LotR SBG: A dying hobby?

[cajun 40k]

It is dead and always was dead in my neck of the woods. The only reason my FLGS stocks it is because GW requires that official GW supported stores stock everything.

[Thorhak]

This is a message of HOPE! lol

My name is Keith, aka Thorhak. I learned of the world of miniature wargaming around 2000, I was 31. I had stumbled into my local hobby store looking for a new DnD Dungeon Model, happened in on Warhammer Paint Clinic and walked out of the store 5 hrs later w/ a warhammer beginner set. One year later, The Fellowship of the Ring movie was released. I went to the St. Louis Mills to watch it opening night and outside the theater, the local GW store was doing demos games for their new line: LOTR SBG. After that night, I sold my WH set and dived into LOTR SBG. Now I'm a complete junky!!

I probably have 6000+ LOTR minis, sadly only 500 or so painted! lmao. My first few years into the game I approached it as a collector/painter. Then in 2006, I attended the Baltimore Grand Tournament where the second ever LOTR SBG tournament was being held, (the first was in 2005 at the same venue). Roughly 40 players competed, I finished 20ish overall and was hooked on Tourneys from then on. I travel around the country to compete in LOTR SBG GTs 2-3 times each year. In 2010 alone, I finished 12 overall at the Gathering in the Desert in Phoenix, AZ, 2nd at Adepticon in Chi-town, and 4th at Bilbo's Birthday Bash, at the Chi-town Bunker.

Presently, I'm in Denver. When I arrived in Dec. 2007, the local GW store was preparing to close its doors for good. So I went out to the community and choose Collectormania in Parker, CO as my base. At that time, there was a hand full of "regulars" that had LOTR collections but no one was playing, and the only LOTR SBG product at the store was from the original FOTR release with the green packaging.

Fast forward two years...now there are no less than 20 players at Collectormania with 600 pt. Tournament-ready armies, and the store features a very complete LOTR SBG product line. In 2010, I organized and ran Mayhem in the Mountains, an Independent LOTR SBG Grand Tournament. I got 18 players to participate, 6 from outside CO. The feedback I received was awesome, and I petitioned GW to include MitM in the 2011-2012 Official GW North America Tournament Circuit. I was accepted, and now hope to play host to 30+ players this September.

So no, LOTR SBG is not dead...but all interested parties need to have a, "If you build it, [it will happen]" attitude. We are very fortunate...in the past few months, GW renewed its license with Warner Bros. to keep the LOTR SBG line alive. This license renewal included the rights to upcoming Hobbit movie series, the first of which will be released in Dec. 2012. So, yes there will be new models and hopefully sourcebooks.

I will agree, one thing LOTR SBG needs is a major overhaul of its Main Rulebook. One thing that I find that turns players off again and again is that the rules and profiles are scattered about in various different books. To assemble a Tournament legal army, you may need to consult as many as 3-4 different books...and Army Builder is unfortunately very unreliable with regards to LOTR SBG. A single, unifying Rulebook featuring ALL the rules, ALL the profiles and ALL FAQs would be paramount to LOTR SBG survival beyond the current 6 year renewal in my mind. That being said, hopefully my excitement for the game has spilled over, and we will rebuild the LOTR SBG community, one city at a time...and of course, (cheap plug coming...lol) I hope to see y'all at [URL="http://adeptusmilehigh.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Ite mid=14"]Mayhem in the Mountains[/URL] Sept 17th and 18th 2012!!

Cheers!!

Baruk Khazad! Khazad Ai-Menu!!!
Visit me at[URL="http://adeptusmilehigh.com"] Adeptus Mile High[/URL]

[lattd]

The problem is they dropped it then gave us the worse rulebook i have ever read in WOTR. Why drop a game voted as your second favourite with a basic rule set that is perfect for tournament play in return for a rule system that required a second rule book to play and then still requires an errata.

LOTR is not dead in UK but the new release have turned it into a power gamers wet dream atleast the sourcebooks were balanced, and all the rules were balanced as there was a set profile (warrior of man) which was modified to give us everything else.

[Thorhak]

I purchased the WOTR rulebook, not to play the game but rather for the awe-inspiring pics of massive LOTR armies. I know a couple of guys who served as playtesters for WOTR before the ruleset was released and from their description it was already "broken". I have yet to play a game of WotR...

Hopefully with the new Hobbit stuff coming out we'll see new LOTR SBG sourcebooks, and an updated Main Rulebook. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

[FTE-Charge!!!]

I see this game dying but I still endure to keep it strong in my area. The fact is that many players own the models; but do not bring them in to play or even know how to play.

SBG is an amazing system, it just has trouble keeping the interest of certain styles of gamer (powergamers?). In my area I have been successful in getting a small core of players to bring their models always to the shop so that pick me up games can be an option.

I have played WOTR once, and never again. I have a hard enough time getting my SBG models on the table with an opponent; Im not going to purchase 3x that amount on an army that still will not get play time despite GW's attention to WOTR.

I sincerely hope that SBG starts getting some attention again; esp with collected WD articles online showing the stats of all the new models. This game is great and I will continue to play it for many days.

[Jobu]

I purchased the WOTR rulebook, not to play the game but rather for the awe-inspiring pics of massive LOTR armies. I know a couple of guys who served as playtesters for WOTR before the ruleset was released and from their description it was already "broken". I have yet to play a game of WotR...

The problem with WoTR is the epic heroes. The rules for the move, shoot, charge and fight are good, straightforward and easy to use. Eve the magic in the game is not over the top powerful but adds subtly to the game. The combination of certain special rules from epic heroes is the problem. Those combinations are incredibly broken in some cases. Single epics by themselves are not a problem. Some are a little under priced ( I am looking at you nazgul )but otherwise not too bad.

[Cranium5]

At my GW store there are a dozen or so who play both.

i think i play up to 850 points for normal lord games.

havent gotten to playing war.

both seems fun but atm i still prefer the sbg one

[Alex Knight]

Good news: SBG is getting some love next month. New models, repackaging old box. And some new books. That's all I really know.
Bad news: Infantry boxes are going up in price... kinda'. It's going to be half the amount of figures for more than half the cost. Case in point, Moria Goblins - Current $33.00 for 24 here in the US. Repackaged release? 12 for $22.25.

[oneking]

Its alive and well here.

[ejazzyjeff]

New on the forum here, but I started out with LOTR SBG back in 2001. I always liked the game and played it at GW stores. I dropped out for a while and just started back up about a year ago and the GW store I visited had zero LOTR games was being played. In fact the clerk was kind of shock when I asked if anyone played LOTR, he couldn't even remember the last time it was played there. So unfortunately it's dead, there is zero articles in White Dwarf about it.