North of the Shire

In this episode Andrew and Don take a close look at the Hold Ground mission.  They rate how the different army types perform in this mission depending on if they win or lose priority on turn one.  Of course, there is the usual banter and discussion around the all things Tolkien.     

Andrew and Don take a deep dive into the matched play scenario To The Death.  They also discuss their recent hobby activity and in ‘What Have I got in my Pocket’, they touch of the new Vanquishers Legendary Legion.     

Andrew and Don celebrate the one year anniversary of North of the Shire.  They’ve also collected all the sections to their Oath Bound, MESBG narrative story, into one place and added the final installment to complete the first chapter.  

In this episode, Andrew and Don discuss the matched play scenario Domination.  Don talks about returning to a tournament after an 18 month hiatus.  Plus another installment of their original narrative story, Oath Bound.

In this episode, Andrew and Don discuss the whereabouts of Evil Saruman and Gandalf the Grey in the MESBG meta....Where art thou Saruman and Gandalf?  Plus another exciting segment of the TBD Chronicles.   

Andrew and Don discuss four kings, and all of them top tier heroes: King Elessar, The Witch- King of Angmar, Thror and The Goblin King.  They also answer a listener question about designing scenarios as well as much of the usual banter about MESBG.

In this episode Andrew and Don discuss the mysterious micro warband.  Join them as they build a micro warband army using the Isengard faction, the best in the business. In the All that is Gold Does not Glitter segment, the guys answer a listener question about their favorite un-competitive lists and how to improve the Lothlorien faction.  Last but not least, Andrew steps up to the plate with the l...

In this episode Andrew and Don discuss the Silver Medalist’s, the Mid-Tier heroes of MESBG.  Rather than taking an analytical approach to the topic they discuss six popular heroes in this bracket: Tauriel, Balin the Dwarf, King of Moria, Cirdan, The Shade, The Spider Queen and Gorulf Ironskin In their other usual segments they give their thoughts on what we may see  in the next edition of the MESG...

The Combined Arms Army Build is up for discussion in this episode.  If you like big heroes, wizards, rank and file troops, archers, cavalry, and siege engines, then this is the army for you.  In the All that is Gold Does not Glitter segment Don and Andrew answer a question about the popularity of different armies in the different MESBG communities around the world.  Andrew finally gets some reveng...

Andrew and Don discuss Low Tier Heroes of MESBG.  Who are they, why take them and how are they used in armies?  They visit their regular segments All that is Gold Does not Glitter and What Have I got in my Pocket and roll out a new narrative segment where they will take turns writing an original Middle Earth story.

Garrett makes an appearance on the show for the first time to discuss the army he’s building for our North of the Shire Army Challenge – Lurtz’s Scouts.  We discuss the list, his army build, as well as his plans for painting and displaying the army.  Also up for discussion is The Battle of Eight Armies virtual tournament in which Garrett participated, as well as an assortment of usual MESBG rambli...

In this episode Andrew and Don talk about the Mobile army type.  These are fast moving armies that are commonly ‘all mounted’.  Along with this we discuss such important issues as dressing up as a dwarf and our ‘not-too-farfetched pipe dream model and profile’.

In this episode Andrew and Don answer the question, ‘has shooting has become too strong in the game’.  They also discuss their favorite army special rules, Shelob and Andrew asks Don to describe his “Tolkien Beginnings”.  Not to mention the usual amount of MESBG musings.

In this episode Andrew and Don talk about the Leaf Blower army type.  Armies designed to shoot their opponent off the table.  Can you say Rangers of ....????  We also discuss our ‘guilty pleasure’ models, favorite LOTR/Hobbit movies and give an update on the OSBGL virtual tournament.

In this episode Andrew and Don discuss the MESBG Legendary Legions.  What’s the concept of the legendary legions? Will they eventually become ‘too much of a good thing’?  What impact will Legendary Legions have on the future of the game? In addition to that there is the usual amount of lighthearted banter about a variety of Lord of the Rings related topics

In this episode Andrew and I talk about the Line Breaker, another in our series on army types.  We also dive into the new FAQ and discuss some of the more notable updates and what they could mean for the game.   

In Episode 12 we planned to talk about the Linebreaker army as part of our series on army types, but got distracted answering listener questions.  So we will return to that series in the next episode.  Other topics include Don’s new home spun Angmar Battle Companies faction, The Wilds of Angmar and Andrew gets put to the test with a short MESBG quiz.    

In this episode we discuss the Horde and consider all things that make this army type so popular.  We also chat about some recent hobby developments and answer several listener questions.  Finally, after getting eleven episodes under our belts, we manage to figure out how to create a Facebook page for the podcast.

In Episode 10 Andrew and Don discuss the Shield Wall, the first build in their series about army types.  Don also discusses his expectations with the Army of Dunland in the 4-person round robin - part of our 2021 Army Challenge.  Of course there is a lot of the usual hobby banter on a wide variety of topics. Email us at: northoftheshirepodcast1@gmail.com

In this special New Years episode Chris and I take a look back at 2020 and look forward to 2021.  We both discuss our hobby achievements for the past year and set some goals for the new one.  Do you remember what was released this year?  Well we look back at the MESBG releases for the 2020 and we give our thoughts for what we may see in the coming year.  Lastly, the North of the Shire gang set the...

In this episode we introduce a new series on Army Types, where we outline the six different types of armies you can expect to face in MESBG.  We also review our listener’s answers to the question from last episode – who is your favorite member of the Fellowship?  Add in a few laughs and a couple of random topics and you have Episode 8 of North of the Shire.     Email us at: northoftheshirepodcast1...

In this episode we finish off our series on the Mental side of the game with a segment called The Aftermath where we talk about reviewing our lost games as we try to understand our mistakes.  We also have a bit of a chat about the Breaking of the Fellowship Legendary Legion and finally we remember to ask our listeners a question – who is your favorite member of the Fellowship?   Email us at: north...

In episode 6, Andrew and Don catch up and bid a fond farewell to the man who was almost Gandalf.  In our main topic we explore the Mental side of the game and finally we discuss some models that we, and our listeners, think are ‘under-rated’ in the game.    Email us at: northoftheshirepodcast1@gmail.com

In episode 5 we introduce our third host Chris as he gets his feet wet in North of the Shire.  After the obligatory discussion about Chris’ gaming background, we move on to chat about Getting Started in MESBG.  What motivates your first army choice, what hobby supplies to buy and how best to learn the game.  We finish off with some more hobby talk as well as a discussion on ‘favorite’ MESBG models...

In episode 4 we jump into the Mental Game with an episode called Getting Ready to Win.  Here we discuss the value of including visualization as part of your mental preparation prior to a big tournament.  As usual we also discuss a random mix of other topics which vaguely relate to MESBG including our current favorite listener, 70’s rock, and Don’s very questionable teen years. email us at: northof...