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Hello,

I am very much considering getting into Lord of the Rings. I already have a bunch of miniatures from years ago (2005? 2006?) that I would likely use just to start. Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

Two newbies in two days!? There is still hope... Well, a fool's hope!

Leaving aside minis for now, you're going to need a rulebook, a d there's a few ways of going about this.

There's the big, expensive Hobbit Hardback, which unless you want the half a dozen themed scenarios is useless, considering the next option and the fact that all the Profiles, should you want them, are available free from BL.

Instead, if you want those same and up to date rules, look for the smaller, softback Hobbit book on EBay, there should be plenty around and you get all the relevant stuff from the big book.

With either of those, you'll also need sourcebooks for the relevant armies, so once you know what you have and want to play you can find out the right book.


Or, if you're just playing among friends, track down a copy of the old, blue-covered hardback. It loses a few rules revisions that the new one has, but has Profiles for pretty much all the core range.


Other than those, you just need the usual tape measure, half a dozen dice and somewhere to play!

You can also pick up the small starter rulebook online or used copies of the large book on the cheap

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
I am very much considering getting into Lord of the Rings.

Welcome! If you haven't played LOTR before, I think you will find its one of the best rules sets GW has produced.

I already have a bunch of miniatures from years ago (2005? 2006?) that I would likely use just to start.

Any particular factions? If so we might be able to make some more suggestions.

Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

The brown The Hobbit rule book is the most up to date version of the rules, but there is really nothing wrong with the older blue "One Ring" rulebook or for that matter the soft cover Return of the King rulebook that came with the starter box set of the same name. Even if you do decide to get The Hobbit rulebook, if you check the auction sites you can sometimes find a deal on one (I picked up a copy for $50US not too long ago, which I considered almost reasonable) .

After that, the tough part will be tracking down the OOP army books you need (I think only two of the five are still available from GW). The missing ones can be found fairly easily, but the prices are rising on those, too.

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Hello,

I am very much considering getting into Lord of the Rings. I already have a bunch of miniatures from years ago (2005? 2006?) that I would likely use just to start. Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

Welcome!

The main rulebook you need is the Hobbit one currently sold by Games Workshop. It comes in hardback form for fifty odd quid, but there's a smaller paperback version that comes with the boxed game that you can usually nab for twenty quid or so on Ebay.

In terms of supplementary rulebooks that you need to get points costs/model stats, etc , there are five or so currently in use to represent the armies. Unfortunately, a good few of them are out of print. The Morder and Moria ones can be acquired here:- http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/The-Hobbit?N=102297+4294967061&Nu=product.repositoryId&qty=12&sorting=phl&view=table&categoryId=cat410002-flat

Out of print and harder to find however, are Kingdoms of Men, the Free Peoples, and Fallen Realms.

Wow guys. Thanks for all the responses. I was doing some research locally to see if anyone plays and apparently NO ONE plays. But I haven't lost hope. If what I have is enough for two people to play, I can possibly rope some people in. We'll just have to see! Regardless, half the fun is building and painting. So even if I buy some models and never get into it, they will hopefully make fine display pieces.

Paradigm wrote:Two newbies in two days!? There is still hope... Well, a fool's hope!

Leaving aside minis for now, you're going to need a rulebook, a d there's a few ways of going about this.

There's the big, expensive Hobbit Hardback, which unless you want the half a dozen themed scenarios is useless, considering the next option and the fact that all the Profiles, should you want them, are available free from BL.

Instead, if you want those same and up to date rules, look for the smaller, softback Hobbit book on EBay, there should be plenty around and you get all the relevant stuff from the big book.

With either of those, you'll also need sourcebooks for the relevant armies, so once you know what you have and want to play you can find out the right book.


Or, if you're just playing among friends, track down a copy of the old, blue-covered hardback. It loses a few rules revisions that the new one has, but has Profiles for pretty much all the core range.

Other than those, you just need the usual tape measure, half a dozen dice and somewhere to play!

You know, I think I actually have that book lying around somewhere at my Parent's place. I might look around for it next time I'm there. I will likely try to get the soft cover book regardless, though. And thank you for the friendly welcome, by the way.

namiel wrote:You can also pick up the small starter rulebook online or used copies of the large book on the cheap

That's what I'll likely try to do.

mdauben wrote:

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
I am very much considering getting into Lord of the Rings.

Welcome! If you haven't played LOTR before, I think you will find its one of the best rules sets GW has produced.

It definitely seems incredibly interested. I was watching Guerrilla Miniatures play and I really like the looks of the mechanics.

I already have a bunch of miniatures from years ago (2005? 2006?) that I would likely use just to start.

Any particular factions? If so we might be able to make some more suggestions.

I seem to have a healthy amount of Mordor, Isengard, and Rohan at my disposal. I'm really torn as to what I'm going to use!

Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

The brown The Hobbit rule book is the most up to date version of the rules, but there is really nothing wrong with the older blue "One Ring" rulebook or for that matter the soft cover Return of the King rulebook that came with the starter box set of the same name. Even if you do decide to get The Hobbit rulebook, if you check the auction sites you can sometimes find a deal on one (I picked up a copy for $50US not too long ago, which I considered almost reasonable)

I'll likely just ebay the soft cover one. I cannot justify spending a lot on a rulebook. It's $100 here in Canada.

After that, the tough part will be tracking down the OOP army books you need (I think only two of the five are still available from GW). The missing ones can be found fairly easily, but the prices are rising on those, too.

So they're that essential, eh? And honestly, since LoTR is not very popular here, I wouldn't be surprised if my local GW had some stored in the back of their store somewhere.

Ketara wrote:

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Hello,

I am very much considering getting into Lord of the Rings. I already have a bunch of miniatures from years ago (2005? 2006?) that I would likely use just to start. Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

Welcome!

The main rulebook you need is the Hobbit one currently sold by Games Workshop. It comes in hardback form for fifty odd quid, but there's a smaller paperback version that comes with the boxed game that you can usually nab for twenty quid or so on Ebay.

In terms of supplementary rulebooks that you need to get points costs/model stats, etc , there are five or so currently in use to represent the armies. Unfortunately, a good few of them are out of print. The Morder and Moria ones can be acquired here:- http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/The-Hobbit?N=102297+4294967061&Nu=product.repositoryId&qty=12&sorting=phl&view=table&categoryId=cat410002-flat

Out of print and harder to find however, are Kingdoms of Men, the Free Peoples, and Fallen Realms.

Well the fact a lone that the Mordor one can still be acquired easily makes me lean a bit more towards to the Mordor models I already have over the others. I'll definitely look into them a bit more!

Depending on how your Mordor/Isengard forces are split, and how they compare to your Rohan lot, you might want to consilidate them into a single army. Isengard can take basic Orcs and associated Captains/Banners/War Riders ect as cheaply and plentifully as Mordor, and they add some strength in numbers to what can otherwise be a pretty small (numerically speaking) armies from Isengard. Trolls could fit in easily enough, just run them with the Isengard Troll profile.

On the other hand, if you have the more unusual Mordor models like Nazgul, Orc Trackers or Shamans in any great quantity then you're better off building two separate armies.

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Wow guys. Thanks for all the responses. I was doing some research locally to see if anyone plays and apparently NO ONE plays. But I haven't lost hope. If what I have is enough for two people to play, I can possibly rope some people in. We'll just have to see!

Fantastic attitude, if I may say so. I wish there were more like you. Although, despite the fact you like the LotR mechanics, given this discussion...

Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

The brown The Hobbit rule book is the most up to date version of the rules, but there is really nothing wrong with the older blue "One Ring" rulebook or for that matter the soft cover Return of the King rulebook that came with the starter box set of the same name. Even if you do decide to get The Hobbit rulebook, if you check the auction sites you can sometimes find a deal on one (I picked up a copy for $50US not too long ago, which I considered almost reasonable)

I'll likely just ebay the soft cover one. I cannot justify spending a lot on a rulebook. It's $100 here in Canada.

After that, the tough part will be tracking down the OOP army books you need (I think only two of the five are still available from GW). The missing ones can be found fairly easily, but the prices are rising on those, too.

So they're that essential, eh? And honestly, since LoTR is not very popular here, I wouldn't be surprised if my local GW had some stored in the back of their store somewhere.

... I'd sincerely suggest this as an alternative, at a whopping $21.50 Canadian. It's what I plan to use my own LotR minis with. Heck, I could already use it's historical parent for Middle Earth...

 Paradigm wrote:
Depending on how your Mordor/Isengard forces are split, and how they compare to your Rohan lot, you might want to consilidate them into a single army. Isengard can take basic Orcs and associated Captains/Banners/War Riders ect as cheaply and plentifully as Mordor, and they add some strength in numbers to what can otherwise be a pretty small (numerically speaking) armies from Isengard. Trolls could fit in easily enough, just run them with the Isengard Troll profile.

On the other hand, if you have the more unusual Mordor models like Nazgul, Orc Trackers or Shamans in any great quantity then you're better off building two separate armies.

Well the quick rundown looks like this:

For Mordor I have a healthy amount of Orcs and 3 Ringwraiths, two of which are mounted.

For the Fallen Realms I have some Easterlings, Haradrim, a healthy amount of Uruk Hai, Lurtz, Saruman, and Sharku. Looks like the Mordor Orcs can go here too.

While for the Kingdoms of Men I have a healthy amount of Rohan Warriors, 6 or so riders, 1 mounted royal guard, Theodan mounted, Aragorn mounted, black gate Aragorn mounted, Gandalf mounted, and Boromir in his Fellowship of the Ring Osgiliath getup. I also have a decent amount of Gondorian warriors but they are in some really, really rough shape.

 Vermis wrote:

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Wow guys. Thanks for all the responses. I was doing some research locally to see if anyone plays and apparently NO ONE plays. But I haven't lost hope. If what I have is enough for two people to play, I can possibly rope some people in. We'll just have to see!

Fantastic attitude, if I may say so. I wish there were more like you. Although, despite the fact you like the LotR mechanics, given this discussion...

Is there any essential things I need? Or just the rulebook (which I feel is stupidly expensive)?

The brown The Hobbit rule book is the most up to date version of the rules, but there is really nothing wrong with the older blue "One Ring" rulebook or for that matter the soft cover Return of the King rulebook that came with the starter box set of the same name. Even if you do decide to get The Hobbit rulebook, if you check the auction sites you can sometimes find a deal on one (I picked up a copy for $50US not too long ago, which I considered almost reasonable)

I'll likely just ebay the soft cover one. I cannot justify spending a lot on a rulebook. It's $100 here in Canada.

After that, the tough part will be tracking down the OOP army books you need (I think only two of the five are still available from GW). The missing ones can be found fairly easily, but the prices are rising on those, too.

So they're that essential, eh? And honestly, since LoTR is not very popular here, I wouldn't be surprised if my local GW had some stored in the back of their store somewhere.

... I'd sincerely suggest this as an alternative, at a whopping $21.50 Canadian. It's what I plan to use my own LotR minis with. Heck, I could already use it's historical parent for Middle Earth...

Very interesting... I gather the rules are pretty much identical to LoTR? Only difference being names and such?

Dragon Rampant is a very different ruleset to LotR. It uses units as opposed to individual minis, the dice mechanics are all completely different, and while it's brilliant, it doesn't need to/isn't able to replace LotR. It doesn't require unit bases, though, so there's nothing to stop you playing both with the same minis, Personally, I'm a big fan of both, but they're very different animals. Worth getting, though, it handles 50+ a side games better than LotR.

Going on the forces you've listed, I'd recommend a mixed Mordor/Harad/Easterling force, and any leftover orcs going into Isengard.

I also have a few LotR miniatures laying around and was thinking about buying a few models last weekend. Thanks for the compilation what is needed to start the game.

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
For Mordor I have a healthy amount of Orcs and 3 Ringwraiths, two of which are mounted.

Most people seem to like the Morannon Orcs (or the Mordor Uruk-hai) as the center of their Mordor lists. The Morannon Orcs are still available from GW and are plastic figures, so if you want to go Mordor you might want to pick up a box. Personally, I do like some cavalry for my lists, so you could pick up some Warg Riders or Morgul Knights. They are both still available, both plastic figures but the Warg Riders have the advantage of working with the Isenguard list, too.

For the Fallen Realms I have some Easterlings, Haradrim, a healthy amount of Uruk Hai, Lurtz, Saruman, and Sharku. Looks like the Mordor Orcs can go here too.

Fluff wise, the Easterlings and Haradrim make good allies for Mordor, and they both offer additional cavalry options if you have them. The Uruk-hai and Mordor Orcs make a great core to an Isenguard list. Include a unit of Warg Riders for cavalry and you'd be set there.

While for the Kingdoms of Men I have a healthy amount of Rohan Warriors, 6 or so riders, 1 mounted royal guard, Theodan mounted, Aragorn mounted, black gate Aragorn mounted, Gandalf mounted, and Boromir in his Fellowship of the Ring Osgiliath getup.

That's actually not a bad start on a Rohan army. If I was to add anything, it might be another group of 6 Riders then field one with Theoden and one with Aragorn, leaving the Warriors to a generic captain or two (depending on how many you include). The specialist Rohirim (Royal Guard, Outriders and Sons of Eorl) are all nice but not IMO required for a competative Rohan list.

None of this is engraved in stone, of course. Just some random ideas to consider.

Paradigm wrote:Dragon Rampant is a very different ruleset to LotR. It uses units as opposed to individual minis, the dice mechanics are all completely different, and while it's brilliant, it doesn't need to/isn't able to replace LotR. It doesn't require unit bases, though, so there's nothing to stop you playing both with the same minis, Personally, I'm a big fan of both, but they're very different animals. Worth getting, though, it handles 50+ a side games better than LotR.

In which case I think I'll stick with the softcover Hobbit rulebook (or the old blue one if I can find it at my parent's house). $40 Canadian seems to be the going price on eBay, which certainly isn't too bad. At least in comparison to the $100 for the hardcover.

Going on the forces you've listed, I'd recommend a mixed Mordor/Harad/Easterling force, and any leftover orcs going into Isengard.

I might do that. It looks like since I have a decent start on several armies, I might build upon all of them for the sake of trying to introduce others to the game.

Hanskrampf wrote:I also have a few LotR miniatures laying around and was thinking about buying a few models last weekend. Thanks for the compilation what is needed to start the game.

I'm glad someone else is finding all this information just as helpful as I am!

mdauben wrote:

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
For Mordor I have a healthy amount of Orcs and 3 Ringwraiths, two of which are mounted.

Most people seem to like the Morannon Orcs (or the Mordor Uruk-hai) as the center of their Mordor lists. The Morannon Orcs are still available from GW and are plastic figures, so if you want to go Mordor you might want to pick up a box. Personally, I do like some cavalry for my lists, so you could pick up some Warg Riders or Morgul Knights. They are both still available, both plastic figures but the Warg Riders have the advantage of working with the Isenguard list, too.

Is there a stat difference between Mordor Orcs and Morannon Orcs? Or is it strictly cosmetic? If it's cosmetic, I actually prefer the look of the Mordor Orcs, myself. And I totally agree with the Warg Riders over Morgul Knights. They're cheaper and work for Isengard too and that's a big selling point for me.

For the Fallen Realms I have some Easterlings, Haradrim, a healthy amount of Uruk Hai, Lurtz, Saruman, and Sharku. Looks like the Mordor Orcs can go here too.

Fluff wise, the Easterlings and Haradrim make good allies for Mordor, and they both offer additional cavalry options if you have them. The Uruk-hai and Mordor Orcs make a great core to an Isenguard list. Include a unit of Warg Riders for cavalry and you'd be set there.

I really think Warg Riders will be my first purchase. They really seem to be the main guys to bring everything together.

While for the Kingdoms of Men I have a healthy amount of Rohan Warriors, 6 or so riders, 1 mounted royal guard, Theodan mounted, Aragorn mounted, black gate Aragorn mounted, Gandalf mounted, and Boromir in his Fellowship of the Ring Osgiliath getup.

That's actually not a bad start on a Rohan army. If I was to add anything, it might be another group of 6 Riders then field one with Theoden and one with Aragorn, leaving the Warriors to a generic captain or two (depending on how many you include). The specialist Rohirim (Royal Guard, Outriders and Sons of Eorl) are all nice but not IMO required for a competative Rohan list.

I'll likely pick up a box of riders as well then. With that and the Warg Riders, it sounds like I have at least two valid lists. Which will definitely help when trying to introduce others to the game.

None of this is engraved in stone, of course. Just some random ideas to consider.

Though not engraved in stone, it's a lot more information than I had before. And on top of that, the cost isn't too bad. Sure after the rulebook and such I'll be over $100 already. But compared to 40k and AoS, that really isn't too bad at all.

Morannon Orcs are basically a middle ground between regular Orcs and uruk-hai. They're as strong and tough as the latter, but their Fight and Courage values aren't as high. In terms of power for points they're probably a better deal, but you can't go wrong with a bunch of Mordor Orcs.

LotR on the whole is very balanced (some Hobbit stuff aside), so unlike the other GW games the decision is more 'what do I like more' rather than 'what's better'. Obviously some minis are better than others, but not the the extent that your choice of one over another will win or lose you the game.

 Paradigm wrote:
Morannon Orcs are basically a middle ground between regular Orcs and uruk-hai. They're as strong and tough as the latter, but their Fight and Courage values aren't as high. In terms of power for points they're probably a better deal, but you can't go wrong with a bunch of Mordor Orcs.

LotR on the whole is very balanced (some Hobbit stuff aside), so unlike the other GW games the decision is more 'what do I like more' rather than 'what's better'. Obviously some minis are better than others, but not the the extent that your choice of one over another will win or lose you the game.

That's actually really great to hear. I don't plan to be competitive, but it's nice knowing I won't get annihilated every time I play. That is certainly an issue in 40k (I go up against Necrons a lot). Far less of an issue in AoS, nowadays.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a question: Does Battlescribe or something have a Lord of the Rings list creator?

I've been going over the rules for the past few days now and there's a few things that stump me. I'll start with the one that's bothering me the most. It states that only 1/3 of your army, in terms of models, can have bows. If you have more than one contingent, it's 1/3 of each contingent. Makes sense. However, is that for bow upgrades or all bows? Because Rangers for example start with bows as stock.

Yeah, only 1/3 of your models can have bows (or any other kind of missile weapon, throwing stones doesn't count) when you start the game, whether they're bought as upgrades or come stock, unless your army list gives you the ability to ignore this (off the top of my head, Rohan get an exception for any Riders of Rohan, Harad and Azog and Rivendell from the Hobbit get a 50% limit instead of 33, can't think of any others except maybe Arnor but I can't recall the details).

 Paradigm wrote:
Yeah, only 1/3 of your models can have bows (or any other kind of missile weapon, throwing stones doesn't count) when you start the game, whether they're bought as upgrades or come stock, unless your army list gives you the ability to ignore this (off the top of my head, Rohan get an exception for any Riders of Rohan, Harad and Azog and Rivendell from the Hobbit get a 50% limit instead of 33, can't think of any others except maybe Arnor but I can't recall the details).

It appears that's also the case for Arnor. Would have been tough to make a list for them otherwise!

I think it's something like 'for every 4 Rangers of Arnor you can take a Ranger of the North that doesn't count against the bow limit', so they can't go totally shooty but can bring more bows than most.

 Paradigm wrote:
I think it's something like 'for every 4 Rangers of Arnor you can take a Ranger of the North that doesn't count against the bow limit', so they can't go totally shooty but can bring more bows than most.

Seems to be the other way around, but that's the gist of it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's another question: Can heroes be captains for warbands from other contingents? I.e can someone like Aragorn in his Helm's Deep getup lead Galadhrim Warriors?

I have also justb started to get into this game, I'm painting up a Mordor Orcs army..

Not sure if you have already found some rule books but here ya go -

(Link removed, dont want to anger mods)

 Agondrae wrote:
I have also justb started to get into this game, I'm painting up a Mordor Orcs army..

Not sure if you have already found some rule books but here ya go -

https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/27764819/

Just download drop box and open each link through it, BAM!
You're welcome.

That's actually what I found the other day. Most of them are good but the main hobbit rulebook is missing the second half.

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's another question: Can heroes be captains for warbands from other contingents? I.e can someone like Aragorn in his Helm's Deep getup lead Galadhrim Warriors?

I don't think there is anything prohibiting the Galadrhim Warriors from benefiting from Aragorn's special abilities if they are within his range, but they still need a hero from the Lothlorian and Mirkwood army list for each Galadrhim Warriors warband.

In other words, if you take:

12 x Galadrhim Warriors
1 x Aragorn

You still need:

1 x Galadrhim Captain (or other hero from the Lothlorian and Mirkwood list)

 mdauben wrote:

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's another question: Can heroes be captains for warbands from other contingents? I.e can someone like Aragorn in his Helm's Deep getup lead Galadhrim Warriors?

I don't think there is anything prohibiting the Galadrhim Warriors from benefiting from Aragorn's special abilities if they are within his range, but they still need a hero from the Lothlorian and Mirkwood army list for each Galadrhim Warriors warband.

In other words, if you take:

12 x Galadrhim Warriors
1 x Aragorn

You still need:

1 x Galadrhim Captain (or other hero from the Lothlorian and Mirkwood list)

Good to know. It does make making lists a little tougher though. I have a decent lack of captains and what not for every army I have.

 PaulTheFirewoodSalesman wrote:
Good to know. It does make making lists a little tougher though. I have a decent lack of captains and what not for every army I have.

Eh, the way I see it for unnamed captains, just mark one of you warrior minis so you can identify him and say "here's my captain". Most of them share the same equipment and armor as their troops, and just have a "heroic" pose to identify them. The named hero's are a little more problematic, if you want to use "offical" WYSIWYG miniatures.

If you are scrambling to find the named heroes for your Lothlorien list, I'd say that Rumil and Galadriel are the most important to get. Rumil is probably the best buy for a combat hero, and Galadriel (especially in "Protectress" mode) is a great magical support hero (important if you are facing things armies lead by the Witch King, Saruman or Sauron himself). If you needed to you could convert Rumil out of a Galadrim warrior, and if you are not picky about which sculpt you get Galadriel isn't a terribly hard mini to find.

So if I was running an army would it be Moria or Angmar?
Or Moria AND Angmar?

Realistically, I just want the Moria, Angmar would just be a sweet bonus if I could work the armies together.

Any of the above. The army book contains the lists for both Angmar and Moria, and so long as you meet the standard army building rules, you can mix and match between the two (and any other Evil army) or use either on their own. The two do pair quite nicely as well.

Were the Moria goblins controlled by Sauron?
Or by the Balrog? ( I know they had some kind of agreement not to interfere with each other)

Cause I want an evil non-Sauron controlled force, and If I can go Moria Goblins with Balrog I will.
Maybe some Spirits from Angmar.

If not I'll just play Druzhag the beastcaller and his pets.

You can definitely bring a Balrog along with Moria Goblins. He eats up a ton of points, but Goblins are cheap as chips so it'll still balance out to a reasonably numerous force.

Is that a little scumbaggy at lower points though?
Like running IK in less than 1000 pts.

I'm not sure about the unwritten rules of LoTR are.
What would be an appropriate points value to take Balrog at so that opponents won't scoff at me?