What’s Better Than a Trebuchet? Two Trebuchets!

But why a Trebuchet?

Not long ago I came across a LOTR meme claiming that Lord of the Rings fans are strange — ask them about their favourite movie character and they’ll show you a siege engine.

While I’m not fully at that stage of siege-weapon obsession (yet 😉), I have to admit I love the scene in The Return of the King where, during the Siege of Minas Tirith, Gondor’s trebuchets finally return fire. The impact of those massive projectiles — crashing into the swarm of Orcs and especially into siege towers — always feels powerful, cinematic, and full of hope for the Free Peoples.

However, in the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, I find siege engines a little bit tricky. Volley fire, limited deployment space, and certain scenarios (yes, “Maelstrom of Battle”, I’m looking at you) don’t always favour them.

Still, my adventure with the Games Workshop LOTR system began many years ago, and alongside tournaments I’ve always enjoyed narrative play the most — sieges, thematic battles, storytelling games. And in those, a well-placed siege engine can make all the difference.

Technical drawings & printable layout

Years ago, I bought the original Gondor Trebuchet miniature — the classic metal version, already assembled and second-hand. As my Gondorian army kept growing, I knew I needed a second one. Instead of buying it, I decided to scratch-build my own.

The process started with careful measurements of the original model and then creating detailed technical drawings in both 2D and 3D. These allowed me to prepare 1:1 scale printable blueprints on A3 sheets — a helpful starting point for anyone wanting to build a trebuchet for Middle-earth tabletop gaming.

Of course, this step isn’t necessary, but who knows — maybe one day I’ll need a third trebuchet, and the layouts will already be waiting.

More importantly, I wanted to share something useful with the LOTR modelling community. So if you’d like to build your own version inspired by the Games Workshop design, you can download the PDF blueprint (1:1 scale, A3 print) from the **Free Download** section at the bottom of this page.

DOWNLOAD TREBUCHET PDF LAYOUT

3D digital sketch

The next optional step was creating a simple 3D draft — partly for the joy of modelling, but mainly to verify whether all blueprint dimensions worked together correctly. It’s an easy and fast way to catch small mistakes that might stay hidden in 2D drawings.

With all preparations complete, it’s finally time to start building the physical model.

See you in the next post — the WIP stage is coming soon. Until then, stay creative!