Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Momotaro wrote:

 eohall wrote:
How "your dudes" can you make ME:SBG? I am interested in the game, but I find named characters really unsatisfying to play with - rubs me the wrong way. Is it easy to make "generic" leaders/wizards/whatever, or are you pretty locked into book characters?

Just give the characters a new name and backstory, and convert some models. Make sure everyone is clear what the model represents.

Not wanting to speak for eohall but I think he is asking whether he has to use heroes at all or can he use generic sgt/leaders for the warbands.

I have always disliked characterhammer and much prefer to play with generic infantry and creatures led by minor generic characters rather than super hero unbeatable "insert named character here" and from what I have read you can easily play that way in ME SBG but whether it is competitive or not I do not know. The named characters do seem to be very high points cost though so maybe they are relatively balanced from a gameplay point of view.

Is this new Pelennor Fields box a starter for the scenario-driven game (where you replayed stuff from the Jackson films) or the build your own army game?

 Ancestral Hamster wrote:
Is this new Pelennor Fields box a starter for the scenario-driven game (where you replayed stuff from the Jackson films) or the build your own army game?

Pretty sure it's both. The same ruleset under pins both ways of playing. The armies of lotr book will have army list s, not sure what scenarios will be included in these books though. More details soon, hopefully...

 durecellrabbit wrote:
Is there a recommended way of army expansion? Should you focus on one specific faction or get a mixture of themed allies like the first rerelease of boxed sets would allow.

Asking again. For adding to your army should you go for more of the Mordor/Rohan in the starter set, add Haradrim /Minas Tirith that are coming out along side the starter or is either okay?

 durecellrabbit wrote:

 durecellrabbit wrote:
Is there a recommended way of army expansion? Should you focus on one specific faction or get a mixture of themed allies like the first rerelease of boxed sets would allow.

Asking again. For adding to your army should you go for more of the Mordor/Rohan in the starter set, add Haradrim /Minas Tirith that are coming out along side the starter or is either okay?

It would depend if they change the army building rules in the new edition so until that is viewed noone can say for certain.

People seem to be expecting a 'minimal change' edition but who knows at this stage

Are we sure about the MSRP of the new Pelennor Fields set? I'm starting to hear it will be around $80-90 USD. There's even a reliable local game store that advertised it as $82.50 retail on their FB page (I've asked them if they are certain, but no response yet). I'm inclined to think it will be as previously mentioned in this thread, about $150.00 USD, but if it's somehow less I will be ecstatic.

BigDaddio wrote:
Are we sure about the MSRP of the new Pelennor Fields set? I'm starting to hear it will be around $80-90 USD. There's even a reliable local game store that advertised it as $82.50 retail on their FB page (I've asked them if they are certain, but no response yet). I'm inclined to think it will be as previously mentioned in this thread, about $150.00 USD, but if it's somehow less I will be ecstatic.

That pricepoint would be insane.

I might really bite this one. I started ages ago with the bi-weekly magazine and had a quite sizeable Gondor army, but I always loved the Rohirrim more than anything. Shame the horse's legs were so fething fragile, I believe every single horse broke at their ankle

BigDaddio wrote:
Are we sure about the MSRP of the new Pelennor Fields set? I'm starting to hear it will be around $80-90 USD. There's even a reliable local game store that advertised it as $82.50 retail on their FB page (I've asked them if they are certain, but no response yet). I'm inclined to think it will be as previously mentioned in this thread, about $150.00 USD, but if it's somehow less I will be ecstatic.

If you don't like the people at that LGS, you can feel free to call 'em morons. If you do like 'em, you can politely inform them that they just posted the RETAILER TRADE COST, ie, what they are paying for the box set from GW, and they they should probably take that down.

I remember when this first came out back in 2001 or so you could find the starter boxes at Barnes and Noble of all places.

For some reason I never bought a copy then. I don't know why. I will get one this time around though.

 judgedoug wrote:

BigDaddio wrote:
Are we sure about the MSRP of the new Pelennor Fields set? I'm starting to hear it will be around $80-90 USD. There's even a reliable local game store that advertised it as $82.50 retail on their FB page (I've asked them if they are certain, but no response yet). I'm inclined to think it will be as previously mentioned in this thread, about $150.00 USD, but if it's somehow less I will be ecstatic.

If you don't like the people at that LGS, you can feel free to call 'em morons. If you do like 'em, you can politely inform them that they just posted the RETAILER TRADE COST, ie, what they are paying for the box set from GW, and they they should probably take that down.

Yeah, I was wondering if that might be the case.

BigDaddio wrote:
Yeah, I was wondering if that might be the case.

Well, wonder no longer

I'm selling off my Imperial Knight project army to make sure I've got enough to get the box and some other goodies when the game releases. I will be at Nova, so their vendors may run out of all of the sweet Rohan and Minas Morgul stuff.

Seriously can't wait.

Edit:

For those that know, are there only the 4 Black Guard of Barad Dur sculpts + the command set? I'd like to add some to the Morannon Orcs in the starter, but wanted to see how much variety there was in the models.

At any rate, I may go ahead and start buying some Modor/ Minas Morgul and Rohan stuff to, you know, prepare or something.

Edit #2:
It seems as though the box set gives a decent start to a WoTR force too. Unless my math is wrong (it very well may be), it gives you 550 points for Rohan + the army of the dead and 505 points for Minas Morgul

 godswildcard wrote:

For those that know, are there only the 4 Black Guard of Barad Dur sculpts + the command set? I'd like to add some to the Morannon Orcs in the starter, but wanted to see how much variety there was in the models.

At any rate, I may go ahead and start buying some Modor/ Minas Morgul and Rohan stuff to, you know, prepare or something.

The sculpts are: Black Guard Captain, Black Guard Banner Bearer, Black Guard Drummer, and three Black Guad warrior poses. The Finecast sets repeat a pose.

 judgedoug wrote:


The sculpts are: Black Guard Captain, Black Guard Banner Bearer, Black Guard Drummer, and three Black Guad warrior poses. The Finecast sets repeat a pose.

Thanks Doug!

That’s a bit of a bummer. I’ll still pick up the commanders and one set of grunts to add to the army. At least I only *need* one company for WoTR. I’m hoping that I can get a dedicated group going in my area with this release, as I’d love to get more WoTR in!


Edit:

I will admit I was a little surprised that there weren’t any categories for LoTR for Armies on Parade this year, despite the new box set and the (hopefully) new interest in generates. I know that there weren’t any categories last year for it, but I was hopeful for this year. It seems like once again it’s 40K/ AoS only though.

Fruitless did I call the victory of the Dark Lord Kirby?

Not wholly so, yet it did not achieve its end.

The playerbase was diminished, but not destroyed.

The moulds were packed away, but not unmade.

The Battle-Game was scorned and mocked, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of Tolkien and Jackson*, and they will endure.







*(and Priestley, and Cavatore, and Troke and Ward, and the Perrys, and...)

Do you guys think they'll release Start Collecting sets like they have with 40k and AOS?
As tempting as the Pelennor Fields set is and how good value for money it's looking to be, I've realised I'd only be buying it for the bad guys
If there was a Start Collecting type box, I'd probably go for that and just buy the rules separate.

That's an interesting one.

As far as I can tell all the 40k/Fantasy SC kits are all entirely plastic. The only plastic kits LotR has are infantry and cavalry. Commanders, war machines and majority of the monsters are all resin. The only plastic monsters I could find were the Mumak, winged Nazgul, Balrog, Mordor/Isenguard Troll and the generic Ent.
So I think it will depend on if they are prepared to put resin kits in a box set or not. That is unless they redo at least the command units in plastic.

The new Theoden is plastic of course, with a promise that others will follow, so it still remains a thing that could happen.

The issue will be that things generally only make their way into SC boxes once they're past their first flush of sales. So the time taken for the heroes to get released, their sales tail off, then the SC has to get released probably means that the timetable is fairly lengthy.

It would be nice to have a discounted bundle, but Snrub may be right - am I right in saying most "Start Collecting " have a Troop, A cavalry equivalent, and one big centerpiece unit?
I'd think GW might struggle to fill that out with some Armies...

Gondor - No monsters really fit, so perhaps a Trebuchet?
Rohan - Maybe an Ent would fit? But it's a bit of a tenuous link.
Elves (Wood elves and High Elves) - Giant Eagles, maybe would be the best fit, but again, a bit of a reach.
Dwarves - Like Gondor, I think it would have to be a siege weapon of some type, like the Dwarf Ballista?

Mordor has a tonne of Monsters - Trolls, Fell Beasts, easy.
Harad - The Mumak would be a the only really appropriate inclusion, though it is a VERY big kit, so box space may be an issue.
Easterlings - Fell Beast, I would say - maybe add a Khamul upgrade sprue, so you can have him on Fell Beast?
Khand - Plastic chariot? maybe one with rules that don't suck?
Moria... this would be tricky. Cave troll? Not much of a box filler, and pretty small for a centerpiece - they're not really that big - The Balrog IS big, but you'd never really want to buy more than one. Maybe multiple Cave trolls? 2 in a box, maybe?
Isengard - Siege Ballista. Maybe an Isengard troll, but I'd say that the Ballista is more Iconic.

I don't really go into the newer hobbit armies, but I'd imagine the options are similar - Good guys are limited to Eagles or maybe something like Beorn, while evil is easier - trolls etc.
It's a fun thought experiment though

The only fully plastic Start Collecting! I could see based on current plastics would be Mirkwood, with Legolas and Tauriel and Mirkwood Rangers and Palace Guard all being in plastic.

 judgedoug wrote:
The only fully plastic Start Collecting! I could see based on current plastics would be Mirkwood, with Legolas and Tauriel and Mirkwood Rangers and Palace Guard all being in plastic.

You stop! I just ordered those, all at the current icky Mirkwood Ranger prices... (Boxes of ten... pfffffft)

I don’t necessarily see why LoTR start collecting boxes would have to follow the exact same plan as the other systems.

Plastic monsters are cool to the factions that have them, but I’d be just as happy with a good mix of troop types in each box, plus a plastic character. My thinking is more based off ‘it sure would be nice to see some of the cooler/ rarer minis recast in plastic’. That said, I’d be just as happy if they threw in some of the metal/ finecast minis.

Say a Rohan box with Riders, Warriors and Some Royal Guard.

Or a Gondor box with Warriors, Knights and Osgiliath Veterans.

Or an easterling box with Warriors, Kataphracts and Serpent Warriors (do I have that right?).

I guess my point is that they have options and they wouldn’t necessarily have to follow the same trends that they’ve got going with 40K or AoS. They could really break the mold a bit and I think it would work.

Just my 2 cents.

That's true - something more along the lines of basic troop/cavalry/elite troop would make sense.
What I'd really like to see is the command sets made cheaper to get - £24 for 4 (finecast) models is, personally, hard to justify a purchase. If they re-did them in plastic, or included parts for command options in the basic troop box, that would be even better, in my view.

With the news that there will be new plastic kits and that there will be at least one new release per month, I could easily see that on some months the New Plastic Kit is a Hero or HQ sprue and accompanied by a Faction Starter

Hmm, interesting theories guys!
I'll probably hold off on buying anything LOTR related for a bit longer than I had planned to see if any sort of SC or faction starter sets get announced.

 ErkyTimbers wrote:
Hmm, interesting theories guys!
I'll probably hold off on buying anything LOTR related for a bit longer than I had planned to see if any sort of SC or faction starter sets get announced.

I honestly think it won't happen. SBG is far cheaper per-model than 40k or AOS; a "Start Collecting" for SBG would basically be most of an entire army versus 40k or AOS where as SC is just a single cornerstone of an army.

Very true, but I still think I'll hold off a little bit. I might just end up getting the minis I want and the rules separate, unless I can find anyone who'd want to pay part of the cost and take the good forces from the boxset. No luck convincing my friends yet though.

Can I just chime in and say holy crap... do I both love and fear painting SBG models. :-p

I'm getting around to beloved models that I loved playing, but never painted... and for a guy with a disability, who prides himself on being a surprisingly solid painter... the nerve needed to paint tiny Boromir's tinier mustache, was intense. :-p

I have no idea how I see some of this beautifully painted SBG models with magnificent eyes, when i'm already proud of being able to paint some hair-thin straps, etc... :-p

True 28mm is CRAZY after getting used to 40k/AoS scale-bloated madness...

Loving the previews coming from Warhammer Fest.

More pics of plastic Theoden:


Hurin and Ingold (bare resin):


Hurin and Ingold (painted):


Love....these....models.

I hope I can buy many of them at Nova...