I was able to purchase, from that well known auction site, a copy of the first edition as well as its expansion.
The expansion comes with a double sided playing board, here is Helm's Deep.
This side is Minas Tirith. These maps allow you to fight those two famous battles away from the main game board, which of course, depicts much of Middle Earth. This time as a tactical battle with terrain playing a part as well as other factors.
Some of the new sculpts for the tactical game. Left to right, siege tower, catapult, Southron cavalry and orc crossbowmen.
Of course I also have all the figures now from a second core set. During the summer of 2020 all of these miniatures will be painted. I shall use a similar colour scheme to my other set, but with subtle differences, to allow me to tell the sets apart. With this in mind, a new project began to take shape in my tiny brain. I would have enough figures, close to 600, to actually fight tabletop battles. Not on the maps that come with the game, but in a world created by myself.
The map of Middle Earth will be redrawn, Mordor and its pallisade of mountain peaks will be no more, nor will the elves dwell in Rivendell and Lorien. All the areas will be redrawn and renamed for the story I wish to create, to allow me to fight those tabletop battles. Fortunately my good friend Kurtus has cartography skills and between us this new world will be created.
I am using the pieces from the board game, so of course it will still feature all the races that come with the game, that is fine, I can work my story around that. This new land will be known as 'Culm' and a Facebook page, currently private, has been created to detail its progress from a vague idea to hopefully a finished project.
I am already working on the back story, characters, places etc. The painting of the new figures will commence at Easter 2020. Later in that year, the new maps should also be ready, though of course, a lot of planning and discussion will be needed to finalize them.
It should be a fun project.
