Hello all!
I have been playing warhammer 40k for awhile now and have held back on starting a lotr sbg army due to lack of players in my area. But since the release of the hobbit movies coming i can see alot of players collecting lotr now.

I brought the Moria & Angmar book but i think ill probly go with a mordor based army. However I'm kinda confused about afew things which i hope you can answer about starting an army.

1. How many points should i aim for to start playing some pickup games at a Games workshop?

2. I was thinking of buying the 9 Nazgul finecast box and using afew of those wraiths to lead some warbands. Can i use one of these wraiths to represent named wraiths eg using one as the Undying?

3. Is using unamed wraiths a bad tactic? i only see named ringwraiths in other army lists.

4. I don't want to build a super competitive army but what are some guidelines to stick to to build a decent army? eg model # to points ratio.

5. New rulebook is out so i'll have to purchase this or is it old rules with a new title "The hobbit"?

6. As far as themes go this is important to me, but i can't figure out what units go with what. eg what units to include for a Dol guldur theme?

7. What other themes can i got with to include some giant spiders, ringwraiths & either Black guard or Numenoreans?

8. Orc spear support for my infantry, Whats the best way to do this? I only see 4 orc spearman come in a box.

9. Can an army work well using flanking spiders instead of spear support?

Hope you can help me out with some of this.

Hello and welcome to One ring.

1st question, 500 pts would be a good starting pont
2, Yes
3,Unnamed ringwraiths are usualy pretty good in a 500 pts and under game.
4, Some cavalry some archers and some spears/swords
5, Its new rules.
6,Dol Guldur is nicely associated with magic and fell creatures so ltd be good to use spiders,a ringwraith,castellans,spirits, and black numenorians.
7,Mordor or Angmar
8,A box set has 4 archers, 4 spears, and 4 swordmen..
9,Deffinely

Hope this helps.

_________________
If you don't let me in, Frodo, I shall blow your door right down your hole and out through the hill-Gandalf

Hey there, welcome to middle earth will try to answer your questions as best I can

1. Honestly I've seen pick up games vary from 250-500pts, if you aim for 500 you should be ok for pick up games at a GW.

2. I often do, personally I don't overly like the 'named' ringwraith models so I just use the robed ones. I can't see you having a problem in pick up games with this as long as you make it clear which ringwraith your are using at the start of the game.

Quick word of advice, if you have a look on ebay you'll probably be able to find metal ringwraiths for a lot cheaper than the new finecast set. Metal is also really easy to take paint off, a lot of my models these days are second hand ones that have been stripped and repainted.
Ultimately, its your army though so go with the models your happiest with, be they finecast, metal, named or generic wraiths.

3. The ringwraiths only became named relatively recently, I've seen them used for years as spell casters to support evil armies. Learn how to make the most of their spells and you should be ok with them. The named ones have additional abilities over generic but also cost more pts (I think anyhow, not used them for a while)

4. Building a solid army requires a lot of considerations.
First, you need heroes for heroic actions and to stop your army running away if you lose half of your force (if your looking at orcs in your mordor force, then orc shaman are really good at this provided you can keep them alive)
You need to have a decent amount of models, between 30-50 is a rough range and varies a lot between armies but should at least mean you have a good number of warriors to fight with.
I am a fan of taking lots of archers, other people like armies that focus on melee troops, there is no right answer, just the one that suits your play style best.
Having a banner is usually advisable.
Get some games in, see how your force does and adjust it as you go. If you feel you need more heroes try adding more, if you feel your low on troops or archers change it and see how it does.

5. Well that's certainly how its looking. Rumours are the rules will change a bit but it will still be the same game. Until the book comes out I can't advise you further but odds are if you want to game in store you will need a copy of the hobbit rules.
(Again I am hoping the new rulebooks will make an appearance on ebay as its not a cheap book)

6. Its your call there really dude, the land of Mordor is vast, you could do an Osgiliath themed army with morannon orcs in minas tirith armour, a garrison of cirith-ungol army consisting of uruk-hai and orcs under shagrat and gorbag, you could do a black gate army with dark numinorians and the mouth of sauron.
Hell if you want you can even do an army of all regions with a little bit of everything or make up your own concept like an entirely mounted orc raider force, sent into gondor to attack supply lines or isolated defences.
All up to you there dude, perhaps play around with some different ideas, once you have an idea for what theme you want am sure picking the units will come easier.

7. I have a feeling that Dol-Guldor was a fortress near mirkwood? (My lotr lore is a bit rusty am afraid) That would be an angmar styled list but there;s nothing stopping you from running an allied force of Mordor and Angmar.

8. Look for cheap orcs on ebay, aside from that look at morannon orcs as there's a few more spears on that kit I think.

9. It depends on the situation but an army would work even better with flanking spiders and spear support. A lot of lotr games see thin blocks of warriors fighting each other (usually a double line of shields then spears but by no means always). Having spears lets you direct more attacks at the enemy when the lines clash but its not the only way to play by any means.
Again play some games, see how your play style seems to be.

Hope some of that was useful, best of luck gaming, also check out the opponent finder thread if your looking for more opponents.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply!
This gives me alot to think about. I think i have more of a direction now about what i should buy.
Looking forward to getting my army started and playing some games.

Hi and welcome! A couple of things:

3. It's fine to use a generic as a named wraith, just know that if you ever want to play tournaments they'll probably be more picky, and you might need to use the actual model.

8. A box of orcs contains 4 spears, 4 shields, 2 archers, and 2 with 2H weapons.