The early 1970s were the heyday of indie gaming in Middle Earth. Except there was a wrinkle. They were all unauthorized. This was not a problem until major publishers became involved. So when TSR published Larry Smith’s handmade Battle of the Five Armies boardgame, the Tolkien Estate noticed. The jig was up.
For more about these unlicensed Lord of the Rings games, see my Ringbearer article:
Battle of the Five Armies
1976 … Larry Smith … TSR F110
Based on the climactic battle in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
CONTENTS:
* 1 rules booklet
* 1 play map
* 163 Counters
The original edition was Larry Smith’s handmade version. Then TSR released a ziploc edition, followed by the box set.
BOX
The box is TSR’s early format. The bottom has no graphics.
The side panel has some promo text though:
“Relive the great battle where dwarves, elves, and the Men of Dale fought the evil goblins and the wargs under Bolg.”
The lid art is great. The artist, alas, goes officially uncredited. But the style is familiar. More on that later.
Rules Booklet
Rules booklet is short, extending to 8 pages.
How are the rules? Martin Easterbrook’s review in White Dwarf magazine, issue 3 says:
“Generally the game is rather frustrating. It seems to have a great deal of promise but has not had sufficient playtesting before release. […] A whole set of rules is presented as optional including the rules for Human and Elven archer units, yet without archers the game is an almost certain win for the evil player. In fact all the optional combat rules tend to strengthen the alliance player considerably.”
It’s not all bad though. Easterbrook notes:
“The game’s main strength is that it does possess something of the atmosphere of the book. The inexorably slow advancing sea of goblin warriors becomes quite hypnotic after a while and you really do begin biting your nails whilst praying for the arrival of the eagles and Beorn.”
MAP
Map is folded. Printed on one side. Measures approx 23 x 17 inches.
Counters
I modelled these on a sheet I saw online. They are complete, though a couple are handwritten using the numerous blanks in the sheet.
GOOD: Dwarves 10; Elves 32; Men 10; Eagles 5; Beorn 1; Bard 1; Gandalf 1; Elf King 1; Thorin 1; Dain 1 ~ EVIL: Goblins 78; Goblin King Bolg 1; Worgs 20; Smaug 1
The Art
In addition to the color cover art, there are 2 line drawings in the rulesbooklet.
The artist of all is David C. Sutherland. He goes uncredited, but his name is easily visible in the line drawings. The striking lid art took a bit of sleuthing. The style is visually DCS, but finding his signature took me some time. I found it… inside the lid.
Sutherland illustrated a lot of TSR’s early output back then. Here is Battle of the Five Armies alongside its contemporary Holmes Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set; art is also by DCS.
See Also:
Another – earlier – unlicensed TSR product: