History VideoGame / TheBattleForMiddleEarth

* GameMod: The game has had a ''massive'' resurgence in the modding community in the last few years, spawning several high quality mods, ranging from HD texture changers, to full on fanmade ExpansionPack, such as the famous ''Edain'' mod, and ''VideoGame/AgeOfTheRing'', which add dozens of new units, new factions, gameplay mechanics and advance graphical changes.

* GameMod: The game has had a ''massive'' resurgence in the modding community in the last few years, spawning several high quality mods, ranging from HD texture changers, to full on fanmade ExpansionPack, such as the famous ''VideoGame/Edain'' mod, and ''VideoGame/AgeOfTheRing'', which add dozens of new units, new factions, gameplay mechanics and advance graphical changes.

* GameMod: The game has had a ''massive'' resurgence in the modding community in the last few years, spawning several high quality mods, ranging from HD texture changers, to full on fanmade ExpansionPack, such as the famous ''Edain'' mod, and ''VideoGame/AgeOfTheRing'', which add dozens of new units, new factions, gameplay mechanics and advance graphical changes.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/battle_for_middle-earth_1_6328.jpg]]

* AdaptationalWimp: Lorien and kingdom of Mirkwood, story-wise. In the original Dol-Guldur was taken by just them; in this game it's them plus Rivendell, Lindon, Erebor and Dale. And in Evil campaign taking over Lorien is the very first mission - and it's literally just "horde of goblins rush Lothlorien, easily conquer it and kill Celeborn". There is no logical explanation how is this even possible. Gameplay-wise - Elves in general (who are portrayed more like modern generic fantasy stereotype) and specifically Glorfindel. In the original he killed a freaking Balrog with just a sword, returned back from the other side and later made Nazgul themselves scared with just his presence. Here he is just a mid-tier melee hero.

* AdaptationalWimp: Lorien and kingdom of Mirkwood, story-wise. In the original Dol-Guldur was taken by just them; in this game it's them plus Rivendell, Lindon, Erebor and Dale. Gameplay-wise - Elves in general (who are portrayed more like modern generic fantasy stereotype) and specifically Glorfindel. In the original he killed a freaking Balrog with just a sword, returned back from the other side and later made Nazgul themselves scared with just his presence. Here he is just a mid-tier melee hero.

* AdaptationalWimp: Lorien and kingdom of Mirkwood, storywise. In the original Dol-Guldur was taken but just them; in this game it's them plus Rivendell, Lindon, Erebor and Dale. Gameplay-wise - Elves in general, who are portrayed more like modern generic fantasy stereotype and especially Glorfindel. In the original he killed a freaking Balrog with just a sword, return back from the other side and later made Nazgul scared with just his presence. Here he is just a mid-tier melee hero.

* TacticalSuperweaponUnit: ''II'' has the "Ring Heroes," a cross between this and a HeroUnit. They require that the player have [[MacGuffin The One Ring]], about 10,000 Supplies, and a good five minutes. Evil factions get [[EvilOverlord Dark Lord]] Sauron (a fallen angel) in all his two-ton-mace-swinging, lava-bomb-summoning glory, while Good factions get Storm Queen Galadriel (an elven queen and powerful enchantress), who can conjure tornadoes. It also allows certain Evil races to summon a demon (the Balrog, a BigRedDevil who is constantly on fire and wields a [[WhipItGood whip]] and a [[OneHandedZweihander gigantic]] [[{{BFS}} sword]]) or a dragon (a wyrm) through {{Support Power}}s. The ''Rise of the Witch-King'' expansion pack allows players to field a single squad of EliteMooks.

* GameMod: The game has had a ''massive'' resurgence in the modding community in the last few years, spawning several high quality mods, ranging from HD texture changers, to full on fanmade ExpansionPack, such as the famous ''Edain'' mod, and ''Age of the Ring'', which add dozens of new units, new factions, gameplay mechanics and advance graphical changes.

** Good side: loads and loads of heroes. Including Gandalf and Legolas, who can take whole armies on their own. Evil side: either Saruman or Lurtz for Isengard, none for Mordor (the Nazgul only shows up from time to time)

* LastStand: The Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith missions in the ''BFME'' Good campaign are a nearly hopeless siege where the player, as the defender, must resist until TheCavalry (literally: both missions involves reinforcements from Rohan) comes. There is also the last mission of the campaign, where the player must survive against [[ZergRush endless waves of Mordor units]], until Frodo reaches Mount Doom and tosses the One Ring in it.

* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers: The "Resist" Good general power in ''BFME'' give weapons, and light armors to Rohan peasants, making them a cheap infantry.

** The sieges of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith also begin like this, as the enemy attempts to overwhelm you through sheer numbers (you'll have around several hundred units at most when the battles start, while the enemy will likely have over ten thousand).

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: All across the board, so much so that it's easier to list the exceptions. With the dwarves, Gimli is a stronger fighter than their highest rank hero King Dain, who is more of a support unit. In the Men of the West faction, Aragorn is the strongest melee fighter and has no official rank, his design being based on before he became king of Gondor.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: The game inns and Shipwrights that act as mercenary HQ's, outposts that generate passive income, and a Signal Fire that reduces the cooldowns of all your {{Support Power}}s. The Mordor, Goblins, and (in the expansion pack) Angmar Evil factions have a Support Power that allows them to convert [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps Creep dens]] into Mercenary structures.

* CompositeCharacter: The Goblins are essentially a mashup of every malicious element in Tolkien that couldn't be easily sequestered under the other two evil factions. There's the expected ones (goblins based on the ones in Moria), followed by fairly reasonable extrapolations (cave trolls, half-trolls, a leader based on the Great Goblin), then things from ''The Hobbit'' that could be feasibly sided with goblins (giants, spiders), then things that could ''plausibly'' exist in Middle-Earth but have no signs of existing in canon (spider-riding goblin cavalry, an extant race of fire-drakes, one of whom rivals Smaug) and finally Shelob, who definitely canonically existed but had no connection to goblins besides eating them.

** ''BFMEII'' multiplayer / skirmish / "War of the Ring" modes have a special gameplay features involving a wandering Gollum carrying the One Ring. He drops it when dying; any unit which steps on the Ring gains it, and if it reach the player's fortress it allows him to train the ultimate hero of the Good / Evil side (Galadriel for the Good, Sauron for the Evil)

* AdaptationalBadass: In the original, Éowyn was in combat only once (but achieving more than most soldiers in Middle-earth, by killing the Witch-King). Here, once unlocked she can go to all the combats her heart cries for.

* ArmyOfTheDead: The TropeNamer appears as both a summon by Aragorn and the good faction in the original, and Men of the West in the sequel. They take no real damage from most damage types in the game so they are almost unstoppable.

* DoomedByCanon: Strangely averted in the Good campaign of ''BFME''. [[spoiler: First, the Moria mission ends with Gandalf slaying the Balrog without being separated from the Fellowship. A bonus objective of the Amon Hen mission requires to save Boromir's life. Later, Faramir is not gravely wounded in Osgiliath, Théoden does not die in front of Minas Tirith, and Éowyn is not gravely wounded near of him.]]

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: All across the board, so much so that it's easier to list the exceptions. With the dwarfs, Gimli is a stronger fighter than their highest rank hero King Dain. In the Men of the West faction, Aragorn is the strongest melee fighter and has no official rank, his design being based on before he became king of Gondor.

* CompetitiveBalance: The factions in the second game are more or less well balanced, but it is averted in the first game, imbalanced towards the good side without shame (and yet, that makes playing and winning with the evil one so much fun).

* TheDreaded