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Hi guys! I've finally decided to start LotR, but I don't know what armies to get. So could you guys help me decide? I want to know what ALL of the armies are like to play, paint, and collect, and what are there strenths and weaknessess are e.t.c. Any contribution will be welcome. Thanks guys!

Well since everything is pretty balanced it's more up to you. What do you prefer to play in general rpg, bad or good?
Which side is your favourite in the fluff? Is there an army what you've always liked, or a particular story in the books or a scene in the film. It might narrow stuff down to get to a decision.
Also check hoe many points you want to start with and ask yourself whether you are a painter or not, and look for armies that either have a lot of cheap minis or not, so you can adapt it to your preferences.
I myself have a Rohan army, chose them because I like the second slim a lot, I prefer the good side, and they have horses (yeah a real girl innit).

If you know what you sort of want to narrow it down to its easier to get into specifics.
There is a lot of awesome stuff out there.

Bad Guys:

Isengard (I play this!) = Elite fighting units that are very hard to crack and have high strength. They also get Warg Riders which are also awesome.

Moria (I also play this!) = You can get lots of giant monsters (trolls, dragons, and the like) on top of getting hordes of goblins, which are some of the cheapest units in the game.

Mordor = Kinda the "average" evil, somewhere between Isengard and Moria. I don't ever suggest taking the standard Ring Wraiths.

Easterlings = Finally good because they've got bows now! Moderately priced (cheaper than Uruk-hai) with heavy armor.

Harad = Fast units with lots of bows and poisoned arrows. You can get mumakils, but you probably don't want them.

Corsairs of Umbar = Pirates! They all have throwing weapons, so if they get priority, when they charge, you're going to get very hurt (they can throw the weapon and try to kill you before they charge you).

Angmar = See Moria, but you get more undead (Spectres and Shades).

Good Guys:

Elves = Highest fight value for basic warriors in game (they always win a tie in combat).There are varying kinds, my favorite being Wood Elves, as they can go without armor and become almost invisible with Elven Cloaks.

Rohan = Lots of fast horsemen which can dictate where the fights happen. Lots of throwing weapons for harassment.

Gondor = Heavy Armor, the "average" good guy army.

The Shire = I don't recommend this army unless you're incredibly rich. Almost all of the models are in metal, but they're very cheap points wise, can run more of a horde than Moria.

Dwarves = Incredibly hard to kill due to high defense and they pack a punch. The funny thing is that you can almost always outrun them though.

oooh! Dwarves and Elves sound great. I love the main characters such as gandalf, gimli, and the elf guy who cometes with gimli in battles. He's my favourite character but I can never remember his name.

You forgot wanderers in the wild ,wildmen of druadan, low defence poisoned blowpipes re-rolls against orcs, uruk-hai and goblins, supported by ents eagles and for some reason bandobras took(an unusually tall hobbit on a horse). A very limited army, but hopefully gw will make some models for beornings when the hobbit comes out.

Legolas! That's his name!

Elves and Dwarves are fairly good armies, though personally I hate them as they give me the toughest time in game.

If you take Dwarves, I recommend getting Dain. Even GW recognizes him as being almost to the point of OP!

If you take Elves, Gil-Galad is a beatstick to the extreme, but he's very expensive! Same goes for Elrond. I highly recommend Elladan and Ellrohir, as I've had them tag-team and tackle trolls and beat down armies by themselves!

actually, I think I might make a rohan army. What's the average amount of points for an army?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I'm thinking of starting off with mines of moria, but I have no idea what models come with it! should I get it?

Check the GW site, it's got the contents.

24 Goblins (1/3 bow, 1/3 spear, 1/3 sword and shield) + Cave troll with hammer or spear and troll chain (awesome piece of awesome) + plastic models for each member of the fellowship.

You also get a paperback copy of the rules (still current, but you'd still need a sourcebook to update it for your current army).

Also included are some neat bits of terrain, 2 whippy sticks,a get started guide, and some dice.

I recommend you start small, maybe 100 points and work your way up to the 500 point standard.

If you want to keep small, try battle companies. It's a free ruleset from GW (it's available on Scribd) that allows you to play small point games, but each model can level up and acquire new wargear. It's even more balanced than LotR (GW's most balanced system, IMHO)!

Usually people start with a 500 point army and kick off from there.
But you could decide to go bigger if most of your friends or local games shop prefer more points. My advise is to start with 500 points though, it gives you a clear overview without being overwhelmed with the amount of painting or figuring out the skills and particular rules of your army.
But it's pretty similar to 40k in that sense. 500, 750, 1000, 1500 or over. (though I am aware 500pt in 40k is less usual right?)

what are galadhrim like?

 OrkzCrazy wrote:
what are galadhrim like?

They're Elves, so you get warriors with the standard Elf statline, but some awesome cavalry as well!

Usually 40k armies are about 4000 points, but the games are about 2000. And i'm asuming games are played at about 1000 points?

 OrkzCrazy wrote:
Usually 40k armies are about 4000 points, but the games are about 2000. And i'm asuming games are played at about 1000 points?

1000 points is a lot.

From what I've seen, 500 is standard play, and 700 in those rare competitions.

However, the standard size varies from place to place (my 40k group only does 1500 points).

oh, Ok then

500 is a good place to start with LotR, though if you're like me you'll eventually end up with 2000 points worth of Isengard.

I just played a 1000 point game and it took 3 and a half hours. Just to put the points in perspective.

NVM, mod took care of the bot posts.

IMO, LOTR is a game you play with close friends, cousins or family members. I remember how me and my two cousins spent all of winter break last year playing LOTR; and let me tell you, 8 hours to play mines of Moria is ridiculous.

Back when the model limit was like 90, I had to take most every character they had, and in anything higher then 300 (even after over 100 hobbits, I still had to stuff in gandalf on the cart- remember him? the cart did nothing different)
still neat to see...should replace the cart

The good side tend to be hero-heavy whilst the evil side are model heavy. Of course there are some exceptions, but those are quite few.

Here's my take:
GONDOR: think of the Empire in Warhammer Fantasy. They're pretty average, armoured heavily and they are a decent force. They also have a wide selection of models. You can get Elessar, which is amazing!
ROHAN: Bretonnia without the suckiness. They are cavalry focused with average and cheap infantry.
ELVES: Powerful and expensive warriors. There are two main types of elves: Galadhrim and Wood Elves. Galadhrim are better armoured but Wood Elves are cheaper. Best bows in the game.
DWARVES: They will shove off anything but they're slow. That's their biggest downside.
THE SHIRE: Seriously, don't bother. They're expensive money-wise and cheap points-wise. A horrid combination.

ISENGARD: Badass Uruks with bombs and pikes. They're pretty damn good. Like Black Orcs, and only Black Orcs.
MORDOR: Hordes of Orcs and the occasional Uruk. Best spellcaster and warrior in the game - Sauron! Most like the Orcs part of WFB (surprise surprise!).
ANGMAR: Loads of spirits and shizzle. Not bad, but not that great.
MORIA: Think thousands of little gaks scampering around the place and climbing walls. Scary! Cheap, cheerful, will die in 10 seconds but you don't expect them to live long anyway.
HARAD: Again a lot of little gaks charging around the place but they're better little gaks. The War Mumak will murder you all in your sleep - they're really really good.
FAR HARAD: Probably the best warriors in the game with 2 attacks each but they feel like African tribesmen instead of a true Lord of the Rings army. Also you're looking at a full metal army but then again with a War Mumak you're not really going to have too many - maybe 20 at most.
UMBAR: Pirates with S4 throwing weapons. Badly armoured. Not bad.
EASTERLINGS: Fantastic D5/D6 with a shield, think Warriors of Chaos. I have these guys and they've never failed me once.
KHAND: Good but like Far Harad they're all metal and they feel like Mongolians instead of a true Lord of the Rings army. I have some as well and they own everything and everyone.

So it's really up to you. I prefer the evil side but that's partly because I like hordes of models (Even if I can't paint them all quickly).

Im just starting too and want to do a gondor Minas Tirith army. Are they good?

 blood lance wrote:
Im just starting too and want to do a gondor Minas Tirith army. Are they good?

Minas Tirith is a great army to choose!

They've all got heavy armor (really tough to crack), except for units like Rangers or Clansmen (if you throw in some of the Fiefdoms), and you get knights for your calvary!

Minis Tirith aren't bad. Good starter army and they're fairly solid.

Guys! Your missing an army! How about arnor? I adore my arnor, easy to convert from minas tirith spearmen and just in a lot of sences a tough nut to crack, although they are only just a tiny bit better than average in combat, courage 2 though so you always need to take king arvendui, the last king of arnor.

My list entails..
Arvendui (standfast ( they don't run away))
malbeth (gives them a 5+ fate)
ellohnir and alledan (awesome elves )
rest arnor warriors

- this list plays for a fun game that isn't OP and isn't going to get destroyed every game

Basic rundown of the armies:

Galadrhim elves- decent armour, very good at range
Wood elves- light armour, best good army for range
Gondor- All-rounder, decent at everything, lots of decent heroes
Rohan- Best cavalry army, good skirmishers due to relatively light armour
Arnor (personal favourite)- Light armour, very good at ranged, and (I think) the only army where you can run all-bows, though they're weak in combat.
Dwarves- Very heavy armour, bad at ranged but very good in combat, albeit slow- also, no cavalry and very few spears.
The Fiefdoms (still gondor but more varied)- expensive army both points-wise and money-wise, but tend to be decent and not many people play them.

Mordor- cheap but weak men, can run some powerful heroes and trolls to make up for it. Pretty much the all-rounder of evil.
Moria- Horde army, fairly weak heroes, but can call in some hard-hitters (Balrog, Dragons etc.)
Isenguard- Elite army, infantry is lethal in combat and decent in ranged, but has few heroes.
Easterlings- decent armoured troops, fairly good all-rounders, though I don't know much about them.
Harad- Very good light cavalry and infantry, but fairly weak in combat without heroes and mumaks.
Corsairs- Don't know much about them, but apparently good skirmishers.

Easterlings? Decent armoured troops? Spears that count as pikes, defence 6 with shield, a Ringwraith . . .

"though I don't know much about them."

told you ^^

Yeah, sorry. They're my boys, and they're my overpowered warriors

I only got back into LotR myself, and last time I played there were a grand total of two easterling options- warrior and captain, so no one did them