New player - bought a gackload on clearance - need help!

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**Mymearan**

Clearance at the local store... Bought it all! Below pic is about $70, each box was $5, book and Moria $10... Only thing I skipped was two more Uruk-hai boxes, I assume I won't need them since I bought three already. Also didn't buy the War of the Ring rule book.
Never played LotR before. What do I do with this stuff? Can I use it to build a couple of forces? Or do I need to buy more stuff? Help dakka!

**mdauben**

Wow! That's a smoking hot deal!

You have certainly got a great core for the Iseguard and Lothlorien armies (the warg riders are actually the Fell Warg Riders from the Hobbit unit, but they can be proxies for the Wild Warg Riders from LOTR. There are slight differences in the rules and point cost of the two units).

The first thing you are going to need for a playable army is some heroes. The rules require 1 hero for every 12 warriors. These can be generic heros (like captains) or named heroes (like Saruman or Galadriel). You do have the Fellowship figures in the Mines of Moria box set who are all heroes, but none of them are part of the Lothlorien list. You could still use them in the elf list (the only two hard divisions in the game are good and evil) but the Hero for a warband (12 warriors) has to come from the same list.

There are a number of good choices for Iseguard. To start I might look at either some generic Uruk-hai captains, or maybe Mahur or Lurtz. Both these are still available from GW or are fairly easy to find second hand.

For the Elves, I'd look at Rumil, or the generic Captain. Same situation on availability.

You could also just mark one of the Warriors from the box set as a generic Captain, too. As long as you can pick them out during the game.

I'd probably hold of on including the magic using heroes (Saruman, Galadriel, Celeborn, Elf Stormcaller or Uruk-hai Shaman) until you've got some experience in the basic combat rules. Then feel free to add them. The magic system in the LOTR game is really pretty well balanced.

Have fun and feel free to ask more questions if you want.

**Momotaro**

Amazing haul!

That version of the rulebook pre-dates Legions of Middle-Earth, the Five Army Books from 2012 and the "1 Hero to 12 troops" warband rule, although you're certainly free to use them. The Isengard and Elf lists are quite short in the Big Blue rulebook - but then so are most lists:

1) IIRC, there are few Isengard infantry heroes, just Lurtz, a generic Uruk-Hai captain and Sharku for the warg riders. Oh, and a shaman;

2) You can build the Isengard troll, but you'll have to use the Mordor troll stats. No worries about mixing and matching evil models like that;

3) There's no proper Galadhrim list, instead there's a generic "Woodland Realms" list. No stats for Elf cavalry - I would use Knights of Dol Amoth.

Now the good news - the game was perfectly playable using just that book for years. It's mostly the stats and force-building rules that got balanced - the actual core rules are remarkably consistent right up to the latest Hobbit rulebook. The Mines of Moria and Big Blue Book rules are identical - IIRC, Mines of Moria only has starts for movie characters, so no dwarfs (but the big book has them), and the big book misses out the Army of the Dead (but MoM has them!).

You have a couple of decent forces there already - infantry, bow troops and cavalry on each side, and some tough troops to play with! Stuff I would do:

1) I would paint/convert one or two uruks and a warg rider as captains, and convert a pikeman to a banner bearer;

2) Something similar for the Elves, or convert/paint one as a named hero like Haldir. Legolas is actually from the Woodland Realms list anyway;

3) As @mdauben says, the heroes are worth considering - and some good suggestions there!

4) If you want the latest stats, I would hunt down the Fallen Realms and Free Peoples army books - they're OOP, but eBay may have them, and they rumour is they're coming back soon from the Specialist Games division. There was also an older Isengard army book you could search for;

I do have a number of the free GW PDFs, including the pre-Free Peoples Lorien list that GW had on their site for several years (they were in a WD), and a number of the sourcebook stat and special rule summary sheets that GW also put out. They're the last iteration of the stats before the five definitive army books, so pretty close to the final versions. All above board - PM me if you'd like a copy.

**Manchu**

You made out great on that! Congrats!

I would advise you not to rely on playing the game out of the old One Rulebook alone. SBG is really great and definitely worth spending a bit more to play properly. You already have great Isengard and Lothlorien armies, minus the Heroes you will need.

**Mymearan**

mdauben wrote:Wow! That's a smoking hot deal!

You have certainly got a great core for the Iseguard and Lothlorien armies (the warg riders are actually the Fell Warg Riders from the Hobbit unit, but they can be proxies for the Wild Warg Riders from LOTR. There are slight differences in the rules and point cost of the two units).

The first thing you are going to need for a playable army is some heroes. The rules require 1 hero for every 12 warriors. These can be generic heros (like captains) or named heroes (like Saruman or Galadriel). You do have the Fellowship figures in the Mines of Moria box set who are all heroes, but none of them are part of the Lothlorien list. You could still use them in the elf list (the only two hard divisions in the game are good and evil) but the Hero for a warband (12 warriors) has to come from the same list.

There are a number of good choices for Iseguard. To start I might look at either some generic Uruk-hai captains, or maybe Mahur or Lurtz. Both these are still available from GW or are fairly easy to find second hand.

For the Elves, I'd look at Rumil, or the generic Captain. Same situation on availability.

You could also just mark one of the Warriors from the box set as a generic Captain, too. As long as you can pick them out during the game.

I'd probably hold of on including the magic using heroes (Saruman, Galadriel, Celeborn, Elf Stormcaller or Uruk-hai Shaman) until you've got some experience in the basic combat rules. Then feel free to add them. The magic system in the LOTR game is really pretty well balanced.

Have fun and feel free to ask more questions if you want.

Thanks! I didn't actually realize that the rules had been changed that much, I thought this was the most recent rules. I think I'll start playing with these and try to find the Hobbit book later. I'll definitely start looking for/converting some heroes though. Any other units I should pick up? I have a lot more Evil guys than Good guys.

Momotaro wrote:Amazing haul!

That version of the rulebook pre-dates Legions of Middle-Earth, the Five Army Books from 2012 and the "1 Hero to 12 troops" warband rule, although you're certainly free to use them. The Isengard and Elf lists are quite short in the Big Blue rulebook - but then so are most lists:

1) IIRC, there are few Isengard infantry heroes, just Lurtz, a generic Uruk-Hai captain and Sharku for the warg riders. Oh, and a shaman;

2) You can build the Isengard troll, but you'll have to use the Mordor troll stats. No worries about mixing and matching evil models like that;

3) There's no proper Galadhrim list, instead there's a generic "Woodland Realms" list. No stats for Elf cavalry - I would use Knights of Dol Amoth.

Now the good news - the game was perfectly playable using just that book for years. It's mostly the stats and force-building rules that got balanced - the actual core rules are remarkably consistent right up to the latest Hobbit rulebook. The Mines of Moria and Big Blue Book rules are identical - IIRC, Mines of Moria only has starts for movie characters, so no dwarfs (but the big book has them), and the big book misses out the Army of the Dead (but MoM has them!).

You have a couple of decent forces there already - infantry, bow troops and cavalry on each side, and some tough troops to play with! Stuff I would do:

1) I would paint/convert one or two uruks and a warg rider as captains, and convert a pikeman to a banner bearer;

2) Something similar for the Elves, or convert/paint one as a named hero like Haldir. Legolas is actually from the Woodland Realms list anyway;

3) As @mdauben says, the heroes are worth considering - and some good suggestions there!

4) If you want the latest stats, I would hunt down the Fallen Realms and Free Peoples army books - they're OOP, but eBay may have them, and they rumour is they're coming back soon from the Specialist Games division. There was also an older Isengard army book you could search for;

I do have a number of the free GW PDFs, including the pre-Free Peoples Lorien list that GW had on their site for several years (they were in a WD), and a number of the sourcebook stat and special rule summary sheets that GW also put out. They're the last iteration of the stats before the five definitive army books, so pretty close to the final versions. All above board - PM me if you'd like a copy.

Very cool, really appreciate the explanation of the differences between these rules and the Hobbit rules and your suggestions. I'll wait and see what Specialist Games do with the Source books then, really hope they'll start supporting the game again!

Manchu wrote:You made out great on that! Congrats!

I would advise you not to rely on playing the game out of the old One Rulebook alone. SBG is really great and definitely worth spending a bit more to play properly. You already have great Isengard and Lothlorien armies, minus the Heroes you will need.

Thanks, unfortunately I can't really spend any more money right now, but I have a feeling there'll be more LotR spending down the road...

**Paradigm**

To expand those forces, I'd look for (in no particular order, just whenever you see a good deal)

- Some unarmoured Wood Elf warriors (plastic box), they'll give you some cheaper troops to bulk up your numbers in smaller games (Galadrhim are nice, but the armour and shield/bow/spear make them very pricey per model). Liekwise, Uruk-Hai Scouts (plastic again) would add a cheaper and more mobile element to your Isengard force, they make nice flanking or screening troops.

- Heroes are essential, even if you can convert some Captains, you'll want some named heroes both for their in-game value and the narrative they bring. Galadriel and Saurman are both very helpful, and balance out reasonably nicely so you might want to add them together. Alternatively, you could add Gandalf as a direct counterpart to Saruman. A lot of LotR minis were sold via a dead cheap partwork magazine back in the Glory Days (£3.99 a fortnight for a magazine with scenarios, painting guides, rules and a sprue of 12 minis or a metal hero... makes today's prices seem even more mental!

), so Ebay is flooded with cheap heroes that were included in that. Lurtz, Ugluk, Uruk Captain, Saruman, Gandalf, Galadriel, Haldir should all be easy to come by cheap because of that, all worth adding at some point.

- The Hobbit rulebook, look on Ebay and you should be able to find the starter set mini rulebook pretty cheap. Sourcebooks are also worth keeping an eye out for (you want Fallen Realms and The Free Peoples for these armies), but you should easily be able to get by on the blue book for the time being.

**Orlanth**

Lok for some Two Towers main boxsets, this will expand your Isengard army and give you a second starter army for the forces of good. Rohan. The Rohirrim play differently and you can jack up the model count if you buy their infantry boxsets.
As fro the elves, I would leave the Galadrim as they are rather than add elf scouts. This way they play like the small elite force they are and your battles will be heavily lobsided in deployment as elves vs orcs should be. Instead bulk them out with heroes, named or generic.

Sooner or later you will want Saruman, as the Isengard army is not the same without him.

**Ketara**

Dead jealous of your lot. I've heard the sourcebooks are due for reprint within the next two months, so I'd hang off on purchasing them anytime soon unless you need them for an event.