly. You always have green stuff to help make it look natural.

To attach the hand, I used plastic glue to melt the inside of the hand a little better to the model and then used a tiny amount of green stuff to finish it off. Again, after an hour I trimmed any excess off that I didn't like. The sword I attached in the same way as the others also adding a little pommel underneath.

And there you have it. 4 quick and easy Reavers from your unused models. Let us know what you think and if you have some of your own why not show us.  I'll try and get them painted up for another blog so you can see how they turned out.

Community Content: Brilliant Basing

Today the very talented Mike Schalk takes us through how to make some lovely looking bases. You can see more of his work here: https://www.instagram.com/mschalk12/ . If you would like to contribute to our Community Content please get in touch at DrawnCombat@gmail.com

In this article, I'll be presenting an in depth how-to on the basics of crafting and painting bases from materials you can find almost exclusively at your local Dollar or Pound shop.  I've made hundreds of these bases, with some variation, for my armies over the years to great effect; a few of these armies now have event awards for appearance next to them in my display cases thanks, in large part, to the foundations they're glued to!

Gather Your Materials

The bulk of this technique is founded on you rounding up some cork sheeting.  Avoid getting yours from hobby shops; this stuff is prone to price gouging, and I'd hate to see you paying $20 a roll for it.  The roll that I'm working with here came from the Dollar General (a U.S. Chain retailer) and cost me a whopping $3USD.  It's not a huge roll, but 36 square inches will do about 30 bases if you're smart with your materials.  You can also find it sold in square sheets, which will do just fine too!

The trickier, yet equally important, material that you'll need to source is some wood chips.  In the photo above, these are the silver chunks; mine came from the Dollar Store, a Canadian retailer, and cost me $4CAD.  The best way to find this is to make your way to any store that's going to be selling “Filler” for vases and the sort of decorative things that your mum likes to set out on tables or shelves.  Failing that, I've seen folks make good use of tree bark.  If you have to go this route, make sure the tree is dead already; not only will this mean the bark is dry enough to not lift any paint you apply, but you're less likely to wake up to some Ents storming your house.

The last elements are easy enough to get a hold of: some fine sand (also easy to find at bargain shops or your yard), the cheapest acrylic  paint you can find in grey, white, and black, some primer, a cheap glue gun, and some PVA glue.

Optionally, you can usually find some tufts of flowers or clumps of bush to dress the finished product to your taste; I like the Woodland Scenics stuff, but cheaper alternatives are easy enough to find.  If a can of black or grey primer is out of your price range, any junk from the bargain shops that you can brush on works fine too.  Finally, I've got some Woodland Scenics Adhesive shown that I like to brush on to seal the bases at the end, but it can be hard to find/expensive, so either forego that altogether or brush on some PVA, as listed above. Finally, the GW Shades in Reikland Fleshshade and Athonian Camoshade are what will really make these pop, but you can absolutely made do without them in a pinch.  Everything needed to follow these steps cost me about $25CAD, aside from the Shade paints.

Assembling the Components

Start by gluing your bases face down onto your sheet of cork with your hot glue gun, ensuring that they're not too close to each other.  Be sure to use enough glue to cover the surface of the base, but not so much that it squishes out the sides when you press them to the cork.  Next, tear around each base and set aside all the scrap cork that will naturally start piling up; you'll need it for the next step.  Be sure that you tear as close to the edge of the bases as you can can so that opponents can still get their models in base contact with you. 

Next, hit each base with a chunk of wood.  Be aware of what models you're going to be fixing to each base at this point; you're going to add layers and bits of cork around the wood next, but models don't adhere to the wood well.  This is rarely an issue with plastic models, but some heavier metal figures will often detach during handling if they don't have some cork underfoot.  The job now is to simply fish through your pile of odd cork bits and build up a few layers (depending on the thickness of your material) around the wood.  Be careful about making the base too tall, as you can inadvertently make your model top heavy and potentially get accused of modelling for advantage by ornery opponents. To avoid harsh edges to the cork, grab some hobby clippers and try to blend the cork bits into each other

Lastly, and this is optional, I like to use some fine grit sand to emulate moss growth on the rock. The sand I used for this tutorial was a little too heavy, but I've included a shot of what it looks like with much finer grit sand at the end of this article. Run a bead of glue along one face of the base and sprinkle some sand over it. Remember that moss always faces one direction in nature (North maybe? I can't remember) so don't go wild with the sand here.

Painting Your Bases

Painting rock that looks convincing relies on your skill at drybrushing.  Nature is not consistent, predictable, or ordered, and your bases will look more convincing as you layer colours and texture on top of them.  For now, start by priming them black and brushing them all over with grey.  You can skip the priming, but be ABSOLUTELY certain that all of the cork is covered. Nothing ruins the suspension of disbelief like a nasty chunk of cork showing through. 

Next, dilute some black acrylic with water to make a poor man's wash.  Don't use GW shades for this; not only does the Citadel stuff sometimes come out glossy, but there's no reason to cover a 25 cent base in 27 cents of expensive wash anyway. Depending on how dilute you go, you may want to do this process twice. It is absolutely critical that you let your coats dry between steps.  If you try to wash over wet grey then you'll end up with a weirdly muddy looking mess.  Be patient.  If you're doing 25 of these in a row, then the first few you do might well be dry by the time you get through the whole line of them. 

Next, after the washes have dried, hit the whole base with a white drybrush.  Cheap acrylic white does a fine job, but an off white like GW's Screaming Skull or Ushtabi Bone gives a warmer hue.  A great tip for anyone frustrated by drybrushing that looks chalky would be to try a makeup brush; my wife donated a little eyeshadow brush to me a while ago and it's the best for drybrush applications.  The softer bristles make control so much easier! Don't overdue it, but do take advantage of the texture of the cork, and remember to always make downward strokes to catch the edges.

Next, feel start alternating washes and drybrushes.  I like Athonian Camoshade for the cork and Reikland Fleshshade for the wood chunk. If you want to follow up with another drybrush to re-establish the edges, just make sure you go lightly.

Finally, hit the moss that we did with any green you have on hand, wash once with our black wash, and touch the very top surfaces with a yellow (Balor Brown is a great pick),  This will give the moss some variation and add a bit more colour to our work.  Don't forget to paint your rims and you're all set!

Closing Thoughts

Basing is an easy way to take your army to the next level, and requires only some basic, cheap materials and some experimentation. Even if painting your models isn't your favourite part of the hobby, doing some nice work here can elevate the appearance of even the most basic armies. Always remember to let your paints dry between steps, be aware that a model has to have somewhere to stand, and avoid shapes and patterns that look unnatural. Cheers, and happy hobbying folks!

A Tale of Two Treebeards

Finecast or Metal? Contrast or regular paint? These are two discussions that crop up constantly within the community and likely will do for some time. It just so happens that two of us from the Drawn Combat team got hold of the same miniature around the same time, but in different materials. I myself managed to get hold of the original metal kit of Treebeard, whereas Dan picked up the (currently sold by GW) Finecast sculpt. At this point we decided we'd have a look at two of the larger debates when it comes to ME:SBG miniatures at the moment, comparing the different materials and different methods of painting available!

Dan: Sadly for me, I drew the short straw and had the Finecast Treebeard to assemble. At first this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, with surprisingly little flash to clean up. The model even went together fairly well, except for a big gap where the right leg met the body (the foot also has to sit in the base so I couldn't just reposition the leg). It did take a while to twist the leg into alignment using the old hot-water trick, but once it went in it was very snug. The whole model ended up requiring no green stuff at all! Success!

Obviously I was feeling pretty smug at this point, so that's when Karma took a sharp look in my direction in the form of Merry and Pippin. Merry was fine, he just perched on his branch no trouble. Pippin on the other hand was an absolute pain. I couldn't get him to sit flush on the branch for a start, and not only that, but I couldn't physically get him into the gap because his foot was in the way. Sadly for the already diminutive hobbit he had to have most of his lower leg chopped off and his foot reattached at the knee. Both hobbits were also very flash-y, especially under the cloaks. Overall I have had far worse experiences with Finecast but it still wasn't great.

Finally, and I am sure Steve will talk about this too, there is the issue of Treebeard being somewhat lacking in the height department. As he is being added to my Ent army, the height discrepancy was just ridiculous, especially as he will almost always be the leader (as he is a Hero of Legend).

He's so little!

I had to do something about it so after a bit of thought I went with a bunch of spare bases that I chopped up. I went with two layers in the end, and even then he is little, but the base was starting to look more like a plinth than a base so I just went with it.

Still small but the best I can do.

Remember how smug I was about using no green stuff just a paragraph ago? Well here comes Karma again. I ended up having to use a tonne of it to cover the little steps I had made. Overall it worked out fine in the end, though I do wish the model itself was bigger!

Steve: I'm not going to lie, I felt really chuffed when I got hold of the original Treebeard kit. It was a model I wanted so much when I was younger and now being an adult who will happily chuck money at Lord of the Rings models I managed to snag one (unused, I might add) off of one of the trade groups. The first thing you notice about the kit, is the sheer weight of it. Seriously, this is one massive hunk of metal and it will happily break your toe if you drop it. Two big concerns I had going in to the build were the weight for one (keeping everything fixed in place) and the potential level of reshaping to made parts fit snuggly. Flash-wise similar to Dan's was not much of an issue, although as with any metal model there's always a noodle bit of flash you didn't realise was there until you've painted the model!

Onto the first issue: weight. In order to get this model assembled to the point where it wouldn't fall apart with a small tap I was going to have to pin the parts together - mainly the arms and legs. Pinning (for the uninitiated) is a good old technique involving drilling a small hole in each of the parts you want to attach, and inserting a small metal rod (this can easily be part of a paper clip) to add extra support to the joint and to take some of the weight off of the glue. When attaching to the base however, I decided I'd forgo pinning here and instead use a combination of baking powder and superglue. The two when combined make a ridiculously strong bond and helped in securing the whole model to its metal base. 

Pinning in action.

When Dan showed me a comparison of Treebeard to the other Ents, the scale didn't match up so I shamelessly borrowed his idea and gave him a lift off the base to help him with the towering presence he should have. For this I took the base, and added the lid from an old tester pot of paint back from when I decorated my house to give another centimetre of height, then building around the edges with Green Stuff to smooth it all out (admittedly, I did this after I painted most of the model!).

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Dan: I am not really a painter. I don't particularly enjoy it and I am often unwilling to spend money on the 15 different shades of brown that a lot of painting guides suggest. When Contrast Paints were released it was like they were made for me. Paint and Shade mixed into one? Yes please! They have become my go-to paints, and though they aren't suitable for everything they are often 'good enough' which is my M.O. for painting. So with Treebeard I knew he was going to get Contrasted to death. I went with a basecoat of Wyldwood, which ended up being surprisingly difficult. Considering how thin Contrast is it left a load of white spots in the recesses of all the bark. I hate to say it but I think the model might just be a bit too detailed! It was a massive pain as I kept finding white spots every time I picked it up. I eventually got them all but it was still annoying. I finished off with a dry-brush of Mournfang Brown and Baneblade Brown. That'll do pig.

Merry and Pippin, on the other hand, were a joy to paint. Contrast works best for cloth and they are all cloth. I think they turned out really well, especially as they are all Contrast and nothing else. Told you I wasn't a painter!

Steve: Compared to Dan, I find a great amount of joy in painting - it's one of my favourite parts of the hobby. That being said - I'm not amazing, but decided to go with more traditional methods of tackling Treebeard and the Hobbits. He started off primed with Abaddon Black to then be base coated in Rhinox Hide all over (my general go-to dark brown). My aim was to build him up from there in gradual, increasingly light dry-brush coats, with a little Nuln Oil thrown in after the first. this started with Sylvaneth Bark moving on to Terminatus Stone and finally an extremely light coating of Wrack White (all dry paints) on the small highlights I wanted to pick out. This whole process was actually remarkably quick (not as quick as coating the whole model in contrast, mind you) but the sculpt of the bark really lends itself to dry-brushing and every accent shows for it meaning that detail could be achieved for minimal effort. 

I then worked into a bit more detail, adding dabs of Castellan Green to the areas of moss, leaves and patches of the beard (of which I largely left up to a healthy wash coating of Creed Camo), finally highlighting with a small drybrush of Nurgling Green. 

A similar approach was used for Merry and Pippin (base, wash, dry-brush) only with the small addition of contrast for the flesh and hair - I'm still not confident with painting flesh so this makes for a nice alternative with good results.

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Dan: For basing I first covered the mound in Brown Battleground from Army Painter. I also added some spare branches that I had leftover from my other Ents to make it look less like he was just stood on a lump.

To finish the model, and to make him fit with the rest of the army, I decided to give Treebeard some proper foliage. I did this by teasing out poly fiber until it was thin and hooking it over his branches. I then used some spray adhesive and sprinkled over coarse turf so that it stuck to the poly fiber. After two applications of this I sprinkled on some leaves to finish. I also stuck some of the coarse turf to Treebeard himself to look like moss. I repeated the whole process with two of the larger branches on the base. Finally I finished the base itself with a mix of two different colours of coarse turf, static grass and leaves.

I finished with some flowers to break up the green a bit. I wish I had cut the tufts up to be smaller but tearing them off now would cause too much damage.

Steve: To start off with like Treebeard the whole base got a healthy coat of Rhinox Hide as a base. From here I started to attach clumps of Tree Bush from Green Stuff World to both the base and certain parts of Treebeard in order to achieve the beginnings of a mossy look as per Fangorn, with a few grass tufts thrown in to break it up a little bit. The main problem I found with this when applying however is that the colour is very flat - it doesn't show the texture off well enough so this was given a once over with Nurgling Green to add a touch of highlight and make it look a little more natural.

The base is looking a bit too bright for my liking!

Just having the gras tufts wasn't enough to break it up however, so out came the Stirland Mud to add a bit more of an earth tone to the top of the base whilst also removing some of the Tree Bush. Finally I had some more Green Stuff World shrubberies to use, so added a couple of clumps around just help elevate the base and make the model flow a bit better from base to head. This was achieved by drilling a few small holes in the softer Green Stuff part of the base and inserting the stalks of the shrubs. 

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Dan: Overall I am really happy with how Treebeard turned out. As I said above, I am not a painter but I think the foliage distracts from the simplistic paint job. I ended up being glad that he is the Finecast version as the base adds a lot of heft to the model so if he was metal he would be very chunky indeed!

The finished article - Dan

Steve: Given it's my first large miniature I've tackled in a while I'm pretty darn pleased with the outcome. I really do love dry-brushing, and this model was absolutely perfect for picking up the ridges and contours of the bark by doing so. The model is however extremely heavy (especially with my additions to the base) and if it falls over on the table for whatever reason, something other than Treebeard is likely to break. Personally I've found that metal feels a lot better when I dry-brush - the texture just seems to pop out that little bit more when applying. Admittedly, the Finecast version would have been much more easy to assemble, but if you're someone like me who enjoys assembling a kit even with all the extra steps, it's worth it if you can get hold of it.

The finished article - Steve

So what are your thoughts on the big material debate? Are there any parts of either that make you yell out in pain or jubilation? We'd love to hear your thoughts and if you have any questions about the materials/methods we've used just drop us a comment!

Bonus picture with the rest of the Ents. Yes that is Quickbeam who is doing the running-man.