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Hello. I have friend looking to get rid of some LOTR minis and he might just let me have them.
From what I have been told there is mostly Rohan and some goblins of moria.
I was wondering if you could all answer a few of my questions for me to make getting into this easy. I am still pretty new to 40k and I look back and see so many mistakes and lost opportunities I would like to avoid with LOTR.

Is Rohan covered under the Forces of Men book? I see army lists around 500-3000 points, and was wondering how it compares to 40k. How many points would you say is a decent starting army. How long is a standard game. Lets compare these questions to a force of 1000 points in 40k.
Is this game as expensive as 40k? I see some stuff and so far it looks like it is very cheap compared to it, especially if a standard game only calls for about 30 models as I am seeing.
Lastly, what should I be looking to obtain to start my Rohan force? Also, how do cavalry work when their horses die, do you just replace the unit with a regular infantry model?

I apologize if this thread is all over the place, and I really didn't want to bother you all with a thread like this, but I really wanted this stuff answered before I invest in it. Thanks for any help given!

Welcome to the hobby!

First: You need the blue rulebook, this can be either the big $60 one from GW, or the small paperback one found in the Mines of Moria box set.

Next: Kingdoms of Men has the rules/compositions for Rohan.

The standard game size is 500 points, it usually takes about an hour with 2 players.

Also, google LOTR Batlte Companies. You can get the rules on line. It uses smaller LOTR units, but is very well balanced.

Right on, thank you very much for the quick reply!

Now I just need to figure out what to start with. I think my friend has like 12 warriors, and maybe some riders. I am about to buy two sets of Riders already from another user here. Would that and a hero be enough to start to learn?
I should add that I am also looking to start Dwarves if my friend ends up not wanting to part with them.

You now need a hero to twelves troops in ratio (1:12) to make a legal army so your gonna need a couple by the sounds of it

Dwarves are brutal but I fell they suffer in smaller matches due to the new restrictions and dwarves have the highest cost generic heroes of all too.

Welcome to the hobby of LOTR then, you need at least three warbands with Rohan and heros to lead them,

I play Easterlings and I recomend them, due to the fact that in 500p games we shine. We have the Black Dragon upgrade witch is dirt cheap and gives you far better troops, we also have some of the hardest hitting cavalry in the game. And we can use shield & pike to great effect

Welcome, Lotr players are few and far between. So I welcome ye' with open arms friend!

Dr What has already addressed your questions. Good. Good.

Also you won't nearly spend as much for a 500pt army as you would say a 1500 point 40k army. Though I've spent nearly $300 CAD on my Harad. But that's because I got a mumak, and -two- Fine Cast sets.

Welcome to the Tables of Middle-Earth,

Though I do play 40k with a strong-sized Ork force and contigents of Eldar and Imperial Guard. If you look at my Sighnature, you can see the number of armies I collect in LOTR.

This hobby is considerably cheaper than 40k, due to the cheap-ness of the models. The lack of multi-parts makes them easy for GW to make and sell. They used to sell x24 boxes of warriors for $24, but sadly stopped in order to squeeze money out of us, thus now only selling half as many for +5 dollars (American Dollars)

LOTR gets my adrenaline pumping as I imagine the stories and legends that unfold in each battle and creating the forces fit to fight the battles of the books.

Rohan is an amazing Cavalry army, dwarves have the highest Defence value around but are slower. A happy medium is Easterlings. (Easterlings are my favorite and first army, but due to over-use I have kept that army dormant. Wating for the time when Easterlings fall out of favour.)

Sorry guys, I had forgotten to actually reply once I saw the responses a while ago. Thanks for all of your tips!
I decided against going with the dwarves, as my friend still has his Rohan forces, and I will be taking them off his hands soon.
Easterlings sound fun, but another friend of mine already plays them, so I would like to stray from them as my first force.
As my first purchase in this game, I picked up Erkenbrand.
Soon I will have him lead my Riders, and from there, I will add on to my force.
So what would you all recommend I pick up next? I am expecting my next purchase to be a box of Warriors that way I have the models to use for when my riders horses are killed, or if they dismount.
What are the best Heroes to go with? I was thinking about picking up Eowyn next. Did I make a wise decision going with Erkenbrand?
Also, How many points am I looking at fielding with Erkenbrand leading a full group of riders? Is it enough to legally play and learn the game with? Also, Is there a force organisation chart, or is it possible to play small battles of a single unit vs a single unit? Thanks again for all of your help guys, I am glad to be venturing in this game, as I have been a huge Tolkien fan since I was very young.

I'm not familiar with Erkenbrand (my friend plays dwarves, but lightly).

I know Dain is in the top 3 good-guy pains to kill (as voted by GW).

Dwarf Rangers are excellent.

Erkenbrand is a Rohan hero, though thank you for the tip on Dain and the Rangers, I plan on starting a Dwarven force once I have a sizable Rohan one.

So I am picking up the Warriors box soon. Is it possible to have a force go something like this?
Erkenbrand
Six Riders of Rohan
Six Warriors with assorted weapons.

Or does everything in a warband have to be of the same type, such as
Erkenbrand
12 Riders of Rohan


Is one warband enough to get started and learn how to play?
I haven't actually picked up the core rules or kingdoms of men books, so bear with me when I ask dumb stuff.

So far I have Erkenbrand and six Riders.

Yes, you can mix and match warbands, yes one character and 12 warriors is a good start, make sure you put Erkenbrad on a horse and give him a shield.

Really, that is kind of cool. I was hoping so, I didn't want to have six warriors being unused.
Thank you!