Middle-earth SBG & The War Of The Rohirrim – Your Thoughts?
August 26, 2024 by brennon
Games Workshop has been talking recently about the new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game and how it matches up to the new film release of The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim.
The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim
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As mentioned in a recent article, the new edition of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game will focus on The War Of The Rohirrim to begin with and we can infer from that, there will be new miniatures and potentially a boxed set themed around the events of the new anime movie (see the trailer above).
The War Of The Rohirrim // The Lord Of The Rings
The War Of The Rohirrim, by legendary director Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost In The Shell and more!), will focus on the story of Helm Hammerhand and the battle between the war between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings. Héra, the daughter of Helm, also takes on a major role in the story and you see the unfolding story for all involved and how Helm's Deep got its name!
With that in mind, we should probably expect to get a whole bunch of new (and potentially reworked) miniatures for the new edition of the game which could well land as soon as this Christmas alongside the release of the film. We already have a miniature for Helm Hammerhand a bunch of Dunlendings but we could see them reworked in plastic alongside the potential of new plastic troops. Maybe that is just wishful thinking!
One question that has come up is about the style of the miniatures. Thankfully, it seems like Games Workshop are being very open about that and they have already said that the miniatures released as part of The War Of The Rohirrim will be in keeping with the style of miniatures already available as part of the range. Perfect.
The War Of The Rohirrim // The Lord Of The Rings
I am a massive fan of Rohan so this new edition and the associated boxed set could well be an automatic purchase come the end of the year. From what has been discussed so far, the new rules seem like a change in the right direction without messing around with the core of the game. The amount of books we might need to buy is a little much but the Middle-earth team put a lot of love and attention into their products so I'm hoping they'll be proper tomes worth diving deep into.
I am also excited about the movie! I know anime isn't everyone's cup of tea but I am excited to see what they do with Middle-earth. More Middle-earth is never a bad thing and maybe this anime will bring in a new audience for the game.
Will you be keeping an eye out for what's next for Middle-earth on the tabletop?
"More Middle-earth is never a bad thing and maybe this anime will bring in a new audience for the game..."
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I like LotR.
I like anime and similar tv series and movies.
I don’t like how this is put together so far. It just doesn’t feel right and looks wrong. It’s the same with the Star Wars shorts Disney did a while back. It’s just not for me.
I am all for more interpretations of Middle-earth from different minds (and Star Wars). It won’t be to everyone’s tastes of course which is fine but I hope it brings in more people from different audiences.
I am very happy that the miniatures won’t be anime-styled though. It would have been weird if they looked so different from the rest of the MESBG range.
I think G’Wullus ears still ring from when they introduced the TAU and the fanboyz went “WE DON’T WANNA HAVE ANIME IN OUR GRIM DARK!!1!” XD
Ironically, the Tau and Lord of the Rings debuted at the same time. White Dwarf magazine was one side Tau, and you had to flip it over to read the LoTR content, separated at the back.
Did they? Need to dig out the WD and have a nosey
Yep. It was a trippy time.
Interestingly, it was the Tau that pulled me towards 40k back then. I liked the more optimistic/naive nature of themI think it’s a pity that GW toned it down and made them more police statey. They were a nice contrast to the Grimdark neighbourhood.
Can’t possibly be worse than the Amazon’s interpenetration though.
Big fan of Lord of the Rings, the books and film. Not so keen on manga, but some was ok. Already own three boxed sets of the game: Escape From Goblin Town, Pelennor Fields and Osgiliath. Only painted Goblin Town and that’s not great work on my part in terms of goblins (loads of the little buggers), but I was happy with Gandalf and the dwarves (mostly). Pelennor was overwhelming with all those rohirrim and horses, plus the orcs. Started the Deadmen of Dunharrow, but they need washes at least to be playable. Osgilliath I’ve assembled and painted the ruins… Read more »
My pile of potential for Middle-earth is also rather big. Not as big as it used to be but got a few Forge World characters that still need painting and other bits and pieces. I still have the clear plastic Deadmen Of Dunharrow sitting to be washed/drybrushed under my painting desk. I am not overjoyed with having to buy more books again BUT as I say, if they are written well and contain interesting content, well, I’m in. As for the movie – I HOPE it’ll be great. I am one of those rare people who have read all the… Read more »
While I haven’t read all of Tolkien’s books… I got a bit tired of the endless run of books that contained early drafts of the plot… I have a read many… Including about a dozen of the ICE rpg stuff and One Ring, listened to the BBC radio version and even seen the Ralph Bakshi animated film which was not great animation, but not bad audio. Although I already have the Lord of the Rings novel twice… I have the 60th anniversary illustrated edition still wrapped up xmas paper… it was a gift from my mother shortly before she died… Read more »
Like @sundancer , this doesn’t do a lot for me. It’s bound to be dramatically better than Teh Rings o Powah! but then almost anything is.
I’m a massive Tolkien fan. I still have the boxed set I got for my 10th birthday. A first edition of The Silmarillion. And a shelf full of practically all of Tolkien’s work.
Warner Brothers… that-that-that’s all, folks!
Huge LOTR fan, I don’t feel comfortable supporting this sort of thing when they are just making things up for their own personal, probably political, reasons. There’s no need to take Helm’s, unnamed, daughter and make her the uber powerful main character. When the producers are saying stuff like this ” Producer Philippa Boyens felt this made him more interesting and more dangerous, and said the character was relevant to “a lot of the crises that we’re facing today”” it makes me nervous. I don’t go to escapist entertainment to learn about how bad the orange man is or how… Read more »
It being an anime means nothing to me, the medium is the medium. I’m not an anime guy and have never really watched them but that’s fine. If the story was good and faithful to Tolkien I’d already ahve my ticket pre-ordered.
Makes sense you’re a big LOTR fan given the name you have taken on these forums @elessar2590
And I know what you mean about the source material being altered for the ‘world we live in’.
Ask a 40k player how they feel about the ‘female custodes’ and make sure you have a riot shield to hide behind.
I share your concerns with this production @elessar2590. This anime began production three years ago when ‘woke Hollywood’ was still in full steam. Only now, after destroying and burning several franchises to the ground and suffering horrendous losses; are they finally course-correcting. I want this to be good soooo badly, but I will wait until I hear the reviews from people I trust, just like I did with ‘Rings of Power’. If it is garbage like ‘Rings of Power’, I am not going to watch it, because it will just make me very angry and frustrated. For now, the only… Read more »
The art style could have worked if they didn’t open with the live action segment. Add to this that the animation initially appears to fit until they bring in this red headed female lead character and it just falls flat. Why do these folk feel the need to put their own twist on things? Go make an original movie. Add to this that they feel the need to bag about this animation director as if he had some talent we need to know his name. It’s not Peter Jacksons’ trilogy either. It is Tolkiens’ world. But with the rings of… Read more »
Straight to VHS… that is old school… I had betamax back in the day.
Betamax for the win! The better format that died.
I’m not going to spend money to see it. Maybe some 3D sculptors will use it for inspiration to make some decent sculpts, but it not, no big deal.
I’m not optimistic about the movie either even though, to be fair, Philipa Boyens did a good job on LoTR (not so good with the Hobbit).
But, back to the game MESBG. If they do de-clutter the game by removing things such as different weapons, barging/throwing rules etc. and, just as importantly, make ‘Army’ selection easier then I might give it a look.
The Hobbit wasn’t even close to the book – I literally wanted to bleach my eyes after I somehow sat through it. At home. Because I was not going to pay for it! A travesty.
I don’t hold much hope for this movie. Again, I’m not paying to see it.
Will it even be as good as the Ralph Bakshi stinkfest? I don’t have hope.
The saddest bit about the Hobbit, the bit that caught me ‘hook line and sinker’ into watching the film, was how good the first 20 minutes or so of the first film were. This they used in the trailers. I thought the ‘Misty Mountain’ song and the party at Bilbo’s house augured well. How wrong I was. I watched all the first Hobbit film, watched half of the second film on DVD and then gave it away without watching the second half. Never bothered with the third.
You should try watching one of the re-edits. They are not magical movie elixirs, but at least they cut out all the ‘un-inspired crap’ in the original 3.
“Molten flow shield surfing”
Therein endeth the crap that was The Hobbit.
Looks like they’re removing a lot of the special strikes but they’re just going to clutter it up with special rules for almost every profile. Army selection is about to get a lot worse, they’re going to tell you lists you can and can’t run by hard locking them all in pseudo Legions. Unfortunately it looks like GW is following their trend of less freedom, less creativity, less fun and are more worried about reigning in the bad apples. Don’t even get me started on the disgrace of legends.
I’m keen to see the profile overhauls though, some are desperately needed.
I’m always dubious of spin-off material no matter the medium, very rarely does approach anywhere near the original in quality. I think quite often, when something that’s truly good is made…it’s lightning in a bottle and whatever spark is there is soon gone, even if you employ the same team. The first 19 seconds of the trailer is footage of the LoTR films which instantly makes me think this film can’t stand on its own two feet and is a belated cash-in. Not a great start. Also, the inclusion of the Watcher in the Water raises a red flag for… Read more »
I think I’ve decided the best way to watch this will be with a ton of ??? and just take the trip to Middle-Earth with a lot of laughs…
Ghost in the Shell was fantastic, so I’m curious about the film and will definitely see it. I do wonder whether there will be a Japanese dub. I find watching anime with English dubs… strange? The Matrix anime (creatively called Animatrix) was also great, so I’m excited to see what they did with the source material! I have no problems with a more diverse cast, and I believe it should not be confused with a badly written script or execution of it. Nor do I have a problem with the name Hera. I’ve seen stranger names in anime and I… Read more »
I don’t mind diverse casts either – the upcoming Reverend Martin Luther King movie starring Tom Hanks as King, and Robert Downey Jr. as Malcolm X looks great!
Is it like watching spaghetti westerns with English dubs instead of German dubs ? I’d have no problem with a diverse cast if (a) it was its own story instead of something tacked onto an existing story, (b) it makes sense withing the setting and (c) the writing was good. otoh … if the writing was good then it wouldn’t need the emphasis they’re placing on names and lineage. Mentioning it is set in Middle Earth would have been enough. Hera at least sounds like a name that could fit. I’m not too sure if snowwhite skin and red hair… Read more »
Actually I disagree with all of you, I think doing an anime is prefect, particularly since this isn’t the first time the LOTR verse has had an anime treatment (yes that old “British” cartoon had quite a bit done out of house work) and people who saw that complained about the live action films. Honestly it can be more Tolkien high fantasy and less Peter Jackson Dark Ages with magic (nothing wrong with Pet’s adaption, but it is a quite a bit less colorful than the world of the books, frankly Peter made it seem like the Dark Ages but… Read more »
Good point, but I think it would’ve been even greater if you’d jsut stopped after the first comma xD