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I was wondering with the new sourcebooks out now if the mines of moria box is still good to start playing and learning the game with? If it isn't what is the best way to get started? Thanks for any help.

Unless you are going to play a goblin army the Mines of Moria are really only good for learning the basic mechanics of the game.

You get a decent start to a goblin army, but you also get kinda unremarkable plastic versions of the Fellowship. The other models of the 9 characters are far superior models for detail.

And you also get the mini-rulebook.


However, the mini-rulebook can be gotten off the internet really cheaply and thats all you really need out of the Mines of Moria(unless you want a Goblin army)

If you arn't interested in Goblins then I would buy a couple boxes of whatever faction interests you, the sourcebook their rules are in, and the mini-rulebook off E-bay. it'll give you a better start to building your army.



What faction interests you?

So far I'm really not sure. Each one has models that I like so I'm finding it kind of hard to decide what army I want to do. Also I'm not real sure of how the game goes, so I don't know each armies pro's and con's and also the different playstyles.

I'll give you a run down.

Basic composition rules are,

No more then 33% of your models may be armed with Bows and you must have 1 Hero for every 12 Warriors in your army.


Pros and Cons for each army


Good forces

Gondor: Good basic infantry with a high defense value, some of the more powerful characters in the game(Aragorn and Boromir), and 2 warmachines.

Rohan: Good Cavelry based force backed up by cheap infantry. Some nice characters.

High Elves: Very customizable troops, Ghaladrim Cavelry are extremely powerful because of Woodland Creature.

Wood Elves: Cheaper version of High Elves. less durable, but more numerous and have a variety of ranged weapons.

Numenor: Less durable, but more skilled, soldiers then Gondor has. Elendil and Isildur as characters.

Arnor: Durable and experienced spear infantry backed up by Rangers and Hobbits. A couple of decent characters too. No Cavelry!

Dwarves: Extremely tough and seasoned troops. Good heroes. Short ranged, but powerful, archers. A decent Warmachine too.

Grey Company: Aragorn and Halberad as characters. Rangers of the North and Dunidin Rangers as Warriors. Each warrior is practically mini-character. Ignores the Bow limit!

Dol Amroth and Fiefdoms: Dol Amroth has the heaviest cavelry the Good side can get. Knights of Dol Amroth are powerful both mounted and on foot. Dol Amroth also has Pikemen to support their knights. Clansmen of Lamadon and Axemen of Lossarnarch give some specilized backup.


Evil

Mordor: Most varied of all the evil armies. You have Orcs, Morronnan Orcs, Mordor Uruk-hai, and Black Numenorians to choose from as your soldiers(Listed in order of power and of increasing expense) Trolls, Beasts of Gorgorath, and a couple of Warmachines. For Heroes they have Sauron, All 9 Ringwraiths(generic or their more powerful named versions), and Gothmog.

Isenguard: A more Elite army then Mordor, barring Black Numenorians. Uruk-Hai are tough and skilled fighters. Pikes give them some excellent tactical support. Isenguard Trolls, Ballista, and bombs round out the force. They also have some cavelry from Warg Riders. For Heroes they have Saruman, Grima, and Lurtz(and a couple of others)

Goblins: Even weaker individually then orcs. This army can get ALOT of models on the table. Some good support from Drums, trolls, and Characters like the Balrog and Watcher in the Water. Wild Wargs, Bats, and Spiders add a little variety to the list.

Harad: Good archers and relaitivly cheap warriors(on the human side of evil anyway) poisoned arrows give them a little more ranged punch. Mumakil!

Khand: Predominately cavelry based army. Average shooting attacks and devestating combat attacks from Chariots.

Easterlings: Tough and experienced infantry with Cavelry to match. Infantry can be armed with Pikes which can make their Infantry blocks really nasty to face. Some nasty combat characters. Khamul the Easterling gives them some potent magic from their ringwraith and allows you to upgrade your Kataphracts. Black Dragons are powerful cavelry characters.

Gonna add another evil force in here:

Angmar

Very few units choices but some very unique units. 3 unique ringwraiths but no generic. Troll unique hero and a demon hero. Spirit units that attack the courage rather than the defense, some can paralyze, most have good courage and high defense too. Barrowights in particular can paralyze people for a few turns at a time unless the dice god is with the other person. Troops are very sparse, consisting of Orcs, spectres, warg riders and cave trolls. A very specialist army but if you put effort in it has the potential to really stump your opponent and be dominant on the table top.

I'm not biased or anything, I just like playing them.....

Grey Templar wrote:I'll give you a run down.

Basic composition rules are,

No more then 33% of your models may be armed with Bows and you must have 1 Hero for every 12 Warriors in your army.


Pros and Cons for each army


Good forces

Gondor: Good basic infantry with a high defense value, some of the more powerful characters in the game(Aragorn and Boromir), and 2 warmachines.

Rohan: Good Cavelry based force backed up by cheap infantry. Some nice characters.

High Elves: Very customizable troops, Ghaladrim Cavelry are extremely powerful because of Woodland Creature.

Wood Elves: Cheaper version of High Elves. less durable, but more numerous and have a variety of ranged weapons.

Numenor: Less durable, but more skilled, soldiers then Gondor has. Elendil and Isildur as characters.

Arnor: Durable and experienced spear infantry backed up by Rangers and Hobbits. A couple of decent characters too. No Cavelry!

Dwarves: Extremely tough and seasoned troops. Good heroes. Short ranged, but powerful, archers. A decent Warmachine too.

Grey Company: Aragorn and Halberad as characters. Rangers of the North and Dunidin Rangers as Warriors. Each warrior is practically mini-character. Ignores the Bow limit!

Dol Amroth and Fiefdoms: Dol Amroth has the heaviest cavelry the Good side can get. Knights of Dol Amroth are powerful both mounted and on foot. Dol Amroth also has Pikemen to support their knights. Clansmen of Lamadon and Axemen of Lossarnarch give some specilized backup.


Evil

Mordor: Most varied of all the evil armies. You have Orcs, Morronnan Orcs, Mordor Uruk-hai, and Black Numenorians to choose from as your soldiers(Listed in order of power and of increasing expense) Trolls, Beasts of Gorgorath, and a couple of Warmachines. For Heroes they have Sauron, All 9 Ringwraiths(generic or their more powerful named versions), and Gothmog.

Isenguard: A more Elite army then Mordor, barring Black Numenorians. Uruk-Hai are tough and skilled fighters. Pikes give them some excellent tactical support. Isenguard Trolls, Ballista, and bombs round out the force. They also have some cavelry from Warg Riders. For Heroes they have Saruman, Grima, and Lurtz(and a couple of others)

Goblins: Even weaker individually then orcs. This army can get ALOT of models on the table. Some good support from Drums, trolls, and Characters like the Balrog and Watcher in the Water. Wild Wargs, Bats, and Spiders add a little variety to the list.

Harad: Good archers and relaitivly cheap warriors(on the human side of evil anyway) poisoned arrows give them a little more ranged punch. Mumakil!

Khand: Predominately cavelry based army. Average shooting attacks and devestating combat attacks from Chariots.

Easterlings: Tough and experienced infantry with Cavelry to match. Infantry can be armed with Pikes which can make their Infantry blocks really nasty to face. Some nasty combat characters. Khamul the Easterling gives them some potent magic from their ringwraith and allows you to upgrade your Kataphracts. Black Dragons are powerful cavelry characters.

Very helpful for beginners thx man

Ok that really is pretty helpful. Now can I mix say Gondor, Rohan, and Dol Amroth and Fiefdoms?

Yep you can mix them all as they are all 'kingdoms of men'

Only restriction being I think is that you can only take them in separate Sarbanes.

Commisar Wolfie wrote:So far I'm really not sure. Each one has models that I like so I'm finding it kind of hard to decide what army I want to do. Also I'm not real sure of how the game goes, so I don't know each armies pro's and con's and also the different playstyles.

I have the same problem, in fact I have a bit of almost every army! (Missing Harid, Kand, and Anor). The armies that are large enough to field are in my signature, but I have trouble with army-picking due to the fact that I love all the background, models, and play styles that each one brings! After 5 years of Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game (LotR SBG) I still haven't really settled on an army.
Actually...Numenor I may just revive....Thanks for getting me thinking!

Yep you can mix them all as they are all 'kingdoms of men'

Only restriction being I think is that you can only take them in separate Sarbanes.

Forgive my misunderstanding, but what are Sarbanes?

He meant "Warbands"

A Warband is 1 Hero and 0-12 Warriors


The way it works is you have your primary Warband which comes from one faction(Gondor for example)

That then determines which Allies you can take. Gondor can take Dol Amroth/Rohan/Fiefdoms as allies(and maybe a few others)



Numenor is a cool army. My only gripe is that you can't just get Warriors of Numenor without getting elves, well you can, but that means only having Spearmen and Bowmen.