Hello to all of you lovely people! I'm back from my adventures (uni) and now have unrestricted access to my hordes of little plastic and metal men once more!

I have missed this hobby immensely, but tried to distance myself from any distractions so that my studies would go well. This means I haven't played in a looooong time, however I was able to keep expanding my collection with the help of ebay and job lots from various individuals. I now want to get back into it and become much more involved!

I had a small Isengard force and the Fellowship before I left, but I now own a lot more. Unfortunately I lack the battle expertise and sourcebooks (I only have the LOTR SBG rulebook and the Two Towers book) required to build tactically sound forces, so I was hoping you folks might give me a hand? Pretty please? Any suggestions as to what I should buy next are also welcome!

I'll shut up for a bit now, but once again thanks, and as for my absence...
I was delayed.

The Models: Forces Of Good

Rohan:
Theoden on foot
Gamling on foot
Hama on foot
Eowyen on foot
Eomer mounted
4 riders of Rohan
2 riders of Rohan with spears
1 Rohan royal guard with spear
8 warriors of Rohan with bows
8 warriors with hand weapons and shields
8 warriors of Rohan with spears and shields

Gondor:
Aragorn King Elessar foot and mounted
Faramir (as a ranger)
Faramir mounted with sword and shield
Boromir of Gondor
Gandalf the white foot and mounted
Knight of Minas Tirith with banner
Warrior of Minas Tirith with banner
8 warriors of Minas Tirith with hand weapons and shields
8 warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
7 warriors of Minas Tirith with spears and shields

Arnor:
Aragorn/Strider (with and without bow and flaming torch)
Halbarad Dunadan with banner of Arwen Evenstar
24 Rangers of Middle-Earth (could also be used as rangers of Gondor?)

Elven Havens:
Elrond
Elladan and Elrohir
Gil galad
10 elf warriors with bows
11 elf warriors with two handed elven blade

The Shire:
Frodo
Pippin
Merry
Sam
Gandalf the Grey

Woodland Realms:
Galadriel
Legolas
Haldir

Dwarven Kingdoms:
Gimli

Men of Numenor
Isildur
Elendil
12 warriors of Numenor

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

If you're having trouble getting a hold of source books try getting in touch with the DCHL guys, you can google them and email them through their website. Something I found very helpful with since so many books are OOP, which makes it very hard to play..

Army building though, I would pick your favorite faction and go from there. I think you have the best start of a Gondor army but its always best to collect and play something you like the look and feel of best! I think there's a way to build almost every list pretty competitively, if that's what you like doing, and if you practice enough you should be able to at least give yourself a shot at most games with most armies!

A couple things I would pick up though for the armies you mentioned would be Erkenbrand for Rohan, as well as a couple Outriders, Sons of eorl, and maaybe 1-2 royalguard.

To do the Grey company list you need rangers of the north/dunedain 1 for every 4 rangers of arnor you're planning to run, that list has some weird requirements for army building.

For Gondor you have most of it, and could do a perfectly fine army with what you have but you probably should look for Damrod, Beregond and Madril and or Denethor who are all really good cheap ways to boost your numbers, although Beregond, specifically is quite costly $$$ wise. The warriors of Gondor go nicely with the rangers but you could also try picking up Osgiliath veterans and Guards of the Fountain Court, the guards specifically can build up a pretty nasty force if you want something a little more elite heavy. The citadel guards, specifically with bows can also be pretty good.

Hope it helps!

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Cheers,

P

Thanks for the response polywags!

I just ordered denethor on ebay as per your advice, and am going to look into getting more cheap characters for Gondor. I'm probably going to get them directly from GW though as they are for some reason more expensive on ebay! Regarding your advice about the sourcebooks and the DCHL, would I be asking to buy the actual books from them, or are there *other* (ahem) methods of obtaining the rules?

Also, would it be worth getting knights of minas tirith, or just allying in rohan as cavalry?

P.s. Just looked at beregond on ebay! Very expensive! £££

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

Actually, they were "born" as Rangers of Gondor. Those models work as Ranger of Gondor, of Arnor and Blackroot Vale Archers.

And on that point, Rangers are a must in a Gondor force. They have access to spear, which makes them cheap and effective second line fighters, shooting behind the front line and supporting with F4.
Damrod, Berengod (just convert one, no one will blame you for that) and Denethor will allow to spam more units.
However, Gondor lacks killing power. Is a force that really depends on the likes of Boromir, Captain of the white tower and Faramir to kill.
Nobody uses King Elessar: too expensive.

Thanks Dikey, in accordance with what you said, I have managed to get myself a Boromir captain of the white tower on foot with armour and a shield only, but I have a few questions. Is the version with the banner of Minas Tirith actually worth the 50 extra points, bearing in mind I'm probably only going to play games of around 700 points? Seems like I could get a lot more models for that.

I heard that the +1 fight bonus only applied to citadel guard and GOTFC? Is this true?

Also, do you guys think that I should look into converting a mounted version of Boromir, and if so how would I go about it?

p.s I have a plan for converting a Beregond!

Many thanks friends

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

Boromir's banner affects every Gondor unit and Boromir himself, bringing him to Fight 7. That means that Fountain Guards,Rangers and Citadel Guards will be F5, while soldiers and Knights will get the much needed F4. It does not effect other heroes, though.
One has to choose carefully. On one hand, Boromir is much more deadly and cheap with horse, shield and lance. however, since Gondor has very cheap heroes that allow spamming troops (Damrod, Berengod and Denethor get to less then 80 point counting them together) it may be possibile to use the banner without too much sacrifice.

The easiest mounted Boromir convertion is by buying a Minas Tirith Knight and a boromir from the mines of moria set (plastic, easy to cut,easy to find, cheap to buy on ebay). Cut the heads and put Boromir's on the body of the knight. For the shield, you either cut it very carefully (not hard, yet quite annoying) or you make one.
For any model detail, you can just sculpt it. A cloak is not hard to do

Right, I have looked into it and I have a mate who will give me the white tower Boromir with flag. So I can choose which to use depending on each game now!

I have found Minas Tirith Knight's body (metal) with no lance and a spare Boromir. Are horses easy to find online? If not, then I think I will just keep a knight (from the box I will surely get) unglued to his horse, and add a pin to Boromir's crotch so that I can swap between them.

I've also been looking at GOTFC and Citadel guard, and like the look of both. Which and how many would be a good investment at a 700 pt game?

P.s. What does 'spamming troops' mean in this context?

Thanks!

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

I dont love the knights but they're not bad I just feel its either better to horde out or elite core with Gondor.


I would try to grab Faramir and or Boromir on horse if possible that really ups there choppiness!

The banner isn't usually worth it but you can give it a shot. It applies to every gondor unit, including him which makes him f7 which is pretty sick. I think if you go a suuuper elite army with fountain court, the banner and maybe just boromir to have a f7 hero, f5 d7 troops is pretty gnarly
but you'll have really low numbers. It also is probably worth it at higher points like 1000 maybe 800. Hard to say though, i haven't played it that high of points.

Glad you're getting into it!

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Cheers,

P

Awesome! Thanks for the advice! Have got a spare mounted Faramir that I will convert to hold a lance, somehow! That means I'll have one rider with a lance and one without.

Still working on finding a Boromir to behead, as well as a horse to use! Any horses and lances by other companies that fit the GW LOTR range?

I just need to form an actual list now! Then the converting and painting can commence! If you guys have any Gondor lists you'd be happy to share, I'd love to hear them!

p.s. Do you think it would be interesting to create a WIP for this?

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

Totally yeah! I'd say go for it.

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Cheers,

P

Lonely Knights Armybuilder for SBG will let you easily explore options. http://www.lonelyknight.0fees.net/?ckattempt=1

Thanks for the suggestion bruceqn! I'll look into that!

Managed to pick up 2 captains, 4 GOTFC, 3 Citadel guard with bows and 3 sprues (36) warriors of minas tirith on ebay. I'm going to spend a little time tracking down the right pieces (Damrod, cirion, madril?) and try to cast/buy some shields for the fountain court. Also working on my plans to convert a Beregond using the head of mounted king elessar (as I have a spare one missing an arm) and the body of a citadel guard.

A WIP thread will definitely follow once I have the correct models and resources! I'm one happy hobbit!

The Gondor Collection now consists of:

Aragorn King Elessar foot and mounted
Faramir Ranger of Gondor
Faramir foot and mounted (with sword and shield)
Boromir of Gondor (foot and mounted)
Boromir Captain of the white tower (with and without banner
Denethor steward of Gondor
Gandalf the white foot and mounted
4 Guard of the Fountain Court
3 Citadel guard with bows
2 Captains of Minas Tirith
Knight of Minas Tirith with banner
Warrior of Minas Tirith with banner
20 warriors of Minas Tirith with hand weapons and shields
20 warriors of Minas Tirith with bows
20 warriors of Minas Tirith with spears and shields

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

You can grab both Cirion and Madril right from GW for a nice price, only $20 US, which is about $14 pounds UK, I think...and they're both nice metal sculpts

Damrod is all over eBay for cheap, I usually see him for as cheap as $5-10 US.

If you've got spare Numenorans, a lot of people use their shields for the Guards of the Fountain Court, as the white tree fits nicely for Gondor troops. If you don't have any Numenorans, you can grab them cheap off eBay as well, I'd figure you could get a cheap lot of 10-20 of them for only about $10-$15 US...

Beregond is definitely a tougher find and is generally more costly as well. He usually goes for about $30-$40 US on eBay. Might be cheaper in the UK, but I'm not sure

Good luck and have fun with your building and painting, and go ahead and start a WIP. I'd say most everyone here enjoys looking at people's work for inspiration and ideas, and you'll likely get a good amount of helpful advice from people here who really know what they're doing with a paintbrush...

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T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair..
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her..

Thanks very much Ja33! I'm definitely going to pick up damrod, cirion and Madril. Beregond seems to be selling on eBay for around £20+ at the moment. I think (as dikey suggested) a conversion might be in order! One of the job lots that I bought had a bunch of Numenoreans, lsildur and Elendil. I reckon I'll cast a few shields for my GOTFC.

P.s.Thanks so much for the help you guys have given me so far! You are by far the most welcoming and enthusiastic online community I have ever encountered.

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Over the field rang his clear voice calling: "Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!"

try Instant Mold for shields.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9gbC3q ... AAzZ_uxvcQ