A short history of this website
This website started in 2019 as a blog to document my journey playing solo through the DeAgostini Battle Games in Middle-earth The Lord of the Rings campaign. The game system that was based on is now better known as Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG).
The full campaign was concluded in 2021 and the whole thing is still documented on the The One Ring forum. Unfortunately, in 2023 I didn’t renew the hosting server for my website because my hosting provider at the time made it a lot more expensive and I was expecting to become a father, so I wouldn’t have time to hobby anyway. But now more than 1,5 year later, I feel like that might change and I could get into some hobbying once again. I have also found a better, cheaper and more sustainable hosting provider, so I expect to run this site for a long, long time.
While I did back up the original site, it seems the back up files were corrupted. However, I still have a number of files, so in the coming days I’ll try to revive what I can of the previously published content.
A thank you
If you visited the original website or blog, I am very happy you have found your way back here despite my hiatus. I am hoping I can provide even better content, though this will most likely be at a much slower pace. My everyday life has become a lot more filled up and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. However, I also like to believe that I have grown, matured and improved. Meaning my future output will hopefully be of a higher standard.
My aims and the future
I really want to get back into this wonderful hobby. I also want to share this hobby with you. Like before this website will mostly be focused on battle reports or scenario playthroughs. But I am hoping to also share updates on painting, making terrain and other hobby related stuff as I go along.
I am still motivated to play through the scenarios in the source books and supplements, with fully painted figures and terrain. However with limited time, I might want to try the more recent stuff first, instead of revisiting the oldest materials. That is probably a bit more exciting for me, as well as for you.
I can’t wait to continue with this hobby and blogging about it and with a new supplement and even a new edition around the corner, there should be plenty to play through and blog about! I hope you will follow along with me and I would love to hear from you!
Really glad to hear you’re doing well and even more excited to see that you’re back in the hobby. Truthfully, I don’t play MESBG at all anymore and I’m looking to sell some of my collection in the near future but I still love LOTR and will look forward to seeing what you play. Have you branched out into any other games or systems? I think you might already know/remember this but I’ve found Fallout Wasteland Warfare to be great for solo gamers like myself and that’s the main reason I moved on from MESBG.
Hi Kuribo,
Nice to see you back! To be honest, I haven’t really done anything hobby wise since my previous site went down. Before that, I did re-enter Star Wars Legion, but haven’t actually played it much yet (but enough for me to decide to keep and expand it). It doesn’t have official narrative / scenario / campaign type play as far as I’m aware, but I figured it’d always be possible to create that myself.
If I had the money, time and space I’d absolutely love to also become invested in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare. I have browsed Modiphius webshop on a number of occasions, but I’m trying very hard not to buy new things when I still have a lot of unopened boxes of other stuff. If my daughter becomes older and shows an interest in tabletop wargaming, I might take the plunge though. Or if I get to the point where I play MESBG and SW:L often enough that I’d want to add more variety. But for the foreseeable future I don’t see that happening just yet.
At any rate, I’d love to catch up on your posts and all the awesome adventures you’ve had with the hobby. 🙂
Makes sense! It really is an endeavor painting and creating terrain for a single wargame. Sometimes I think I’m crazy for doing it but it does bring a lot of satisfaction and joy when you get something done.
Fallout is still a great game but its become more complicated in recent months. Modiphius has released an offshoot game based on Nuka World which is mostly head to head and not solo friendly. They also tried to make some rule changes which haven’t gone down well with some people. I still really enjoy playing the game and its easy to avoid the rule change issues for now but it is definitely a sprawling game with a ton of miniatures, different ways to play, and even multiple Fallout settings to choose from. It can be overwhelming to start!
I still post about once a week so it would take a Herculean effort to catch up on all of it, which is definitely not necessary. With that said, you’re always welcome to stop by and its always great to hear your perspective on things too!
Glad to see you back, always enjoyed your battle reports and your terrain building.
Thanks Bret, good to see you too! I did see some of your work on the One Ring during my hiatus, really nice stuff! I’m hoping I can become a bit more active there as well. 🙂
Thanks, though I admit I haven’t been as active on the one-ring as I could have been. I tend to post more on Instagram these days as it is easier (lotrboomer)