The Middle-earth™ Strategy Battle Game Grand Tournament, hosted here at Warhammer World, is fast approaching, and hobbyists are painting their armies as frantically as a Hobbit preparing for a dinner party! We reached out to some of the event’s attendees to find out how their preparation is going.
Phil Beale
I always have a great time at Warhammer World events and try to attend them as often as I can. The atmosphere is excellent, catching up with friends and having a go at the quiz are both real highlights, and it’s always amazing to see the continuously rising standards of hobby on display.
I also like the two-army format of the GT in particular. Usually, I bring a pair of thematically opposed forces with a display board of a scene from the books or films. This year I have deviated slightly, as my display will be a bit more experimental. I’ll be running an all-mounted Grief of Éomer list, countered by Corsair Fleets. These factions nearly fought each other at the Pelennor Fields, after all.
The Grief of Éomer represents a section of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™ that I’ve always found particularly moving. The emotional journey Éomer undergoes is quite extreme, through the frenzy of loss, into despair at overwhelming odds, then finally to joy as he and Aragorn meet upon the field of victory. The assistance of Prince Imrahil and Húrin the Tall represents the greatest of alliances in Middle-earth, the true friendship between Gondor and Rohan. I’m really looking forward to putting all three heroes together and charging recklessly into combat!
The Corsair Fleets will actually be the third Corsairs army I have painted, one for each edition of the game that I’ve played! To introduce some extra variety into the troops, I have done a number of conversions. I do like to give my opponent plenty of low defence troops to chop through, but it would be nice if they had some variety! To find troops without masses of armour, I turned to the Uruk-hai Berserkers, combining them with elements from my Harad miniatures to complete the look. This allowed me to add some rather burly pirates to my crew!
Although most of my armies are now painted, I still have two Good heroes to paint and a few more troops to polish off for the Corsairs. In the final days before the event, I’ll be baking** my display board.
Kalman Steels
For many years now, I have tried to attend every Middle-earth™ Strategy Battle Game event held at Warhammer World. Spending all weekend with friends and playing MESBG in a castle courtyard… What’s not to like?
MESBG events also have a group of ‘usual faces’. Having attended so many events, these people have become dear friends and seeing them twice or three times a year is always the highlight of the weekend for me.
Unlike other events, the MESBG Grand Tournament (or GT) requires you to take two forces, a Good and an Evil army. I like to plan my choices around a pair that are thematically opposed to each other and could share a display board because, for me, these events are all for the love of the hobby and of course, for the love of The Lord of the Rings™. This year, I plan to take two armies from the recent The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim™ motion picture, both the Defenders and the Besiegers of the Hornburg.
Luckily, last year I painted up the Defenders of the Hornburg and created my display board for Throne of Skulls so I “only” have to paint up the Besiegers for the GT. Unfortunately, I have left it a bit late to start so at the time of writing this, I am frantically painting up Hill Tribesmen every chance I get*.
I chose these armies as they are both almost entirely composed of new miniatures from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim™ in the Warriors of Rohan, Hill Tribesmen, and Heroes. They’ve been great fun to paint so far and I can’t wait to sit back and see them all finished. I don’t expect to do very well from a tournament standing point of view – my armies’ compositions are definitely more thematic than competitive – but I would be chuffed to pieces to leave with a Best Army nomination.
Tom Thorpe
I’ve been going to Middle-earth events at Warhammer World for over 15 years! I get so excited to come up and have a chance to see some of the best, most long-standing friends I’ve made throughout my time with the hobby, whether it's at a GT, Throne of Skulls, or Doubles event. These chances to be all together and indulge in the world of tabletop Middle-earth are highlights of the year for me.
This year, I’m trying to re-create the fall of the kingdom of Arnor with my armies, pitting the forces of King Arvedui and the armoured fist of Arnor against the Host of the Witch-king, populated by spirits, ferocious wolves, and the evil Men of Carn Dûm.
I’ve loved the chance to finally get my forces of Arnor painted in that classic green, which I find really striking. I’m also planning a full warband of Knights of Arnor to ride alongside Argadir for epic cavalry charges! I’m really enjoying the flexibility of building and painting an Angmar list with lots of different textures and colours to stand against the wall of silver and green that is my Arnor force. I’m also grateful to not be painting 34 War Drakes of Rhûn this time around! I only have a handful of miniatures left to paint, and some finishing touches to board and bases, so I am alarmingly well prepared for this GT, which is very uncharacteristic of me!
I’m always really honoured to be considered for Best Army, and the level of hobby every year from the community continues to reach new heights. I honestly have no idea how the judges make their shortlists, but whatever happens, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy being in the company of like-minded Hobbits, surrounded by amazing examples of the hobby and celebrating those who win awards from the bottom tables when my dice inevitably betray me!
A massive thanks to Kalman, Phil, and Tom for giving us an insight into their preparations for the upcoming Middle-earth™ Strategy Battle Game Grand Tournament. If you’d like to attend an event here at Warhammer World, head on over to the Warhammer World Events page to see what’s coming up!
* Kalman is far from alone in that regard!
** Baking? That’s a magic word in the Warhammer Community office. We’re officially intrigued.
