The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game is the tabletop game for two or more players where you play through the events from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit with your collection of Citadel miniatures. Take control of your favourite heroes, villains, and armies, recreate scenes from the movies and books, and gather your forces together to do battle with your opponent in a test of wits and prowess.

This 224-page hardback rules manual is a comprehensive guide to the hobby of building, painting, and playing games with your models – whether you choose the forces of Good or Evil.

Introduction
This section features an overview of the wider hobby of collecting, painting, and playing with your miniatures, from the very basics of choosing your army and the items you need in order to run games, to setting up your battlefield and understanding the rules and profiles youll use in-game.

Rules
Here, youll be taken through the core of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game – the actual rules that youll use to play:

– Basic Principles:a primer on the fundamental concepts and terms used in the book, this section briefly explains a few things that the newcomer may find daunting.

– Turn Sequence:each turn is divided into five phases – Priority, which determines who acts first, Movement, which covers moving your models on the tabletop, interacting with terrain and using control zones, Shoot, which covers ranged attacks, Fight, which covers close combat, and Courage, in which your models are tested to see if they stand their ground or flee in terror.

– Monsters:while their basic rules are typically the same as those for other models in the game, Monster models are particularly powerful – this section covers their special rules. This includes War Beasts, huge creatures ridden into battle, crushing the foe as they march on.

– Weapons and Wargear:split into four subsections – close combat, missile, equipment and armour – this section explains the variety of weapons and wargear available to your models, and the impact your choices will have on your tactical decisions.

– Magical Powers:some models have the ability to cast magical powers, and this section explains targeting, casting and resisting those powers during the Move phase, with a list of every Magical Power available to cast.

– Special Rules:this section collects together all of the Special Rules which can appear on model profiles, compiled for easy reference.

– Advanced Rules:found in certain scenarios, these rules – covering water features, sentries, passengers and carrying objects – come in handy when recreating scenes from the history of Middle-earth.

– Siege Engines:rules for fielding these immense threats, covering their movement, firing, upgrades and crew (and their ability to launch severed heads as ammunition).

– Sieges:throughout the history of Middle-earth, many sieges have taken place – here are the basic rules for creating your own sieges with your models.

Narrative Play
Narrative Play games allow you to recreate your favourite battles and scenes from both the books and the films, using your collection of Citadel and Forge World models. Each scenario – found in The Armies of The Lord of the Rings and The Armies of The Hobbit – has a selection of special rules that balance them, providing an experience closely matching the scenes from the books and films.

Open Play
With no restrictions whatsoever, Open Play games have unlimited creative potential, and are perfect for beginners and veterans alike. Simply get your collections together and dream up your own scenarios – any combination of army fighting any other combination of army, on a playing field of your own devising with objectives unique to your game – the possibilities are literally endless.

Matched Play
In Matched Play games, you and your opponent gather your forces of heroes and warriors from your collection, up to an agreed points limit, before unleashing your armies for the fate of Middle-earth. This section includes advice on building an army to a points limit, determining the size of the games you want to play, Alliances, wargear limits, initial priority, objectives, and Heroic Tiers – the respect and loyalty that Heroes command.

This section includes six Matched Play Scenarios, each providing a different tactical challenge.

The Armies of Middle-earth
This section is an inspiring showcase of beautifully painted miniatures from across the Middle-earth range, showing you just what is possible when painting your own.

Example Armies
Four example armies showing you how the army was built, the points values it represents and the rules it can leverage.

The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game is the tabletop game for two or more players set within the world of Middle-earth. With it you can play through the events fromThe Lord of the Rings,The Hobbit, andThe War of the Rohirrim, and muster armies from these movies using your collection of miniatures. Take control of your favourite heroes, villains, and armies from across Middle-earth and recreate epic battles. Gather your forces and challenge your opponents in a test of wits, strategy, and tactical prowess.

This 176-page hardback rules manual is a comprehensive guide to the hobby of building, painting, and playing games with your miniatures whether you choose the forces of Good or Evil.

Contents:

Introduction
An overview of the wider hobby of collecting, painting, and playing with your miniatures.

Rules
The core of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game:

Code of Conduct and Basic Principles: A framework for players to adhere to, and a primer on the fundamental concepts and terms used in the manual.

Turn Sequence: Learn about the five phases Priority, Movement, Shoot, Fight, which covers close combat, and Courage and Intelligence.

Unit Types: How Cavalry, Heroes, Monsters, Warbeasts, and Chariots work.

Weapons and Wargear: This section explains the variety of equipment available to your warriors, and the impact your choices will have on your tactical decisions.

Magic: This section explains targeting, casting, and resisting magical powers.

Special Rules: This section collects together 44 common Special Rules for easy reference.

Advanced Rules: Found in certain scenarios, these rules are handy when recreating scenes from the history of Middle-earth.

Siege Engines: Rules for fielding these immense threats, covering their movement, firing, upgrades, and crew (and their ability to launch severed heads as ammunition).

Sieges: Throughout the history of Middle-earth, many sieges have taken place these are the basic rules for creating your own sieges with your models.

Narrative Play
Recreate your favourite battles and scenes from the movies! These scenarios are also great to play as part of a campaign, where you can re-enact a chain of events, from short scenarios, to massive Sieges.

Matched Play
In Matched Play games, you and your opponent gather your forces of heroes and warriors from your collection, up to an agreed points limit, before unleashing your armies for the fate of Middle-earth.

Scenarios
This section includes six Matched Play Scenarios, each with their own layout, starting positions, initial priority, objectives, victory points, and special rules.

Model Showcase
Photography of armies and miniatures playable in the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.

Index
The Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game Rules manual concludes with an alphabetised rules Index for readers to reference and quickly find the rules they need during games.