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Hello, next week I will got new starter set. I want to expand my Mordor army to play it in matched points legally. I need some heroes, I think. Any recommendation what I need to buy next? I'm totally new to Hobbit/LoTR gamming. Any help welcomed.

First, welcome to playing Strategy Battle Game, or SBG for short! This is my favorite ruleset and I love to hear that new people are playing.

Next up - Mordor is a great faction. There is a ton of variety in terms of Warriors. The Morannon Orcs from the Pelannor Fields set are a pretty good mid-level option. You can also pack a ton of dirt cheap Mordor Orcs into your lists (great to take advantage of the Mordor army bonus). Or you can go with more elite options Black Guard or Morgul Knights.

As you know, you need Heroes to lead groups of your Warriors. There are five tiers of Heroes: Tier 1 Heroes can lead 18 Warriors, Tier 2 can lead 15, Tier 3 can lead 12, Tier 4 can lead 6, and Tier 5 can't lead any.

I don't have the new Armies Book yet so I don't know which Mordor Heroes are which Tier except that Sauron is Tier 1, Khamul (a named Nazgul) is Tier 2, and Gorbag (a named Orc Captain) is Tier 3. I expect most heroes (like unnamed Orc Captains and the Orc Taskmaster) will be Tier 3. Taking more expensive Heroes, who are generally higher tier, lets you bring more Warriors in the warband for that Hero, but the high cost of that Hero will limit the number of Warriors you may bring overall. Mordor's army bonus hinges on outnumbering your opponent, so Tier 3 leaders are going to be your best bet to keep the overall number of minis in your army high.

Note that you can also recruit allies from the Serpent Horde (and probably Easterlings) without losing your Mordor army bonus, as they are Historical Allies. And yes, Serpent Horder (and probably Easterlings) also get to keep their army bonus, too. You could also bring allies from the Isengard and Moria lists, but no army bonus for any will apply because they are merely Convenient Allies.

Hope that helped!

I just ordered from my local store the shagrat blister and Morgul Knights. I''l have to figure the good side later.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Manchu wrote:
First, welcome to playing Strategy Battle Game, or SBG for short! This is my favorite ruleset and I love to hear that new people are playing.



Note that you can also recruit allies from the Serpent Horde (and probably Easterlings) without losing your Mordor army bonus, as they are Historical Allies. And yes, Serpent Horder (and probably Easterlings) also get to keep their army bonus, too. You could also bring allies from the Isengard and Moria lists, but no army bonus for any will apply because they are merely Convenient Allies.

Hope that helped!

Awesome info. Just to be certain, If I took my Moria goblin archers with my Mordor commanders, the army bonus is negated for the whole Mordor army? Or, is it that the 4 Goblin archers wouldn't be counted for the benefit?

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I just ordered from my local store the shagrat blister and Morgul Knights. I''l have to figure the good side later.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Manchu wrote:
First, welcome to playing Strategy Battle Game, or SBG for short! This is my favorite ruleset and I love to hear that new people are playing.



Note that you can also recruit allies from the Serpent Horde (and probably Easterlings) without losing your Mordor army bonus, as they are Historical Allies. And yes, Serpent Horder (and probably Easterlings) also get to keep their army bonus, too. You could also bring allies from the Isengard and Moria lists, but no army bonus for any will apply because they are merely Convenient Allies.

Hope that helped!

Awesome info. Just to be certain, If I took my Moria goblin archers with my Mordor commanders, the army bonus is negated for the whole Mordor army? Or, is it that the 4 Goblin archers wouldn't be counted for the benefit?

Firstly, you cannot take moria goblins without a moria hero to lead them in their own warband.

Secondly if you choose to ally moria and mordor, they would be convenient allies and each army would lose their individual army bonuses.

 Sledgehammer wrote:

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I just ordered from my local store the shagrat blister and Morgul Knights. I''l have to figure the good side later.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Manchu wrote:
First, welcome to playing Strategy Battle Game, or SBG for short! This is my favorite ruleset and I love to hear that new people are playing.



Note that you can also recruit allies from the Serpent Horde (and probably Easterlings) without losing your Mordor army bonus, as they are Historical Allies. And yes, Serpent Horder (and probably Easterlings) also get to keep their army bonus, too. You could also bring allies from the Isengard and Moria lists, but no army bonus for any will apply because they are merely Convenient Allies.

Hope that helped!

Awesome info. Just to be certain, If I took my Moria goblin archers with my Mordor commanders, the army bonus is negated for the whole Mordor army? Or, is it that the 4 Goblin archers wouldn't be counted for the benefit?

Firstly, you cannot take moria goblins without a moria hero to lead them in their own warband.

Secondly if you choose to ally moria and mordor, they would be convenient allies and each army would lose their individual army bonuses.

That's helpful thank you, and I'll be sticking with Mordor for now :-)

I sympathise with the demand outstripping supply issue, but at least the dust will settle after this initial buy-in. Models like Gothmog and Royal Guard (especially given their new profile) are not going to stay out of stock for long. For brand new items like the Swan Knights you mentioned that's a more frustrating issue than old models just going temporarily out of stock due to a sudden uptake in demand. Being physically unable to buy brand new models there is always a punch in the gut for any hobbyist.

Remember when Ruins of Osgiliath would repeatedly sell-out as soon as it was for sale? I missed out on it about three times before I managed to get some! Now its available in quantity on their webstore and is every time I check.

Like I say, once the dust settles I'm sure the stock levels will level out. In the meantime, just use it as motivation to paint up everything you did get in the box at least! That's what I'm channeling my energy into.

FYI, GW has said they will be rotating production of the middle earth minis every few months, they have too many molds to maintain production of the entire line at once so they are going to make things available in waves, so I dont know that the supply of anything will ever "stabilize".

Are the new Swan Knights available for US buyers? I have not seen them on GW's store at all, let alone 'sold out.'

callidusx3 wrote:
Are the new Swan Knights available for US buyers? I have not seen them on GW's store at all, let alone 'sold out.'

Foot knights haven't been released yet.