Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I play a lot of board games with my wife, but she would never even come close to playing warhammer 40k with me, which is fair enough as it is a fairly large scale game that requires a lot of rules knowledge.

I have just picked up a bunch of LOTR miniatures cheap and have the feeling if I keep it simple and small initially I should be able to get her to play a few games with me. This would be awesome as I have moved out into the country and don't really get to play too much of anything anymore.

So my question is how should I start rules and scenario wise? I am thinking we will play some of the movie scenes from the fellowship or two towers. So should I start by getting hold of one of those books first? I know they aren't the latest rules, but as I have said wold like to keep it small and simple. Are there rules I should skip initially and only add if things go well?

Does anybody else have any experience and tips introducing non-gamers to this game?

By the way I have read the latest rules ad they look really good. Way more intuitive than 40k and fantasy.

Thanks

Lotr is easy to learn but difficult to master. An experienced lotr player can teach you the basics and get you playing in 15 min. I would suggest small 150 point games with one basic character and some troops. It is a fairly easy game to grasp.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I would start with the basics of moving shooting and combat.

Cheers. I do play other wargames, including tournament play and such (I am off to a 40k tournament next week), but have just never played LOTR and was wondering where to start.

Which book should I buy considering I want to start as simple as possible and work my way up? At he moment I was considering just going to buy the fellowship book off ebay.

Thanks

Well all the armies are pretty good to start with except for Arnor and Angmar, those two can be a hassel to play for new players. I would personaly start with Gondor and Isengard or perhaps Moria, if you have the minis for them. For that you need the sourcebooks and the rule book.
For Gondor Kingdoms Of Men
For Moria : Fallen Realms

 Trondheim wrote:
Well all the armies are pretty good to start with except for Arnor and Angmar, those two can be a hassel to play for new players. I would personaly start with Gondor and Isengard or perhaps Moria, if you have the minis for them. For that you need the sourcebooks and the rule book.
For Gondor Kingdoms Of Men
For Moria : Fallen Realms

Moria is not in the fallen realms book.

I would suggest that you simply pick up the hobbit rulebook. Get the core set of rules first. Then decide which army you want to play and get that book.

Doh sorry about that

And agreed

I'd suggest if you want too keep it simple and don't plan to play with much more than a local group of friends, then try and pick up the hardback LOTR rulebook. It has a ton of profiles and points in the back, which work perfectly well if you're not mixing them with the newer sourcebooks. The Hobbit book introduces a few rules that are, in my opinion, far too overcomplicated and unnecessary, like weapon rules that really don't need to exist.

So yeah, tracking down the hardback is probably the best option if you're not planning on playing pick-up games or events, as you can save money on the Sourcebooks and only need one book to play. That book is also more compatible with the Fellowship/Towers/Return Journey Books you mentioned than the Hobbit book.

For starting out, I'd suggest just playing with a handful of models on each side, even as low as 100 points and without heroes. For your first games, leave out rules for magic, heroes and possibly courage, and just get familiar with the movement/shooting/fighting mechanic before you get too involved.

Me and the girlfriend picked up escape from goblin town limited edition last week. She has never played any miniature games prior to this one. The scenarios in the set do an excellent job of introducing the rules slowly. By the third game she had pretty much all the rules downpat, and I only had to remind her of a few small things. I think that's the way to go if you have the spare cash!

I agree with starting of with 150 point games I actually just played a 250 point game with someone who hadn't played before (using the lotr sbg rulebook tho) and he got a hang of the rules really quickly. He had never played a mini war game like this in his life and as long as you keep the stuff straight forward you are good to go. The rules for lotr are alot easier to pick up than fantasy of 40k for sure.

I started by buying a bunch of 50+ model lots off ebay which was dirt cheap so same with what you did.
It is a good way to get a base of troops and can pick up characters and different units later as you get more into the game.

For scenarios you might want to pick up some of the scenario books off ebay there are lots to choose from i.e gondor in flames and the journey books for each movie are available and these provide you with scenarios which is where the game really shines imo.

You can also buy these magazine called Lord of the Rings Battle Games they have scenarios, how to paint guides etc and can pick them up off ebay pretty cheap. A lot of them have models that come with them to do a scenario with. If I recall correctly they start at 1 and work through scenarios from the moving in chronological order (1 or 2 scenarios per magazine)

Yeah, if you can track down some of the magazines they have some great content, I have every issue (bar one special edition) and they have been invaluable. You get some great scenarios, loads of mini-sourcebooks for most armies, and paint/modelling guides in each one. I'd suggest getting the LOTR hardback rulebook as the rules are a little more up-to-date, but if you see the mag/figures going cheap then dive in. The scenarios and hobby guides are great, and some issues have some really cools additional special rules which can be amazing fun.

Also, have a look on the web and see if you can find the 'Battle Companies' rules (GW once had them as a free PDF, but took them down with the rest of the articles). This was an even lower model-count game, generally capping 15 models per side, and had an RPG-like system where you could gain experience and upgrade your warriors and characters. These can be great if you want more varied games, as thanks to the small size you can a) get more games in (they tend to only take about 30-45 minutes for these) and b) you don't need a tonne of models, so each one becomes a character in their own right. As campaigns go on you'll find yourself valuing your characters as much as any of the mightiest heroes of Middle Earth.

It might not be your cup of tea, I don't know, but I'd really recommend them to anyone who want to get more out of LOTR models and rules.

See if you can get the mines of moria boxed game.

 the big goblin wrote:
See if you can get the mines of moria boxed game.

The hobbit box is just as good except the goblin miniatures are from a different source and look much better.

 namiel wrote:

 the big goblin wrote:
See if you can get the mines of moria boxed game.

The hobbit box is just as good except the goblin miniatures are from a different source and look much better.

Yeah I agree. The hobbit boxed set is better. I'm not sure but I think you get way more terrain.

The mines of moria has simpler rules and points values+models for every miniature(almost)released at that time.Other then that=Wait.See what desolation of smaug brings.

Ashwaster said he wanted to start simple so I suggested the mines of moria.Da krimson barun is right it does have simpler rules.

 the big goblin wrote:
Ashwaster said he wanted to start simple so I suggested the mines of moria.Da krimson barun is right it does have simpler rules.

Yeah good point I forgot about that

 the big goblin wrote:
Ashwaster said he wanted to start simple so I suggested the mines of moria.Da krimson barun is right it does have simpler rules.

BUT the how to play guide is just as simple as one another

I heard that the starting scenarios for efgt are harder to win.Like someone pointed out on the forum recently the first one is pretty hard for good(Don't know if its true though)

Da krimson barun wrote:
I heard that the starting scenarios for efgt are harder to win.Like someone pointed out on the forum recently the first one is pretty hard for good(Don't know if its true though)

Does that matter when the goal isnt to win but learn the game mechanics? The starter set is there to teach you the game

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I just picked up a box of models that I am told has all the models that came with the fortnightly magazine really cheap. It is a real mix of a lot of stuff. I also got the "fellowship", "two towers" and "return" books. I might try pick up a few of the early magazines as well from your advice.

I will probably just start with a couple of the scenarios from the fellowship for a start, and then look at ways to expand. I might look at putting a force together to play pick-up games, tournaments and stuff, but that isn't really the first goal.

I will let you know how I go, and try put up a few pictures.

Ashwaster wrote:
Thanks for all the tips guys.

I just picked up a box of models that I am told has all the models that came with the fortnightly magazine really cheap. It is a real mix of a lot of stuff. I also got the "fellowship", "two towers" and "return" books. I might try pick up a few of the early magazines as well from your advice.

I will probably just start with a couple of the scenarios from the fellowship for a start, and then look at ways to expand. I might look at putting a force together to play pick-up games, tournaments and stuff, but that isn't really the first goal.

I will let you know how I go, and try put up a few pictures.

If you really have got all the models that came with the magazine, then you just got one hell of a deal. Off the top of my head that's already given you the complete fellowship (and alternate sculpts of most of them), most major named characters from the movies and loads that never made it on screen, and you've got good-sized armies for Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Isengard and moria, as well as a tonne of other stuff. You should easily get large Good/Evil armies out of it, with models to spare.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy the game.

Yep, It was a large box for $140 that's for sure, I'm a little overwhelmed to be honest. I also picked up another box for $100 that has heaps of other stuff including a troll, a metal winged nazgul, sauron and a heap of metal and plastic orks and humans. I may have over done it, but the amount of miniatures I got for $240 is going to keep me busy for a long time I think. I'm just a little concerned that my paint collection will need to be expanded to cope with all the variety.

I think I will just sit down and watch the first movie again and pick an easy scene to recreate for a start. Maybe the one with Borimir holding off the orcs as Merry & Pippin escape (maybe a little too wonky to play). Any other recommendation for a good scene that would start me off well?

Can I ask what rules I will be missing if I just use the old books I have? Is there anything critical that will really throw me if I then go and play with people more up to date? The only thing I can see that looks different is the way the warbands are set-up.

If you're using the blue hardback rulebook, you'll basically be missing the following things:

- Warbands, although this is explained by the newest sourcebooks so that's not an issue as you can get those easily should you need them (it's basically you need 1 hero per 12 guys anyway)

- Special attacks for monsters/various types of hand weapon. On the whole I find these over complicated and unnecessary, so I'd say you're not missing out there.

- A couple of extra Heroic Actions, same as point 2. The game is perfectly playable without them.

With the minis you have, I think you can do pretty much anything from the films game-wise, so my advice would be to just pick a scene you love and recreate it in miniature. One that I find really fun and have played loads of times is the battle of Balin's Tomb, just get an area around 2' square, and put the tomb in the middle and a door at one end. Set up the fellowship and just bring in hordes of orcs/goblins/a troll and see how long they last. There's no real victory condition per se, so you can keep going for as long or short a time as you like, and can worry about the rules rather than trying to win.

If you want something a little more structured, check out the scenarios in the Journey Books, and just play through them. Simply because of the plot line, they battles will progressively get larger, so you can expand a little more each time.

The other think you might like to try is playing 2 armies against each other, as armies handle very differently to heroes (for example, you have to approach playing a Gondor army very differently to playing The Fellowship) so it might be worth trying that out. I'd suggest keeping it to around 300-400 points initially, to get a good-sized game but not be overwhelmed (large games look fun, but in my experience never get finished. I once tried Minas Tirith at 2400 points a side, and we got to about turn 3 before giving up).

Really, with the minis you've got, the sky's the limit, so once you're started and have a handle on the rules, you can do whatever takes your fancy. Book missions, scenarios, even custom missions. Pick what you enjoy, and just have fun!

I think you can have a lot of fun recreating any scene you like. Keep it small. Don't be afraid to change it up (ie don't let lack of models stop you from trying it. Why can't Treebeard show up in Moria instead of a Balrog? Why can't Golem be played by, say, a penny?)

Don't worry about having your points exactly even. Do what looks fun. When you're finished, switch sides, play the scenario again, and that is what will make it fair.

I think the best way to go is to select and then paint a small collection of models - let's say 20 or 30. Then pull these out to play whenever you like. Sure, you can go bigger, but why hurry? Make it a game you play for an hour after dinner. You can really get intimately familiar with a few heroes and tactics with this sort of plan.

Of course, if you both get really excited about it then sure, go as big as you want. But there is really no need if you are both enjoying the time together with smallscale games. Sometimes I think these games are better for the occassional gamer if they are kept modest, fast, and fun! Nothing says "boring" like having to dig through the rules for ten minutes every time you run across a model you haven't seen before. Gamers tolerate this as a matter of course. But for those that play the occassional game keep it simple and you will probably have the best experience.

Enjoy your new hobby together!
Solorg

Golem?Those are D&D iirc.(I know you mean gollum.)