We’re back again with another look at an upcoming supplement for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game. This time it’s the Middle-earth Matched Play Guide, and Lead Games Developer Jay is here to explain what players can expect to find within its pages.
Jay: The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game has a long history of Matched Play events – with numerous leagues and tournaments run across the globe, from local events with just a handful of players to huge multi-national tournaments with a cast of hundreds.
The Matched Play element of the game is very important, and while the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual outlines the principles, with six core Matched Play scenarios, the Middle-earth Matched Play Guide has even more to offer for players who want to get further into the wonderful world of tournaments and gaming weekends!
Updated scenarios
All of the scenarios from the previous edition of the game make their return, and just like the six core scenarios they have been rescaled to 20 Victory Points. It’s not quite as simple as just increasing the value of some objectives, and many of the scenarios have been altered and tweaked to give a more satisfying experience on the tabletop.
In Retrieval, the Relics begin closer together, and there are Victory Points for slaying enemy Hero models. Seize the Prizes now has three Artefacts to fight over, rather than one, helping spread the action out over the whole battlefield. Contest of Champions allows each player to nominate a Hero as Champion for the battle, rather than forcing it to be the General. Clash By Moonlight now has an objective marker in the middle of the battlefield to encourage armies to not just stand off for the entire game.
But perhaps the biggest change is to Heirlooms of Ages Past – perhaps the most polarising scenario of the previous edition. Now, the six objective markers are placed in predetermined positions on the battlefield, and you no longer roll to determine which is the Heirloom when one is uncovered. Instead, one will already have been secretly chosen as the Heirloom at the start of the game, so neither player will know where it is. This becomes a far more intriguing battle where your chances of uncovering the Heirloom increase as the game continues. Players will also score Victory Points for uncovering decoys, so there is still a reason to interact with them after the Heirloom has been found.
Brand new scenarios
There are six all-new scenarios, which each have their own interesting twists and ways to score, and which will provide plenty of new challenges for experienced players.
Stake a Claim has five objective markers which accumulate Fortification Points. Sites of Power uses the Maelstrom of Battle deployment and has four mysterious objectives for players to claim, though the ancient powers that still lie over them have a variety of effects. Treasure Hoard will pit two armies in a rush to see which can claim the most loot. Escort the Wounded has players trying to rescue casualties by taking them to their sanctuaries on the other side of the board. Convergence splits the armies into two, trying to bring important items to a key area. And Lead from the Front is a classic objective scoring game, with the twist that the objective is claimed by the Hero with the highest Heroic Tier in range!
All of these will help shake up the Matched Play scene, and allow for even greater variety at gaming events worldwide.
Doubles matches
There are full rules for running doubles events, plus six special doubles scenarios. It gives complete guidance on how to formulate an army list for a doubles game, as well as examples to show how it all works.
Doubles has always been a popular format for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, allowing you to fight side-by-side with a friend, and this section gives you everything you need to know to do just that.
Team events
Team events are becoming ever more popular, and we provide the rules for running your own. There are sections on how to assemble a team, how players within a team will need to build their lists, how the Rule of One works in a team, and so on – it’s all explained here.
There is even a step-by-step guide explaining how to do pairings for a team event, showcasing how teams go about sorting their matchups to make the process as quick and straightforward as possible.
Other aspects
Then there are rules for campaign events, additional optional rules, and guidance on how to organise your own events such as pairing players, awarding tournament points, tiebreakers and so on.
The new Middle-earth Matched Play Guide is the ultimate companion for everyone who loves Matched Play, and this new version will provide exciting events, tactical challenges, and greater variety to events across the globe. These rules will be in use for any official Games Workshop events – such as those run at Warhammer World.
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