In the world of miniature games, there is but one king of the throne and that is Warhammer 40k, but what if I told you that even among the fiercest 40k fans, almost unanimously, most people will agree that The Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game is widely considered to be the best game GamesWorkshop makes.

Originally released in 2001, this miniature game based on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies has been the oddly-kept secret at GamesWorkshop for over two decades, and while its following pales in comparison to some of GW’s larger franchises, the cult status of this game supported by dedicated fans has kept it afloat for years. Over two editions the game has thrived and recently GW has announced and started pushing the game with an updated 3rd edition.

Unlike many of GW’s games, however, The Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game was made right the first time, and over the editions, very little has actually changed. The game has been streamlined sure, but the rules have remained largely the same for going on a decade now and the new editions is mostly just a repackaging of the same game. Minor tweaks so small if you already have the 2nd edition rules there is hardly any reason to upgrade.

Now the exciting part isn’t the new edition, GW is famous for its grandiose books, that is certain, but it’s the miniatures you want!

On the heels of this new edition, there is a new starter box set coming out as well as a general refurbishing of the entire line which is likely going to go on for a couple of years at least. The quality of the miniatures is outstanding from the images already released and we know from the various announcements that there is going to be a regular stream of new stuff to buy. Get your credit cards paid off people, this shit ain’t gonna be cheap!

Now there are some very important things to note about this game before you consider diving into it, because this game is…. different.

There are three things that really make Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game unique, and it’s really important for fans of miniature games, especially those accustomed to the standard objective-based, list-building style games looking for a good balanced gaming experience to know them.

First is the fact that this game, while it offers a sort of list-building match-play mode, it’s very clear from the design that this is a game designed largely to support narrative play. The concept of narrative play drives your approach to collecting miniatures.

This isn’t a game where you “pick a faction” and then buy units to support your preference or “list”. What you do is pick a scenario or a group of scenarios, typically either scenes directly from the movies, or presumed battles that took place in the middle-earth history (off-camera) and then collect the miniatures you need to create that scenario. The goal is to effectively play the scenarios and collect the mini’s you need for that.

As such a typical player in this game might not say “I have a Mordor army”, they are more likely to list the scenarios their army is built for.

The second thing to note is that this is a “cinematic miniature game”, which is to say the goal of the game is to tell a story of a battle, by playing it out, but more than that, the mechanics are designed to reflect the action you see in the movies. Characters for example are extremely powerful and have unique abilities that let them take on entire hordes of enemies. The detail of the mechanics are designed to cover actions like hopping over a chasm and fighting on a ladder, there are rules for siege engines and running sieges, and special rules for magic even though there are only a small handful of characters that can perform such a thing. There are special timing rules for dueling and more importantly, the action is focused on individual models, so there are no weird grouping rules for movement or attack actions.

In the end the game plays out more like a tactical battle out of a role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons with a wide range of special actions and unique effects. All of these rules are carefully crafted to bring that cinematic feel of the movies to the table top and the game really nails that concept but this really comes at the sacrifice of balance and you really feel that if you try to convert your army to work with match play and list building. This concept of match play was tact on to the game after the fans insisted it be added, but the game originally had no such thing.

Which brings me to the third thing. This game is crunchy as fuck! As the goal is for the game to be this cinematic, scenario-focused game, there are a lot of special rules and unique elements designed into this game to bring the right feel. This comes with some rules weight, the game can get quite fiddly and while there are scenarios of all shapes and sizes, there is no sort of standard play length or game. A scenario might be small with just 5-10 miniatures that lasts for 20 minutes or it can be a massive siege that can take several days to finish.

Suffice it to say, the scope here can be quite grand and yet the rules drill down to bring this scope to your table using a lot of minutia.

Is the game any good? Well, this is where answering the question gets kind of tricky. I would say, first and foremost, that you must be a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, this might seem obvious but unlike a lot of miniature games, much of the game is not going to make much sense or even feel balanced unless you understand the context of the movies and its many characters. The story is really crammed into the mechanics.

The second thing is that you have to make your peace with the scenario style of play and collection. I see a lot of disappointment coming from the quasi-competitive scene. Match play and open play are fine concepts here, but the entire balance of the game is super iffy and there are clear winners and losers in the list-building department. This hasn’t been and likely isn’t ever going to be addressed because as already mentioned, its crystal clear that the primary way this game is meant to be played is scenario-based.

Finally, I would argue that this is the single most expensive game to collect in existence, even more expensive than 40k because there is no such thing as a 2,000 point army and done. It’s kind of a never-ending thing as you expand to include more and more scenarios your army can do and you are often collecting multiple factions. This includes tremendous efforts to paint as you are often working with a lot of models.

All that said, personally I tend to agree with the consensus, this game is without question the best thing GW makes. It’s addictive, something you can really obsess about and because it’s scenario based, the concept of balance and fairness really aren’t a thing in this game. Scenarios are built to depict the scenes and cinematics of the movies and this is where the games loyalty lays. It’s not for everyone but if re-creating the battles of the movies sounds good to you, no game does it better.