As someone with no gamestore and just me and some friends trying to learn as we go this is incredibly informative. Please do a more in depth video for the extra rules.
Perfect starting point for any newbies. Please don't be cross when I drop a very similar video - I've already started it but I'll move onto something else for now cause I love your content! Also, I disagree with one thing - "Bows are very good in this game," I can never hit yet alone kill!! 😂
Looking forward to your video! And your take on shooting is understandable, it’s a dice game 😅. Still, with the low points cost of adding just a few bows can threaten mounted heroes and even force your opponent’s army to come to you! -Charles
Would love a video on special strikes and brutal power attacks. This video was helpful and entertaining for two new players and I would like to see your take on these topics.
As someone who has played roughly 7 different miniature games (including those 3 mentioned in the beginning), this game really is fantastic. It's use of terrain is what sets it apart for me. Just changing what terrain is available changes this game more than any other miniature game I've played. With said, X-Wing is still my favorite haha. But it's also very different to your typical ground based game.
For me the best tabletop game ever ,my only dread for the new edition is in the article they say something like clearer written rules ,have they not read there 40k 10th ed rules hehe
I'm interested in trying MESBG but GW doesn't even have the rulebook outside of the battle for osgiliath set, and seemed to have run out of stock all over their website. Not easy to find information about getting started in it :D
I'd check the Facebook trade groups lots of people selling second hand stuff, there's a very big community still! The Gandalf cover rule book is still relevant, it just doesn't have the latest FAQs but if you can a cheap one of those it does the job!
Great video! I've been thinking about Middle Earth a lot recently, particularly since watching Rings of Power with my oldest child. I'm also an avid tabletop gamer, so I thought I'd look into it and found this video. Absolutely love it, it looks great and you did a superb job with this introduction. I feel like MESBG is doing a lot of what I miss in Age of Sigmar, and probably did it before AoS :) I'm looking forward to more videos. Now to raise the banners and gather players in my area, and decide...Iron Hills? Lothlorien? Minas Tirith?
Glad you found the video helpful, and welcome to MESBG! Out of those three armies, Minas Tirith is probably the easiest to start with. We have a video called Top 8 Beginner Armies that goes more in-depth on that! -Charles
@@intothewestpodcast I watched it last night :), this is my second go through of this Learn to Play. I was watching the Lothlorien tier list video, I'm still considering and researching them all. I do have a 3D printer which is another route I'm considering. I've only found Iron Hills that I really like so far in that regard. I'm still taking in all the info, and trying to make an informed decision based on the ones I'm most interested in. Rings of Power did kick this all off though!
There's like, two issues I have with this system, and none of those is critical: 1) all Duels have to be resolved separately (like in old times of 2nd edition 40k), so, if players are playing battles with really high numbers of models, Fight Phases can take veeeery long. 2) the Fight stat is either equal, lower, or higher than the enemy's Fight stat. It doesn't matter how much... this means that models which have much higher Fight than present enemy models kinda waste their points. Otherwise, it's a good game, both for seasoned players and total newbs Fan fact for people who didn't know - in the 00s, game was distributed as a series of DeAgostini publishing's magazines - each issue was supplied with model sprues and supplies, the magazines themselves contained fixed scenarios to use these models, and simplified rules - which were gradually expanded and elaborated in later issues. Quite interesting way to get completely new people in.
Great points to bring up, though I slightly disagree with number 2. The "wasted" points give the higher fight value armies a natural counter. Hordes of goblins and orcs do well against elves where as elves counter f4 elite men but f4 elites counter orcs and goblins. It creates a natural rock paper scissors.
@@intothewestpodcast personally, I think that such counterpicks on the level of whole armies aren't best game design - if the very army you pick gives one side a handicap, the game itself becomes less satisfying. Of course, maybe the effect isn't that bad.
10:50 In my experience Make Way is the most commonly misplayed rule in this game. Rules as Written (RAW), this rule is only for situations where a model is Trapped. Further the ally making way should only move "the shortest distance possible to enable their comrade to escape being Trapped". I commonly see players making way with spear support despite the model not being Trapped where instead they should retreat the losing model sideways 1". Additionally the "shortest distance possible" is rarely adhered to. At a tournament it's always best to just let these things be since besides certain edge cases saving a banner, shield-wall, etc. it rarely makes a difference and additionally in a 2hr game you don't want to have to wait 10 mins for a tournament organizer (TO) to rule in your favor to then only draw 0-0 VPs after running out of time.
One of the reasons I was initially attracted to this game was it was small skirmish on small table, well that didn't last long! Fek GW and their we must sell more minis shit!
My big complaint about mesbg is that it works best in smaller skirmishes, and not the huge battles that are the most memorable scenes in the movies and the most epic moments in the books & lore. They tried to fill the gap with the war of the rings ruleset, but that game fell flat on its face because it abandoned the balance & simplicity that made the strategy battle game so good. Such a shame.
Is there a rule that says you must pair off as many one on ones as possible? Or does it say we must attempt to ensure any models in base contact with an enemy model is included in a fight?
Yes, under the 'Pairing off Fights' paragraph in the Move Phase section of the Rulebook. "At the end of the Move phase, opponents are always paired off into one-on-one Fights where possible."
When a combat is tied with let’s say Aragorn vs multiple combatants and only one of those combatants has equal fight value, would you only do a roll off if the attack dice that tied came from the specific model with the tied fight?
No, you always use the highest Fight Value you have on your side. So, it doesn’t matter which roll tied Aragorn, if the Fight Value of both sides are equal, it’s a tie.
There's essentially 2 steps to each "combat". The duel roll, where you roll all your attacks (1 dice for each attack), and your opponent rolls all their attacks/dice, highest roll wins. Loser of the duel backs up. Winner of the duel, may strike using his attacks (1 strike for each attack) to try to deal wounds (Strength vs Defence on the chart). If the chart says "5", it means you need a 5 or 6 to deal a wound.
but if you use might to do a heroic charge what happens? do you still do this roll off or are automatically won going first so he backs up?@@intothewestpodcast
@@jeffbaker2903 a heroic combat follows the same rules as a regular Fight. It just occurs first before all other Fights and if you kill all opposing models in the Fight your models may move again. No automatically winning Fights for heroic combats, nothing is guaranteed :)
Bro I love the intro, And also when you buy models like gundabad orc warriors or Bolg do you have to paint them or when you buy them they are already painted?
Painting and building are meant to be part of the hobby. It’s not for everyone though, that’s completely understandable. There are ways around it though, like buying second hand prepainted armies, or find a commission painter.
Was considering getting into this one but damn, this sounds awful. Just "who rolls 6s better" the game. Calling this the best game can only come from someone only ever played 40k and nothing else...
Respectfully disagree, there's a reason why tournaments are won consistently by the same players. The luck part of MESBG is much less impactful than the skill part.
@@intothewestpodcast that's fair i guess. I just don't see any strategy in this besides positioning. I guess people winning know where to go when and who'm to send where. But I can't see there being much thought going into the actual combat part. I'll definitely give it a go, but this does look like another GW mess. Though to be fair, nothing is worse than 40k and AoS.
Hope you give it a chance! Movement is crucial, you're right but combats can be just as important, especially the use of heroes in combats make and break games!