Hello all,
I have previously collected some of the plastic unit boxes just to paint as I am a fan of LOTR. So now the gents at my local game shop have talked me into playing. On the GOOD side, I have the boxes of Dwarf Rangers, warriors of minas tirith, and riders of rohan. I am asking for recommendations for a simple, yet competetive force (say 500-750 points). Also wondering (and hoping) I can use more than one of my units together (as allies). Haven't met with my group to look at their resource books,and would like to start shopping. I know I would need some heroes and elites to round the force out. Any good advice would be appreciated.
Dale

My first bit of advice is to analyze what kind of player you are, swarm? Bowfire? Defensive? Etc, then take a look at the rule book and see what kind of army fits your play style. Then build an army out of one specific race rather than mixing and matching. If you already have the dwarves and minas tirith boxes, I'd recomend starting with them, as with rohan, while the horses are nessecary for a good rohan army, your still going to need to sink your teeth into a boxed set of infantry, and maybe another of horses. Oh, and if you do go rohan, then do know they are a little frustrating as you not only have to pay for every hero twice, but you have to paint them as well (and a horse). Hope this helps you find a good starting point.

PS. If your not afraid of ebay, then its an excellent place to get alot of figures, such as hero's or normal soldiers for cheap

If I were you I would go with a gondor/rohan army.The warriors of minas tirith and riders of rohan compliment each other nicely in game terms and would be properly themed as well.
For additional models I would focus on elite infantry for gondor and elite cavalry for rohan. maybe a few blisters of citadel or fountain guard. And then mounted royal guard?
Hero wise I really like command sets and would get one to lead the WoMT. Then a not too expensive named hero like eomer to lead the rohan cavalry because of his high might.

24 WoMT
6 citadel guard
MT command
6 Rohan riders
3 mounted royal guard
Eomer + horse

something like that anyway. Not sure about points but it must be coming close to 500. And should perform well in games.

EDIT: the above was posted while i wrote my reply, and raises very valid points about painting/buying 2 of each rohan model. Maybe my idea isnt so good afterall

_________________
Hello.

Well, if you want competetive things then you don't really want to take a command box, unless if there are no alternatives. I recomend using eomers new stats if your gonna use eomer but a better alternative would be to lead the cavalry with eowyn, she's dirt cheap and is a million times better than any model in her points range. Her low cost makes it easier for you to invest in a "super hero". If you lead the MT warriors with cirion or madril (i prefer madril) then you have your 5 might points to lead your army with (you should generally have about 1 might point per 100pts) and still have enough points to buy a decent hero. But personally i would much rather do the dwarves and MT alliance, the mt warriors can give the rangers with throwing axes all important spear support while the mt shield warriors can make kill teams with the 2h axemen.

Balin with Durins axe
Damrod
20 WoMt (8 spear and shield, 6 shield, 6 bow)
24 dwarf rangers (8 bow, 8 throwing axes, 8 2h axe)
499 points, 46 models, 15 shots, 4 might.

Thanks to all for the advice so far. Hope to hear some more. I think I am less inclined towards Rohan. Love them in the books/movie, but expense-wise buying horses and duplicating models isn't something I want to do now.
@ Battalia - I like to play the combined arms approach...mobile, missiles and head on.
@ SuicidalMarsbar - What about Drar and Boromir or faramir...they appear to be suitable heroes for this group (not regarding points). I do like Madril too.
I will probably buy the human ranger box (love the models)...would they be better suited with WoMT than the dwarves?

Oh wait a minute, are you talking about war of the ring or SBG? If its war of the ring then i have no idea if its the skirmish game then here are my words of (little) wisdom.

If you want to use drar you have to use his best mate murin too, they cost 150pts altogether (which is alot) you'd be better off with haldir. Fellowship boromir is a nice model but needs an elven cloak so that wraiths can't manipulate him, but captain of the white tower boromir is very good, but very expensive. Faramir is a great mid range hero, he will killa model or two more than cirion or madril but ultimatley he's the same sorta hero. Now onto the human rangers: there is a 33% bow limit on all warriors in all armies, and every ranger comes equipped with a bow, so you will only be able to use 8 rangers and to do so you sacrifice the WoMt. However there is an army called the grey company which does not have to follow the bow limit, instead they must include 1 dunedain or ranger of the north for every 4 regular rangers. The grey company can ally with gondor If your wondering what a dunedain/ranger of the north is, its just a normal ranger but with a point of might, will, and fate, so it is classified as a hero. Allying in some grey company is great because it:
A: Provides loads of bowfire
B: Provides lots of cheap might, meaning your leader can waste all of his might on killing foes while the dunedain call all the heroic moves
C: Provides spears
D Also gives you access to aragorn, the twins, halbarad, and last but not least: Arathorn