Playing the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game - basics

 This post is for people who don't know how to play the game and probably have never played a miniature wargame in their lives, so I'll start with the most basic parts of the game.

Part 1 = Phases

The game is divided into five (5) parts, the priority phase, the movement phase, the shooting phase, the combat phase, and the end phase.

In the priority phase, each side rolls a die (hereon referred to as a D6), and the player with the highest scoring roll wins priority for the turn, in case of a tie, the player who had priority forfeits priority this turn and the other player wins the roll-off. In Narrative scenarios, (more in a later post) unless otherwise stated, the Good player automatically wins priority in the first turn of the game, do not roll, in matched play scenarios, priority is rolled for just like in other turns, except that in case of a tie, re-roll the D6.

In the moving phase, models can move, the player with priority moves his/her models first, their movement value is clearly listed in the front of their characteristic profile (for example, warrior of Rohan - mv.    f    s    d    a    w    c                                                                                                                  6    3/4  3    4    1    1    3). A model cannot move closer than 1" to an enemy model unless you want it to fight that model in the combat phase

 In the shooting phase, models armed with bows can shoot their bows, the player with priority going first, here is a bow strength and range reference chart.

                                            name           strength        range

                                           bow         -        2          -      24"

                                           blowpipe          2          -      12"

                                           crossbow          4          -      24"

                                           slingshot           1          -      12"

there are way more bow types, but this will suffice for now.

if in any given turn a model moves more than 1/2 your move value armed with a bow, blowpipe, or slingshot, it can't shoot that turn. If a model armed with a crossbow moves at all, it can't shoot.

In the combat phase, models in base contact fight each other, each player rolls 1 D6 for every attack point in the fight, the highest roll wins the fight, in case of a tie, the model with the highest fight value characteristic wins, if the models have equal fight value, roll a D6, the player with priority wins on the roll of a 4, 5, or 6, the player without priority wins on a roll of a 1, 2, or 3. The models on the winning side then get to make 1 strike per attack point, by rolling a D6 for every attack (see the warrior of Rohan's  strength value? compare the strength value (s) to the defence value of the enemy model (d) if your roll beats the number shown on the wound chart, you have caused a wound, remove 1 wound point (w) from the model, if this number ever drops to zero (0), the model is removed as a casualty and is removed from the board (same when shooting).

In the end phase, you will do things that are not listed in the other four (4) phases, otherwise, move on to the priority phase and  repeat the turn sequence all over again.

wound chart

                        d    e    f    e    n    c    e

              1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10

s    1      4    5     5    6    6   6/4 6/5 6/6  -      -

t    2       4    4    5    5    6    6  6/4 6/5 6/6    -

r    3       3    4    4    5    5    6    6  6/4 6/5 6/6

e    4       3    3    4    4    5    5    6   6  6/4 6/5 

n    5       3    3    3    4    4    5    5    6    6 6/4

g    6       3    3    3    3    4    4    5    5    6    6

t    7        2    3    3    3    3    4    4    5    5    6

h    8       2    2    3    3    3    3    4    4    5    5

      9       2    2    2    3    3    3    3    4    4    5

     10      2    2    2    2    3    3    3    3    4    4    

have fun playing the game, The Rohan General