The Lord of the Rings. Sauron. The Dark Lord. Lord of the Black Land.
He has many titles.
Originally a Maiar, who was swayed to follow Melkor; a Valar who became known as Morgoth to the Elves. Morgoth and his lieutenant Sauron, led the forces of evil against the Valar, Elves and Edain in the battles of the First Age of Middle Earth.
Although Morgoth and his hosts were finally defeated, and fortess lair of Angband thrown down and laid bare, many evil creatures fled the wreck and hid in the east, including Sauron, and the Balrog that hid in Moria.
And thus it was the evil rose once again.
In battles and betrayals with the Elves and Numenoreans through the Second Age of Middle Earth, finally these two forces came together in the Last Alliance, and fought together against Sauron and his dark forces in Mordor.
This is the image we see in PJ's movie trilogy, in the opening 'Prelude' battle sequence at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring, and a great and awesome image it is too. The model from GW is an excellent representation.
I must admit, I just had to buy the model, simply from a collectors perspective. How could you play Lord of the Rings and not have The Lord of the Rings? ;-)
However, I am not sure whether I will routinely field him in my tabletop forces. He is rather pigeon holed into one great conflict, thus probably best scenario based, rather than a routine adversary. And as in terms of the game, he is exceptionally powerful in the SBG skirmish game, and yet in the WOTR battle game, whilst powerful, he has some unexpected weaknesses!
Still, a marvelous model to have on the wargames room shelves. :-)
