Hey all!! Can someone explain the strengths and weaknesses of every faction in the game? Also which factions are better against which.
Also who do ypu think is the best one? I myself have no experience in the game itself so I can't comment on that.
Thanks in advance

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That's a pretty tall order! Personally I would suggest reading the rule books and playing the game. Have fun!

Ι'm not suggesting someone types about every unit in the books, but as far as the basic factions are concerned how would someone play each and which is his favorite. Reading the rbooks gives me no experience compared to some veteran players. It really isn't asking much more as other posts in this magnificent forum
Example: X faction: Strenght: blah
Weakness: blah
My fav is X because blah.
Also a poster doesn't have to write about all the factions Maybe one that he likes. Or he doesn't have to write at all

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If you want an all rounder I would suggest Mordor as it has a huge variety of troops from bog standard orcs to Mordor Trolls with a myriad of specialist and elite troops to back them up. They have the best magician in the game (Literally the Lord of the Rings) with a named ring wraith each with at least one special rule. They also have a huge choice of monsters, and are capable of fielding cavalry only armies if desired. I would also suggest that there is no better siege army.

Thanks for your anwser

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My favourite is mordor.
You have so many types of units, that you have good units and bad units against any other type of army.

For example normal orcs are good against wood elves, goblins, rohan,...
Morannon orcs are good against all S3 D6, so minas tirith, high elves, arnor,...
black guard are great against dwarves
nasgul against big heroes
black numenoreans against all defence 5 or low courage troops

And you can go on like that forever.
For a beginner, elves is not the way to go.
Elves require a lot of tactics, as do all mounted rohan.

Good armies to start with are:
Isengard: very strong basic units, strong cheap captains. So an amazing force that will do good against most.
moria/goblin town: masses of low cost troops. Not too much tactics required
minas tirith: strong basic men. you can put a lot of them on the table when using beregond/damrod/denethor as your leader.

There is actually no best army, as you can easily make a counter that defeats it easily. But that army is not competitive against other armies. and so on.

Just to add to what others have said.

Most factions can be played multiple ways. Rohan for example can be cavalry heavy, infantry swarms, or some balance of the two.

IMO the most forgiving faction for a beginner is Isengard, their heroes are solid (although they lack a true top end fighter) and their troops are very powerful.

Also depending on how you will play (what game types) some factions will require more finesse. Moria should not be casually tossed aside add a team that requires no tactics, if you just throw troops forward a skilled opponent will easily defeat you

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I cant say much about the new hobbit armies but my point of view to the old lord of the rings ones.
This is only my point of view and to the armies i have played with or against.

Gondor

Pros
Big variety of troops
Strong heroes
Good defense
Decent archery
Very good siege machines

Cons
Lack of strength
Expensive army (points wise)

*Mainly Gondor is a defensive army with terminator heroes, the units stats are medium making Gondor closer to an all rounder medium army. Decent cavalry, decent archery, siege units, powerful heroes.

Rohan

Pros
Good cavalry
Big variety of heroes
Cheap units
Good strength

Cons
Lack of defense
No big variety of troops
No spears/supports

*Rohan is mainly an offensive army with really strong cavalry but lack defense and fight values. There are many Heroes to choose and each one has something special.

Fiefdoms

Pros
Elite cavalry
Strong heroes
Strong elite units
Many special rules
Pikes

Cons
Expensive troops
Special rules are mostly occasional

*An army of elites with decent heroes and strong units but really expensive witch is taking a toll to your numbers. Mainly a defensive army aswell but with some choices of offense

Arnor/Dunedain

Pros
Very strong heroes and big variety
Good stats on units
Good archery

Cons
No cavalry
No variety on troops
Lack of courage

*Arnor might be one of the most special armies with no bow limit on the grey company but with so little variety and its much depending on its archery witch is not always the best.

Wood Elves

Pros
Strong Heroes
Strong archery
Elite units
Decent variety of troops
Magic

Cons
Lack of defense
Expensive
Poor cavalry

*Wood elves are a strong army with good offense and archery but lack of defense, also with high fight and courage values and many elite and unique heroes.

Durins folk

Pros
High Defense
Decent strength
Good heroes
Big variety of troops
Good archery

Cons
No cavalry
No spear/supports
Slow moving
Expensive

*Dwarfs are extremely durable and also able to do good damage, they also have good fight and courage but they lack in numbers as their heroes are expensive. For last dwarfs are slow moving witch can cost on scenarios but really good on holding their ground.


I will review the evil armies later in the night as i am tired of writing for now:P
I hope that was what you were asking.

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Armies:Fiefdoms, Eastern Kingdoms

I'll throw in what I have about Minas Tirith:

Pros:

Powerful heroes like Boromir and Aragorn
Lots of troop selection, like Guards of the Fountain Court, Knights and soldiers with spears, bows and shields, Ithilen Rangers
All basic troops have either a high defence or good fight value (good for facing weak troops like orcs)
Artillery

Cons:
Expensive
Can be outnumbered against certain forces
No magic (unless you ally Gandalf)

I think that's all. I'm not the biggest gamer, but this is what I've learnt playing this force and hopefully it's of some help (:

*edit: did not see halauas' post above, but pretty much the same.

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I started to walk around without shoes...

It sort of then became a Hobbit

Wow this is exactly what I was asking about THANKS A VERY MERRY LOT

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I noticed that you missed the high elves and Wanderers in the wild.

Erigion and Rivendell
Pros
The most hero in the game (Gil-Galad)
Cost effective infantry
Natures Wrath (Elrond Arwen)
High fight
Highish defence
Shooting
Bargains for Twins / Gil-Galad
High courage

Cons
1 Might for both Gildor and Erestor
Gildor-Low D on an expensive combat hero!
No channelled version of wrath of Bruinen
No shields for Glorfindel or Elrond, making them risky leaders
Everything is super expensive
No natures wrath for Stormcaller.

High elves are my favourite army. The best way to pick an army with them, I find is to pick your heroes and then get as much troops as possible (naked high elves and bow limit maxed out). Then in battle, if you bring expensive heroes such as Gil-Galad, Glorfindel, Elrond or the Twins, let your warriors hold the line while your heroes kill and heroic combat through troops. I always tend to have Gil-Galad as my leader as he can shield when in an extremely tight spot. Also remember that if you take him as your leader, you don't really have to worry about him dying, and that he can easily heroic combat through two warriors to get to the enemy leader if he is cowering or being kept away deliberately. Also remember that you cannot shield while riding a horse.

Wanderers in the wild
Pros
Woses are very cheap
Woses almost always cost-effective
High fight/strength/defence/wounds for monsters
Eagles manoeuvrable
Brutal power attacks are extremely brutal if there are 2 or more eagles (can avoid heroes and bowl over armies without being caught) (especially powerful at low points levels), where there aren't many models that can deal with them).

Cons
Lack of might
Monsters are expensive
Woses have low Defence

I noticed they didnt do the Hobbit armies, so Ill do those:

Azogs Hunters:
Pros:
-All two attack models
-All strength 4 models
-Very cheap points wise
-Two of the best offensive heros in the game in my opinion
-Low hero cost all with three attacks and three might
-Options for banner and war horn
Cons:
-Extremely overpriced cavalry
-Low defense
-No good shooting
-Low Courage
-Low Fight Value
-Small variety of troops
My suggestion:
If you take these guys, use their cheap named heros who are all under 55 points and all have three might. Horde your Hunters. In a 750 pt army you can have 65 troops.

Dol Guldur:
Pros:
-High defense
-Re rolls on wounding Elves and Dwarves
-Strong Leaders
-Spear Support
Cons:
-Over costed points wise
-Low fight value
-Small variety of troops.
My suggestion:
Ally these with Hunter Orcs or other forces. Even allying these with Hunters against Dwarves and Elves, I find them mostly useless.


Mirkwood Elves:
Pros:
-100% bow limit
-Amazing Leaders with fantastic abilities
-High Defense Troops available
-Extremely tough troops in terms of survivability
Cons:
-No cavalry
-High point cost troops
-Only high defense troops are over costed and have a weak special rule
My suggestion:
Take a warband or two of the Rangers with Thranduil, Legolas, or Tauriel. Its going to be one of your favorite warbands ever taken.

Ally these guys with either Old Wood Elves, or Warriors of Erebor/Beorn

Dont take these guys first, as a new player. Youre not going to understand how to use them to their fullest ability.


High Elves:
Pros:
-100% bows
-Tough cavalry with all the wargear youd ever need
-Strong leaders
Cons:
-Only troops available are all over 20 pts each
-Only cavalry
-Leaders are all expensive, or soft without support
My suggestion:
Ally these with old High Elves, or with Wood Elves
DEF do not take these guys as new players

Erebor Dwarves:
Pros:
-High Defense
-Good Wargear options
-Spear support
-Some of the toughest heros in the game with amazing special rules
-cheap points cost
Cons:
-No cavalry
-slow movement
-small variety of troops
-over costed elites with softer armor than basic warriors
-Not many warband leaders to choose from as named heros
My suggestion:
Good for a new player. They move slow, but thats good so you dont overstretch your ranks and make rookie mistakes. Theyre TOUGH. AS. NAILS. For less than 10 points you get D7 warriors, and spear support, as well as banners if youd like.

Take these guys led by Thorin Dwalin Thrain and possibly Balin if you need a cheap warband leader. You can ally them with old Dwarces from Durins folk, or with Mirkwood Rangers. Or Beorn.
Goblin Town:
Pros:
-Everyone has free spear support
-Extremely Cheap units
-Cheap heros
-Extremely powerful King
-Can ally with the Trolls, Hunters, or Moria Goblins. Theyre fantastic.
Cons:
-Soft defense
-Terrible fight value
-Not much in terms of unit selection
-No speed
My suggestion:
You can horde these guys like crazy and they'll be a problem for any force really. The Goblin King is a must have. Extremely valuable leader for just over 100 points.

Laketown/Dale:
Pros:
-Cheap troops/spear support
-Alfrid the might giver
-Fluff??
Cons:
-They can NEVER be a stand alone army. Weak units
-No variety
-Over priced/weak heros
My suggestion:
If you really want, take Alfrid and a warband of spearmen as spear support. Otherwise, I dont see these troops as having a point to them period.


The Three Trolls:
Pros:
-Wonderful Special rules
-Extremely Powerful
-Can be allied wit any evil force really
-Not too expensive points wise for their value
-They all have might, and their leader has 3!!! Most for a troll in the game, and much tougher than Buhrdur
Cons:
-Cant be in a warband
-All do cost over 100 pts to almost 155
-Take down your evil army 'horde' mentality
-If you take one, I find he gets mobbed quickly and often dont have time to successfully use their cool rules!


Hope that helped. Any questions, bud?
My suggestion:

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Dale is a great force. The basic captains are high fv which is always good and the troops add great variety to any force. I regularly take 2 war bands in my Erebor force. I wouldn't say the captains are overpriced either, compare them to a Gondor captain, for the same points you swap a Defence for FV. An entire army is on my to do list.

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Your responces are amazing!! Thanks for this excellent feedback! They should be posted somewhere here as advice for all new members/players who don't know what to start with.
Luckily the forces I started with are a mix of Moria/Isengard so I believe balanced for a beginner

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To me(this is not a bad thing) you have an unconventional way of rating troops compared to myself.

I personally, never have nor will take forces like Dale, Numenor, pure high Elves, etc because of the small choice of troop type. Yes, the may be worth their points, but they do absolutely nothing special. I only except that out of troops if theyre rough like Uruks, Morannons, Hunters, Dwarf Warriors etc.

If youre soft, I want an army around them that will have special effects like wood elves, lots of bows etc, or Mordor, with a wraith. If even the top player used pure Dale against another top player with wood elves, Hunters, mordor.....the Dale force shouldnt win barring a catastrophic error.

Anyway, what is their fight? A 5?

And for overpriced I was referring more to the Master of Laketown and Bard. Not their regular captains. Ive honestly never seen their stats because they decided to put them in the box......





If you tell me what you have, I can give you an even more in depth idea of how to work the army.

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Here is what I have:
MGoblins: 12x Mgoblins bow, 12x Shield&Sword, 12x Spear, 1x Goblincaptain with bow, 1xGoblin captain.
Isengard: 20x Fighting Uruk hai
8x Uruk Scouts wBow, 8x Uruk Scouts Sword&Shield, 8x Uruk Scouts.
Lurtz, Saruman on Horse.
1x Uruk Captain, 1x Uruk Banner Bearer.
General: 6x Warg Riders/Wild Wargs.

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Oh I believe you made another topic and I gave you the army idea, remember?

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BLACKHAWK 2010 2013 2015 DYNASTY

Oh yes, the themed scouting orcs with Uglug. Thanks

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