The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game is GW's third-biggest game, based on, guess what, The Lord of the Rings. It has a skirmish-style character remniscent of 40k, but turns into one hell of a clusterfuck and slowed down in large scale games.

History

Back in 2001 (you may feel old now), the New Zealand director Peter Jackson (who you might remember from his cult hit, Braindead (or Dead Alive, depending on where you live), a flick that greatly pleased Khorne for being one of the bloodiest movies of all time) did what was thought for decades to be impossible: to turn J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books into movies. Ending up as a 10+ hours behemoth of a trilogy, it made more money than a battle barge filled with Slaaneshi whores. GW, having a keen nose for when someone makes more money than they do, approached New Line Cinema (film studio behind the movies), Italian publisher Deagostini (famous for publishing collector's items and DIY kits, subscription-based and once piece at a time over the span of years), and Tolkien's heirs in one of the biggest crack-conspiracies this side of Snowflame: make that shit into a tabletop strategy game. The principal writer of this game was a certain Matthew Ward, who started out at GW as a writer of LOTR, and would later go on to great fame as a destroyer of fluff in the 40K universe.

So back in the day of 3rd edition and 6th edition, the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game took the world by force. What is surprising is that there's a lot of plastic to go around, and you get a shitton of dudes (20-24 models compared to 40k's 10-16 per basic troop choice) in the boxed set. Yes, there's quite some metal and finecast to go around, but it's surprisingly cheap to make yourself a LotRSBG army.

With the Hobbit movies dragging everyone's fat asses to the cinemas this game looks like it's making a comeback, oddly renamed to "the Hobbit" as a movie tie-in instead of "Middle-Earth" or something more appropriate for a wargame set in several ages of Middle-earth. What with the Hobbit movies spaced out for the next few years, expect to see lots of hobbit-related posts and fanfics cropping up all over /tg/.

Story

... really? Fine. It's Lord of the Rings. Everywhere from the Battle of the Last Alliance to the Battle of the Black Gate. That's about it. Are. You. Kidding. Me? I HOPE YOU ARE.

Army Building

Army building in LotRSBG is pretty easy. Start with a hero and give him a retinue of up to twelve warriors. Rinse. Repeat. Certain heroes can't have warbands and are taken as solo models. Each warband is treated as a group for deployment but become individual models after that. Note that you don't have to completely fill out a hero's group before you move on to another. Good armies can take allies from any other good list and evil can take any evil allies, but a hero can only take warriors from his own list. Most lists can only have 1 in 3 models with bows, but several lists have special rules that change this (Easterlings and Haradrim contingents built a certain way have a 1 in 2 ratio while Rohan riders and Rivendell knights don't count towards the limit).

Gameplay

The game plays more like 40k than like WFB: you have models that can move freely from each other, mounted on the same 20/40mm bases 40k uses. The game has four phases: Priority, Movement, Shooting and Combat.

Priority

The turn structure in this game is radically different from, say, WFB, in that the players don't take turns, they instead play phase to phase. This turn determines who goes first: each player rolls a d6, the winner goes first. Draws are re-rolled. The guy with priority moves, shoots and determines in what order combat is fought. Roll every turn for this.

Sometimes certain events for the mission/effects on models take place during this phase as well.

Movement

Nearly everyone moves 6" in this game: Dwarves and Goblins go 5" (explaining why Thorin and co get captured by elves by goblins can't catch them), hobbits go 4", cavalry goes 10", and various monsters and flies go different speeds. Movement is halved in difficult terrain, certain models are immune to this. Certain kinds of movement (climbing, jumping and so on) require dice rolls: 1 is a failure , 2-5 is regular success and the gap/ledge is crossed but the model can't move any that turn, a 6 is a success and the gap/ledge is crossed and the model can continue moving up to its move value.

Charging takes place in this phase as well and uses your regular speed: if you're not charging you are to remain 1" from the enemy. Throwing weapons can be used at 1" from target: if you kill your target you may freely charge another target within your remaining movement.

Most kinds of magic are cast in this phase as well: spend a Will point (more on this later) and roll a d6 against a spell: if you equal or pass the number the spell is cast.

Shooting

If you want to shoot, you get to move up to half of your regular movement, rounded down. With crossbows and rock-throwing you can't move at all. Shooting is against a static number on your profile, which is unmodified by range or cover. Models fire one by one, determining who wants to shoot, see if the target's in range, roll to hit, roll to wound, target may roll any saves it has (rare in SBG), and continue. Cover isn't abstract in this game. If you're in a wood and you want to be in cover you gotta be behind the fucking tree. Cover saves work by forcing the shooter to make "In the Way" tests for each object that obstructs the target. Hilariously evil models can shoot into combat but the good guys are too pussy to risk their own models. Then again they don't bring along meatshields like the baddies do.

Compared to 40k and WFB, shooting is shit in SBG. Most ranged weapons are only strength 2 or 3, and when you have to roll against a toughness 6 you're not going to do that much damage. In this game, it's all about quantity over quality when it comes to shooting. Still funnier than hell when your ballista sends a model flying off the objective just before the game ends in the few scenarios that use objectives.

Combat

This is where the game gets nasty. Combat is determined by rolling a d6 for every point of Attack you have. The highest roll wins: draws are determined by the Fight value a model has. If this is a draw, roll another d6: on a 4+ the guy with priority wins. If a model is beaten in combat it is pushed back 1", if it is not killed it stays there. If you win, you again roll dice equal to your attack: if you meet the To Wound roll (very often a 5+ unless when faced with tough enemies or if your army sucks) the target dies, no overkill. There are a few kinds of special weapons: two-handed weapons give you a -1 penalty on the Fight roll and a +1 bonus on the to wound roll, spears let models unengaded in combat who have an allied model who is in combat support their ally, giving them a +1 attack bonus (no limit), and pikes do the same as spears, but can support a guy who's already supporing an ally. There are also flails that allow you to strike once against every model but lower your fight value to 1. Maces allow you to knock your enemy to the ground if you win combat, but you can't strike against them. Staffs allow you to stun your enemy, lowering their stats for a turn. Models armed with shields can forego the chance to wound their enemies by blocking: a model that's blocking doubles its attacks for the purpose of the Fight round, but if they win they cannot injure their enemy. Great for creating tarpits, surviving and trolling your opponent. You do not gain bonuses from allies with spears/pikes if you block. With the release of The Hobbit SBG regular hand weapons get special strikes depending on what they are. These usually involve a certain trade-off such as increased strength if you win but decreased defence if you fuck up. Categories are: swords/daggers, axes/picks, hammers/maces/mauls, clubs/staffs, flails/scourges/whips. you have to declare special strikes before you roll to see if you win. Monsters get appropiately named brutal strikes that they can decide to use after they win.

Now, since wounding your targets requires rather high rolls (5+ and 6+), few models tend to die each turn. Games would take a long time if not for for the Breaking rule: the moment more than 50% of your army is dead, you start rolling for Breaking. 2d6+a model's Courage: if this is equal to or greater than 10, you pass. If not, squad fucking broken. If a hero makes his roll, every non-hero within 6" of him can use his Courage, which especially in armies with low Courage can be a game-saver.

Heroic Stats

Your heroes possess special stats, namely Might, Will and Fate. These start with fixed numbers and cannot be regained during battle, aside from a few special rules.

• Might can increase any roll related to a hero by one point or call heroic actions, be it in the movement, shooting or combat phase. Aragorn is notable for having a free point every turn, allowing him to curbstomp pretty much anything thrown at him, especialy if he's armed with Andúril. Heroic actions fuck with priority and are useful if you decide your hero needs to be balls out awesome that turn.
• Will is used to cast and resist spells and to modify courage tests. You can use as many as you like to try and cast a spell, though one good roll suffices to cast. Most powerful wizards (Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel) can use a free point of will per turn. The Ringwraiths are special in that they start with a LOT of Will (7 in their weakest form, up to 20 for the Witch King and the Undying at full power), lost a point every time they fight in combat, and disappear if they run out.
• Fate are one-use saves against killing blows: on a 4+ you ignore a wound that would otherwise put a model out of action. Sauron equipped with the One Ring has a 2+ save, as if killing him wasn't difficult enough already.

Armies

Games of TLotRSBG always take place between two armies: good and evil. No exceptions. There is, luckily enough, more than enough flavor to go between divided between the forces, and some very loose rules for allies within each side.

Forces of Good

• Arnor: A huge number of archers. They can take 4 rangers for every Ranger of the North or Dunedain in the contingent. Also includes several heroes that are important to Aragorn's back story.
• The Shire:. Hobbits! Hobbits everywhere! The closest thing the good guys will ever have to meatshields, Hobbits are slow and barely strong enough to hurt each other, let alone the enemy. They have some amusing heroes (Frodo's post-dropping-the-Ring-into-Mount-Doom form makes for some hilarious trolling) and are surprisingly accurate with their pebble toss attacks, but are still a pretty suicidal choice.
• The Fellowship: A good source of powerful heroes, but they shouldn't all be taken at once.
• Eregion & Rivendell: The High Elves will fuck your shit up. Highly skilled warriors, some of the deadliest heroes in the game, and Cavalry that makes you roll for Anal Circumference. Their obvious downside is their high cost.
• Lothlorien & Mirkwood: Though not as tough as their High Elven cousins, the Wood Elves will fuck you up from range. The deadliest archers on the side of good, they are just as deadly in combat as their High Elven cousins, they're just not as good at taking the pain.
• Rohan: FUCK YEAH BADASS VIKING CAVALRY. If you play Rohan and you don't field your entire army on horseback, you're doing it wrong. Rohan has awesome light cavalry, and everyone gets bonuses to their Toughness for having shields, regardless of whether they have bows. They also have throwing weapons everywhere, half a dozen named asskickers in their main list, and get bonues for avoiding obstacles while on horseback. Their downside is that they tend to get swarmed due to their large bases and (relatively) small numbers.
• Gondor: Despite having to call for aid, they are tough badasses. Heavily armored, a large number of warriors to choose from, heavy cavalry and Aragorn King Elessar himself, Gondor is not to be underestimated. Other armies of note include the Rangers of Ithilien (guys from the end of the second movie), the Army of the Dead from the third, and the beautiful Fiefdoms list, consisting of some amazing heavy cavalry and the only pikes in the armies of good, monster-slaying archers, halberdiers lead by a gigantic fatass, and SCOTSMEN WITH FUCKHUEG SWORDS.
• The Dwarven Holds: The Dwarves in LotR are tough little fucks. Nearly impossible to wound with ranged weapons and only killable in combat with lucky hits, prepare for long drawn-out battles against Durin's Folk. Costed somewhere in between the Gondorians and the High Elves, Dwarves have the ability to outlast most of your enemies due to their insano toughness. Fun to note is that though they have become the arch-blueprint of what it means to be a Dwarf, they themselves use swords and bows, un-Dwarven weapons to the same people who threw raging bitchfits at that one picture from the Hobbit movie showcasing the Dwarves.
• Numenor Basically one type of warrior and a few heroes. For some reason you can field Aragorn alongside Isildur.
• The Wanderers in the Wild: These are the heroes not fitting in with the other armies, including the Woses, Ents, Tom Bombadil & Goldberry and the Eagles. The good guys only source of big critters.

ADDED IN THE HOBBIT

• Thorin's Company: Like the Fellowship, but with the adventuring party from The Hobbit instead. Can field a truly retarded amount of powerful but cheap heroes. Also Bilbo. He gets all the perks of the One Ring (invisibility) with none of the downsides (getting mindfucked by Sauron). Make him your general, have him put on the ring and watch your opponent try to kill him.
• Elrond's Household: Poiny-eared bastards riding horses. Laughs at the bow limit.
• Radagast's Alliance: More Eagles. Now in plastic.
• Army of Thror: More alcoholic midgets. The Dwarven Holds wear cardboard in comparison.
• The White Council: All of the wizards. Stupid amounts of magic.

Forces of Evil

• Moria Your prime source for Goblins: though not very tough, brave or strong, you will drown your enemies in a green(ish) tide. Don't forget to open up a can or two of trollolo on your enemies: they're not very expensive if you use a few. Remember: heroes can be as cheap as 35 points. Use this. Also includes the Balrog and Dragons, both of whom are incredibly powerful and hard to kill.
• Isengard: Where Hobbits are taken to. The Uruk-Hai are a force to be reckoned with: with Strength 4 they can punch lesser men to death with ease. Their crossbows make them the shootiest force on the evil team, capable of outshooting Elven armies in a straight fight, although the Elves still have the advantage of greater range and manoeuvrability. They also have a shit-ton of pikes.
• Mordor: While not impractically weak like the Moria goblins, Orcs are still weaker than most good warriors and rely on numbers to win the day. Unless you start to use the different breeds of Orcs of course: the Morannon Orcs who are stronger and better armored: the Mordor Uruk-Hai who are as strong and bold as their Isengard cousins, and the dreaded Black Guard of Barad-Dûr, who can slay lesser heroes with ease. Not to be overlooked are the Black Men of Númenór, who are a fear-causing and disciplined, albeit pricy, choice. This list has some brilliant heroes, including Sauron himself, the Mouth of Sauron (who got butchered like a chump in the extended run of Return of the King), Gothmog (he lead the siege on Minas Tirith), Shagrat of Minas Morgul (who with his blonde hair, meat cleaver sword and I FUCK YOU UP attitude is pretty much channeling Viral from the Gurren Lagaan anime) and the motherfucking Nazgûl.
• The Eastern Kingdoms: You might remember these as the guys from the second movie who didn't do all that much. They are tough, disciplined and have some pretty kickass characters, including the Dragon Knights and War Priests who use their outlandish weapons and styles to overcome their enemies. The others, the men of Khand, are basically Mongols.
• Harad & Umbar: There are only a few reasons to take these lists. One, they have pirates. Two, they have Suladân and the Serpent Horde, light-armored warriors with poisoned bows, horses and a fuckton of friends. Three: the War-Mumak of Harad (war elephants), the biggest non-terrain model GW has ever made outside of Forge World. Also, camel cavalry, half-trolls and ogre men, but who gives a fuck about them?
• Angmar: Gets all kinds of undead but for some reason no regular ghosts. Mixes these in to make your opponent's warriors shit their pants but suck and die without support. Enter cave trolls and the gloriously cheap and expendable orcs.
• Monsters of Middle-Earth: Like the Wanderers in the Wild, but evil; Shelob is the only one you'll have ever heard of.

ADDED BY THE HOBBIT

• Azog's Hunters: Orcs, but with twice the attacks and ten times the awesome.
• Goblin Town: Compared to the Moria goblins they trade armour for free spears (but only if they're supporting goblins from the same hood). The hilarious goblin scribe effectively gives you an infinite supply of goblins, which is handy when you have the Goblin King using them as ammo.
• The Trolls: Those dumbasses that got themselves turned to stone.

Round-up

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game has its own charm over 40k and WFB, mainly due to its setting and smaller scale. Games tend to turn into clusterfucks pretty fast though (only play games of 1k+ points if you like the idea of eating your own balls in a fit of RAGE), and the way the turns are played are off-putting at first, but the game can be a lot of fun if you have Howard Shore blasting in the background.

Gallery

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  /a/ /tg/ version of the game.

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  You know you would.