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I am thinking about starting a second game system to complement my 40k hobby. I have heard very little about SBG but it seems like it might be a good fit as I think WHFB might be too large scale for me. I plan on playing with mostly with the missus with an occasional pickup game. However I have a lot of questions:

1. What is the initial buy-in in $? (In my case rules/etc and 2 armies)
2. Related to the first, how large are most armies and how much do additional forces cost?
3. How long do games take?
4. How well is it supported now and possibly in the future?
5. How deep and/or difficult are the rules? My wife plays things like Agrigola and Cataan but balked somewhat at 40k.
6. Do games have to be good vs evil?

Gornall wrote:I am thinking about starting a second game system to complement my 40k hobby. I have heard very little about SBG but it seems like it might be a good fit as I think WHFB might be too large scale for me. I plan on playing with mostly with the missus with an occasional pickup game. However I have a lot of questions:

1. What is the initial buy-in in $? (In my case rules/etc and 2 armies)
2. Related to the first, how large are most armies and how much do additional forces cost?
3. How long do games take?
4. How well is it supported now and possibly in the future?
5. How deep and/or difficult are the rules? My wife plays things like Agrigola and Cataan but balked somewhat at 40k.
6. Do games have to be good vs evil?

Hey Gornal, glad to hear your thinking about collecting some lotr figures. Well first of all Lord of the Rings follows into two categories, SBG and WOTR. SBG is a smaller scale (and less expensive) and more for skirmish or objective type games. Armies can be any size in this game really, from a small skirmish game to an army to launch an assult on Helm's Deep (check my Helm's Deep model for this) Saying this you can still have huge battles with them. The rules book is around 30 quid at the stores, but can be pruchesed slightly cheaper on online sites or even sometimes a good bargan on ebay. Games can take from and hour + , it really depends how big your army / scenario is. The rules are easier than 40k and take less time to learn. In my opinion I prefer the lotr rules to 40k. Nope games can be done v any faction pretty much. I many times have fought elves with drwarves etc... Good luck and I hope you get into the hobby. If you have further questions there is a fantastic site made only for LoTR SBG www.one-ring.co.uk

Thanks for the info! SBG is definately something we are going to look into. What materials do we need to buy if we plan on having Dwarf and Elf armies?

Gornall wrote:Thanks for the info! SBG is definately something we are going to look into. What materials do we need to buy if we plan on having Dwarf and Elf armies?

All you'll need to start is a LOTR rulebook (very cheap on eBay). A hero for the Elves, a hero for the Dwarves and an infantry box for each, then you have more than enough to play. The great thing about LOTR is that you can get every army in the game, for the price of one decent sized one in 40K.

Are there any source books that people would recommend?

Gornall wrote:Are there any source books that people would recommend?

I've heard the Ruin of Arnor is good. I've only got the Mordor expansion myself, and that was only for access to Morgul Knights and Black Numenoreans.

The sourcebooks aren't really necessary unless you want to expand your experience or focus on a particular scenario imo.

Gornall wrote:1. What is the initial buy-in in $? (In my case rules/etc and 2 armies)

The main rule book is a must buy. It contains the rules and points costs for the majority of models in the game. It also has scenarios and a hobby section. It costs $57.75 retail. Your FLGS may have a discount, or you can find a used copy online very inexpensively.
You will need to purchase a captain or hero to lead each army in addition to other models that interest you.
In total it would run you about $150 retail.

Gornall wrote:2. Related to the first, how large are most armies and how much do additional forces cost?

A box of plastic figures and a hero will make a small force. With two boxes of troops and a hero you can play a good sized game.

Gornall wrote:3. How long do games take?

They take about an hour. The time that the games take is directly related to the number of figures that you field. So if you go for elite armies like elves and dwarves then your games should be over pretty quick.

Gornall wrote:4. How well is it supported now and possibly in the future?

They still release miniatures once or twice a year. However, I do not know how long they will continue to support the game.

Gornall wrote:5. How deep and/or difficult are the rules? My wife plays things like Agrigola and Cataan but balked somewhat at 40k.

I would say that the rules are about as difficult at 40k.

Gornall wrote:6. Do games have to be good vs evil?

No.

I would recommend the Khazad Dum sourcebook, as it has loads of info on Dwarves. The Fall of the Necromancer has the rules for woodelves. I am not sure that they are still in print, although I do not think that it would be hard to find a copy of them.

How concerned should we be about the game getting squatted?

IMO not too concerned, I'm certainly not. Although WOTR seems to be getting pushed to the forfront of LOTR atm, the same miniatures are used for both systems and there's no point in discountinuing the rulebook or any of the sourcebooks, according to the GW website they are still in print. Even the Shire sourcebook is still there!

GW have just renewed their license with LotR so there will be plenty more to come. Also because of 'The Hobbit' a new boost of LotR minatures will come out. So there's no worry about them just ditching it. Recently there has been more interested in lotr things again after a year or so.

yeah, i would recommend starting but what i have found is don't go with a army that is all metal models (hobbits) 1 because it is heavy and 2 because £8.20 for 3 hobbits is a bit excessive. i personally love the game i am not too concerned about gw ditching the game and neither should you the game has enough support to keep it alive.

To start, the mines of moria set is pretty good. I don't know about $s, but I think it's about £50 (shop price). For a decent sized game, you need about 500 points. In a 500 point game the limit is 50 models. The length of games is proportionate to the number of models. I would buy the sourcebook for whatever army you want to collect. I collect dwarves and gondor so I have the khazad dum and gondor in flames sourcebook. Both of these book are very good, I think that the shadow in the east book is good, I plan to buy this in future. The game isn't supported well but I don't think it will stop. The minis are still in produce because of wotr. Whenever they sell new figures, the rules go in wd and eventually online. As the minis are sold anyway, gw still sells the books. Though I doubt they will do reprints including the rules in wd.