Middle-Earth: SBG – Start playing with GBW – Return of the King (🇬🇧/🇵🇱) Środa, Maj 13 2026 

🇬🇧/🇵🇱 Dear English speaking readers – English version is just below Polish. It was first published on 12.05.2026 on Gdzie był Wrocław profile – as person responsible for this profile I warlmy invite you in name of my group to observe this profile too

🇵🇱 Zacznij grać z GBW czyli armie dla początkujących – od czego zacząć?

Wybór pierwszej armii do Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game potrafi być trudny, szczególnie na początku przygody z systemem. Dlatego postanowiliśmy rozpocząć serię krótkich tekstów o armiach, z którymi łatwo wystartować, a przy okazji nie zrujnują one portfela już na samym wejściu.

W naszych zestawieniach bierzemy pod uwagę oryginalne modele Games Workshop, kupowane w sklepach. Oczywiście warto zaznaczyć, że na rynku dostępne są także różne zamienniki figurek – chociażby te oferowane przez Minifakturę – więc możliwości jest więcej. Wielu graczy regularnie odwiedza też Bazarek Middle-Earth SBG by szukać okazji na rynku wtórnym.

Na pierwszy ogień idzie armia, którą wielu graczy poleca początkującym. To jedna z tańszych opcji do kolekcjonowania, a przy tym bardzo klimatyczna. Mowa o armii Dobra, w której znajdziemy Aragorna, Gimliego i Legolasa, czyli słynnych Trzech Łowców, a także przeklętych przez Isildura ludzi z Gór Białych, którzy po śmierci stali się nieumarłymi wojownikami z Dunharrow.

Dlaczego warto?

To armia, która ma kilka naprawdę mocnych stron. Przede wszystkim zwykli wojownicy-duchy z Dunharrow są odporne i wzbudzają Grozę, co już samo w sobie potrafi zrobić różnicę na stole. Do tego armia jest bardzo szybka – podstawowa piechota porusza się aż 8 cali, co jest dużym atutem. No i oczywiście nie można zapominać o bohaterach – Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli i Król Umarłych to postacie, które potrafią zrobić swoje.

Co może przeszkadzać?

Nie jest to jednak armia bez wad. Największą z nich jest wysoki koszt punktowy szeregowych modeli – pojedynczy wojownik kosztuje tutaj od 14 do 16 punktów, więc liczebność armii szybko robi się ograniczona. Drugim minusem jest dość mały wybór jednostek, co może niektórym graczom przeszkadzać przy układaniu bardziej różnorodnych rozpisek.

A jak z malowaniem?

Tu robi się całkiem przyjemnie. Duchy – zarówno piechota, jak i jazda czy bohaterowie – są raczej proste w malowaniu, a dobrze dobrane farby kontrastowe potrafią dać naprawdę świetny efekt. Więcej pracy wymagają natomiast Trzej Łowcy, bo to już modele, przy których trzeba poświęcić więcej uwagi detalom.

Kto i co wchodzi w skład armii?

W tej armii znajdziemy bohaterów takich jak:
Aragorn – świetny wojownik, posiadający darmowy punkt Mocy co turę
Gimli – może jest szybki, na krótkich dystansach, ale w walce ciężki do zabicia
Legolas – najlepszu łucznik w Middle Earth SBG
Król Umarłych – jednym, celnym ciosem może położyć prawie każdego
Heroldowie – bohaterowie, którzy mogą wspierać wolą króla

A wśród wojowników:
Warriors of the Dead
Riders of the Dead

Modele Dunharrow pojawiają się w legionach:
Defenders of Pelennor – na 300 do 450 punktów z Królem Duchów i Heraldem, gdzie na te punkty wystawienie ich ma sens
Return of the King – na 500 punktów i więcej

Ile to kosztuje?

Jeśli chcemy wejść w tę armię na oryginalnych modelach GW, przykładowy start może wyglądać tak:
The Three Hunters – 160 PLN
King of the Dead and Heralds – 160 PLN
Warriors of the Dead – 175 PLN

Taki zestaw pozwala złożyć armię na około 800 punktów, nawet bez Heroldów. W przykładowej rozpisce wszystkie duchy zostały wyposażone w tarcze i włócznie, choć trzeba pamiętać, że fizycznie tylko sześć modeli z pudełka ma włócznie – tu wszyscy zostali wyposażeni tak samo. To coś, co warto mieć z tyłu głowy przy kompletowaniu figurek. Oczywiście skonwertowanie części z nich na posiadających włócznie generalnie nie jest złym pomysłem 😉 .

Trzeba też uczciwie powiedzieć, że nie jest to armia bardzo liczna. W takiej konfiguracji wychodzi około 24 wojowników, a dla części graczy to po prostu za mało. Wiele osób woli mieć na stole więcej modeli, dlatego zamiast Gimliego decyduje się na kolejne duchy. I właśnie wtedy pojawia się potrzeba dokupienia następnego pudełka Warriors of the Dead.

Co dokupić później?

Jeśli armia przypadnie Wam do gustu, kolejne zakupy są dość oczywiste:
• jeszcze jedno pudełko Warriors of the Dead
• sztandar – 83 PLN
• opcjonalnie Rider of the Dead – 63 PLN

Podane ceny pochodzą ze strony wydawcy. W praktyce w polskich sklepach można znaleźć wspomniane miniaturki taniej, tylko trzeba poszukać. Należy jednak pamiętać, że nie wszystkie zestawy są stale dostępne i czasem trzeba poczekać.

Na przyszłość planujemy pokazać Wam także inne podejścia do budowania armii – zarówno bardziej elitarne, oparte na mniejszej liczbie mocniejszych modeli, jak i te bardziej liczne, stawiające na masę. Tak że to dopiero początek!

Oczywiście zachęcamy do zabawy w składanie rozpisek, osobiście polecam:
https://modular.tabletopadmiral.com/?gameUrl=https://nowforwrath.github.io/data2024.json

🇬🇧 Start playing with GBW so Armies for Beginners – Where to Start?

Choosing your first army for the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game can be difficult, especially when you are just beginning your journey with the system. That is why we decided to start a series of short articles about armies that are easy to begin with and, at the same time, will not ruin your wallet right from the start.

In our overviews, we focus on original Games Workshop models bought from stores. Of course, it is worth noting that there are also various miniature alternatives available on the market – for example those offered by Minifaktura – so there are more options out there. Many players also regularly visit Bazarek Middle-Earth SBG to look for bargains on the second-hand market.

For our first entry, we are looking at an army that many players recommend to beginners. It is one of the cheaper options to collect, while also being very thematic. We are talking about a Good army featuring Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas – the famous Three Hunters – as well as the men of the White Mountains, cursed by Isildur and, after death, turned into the undead warriors of Dunharrow.

Why is it worth considering?

This army has several really strong points. First of all, the basic ghost warriors from Dunharrow are resilient and cause Terror, which on its own can already make a big difference on the table. On top of that, the army is very fast – the basic infantry moves as much as 8 inches, which is a major advantage. And of course, one cannot forget about the heroes – Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and The King of the Dead are all characters who can really pull their weight.

What might be a drawback?

It is not, however, an army without weaknesses. The biggest one is the high points cost of its rank-and-file models – a single warrior costs between 14 and 16 points, so army size quickly becomes limited. The second drawback is the fairly small selection of units, which may bother some players when trying to build more varied army lists.

And what about painting?

This is where things become quite pleasant. The ghosts – infantry, cavalry, and heroes alike – are generally quite simple to paint, and well-chosen Contrast paints can produce a really great effect. The Three Hunters, on the other hand, require more work, as they are models where you need to pay closer attention to the details.

Who and what is included in the army?

This army includes heroes such as:

Aragorn – an excellent warrior who gains a free point of Might each turn
Gimli – he may be fast only over short distances, but in combat he is very hard to kill
Legolas – the best archer in MESBG
The King of the Dead – with one well-placed strike, he can bring down almost anyone
Heralds – heroes who can support the King’s Will

And among its warriors:

Warriors of the Dead
Riders of the Dead

Dunharrow models appear in the following legions:

Defenders of Pelennor – at 300 to 450 points with the King of the Dead and a Herald, where fielding them at this points level actually makes sense
Return of the King – at 500 points and above

How much does it cost?

If you want to start this army using original GW models, an example starting point could look like this:

The Three Hunters – £28.50
King of the Dead and Heralds – £28.50
Warriors of the Dead – £32.50

Such a set allows you to build an army of around 800 points, even without the Heralds. In the example list, all the ghosts were given shields and spears, although it is worth remembering that physically only six models in the box actually have spears, here, everyone has been equipped in the same way. That is something worth keeping in mind when putting the force together. Of course, converting some of them so that they carry spears is generally not a bad idea 😉 .

It should also be said honestly that this is not a very numerous army. In this configuration, it comes out to around 24 warriors, and for some players that is simply too few. Many people prefer to have more models on the table, so instead of Gimli they choose to add more ghosts. And that is exactly when the need for another box of Warriors of the Dead appears.

What should you buy later?

If you end up liking the army, the next purchases are fairly obvious:

one more box of Warriors of the Dead
a banner – £15.00
optionally, a Rider of the Dead – £12.00

The prices listed above come from the publisher’s website. In practice, you can often find these miniatures cheaper in hobby stores at least in Poland – you just need to look around. It is worth remembering, however, that not all sets are always available, and sometimes you have to wait.

In the future, we also plan to show you other approaches to building armies – both more elite ones based on a smaller number of stronger models, and more numerous ones that rely on mass. So this is only the beginning!

Of course, we encourage you to have fun building army lists. Personally, I recommend:

https://modular.tabletopadmiral.com/?gameUrl=https://nowforwrath.github.io/data2024.json

LoTR: Dead of Dunharrow vs Easterlings – 450 points Czwartek, Mar 2 2023 

Last Wendesday we played a game on 450 points with Łukasz, I played with The Dead of Dunharrow and Łukasz took his Easterlings cavalry.

Summary:
– it’s time to start painting Rohan then Gondor and Mordor to have some bad boys and getting some more models to those armies.
– Dunharrow – like it, but some times losing with it is spectacular, the same as winning. This army is expensive in points and with eniemies with higher weapon skill there is problem to win combats. Anyway I will try to play with them, as I like this army.

Middle-Earth: Pass to Dunharrow Środa, Lip 20 2022 

Yesterday I played with Łukasz our campaing beetwen forces of good represented by Dead of Dunharrow and many different servants of Sauron controlled by Łukasz. We played scenario where both players started deploying in oppositive corners of the table

Summary:
– it was Dunharrow victory 6:0,
– I had luck or Łukasz hadn’t it on the left flank, where his elite was stopped by long time cursed dead.

Middle Earth: A battle for hidden relic Sobota, Czer 18 2022 

Yesterday we played with Łukasz small game on 500 points per side – we played scenario, where six tokens are placed on the table – one of them is relic. Relic can be found after model get in contact with it and 6 is rolled – then all other tokens are removed from the table.

Summary:
– it was great game, I won it 11:1 but I was more lucky than usual during our games with Łukasz. Had to paint some Gondor, for some variety of troops.

Middle-Earth: A stolen relic Piątek, Maj 6 2022 

Today evening we played Middle-Earth with Łukasz on 600 points per side. Łukasz played Corsairs of Umbar and I took my only painted Dead of Dunharrow. We played scenario where were six places, where artifact of old was probably hidden – to find it roll of 6 was necessary, after touching token with soldier on foot.

Summary:
– it was nice game, Łukasz won it 6 to 2 – 6 for having a relic, while I got 2 for having standard bearer.
– need to paint Three Hunters, to have some different unit in this army.

Middle-Earth: Corsairs vs Dead of Dunharrow (🇬🇧EN/🇵🇱PL) Piątek, Kwi 22 2022 

🇵🇱 Dzisiaj razem z Łukaszem rozegraliśmy trzy gry w Middle-earth. Ten system jest ogólnie jednym z najtańszych, jeśli chodzi o rozpoczęcie i granie. Niektóre armie wydają się dość łatwe do pomalowania – Mordor jest prawdopodobnie najłatwiejszy, ale Gondor też nie wygląda na zbyt skomplikowany.

🇬🇧 Today, Łukasz and I played three games of Middle-earth. This system is generally one of the cheapest to get into and play. Some armies seem quite easy to paint – Mordor is probably the easiest, but Gondor doesn’t look too complicated either.

🇵🇱 Podsumowanie:
– Fajna, mała gra.
– Muszę pomalować Trzech Łowców, żeby dodać kilka wartościowych modeli do tej bandy.
– Muszę zwolnić i się uspokoić (dzięki, H., za poranną prywatną wiadomość – naprawdę pomogła).
– Jestem naprawdę zmęczony czymś, z czym mierzyłem się przez ostatnie kilka miesięcy.
– Nie ma to związku z żadnym z moich znajomych ani współpracowników, ani w pracy (żeby było jasne – wszystkich Was cenię), ani poza nią.
– Wynika to z wzięcia na siebie zbyt wielu rzeczy i w końcu mnie to dopadło. Teraz zastanawiam się, jakie umiejętności rozwijać lub odświeżyć. Wiem, że SQL to podstawa, rozważam też powrót do Pythona z Selenium, którego nie używałem od dawna.

🇬🇧 Summary:
– Nice, small game.
– I need to paint the Three Hunters to add some valuable models to this warband.
– I need to slow down and calm down (thank you, H., for the private message this morning – it really helped).
– I’m really tired from something I’ve been dealing with over the past few months. It’s not related to any of my friends or colleagues, either at work (just to be clear – I appreciate you all) or elsewhere.
– It comes from having taken on too much, and it eventually caught up with me. Now I’m thinking about which skills to improve or relearn. I know SQL is a must-have, and I’m also considering getting back into Python with Selenium, which I haven’t used in a long time.

Middle-Earth: Battle of burial mounds Piątek, Lu 25 2022 

Today I played first game in Lord of the Rings with Łukasz as my mentor – we played scenario with five tokens on the board which should be secured – I guess they were some ancient tombs as Death of Dunharrow came to defend them against evil servants of Sauron. It was my first game and I know I want to play more. I’m still don’t remember most of things, but with following games it will be better and better.

Thanks for master Tolkien for writing whole universum of Middle-Earth – I read Lord of the Rings trilogy three times – now is time to read it in English. Hobbit in English was good experience (not sure when I have my original of this great book). Silmarillion and Unfinished Stories were also master pieces. Thanks to Peter Jackson for great movies – I will stay with those works and will not touch any new productions, which are politically correct – I’m not.

Summary:
– thank you Łukasz for first game, I know we need to play another game 😉 .

Lord of the Rings: Dunharrow part II Poniedziałek, Sty 24 2022 

Yesterday I managed to finish the rest of my Dunharrow for my Middle Earth warband. First part is here. Now I wait for finding someone to learn rules and play first game. I’m happy that I know several people who can teach me playing this system.

So first army was finished this year, I’m happy with that.

In movie army of Oathbreakers cleared all servants of Sauron, in book it was different – they never came to Pelleanor fields, still played they role in defeating servants of Sauron.

Lord of the Rings: Dead Riders of Dunharrow Poniedziałek, Sty 17 2022 

„The Dead are following,” said Legolas. „I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following.””Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned,” said Elladan.

The Return of the King, „The Passing of the Grey Company”.

I got starter set with Dunharrow, Rohan and Mordor – I realized, that Dunharrow can be fast, nice project of people who betrayed Isildur and were cursed by him. More about them Lord of the Ring fandom. I finished some cavalry which were scouts during they live in Middle Earth.

I used several things to finish them, most of them from Games Workshop:
– as base Wraith Bone,
– contrast Hexwraith Flame,
Stirland Mud for bases,
Chaos Black for bases,
– flowers from Gamers Grass.

Now they wait for Isildur heir, to aid him and Gondor in time of need and to receive forgivennes for breaking an oath in past. They will be joined by whole host of King of Dead and his warriors.