MESBG Year One

I did not note down the exact day but around January 2021 I started to actively collect, paint and play MESBG after a prelude beginning in December 2020, when I actually bought the starter box for my girlfriend.

A lot has happened since then and I thought it would be a good opportunity to write down all the positive experiences and developments I was able to have through this wonderful hobby =)

One year of MESBG

Reclaiming  enthusiasm for an old friend

I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a teenager, right after seeing the first movie in cinema. From the very beginning I enjoyed both versions and I am still grateful for the experience to having known what awesome things are going to happen in the movies (through reading the books beforehand) and awaiting them with pleasant anticipation.

Time went by and for a long time I did not watch the movies nor read the books. All the more intense did it feel to relive the same motivation and love for Tolkiens work when I finally did it again and started MESBG. Also having grown as a person, it was a completely new experiences to see/read them now. 

Painting

During my first contact with tabletop, I did not like painting the miniatures. Part of it was my low self esteem and thinking that my first results would look bad and I wouldn't be able to improve. A smaller part of it was related to the system I played - Warhammer Fantasy. I played Bretonia and while I did enjoy painting the knights, I surely did not like the big amount of peasant bowmen and foot soldiers. Having to paint more than 15 just  for one unit was not fun. Even with Bretonia (with a focus on cavalry) it felt like I had to paint endless masses of faceless soldiers, which than also never had much impact on the games.

A lot has changed since then and a big part why I decided to start MESBG was the painting. Having much lesser numbers of miniatures, more importantly the reason was that I wanted to do something creative. And with patience and practice, you can get quite good results rather quickly with MESBG miniatures. I surely do not count myself among the good or even decent painters. But I do have a certain look in my mind and so far was always able to achieve it and it did feel like a personal success.

And with time the personal standard rises. Lately I went through my Numenor army pictures and thought - oh my god, how could I upload those xD Currently I am painting my Dol Guldur army where I take much more care for each individual miniature. So I decided that afterwards, I will revisit Numenor and improve their painting. 

Painting miniatures is calming, it feels creative and you get quick results. That is what I like about it =)

Finding a community online

Finding fellow players online proved to be quite easy. An old semi-active forum and a lot of MESBG groups on Facebook brought me into contact with many new people. It also gave me a place to ask all the questions the came up and later even help others myself. Most of the time everyone is friendly and helpful, which is surely not self-evident these days.

Finding a community in real life

Surprisingly enough, even the small country of Austria has some very active groups of MESBG players. Some of them even creating content for YouTube. I was lucky enough to make contact with some of them. Since then I have my to-go-people for specific questions and always someone being eager to talk about the hobby ;)

The first tournament

In September 2021 I dared to jump right into my first tournament although I never played more than some simple test games with a few miniatures. But I am soo happy I did it. As already mentioned here, it was a really great experience. It never felt like being misplaced among all the other players and everyone was fair, helpful and friendly. I learned a lot on this day and even avoided being placed on the last rank ;)

Resuming old friendships

Another great side effect of playing MESBG was that I was able to reestablish contact with an old friend from university, with whom I played Warhammer Fantasy back then. And not only that - talking about my new found hobby, I motivated him so much that also quickly bought the start set^^ We already played several games with each other and it is really nice to have contact again.

Playing niche factions is fun

In older posts I already wrote about why Numenor was my first army to play in MESBG. For similar reasons I also started to collect Dol Guldur. Part of it is the design, their part in the story, how they are portrayed in the movies etc. But another part is also that I feel attached to things not everyone plays. That does not mean I am not playing Rohan, Mordor or Minas Tirith because they are popular. I like them myself and if had enough money I would probably buy nearly every army available - well maybe not Hobbits, Lake Town or The Trolls ;P

But I like to explore regions outside of the mainstream. And playing niche factions is a lot of fun =) Other players are often not sure how to react to them in game. It is also a good start for a conversation and many people wanted to know more about my armies because they are so rare to see in games.

Overall I can only recommend others to try out this one army that was always in the back of your head but for some reason you never came around to play them ;)

So many new content creators

I do not know how it was like in 2020 and before. But since I started playing, it seems like the hobby received a boost of both new players and content creators. Over time I found around seven blogs I follow now - some of them posting even twice per week, others unevenly over months.  I am currently subscribed to 18 (!) YouTube channels - most of them focusing solely on MESBG and creating new videos regularly. And a lot of them got started over the course of the last year.

I think it is amazing to see so many new content for the system =D

Writing a blog

Last but not least, playing MESBG also got me invested to start and work on this blog. I just write about topics that I am working on myself, news about the system and in general everything MESBG related that I am interested in and think I can contribute something interesting.

I received comments about errors and how to improve but also a lot and surprisingly positive feedback from people on Facebook and directly on the blog. Thank you very much!

I always wanted to write a blog but never found enough interest or motivation for a subject. Thanks the LOTR this changed. I really like creating content for it and its even better than I ever imagined. I will try to keep up with what I achieved so far ;)

Conclusion

One year of MESBG. One year of so many new and positive experiences. I simply enjoyed every second of it =)

During the course of the next month, something big is about to change in my life. I do not know yet how much it will affect this blog and my hobby. But I at least plan to still dedicate time to it and continue.

The Castellan keeps his watch and happy hobbying until the next time =)