So I've just gotten into this game and I have some questions, mostly about how connected models and profiles are.
1) If you add some optional equipment to a warrior do you have to add that physical piece of equipment to the physical model as well? If I equip my Mordor Uruk-Hai with Orc Bows do I need to find and glue on bows to each of them?

2) Are named Heroes at all interchangeable. If I had bought the fellowship pack that contains a Legolas model can I use it as either Legolas Greenleaf in a fellowship army or use him as Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood in a Thranduil's halls army?

First of all ... if you are playing at home or with friends, you can of course use your models however you want. You can experiment with different wargear, or test out the rules for uruk-hai using orc models or whatever you want.

If you are at a competitive tournament, then generally the models should match their wargear. The key thing is not to do anything that your opponent could complain is confusing. (And also, at the end of the day, check with the tournament organizer if uncertain).

So to not cause any confusion, if your models have shields on their profiles, they should be modelled with shields. If they have bows, they should have bows on the models. (With shields and things you might be able to blu-tack them on if you don't want it permanent).

Regarding named heroes, I think this could vary. You can't use King Aragorn in heavy armour from Minas Tirith as the Fellowship Aragorn without heavy armour. But I don't think any reasonable person would object to a Fellowship Legolas being used as a Mirkwood/Hobbit Legolas with the same wargear, for example.

How do folks handle models like Elrond and Glorfinder? They have armored versions and mounted versions but not models that are both. Are those option mutually exclusive due to lack of a model?

Also are there sources of spare shields / spears / bows somewhere?

For profiles that don’t have models, then conversions are the best option. For Elrond and Glorfindel, the most common solution is usually to base a conversion on the mounted Elladan and Elrohir armoured models.

The only official spare options are for Gundabad Orcs, although there are many companies like Gripping Beast that sell generic weapons and shields.

Just to say that for Elrond, there is a nice mounted model with armour available: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/El ... ndell-2019

He's got the classic banded metal elf armour on the model already, and is not allowed to take a shield, so no conversion needed. Nice model and good in the game (lots of fun special rules, including foresight, free re-rolls and nature's wrath spell to knock people over).

Glorfindel you are right, there is an armoured model on foot and an unarmoured one on horseback.

One easy option that I think most people would find acceptable ... get Glorfindel on foot in armour and glue him onto a 40mm base next to a spare horse from the Rivendell knight pack, or from a Rohan/Minas Tirith pack. If you pose them or model some reins or something this could look quite nice, and is much easier than a full-scale conversion.

I don't think anyone at a tournament could object to this ... it's obvious the model is Glorfindel plus a horse and no one could claim they lost the game cos they didn't know what it was.

I have some models like this, standing next to horses, and some where I've chopped models in half and stuck them on top of another model's body to make a full mounted conversion. If you want to do that you can find quite a few examples in google. It's easier working with resin/finecast models ... chopping metal ones up is hard work ... use knives with care!

To get extra weapons/shields the best ways are to buy up plastic sprues of troops ... sometimes there is a spare spear or shield on the sprue, or you can sacrifice a couple of troops to chop their weapons off them. The Morannon Orc sprue has a lot of optional shields you could transfer to other models. You get optional banner and horn in eg. the Morgul Knight kit. Rivendell Knights have optional shields that you could use on other characters (although you probably want to put them on the knights too).

With a bit of modelling skill you can also press-mould shields. Try googling blue-stuff moulding or oyamaru clay.

Maybe things are different across the Pond or on the Continent, but in North America it is accepted that the game only encourages, but does not require, models be converted to have every piece of wargear payed for in a particular game. I've never been to a tournament where it was required that models be so converted. If I brought a Gil Galad I didn't have to glue a shield on his back to have him use the shield; I didn't have to glue spears to my high elf archers just so they could take spears; and my warriors of Rohan with throwing spear did not need swords or axes glued to their belts for them to still use the hand weapons they came with. I only had to delineate who had what at the start of the game in a way that my opponent understood and it was fine.

Conversions are encouraged because they are cool, but if that isn't something that interests you or you aren't very good at it, the game doesn't, under its own rules, force you to go through the effort. You could just as easily use the Glorfindel without armor for the one that's got armor as you can convert him to have armor or just proxy him with one of the twins and it's all equally fine, so long as it isn't confusing as to what's what.

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"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Yes ... what I've described are the strictest level of rules, such as would apply at a tournament at Games Workshop's own Warhammer World:
https://warhammerworld.warhammer-commun ... ements.pdf

Other tournaments could be less strict. The requirements at an organized event (if any) would normally be set out in a rule-pack for the event, or contact the organizer if any questions.

And outside tournaments if it was just a club-gaming day or something there would probably be no requirements.