Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game: Battle of Edoras review – a smashing starter

It’s almost time for Games Workshop’s Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG) to relaunch with a brand new edition (either its third, or its sixth, depending on which older books you count) – and the big launch box set, Battle of Edoras, will be its grand opening act. I’ve long lingered on the sidelines of MESBG, collecting but rarely playing. But this Rohan-focused starter set could be what finally tempts me to dive in – and I may not be alone.

Then again, there’s a lot about this box set that could make attracting new miniature wargame players difficult, even if MESBG is GW’s secret best game. It’s based on the new anime movie about the War of the Rohirrim – a period in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium that’s incredibly important in the history of Rohan, but which barely anyone outside of Tolkien scholars (and probably Stephen Colbert) has ever heard of.

The included character models are fantastic – I’ll get onto that – but the characters themselves are currently complete unknowns. How popular they become – and thus how much of a draw they add to this box – will depend on how successful the movie is with a wider audience.

And, unlike the last two MESBG starter boxes, Battle of Edoras contains no fantasy monsters or magic users; it’s just a straight-up, human-on-human scrap that pits Rohan’s warriors against pitchfork-wielding hill tribesmen.

That could make it the perfect, approachable beginner’s introduction to the game; or it might sap away some of the grandiose fantasy vibes that make a Lord of the Rings wargame attractive. In this review, I’ll discuss where I think it lands on that scale, while also – of course – taking a close look at the brand new minis and plush, updated rulebook.

Before I ride to ruin and the world’s ending, a touch of housekeeping: this review is based on my experience building the 56 minis (and two Rohan houses) in the box, and playing through the four included scenarios. Thanks also go to Games Workshop for providing us a copy for review.

And, to be extra careful: discussing the story behind this set will entail spoilers for the War of the Rohirrim movie, for anyone who hasn’t read Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings. You have been warned.

Review sections:

What is Battle of Edoras?

Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game: Battle of Edoras is a Warhammer starter set in the new style: a big, shiny, heavy cardboard box that contains two sizeable forces (24 troops and four character models apiece), plus:

• The full hardback rulebook for the game (plus a rules reference sheet)
• a lil bag o’ dice
• a weird new hinged plastic measuring stick
• a paper playmat
• a single booklet that combines build instructions and rules for your models; four playable scenarios themed around the titular siege of Rohan’s capital city; and a light smattering of storytelling.

Being light on story is forgivable, firstly because the entire story of the War of the Rohirrim is based on precisely two pages of Tolkien’s first appendix to The Lord of the Rings, and secondly because that story is sick. The battle of Edoras falls towards the middle of the tale (and, presumably, the movie) and it’s a tragedy – for the Rohirrim, at least.

The story

For those who haven’t seen the movie yet (it opens in cinemas on December 13), let me set the scene. King Helm of Rohan got angry at Freca, one of his lords, for plotting to take the throne, called him out for a fight, and punched Freca so hard he died. In revenge, Freca’s son Wulf raised an army of Dunlendings (hill tribesmen from the land northwest of Rohan) and besieged Edoras. Helm’s sons, princes Haleth and Háma, led a desperate defense, but they were overrun, Haleth was killed, and Wulf took over the throne of Rohan, naming himself King.

That’s the battle we’re fighting here, and, in true MESBG style, it has a canonical winner and loser – the outnumbered Rohirrim are supposed to get mulched by the marauding fur-clad Dunlendings – so, as the Rohan player, it’s up to you to overturn Middle-earth history.

The scenarios

As with the last couple of major MESBG box sets – 2018’s Battle of the Pelennor Fields and 2022’s Battle of Osgiliath – the included scenarios move through each stage of the battle, adding extra models and teaching you the game rules bit by bit as they go.

As a lapsed player, I found this both highly useful and a pretty well-designed ludonarrative experience. First you’ll learn MESBG’s distinctive melee combat rules via a small, simple deathmatch skirmish in the streets. Next, you add shooting, objective control, and a couple of heroes, with Háma leading Rohan’s archers in a fighting retreat after the attackers breach the walls.

The third mission sees the invaders try to burn houses, introducing a more complex objective game and MESBG’s excellent Heroic Actions system. And the finale, my favorite, pits both full forces against each other in a classic ‘horde mode’ battle; Rohan must hold the mid board against enemies on all sides, with slain hill tribesmen constantly respawning to encircle them.

It comes together into a surprisingly strong, story driven introduction to a strong, story driven game system, and I had a brilliant time with it. The scenery works well to set the scene, too. I worried that just two houses and four tiny fences would be too sparse to create a real city-fight atmosphere. But, thanks to a 3 foot square board and MESBG’s fluid, fast-moving ruleset, it’s not an issue; your forces will be clashing and flowing around one another almost immediately, and it rocks.

Battle of Edoras miniatures and characters

Battle of Edoras comes with 56 miniatures – 24 troops on either side, and the mounted and on-foot versions of the four characters: Haleth, Háma, Wulf, and Targg. All are brand new, mono-pose plastic sculpts, and they’re a good showcase of the more dynamic figures GW can create nowadays.

Let’s take a brief look at the characters, and what they do.

Haleth, Prince of Rohan

Haleth, Helm’s eldest son and heir, is Rohan’s overall general in the box’s final battle. He’s a combat beat-stick with a Fight Value of 6, three attacks, and the Defender of Edoras special rule, which lets him re-roll failed wounds whenever he’s outnumbered in combat. Charge him in and knock ’em down.

Háma, Prince of Rohan

Rohan’s second character is Háma, Haleth’s younger brother – a “warrior poet” and master archer with the Sharpshooter special rule, allowing him to shoot characters off their horses at range. He’s no slouch in combat either, but his role is more support-focused, with a special ability that lets allies within six inches re-roll ones to wound.

Wulf, High Lord of the Hill Tribes

The General for the evil side, Wulf is very, very angry with the sons of Helm, and as such his special ability, The Usurper King, lets him re-roll one dice in duel rolls and re-roll all ones to wound whenever he’s fighting an enemy Hero. Kill a hero, and you’ll get a Might point back thanks to his General Hunter rule, too.

General Targg

A newly invented character for the War of the Rohirrim movie, General Targg is Wulf’s most trusted adviser, a cold-blooded, battle-scarred tactician. His special rule plays into the new edition’s tweak to priority: if you win the roll and give your opponent priority, all troops within six inches of Targg get to re-roll ones to wound.

Warriors of Rohan

Among your 24 newly resculpted plastic, mono-pose Warriors of Rohan, you get:

• 8 with spear and shield
• 4 with sword and shield
• 4 with axe and shield
• 8 with bow

These models are a direct evolution from the old Rohirrim, but noticeably better, with distinctive poses that properly show movement. The spearmen are my favorites – some guarding, some stabbing, some throwing. Rohan collectors will be pleased.

Hill Tribesmen

The Dunlending Hill Tribesmen models include:

• 2 with hand weapon
• 2 with hand weapon and shield
• 2 with flaming brand
• 2 with flaming brand and shield
• 4 with spear
• 4 with two-handed weapon

It’s tough to make a force of similar-looking middle-aged hairy men in furs look exciting, but I ended up liking these grizzled hair-bears far more than expected. Their poses are almost all running madly forwards, their faces grimacing to show the Hatred: Rohan rule that gives them plus one to wound against all the Rohirrim’s models. They’re very pissed at those Anglo-Saxon boys, and the models display that beautifully – especially the guys with the burning torches, the flames streaming behind them.

A Warhammer box set lives or dies on its minis – and these are at least 50% more exciting to build, look at, and game with than I was expecting. Even as a Rohan fanboy, I’m now eyeing up some Uruk-Hai to be friends with my Dunlendings. Score one in the ‘reactivate lapsed fans’ column.

One warning: if you’ve only built Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar models before, be aware that MESBG minis are slightly smaller scale – generally around 28mm tall rather than the standard 32mm – so some of the building work gets quite fiddly. That’s especially true of the Hill Tribesmen – many only connect to their base by part of one foot, and some of their weapons are spindly and delicate. But take care, and you’ll be fine.

The new MESBG rulebook

Games Workshop has already calmed the initial panic among some MESBG fans that this new edition would futz with a stable, well balanced ruleset that’s almost universally loved by its community – and I can confirm that the rulebook itself seems almost identical to the last one, but for some new Rohan styling. It’s well laid out, packed with example diagrams to explain rules, and contains very little filler.

That’s good, because, like many things about MESBG, it ain’t broke and doesn’t need fixing. The main difference I noticed is that every page now has a color-coded tag in the top corner showing the section – Movement, Shooting, Special Rules, etc – which makes looking stuff up way easier, and helped me re-learn the game much faster after my time away.

This isn’t a review of the updated ruleset, because I don’t think playing through this beginner’s box set is enough to give GW’s targeted changes a proper road-test. Some of the stand-out novelties – such as the new Intelligence stat – don’t even really come into play in Battle of Edoras. Winning the priority roll now lets you choose whether to take priority or not, which is a nice extra tactical option in a nuanced pinch – and the simplification of ‘In the Way’ rolls for shooting is a blessing. I appreciated both in my testing.

But, if what you wanted was for GW to keep the game fundamentally the same, but add a new lick of paint and some helpful design tweaks, then my experience with this box suggests you won’t be disappointed.

Verdict – who is Battle of Edoras for?

Honestly, I came into this box a little cold. Even as a fairly big Lord of the Rings fan (I haven’t read the Silmarillion, but I listened to the audiobook) I heavily doubted whether these four as yet barely known characters, plus a bunch of functionally very similar ‘just some dudes’ could make for a compelling starter set.

And I stand by my assertion that, as a standard-bearing product for the game’s relaunch, the set will succeed or fail largely based on whether or not the War of the Rohirrim movie is a hit that makes Haleth, Háma, Wulf, and Targg household names for a wide swathe of nerds.

The scenario booklet could, I think, have tried harder to set the scene by explaining the backstory up front, since – unlike its predecessors based in the original Peter Jackson movies – this setting can’t rely on people already knowing more or less what’s going on.

But, aside from that, Battle of Edoras has really charmed me, and I think it has something for everyone. For newbies, it’s a very well designed, cleverly story-backed introduction to the game. For returners like me, it keeps things simple, focusing on the fluid, push-and-pull combat and hero duels that are MESBG’s beating heart. And, for existing players, well, I know you want those sweet new Rohirrim, because I did, despite owning loads of the old ones.

Battle of Edoras’ price isn’t confirmed, but going by the community’s estimate of $220 (£135), I think it’s a fine step back into Middle-earth. Just make sure you shout “Forth, Eorlingas” when Haleth smashes into those dastardly Dunlendings – otherwise you don’t get the +1 charge bonus.

For more Warhammery goodness, check out our guides on all the Warhammer 40k factions and their fantasy cousins, the Age of Sigmar armies. Or, if a sniff of Tolkien has you hungry for lore, read our in-depth explanation of all 18 (or is it 20?) Warhammer 40k primarchs.

Source: Wargamer