Warhammer MESBG War Of The Rohirrim Box Review: The Best Miniatures Yet

Considering it’s Games Workshop’s best game system, the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game doesn’t get a lot of love. While we understand that this is a specialist game and don’t expect the kind of support that Warhammer 40K gets each year, even the likes of Blood Bowl and Necromunda see a lot more love than MESBG. Once in a while, Lord of the Rings fans get treated to a diorama or something, but it’s not enough to keep us happy.

However, the tail end of 2024 has been a delectable feast of new units for fans of Tolkien’s tiny plastic figurines. As well as an Angmar release unrelated to any current media which includes some fantastic troll sculpts, and an updated Buhrdur who would fit perfectly with the Gûlavhar miniature I converted earlier this year, we’re getting a whole new edition.

The new edition of MESBG ties in with the War of the Rohirrim anime movie. The heroes in the starter set all appear in the film, the narrative scenarios in the book follow its plot (and therefore I won’t discuss them, so as to avoid spoilers), and the updated sculpts feature warriors from Rohan both good and evil. This truly is an edition for the horse-lords.

The Miniatures

The first thing I look for in any new edition is the models. I’m a builder and a painter more than I am a player, and therefore the hunks of plastic are always the draw. And boy, are these a draw.

The new Rohan warriors are beautiful. There’s an incredible amount of detail for the scale, and the kits go together beautifully. In what feels like a first for MESBG, you also get two weapon options for many of the soldiers, so that your two identical sprues don’t create duplicate soldiers on the battlefield. It’s only swapping a sword for an axe or suchlike, but it goes a long way to making every model in your army feel unique.

It’s so nice to see this old kit get an upgrade, even if it feels like many similar kits will need a tie-in movie to receive the same treatment. If Games Workshop could work out a deal with Amazon in time for The Rings of Power’s Battle of the Last Alliance to get some new High Elves with this kind of quality, that would be perfect, cheers.

I suspect it’s some kind of exclusivity deal with New Line that prevents a Rings of Power range, rather than issues with Amazon, a company that Workshop already works closely with.

The hill tribesmen are a similarly nice upgrade, although not one that I care about as much as the iconic Rohirrim. Again, most warriors have two weapon options, this time pitchforks and flaming brands etc. rather than the pristine weaponry of Edoras’ armoury. I would like to note in particular that the flaming brands look excellent, and I have assembled my wildmen with the maximum number of fiery sticks. Yes, that’s eight flaming brands in 24 warriors, fight me. I’ll set you alight.

Then we come to the heroes. I was less sure about these coming into the set, as they looked a bit… off. I don’t know if it’s the ‘Eavy Metal paint style or the fact they’ve been adapted from anime characters rather than live actors, but they strayed too close to the exaggerated style of Age of Sigmar for my liking.

Thankfully, the issues don’t persist in person. Up close and personal, these are fine, detailed plastic miniatures worthy of the heroes they depict. Haleth, Háma, Wulf, and Targg all look great, assemble with ease, and come with both foot and mounted options, as is standard for MESBG. There are some really nice details here, too, like the option to glue a sword hilt into Haleth’s scabbard if you choose to build him with an axe. It’s these little things that make this starter set really sing.

The Rules

Like I said, I haven’t played a game of MESBG since War of the Ring, so I’m well out of the loop on meta army lists and confusing rules interactions. That said, I keep up with the competitive circuit from afar, I’m a lurker in Great British Hobbit League forums, and I love seeing how far people go to theme their armies at tournaments.

If you haven’t seen a Great British Hobbit League tournament, expect plenty of cosplay.

That said, there are some changes in the hardback rules manual which stand out to even a beginner. The first of these is priority. It used to be the case that, if you won the priority roll, you went first, but now you get to choose. This offers great tactical flexibility and finally stops winning a roll from feeling like a bad thing in certain situations, while also giving you the chance to put your opponent in a bad position by making them go first.

The Intelligence characteristic is also brand new, and is required for certain situations where previously you might have used courage or something else that didn’t feel quite right. On the subject of profiles (which I haven’t seen, as they are available separately as is always the case with Games Workshop), Shoot Value and Fight Value have now been separated, which is long overdue. Just because Legolas is the best archer this side of Belegaer doesn’t mean he should scythe down his opponents just as nimbly with a blade. Okay, maybe that was a bad example, but you get what I mean.

Other small changes are dotted throughout the book, but I’ll be completely honest and say that I’m not the man to come to if you want the minutiae of the Stalk Unseen special rule explained.

What I can tell you is that The War of the Rohirrim contains some of the best miniatures Games Workshop has ever produced for MESBG, especially the Rohan Warriors. But the best thing about the box is the love that’s been poured in, and the hope it gives us that Workshop will continue to support this game with brilliant miniatures for years to come. I won’t go as far as to wish for a regular release schedule, but plastic Hobbits are long overdue.

Games Workshop provided a copy of War of the Rohirrim for this article.