Games Workshop has announced that advanced pre-orders for the new Battle Of Osgiliath set for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game are firing up this weekend. You'll be able to dive into a new set focused on the battles to keep the city of Osgiliath out of the hands of Sauron.

Battle Of Osgiliath Set // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Shop Middle-earth @ Store.OnTableTop

The new set comes with miniatures ready to represent the clashes between Gondor/Minas Tirith and Mordor in the ruins of the once fair city. You'll get new sculpts for Faramir, Madril and Damrod as well as Gothmog (including a mounted version).

Battle Of Osgiliath - Minas Tirith // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Battle Of Osgiliath - Mordor // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

As well as the new plastic miniatures, you'll also get plastic kits featuring returning miniatures from the Middle-earth line. That means twelve Warriors of Minas Tirith, twelve Rangers Of Gondor, twenty-four Morannon Orcs and a monstrous Mordor Troll in full armour.

The set also comes with two packs of the new Gondor Ruins which can be assembled in a variety of ways to create the battlefields of The Two Towers and The Return Of The King.

Gondor Ruins // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Everything is primed for you to play out that ambush and assault by Gothmog as the Orcs crossed the river and battled with Faramir and his Rangers. I like the idea of playing out smaller skirmishes with progressively larger forces as you tell that tale and perhaps even turn the tide of battle in the favour of the forces of Good.

The new box also comes with an updated Rulebook (not an essential buy but it comes with updated FAQ/Errata information), Scenarios and all sorts of accessories that will have you playing the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game in no time.

The plan is that pre-orders will be available from 10th September 2022 until 8am BST on 26th September 2022. The idea is that orders placed within this window will arrive before Christmas!

New Middle-earth Battlehosts

As well as pre-orders for the new Battle Of Osgiliath set, there are also going to be options to pick up the new Battlehosts for four of the different armies of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.

Rohan Battlehost // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Isengard Battlehost // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

The sets are themed around Rohan, Isengard, Minas Tirith and Mordor. They also quite handily break down into sets that would work well against each other. You could have Saruman and Grima working to take down the forces of Rohan led by Eomer. Or, you could see Gandalf The White facing off against the Witch-King Of Angmar outside the walls of Minas Tirith.

Minas Tirith Battlehost // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Mordor Battlehost // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

There seem to be some slight delays when it comes to bringing some of these sets to the US and Canada but it would appear as if these Battlehost sets are going to be available to pre-order in the standard way from this weekend.

They seem like a perfect way to get started in Middle-earth with some iconic characters, sets of core plastic infantry and also free rules to download. So, you can get started with these forces once you've glued them together! It's always good to have simple barrier-free entry points into a game and these seem to provide that.

I hope they expand this out with more sets as they start to provide the Middle-earth range with updated plastic character kits.

New Plastic Elrond!

As well as the big new set and the new Battlehosts, there are also pre-orders going live for the new plastic Elrond.

Elrond // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

This version of the mighty lord of Rivendell is looking particularly awesome, especially since he is dressed as he is in his Last Alliance garb. I think the foot version is probably my favourite but the mounted one is also superb and packed with dynamism.

The set also comes with a new plastic banner bearer for your Rivendell Elves. I'm still crossing my fingers that this is going to be the first in a line of updated plastic kits, especially for the Elves and Numenorians that started this game all those years ago.

Middle-earth Ruins & Dice!

Because the Middle-earth train doesn't stop rolling, there are also some interesting additional releases coming up. For starters, the very popular Ruins Of Middle-earth are coming back to the webstore.

Ruins Of Middle-earth // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

This is an amazing kit that has been the foundation of many a gamer's collection. These would be a solid way to update your Osgiliath terrain or as the basis for an ambush at Amon-Hen. Maybe this could work as the craggy ruins of Amon-Sul?

You can also pre-order some snazzy new dice!

Rivendell Dice Set // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

Garrison Of Dale Dice Set // Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game

So, something very The Lord Of The Rings and something very The Hobbit. I gotta say, the Dale dice look particularly nice. I think the designs on those are lovely and they are nice and clear. I don't think anything beats the awesome Gandalf dice they released a few years ago though.

Quite a lot of new things for Middle-earth fans. It's almost like The Rings Of Power might be nudging people to look at the game in more detail again!

Are you going to be pre-ordering any of these new sets?