Image copyright of Games Workshop, used without permission.
The latest release for Games Workshop’s The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game is Legions of Middle Earth (LoME). Available for sale on 16 August, LoME threatens to transform the Lord of the Rings game from what has essentially been a scenario-based game that appealed mostly to collectors to a genuine tournament-compatible game system. How, you ask? Two words – army lists. LoME is essentially a book or army lists – 49 all told – which for the first time provides a framework around which players, stores and tournament organisers can run Lord of the Rings events. Not only are the armies that players can field now defined, it is specifically stated that good vs good and evil vs evil match-ups are now perfectly acceptable.
As well as army lists, LoME contains army restriction guidelines, 12 scenarios, random terrain generator and Q&A.
Army restrictions
Compared with games like Warhammer, there are precious few restrictions when using LoME lists. In summary, these are:
- Bow armed models
- Siege engines
- Minimum and maximum numbers of models
And that’s about it. Of course there are some internal restrictions – you can’t field Aragorn and Denethor in the same list, for example – but it doesn’t get much more complicated than that.
The lists
The book is divided into 14 ‘regions’ which are further divided into the 49 lists already mentioned. For example, under the heading of Gondor there are 6 lists: The Tower of Ecthilion (War of the Ring era), Minas Tirith (generic), The Fiefdoms (Dol Amroth et al), The Army of the High King (The Last Alliance), The Rangers of Ithilien (Faramir & friends) and the Dead of Dunharrow. The latter is one of the shorter lists, with only 1 hero and 2 warrior choices, whilst The Tower of Ecthilion has 7 hero choices and 6 warrior choices, which is one of the largest in the book.
Each army list also has details of permitted allies. In most cases these are numerous, and the only other real restriction on allies is that you must have at least one hero to lead the allied contingent. You can also choose multiple allies.
And as you would have guessed, whilst the focus is on the 3rd Age and the War of the Ring, there are a number of lists from other eras, and so Isilidur, Gil-galad and even Sauron can all be fielded.
Troop profiles
One thing that LoME does not have is the profile of all the troops listed. You must also own a copy of the core rulebook and perhaps some of the expansions if you want to use these lists. An interesting result of this is that there are a number of troop types listed in LoME for which there are not only no models, but no profiles aside from points costs and upgrades, such as the Dwarven Ballista.
Flaws
If there were to be one criticism I would level at LoME, it is almost too inclusive. The lists could have been a little bit more restrictive. A little bit more guidance on the number of heroes allowed would also have been useful, not to mention how to deal with armies who include the same named character. One of the lists in particular is also bit silly, in my opinion – The Dead of Dunharrow list. Despite the fact that these (rather powerful) undead warriors will only answer to Isildur and his heirs, they can be fielded in an army without one of these characters. A bit more attention to detail would have helped here.
Conclusion
On the whole, however, LoME is an excellent product that just might be the shot in the arm that this game system needed. Look out for The League of Middle Earth Gentlemen soon.
Craig Woodfield