It's like in the Great Tales

'A story must be told or there'll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving.' JRR Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins by Raoul Vitale

One of the most common questions that I see asked about MESBG is 'how do you write an army list for [insert faction here]? Obviously, the answer here depends heavily on what faction is being asked about but there's probably as many answers here as there are wargamers. In general though there's a few archetypes for how I see people writing lists; ranging from power gamers and net listers right through the spectrum to the thematic gamers.

Personally, I fit very firmly within the thematic gamer camp and something that I've noticed more and more with how I create army lists is that I'm always trying to make my army lists not just be a believable army within the realms of Middle Earth but I also want it to tell a story. Take for example, the army I took to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad which was telling the story of the Knights of Gondor rescuing the retreat of Faramir across the Pelennor in the buildup to the Siege of Minas Tirith.

I find that this takes thematic list writing to another step up, where every decision I choose to make has to have a justification for it within the story I'm trying to tell and that these decisions then influence the building and painting of my army. This is most evident when it comes to hero choices, MESBG is a game defined by its heroes, although it also filters down through the hero choices Again using my Knights of Gondor as an example, I had a Captain of Minas Tirith leading a small warband and rather than leave him nameless and his story untold I checked through the books and found that Hirluin the Fair of Pinnath Gelin rode alongside Imrahil on the Pelennor, and so my Captain of Minas Tirith became Hirluin and from there the model came to life.

Hirluin the Fair from my Knights of Gondor army 

This story-driven army building approach doesn't have to be wedded to the letter of the books or the images of the film, however. As long as you can justify your choices within the context of the world Tolkien created you can really have some fun probing the edges of the map and exploring the untold tales of Middle Earth, creating your own stories as you go, 'Forging the Narrative' to coin the old Games Workshop term. It's as Tolkien himself said it's the untold tales that are the most moving.

I'm not saying that this is the right or best way to write army lists for this great game, but it is a very fun one and one I'll certainly be continuing to do as I embark on new adventures in the hobby and I encourage others to do so to.