SBG issue 5 - Summer 2017

Time for another "walkthrough" of one of the best fanzines out there, the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game magazine.

And this time, the theme of the issue is the epic Battle of Dale, as seen in the third instalment of the The Hobbit trilogy.

The magazine starts as always with the editorial and the contents table, so that is nothing spectacular.

Next up is the collection of short items, bundled together in the SBG Towers column.

The first article in the issue is a first parter of a series, detailing your dice roll odds in the game.  By putting up some combat set-ups, it gives a good idea on how to stack the dice in your favour.  And accompanied by Cubes of Woe, which gives some examples of impossible failed dice rolls...

In the next article, a Lifetime of Tolkien Gaming, the author of the Frostgrave fantasy game by Osprey looks back at what inspired him, all th way down to the old Middle-Earth roleplaying game.

In this months Tactica, the best use of the various Elven spellcasters is handled, like which version of each character gives the best bang for it's buck, and why.

The battle report is epic this month, as hundreds of Orcs, Men and Elves fight over the city of Dale, on a truly fantastic gaming table (seen at the top of this article)!

And the next article, building a Dale House, gives you a guide on how to start building a table like that on your own.

Now, by the time the battle report had been produced, Forge World hadn't yet released Bard's family and the likes, so in this months speed sculpting article, they take a look at how they made some personal models for the game.

The painting masterclass of this issue tackles Gandalf the Grey, with some great pointers on painting, well obviously, grey.

Finally, the issue is rounded out with the Hobby Blog part and what the contributors are up to at the moment.

So that makes another fantastic issue indeed, and I am still razzledazzled about the table from the battle report.  Now to contact them to order their latest issue, number 8...