As people know, in every hobby I practiced, be it wargames or Lego, I always hover to the Tolkien side of the things, as I'm a real lover of his works. And it was no amazement that even with a VERY limited base at the club, I never the less went all in again last summer when the game was re-released.
In the early days, I played the first three editions, which was basically the book that came with each new movie of Peter Jackson back then. I skipped the 4th and 5th edition, as I wasn't present in the hobby anymore, but now blessed with a GF who likes (fantasy) wargaming, I'm getting those games in, initially with Battle Companies but slowly expanding the forces and he sizes of our games. And I will be playing in some FHL tournaments later this year!
The book contains of course no extended fluff section as other Games Workshop rulebooks, due to the fact that the story has been put to paper over decennia, starting as far back as 100 years ago almost. Add to that the license with New Line, and you are safe from range overhauls and 'Primarising' whole armies.
The Introduction section of the book is just that, a look at the profiles and how to 'read' them, how the engine works in large lines and the likes. Now, the profiles and game play totally different from any GW game, even though some of their historical gales of ages ago borrowed from this rule set. there is no Strength / Toughness roll off, no armour saves... no, the game plays more like most historical games out there. Also, if you want to play really massive battles, I recommend looking for the old War of the Ring book, where you play with units instead of models.
The Rules are well, just that: the Rules of the game. How to move, how to fight, what your wargear does, the ways to cast spells, what Might, Will and Fate points of heroes allow you to do... now, again contrary to the other GW games, these still haven't gotten major overhauls, and at the core someone who played in the first editions (like me) can just jump in and already know 75% of the game. The changes are mostly in the details as some things got finetuned over the course of the various editions instead of like both 40k and Age of Sigmar whom both got major overhauls and totally new playstyles in the last editions.
This rule section is as such split up in various sections, like the Turn Sequence, Move Phase, etc etc and coupled with a very extensive and handy index at the back of the book and with rules coming with numbered and corresponding example pictures, makes looking up something not much drag.
It even features a section of playing out Sieges, a very intricate part of the Tolkien lore (Gondolin, Helm's Deep, Gondor, ...)
Next we move to the Matched Play section, the rules to build and army and be able to take along to events. now, perhaps the biggest scene "an sich" in the event scene is that one no longer needs to bring both a Good and an Evil army like back in the days, as this was often a breaker for people. Now, there are rules on what to do if armies facing each other are actually from the same side... and an Alliance Matrix that gives penalties or bonusses if forces are drawn from more then one army list.
The Scenarios list is next with each of them detailed on what they encompass. These are general play scenarios, good for pick up and event gaming, and slowly but steadily I will be playing through them over the coming months.
Next up, the eye candy! Armies of Middle Earth aren't army lists (you will need one of the seperate two companion books for that, either Armies of Lord of the Rings or Armies of the Hobbit) but the gallery pages of the now already 18 year long range of miniatures that came out. Did you know that like the first plastics they made where sculpted by the Perry Brothers btw? Yes, Lord of the Rings is in a way a precursor to their historical company ranges...
The final part of the book contains some example armies of the contributors, so you get a feel on the size of forces in a standard game.
A greatly produced rulebook, that has some things in the system GW should better adapt to their main lines. Like an Alliance Matrix to nerf the current "soup" lists of 40k, or a decent, clear index. And I love the fact the book has been so tested that the whole "faq" section on the community is nothing more then half a page to correct some typos...
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