Tales of the Past - Introduction
Lately on the MESBG Discord server I frequently visit, there were some discussions and talks about older versions of our beloved system. I am kinda a hobby historian and I have always been fascinated about the past and development of things/systems over time. And therefore an idea started to take form, on how to combine these two things with each other on this blog.
I would like to collect experiences and tales from veteran players and then bundle them together per eras, in order to allow a view back into the past.
So my first question to my dear readers would be, how to best categorize the time periods/versions of MESBG? I know there was a White Dwarf article with details about that but I don't have it. So I came up with this:
- First Age: Release of the first sets till the wrap up of the Peter Jackson LOTR movies
- Second Age: From the end of the movies till the blue ONE RULEBOOK
- Third Age: Everything released from/for the Hobbit movies
- Fourth Age: From the beginning of the current version till now
I would compose a set of questions, which are identical for each time period and person who wants to contribute. The contributors tell me for which "Age" they can provide information/stories/etc and send me the answers.
Depending on how many input I receive, I will post one or multiple entries per time period.
Each contributor can decide how of much his/her person they wanna tell the readers. But at least an age and alias would make sense.
The questions for contributors, I came up so far would be:
- How did you start this version of MESBG? How did you get into contact with the system?
- What was your first impression and did it change over time?
- In case you already played older versions of MESBG - which changes did you like and which did you not like - and why?
- What do you think was the most defining thing of this version?
- How did the tournament scene and the meta look like back then?
- What have been the craziest lists you played/played against/witnessed in this version?
- Is there a specific miniature, tournament etc you connect with this era of the game?
- Which armies/lists did you play at that time and why?
- What is the worst and best thing you remember from that time?
So this would be my basic idea on how I wanna approach this project. There are also no time constraints for people to send me the answers. If I get enough within a month or multiple ones, doesn't matter. We are not in a hurry ;) Now I would be interested in gathering some feedback and input:
- Would you find it interesting to read?
- Do you think the time periods as listed above make sense?
- Do you think other/better/additional questions could be asked?
To wrap it up: Please let me know on Facebook or in the comments, what feedback you have, what you think about the idea etc and if you would be interested in contributing.
The Castellan keeps his watch and happy hobbying until the next time =)
I'll bite - this looks like a fun project and I'm happy to help. :) One minor note on the ages: I assume the First Age refers to anything before the One Rulebook, where the rules were being experimented with by the legend Rick Priestley and it was mostly intended for narrative play instead of competitive points match play. Second age would be the era of the One Rulebook, which itself has two separate and distinct eras in it (the "Legions Era" where the Legions of Middle-Earth supplement was used for army list creation/allying, and the "Warbands Era" where the five sourcebooks that implemented the "warbands" system that we have now were introduced - though every hero led 12 guys at the time).
ReplyDeleteOn to the questions:
1) I got started in "Late in the The Second Age" (September 2010) when the Mines of Moria starter set was "how you learned the game" and you had to buy the One Rulebook for the basic rules and a lot of the profiles, the Legions of Middle-Earth book for army list construction and alliances, and specific supplements for other units. I found the game by accident (saw the models in a store one, looked for them years later online, found there was a whole game with a TON of models to choose from, and basically never looked back.
2 & 3) I've always loved the gaming system (much more than other tabletop wargame systems) and have in general liked the improvements that have come from era to era (my group wasn't sold on the changes to certain magical spells during the Third Age/Hobbit era or Heroic Strike - something I still don't like today, unless Eomer is on the table, since he shouldn't auto-lose to Amdur). Giving each model specialized heroic actions was one of the best additions for the new edition, since before you just looked at statlines and decided what you wanted - and now, there's a lot more thought that goes into what you want to take. I also really liked how they changed the Balrog from a you-would-never-take-this-guy into a oh-my-gosh-I-need-to-get-this-guy model.
4) The most defining thing of this version is the emphasis on big heroes - during the Second and Third Ages of the game, you saw spams of models because the big heroes just couldn't do enough to pay for themselves if you could spam guys. Now, you can still spam guys, but hero-heavy lists (or even all-hero lists) are capable of winning games. You also see big heroes as staples of certain armies (like Gulavhar/Witch-King combos, Sauron, Elessar, and the Balrog - who was COMPLETELY absent in previous versions of the rules), which wasn't seen before.
Delete5) I only did local events with my gaming group, but before the Hobbit books came out, it was Elves, Uruks, and Rohan for basically everyone. There was a HUGE complaint from anyone who played against Dwarves that they were cheesy (too hard to kill and pretty cheap so you could have lots of them). This only got worse when they got spears on fairly cheap models when the Third Age/Hobbit Era began.
6) The craziest list I've played AGAINST is easy: 10 Castellans. 'Nuff said. I don't play with a lot of crazy lists, but my go-to for when I'm feeling fun and shenanigany is Farmer Maggot/Holfoot Bracegirdle/Lotho Sackville-Baggins/Gandalf allied with Barliman Butterbur, Bill the Pony, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry. It's a lot of fun. :)
7) When getting started (Second Age), it was Balin (Khazad-Dum version) and Gimli - I used them a TON. When the Third Age came, I doubled-down on Isengard to figure out how to make them enjoyable for me to play, so I played with Saruman a lot. In the Fourth Age, it's been the Balrog - finally bought the model I'd been wanting to buy for a while but couldn't justify because I'd be disappointed with him on the tabletop . . . and now I'm not. :)
8) I started playing the game with the Fellowship and four conventional armies (Wood Elf Warrior-only Lothlorien, Khazad-Dum Dwarves, Isengard Uruks, and Moria Goblins). The collection has grown some in the subsequent years. :)
9) The worst thing and the best thing are both tied to shooting: during the Second Age, there was no moving-and-shooting penalty, so if you brought shooting, you could scoot-and-shoot for ages at your normal shoot value, which meant that armies of Elves were a PAIN to close with. You also had a 50-model cap if you were playing at/below 500pts and similar caps if you lived under 750pts and under 1000pts (we didn't play that high). If your opponent only had 50 models and you lots of shooting, you could decimate an army before they could do anything about it . . . bad days. Oh and you could volley fire up to double your range if you were okay hitting on 6s and not moving . . . so no hiding from them either. :)
I started in 2003 with the ROTK starter set, when I was in highschool. I was in love with Gondor since I had read the books, and that persisted despite their somewhat anemic representation in the films. I was always more of a painter than a player, because I was and am such a slow painter - in a 4 hours get-together with my buddies I'd get maybe a cloak done, or maybe the main area of armor on a single model. But those hobby evenings were some of my most treasured teenage experiences! I remember, though, that I thought heroes and monsters were super scary and high fight value super powerful.
ReplyDeleteI didn't play any tournaments but enjoyed following the LOTR SBG drama over the years. Memorable moments included when Mega-Boromir represented power-creep; when when SKoDA (swan knights of dol amroth) with their giant helmets threated the Warhammerification of the system; when armies consisting purely of Gamling's banner and Rohan Outriders in a mob on foot dominated the meta(with the rules at the time as heroes with 0/0/0 MWF they all gained a point of might every turn), and of course when the hobbit profiles were OP (especially Iron Hills dwarves).
I'd find a series on the game's past super interesting! I like all the questions you have listed. As far as the eras, wasn't there an intermediate era between the One Rulebook and The Hobbit - Legions or something like that? Regardless I'm looking forward to it!