Welcome back
After some soul searching and discussions I’ve had with some of you, I’ve decided to shelf my ideas about selling my collection. So, that means I’m back, and am eager to get started again!
The goal
My biggest MESBG-related hobby dream has always been to play the DeAgostini Battle Games in Middle-earth The Lord of the Rings campaign. Which I did from 2019 to 2021. However, not all events from the books and films are adequately represented in that campaign. Besides, the game has undergone a number of edition and profile changes, which means those scenarios could be updated a bit.
A logical next step would then be to play through the Quest of the Ringbearer (2020). However, that too, is far from complete. Besides, there are a lot of rich other stories which helped shape the fate of Middle-earth. So instead, I want to include all relevant scenarios and campaigns that cover the history of Middle-earth, use the most recent versions, tweak where necessary, and merge this all in one truly epic campaign: the MESBG Ultimate Campaign (UC).
All official GW-published campaigns will serve as the building blocks. But they will be integrated in a way that makes it one campaign.
History of Middle-earth: the Arcs
I have made a rough overview of the story Arcs in the history of Middle-earth (starting from the end of the Second Age), that make sense to translate to SBG:
- Second Age / The Last Alliance (3 VP)
- Fall of the Necromancer (2 VP)
- Harad
- Angmar & Arnor (2 VP)
- Khazad-Dûm (1 VP)
- Eorl the Young
- War of the Rohirrim (1 VP)
- The Hobbit (4 VP)
- Balin’s Expedition (1 VP)
- Southron / A Shadow in the East (1 VP)
- The Hunt for Gollum
- The Lord of the Rings (Gondor at War (3 VP), Quest of the Ringbearer (5 VP), War in Rohan (3 VP), Defence of the North (3 VP); total 14 VP)
- The (Scouring of the) Shire (1 VP)
The Arcs in red don’t have a (recent) supplement yet. As you can see, this means there is quite some stuff missing. The most notable problem here is The Last Alliance, which would be the start of the campaign. The other arcs are less essential, such as Harad / Khazad-Dûm / Eorl the Young / Southron / A Shadow in the East. The Hunt for Gollum will soon be a film, which means it will likely get its own campaign. The Hobbit has a somewhat recent campaign, but I expect we will get a more current one at some point. Balin’s Expedition has a mini-campaign in the BGIME series, which could serve as a starting point. Though it would be cool if that would receive its own film and campaign as well.
Connecting the campaigns and scenarios:
M/W/F and Wounds
I will use a slightly modified version of the Quest of the Ringbearer rules for recovering M/W/F and Wounds from Heroes between scenarios. Specific characters will have additional special rules which will influence how they recover. More on how this works in a later post.
Scenario outcomes
I will mostly follow the scenario bonuses within existing campaigns and tweak them where needed. Final scenarios in those campaigns often result in victory points (VP) and/or scenario bonuses which I will write myself.
Victory points (VP)
I will likely use a system of Victory Points to tie all the campaigns into one narrative. That seems more satisfying than letting the entire campaign rest on the outcome of the final scenario (‘Battle of Bywater’). Those VPs could impact scenarios, participants and might have in-game effects such as in the ‘End of All Things’ scenario. The events that transpired and the amount of VPs acquired will determine which side will ultimately win the campaign, and at what price.
In board games, I am usually not a big fan of VPs. The main reason being they are quite abstract, and can often feel disconnected from the story. However I think here they can have a lot of value, and for a campaign which might consist of 250 (!!!) games, stretching approximately 3000 years (in-lore time, I hope), I think they are an elegant solution to different problems.
So how would they work? Well I already attributed VPs to the Arcs I mentioned previously, where the obvious focus is The Lord of the Rings. Given the narrative nature of it all, it is not just about ‘I have more VPs, therefore I win’. Of course the story, casualties and events along the way are what it is all about. But the VPs do give some insight into which side has achieved more goals. They also give one important benefit discussed below.
| Main campaign / Arc (30 VPs): | Good must … | Resulting in … | Evil must … | Resulting in … |
| Second Age (3 VPs) | Kill Sauron | 2 VPs | Kill at least 2 of the big Heroes | 1 VP |
| Kill all 4 big Heroes | 1 VP | |||
| Win Gladden Fields/campaign | 1 VP | Win Gladden Fields/campaign | 1 VP | |
| Fall of the Necromancer (2 VPs) | Save Gandalf in the final scenario | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 2 VP |
| Banish the Necromancer | 1 VP | |||
| Rise of Angmar (2 VPs) | Win the Battle of Fornost | 1 VP | Win the Battle of Fornost | 1 VP |
| Win the Fall of Arnor | 1 VP | Win the Fall of Arnor | 1 VP | |
| Khazad-Dûm (1 VP) | Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP |
| War of the Rohirrim (1 VP) | Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP |
| The Hobbit (4 VPs) | Win the Battle of Azanulbizar | 1 VP | Win the Battle of Azanulbizar | 1 VP |
| Kill Smaug | 1 VP | Have Smaug survive | 1 VP | |
| Win the Battle of the Five Armies | 2 VP | Win the Battle of the Five Armies | 2 VP | |
| Balin’s Expedition (1 VP) | Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP |
| A Shadow in the East / Southron (1 VP) | Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP |
| Defence of the North (3 VPs) | Win campaign #1 (Dale & Erebor) | 1 VP | Win the campaign #1 (Dale & Erebor) | 1 VP |
| Win campaign #2 (Mirkwood) | 1 VP | Win campaign #2 (Mirkwood) | 1 VP | |
| Win campaign #3 (Lothlórien) | 1 VP | Win campaign #3 (Lothlórien) | 1 VP | |
| War in Rohan (3 VPs) | Win the Battle of Helm’s Deep | 1 VP | Win the Battle of Helm’s Deep | 1 VP |
| Win the Defence of Edoras | 1 VP | Win the Defence of Edoras | 1 VP | |
| Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP | |
| Gondor at War (3 VPs) | Win the Battle of the Pelennor Fields | 3 VP | Win the Battle of the Pelennor Fields | 3 VP |
| Quest of the Ringbearer (5 VPs) | Win the campaign | 5 VP | Win the campaign | 5 VP |
| The Scouring of the Shire (1 VP) | Win the campaign | 1 VP | Win the campaign | 1 VP |
By the time we get to the End of All Things, a maximum of 24 VPs will have been awarded.
The main in-game use for VPs I’m thinking of is that they’ll allow the infamous ‘Destroying the Ring’ roll to be re-rolled in that scenario. Because this is pretty much the most important event in the entire history, this will make VPs very important, as it will make destroying the Ring a lot easier (or harder, if Evil has more VPs). The details of that will have to be worked out further, but for now I’m thinking you look at the difference in VPs between both sides. The player who has the most gets to spend a number of re-rolls for these ‘Destroying the Ring’ rolls equal to the difference in VPs between the players.
Your input
What do you think about this plan? Have I made some oversights, or do you have any good ideas or tweaks? Are you missing story arcs or feel that the VP’s could be better used or distributed? I’m curious to know what you think and get some feedback on my plan so far.
In the next post, I will discuss all the general houserules (rules changes) I plan to apply. I’m hoping to get these posts out weekly, but we’ll see if that works out.