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Why collect LOTR?

The beauty of LOTR compared to many other games such as 40k and WM/H is that when you play you feel as if every model is somehow important yet a pawn in your grand strategy. When you play, there's always the feeling that one of the models may somehow prove themselves and take down that especially great hero. For example, Aragorn was fighting against a single Moria Goblin. Aragorn had one wound left and nothing could save him. This tiny goblin landed a blow that ended the heir's life prematurely. The tide of the game then flowed as the Goblin's launched a huge offensive against the Gondorian Shield Wall. However, the Goblin's bounced off and many started to flee - they must have completed their objective.

Another good thing about the game is that you can depict battles from the late 2nd/3rd age well. All the battles you read about in the books, from the Buckwater Ferry attack by the Ringwraiths to Minas Tirith, can be played out using the game. Not only that, you can depict you own battles or what-ifs - if the Elves decided to support Gondor at Osgiliath, could something different have happened? If Gondor came to Rohan's aid, could the Uruk-Hai been driven off earlier from Helm's Deep? Finally, you can play out the invasion of Rhun and Harad by Elessar's armies after the War of the Ring. The possibilities are endless.

The game is also very easy to scale up. Buy a couple of boxes of Dwarf Warriors, your friend buys a few boxes of Goblins and a Cave Troll, play a game! It works very well on a small scale. But supposing you reach the coveted 1,500 point armies in the SBG and the game no longer works so well. In that case, try War of the Ring, the large scale battle game!

Finally, unlike other GW games, the SBG is one of the clearest rules produced by the company. In addition, all the armies are well-balanced.

What should you buy?

Here is my suggestion to you:

Look at the GW website and decide which army you like the look of. This may seem obvious, but believe me, I know people who turn up at the store, pick the models like the look of without looking at the other models in the range, and then kick themselves for wasting money on Dark Eldar when they prefer Necrons.

Once you have decided which army you like, buy the rulebook (obviously) and the army book (also quite obvious). The current rulebook is The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, but to be honest I'd just pick up the old one from eBay and wait a few years for the definitive Hobbit rulebook to be released. If you decide to go with Moria, try to get the Mines of Moria set. It's very nice - you get 24 goblins plus a plastic Cave Troll!

If you want to buy cavalry models, remember that you also need to have versions of the models on foot. So, if you are fielding 12 Riders of Rohan, you will also need to have 12 versions of the models on foot.

What are the armies like?

There are five books detailing the armies of Middle Earth. These are:

The Kingdoms of Men
This book contains rules for Gondor, Rohan, Arnor and Numenor.
There are basically two kinds of Gondor: Minas Tirith and the Fiefdoms. Minas Tirith are the standard heavily armoured army whilst the Fiefdoms contains Knights of Dol Amroth, Pikemen, Axemen etc. Minas Tirith are great for beginners but they can get a little dull after a while - there's nothing really to make them that interesting. Fortunately, they can ally with many factions. The Fiefdoms are a lot harder to play but they are still very rewarding.
Rohan is based around cavalry. Their cavalry is actually quite cheap and you can field a lot of them. Their infantry is not that great. Overall, they are a relatively easy army to play as but they're not as easy as Minas Tirith.
Arnor is probably one of the hardest armies to play. They revolve around squishy archers. Not an easy army to play, but they certainly will be fun.
Numenor is not that widely played. They also have a tiny miniatures range. I would definitely not go for them.

The Free Peoples
This book describes Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, The Fellowship and the White Council.
The Elves are very good. They are low in number, but have extremely powerful bows and they are awesome in close combat. Plus, you can have Elrond and Haldir and other great heroes. I think they're great. They aren't that difficult to play either!
Dwaves are extremely heavily armoured and they are slow. No cavalry either. However, there are some great units, the Vault Warden team coming immediately to mind. They shield has a defence of 9! They are a pretty good and fun army to play, but a tad more difficult than other armies.
I've never played against Hobbits, but I've heard many good things about them. Apparently they are awesome. I know that they have incredibly cheap (game-wise) models, as 2 points a pop! You could field many many many hobbits in a single game. The main issue is that many of the models are metal. This isn't going to be a cheap army at all. I can't imagine that they're that easy to play either.
The Fellowship, the Ents and the White Council are not so much armies in their own right but allied forces. The Fellowship have awesome models and great heroes, the Ents are awesome in general and the White Council are great with magic.

The Fallen Realms
Some of the best armies, in my opinion, are in this book. The book describes Isengard, Harad, Khand and Rhun.
Isengard have Uruk-Hai. They like Phalanxes very much. The army itself is very effective. I would definitely consider them if you are starting out.
Harad have cheap warriors that are 6 points a pop. They also have fairly decent cavalry and the Mumak. They are pretty damn good and a good starter army.
Rhun have extremely heavily armoured warriors. These are the guys I collect. They have pikes but they can also have shields. This makes them a high defence army. Unfortunately they are quite limited. If you want phalanxes, I would go with Uruks. Quite difficult to use effectively I find.
Khand are also an army I collect. They have chariots. That is awesome. The problem is that the army is very limited in terms of models. They make good allies. On their own, however, they are very difficult to play.

Mordor
Orcs, orcs and more orcs. To be honest, Orc warriors are not as good as the Haradrim, and they are the same amount of points. Mordor do have, however, Wargs and powerful spellcasters - Sauron and the Ringwraiths. Not too difficult.

Moria & Angmar
I do not know this army well. I leave it up to you, Dakka!

I hope that this has made you want to start the game. After all, we need everyone we can.

Might, Will and Fate

One of the interesting things about the game is the three heroic characteristics called Might, Will and Fate.

The Lord of the Rings and Middle-Earth revolves around heroes. It would not make sense if they were just better versions of their minions.

Therefore, each hero can save himself with Fate, call actions that change the course of a battle with Might and cast mighty spells with Will.

Might allows a hero to call a special action. These could involve the hero and his fellow warriors fighting twice in a turn or moving before enemies. You can also increase the score of a dice roll.
Will allows a hero to remain on the battlefield if he flees from combat. Also, it can be used to cast spells. The Witch-King can have up to 20 will - that could be five black darts every turn!
Fate allows a hero to save himself from losing a wound.

As you can see, these three characteristics are very useful indeed!

But be careful! Might, Will and Fate is not limitless! For every action caused by Might, Will or Fate your pool is reduced. When it reaches 0, you may not use the characteristic any more.

Unless you're Aragorn. He can expend a point of Might every turn without reducing his pool!

Creating an Army

I've recently just embarked on the journey of collecting two new armies for LOTR - Mordor and Arnor.

For my Mordor army, I am just collecting them for fun and using the army to represent simply the "Bad Guys". Currently, I have 24 Mordor Orcs, 24 Morannon Orcs and the Witch-King on Fell-Beast. I will add a Mordor Troll and Warg Riders very soon.

So currently the 700-point army looks like this:

The Witch-King of Angmar on Fell Beast, Morgul Blade and full Might, Will and Fate - 210 points

10 Morannon Orcs with Spear and Shield - 90 points
2 Morannon Orcs with Spear - 16 points
12 Morannon Orcs with Shield - 96 points

8 Mordor Orcs with Shield - 48 points
4 Mordor Orcs with Two-Handed Weapon - 24 points
8 Mordor Orcs with Spear and Shield - 56 points
4 Mordor Orcs with Bow - 24 points

2 Warg Riders with Throwing Spear - 32 points
2 Warg Riders - 24 points
2 Warg Riders with Bow - 26 points

Mordor Troll - 100 points

TOTAL: 746 points

This list is not legal. Do not try to replicate this list and turn up at a tournament! Instead, this list is representative of a portion of the army the Witch-King led against Gondor or a similar foe.

This army excels because it has a strong core of Orcs - 48 of them! I should outnumber most enemies. The Troll is absolutely amazing for its points as well. 100 points is a lot, but you get a model that will draw fire away from my main force.

What should I add next?

To lead my little warband of Warg Riders, I will add Sharku. Not only does it make sense to have the leader of the riders in my army, he is not that bad with Strength 4, 2 attacks and 3 might. Plus, he's only 55 points!

To make my list legal, I'll need to add some heroes. I'll add a few Captains and Shamans.

Finally, some Trackers would definitely be in order. 6 Archers is pretty poor. Trackers are good because they have a better shooting value than standard Orcs.

Firstly You beat me too it and a brilliant introduction into LOTR / WOTR! Thank you for writing it up

Secondly, I disagree with one point in your entire post, i'm terribly sorry to bring this up but i could not just leave it be lol.

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:


The current rulebook is The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, but to be honest I'd just pick up the old one from eBay and wait a few years for the definitive Hobbit rulebook to be released.

I disagree with this Quoted section becuase of the Fact the Hobbit Rulebook is not for just the Hobbit. The Hobbit SBG and LOTR SBG are the SAME GAME. the Hobbit - an unexpected journey is the most upto-date rulebook for LOTR SBG as you said, however if you use a previous edition the minitures will no longer be balanced as the Rulebook adresses issues encountered in previous editions.

Also my final disagreement is the "Definitive Hobbit rulebook to be released" - you would'nt wait till the final Edition of Warhammer / Wh40k rulebooks to be released, just so you have a More difinitive version They always update rulebooks. If you want to start Playing LOTR from the Beggining as a new person to this brilliant game. You *NEED* the Hobbit rulebook. Even if you dont like calling it the hobbit, just call it LOTR 6th ed lmao.

To finish up: A Fantastic introduction into LOTR SBG, Hats off to you. Would you like me to Post up Information regarding the New armies released For LOTR?

Yes Rarmah, that would definitely be delightful.

Listen to what he said about the rulebook, ignore what I posted.

New Armies introduced to LOTR SBG in the Latest Rulebook.

Thorins Company - This legandary company is the name of the group of dwarves, accompanied by a Wizard and a Hobbit who journeyed to Erebor to reclaim the Dwarves long lost home and treasure from the Dragon Smaug

Thorins Company boasts some of the best "hero-play" Available, every dwarf has his own Weaknesses and strenths, back up with the Power of a wizard and the burgling skills of a hobbit this is an army to watch out for.

Elronds Household - Elrond is the Lord of Rivendell, and when on the hunt, he is accompanied by an elite band of mounted knights. These fighters represent the creme of Rivendells military might.

Elronds Household is a Mounted Army, Led by the Lord of Rivendell himself these are fast moving hard hitting mounted Elvish troops.

Radagasts Alliance - Radagast of the Council of Wizardry, is seen as a master of birds and beasts. His kindly nature and gentile wisdom have garneredmuch loyalty amonst the creatures of the wild

Radagasts Alliance is a "monster" Army, allowing Great eagles and the plucky Brown wizard himself.

Army of Thror - At the hight of Erebor's power, Thror's army boasted thousands of dwarf warriors. A military force feared and renouwned accress all of middle earth.

Army of Thror is a Footslogger Dwarven wall of steel mixed with the mighty Pick-hammers of the grimhammer dwarves.

The White Council - The White council is Saurons cheif opponent in the middle years of the Third Age, and prehaps the greatest assembly of wisdom and martial prowess in this age or any other. In battle the White councils are all but unmatched - such is there cunning and mastery of spells and magical power that any who oppose them risks beguilement or outright destruction. whilst the marital prowess of the elven lords spells certain death for any evil creature brave (or foolish) enough to stand before them

The White Council is a Magical Army of few models, but each of them could turn the tide of a battle on there own, let alone the full ten Members of the council.

Azogs Hunters - Azog the Defiler and his Warband of Fell Wargs and Hunter Orcs have been tracking Thorins company since they Left the Trollshaws. Azog is a cruel master, his Left arm hewn by Thorin Oakensheild Many years ago, Leaving him for dead Thorin moved on letting the great Pale Orc fade into the historys of his people. However some evil creatures speak of an Horror, atop a white Warg stalking the great east Road.

Azogs Hunters boast Mounted infrantry, Powerfull Wargs, and a few Leutenants including his Son, Bolg.

Goblin Town - A Sinister Kingdom, lorded over by the giant, bloated form of the Great goblin, or Goblin king. Goblin Town is a dishevlled realm inhabited by stunted, twisted creatures. This mockery of a Court, with its bully-kind, is home to the creatures of a deadly nature.

Goblin Town is a Swarm Force, loads of weak warriors with some nice rules to get the most out of the units, Backed up by the Goblin scribe bringing on extra models each turn and the skulking form of Gollum. rounded of with the giant, Goblin King. It may not look at much, But Woe betide ANY force wanting to visit Goblin town.

The Trolls - Tom, Bill and Bert are colossal bullies who raid villages and waylay travellers to satisfy there Appeties. they are Considerably strong tough and exceedingly dangerous

The Trolls are another Monster army, but with great synergy between eachother and the campfire. a force to be reckoned with if sunlight is not on your side!!

Despite my first glance at Goblin Town appearing weak, I think that army will end up being more of an extremely fun one to play. Mix them in with the Trolls or any other force really, and you can produce something truly nasty. In that list, I think the Scribe is almost a MUST for that army. Thanks for the information, you two!

Oh it is great fun to play

I have to keep on reminding my opponent that each goblin is an easy kill for an unarmed hobbit let alone a dwarf lol. the real strength of goblin town is numbers.

i've rather boringly been able to compleatly halt an enemy force with just a flesh wall you kill 3, 5 take there place. the only downside (And its a Major one so keep it in mind ) the only way your gonna kill anything with goblins (the warriors) is a 2+ on One combat with your opponent rolling the worst dice rolls he can and you rolling your best

Playing a game with your army

Unlike 40k, WFB or even WM/H to a lesser degree, LOTR is not a game where you spam a single unit.

Let's take one my new armies, the Rangers, for example.

You can have a wide selection of two types of warrior models - Rangers of Arnor or Warriors of Arnor!

Let's take my Easterlings/Khand.

I can have:
Easterling Warriors
Easterling Kataphrakts (ie Easterling Warriors on horses)
Khandish Warriors
Khandish Horsemen (ie Khandish Warriors on horses)
Khandish Chariot (ie Khandish Warrior standing on a chariot)

What a wide selection!

The lack of choice is, in my opinion, good. Your heroes really stand out. But with 20 other models out to get them, you need your warriors.

The game therefore lends itself to more tactical and strategic thinking than many other games. Your heroes, even if their the heir of Isildur, need to be protected by your rank-and-file. The calling of heroic actions can change the tide of the game.

My favourite two heroes are Aragorn and Gothmog for strategic play.

Aragorn can call a heroic action every turn with a free Might point! This is potentially very powerful - you can be cutting through Orcs in no time!

Gothmog, on the other hand, can call exactly the same heroic action as an enemy hero should he be within 8". This also is very powerful. You'll want Gothmog in battle with the enemy as soon as possible.

But a nice thing about the game is the application of real-life medieval tactics. Place your archers on hills to gain line of sight to enemy models. In units, advance melee troops but should you need to defend an area you can split models off from the group. Finally, use your cavalry to skirt around slower enemy infantry to mess up their formations. The game is so detailed not because of the rules themselves - they're actually quite simple - but because of what you can do with the rules.

I speak for the goblins of moria !

Moria :

The goblins are one of the funnest armies to play. There is nothing quite like your opponents face, when you swarm his boromir with 3 goblins and kill him.

Pros
Units are dirt cheap, you will always outnumber your opponent.
You have access to monstrous creatures.
All your goblin units can climb walls and other terrain. You will never need siege weapons as a goblin player !

Cons
Low moral
No real heavy infintry
Goblin shamans are very poor spellcasters.