If not here.......where?

robh · **Posted:** Sun Dec 12, 2021 1:57 pm

I have been out of the loop on LotR gaming for a long, long time (change of job, change of house, change of country) and have only recently unearthed all my stuff from storage. I have started looking around for discussions and a community like we used to have on TLA. But not really finding one.

Very quiet here, but judging by the GW release schedules and the flow of eBay sales LotR is being gamed somewhere. Although sadly not at a game store anywhere near here.
So where is everyone hanging out online.......anywhere other than Facebook at least.

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sun Dec 12, 2021 4:51 pm

Yes unfortunately Facebook has taken over the world it seems. Interested to hear if anyone else has any suggestions (I hate facebook)

Wan Shi Tong · **Posted:** Sun Dec 12, 2021 10:36 pm

There is a forum over on Reddit that's more lively. https://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleEarthMiniatures/ Seems to be a steady stream of posts and news going through. Aside from the big Facebook groups, I'd think it's going to be the best for general content. I think it's just that the larger sites (Reddit and Facebook) have pulled everything in since most people already have accounts there and use those places for other things too.

There are also YouTube channels though. Between the ones that are running they put out a decent supply of battle reports. The comments over there are lively enough for the view base. That is something.

robh · **Posted:** Mon Dec 13, 2021 10:44 pm

Lots of eye candy on that Reddit link, thanks for that. Some great models, but as with Facebook the format is not conducive to actually discussing anything. A lot of posters never seem to revisit their old posts to answer questions and stuff disappears off the front page so quickly it just gets forgotten. Sad.

A large number of those posts seem to be about building killer armies and are reminiscent of the old min/max WAAC tournament approach to games. Is that what SBG has become in its later iterations?

DaveT · **Posted:** Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:26 pm

I'm also in the sorry-no-Facebook camp. Not too interested in signing up for Reddit, either, although I do browse it anonymously.

One can always try starting up discussions here. I'm pretty positive that Dagorlad isn't tracking our activity or selling our information to advertisers.

Asgarod · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2021 8:50 am

Well during the course of this year there were several new members joining the forum (including me).

I do not know how the forum looked like when it was more lively but I regardless of how silent it most of the time is, I still post in a discussion (even if it maybe old) or post new topics when I want to.
And most of the time multiple people react^^

robh · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:58 am

DaveT wrote:

.......I'm pretty positive that Dagorlad isn't tracking our activity or selling our information to advertisers.....

I reckon you are right.
Sadly Dag has not been on here for over a year and a half now (at least not logged in), his own gaming/art site is also dormant since early this year. I know covid precautions have hit Australia hard, hope he is OK.

Asgarod wrote:

I do not know how the forum looked when it was more lively but I regardless of how silent it most of the time is, I still post in a discussion (even if it maybe old) or post new topics when I want to.
And most of the time multiple people react^^

Sadly neither do I; although I signed up back in 2004 that was a matter of weeks before an enforced hiatus from the hobby, at least as far as gaming and fora. Most of the guys who started up here were ex-alumni of The Last Alliance, which was an incredible LotR gaming resource. The SBG game was new then and enthusiasm was high. Dag and Onyx were 2 of the posters whose contributions drove much of the life of the forum. Between them their terrain and modelling skills put anything GW themselves produced to shame.
Onyx's site is still up and although dormant since 2016 is worth bookmarking.

I have no problem with quiet fora, being old enough to remember the long silence of .irc chat servers and, for me at least, there are a lot of posts here to catch up on. Unfortunately many of the image and site links are dead now but there is a lot of good material.

Quendil · **Posted:** Tue Dec 14, 2021 6:18 pm

I still come here regularly and read the new posts which I can keep up with unlike the multitude on facebook and I prefer how forums are organised. But I haven't posted anything really in a while and have not had any hobby time in nearly two years and will be a while before i do. Still keep buying the new toys though!

ja33 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:28 am

Same here. While the site is less busy than in days past, I still log in once a day to read new posts, check out some pics, and see what’s new. I’d venture the traffic is actually fairly decent as far as people logging and reading, but just not posting that much.There’s also almost always 20-30 guests logged in every time I check in as well…

Maybe it’s not quite what it was once but I still enjoy it.

Coenus Scaldingus · **Joined:** Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:14 am **Posts:** 1121

Very happy to see the website is still online and active at all, even though obviously a lot less lively than back in the day.

Used to be active on the various excellent groups on the rather less excellent Book of Faces for a good while when forums became quieter, but after getting a new laptop a while back, I just... never signed in again, and haven't looked back. As said, it was always a poor platform for discussion, nor a suitable one for ongoing projects. Plus, it's Facebook...

Haven't been particularly active on the hobby front in recent years, but might (re)start an old project log when getting back into it. Best way to improve activity is to create it!

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Mon Jan 03, 2022 9:26 pm

Coenus Scaldingus wrote:

Haven't been particularly active on the hobby front in recent years, but might (re)start an old project log when getting back into it. Best way to improve activity is to create it!

Be good to see you back!!!!

goblin_king · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:32 am

I still come and check here to see what word on the street is outside of Facebook. I always loved The Last Alliance and this forum. It may be quiet, but long may it continue!

robh · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:29 pm

Yes, The Last Alliance was great, along with The Lead Adventure Forum the best tabletop gaming fora on the web.

Middle Earth gaming is still very popular, both within the GW sphere and increasingly amongst people looking to game Tolkien's world with other rule sets and other model ranges. (LAF has some great threads on this).

It would be good if this forum could be cleaned up and it's profile increased.
There are so many broken links and non existent posts here that trying to look back through the topics is frustrating and depressing. Also a lot of the categories are not really relevant and pretty much abandoned. A thorough shake up of the structure and content here would go a long way to helping generate interest and activity.
It would be good if this could become a hub for anyone wanting to game Middle Earth whatever game system and figures they want to use.

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:47 pm

robh wrote:

It would be good if this forum could be cleaned up and it's profile increased.
There are so many broken links and non existent posts here that trying to look back through the topics is frustrating and depressing.

Let me see what I can do.

robh · **Posted:** Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:47 am

Anything to show the forum is still alive would help!

There is a lot of redundancy here;
A category for the article library that no longer exists, and another category for feedback on it. The WHFB & 40K areas........those games have their own fora, Competitions that no longer happen and in which too many of the old entries are just dead links (never rebuilt after the great photobucket swindle?), Suppliers (some of whom are no longer in business).
There are also many members listed who never made a post and have not logged on in years.

Glory of the Elves · **Joined:** Sat Sep 21, 2019 7:06 am **Posts:** 2

Wayfarer,

two sites I often visit seem to be very much alive, gaming and modelling Middle Earth: https://www.laguerradelanillo.com/ (Spanish Site) and http://sitodellanello.com/ (Italian Site). I don't speak Spanish or Italian but have no troubles navigating and when I find something of interest I use Google Translate to get the finer details.

Then there are the Facebook groups. https://www.facebook.com/groups/472128942815892 (Greater British Hobbit League) and I am also in one for Australia and my local city. The later two are not as frequentlt updated but are still very much alive.

Have a great day.

Mapper · **Posted:** Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:19 pm

Highly recommend the Spanish site, especially the miniature conversions and the scenery building. Still using the conversions of Rohan/Gondor horses. https://www.laguerradelanillo.com/minia ... r-caballos

robh · **Posted:** Sat Jan 15, 2022 10:40 am

Yes, La Guerra del Anillo has some great posts but sadly is not a great venue for discussion and swapping ideas. Not a complaint against the guy who runs it, but it is a blog which is inherently a linear form of presentation. Things get posted, comments are made and then the next thing is posted which pushes the last thing off the page and so on. Unless you know something is there it is very difficult to find anything.

The Spanish gaming/modelling scene is generally under-represented on the English speaking side of the internet. There are a lot of gamers and manufacturers here.

Mapper · **Posted:** Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm

Quote:

Things get posted, comments are made and then the next thing is posted which pushes the last thing off the page and so on

That seems to be the case with Reddit and Instagram also. I am enjoying the international postings on Instagram with the tags of lotrminiatures, paintinglotr, mesgbpainting, mesbg, etc

If not here.......where?

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