Duke Seifried and Frank Chadwick are collaborating to present the Tales of Tolkien at Historicon this July.

Come to think of it, I seem to remember those words glowing on the wedding ring of my first marriage. Bob L.

The culmination of the classic trilogy, Lord of the Rings, is set in March of 3019, the Third Age, in a series of battles that determine the fate of Middle Earth. It is our intention to portray these momentous events in a series of 4 games similar to Wagner’s Cycle of Rings of the Nibeluingen, which offers 4 full-length pieces of artistic operatic dramas. These interactive games will be presented at HISTORICON 2003. We have been working all year on this massive project which will feature on Friday, July 25:

Helm’s Deep

Gamemastered by Frank on a 5 x 14 set-up with a lavishy diorama constructed by the Duke with a cast of 1200 figurines drawn from his Fantastiques of the early 70’s, combined with the LOTR line designed for the Ralph Baskshi movie some years later. Frank has developed a set of quick, simple, easy-to-play rules extrapolated from his forthcoming release Dwarf Wars, to be published in time for the show by Old Glory Press.

The Black Gates

fought at the Morannan entry to Mordor by the remnant of the Goodly forces to draw attention from the mission of the Hobbit Ringbearer will be gamemastered by the Duke with a cast of 1170 figurines on a telescoping set-up 14 x 12 ½ & a diorama including a massive Mount Doom, the Tower of Barad Dur & the defences of the Morannan built into the rocky mountains of shadow.

Dol Guldur

On Saturday Frank will host a compendium of 3 battles fought in the North between the forces of Thranduil, the Elven King of the Greenwood—or what remains of it as Mirkwood has pretty well absorbed the former Greenwood and a Nazgul-led army of War Riders, Goblins (Orcs of Moria), evil subverted Mirkwoodsmen and Trolls. A second battle occurs as Celeborn (Bob) and Galadriel (Cleo) lead out their elves in defence of Loth Lorien, being assaulted by another Nazgul-led army of Orcs, Trolls and evil subverted men described as Brownlands Rabble and Brigands. A third attack led by yet another Nazgul is against the Dwarves of Dain Ironfoot at Erebor, the lonely mountain. Dain is reinforced by Brand, son of Bard the Bowman who brought down the last of the great dragons, Smaug. Word has it that Beorn and his valiant woodsmen of the North are on their way to reinforce this small contingent of defenders against the horde of Easterlings, Balchoth and Wainriders who have descended upon the Dwarves from the East. These battles occurred 3/11—30/19TA and will be fought on one large setup 24 x 5 and includes in its diorama the evil Fortress of Dol Guldur, Erebor the lonely mountain, portions of Loth Lorien and Thranduil’s forest kingdom and a cast of 1750 figurines.

Pelennor Fields

At this same time, the Duke will offer the epic pivotal battle deciding the War of the Ring with a diorama featuring Minas Tirith 6 x 3 x 6 at the end of the set-up, which measures 24 x 6. A cast of 2700 will portray the armies in this ‘historic’ conflict. The games will involve a large number of “well-known” gamers including members of the BoD (playing together for the first time in a show of unity—even if somewhat competitively), and many members of the Legion of Honor in an unusual participative gesture as well as openings for attendees. We will utilize 13 players in Dol Guldur and 20 senior players and room for 9 assisting players at the Pelennor Fields. The majority of player slots have been filled by prior invitation, but the assisting openings and some others will be available on site.

I very much appreciate the work of my collaborator, Frank Chadwick, who has patiently recalibrated the stats and developed this most workable game.