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Hail all! I have been a long time tabletop gamer and though I am new to the Lord of The Rings tabletop, I am certainly not new to Middle Earth! I had started a Gondorian army a while back, but it was during the War of the Ring rule changes and such and it never really got anywhere. However I find there to be no better time to return then now, what with new models and The Hobbit and all.

Speaking of which, I am going to be playing the Dwarves, I love the lore, models, and really everything about them. So I have a few questions about the game(s). What would you reccomend I do to start off making an army, aside from getting the army book and rulebook? Also can the models/units from the Hobbit be used in Lord of the Rings and vic versa? And, what is simply a good way to start battling and gettigng into the game itself?

I have some pretty good general ideas of how to go about most things, but all advice and comments are welcome!

Welcome to LOTR!

The Hobbit rules are just an update to the Lord of the Rings rules. The LOTR books and models, therefore, can be used in a Hobbit game. It's a bit annoying how GW haven't really made this too clear.

For your army, I'd suggest getting 2 boxes of Dwarf Warriors (or the old 24-man set if possible). This gets you a solid core to your army and you'll need these guys immediately. Due to the allies system, if you don't want to buy so many Dwarves in one go, you could use your Gondorians as allies.

To start, play small games, maybe 300 points. Don't worry about Warband rules for the moment, you can pick them up later. As you become more comfortable with the rules, increase your force to 500, then 750. Once you get really comfortable with the rules, organise a day, get all your friends over, put every model on the table, and play a massive game. It's fun!

Hope it's been somewhat helpful?

Thank you! And thats good to know, I didnt really think that not being able to use them made sense, but thats good. Are the profiles for the Hobbit units also in the LotR book? And I was going to start off with some Warriors and Grim Hammers. I just cannot resist how awesome they are. I already have a Grim Hammers Captain.

No worries!

For the Hobbit units, the rules are in the big rulebook (The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey). The rules for the Warriors would be in the Free Peoples book.

Oh excellent. Well I only need the Hobbit book then, kind of annoying theres not books that contain all rules and units for each. But I guess I understand why it is kept into the factions instead.

Yeah, it is, isn't it? Hope I've been helpful!

Oh well, yeah, I mean like Dwarves have one and Elves have one etc. but yeah thank you!