It's time once again to venture forth across the lands of Middle-Earth as Games Workshop have a bunch of new minis and rules coming for their strategy battle game.

Assemble Your Battle Companies

First, we have something particularly exciting; Battle Companies, a new expansion to the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game.

This new book features rules for putting together a small warband and then play through a campaign, letting your company grow, change, and perish as you progress.

There are rules for twenty two different battle companies, drawn from both The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings games, as well as for playing in a number of iconic locations, and even its own self-contained narrative campaign - The Quest to Fornost.

These new rules will help to make smaller scale games more accessible, as well as providing a good introduction to the larger battle games themselves.

Campaign systems like these are always a lot of fun to play. You find yourself growing more attached to your figures as you guide them through each new dangerous scenario. There are even rules for using your warband as part of a larger force, letting you integrate them with the rest of your collection.

The Return Of Some Familiar Faces

A couple of characters are also getting a re-release, giving you some new heroes to bring to the table. Well, I say heroes...

Though venal and cowardly, the Master of Lake Town, ably assisted by the self-serving Alfrid, is still a charismatic leader, if a bit of a slimy character. These two may not be fighters, but they can still take the helm when the men of Lake Town need them. As long as their lust for wealth or desire to save their own skins doesn't win out.

Alongside them we find the Last Lords of Erebor; Thror, the Last King Under The Mountain, and his son Thrain, father of Thorin.

Thror was the ill-fated last king of Erebor. A mighty king, possessor of the Arkenstone and the last of the Dwarf rings of power, his lust for gold ultimately spelled his doom. His son Thrain later went on to lead their people in exile, carrying his father's ring of power, until he met his end in the Necromancer's dungeons.

The General's Essentials

Finally, we have a new Generals Accessories Pack to help you play The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game.

This set includes a quick reference guide, tokens to help you keep track of everything, and a set of twelve scenario cards.

Sets like these can be very useful for keeping everything together in the game, and save you from having to flick back and forth through the rule books every five minutes.

This is all pretty exciting stuff and it is good to see Games Workshop continuing to support the games, which seem to be seeing something of a resurgence in popularity. This weekend, I actually went to my first ever Hobbit tournament (a player was kind enough to lend me an Isengard force) and now I am more ready than ever to get stuck into some Middle-Earth gaming. Time to make my Shire Battle Company!

What battle company would you start with? Is there a Middle-Earth model you would particularly like to see released again?