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Hello, was thinking if starting an easterling force, anyone who pays them got any advice on what to buy and what works well?

Also, when characters have several different models such as Legolas, do they still have the same rules? How to diarama models fit into the game? For example the one with Isilidur and Elendil on the floor.

Cheers

Go to The last alliance and the one ring forums.They will tell you all you need to know...And how to convert more pikes for your easterlings.

As Easterlings you take advantage of the fact your pikemen get to use shields AND pikes, whereas other pikemen in other factions don't have the special rule that allows them to do that. You have affordable, VERY well armored troops and therefore want to take gobloads of them as your mainstay. Instead of normal captains give them War Priests so your rank-and-file grunts are suddenly capable of so much more. I'd start with several boxes of Easterling warriors and for every 12 have a War Priest.

The different models have different names. For instance there's plain old "Legolas" but in another sub-faction he's "Legolas the Hunter" or something. No one will fault you for using a basic Legolas model as the Hunter version. Another example would be Boromir versus Boromir of the White Tower who is very different in stats.

Also note that VERY very diorama-y models that are cast sitting or just interacting with each other are purely for painting and art work. Unless you can stick them on an appropriately sized base, they are not eligible gaming models.

As said above, Easterlings are a very cool force to play. They're good at rock-hard battle lines, backed up with pikes (and because of the pike+shield option) you won't even lose any defence when the front rank is killed.

Kataphrakts are also awesome (heavy cacvaly in general are nasty) and can be upgraded if you take Amdur, Lord of Blades, who is pretty badass in his own right. You also get access to Khamul the Easterling, one of my favourite Ringwraith models .

The one thing I do find a bit annoying with Easterlings is that you have to pay for heavy armour even on archers, who can't make much use of it. To counter this, you might want to ally in a Harad warband or two for better archers, and to generally up your model count. Similarly, some Khandish (awesome models) or Corsairs could also bump up the numbers a bit while avoiding orcs if you don't want them.

As for dioramas, they're mostly for painters, in general you're better off with the actual models.

Cheers guys another quick question, why is the dragon knight so expensive? Is it a character?

The Dragon Knight, if I recall correctly, is a pure combat character, less leadership bonus than a captain or War Priest but plenty of choppiness.

If you mean expensive money-wise, the pricing on the LOTR/hobbit stuff across the board is pretty mental. Still, £15 for 1 mini is completely over-the-top. I suppose if you're confident with Green stuff you could convert one from Kataphrakts.

Also utilizing Perry Bro Miniatures (Who conveniently are the sculptors for the LoTR line which is why they look so natural) works really well. For instance, their viking/norman figures for Dunlendings or Rohirrim.

I also use Reaper Miniatures here and there. They're very hit-or-miss with fitting into LoTR (Most of them are high-fantasy whereas LoTR are low fantasy) but you can usually find some good models. Hell just digging up true-scale fantasy figures can earn you some good-looking alternates.

Go to the last alliance or the one ring.