I worked at GW in the early 00s and those licenses saved the company 100%, SO many kids came in to buy a LOTR starter and with a year or two were also involved in 40k. The LOTR metals are genuinely such incredible sculpts to this day. There's some quirkiness with the scales (notably the plastic elves are all over the place) and the plastic molds are a bit old but those metals still retain value It's a great game and a good system for skirmish gaming. There was an old Games Workshop western system that was literally the LOTR game with a cowboy resin for doing ~6v6 skirmish games And I think War Of The Ring is genuinely one of the best mechanical games GW has ever made, it's the game Alessio Calvatore designed and then nearly reused to make a more generic version of as Mantic's Kings Of War
Funny, because I worked at GW until a year ago and it was VERY clear througout all strata of the company that LOTR was seen as a massive failure and a reason for financial struggles to the point that LOTR is the reason for the existence of one of their main pillars in the company goals of modern GW ("no licensed products from other universes in their range anymore, just their own stuff with their own universe"). And it was quite apparent how much LOTR was a "red flag" by how most employees (from the simple retail manager to the regional and continental managers) talked about that time ... and it was not in a positive tone. I would also argue that you can see this in the handling of LOTR by modern GW: If it really "saved the company", like for example the principles behind contrast paints did (see the interview with the creators of contrast paints on "The painting Phase") you would see more investment not less. This happened with the lessons of the principles of contrast paints that now permeate the core of GW in stores, events and products down to even the phrasing in trainings. LOTR was on the other hand more ignored than ever with modern GW, even put behind GWs new tendency for reviving older games (Kill Team, Blood Bowl,...) while also gaining massive success with the new policies and explitictely through non-LOTR products (since they are basically non-existent in the stores, new releases and commercial goals of modern GW for many years now). Basically the tone is internally quite clear: It "saved" the company for a very short time but f* them in long term by a far bigger margin.
@@BlackChrom3very interesting. Why do they keep renewing the licence for LotR? Is it just to stop another company from challenging them? E.g. I could imagine a company like Warlord Games getting it.
The rules were also modified by GW for Legends of the Old West with the Warhammer Historicals line, and it's still one of the best Western minis games despite being long out of print when GW set fire to both their historicals line and specialist games.
@@BlackChrom3 Ya, I worked at GW during the LOTR years, we threw out and wrote off truck loads of unsold LOTR box sets. Had to get a third party off site warehouse to store the container loads of returns from US retailers. This absolutely DID NOT save GW.
I was there in the trenches too. This game AND the stores marketing presence in mall food courts (high traffic areas) meant people seeing the lord of the rings tables set up in the window, so many 10-15 year olds and parents trying to keep their child happy. It also helped they left the kids in the store while they went to get something from another store. Anyone left behind would at least walk out with a paint set and figure box.
Scott mentioned Lotr strategy battle game and my immediate thought was Zorpazorp's video / shorts where he showed us what happened when he first saw this ad. MUUUUUM!!!
This video is about the army that brought me into miniature painting, for the game that made me love playing miniatures and presented by the youtuber who makes me want to make videos and, in some parts, why youtube is today my carrer too ! Bro you make my palette really moist !
Back when I was a kid, GWs games were unobtainable for me. I live in Poland and back in the 1990s, when my older brother discovered RPGs/TCGs/Wargames, we were to poor for most of them. Our first RPG, "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay" was a xerox copy. Our first magic:tg decks were patchworks of random cards, barely enough to be 60 cards. Our first wargame was Warzone, as it was only skirmish game back then, required only to buy rulebook (which had all unit stats and was in polish AND our neighbour bought it) and we had only few prepainted secondhand models each. I still remember watching through the glass of hobby store at 2nd ed starter for WH40K, dreaming of having it. It cost ~250 PLN back then. My mom had like 600 PLN salary and my dad 1000 PLN salary, so there was no way we could afford it. Few years passed. I was in high school when LotR wargame hit Poland with magazine being published (something like Imperium or Combat Patrol magazines that are available now). Each month new minis and paints! Rules in polish! I was finally able to get to the hobby on affordable (barely) rate. My parents were cool with it at the begining, but after 20 or so issues they said to me and my brother, that we have other expenses and we can't afford it anymore. Still, at least I got metal Gimli in one of the last issues, that I bought. So I forgot for few years, until like 5 years ago, I finally had enough disposable income to delve into hobby again. If it wasn't for LotR, I would've just droped after playing Warzone (which was still cool game).
Haven't watched a miniac video in ages and have been subscribed...then not...then subscribed. Your best videos are where your honest, analyse your mistakes and speak with the audience on their painting level. This is one of those videos. It's technical, advanced painting, but you are talking about your issues with it and how it developed as a project. It connects with the audience and even though I may not be at your level, I understand what you are doing and the thought process! It's great communication and where your strength is 🙂
The MESBG game system is stable, enjoyable and doesn't get overwhelming, it's probably one of the best maintained one offered by GW. Plus the massive success of the original range means that the second hand market is still flooded with mostly up-to-date miniatures that I don't fear ruining with my paints. It's a great deal of fun to get into.
This was also my intro to the hobby and I'm very grateful! My grandmother bought a Fellowship of the Ring rulebook from Goodwill thinking it was a movie guide, but gave the "toy catalogue" to her 9 year old grandkid. My next birthday, my older sister bought me my first model kit, the metal fellowship, and a few years later, two of my friends got into Dawn of War, the perfect gateway for all three of us to fall into 40k. Without the tremendous success of the movies and the LotR game in 2001, I wouldn't be having a blast painting 90 skeletons and zombies at a time for Kings of War in 2024!
Lord of the rings models were the first i ever touched when i was like 10 years old or something. My mum bought cheap brushes and cheap colors (not even real acrylics, just dollar store paint) and i went to paint some elves, orks and Gondor soldiers. They looked horrible, but that unlocked a love, that just recently came back. Now i love painting miniatures more than ever. My mum even built a huge battlefield with ruins, bridges, rivers, towers and so on. All with stuff, you can get in nature or from a handy store (don't know the correct word in english). That was some fun crafting time i tell you
> a handy store (don't know the correct word in english) You probably mean "hardware store" or "craft store". Craft stores tend to have stuff for dolls houses, scrapbooking, painting, jewellery making, etc. Hardware stores will often have a little bit of the same sort of thing, but with a bunch of extra building and gardening stuff for full sized construction projects.
The LOTR miniatures through the magazine were the first miniatures I ever painted. I specifically remember being on holiday at a family cabin, driving 30 minutes into town and finding the magazine with the Moria goblin on the front and spending hours trying to paint the Goblins up with those terrible pot paints.
People are always wrong about MESBG. They think it's dead, or no one plays it but the game still goes to this day with a new edition coming out soon. The game deserves so much love from wargamers and GW, it's the game that got so many people into the hobby, I'm one of them. It deserves so much more respect.
Scott - not even finished with the video yet, but I had to stop and comment, that I continue to love the evolution of how you tell a story. You manage to teach / show a technique while also adding history and make things super interesting. All of this while also keeping depth to the subjects presented. its genuinely awesome!
They look stunning. Dedicated a channel to this. Best gave GW ever made and ill fight anyone over it. Fun fact the Urukai warriors is the only set to ever outsell space marine tac squad(at the time)
I mean this to no disrespect to Scott, but their are tons of channels that have the same level of production (some even more than Scott's), now unless you mean hobby channels in general then I can see where you're coming from. Again no disrespect to Scott for putting som much passion and effort into his channel
This is what got me into wargaming. I was in 5th grade when the Fellowship came out and I remember seeing this set in a toy store and begging my dad to buy it. He said he would, but didn't want to buy all of the paints, and he didn't want me to get discouraged with painting them and just throw them away. All changed when I went to a buddy's house to play and brought my minis and we decided to bust out his sisters paint set and I tried painting one of the last alliance elves. I was so excited when my dad came to pick me up so I could show him. When I did he looked at me and just said "You did this?!?!". Took me to a hobby store on the way home and bought me a bunch of paints and I haven't looked back since. Awesome memories.
This video is long awaited Papa Scott! I also started this hobby thanks to my mum who supported me from day one to paint and play board games. Excellent video and as always, always supporting you from Patreon and everywhere!
Man, this episode unlocked some core memories. Big ups to you for making the video, Miniac! I spent a lot of time/money on my army of Rohan, and still have the figures today. Such a good rule set, and setting, of course.
Ah, Lord of the Rings on the tabletop ... that takes me back. I started with the goblins from Moria before switching to Skaven back in the day. Maybe I should flip through some of those old books again.
Awesome to see lotr on the channel. I got back into it after 20 odd years and with the same set of minis in the easterlings and it’s by far the best game I’ve played in that time of gaming . Hope to see more videos in the future
Dude this is completely unrelated but I met you (Scott) at a dining hall in Columbus Ohio this weekend. It was one of the coolest days. One because I met a RUclipsr that I love to follow, two because my wife gave birth to our daughter that evening.
Watching you paint a LORT model (while i'm painting LOTRs 20-year-old Heroes of the West set) is great! And please keep the regular videos coming, as you mentioned in TUP! Mondays are super-funky with more Miniac
Hey Scott, I’ve just finished watching your entire back catalogue of videos. I’ve been in the hobby a year and just attended my first masterclass with Juan Hidalgo in Nottingham, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do so without your videos. You’ve also made the hobby really accessible and I love how you’ve introduced side characters like your wife and that German guy Into your vids. Much respect from Nottingham (please give my city a second chance 😅)
Hearing your mom reference Gurnee Mills took me out. I spent years of my teenage life walking past that Games Workshop store being too broke to buy any models.
Really happy to see you paint some MESBG, the game is still in a fantastic place with a community that, unbelievably, has grown hand over fist the past few years. I'm hoping the new edition and movies really make it boom again. Great paint job too, when is the rest of the army finished? ;)
As a player that started the hobby with MESBG and still only does this, i can tell you this: in every event i went, fans of MESBG have always been the best vibes, the most fun and memory making games. Its well balanced, its casual-ish, it has high variety, its rules are engaging and fun. Every 40k player that has tried MESBG will tell you how good the rules are. Thank you Miniac for finally giving MESBG a youtube presence. Sick painting job and video, as always.
Imo GW’s best game to this day!! Still gets some really cool new supplements and we’re getting a new edition in December alongside a new starter box! Great time to get into the game, if you love the lore or movies and painting miniatures I’d recommend the game wholeheartedly.
Also great to see someone who’s doing a video on the game painting one of the newer models. The game gets a bad rep for some of its older models sometimes but there’s some fantastic newer models in the range as well as the classics
This video hit me RIGHT in the nostalgia. This was my first wargame. I wish I still had my original armies. Sauron was so heavy and my Sauron looked AWESOME. At 11 years old, I was utter TRASH at painting. But, my uncle who was a traditional freehand painter taught me everything I knew.
Thanks for mentioning my interview with Rick! It’s seen some usage over the years since I did it 😅 Also, props to you for not just making this another clickbait video about GW and LOTR, I really appreciated the hobby in there. The Brorgir paint job is awesome.
Man, this game was really big in our area, and especially the hobby shop I worked at. One of the employees was a huge Tolkien fan and couldn't wait to get people into this game. Those movies really brought the nerds out of the woodwork.
My friend got me into the hobby with 40k in middleschool, but man, I barely touched it and made SUCH a pivot into SBG. Played it on and off during it's lull, but since 2021 it's been my flagship after finding a passionate local group. I play a lot of games, but the timelessness of the SBG rules are only matched by the sculpts: Easily the best game system I've ever played. Looking forward to the new edition: Jay is extremely good at making sure the game receives incremental type updates so the game never sees constant, huge upsets like other GW systems
So excited to see you finally paint an sbg model! That has to be the best Easterling paint job I've ever seen. Loved watching you adjust midway through that nmm process. Have tried nmm a few times to great failure but based on your process I don't think I was far off. Will have to just keep trying.
I like this style. The snippet where you were painting Picture in Picture, and explaining technique was great. Kinda reminded me of a live stream and since I never catch those, it was a nice treat. Tyty
Great vid Scott, really enjoyed this one, and the paintjob came out beautifully. I always love hearing about your hobby upbringing because it reminds me so much of my own, we even both went to GW's that were located in malls! I've been rediscovering MESBG lately myself, and with a new edition coming out soon I would love to see you explore that range some more!
GW's profits are declining for the first time in years. Let's hope this trends continues until they get humbled again, stopping the whole licensing nonsense and focus on making good minis and games. But I doubt that will happen
Humble is not the word I'd use for them... especially back in the day, when Tom Kirby sat on the Golden Throne in Nottingham. Why? Here are some (in)famous quotes of that person: "We are GW, we don't need to do market research." "No we don't need to playtest our games much." "We are not a games developer but a distributor of high quality plastic miniatures for collectors." GW today is way more humble than under that guy. They were struggling to survive because a stubborn boomer didn't want to change his ways. Until he left his executive position in 2014 he left a very damaged company. He was the one who cancelled the specialist games. He is the reason why Blood Bowl and Necromunda were gone for almost a decade. Battlefleet Gothic is lost in the warp up to this day. My friend, if you think that GW from today is a cocky PoS than you either don't know it long enough or your memory is hazed by nostalgia. Under his successor Kevin Rountree GW flourished and expanded into what we know today. He was the one who introduced Warcom and even a facebook page where you could write GW directly. It sounds ridiculous but that was a huge novelty for a company that tried hard to not listen to their customers. Before the updated their online presentation, you had to write them a letter and send it to Nottingham and that is not that long ago. GW back then was a hermetically sealed ivory tower and they earned to have to struggle for survival. Please, don't let those times come back. It was awful. And the games' rules weren't better either... everyone who states that has no clue how good game rules look like. Just imagine: They didn't update the codices. If you had a bad written codex you had to wait for next or sometimes for the edition after the next edition, to get it fixed. I had armies that were straight up shit for half a decade. Not like inefficient, but like it's impossible to win with that faction if your opponent doesn't let you win. Back in that time GW didn't release any balancing data, because they didn't care enough. Rountree changed that, and that was a good change. If you want to go back into that dark time, please, don't bother, but do it alone.
Dang, really enjoyed this, great paintjob, cool angle to set the tone at the beginning of the vid, and feels like i understand blending better now. Thanks Scott :D
Nice one! Great painting tips, and always good to see MESBG getting some love. The whole ecosystem for that game is better for players than anything else GW sells. I hope the new boxed set is good. 🤞
MESBG will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was also my first introduction into the world of miniatures. My parents wouldn't let me get into 40k at that time, so our compromise was for them to let me start collecting LotR miniatures, because they loved the movies and books.
MESBG is legit the main game I play. It’s bloody fantastic! I’m so glad to hear you’re doing this today! :D also, your pronunciation of the models was bloody fantastic 😂
It was interesting back when MESBG was starting and the various rules for a lot of official competitions banned conversions using the LotR minis parts from a lot of the conversion/painting awards. But then again, it was also different because the LotR minis were more of true scale while the rest of the GW minis were heroic scale for proportions
As someone who perpetually watches mini painting vids when they come out, I find it fascinating to see the thumb nail changes and the different directions they take in order to boost views. Out of curiosity did this help? The video was already very good in my opinion!!
YT has A/B testing with thumbnails and I've uploaded a couple for this video (and the past few). Likely what you're seeing is YT offering up a different thumbnail to see if you like it more. Sometimes the answer is clear that one thumbnail is better than another. Sometimes one thumbnail ages better over time than others. Sometimes it's not so clear. With this video, it's not so clear which one is performing the best.
My dude, the rose gold, the gems, crispy af! These Easterling minis are pretty sick as well, I'm glad your patreons picked LoTR, it's nice to see something a bit different from the usual GW settings
MESBG is still one of the best rulesets GW have. The mini range is also nice, you’ve got new super detailed plastic and older hand sculpted minis. The older minis do show their age but you have to love the Perry Bros sculpts. Edit: Having put together Goroth and Zagdush as well as the Dol Amroth Knights on foot and Helm Hammerhand for my wife, I can attest that the Forgeworld MESBG sculpts are really crisp and great. The finecast dol Amroth pikemen with no faces, not so much (they all got replaced by GW customer service and then got wicked green stuff goatees to cover the lack of visible mouth).
LotR used to take half the store, it was huge, we all started with it. Great models, but the problem was how easily the thin weapons broke. Half my minis have bottom-half spears with no pointy bit. Fragile bows too, usually the top half breaks off. Great minis overall, but let's not forget how fragile they were.
Also I'd really love a focus on cloth and nailing that satin texture. Always struggle with my cloaks and going too hard on the physical depth of the sculpt rather than where light would fall with perspective, and I've noticed highlights in crevices I've tried to replicate to really sell the satin feel, but I never quite get it right.
Love how this video was put together, it felt fantastic to watch and the whole thing flowed into the next sections easily, I did get a tad dizzy with the multiple spins showing off the catalogue though. And the mini, the mini looked absolutely fantastic! I would sacrifice my new born child for a red that vibrant!
The other big deal about middle earth was that they were able to make that influx of cash last. Peachy has talked about how most of that money was directly invested back into the infrastructure of the company for things like their casting/injection molding equipment so even when the lotr hype died out they would still be in a relative safe spot for the lifespan of the company
Happy to see you back at a weekly schedule. But I think it was a very wise and healthy decision to take it slowly when you needed it! The diary entry of your mother is just too good!
I will never forget the time Games Workshop threw Scott out like trash at an invited event. It was such an insane overreaction. GW staff are amazing and their management are a nightmare. 😂
At its peak SBGiME was outselling almost everything else in their company. There was a point where the magazine subscription for that game was close to White Dwarfs own subscription numbers. These days almost the entire LotR range is overshadowed financially by Ultramarines alone, but their past is why GW has kept this game around and respected its system for so long. Even in the new edition almost 20 years after the games first release, the system will remain unchanged save for stats and armies.
i came into the hobby because of the LOTR collection with the magazines and minis every other week.. i was paying them out of my allowance and at some point i didn't have money for all i wanted to do so i dropped the subscription a year later .. i think on my birthday.. my parents gave me all the magazines and minis release after i had dropped the subscription.. they had secretly kept the payments rooling and kept recieving the magazines and minis until the last one
I have no idea if you'll even see this, Scott, but I wanted to post it just on the off chance. I recently went through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Everyone came out okay, but I was responsible for keeping five people alive through a lack of power and water and a struggle for food. The one thing I had was power packs and fistful of downloads of you, Jon and Jay to help me relax at night, so I could sleep and do it again the next day. Thank you so much for the entertainment and education that helped me get through those dark times and looking forward to resuming the hobby when life returned to normal.
Great pronunciation on the Easterling names. You should have a crack at playing the game! The new resin characters are really finely detailed - ideal for display painting but sometimes I think a little too fine for gaming with? Either way great paint job!
I wish I had some of my LotR models still. They were lost to the chaos moving gods over the years. Thanks for the reference RUclips video and showing how to paint some non-metallic metals.
i remember when i was in primary school my first exspirence with this game was a room in the school where one of the teachers had a games club and they had this game before i knew what warhammer or middle earth table top was only that i thought the ghosts looked cool. 20 years later and im in the hobby.
MESBG is a great game. I had some models 20 years ago but have been playing for the last 4 years. Great to see you painting some Lord of the rings models.
The LOTR game made it's annual target within two months of release. Let that sink in. The game made what the company expected it to make in one year in one-sixth of the time. The biggest problem with banking on LOTR was that the bubble was always going to burst the moment The Return of the King's popularity faded. They could mine other books and stories by Tolkien, but they were riding the dragon of the movies.
They couldn't get the license for the Similarilion stuff, only the movies and 4 main books. I think if Rings of Power S1 had a better response they might have gone for that, which could be really cool with s3 looking to be the Last Alliance
One of the better NMM videos I have seen, but it makes me want a “Scott Teaches a Fan” video on it. Your recent face video was great, it would be awesome to have a similar format with some other techniques like NMM.
Some of their older models are really aging terribly, but some of their newer models again are such a joy to paint and to look at. Collectin Rohan has taught me that much at least
The goblin warriors from the LOTR game are absolutely goated, there are a few gw kits that are a kitbash wet dream and if you want little weird shapes greebles then you want that kit
An excerp from the book of Mommy Miniac was seriously awesome. If that doesn't highlight the importance of diaries I dont know what will. Ill always enjoy some bit of LotR being the urtext to someones nerdy hobbies. For me it was the decipher card game that was a gateway into mtg. But I also gravitated toward Iron Hands in 40k because the chapter symbol reminded me of the witch king RotK suit up scene. And Im pretty sure the hobbit was the book that got me reading as a kid. Ive got some of the recent MTO runs of MESBG minis ready to paint, one day Ill have the time and money for a Nazgul force
That was the same time the new fantasy ed launched. My GW store had a small core following of fantasy, a massive 40k following and the manager was the only playing lotr. Not even my local stores played it. Kind of like when I got battle fleet gothic, only me and I taught my mom to play it lol.
The lack of love and support to SBG afterwards considering it saved gw and gave it the funds to grow and focus in its 40k darling is Outrageous! Anyways, loved this video my dude! Third time watching it today 😂
Hi Scott, just coming from your latest episode of TUP and wish to give one piece of feedback, that is you provide great entertainment in the first 1/3rd of the video and then the second 2/3rds is content about how to paint the miniature, but if you review Ninjon's videos he is sprinkling entertainment (i.e., jokes, wacky anecdotes, etc..) throughout the video. I would wager Ninjon's viewer watch time is perhaps higher than yours and that will influence the "almighty algorithm" I suspect in a positive way and garner his videos more views.
I have never seen a store sell a MESBG mini, never seen anyone play it, or even hard anyone at my local store who have ever played it. It's so weird how that game just like missed my local area.
Its funny because the Lord of the Rings the Two Towers boxed set is what got me into the hobby as well. Went to a Borders bookstore saw it on the shelf was instantly hooked!
I was working for GW back when LOTR came out. I painted a ton of models for the store but I never played it, I never even ran an in store demo for it lol. But yes LOTR saved GW.
I worked at GW in the early 00s and those licenses saved the company 100%, SO many kids came in to buy a LOTR starter and with a year or two were also involved in 40k. The LOTR metals are genuinely such incredible sculpts to this day. There's some quirkiness with the scales (notably the plastic elves are all over the place) and the plastic molds are a bit old but those metals still retain value
It's a great game and a good system for skirmish gaming. There was an old Games Workshop western system that was literally the LOTR game with a cowboy resin for doing ~6v6 skirmish games
And I think War Of The Ring is genuinely one of the best mechanical games GW has ever made, it's the game Alessio Calvatore designed and then nearly reused to make a more generic version of as Mantic's Kings Of War
Funny, because I worked at GW until a year ago and it was VERY clear througout all strata of the company that LOTR was seen as a massive failure and a reason for financial struggles to the point that LOTR is the reason for the existence of one of their main pillars in the company goals of modern GW ("no licensed products from other universes in their range anymore, just their own stuff with their own universe").
And it was quite apparent how much LOTR was a "red flag" by how most employees (from the simple retail manager to the regional and continental managers) talked about that time ... and it was not in a positive tone.
I would also argue that you can see this in the handling of LOTR by modern GW: If it really "saved the company", like for example the principles behind contrast paints did (see the interview with the creators of contrast paints on "The painting Phase") you would see more investment not less. This happened with the lessons of the principles of contrast paints that now permeate the core of GW in stores, events and products down to even the phrasing in trainings. LOTR was on the other hand more ignored than ever with modern GW, even put behind GWs new tendency for reviving older games (Kill Team, Blood Bowl,...) while also gaining massive success with the new policies and explitictely through non-LOTR products (since they are basically non-existent in the stores, new releases and commercial goals of modern GW for many years now).
Basically the tone is internally quite clear: It "saved" the company for a very short time but f* them in long term by a far bigger margin.
@@BlackChrom3very interesting. Why do they keep renewing the licence for LotR? Is it just to stop another company from challenging them? E.g. I could imagine a company like Warlord Games getting it.
The rules were also modified by GW for Legends of the Old West with the Warhammer Historicals line, and it's still one of the best Western minis games despite being long out of print when GW set fire to both their historicals line and specialist games.
@@BlackChrom3 Ya, I worked at GW during the LOTR years, we threw out and wrote off truck loads of unsold LOTR box sets. Had to get a third party off site warehouse to store the container loads of returns from US retailers. This absolutely DID NOT save GW.
I was there in the trenches too. This game AND the stores marketing presence in mall food courts (high traffic areas) meant people seeing the lord of the rings tables set up in the window, so many 10-15 year olds and parents trying to keep their child happy. It also helped they left the kids in the store while they went to get something from another store. Anyone left behind would at least walk out with a paint set and figure box.
Glad to see your Patrons voted for a MESBG model - the community is definitely still alive and well all these years later!
19mins of Scotty on SBG? COUNT ME IN BABY
The legend is here!!!
Scott mentioned Lotr strategy battle game and my immediate thought was Zorpazorp's video / shorts where he showed us what happened when he first saw this ad. MUUUUUM!!!
@@craigkenny37 Hahahaha I forgot about those!!!
This video is about the army that brought me into miniature painting, for the game that made me love playing miniatures and presented by the youtuber who makes me want to make videos and, in some parts, why youtube is today my carrer too !
Bro you make my palette really moist !
Truly humbled that I could play a role in inspiring you to make videos! Thank you for the kind words!
Back when I was a kid, GWs games were unobtainable for me. I live in Poland and back in the 1990s, when my older brother discovered RPGs/TCGs/Wargames, we were to poor for most of them. Our first RPG, "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay" was a xerox copy. Our first magic:tg decks were patchworks of random cards, barely enough to be 60 cards. Our first wargame was Warzone, as it was only skirmish game back then, required only to buy rulebook (which had all unit stats and was in polish AND our neighbour bought it) and we had only few prepainted secondhand models each. I still remember watching through the glass of hobby store at 2nd ed starter for WH40K, dreaming of having it. It cost ~250 PLN back then. My mom had like 600 PLN salary and my dad 1000 PLN salary, so there was no way we could afford it. Few years passed. I was in high school when LotR wargame hit Poland with magazine being published (something like Imperium or Combat Patrol magazines that are available now). Each month new minis and paints! Rules in polish! I was finally able to get to the hobby on affordable (barely) rate. My parents were cool with it at the begining, but after 20 or so issues they said to me and my brother, that we have other expenses and we can't afford it anymore. Still, at least I got metal Gimli in one of the last issues, that I bought. So I forgot for few years, until like 5 years ago, I finally had enough disposable income to delve into hobby again. If it wasn't for LotR, I would've just droped after playing Warzone (which was still cool game).
Gald to have you back in the hobby 😁
Haven't watched a miniac video in ages and have been subscribed...then not...then subscribed. Your best videos are where your honest, analyse your mistakes and speak with the audience on their painting level. This is one of those videos. It's technical, advanced painting, but you are talking about your issues with it and how it developed as a project. It connects with the audience and even though I may not be at your level, I understand what you are doing and the thought process! It's great communication and where your strength is 🙂
The MESBG game system is stable, enjoyable and doesn't get overwhelming, it's probably one of the best maintained one offered by GW. Plus the massive success of the original range means that the second hand market is still flooded with mostly up-to-date miniatures that I don't fear ruining with my paints. It's a great deal of fun to get into.
I tell many people this, MESBG is a bit like chess! Easy to learn very difficult to master!
This was also my intro to the hobby and I'm very grateful! My grandmother bought a Fellowship of the Ring rulebook from Goodwill thinking it was a movie guide, but gave the "toy catalogue" to her 9 year old grandkid. My next birthday, my older sister bought me my first model kit, the metal fellowship, and a few years later, two of my friends got into Dawn of War, the perfect gateway for all three of us to fall into 40k.
Without the tremendous success of the movies and the LotR game in 2001, I wouldn't be having a blast painting 90 skeletons and zombies at a time for Kings of War in 2024!
Please paint more Middle Earth stuff! That Brórgîr looks sick
2:20 omg your mom has no idea... that's too funny ;)
The prophecy bro💀
Lord of the rings models were the first i ever touched when i was like 10 years old or something. My mum bought cheap brushes and cheap colors (not even real acrylics, just dollar store paint) and i went to paint some elves, orks and Gondor soldiers. They looked horrible, but that unlocked a love, that just recently came back. Now i love painting miniatures more than ever. My mum even built a huge battlefield with ruins, bridges, rivers, towers and so on. All with stuff, you can get in nature or from a handy store (don't know the correct word in english). That was some fun crafting time i tell you
> a handy store (don't know the correct word in english)
You probably mean "hardware store" or "craft store".
Craft stores tend to have stuff for dolls houses, scrapbooking, painting, jewellery making, etc.
Hardware stores will often have a little bit of the same sort of thing, but with a bunch of extra building and gardening stuff for full sized construction projects.
You are now contractually obligated to paint one MESBG mini per week. I don't make the rules.
The LOTR miniatures through the magazine were the first miniatures I ever painted. I specifically remember being on holiday at a family cabin, driving 30 minutes into town and finding the magazine with the Moria goblin on the front and spending hours trying to paint the Goblins up with those terrible pot paints.
People are always wrong about MESBG. They think it's dead, or no one plays it but the game still goes to this day with a new edition coming out soon. The game deserves so much love from wargamers and GW, it's the game that got so many people into the hobby, I'm one of them. It deserves so much more respect.
Midwestern traditional mini sculptor here - learn the old ways and keep them alive! I can even teach 1-on-1 if you want.
feel free to send me an email with pics of your work
Same as @Miniac here, willing to learn from a master of the craft
I am tring learn how to sculpt. Do you have your own works to show me? Thank you.
Scott - not even finished with the video yet, but I had to stop and comment, that I continue to love the evolution of how you tell a story. You manage to teach / show a technique while also adding history and make things super interesting. All of this while also keeping depth to the subjects presented. its genuinely awesome!
Amazing job! Middle earth SBG scene is alive and well! Can't wait for the new plastics.
They look stunning. Dedicated a channel to this. Best gave GW ever made and ill fight anyone over it. Fun fact the Urukai warriors is the only set to ever outsell space marine tac squad(at the time)
Still GW's best set of rules (unless they ruin it with the upcoming new edition)
There's noone else at this level of production. Your videos are spotless Scott. Bravo. Once again.
I mean this to no disrespect to Scott, but their are tons of channels that have the same level of production (some even more than Scott's), now unless you mean hobby channels in general then I can see where you're coming from.
Again no disrespect to Scott for putting som much passion and effort into his channel
This is what got me into wargaming. I was in 5th grade when the Fellowship came out and I remember seeing this set in a toy store and begging my dad to buy it. He said he would, but didn't want to buy all of the paints, and he didn't want me to get discouraged with painting them and just throw them away. All changed when I went to a buddy's house to play and brought my minis and we decided to bust out his sisters paint set and I tried painting one of the last alliance elves. I was so excited when my dad came to pick me up so I could show him. When I did he looked at me and just said "You did this?!?!". Took me to a hobby store on the way home and bought me a bunch of paints and I haven't looked back since. Awesome memories.
This video is long awaited Papa Scott! I also started this hobby thanks to my mum who supported me from day one to paint and play board games.
Excellent video and as always, always supporting you from Patreon and everywhere!
Man, this episode unlocked some core memories. Big ups to you for making the video, Miniac! I spent a lot of time/money on my army of Rohan, and still have the figures today. Such a good rule set, and setting, of course.
Ah, Lord of the Rings on the tabletop ... that takes me back.
I started with the goblins from Moria before switching to Skaven back in the day.
Maybe I should flip through some of those old books again.
Good to see more MESBG content especially with the new edition coming out soon.
Awesome to see lotr on the channel. I got back into it after 20 odd years and with the same set of minis in the easterlings and it’s by far the best game I’ve played in that time of gaming . Hope to see more videos in the future
Dude this is completely unrelated but I met you (Scott) at a dining hall in Columbus Ohio this weekend. It was one of the coolest days. One because I met a RUclipsr that I love to follow, two because my wife gave birth to our daughter that evening.
Congratulations to you and your wife!
That rose gold is going way harder than a rosé ever could - great video Scott!
Watching you paint a LORT model (while i'm painting LOTRs 20-year-old Heroes of the West set) is great! And please keep the regular videos coming, as you mentioned in TUP! Mondays are super-funky with more Miniac
Hey Scott, I’ve just finished watching your entire back catalogue of videos. I’ve been in the hobby a year and just attended my first masterclass with Juan Hidalgo in Nottingham, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do so without your videos. You’ve also made the hobby really accessible and I love how you’ve introduced side characters like your wife and that German guy Into your vids. Much respect from Nottingham (please give my city a second chance 😅)
Hearing your mom reference Gurnee Mills took me out. I spent years of my teenage life walking past that Games Workshop store being too broke to buy any models.
Really happy to see you paint some MESBG, the game is still in a fantastic place with a community that, unbelievably, has grown hand over fist the past few years. I'm hoping the new edition and movies really make it boom again. Great paint job too, when is the rest of the army finished? ;)
As a player that started the hobby with MESBG and still only does this, i can tell you this: in every event i went, fans of MESBG have always been the best vibes, the most fun and memory making games.
Its well balanced, its casual-ish, it has high variety, its rules are engaging and fun. Every 40k player that has tried MESBG will tell you how good the rules are.
Thank you Miniac for finally giving MESBG a youtube presence. Sick painting job and video, as always.
Imo GW’s best game to this day!! Still gets some really cool new supplements and we’re getting a new edition in December alongside a new starter box!
Great time to get into the game, if you love the lore or movies and painting miniatures I’d recommend the game wholeheartedly.
Also great to see someone who’s doing a video on the game painting one of the newer models. The game gets a bad rep for some of its older models sometimes but there’s some fantastic newer models in the range as well as the classics
Yeah, finally a LOTR model. Great video!
This video hit me RIGHT in the nostalgia. This was my first wargame. I wish I still had my original armies. Sauron was so heavy and my Sauron looked AWESOME. At 11 years old, I was utter TRASH at painting. But, my uncle who was a traditional freehand painter taught me everything I knew.
Thanks for mentioning my interview with Rick! It’s seen some usage over the years since I did it 😅
Also, props to you for not just making this another clickbait video about GW and LOTR, I really appreciated the hobby in there. The Brorgir paint job is awesome.
Man, this game was really big in our area, and especially the hobby shop I worked at. One of the employees was a huge Tolkien fan and couldn't wait to get people into this game. Those movies really brought the nerds out of the woodwork.
MESBG is pretty neat.
EDIT: Your mom is a PROPHET.
ACTUALLY THO
They've really brought that game along and updated it well
My friend got me into the hobby with 40k in middleschool, but man, I barely touched it and made SUCH a pivot into SBG. Played it on and off during it's lull, but since 2021 it's been my flagship after finding a passionate local group. I play a lot of games, but the timelessness of the SBG rules are only matched by the sculpts: Easily the best game system I've ever played. Looking forward to the new edition: Jay is extremely good at making sure the game receives incremental type updates so the game never sees constant, huge upsets like other GW systems
So excited to see you finally paint an sbg model! That has to be the best Easterling paint job I've ever seen. Loved watching you adjust midway through that nmm process. Have tried nmm a few times to great failure but based on your process I don't think I was far off. Will have to just keep trying.
I like this style. The snippet where you were painting Picture in Picture, and explaining technique was great. Kinda reminded me of a live stream and since I never catch those, it was a nice treat. Tyty
I loved the formatting of this video! The factoids at the beginning were super interesting to me, and the style hit my nostalgia juuuuuust right.
Great vid Scott, really enjoyed this one, and the paintjob came out beautifully. I always love hearing about your hobby upbringing because it reminds me so much of my own, we even both went to GW's that were located in malls! I've been rediscovering MESBG lately myself, and with a new edition coming out soon I would love to see you explore that range some more!
If only we could go back to this humble GW that was desperately trying to survive.
GW's profits are declining for the first time in years.
Let's hope this trends continues until they get humbled again, stopping the whole licensing nonsense and focus on making good minis and games.
But I doubt that will happen
@@Rohnon Gw profits are not decling. They have broken records, year on year, for the past 9 years. Last year was record breaking.
@@Rohnon they’re literally making the best and most models in history
Humble is not the word I'd use for them... especially back in the day, when Tom Kirby sat on the Golden Throne in Nottingham.
Why? Here are some (in)famous quotes of that person:
"We are GW, we don't need to do market research."
"No we don't need to playtest our games much."
"We are not a games developer but a distributor of high quality plastic miniatures for collectors."
GW today is way more humble than under that guy. They were struggling to survive because a stubborn boomer didn't want to change his ways. Until he left his executive position in 2014 he left a very damaged company. He was the one who cancelled the specialist games. He is the reason why Blood Bowl and Necromunda were gone for almost a decade. Battlefleet Gothic is lost in the warp up to this day.
My friend, if you think that GW from today is a cocky PoS than you either don't know it long enough or your memory is hazed by nostalgia.
Under his successor Kevin Rountree GW flourished and expanded into what we know today. He was the one who introduced Warcom and even a facebook page where you could write GW directly. It sounds ridiculous but that was a huge novelty for a company that tried hard to not listen to their customers. Before the updated their online presentation, you had to write them a letter and send it to Nottingham and that is not that long ago.
GW back then was a hermetically sealed ivory tower and they earned to have to struggle for survival. Please, don't let those times come back. It was awful. And the games' rules weren't better either... everyone who states that has no clue how good game rules look like. Just imagine: They didn't update the codices. If you had a bad written codex you had to wait for next or sometimes for the edition after the next edition, to get it fixed. I had armies that were straight up shit for half a decade. Not like inefficient, but like it's impossible to win with that faction if your opponent doesn't let you win.
Back in that time GW didn't release any balancing data, because they didn't care enough.
Rountree changed that, and that was a good change. If you want to go back into that dark time, please, don't bother, but do it alone.
I can't understand this mindset. Why would you want them to go back to being on the brink of bankruptcy?
Dang, really enjoyed this, great paintjob, cool angle to set the tone at the beginning of the vid, and feels like i understand blending better now. Thanks Scott :D
Nice one! Great painting tips, and always good to see MESBG getting some love. The whole ecosystem for that game is better for players than anything else GW sells. I hope the new boxed set is good. 🤞
Regular scheduled uploads !!!!!!!!
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
MESBG will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was also my first introduction into the world of miniatures. My parents wouldn't let me get into 40k at that time, so our compromise was for them to let me start collecting LotR miniatures, because they loved the movies and books.
12:00 this panning shot is really cool. Well done!
... Great Video Scott... Great to see you doing so well. 💜👍🇬🇧
MESBG is legit the main game I play. It’s bloody fantastic!
I’m so glad to hear you’re doing this today! :D also, your pronunciation of the models was bloody fantastic 😂
It was interesting back when MESBG was starting and the various rules for a lot of official competitions banned conversions using the LotR minis parts from a lot of the conversion/painting awards.
But then again, it was also different because the LotR minis were more of true scale while the rest of the GW minis were heroic scale for proportions
As someone who perpetually watches mini painting vids when they come out, I find it fascinating to see the thumb nail changes and the different directions they take in order to boost views.
Out of curiosity did this help?
The video was already very good in my opinion!!
YT has A/B testing with thumbnails and I've uploaded a couple for this video (and the past few). Likely what you're seeing is YT offering up a different thumbnail to see if you like it more.
Sometimes the answer is clear that one thumbnail is better than another. Sometimes one thumbnail ages better over time than others. Sometimes it's not so clear. With this video, it's not so clear which one is performing the best.
@@Miniac well if it helps I clicked on both 😂
I didn’t know you could do that on YT I’m behind the times lol
My dude, the rose gold, the gems, crispy af! These Easterling minis are pretty sick as well, I'm glad your patreons picked LoTR, it's nice to see something a bit different from the usual GW settings
MESBG is still one of the best rulesets GW have. The mini range is also nice, you’ve got new super detailed plastic and older hand sculpted minis. The older minis do show their age but you have to love the Perry Bros sculpts.
Edit: Having put together Goroth and Zagdush as well as the Dol Amroth Knights on foot and Helm Hammerhand for my wife, I can attest that the Forgeworld MESBG sculpts are really crisp and great. The finecast dol Amroth pikemen with no faces, not so much (they all got replaced by GW customer service and then got wicked green stuff goatees to cover the lack of visible mouth).
LotR used to take half the store, it was huge, we all started with it. Great models, but the problem was how easily the thin weapons broke. Half my minis have bottom-half spears with no pointy bit. Fragile bows too, usually the top half breaks off.
Great minis overall, but let's not forget how fragile they were.
I'm really happy about this video, currently painting an eastearling army for a tournament, so this is the exact motivation i need 😊.
Awesome video again! MESBG is a great game and the newer minis are great to paint, I’m glad the Patrons chose this. I also have Easterlings 😊
Also I'd really love a focus on cloth and nailing that satin texture. Always struggle with my cloaks and going too hard on the physical depth of the sculpt rather than where light would fall with perspective, and I've noticed highlights in crevices I've tried to replicate to really sell the satin feel, but I never quite get it right.
Love how this video was put together, it felt fantastic to watch and the whole thing flowed into the next sections easily, I did get a tad dizzy with the multiple spins showing off the catalogue though. And the mini, the mini looked absolutely fantastic! I would sacrifice my new born child for a red that vibrant!
Thank you for painting MESBG! (My opinion, still the best game they make!) 😊
The other big deal about middle earth was that they were able to make that influx of cash last. Peachy has talked about how most of that money was directly invested back into the infrastructure of the company for things like their casting/injection molding equipment so even when the lotr hype died out they would still be in a relative safe spot for the lifespan of the company
Happy to see you back at a weekly schedule. But I think it was a very wise and healthy decision to take it slowly when you needed it!
The diary entry of your mother is just too good!
This is still the only wargame I play. I have been playing since the Balin's Tomb starter set came out as a kid with my brother and our neighbour.
So glad to see you back with regular videos :) love your content!
My brother and I got into Warhammer as lil kids with Middle Earth and he always got all the good guys so I went for the Easterlings they're so cool!
I will never forget the time Games Workshop threw Scott out like trash at an invited event. It was such an insane overreaction. GW staff are amazing and their management are a nightmare. 😂
At its peak SBGiME was outselling almost everything else in their company. There was a point where the magazine subscription for that game was close to White Dwarfs own subscription numbers. These days almost the entire LotR range is overshadowed financially by Ultramarines alone, but their past is why GW has kept this game around and respected its system for so long. Even in the new edition almost 20 years after the games first release, the system will remain unchanged save for stats and armies.
i came into the hobby because of the LOTR collection with the magazines and minis every other week.. i was paying them out of my allowance and at some point i didn't have money for all i wanted to do so i dropped the subscription
a year later .. i think on my birthday.. my parents gave me all the magazines and minis release after i had dropped the subscription.. they had secretly kept the payments rooling and kept recieving the magazines and minis until the last one
Yay, some MESBG content! ♥ What a beautiful paintjob as well!
I have no idea if you'll even see this, Scott, but I wanted to post it just on the off chance. I recently went through the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Everyone came out okay, but I was responsible for keeping five people alive through a lack of power and water and a struggle for food.
The one thing I had was power packs and fistful of downloads of you, Jon and Jay to help me relax at night, so I could sleep and do it again the next day. Thank you so much for the entertainment and education that helped me get through those dark times and looking forward to resuming the hobby when life returned to normal.
glad to hear you're ok!
Great pronunciation on the Easterling names. You should have a crack at playing the game! The new resin characters are really finely detailed - ideal for display painting but sometimes I think a little too fine for gaming with? Either way great paint job!
Wow! All I can say is wow! You rock the Kasbah! I love this masterwork paint job!
I wouldnt have any minis if LOTR/GW models hadn't cone out...... 100% got me into the hobby. Picked up the fellowship models and the rest is hx.
Great video Scott. Everything is so crisp and attention grabbing! Well done.
I wish I had some of my LotR models still. They were lost to the chaos moving gods over the years. Thanks for the reference RUclips video and showing how to paint some non-metallic metals.
i remember when i was in primary school my first exspirence with this game was a room in the school where one of the teachers had a games club and they had this game before i knew what warhammer or middle earth table top was only that i thought the ghosts looked cool. 20 years later and im in the hobby.
MESBG is a great game. I had some models 20 years ago but have been playing for the last 4 years. Great to see you painting some Lord of the rings models.
Can you do a video on using milliput, green stuff, and grilliput to fix casting issues?
It was and IS the best game GW produces, HANDS DOWN. MESBG is worth playing today
The LOTR game made it's annual target within two months of release. Let that sink in. The game made what the company expected it to make in one year in one-sixth of the time.
The biggest problem with banking on LOTR was that the bubble was always going to burst the moment The Return of the King's popularity faded. They could mine other books and stories by Tolkien, but they were riding the dragon of the movies.
They couldn't get the license for the Similarilion stuff, only the movies and 4 main books. I think if Rings of Power S1 had a better response they might have gone for that, which could be really cool with s3 looking to be the Last Alliance
One of the better NMM videos I have seen, but it makes me want a “Scott Teaches a Fan” video on it. Your recent face video was great, it would be awesome to have a similar format with some other techniques like NMM.
Trust me, I have big plans for that format! More coming sometime soon! And you're right!
Some of their older models are really aging terribly, but some of their newer models again are such a joy to paint and to look at. Collectin Rohan has taught me that much at least
The goblin warriors from the LOTR game are absolutely goated, there are a few gw kits that are a kitbash wet dream and if you want little weird shapes greebles then you want that kit
An excerp from the book of Mommy Miniac was seriously awesome. If that doesn't highlight the importance of diaries I dont know what will.
Ill always enjoy some bit of LotR being the urtext to someones nerdy hobbies. For me it was the decipher card game that was a gateway into mtg. But I also gravitated toward Iron Hands in 40k because the chapter symbol reminded me of the witch king RotK suit up scene. And Im pretty sure the hobbit was the book that got me reading as a kid. Ive got some of the recent MTO runs of MESBG minis ready to paint, one day Ill have the time and money for a Nazgul force
That was the same time the new fantasy ed launched. My GW store had a small core following of fantasy, a massive 40k following and the manager was the only playing lotr. Not even my local stores played it. Kind of like when I got battle fleet gothic, only me and I taught my mom to play it lol.
Its awesome to have more miniac videos, keep em coming ^^
The lack of love and support to SBG afterwards considering it saved gw and gave it the funds to grow and focus in its 40k darling is Outrageous!
Anyways, loved this video my dude! Third time watching it today 😂
I really enjoyed the documentary like vibe, I think you nailed the blend of painting video + history lesson
I love MESBG, thank you for coving it on a video. Please paint more MESBG!
Love this video - my favourite tabletop game, so nice to see it on the channel!
Hi Scott, just coming from your latest episode of TUP and wish to give one piece of feedback, that is you provide great entertainment in the first 1/3rd of the video and then the second 2/3rds is content about how to paint the miniature, but if you review Ninjon's videos he is sprinkling entertainment (i.e., jokes, wacky anecdotes, etc..) throughout the video. I would wager Ninjon's viewer watch time is perhaps higher than yours and that will influence the "almighty algorithm" I suspect in a positive way and garner his videos more views.
I have never seen a store sell a MESBG mini, never seen anyone play it, or even hard anyone at my local store who have ever played it. It's so weird how that game just like missed my local area.
Its funny because the Lord of the Rings the Two Towers boxed set is what got me into the hobby as well. Went to a Borders bookstore saw it on the shelf was instantly hooked!
The rose gold looks great! As does the red. Awesome job
The Uruk Hai box was my gateway into miniatures as well!
I was working for GW back when LOTR came out. I painted a ton of models for the store but I never played it, I never even ran an in store demo for it lol. But yes LOTR saved GW.
Rick pretty much created the original Necromunda on his own. Such a genius.