Ride to ruin (February’s Snag a Normie Challenge)

I like my friends. A lot. They’re a good bunch – funny, smart and nerdy. We met through a pretty crappy company we all used to work for and bonded over superhero movies, Game of Thrones and most importantly Lord of the Rings. About 18 months ago several of them got into Dungeons and Dragons in a hard-core way and it has been great to have a bigger pool of people to play with.

Towards the end of 2018 I was giving serious thought to how little I gamed over the year and how I felt like I’d drifted from the miniatures hobby against my own will. Changes to my work pattern meant I’d had to leave my club and while I’ve been able to join one closer to my house, I’ve been having issues tied into my army choices that are too much for this blurb.

The relaunch of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit as Middle-Earth Strategy Battle seemed like a good way to reinvigorate my hobby and possibly convert my RPG friends to miniatures.

I dove into Rangers of Shadow Deep and have lined up Frostgrave so I can get games faster with a close friend and so MESB took a backseat. Then @warzan issued a call to arms – recruit a gamer in February, even if it is with a GW product. Bring in new people, help build our hobby.

Challenge accepted.

I looked at finances for the month and it is possible to pick up the Battle of Pelennor Fields box and eat in February. Next I needed to check I had willing participants.

It’s a simple plan, take the hobby side out of the equation. Instead of introducing ideas piecemeal, have a one day event where we play through the scenarios, have fun learning the game, drink some beer and eat some food.

Hobby nights? Everyone building a Battle Company and having a campaign? These are dreams but it had to be about them having fun. Everything else can come later

See here’s how it looks.

26 (ish) days, 84 miniatures plus a bit of terrain and learning the rules.

What have I done???