The Battle of Five Armies (boardgame)

[fbnaulin]

Be sure to have a look into the next boardgame from Ares Games, The Battle of Five Armies. You can read a preview written by Francesco Nepitello. Of course, he is one of the designers along with Marco Maggi and Roberto Di Meglio. And mister Jon Hodgson is mentioned as the board illustrator!

It may be an additional dose of Tolkien power to your usual TOR table.

[PaulButler]

Yup.
As War of the Ring is my favorite board game of all time, this one is definitely on my radar.

[Arthadan]

What's that full plate armour doing in the box illustration? That's something they have got rid of in TOR (as it should).

[Beran]

Actually, I think that is half plate. AFAIK, the only reason that plate isn't in TOR at present is because no one in the area depicted in the game uses it. Once Gondor is represented in TOR I think you will see plate mail in the game; especially used by the Knights of Dol Amroth.

[Arthadan]

I hope not, that would be a huge deviation from the books. As far as I recall there is not a single plate armour quote, including the knights of Dol Amroth.

[Elmoth]

Knights or Dol Amroth look more along the lines of X-XII century knights in the Norman style than late XIIIcentury. At least in how I have always depicted them. Plate is an extremely late invention compared to the general equipment described in the source material. We are talking 100 years war and later periods like War of the Roses, not Norman invasion and before. The tech level of ME tends to correspond more to the previous period than the later one. And it is fairly static as well. it seems that in 10k years there is little evolution in technology.

[Cawdorthane]

Speaking personally, the box art looks stunning to me whether plate, half plate or other equipment is not strictly perceived as canon for Tolkein's fantasy world. Artistic licence within reasonable limits is okay imho. If some Loremasters/companions do not want plate or half plate armour in their Tolkein based fantasy roleplay or related wargames, then that is entirely up to them.

cheers
Mark

[Francesco]

Speaking personally, the box art looks stunning to me whether plate, half plate or other equipment is not strictly perceived as canon for Tolkein's fantasy world. Artistic licence within reasonable limits is okay imho. If some Loremasters/companions do not want plate or half plate armour in their Tolkein based fantasy roleplay or related wargames, then that is entirely up to them.

I have different standards when it comes to rpgs and boardgames. I feel that art in an rpg must adhere strictly to the text of a game and its sources, as its mainly a matter of direct immersion, of make-believe. For a boardgame cover, I think mood is more relevant than accuracy.

Francesco

[MrHemlocks]

So, this to be released this spring 2014?

[Einhander]

I hope not, that would be a huge deviation from the books. As far as I recall there is not a single plate armour quote, including the knights of Dol Amroth.

We never get a detailed description of the armor of the knights of Dol Amroth, but there are a couple of textual clues in The Lord of the Rings that suggest they wear some level of plate protection.

First, there's the initial description of the knights passing through the gate of Minas Tirith from Book Five, Chapter 1:

And last and proudest, Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, kinsman of the Lord, with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver Swan, and a company of knights in full harness riding grey horses; and behind them seven hundreds of men at arms, tall as lords, grey-eyed, dark-haired, singing as they came.

(Emphasis mine.)

"Full harness" is a term typically reserved for plate armor, not mail (try doing a Google image search for "full harness armor" to see what I mean).

The second (and more definitive) clue is in Book Five, Chapter 6, when Imrahil encounters the fallen Théoden and Éowyn:

Then the prince seeing her beauty, though her face was pale and cold, touched her hand as he bent to look more closely on her. 'Men of Rohan!' he cried. 'Are there no leeches among you? She is hurt, to the death maybe, but I deem that she yet lives.' And he held the bright-burnished vambrace that was upon his arm before her cold lips, and behold! a little mist was laid on it hardly to be seen.

A "vambrace" is a forearm guard worn as part of a suit of plate armor. The classic mail-armored knight of the 10th-12th century would not be described as wearing that sort of armor; the term originates in the early 14th century.