Here's a letter I sent a few weeks ago to Jervis Johnson about the future of SBG. Haven't had a reply, but didn't expect one. Anyway, I hope they do something like this, and if you agree I'd encourage you to write your own letter:
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I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game for a couple of years now, and only recently starting picking up the occasional White Dwarf magazine. I really enjoy your column, as an island of calm among all the madness
I especially enjoyed your article about “the Face”. My son and I suffer from this, and just putting a name to it allows us to deal with it with more humour. So thanks for that.
Anyway, the phrase “picking up the occasional White Dwarf” brings me halfway to my point:
I love the Strategy Battle Game (SBG). I love the realistic model scale and the story-driven skirmish nature of the battles. I’ve never been attracted to the other games Games Workshop produces; partly it’s the non-realistic scale, and partly because of the formation-style of play. I will certainly play them if a friend hosts a game, but won’t be collecting my own armies.
So I was a bit disappointed when War of the Ring seemed to take centre stage over SBG. Among online fans, there seems to be some doubt as to SBG’s long term viability for Games Workshop. It’s probably not the money maker it used to be, and even if the Hobbit movies can revive that for a while, looking out to 2015 or so and we might be where we are at today. I am glad there seems to be continuing support for SBG through White Dwarf, and that’s what prompted me to buy my first issue. I’ve enjoyed the new profiles and the new scenarios. Still, it seems a bit of a haphazard way of supporting the game, and not very easy on the player. For players, especially new ones, organizing a game might mean digging up or acquiring old White Dwarf issues to check the rules or find the scenarios, or having to wait a few months until they’re posted online. It’s more difficult for fans to be organized, and has the potential of putting off people new to the game.
Which brings me right to my point:
This letter presents a short republication strategy for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. I believe this publication plan would provide increased interest, both short term and long term, in the SBG product; provide fans with an assurance of support, and an improved method of organizing their resources; and provide Games Workshop with increased and sustained sales of White Dwarf magazine. For the most part, very little new content would need to be developed at the outset, other than what might naturally be forthcoming. Instead, it would be a restructuring of existing content in a way that allows for improved long term support.
I have posted this idea online, and it was met with quite a bit of enthusiasm from fans, and several people suggested I mail it to you. So without further ado:
The SBG content would be reworked into two stand-alone publications, and ongoing support in White Dwarf.
Book 1: all the rules as they currently exist in the One Ring book. This book would also incorporate Legions of Middle Earth army configuration rules such as alliance guidelines, model, siege weapon and bow limits. It would also include generic scenarios from the main rule book and Legions of Middle Earth, expanded for different board configurations and army sizes.
Book 2: a binder consisting of five sections. (Note, this does not necessarily need to include an actual binder, it could simply be a "binder-ready pack" of hole-punched pages.)
1. Profiles: contains all current profiles (one or two per page) with nice regional/racial tabbed separators. Painting guides could also be included for models that currently have them.
2. Army Lists: army lists as in Legions of Middle Earth and the sourcebooks.
3. Scenarios: specific scenarios tailored for particular armies.
4. Campaigns and Journeys: collections of scenarios that tell the story of Middle Earth.
5. Building Middle Earth: a guide to building terrain for SBG.
Book 2 could either be one large publication containing most, if not all, the content from the main rules and sourcebooks, or be subdivided into a "core" set, with regional/racial binder packs sold separately.
By restructuring the SBG product in this way, new and updated content would be simple to support through the White Dwarf magazine. Either the content could be made available as PDFs a few months later (as is currently done), or perhaps removable or standalone pages could be included in the magazine for easy insertion into the binder. Examples of White Dwarf content could include:
• new profiles for new model releases (such as the upcoming Thrydan Wolfsbane)
• alternate and/or revised profiles for existing models (such as fixing the Rohan Outrider profile, or the various profiles for Aragorn)
• new or alternate painting guides for models
• new army lists to handle different times in Middle Earth, such as that covered in the Hobbit, the Second Age or even the First Age (pending licensing)
• new scenarios, journeys, and campaigns, either developed internally at Games Workshop, or even using high-quality fan-based content
• new terrain guides
Perhaps a yearly almanac of White Dwarf SBG content could be published separately.
One other idea for content I came across while fielding this idea among fans was regarding the Battle Games in Middle Earth (BGiME) magazine. By all accounts it was a great publication, but was not widely available in North America. There is a great deal of activity on eBay for this product, which suggests broad interest. I myself would like to get my hands on all the issues. I don't know who owns the content, but perhaps it could be purchased/licensed for republication in White Dwarf. Each White Dwarf could include a small section of a previous BGiME issue, which means reprinting that content alone, and made available over a much larger geographic area, would be enough to keep SBG loyalty and interest for several years.
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