Initially I feel the game suffered greatly from a design aspect.

It was mostly art, minis, and flavor with a very primitive foundation of "game". You really have to look no further than a hardcap on ranged units to raise questions about the games design.

Myself, I enjoy the hobby aspect of wargaming more than actually waging miniature warfare so for me this wasn't as big a deal. The WH/40K games however, though I don't consider them even close to the pinnacle of game design, were always built from a much more competitive/tournament perspective which does a lot of good things from a business and a gaming perspective (encourages players to adapt, buy new releases, etc).

I am just getting back into the game myself. I shelved it about the time of RoTK film release as the game was just not interesting enough to sell my gaming buddies on even though I owned everything we needed to play. The new Legions book seems to solve a lot of the problems the original game suffered from; factions, better balance, more tournament support, etc.

If GW had released the game with all of the Legions material included it likely would have soared.

I like the minis and think the simplicity and approachability of the LoTR franchise will be easy for my gaming buddies and I to sell our gf's/wives on.

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[url="http://www.allenwhite.com]I am always for hire.[/url]

Funny that no one got to this point - but yeah, people in the Warhammer boards generally dislikes LotR a lot, because it became the "upstart tha came out of the blue" in the Movie years, selling far more that the decades old Warhammer games... If you search, you will find many posts in many a WH board in the lines of "LotR sucks".

So, it is no surprise that many WANT LotR to fail and disappear. But then there is fact...and there is fiction.

I started with warhammer one year ago but after playing soms LOTR (sbg) games I like LOTRS more
I also prefer painting LOTR miniatures...

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Parva Mundi

Well,LoTR was a big project for me,I have shelves full
of painted figs & boxes of scenery to recreate skirmishes
in any part of ME.We even created a set of generators to kick
out the opponents,location & objectives for the battles.

It was our main gaming for around 5 years but we haven't
played for about 18 months now.But thats basically life
nothing last forever & new interest come up.

I expect we'll get back to ME someday,it really doesn't matter
what GW does or doesn't do now now.

OD

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Baruk Khazad!
Khazad aimenu!

I, too have just taken up this hobby and as yet have no-one else to play against. I have my first "lesson" at the "Hobby Academy" this week. Not the usual kind of interest for a 55 year old woman is it. I am sure none of my friends will be interested. I will probably play Warhammer at some point.

My feelings are that I will buy as much of he LOTR stuff that I can and if the worst comes to the worst I will play both sides at once, hey its better than nothing. If anyone is in the South London area and wants a game when I get a bigger army, let me know - especially other ladies - I would hate to think I was the only one.

Ceredwin

Please be kind to the Newbie

Heh, I don't think it's a *usual* kind of interest for anybody My friends and I are in our late 40s, and already talking about how we'll need to be in nearby nursing homes so we can play into our 80s Meanwhile we try to corrupt our kids and nephews and nieces to keep it alive.

Welcome, and good luck finding play partners.

good job recognizing the picture

yeah the band is great and their music is a great source of inspiration for me.

IMHO, the original "interest" in the game was just due to the movies. Most of that was NEVER going to last and GW either knew it or was blinded by the profits. The people who are left are the core who actually played the game and I find people interested in it all the time. Usually, they just want a break from Warhammer and 40k.

I run the LotR tournaments at Adepticon in Chicago and although we suffer from the same trouble of finding numerous local players we still have a great event. Last year we had 37 players in our singles event. These players came from all over the US and many only have a handful of local players but they still love and play the game. Our Chicago-based club can usually can get about 10 people together for tournaments and such. We have more around the area but getting everyones schedules to match is an issue.

My attitude is that if you play it, they will come (to paraphrase a bit). You'll have the nobs who will be critical because your not playing the "cool" games (i.e. 40k and Fantasy) but you'll also have closet LotR guys who will be interested and new people who don't want the pressures of the ultra competitive nature of the other core games.

Jamie

I would have to admit that the SBG is being ignored by GW and because of this and the main focus on WotR the only way to get new profiles/rules for the SBG is by buying White Dwarf.

However, it is of interesting note that at my local GW store, about a year ago (before WotR) the only LotR enthusiasts at the shop where the most of the sales team who liked painting and detailing LotR minatures for display. They even painted and converted an amazing dragon which was standing on hind legs, leaning on a piece of pillar and had balrog wings instead of normal ones. It looks fantastic. Now back on topic, LotR was mainly confined to the back of the shop except for the display cases and the Mines of Moria intro game. Now the main feature of the store is a Mumakil, haradrim and other minis set up ready to play WotR. It seems like WotR has revived the fortunes of LotR, but for how long?

Of course, the major advantage of WotR over SBG in market terms for GW is that the latter requires few models while WotR requires lots more minitures and a lot more box sets. This equals more money.

Simples.

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When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Backlog Reduction Oath Participant - 6/53

I agree, the LoTR game in either form, be it SBG or WoTR is definately dying a slow and drawn out death, this was evident in Manchester, where I sat all day long hoping for at least one game but no LoTR players entered.

Everything is either Warhammer or 40k, so, I have decided to move into WH40K as this seems to be the most popular, I won't give up WoTR but to guarantee a chance of playing any games, I feel it is more advisable to know more than one gaming system to give more options.

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Chaos, Panic, Disorder - My Work Here Is Done