SBG issue 1 - Autumn 2014

A Middle-earth fanzine by the fans - for the fans

I recently gotten into possession of the first 6 issues of this fanzine, produced by the guys of the GBHL YouTube channel, and I must say I was impressed.

So I am doing a small, albeit perhaps late, review on the issues as I read through them, because they are so worth it for an MESBG lover as myself.  Now take into account, this magazine rose during the days of the The Hobbit edition of the game (aka, 5th edition) and while the game got some coverage in the White Dwarf on a monthly basis until the recent 'reboot'.  So there definitly was a market for this sort of fanzine, and it being both high quality AND printed makes me an instant fan.

There are a lot of great articles in this issue, starting out with a great painting masterclass for white horses.

Next up we get an article on the back then 10 most undercosted models in the game, in theory, and how they go up in the game.  Things like Woses Warriors are for example far undercosted, but no-one cares due to the synergy of units and heroes that makes the game tick.

In The Dr's Corner, a very entertaining column, the topic is brought up why so many wargamers 'hide' their hobby from the outside world.  While I always have been very open about it, at work and such just reading magazines on the hobby or thumbling in with another set I grabbed over lunch, there are indeed people hiding it.  For example, I bought my Import Managers collection of LOTR a few months ago... but until then, I didn't even know he had played in the past.

The next article is about perhaps the (even in this edition) hardest sort of unit to use: the Cavalry.

Out of the Frying Pan is a scenario based on the scene from The Hobbit trilogy, as Thorin and company hide in a tree for the Orc Hunters, and it is played out in the accompanying battle report as well.

Okay, the first item of the next section, Upcoming Events, "might" be slightly out of date, but the rest of the articles, being reports on events from back then, remain a very entertaining reading.

So that is it, 48 pages of pure MESBG goodness.  I'm going to be looking around for more of the still missing issues, and contact the writers for back issues and such to complete the collection, as I love this magazine.  I believe they are now up to issue 8, so that's do-able of backlogs to get...

Now to read issue 2...