Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (previously marketed as The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Strategy Battle Game) is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies directed by Peter Jackson, and the books that inspired them, written by J. R. R. Tolkien.
The game was initially released in 2001 to coincide in with the film The Fellowship of the Ring. New box sets with updated rules were also released for The Two Towers and The Return of the King films. Later, beginning with the Shadow and Flame supplement, Games Workshop began to add content that was featured in the original book but not in the film adaptations: e.g. Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. Games Workshop has also expanded its licence with original material on areas such as Harad and Khand, with mixed reactions. Another complete edition of the rules, often called The One Rulebook to Rule them All, was released by Games Workshop in September 2005, while a compact edition entitled The Mines of Moria was also released. This was superseded by a new rule book in 2018, called simply Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual. This new rule book combined the original LotR SBG and Hobbit SBG into one cohesive, cross compatible rule set.
In early 2009, Games Workshop also released an expansion to the original game called War of the Ring which, according to the company, allows players to emulate the large battles included in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by streamlining the game system. This expansion differs from the main game in several ways. Firstly, War of the Ring uses a larger number of models but the models are placed on movement trays with two cavalry models or eight infantry models on each. This allows for much easier and quicker movement of large numbers of models at once. These are called "companies". Larger creatures such as Ents and Trolls are treated as separate models and do not use movement trays. Combat within the game is also treated differently. In the original game players both roll dice to determine who wins the fight and then the victor rolls to see how much damage is done. In War of the Ring only dice to determine damage are rolled. Also, in War of the Ring, heroes are treated more like upgrades for their company rather than individual models, as they are in the original game.
In addition to gaming, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game includes other common elements of the miniature wargaming hobby. These include the collecting, painting and conversion of miniature figures used in play, as well as the modelling of gaming terrain from scratch. These aspects of the hobby are covered in Games Workshop's monthly White Dwarf and on various gaming websites, as well as formerly in the fortnightly Battle Games in Middle-earth.
In 2015 Forge World, a division of Games Workshop focused on specialist resin miniatures and conversion kits as well as the Specialist Games ranges, assumed production of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game and all supplements.
Development
Background In the 1980s, Games Workshop produced a range of miniatures for The Lord of the Rings, using original character designs based on fantasy art popular of the time. This was the first range of Lord of the Rings miniatures that Citadel created, taking over from Grenadier Miniatures in 1985, before the licence passed to Mithril Miniatures around 1987. The earliest releases were semi-solid base, having a small solid base; later releases were slot based.
Current licensing The current Lord of the Rings range stems from Games Workshop's rights to produce a skirmish war game based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books and films, in the 25mm miniature scale."Note that these figures are 25 mm and not the 28 mm figures that are more popular today"; (The rights to produce a role playing game version of the films were sold to another firm, Decipher, Inc.) They also have the rights to produce Battle of Five Armies, a game based on the battle of similar name from The Hobbit, using smaller miniatures to enact larger battles (more akin to the Warmaster system). Under this separate licence, the game was done using a 10 mm scale for the normal warriors, and a larger "heroic" scale for the named characters.
Games Workshop has not acquired the rights to The Silmarillion, which is still the exclusive property of the Tolkien Estate, but has the right to develop its own derivative intellectual property to fill in the gaps in The Lord of the Rings universe. This is particularly true of Harad, which has a range of invented places (such as "Kârna", "Badharkân", "Hidâr", "Nâfarat", "Abrakân", and "Dhâran-sar"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields Supplement) and characters (such as the Hasharin and "Dalamyr, Fleetmaster of Umbar"Legions of Middle-earth).
Designers and Peter Jackson Four of the game's designers were in the extended Return of the King film as Rohirrim at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields: Alessio Cavatore, Brian Nelson, and Alan and Michael Perry. They can be seen near the Oliphaunt when Peregrin Took goes searching for Meriadoc Brandybuck among the debris from the battle, and are also on the base of Games Workshop's Mûmak miniature. Games Workshop created two miniatures of Peter Jackson, based on his appearance as a Breeland man during the Fellowship of the Ring:Peter Jackson, as a Hobbit in Bree. one is owned by the director, and the other is kept on display at Warhammer World in England.UK White Dwarf issue 265 Games Workshop has also released a model of Peter Jackson as one of the Corsairs of Umbar from The Return of the King.
Hobbyist community
Collectors Similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battle players, Lord of the Rings players commonly collect and paint one army (or more) of their choice and find opponents (with similarly collected armies) to play against. Armies can be built up from through the purchase of boxed sets (usually having 10 or 12 plastic miniatures in each) or "blister packs" (usually containing no more than four finely detailed metal or resin miniatures) to build up a reasonable-sized fighting force. Others simply collect the miniatures because they like the way they look. One popular way of collecting was through Battle Games in Middle-earth — a De Agostini magazine that came with one or more free miniatures (some of which were initially exclusive to the publication) and contained detailed hobby guides.
As such, there are a wide variety of miniatures in the ever-growing range, including promotional miniatures, such as "Gimli on Dead Uruk-hai". Games Workshop began to discontinue some of their metal miniatures, so that they could replace them with plastic miniatures. However, there was much complaint when they retired the popular "Boromir Captain of the White Tower" miniature, and it was later brought back into production.
There are a large number of differences from Warhammer in The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, which makes it unique and more realistic, accounting for its popularity as Games Workshop's third core system.
Modellers
Since the models are hand-painted and assembled by the player, players are often encouraged to design their own paint schemes, such as colouring them differently and so on, as well as using the pre-designed ones displayed in the various books. They are also encouraged to further modify their miniatures using parts from other kits and models (known as "Bitz" to players), modelling putty, or whatever the modeller can scrounge up. These conversions are often entered into contests at sponsored tournaments and similar gaming events, such as the Golden Demon or the One Ring Awards.
Terrain is a very important part of play.Mines of Moria, p 8 Though Games Workshop makes terrain kits available, many hobbyists prefer to make their own elaborate and unique set pieces. Common household items and hobby materials such as balsa wood, cardboard, and polystyrene can be transformed into ruins from the Second Age, woodland terrain, or the rocky wild of Middle-earth with the addition of plastic card, putty, and a bit of patience and skill.
Dioramas, often depicting scenes from the film and books, bring terrain and conversion skills together. However, due to the licensing agreements between New Line Cinema and Games Workshop, pieces of models for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are not allowed to be combined with other model lines for official tournaments or conversion awards. The same is true for pieces from other manufacturers.
Current state of play
History and overview of rulesets
, the rules for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game were in their fourth edition. The first three editions of the rulebooks were released with The Lord of the Rings films, but Games Workshop used the magazine White Dwarf and various supplements to "go beyond what is presented in the films of The Lord of the Rings and delve into the rich material of J. R. R. Tolkien's books."Alessio Cavatore, Shadow and Flame, page 3 (2003). The fourth edition, The One Rulebook to Rule them All, contained the entire set of rules updated and presented in a single large volume, including those of previous supplements. The three older editions were re-released in updated supplements, while the compact Mines of Moria edition contains the updated rules only for what was shown in the films. In February 2012, preceding the release of The Hobbit movies, all of the characteristic profiles from the old sourcebooks and White Dwarf were condensed in 5 sourcebooks: Mordor, The Fallen Realms, Moria & Angmar, Kingdoms of Men, and The Free Peoples. These also contain minor edits to the rules as written in The One Rulebook to Rule them All. For around a decade, this remained the core rules system, with only minor changes through various supplements.
With the release of The Hobbit trilogy of films, the game was rebranded, a new rulebook with various changes was released, and supplements tying in to each of the films were released. The Hobbit theme performed less well than expected, reaching nowhere near the peak popularity seen during the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy release, when the game had been Games Workshop's most valuable property. The game gradually received less and less attention from Games Workshop as profits and interest dwindled.
After this period of decline, Games Workshop unexpectedly announced a revival of the game. A third rebrand, to no longer focus on The Hobbit, took place. The rules were reworked and republished in a new edition in 2018 (effectively the 5th edition), and all the profiles of all models were revised and collected in two books: Armies of The Lord of the Rings and Armies of The Hobbit, uniting the older and newer ranges of miniatures into the same system. A new starter box set, based on the climactic Battle of Pelennor Fields from The Return of the King, was designed and heavily promoted. This ushered in a new era for the game, with further, scenario-focused supplements following, significantly increased interest in the game, greater coverage of the game by Games Workshop, and cyclical rereleases of out-of-production miniatures. In December 2022 a new starter box centred around the Battle of Osgiliath was released.
In December 2024 a new edition of the game was released which introduced minor gameplay adjustments as well as new profiles for every character in the game. A new starter box centred around The War of the Rohirrim was released alongside.
Below is a list of all official editions of rulebooks and supplements released: