5 Things MESBG Does Better Than Other Wargames (Number 3 Will Divide Players)

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Credit: LOTR The Two Towers Strategy Battle Game Sourcebook (Games Workshop)

The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game is a strange one, because despite being a Tolkien game, it isn’t really based on Tolkien’s work directly. It’s based on Peter Jackson’s films.

A spicy way to begin, I know; but stick with me.

Think about it. Many of the character sculpts resemble their film counterparts, and army lists such as the Defenders of Helm’s Deep reflect the events of the films far more closely than the books. In many ways, MESBG is as much a celebration of Jackson’s cinematic vision as it is of Tolkien’s world.

That fact alone has sparked its fair share of debate over the years, especially among the purists, or “the Faithful”, as they sometimes style themselves. (The Faithful, of course, being those Númenóreans who resisted Sauron’s influence.)

But setting that debate aside, MESBG remains a fantastic tabletop game. In fact, in several key areas it does things better than many of the larger and more popular wargames on the market today.

Here are five things that (in my opinion) MESBG does better than almost any other tabletop wargame of its type.

Credit: Gondor at War - MESBG 

Low(ish) Model Count

MESBG is first and foremost a skirmish game, focussing on individual soldiers moving freely, as opposed to large units, or blocks as seen in 'rank n flank' systems. 

This means fewer bodies on the table. Even horde armies rarely place more than 50 models on the board. (ignoring Sharkey's Rogues, or any Moria list that left its Balrog at home). 

From a hobbyist's point of view, this is delightful. Fewer models means you can really pour your heart in to each and every one, if you want.

It also means that the game is significantly cheaper to get into. (unless you're playing something weirdly expensive, like the Shire or Sharkey's Rogues). 

Credit: Warhammer Community (love the classic orcs, btw) 

Hero Mechanics

The story of Middle Earth is undoubtedly driven by the heroes and villains of the setting, and MESBG wastes no time in reinforcing that fact on the tabletop. 

MESBG has a mechanic that still feels unique today: three hero-only resources; Might, Will and Fate. 

For newbies, these allow the Hero to 'interrupt' the usual flow of a game, fighting first, moving out of sequence, shrugging off Wounds, or even resisting Magic. 

It's not a crazy innovation, but it does so much to alter the state of the game, and, thanks to the introduction of specific Heroic Actions, adds so much more character to your Heroes, turning characters like Boromir into a chaff-slaying machine, and others like Amdur into battlefield assassins, able to go toe-to-toe with all but the best the foe has to offer.

 

Thematic Army Lists

When it was announced that the new edition would abandon the 'normal' army list makeup, including the Allies Matrix, I was really disappointed. 

I saw nothing beyond the loss of flexibility, feeling like players were going to be shoehorned in to making their armies in deeply specific ways from here on out. No more Fellowship Characters (Strider, Boromir of Gondor etc.) in other armies, no more soup builds, no more weird and wonderful lists built around an original theme. 

Well, to quote Thorin in The Hobbit Movie, "Never have I been so wrong." 

Thematic army lists, at least as they are now, are actually a bloody good system, allowing players to not only build their armies in interesting ways, but to maximise the benefits of Faction Special Rules. Armies like 'Ride Out' and 'Angmar Wolfpack' allow players to create highly specialised armies around a key theme, while lists like 'Defenders of the Pellenor' let players feed a crazy range of units, though with less Faction Special Rules backing them up.

Better still, the 'generic' factions still largely exist. It's pretty much the best of both worlds!

Alternating Activations (by phase)

Now, this is a huge one for me. 

We've all played other games where each player does everything at once. If it’s not your turn, you can end up standing around for half an hour waiting to roll armour saves while your lovingly painted warriors are removed by the fistful. It can be a pretty gruelling experience.

MESBG said “nah” to all that and instead went with alternating activations. You move, I move. You shoot, I shoot. Then we fight.

That’s different from the “one of my guys, one of yours” system used in some skirmish games, but the effect is similar: the game stays active and reactive.

Suddenly you’re not waiting for your opponent to finish a twenty-minute turn. You’re constantly involved in what’s happening on the table. And thanks to Heroic Actions (see point two), characters can even break the sequence and act out of order.

These aren’t small tweaks. They can change the course of a turn, or even the whole game. I’m sure most players have had a carefully laid plan completely ruined by a well-timed Heroic Fight.

I like this dynamic so much that I actually used alternating activations as a core principle when designing Halgrad, my own Warband-based tabletop game. 

Credit: LOTR The Two Towers Strategy Battle Game Sourcebook (Games Workshop)

Dynamic Terrain Interactions

Finally, the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game is one where the world itself takes on a character of its own. Buildings, rivers, hills (and in one scenario, even ferries) all have their own rules and meaningful interactions. Want to leap from one rooftop to another, or attempt a risky swim across a river? This game lets you try.

I love this dynamic because it allows players to create all kinds of strange and memorable moments during a game.

I mean, in what other system can a warrior leap between buildings to aid his friends, or watch a heroic general attempt to cross a pond only to fail his swim test and drown?

Too many wargames treat terrain as little more than decoration; something that either blocks line of sight or provides a minor bonus to it. MESBG treats the battlefield as part of the story, and that gives every table a sense of character.

That, to me, is something genuinely special.

 

Of course, these are just my thoughts. What do you think MESBG does better than other wargames? Or, are there any games that MESBG should actually be taking notes from? Let me know in the comments section below, or on social media!

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*MESBG is a property of Games Workshop - check out their site for more info