About the Event

Welcome to Dogs of War Gaming tournament for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, brought to you by the Florida MESBG Community in conjunction with Dogs of War Gaming and the Southeastern Middle Earth Gaming League

Tournament organizers: Jesus Ramos

Dates: February 21th 12pm

Location: Dogs of War Gaming 1240 Clearmont St NE Suite 5 Palm Bay FL 32905

Points: 650

Registration: We will be using Tabletop Admiral, a popular list building site in the MESBG community. You will need to create a free account in order to register for the event. The registration link is here: https://tournaments.tabletopadmiral.com/event/522

This event will have a capacity of 30 players. In the event that all spots are filled, a waitlist will be started on a first come first served basis.

Cost: $15 to be paid to Dogs of War Gaming in-store the day of the tournament. Of the $15, $10 will go toward prize support in the form of store credit. The other $5 will go toward prizes for all who enter.

List Submission: Lists should be submitted via Tabletop Admiral no later than Feb 21th , 2026. Please submit your list through the “List Submission” section of the Tabletop Admiral event page, the same website through which players will register for the event. Only army lists from the Armies of The Hobbit, Armies of the Lord of the Rings, and Armies of Middle Earth books, as well as profiles and lists from the Legacies pdf. Lists may not have a model count less than 2

Paint requirement: There is no paint requirement for this event, but it is strongly encouraged.

Event Schedule

Saturday, February 21th 2026

10 AM - 10:30 AM: Check-in

10:30 AM - 12:15 PM: Round 1

12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch

1:00 PM - 2:45 PM: Round 2

2:45 PM - 4:30 PM: Round 3

4:30 PM - 6:15 PM: Round 4

6:15 PM - Final tabulations and awards ceremony

Scoring/Rankings

Victory Points (VPs) will be determined as outlined in each scenario of the Middle-Earth SBG Rules Manual. Players will earn a number of Tournament Points (TPs) depending on how they did in their games. Players earn 3 TPs for a Win, 1 TP for a Draw, and 0 TPs for a Loss. Players are ranked according to the number of TPs they have; the more TPs a player has, the higher they are in the rankings.

1st-3rd place will be awarded based on the player with the most TPs. There will be three (3) levels of Tiebreakers.

The first Tiebreaker is a player’s VP Difference, which is equal to the number of VPs scored across all of their games minus the number of VPs conceded across all of their games. (For example, if a player has played two games and had the results 3-0 and 7-4, their VP Difference would be +6).

If players are still tied, the second Tiebreaker is the total number of VPs scored across all of a player’s games.

If players are still tied, the third Tiebreaker is the number of enemy Generals killed across all of their games.

Time Limit

Each round, players will be given 5 minutes to find their tables, set up, and introduce themselves and their armies to their opponents. After 5 minutes, the official round timer will begin. Games shall not exceed the 2 hour and 10 minute time limit. Warnings will be issued at the 1-hour, 30 minute. At the 10 minute mark, players will be asked to finish the turn they are on and not to start another. At the end of the time limit, “Dice Down” will be announced. Tabulate your scores. Any player caught rolling dice after “Dice Down” has been announced will be considered to have forfeited the round.

Awards

Monetary awards in the form of store credit to Warpfire Games will be given to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, Best Painted, and Most Sportsman. A non-monetary award will be given to players in the form of tokens or widgets.

Pairings

We will be using Tabletop Admiral to determine pairings for all rounds. The TOs may make adjustments as necessary for Round 1 if players are paired against an opponent from their travel group. If there is an odd number of players, one player will get a “bye” round and will play one of the TOs. These “bye” round games will be played just like a regular game and VPs/TPs will be awarded according to the game’s final standings, just like any other game.

Scenarios

Scenarios will be chosen in advance by the TOs and will be announced prior to the beginning of each Round. A printed copy of the scenario will be available upon request for those who do not have a Rules Manual.

Scenarios will be chosen from the 24 that will be in the Matched play guide for the current edition

Terrain

Due to some restrictions of table sizes at our venue, not all boards will be the same size. Most boards will be set up at 44”x44” while a few will be 48”x48”. For the 44”x44” boards, distances such as objective placements and deployment zones will be adjusted accordingly. If you have any questions please reach out to a TO.Terrain will be set up by the TOs prior to the start of the event. Both players should agree before the game begins on which areas of the board will be considered difficult terrain, woodland terrain, etc. In the event of any terrain disputes during the game, please call for a TO to make a ruling. The TO decision is final.

If you arrive at your assigned table and find that the way the terrain is set up will heavily prevent you from being able to interact with your models, please call a TO and they will decide how to best adjust the terrain on the table to make it a more enjoyable and competitive game for both players. (For example, if you are on a densely-packed city streets of Gondor table and have a Mumak in your army). Similarly, if a terrain feature would prevent the placement of a predetermined objective marker (for example, a tree is exactly where a Supply marker should be placed in Destroy the Supplies), call a TO over to your table and ask them to adjust the terrain piece.

Proxies and Conversions

Proxies and Conversions are acceptable (to include 3D printed miniatures and recasts), so long as they are of a similar size and aesthetic to the model/profile they are intended to represent and are on the correctly sized base as supplied by Games Workshop. If you are unsure whether your proxy or conversion is legal, please contact a TO.

WYSIWYG

We will be adhering to WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) for purposes of clarity for Warrior models. For example, if you wish to use a Mordor Orc with Spear in your army, it must not have a Shield on the model since having both Shield and Spear is not a valid Wargear option in the latest edition of MESBG. An exception to this is if all models like this are the same across your army. For instance, you might have 12 Mordor Orcs total in your army. 5 are modeled with Shield, 4 are modeled with Spear, and 3 are modeled with both Spear and Shield. All 12 minis modeled with both Shield and Spear have to all either be considered carrying a Shield or carrying a Spear; you cannot have 1 Spear and Shield model be considered as having a Spear and the other 2 Spear and Shield models be considered as having a Shield; all 3 must be considered the same thing. If you have any questions about WYSIWYG, please contact a TO. We are trying to be as accommodating with the new edition as possible, so questions are encouraged if you aren’t sure!

TO Rulings

The TOs are the final arbiter of all rules interpretations, disputes, and disagreements. TO rulings will be considered final and authoritative, superseding even official Games Workshop rulings.

Forfeiture

In the unlikely event that a player chooses to forfeit before the game has reached its natural conclusion, the conceding player earns a loss and records zero Victory Points. The winning player records a win and twenty Victory Points. These rules will also apply if a player quits under the following circumstances:

Refusing to continue the game
Leaving the table for 15+ minutes
Leaving for the rest of the match under any circumstances

Code of Conduct

All players are expected to behave in a manner worthy of the most excellent and admirable of hobbits. Cheating will be treated with a zero tolerance policy. Any player caught cheating will be withdrawn from the tournament and may be banned from future FMC events at the TO’s discretion. Rigging a game to ensure a favorable tournament outcome for one party involved will be dealt with in the same fashion.

Questions

Please direct all questions to dogsofwargaming@gmail.com.