Subject:Advert

Subject: Where do you start?!

Evening all!
I'm a returning 40k player, from a while ago ( maybe more than a while ) and when I left the hobby there was no LOTR / hobbit games. Now coming back, I'd love to get involved with it, but have no idea where to start? There doesn't seem to be one 'starter' pack other than the battle of the five armies one that looks like epic 40k, or goblin town? Maybe mines of moria.it's all pretty confusing! There seems to be about a thousand different books, and I don't know what to look at first.
Where's the starter book? The one with he overall rules? Is there a better one to get? Or should I just get a mines of moria / goblin town set and that will get me started! I don't want to play the mini battle of the five armies games, I hated Epic when it was around!
I hope I like it, although the battle reports on YouTube seem completely disjointed and things..hopefully that's just the videos and not the actual games!
Cheers!!

Subject: Re:Where do you start?!

Welcome aboard!
Right, the basics:
The current rulebook is the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey one, which is available from GW or in a mini form in Goblin Town (still the full rules, and GW have all the profiilea online). The mini rulebook goes quite cheap in Ebay, so that's the best place to look. The Goblin Town starter set is decent if you want Thorin's Co and a bunch of Goblins (all nice minis), same with Mines of Moria if you want the Fellowship and can find a set. Note that, while they're fine for scenarios, neither Thorin's Co or The Fellowship are really an army as such in game.
So the best thing to do is grab the mini rulebook on Ebay and then decide what army or armies you want to play. With the rather loose Ally rules, it's more than feasable to play a mix army so long as you stick to all-good or all-evil. For example, you can happily have some High Elves, Dwarves and Gondorians all in the same, playable force. The rules for the factions are found in the following books:
Mordor: Mordor Sourcebook
Gondor, Rohan: The Kingdoms of Men Sourcebook
Angmar, Moria: Moria and Angmar sourcebook
Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits: The Free Peoples sourcebook
Isengard, Harad, Easterlings: The Fallen Realms sourcebook.
A couple of these are unavailable from GW online in the UK, so you might have to check local stores or go second hand. By the way, the books above, along with the brown-cover AUJ rulebook and the DoS and BotFA Supplement, are the only current books, so anything else you see is out of date (still broadly compatible, but not technically up to date).
As for the gameplay, it's not at all disjointed. If you're used to 40k, then it might seem odd, but the general principle is:
Player 1 Moves -> Player 2 Moves -> P1 Shoots -> P2 shoots -> Everyone fights. There's also a thing called Priority, which varies from turn to turn as to who gets to move first. Check out the GBHL Battle Reports on Youtube, they're among the better ones.
Hope that helps, once you decide on the armies/army you want to play, I can offer some more specific advice on how to get going, and if you want I can type up a general overview of the factions.

Subject: Where do you start?!

Well, the game is a bit complicated because it has two editions currently.
The original game, Lord of the Rings, and it's 'new edition' The Hobbit.
So both are pretty similar, and all Lord of the Rings books are pretty much completely compatible. In fact, if you bought the older rules, you would probably be able to play with someone with the new rules with an A5 size summary sheet of the changes! The game system is simple, elegant and robust. Personally, I prefer the LOTR rules as they are the simplest, and I enjoy simplicity.
As to which sets to get to start, well, that is up for debate. LOTR is a pretty forgiving game when it comes to force composition (the guidelines in the Hobbit are a little more restrictive, requiring more 'heroes' than the original rules). You can ally forces pretty easily as long as they are in 'Good' or 'Evil'.
So the question of where to start becomes - what do you want to do?! If you want to re-enact scenes from the Hobbit movies or book, the Escape from Goblin Town starter is probably a good place to start. You get a mini rulebook (unfortunately light on points costs, but you can download a free pdf from GW to fix that), a force of Goblins and Thorin's Company- a force made entirely of heroes. It's the cheapest way to get Thorin's company and the rules in one package, so it's a pretty good bet!
If you would prefer to re-enact the LOTR books or movies, the Mines of Moria set is pretty okay. It's out of print and might be hard to get AFAIK, but it has the plastic fellowship (not quite as good technically as Thorin's Company because they're older, but I like them), the mini-rulebook for LOTR (which is pretty great because it contains stats and points for a wide variety of characters and so on.
Finally, if you just want to get playing, I'd say have a look at what Good or Evil force most interests you and just buy a box or two of warriors and and buy or convert a hero to lead them. The game works very well at low model counts and is very robust, so it is easy to mix and match forces, buy a box and add it to your forces and generally get use out of everything you buy. I just buy the models I like and I tend to find I can make multiple interesting and solid lists from them.
If you are interested in getting the older supplements (which are compatible with the new rules, but out of print), I got a month's free sign up with Scribd and was able to download a pile of them (including the out of print rulebook for LOTR, which is a really good book) as PDFs in about 5 minutes.
So sorry that the rules situation is a bit ambiguous and complicated, and to condense my advice:
1) Hobbit Fan: Get escape from goblin town
2) LOTR Fan: Get Mines of Moria if you can, or just buy the relevant boxed sets if not and pick up a rulebook either from Ebay or elsewhere.
One thing I will say is that I personally think the full size hard back rulebook for the Hobbit is overpriced for what it provides. Others may disagree with me
Hope this long, rambling post was helpful!

Subject: Where do you start?!

Wow, thank you both for the very quick, and detailed replies! That has pretty much cleared up all of my confusion in around 10 minutes!
Glad to see that it's maybe not as disjointed as it first seems. I guess I might have a look into goblin town, as I prefer the hobbit films, and the only battles I enjoy for the LOTR are moria and helms deep..oh.maybe I should get that instead! Lol oh decisions decisions!

Subject: Where do you start?!

If you like the Hobbit films I can definitely recommend the Goblin Town box. It'll get you all the main heroes from the film (who are a fearsome army in their own right) and a pretty decent Goblin force. Add the Trolls or some of Azog's Hunters to them, and you've got a balanced match up + main game rules for pretty reasonable money.
Paradigm has been really doing a great job of answering queries and keeping the game alive on these fora, he's just got me quite fired up at the moment too. I love LOTR, it's GW's best game in my opinion, as well as their best miniatures range.

Subject: Where do you start?!

Escape From Goblin town is a very nice set of minis, everything in it is nicely detailed and fun to paint, the Goblin King and the Dwarves being very nice and unique minis. And should you want to expand into a Dwarf army, Thorin, Dwalin, Balin and Gloin are all competent commanders for leading such a force.

Da Boss wrote:
Paradigm has been really doing a great job of answering queries and keeping the game alive on these fora, he's just got me quite fired up at the moment too.

Hah, thanks! I do my best to keep LotR discussion going, it is as you say a great system, and there seems to have been a bit of an upsurge in interest on here over the last few weeks, which can only be a good thing!

Subject: Re:Where do you start?!

hello guy's,
hope you don't mind me asking but I've heard that the lotr rules are a great skirmish rule set, which can be used for other genres ie post apocalyptic skirmish etc.
can you recommend which rule book to get that covers the complete basic rules? i'm not worried about factions just the overall rules, would it be the The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game? (some silly prices on ebay) or one of the books GW still print?
do all the latest books include the complete rules?
hope this makes sense!
cheers
rusty

Subject: Where do you start?!

If you just want the rules, the best bet is to go for either the blue book (with the Ring on the cover) or the Hobbit mini rulebook. Both should be had cheaply on Ebay, and if you're not using it for LotR, the tweaks to the core rules won't really matter.
And yes, it is a great skirmish ruleset, light on rules but heavy on thinking.

Subject: Where do you start?!

cheers paradigm that's exactly what I need to know.
cheers
rusty

Subject: Where do you start?!

If you sign up to Scribd for a month (for free) you can download the One Ring rulebook from there. Since it's out of print, there's no moral issue with that.
You might also want to look up Legends of the Old West.

Subject: Where do you start?!

I'd reccomend getting into the new Hobbit rules to be honest, the new additions really help heep the game moving in my oppinion. The addition of Brutal Power Attacks for monsters has given them a new lease of life, and the new heroic actions make for some very interestng tactical descisions.
I'm qalso in the mind set that it's GWs best rules set, and it has some of the best models they've ever produced.
I'd highly reccomend checking out the GBHL youtube channel for some great content too.

Subject: Where do you start?!

cheers guy's great info,
@stargasm i'll take a good look at those hobbit rules, i know GW have a habit of 'nerf'in' newer editions but it sounds like they may have kept these pretty sound.
cheers every one for your help
i'll try and keep you all in the loop with how this works out.
rusty

Subject: Where do you start?!

stargasm wrote:
I'd highly reccomend checking out the GBHL youtube channel for some great content too.

I've been watching quite a bit of the GBHL YouTube channel this week as work has been slow. Their videos do drive me up the wall with cutting bits out, and being zoomed in on the table top so much you don't actually see the dice roll or models! God I wish miniwargaming.com did hobbit SBG videos! Their bat reps for 40k are fantastic! Filming from start to finish, movement phases, shooting / assaults etc, with everything explained..
I did watch someone who played purely goblin town, and although they cut out everything except the priority roll and the attacks, it was easy to watch! It's my main mission right now to find a well produced SBG video channel..pity I think it's a losing battle!

Subject: Re:Where do you start?!

I also think the goblin town set is the way to go . Losts of plastic for your money, including the cool scenery. The old system is similar, but the new bits add alot more choice to your actions. As for GBHL I do recomend watching them esp if you are a beginner. Start with their beginner videos to help you understand the basics . As for conparing them with Miniwargaming,com, (I'm a vault member myself). who are are professionals and make their living this way is just wrong.GBHL are hobbyists, who are passionate about the game, with day jobs . Yes their videos are rough around the edges , but its amazing how much material they have put out in the last yea in their own time. I note from you flag you are in the UK. As well as the youtube channel, it may be worth you joining the GBHL facebook page, which is almost a mini forum. . My son has attended events run by members and recently attended his first tournament. It was a steep learning experiance, but great fun. As well as this site there is the one ring .com dedicated to the game. Lost to get your teeth into.

Subject: Where do you start?!

a question which i and maybe others are interested in is what profiles are in the mini hobbit book?
i have the lotr mini book and has all profiles neccasary to me except elven cavelry (which i have guessed the poits costs) and dwarf warriors ( which i hope ive gotten the points value correct) but im curious as to what profiles are in the new hobbit mini book,

Subject: Where do you start?!

Sadly, the mini book has no profiles; you do get a card in Goblin Town with all the profiles you need for that, though, and the profiles from the larger book and the Battle of the Five Armies can be had as a free download from The Black Library:
http://www.blacklibrary.com/faqs-and-errata.html
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/The-Hobbit-The-Battle-of-the-Five-Armies-Strategy-Battle-Game-PDF;jsessionid=6B54843581474126856566607B6CBB60?_requestid=6910889
The rest are available in the Sourcebooks, but if you're not obsessed with being 100% up to date, look for the old Big Blue Book hardback, it has almost all the profiles outside of the more obscure stuff.