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Hey, what's up lotr players? I've always been enthralled by lotr sbg, but no one here in Colorado plays it. I eventually had to sell off my Isengard army, but after quitting Warhammer, I really want to get back into this game even though I had no one to play against (I will work on it ). So, first off, does anyone still play SBG, or has it been outdated by the Hobbit game? Also, I'm thinking about starting like Haradrim or Gondor. Thoughts?

Thanks,

-C

Lotr SBG hasnt been over taken by the Hobbit yet just updated as many of the Hobbit models dont have army books or many leaders. Gondor is a good army to start with in my opinion but I am a fan of the Dwarfs. Just depends if you are a good or evil player at heart me being evil as I like the magic and models. I wish you luck in creating your army and welcome back to Lotr.

Yup, gondor's a good, solid army. Decent foot troops, good cavalry and very nice heroes- no real downfall, they're all-rounders.
Depends, as andyroo said, what you like the look of- personally I like dwarves because, despite lack of spears and cavalry, their ridiculously heavy armour makes up for it

The Hobbit game is just an update of LotR SBG. It adds a few new combat moves to the game and changes a few other things in small ways. All the old things work fine as it's the same game at its core (and the little rulebook, at least, has lots of pictures of LotR models in it as well). There's nothing even stopping you from having an army half The Hobbit, half LotR.

I'm not sure how many people are into The Hobbit. I haven't actually seen an assembled version of anything that isn't in the boxed set other than the Trolls on display in the GW stores! I have played a couple of games against people who were using the various boxed set contents, but those games also featured lots (half in one case, three quarters in another) of LotR miniatures.

Gondor are cool and have some really iconic miniatures. That said, I find it pretty easy to get excited about just about any of the LotR miniatures and armies! They're just great in general.

HiveFleetPlastic wrote:
The Hobbit game is just an update of LotR SBG. It adds a few new combat moves to the game and changes a few other things in small ways. All the old things work fine as it's the same game at its core (and the little rulebook, at least, has lots of pictures of LotR models in it as well). There's nothing even stopping you from having an army half The Hobbit, half LotR.

I'm not sure how many people are into The Hobbit. I haven't actually seen an assembled version of anything that isn't in the boxed set other than the Trolls on display in the GW stores! I have played a couple of games against people who were using the various boxed set contents, but those games also featured lots (half in one case, three quarters in another) of LotR miniatures.

Gondor are cool and have some really iconic miniatures. That said, I find it pretty easy to get excited about just about any of the LotR miniatures and armies! They're just great in general.

yup, I've not seen much hobbit stuff, which may be due to it being more pricey or not having readily available rules (other than the £50 rulebook).
I agree about the armies- only ones I don't like is harad and goblins, everyone else I love for different reasons.

I've actually always been a fan of Goblins. I think I might give Gondor a whirl if I can get the rulebook again and make a list, and find a game lol.

Most of the good armies I like for their looks and/or character, easterlings and uruks for style, mordor for some of their more specialist units (Black guard, morgul knights etc.), but goblins and harad just don't do it for me, maybe it's lack of variety compared to the others.

Lord of the Rings is still quite popular near me and quite a few people play it. In terms of the Hobbit I'm not too sure as I've not seen much enthusiasm in general for it.
My favourite army is Mordor simply because there are so many cool options to play with, with loads of different orc and ring wraith variants and the fact you can outnumber most other armies. Wargs are pretty rubbish from my experience.
Im also looking at starting a Rivendell style list with lots of high elf troopers and some cavalry, although that is still in the planning stage.

I'm glad to hear that the game still has some love, but I seriously can't find a game for my life in the whole state.

Including me, there's six players at our local store, but with one being the manager (and only staff member), and another not having a full-sized force yet, we've not managed any bigger than a 2 vs 2, 500pts-a-player game... and my ally couldn't roll for

Lol dude. I actually have had a game before when I brought my previous guys to school and someone played just for the lulz and it was fun.

So after some decision making, I've decided to start Goblins! Yes, not Gondor or Haradrim. I found some sweet deals on Ebay and I've always liked them anyway. What are good builds for goblins?

Loads of Goblins.

Then take some more goblins.

After that, take more goblins.

Basically, take as many goblins as possible. And a Cave Troll or two, can't forget those.

So lots of Goblins. Roger that. Cave Trolls. Understood. Any named characters, or characters of any kinds? Shamans, captains, etc.?

The cheapest you can get money-wise - you'll be having a lot of warbands!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
You'll want this set:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat980005a&prodId=prod1500580a&rootCatGameStyle=
For heroes, stands out, plus the FC Commander set for the drums.

So get those guys and use them as captains, and the drum?

Yeah from what I've heard the drums are pretty nasty in the game.

Easterlings will be your best friends, good rank and file plus really hard hitting cavalry and leaders. Ranks upon ranks of Rhun warriors makes everyone fear the last moments they have left to live.

For even more brutal skull splitting force I would add Either a war band of Uruk Hai lead by Lurtzs or one of the other Uruk heroes. Haradrim raiders or half trolls also works well.
Also never leave home without kataprakts

Ooh yeah, Easterlings are good. They're fun as well. Uruks are really fun and good as well. Haradrim Raiders are brilliant. I've always wanted to have a whole army of Haradrim Raiders led by Serpent Riders and Suladan. Can you imagine facing that?

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
Ooh yeah, Easterlings are good. They're fun as well. Uruks are really fun and good as well. Haradrim Raiders are brilliant. I've always wanted to have a whole army of Haradrim Raiders led by Serpent Riders and Suladan. Can you imagine facing that?

I have faced that, not so much fun when they are at range. But once they get into mele my Black Dragoons melts them away

Ok. Easterlings sound fun. I guess I'll have to decide between them and goblins.

 ImRightBehindYou wrote:
Ok. Easterlings sound fun. I guess I'll have to decide between them and goblins.

It has to be said, all the armies are balanced but some like Easterlings are much more straightforwards than like armies of Moria and Angmar, but having hardy troops really help.

Can I ally Easterlings with my goblins?

Yes, any evil army can ally with another evil army. Same goes for the good guys, any good army can ally with all the good factions. But a evil army can not ally with a good army or the other way around for that mather

Perhaps I will try that combination out.

Do so, I have found out that armies that has a rock hard core of Easterlings with the Black Dragoon upgrade backed by two units of Kataprakts supported by massed Goblin infantry and trolls.

Yeah, the thing with Easterlings is that they're bloody expensive points wise. You need numbers, otherwise even those Minas Tirithians can outnumber you!

But it has to be said, even if you are outnumbered with Easterlings you will most likely make the enemy pay for each inch of ground won with their dead.

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
Yeah, the thing with Easterlings is that they're bloody expensive points wise. You need numbers, otherwise even those Minas Tirithians can outnumber you!

Not always- my dwarves cost 11pts each (with shields and iron hills upgrade), and my 800pt army numbers 30 models, it usually handles itself okay
With such a small force like mine, you need to be sure they can take a hit- a 30-model army of, say, elves, will probably go down hard due to low defence- all models in my army are defence 7, with the exception of 6 men, who are D6 with armoured horses.
With numbers, what you really want to do is something like tie half the opponent's men up with 1 vs 1 combats (probably shielding), then mob the other half, trapping where you can. My force forms a small shield wall containing just behind it, five mid-high strength heroes, who can jump into said wall when the shooting stops/enemy draws near, as well as cavalry and eagles just behind to ride round. Only really effective way to take that on is with spears- can't surround it easily (it being about 18" long), so if you outnumber it two or even three to one, give half your footsloggers spears so you can fight 2 vs 1.
If you decide to go with goblins, run at least 3 warbands, and try to give around 1/3 spears (I'm guessing some will drop to shooting before they hit combat). Throw in a cave troll or two, and some Kataphracts and more mid-level heroes like a Dragon knight, Amdur or (if you'd prefer severe annoyance over brute force, Khamul)

The thing is, however, that your Dwarves don't have the standard Human profile + pikes for 9 points.