How to Choose your First Faction ~ Middle Earth SBG

I started with Minas tirith hoping to ally in some dol Amroth….and then picked up some halls of thranduil allying in some Beornings….because rule of cool right?!

Thanks for the shoutout!

Am I new to the game? Not really.

Do I know how to build an army? Absolutely.

Did I still watch the whole thing? You god damn right

Great video! But the Beornings? :)

really good and helpful video

You should shout out Now For Wrath for developing TTA.

Great video! I'll be sharing this to the new community around here

Excellent video, getting back into the game after a long hiatus. Introduced a friend to the game in what I thought would be a one-off battle before we went on to him showing me Bolt Action the following week. Next thing I know, he's bought the Osgilliath box, the Mordor host, and a Troll Chieftain so I guess we're going to be playing a lot more, lol. I've been sending your videos to him to help introduce him to things (especially as I'm from the LotRSBG days and have no clue what the difference is between the different hero tiers).

When I was entering the game, I wanted to make the Return of the King legendary legion, but in my country, the army of the dead was not available. So, then decided to choose between dwarves and Rohan. And seeing that many of my wargame group played Rohan, decided to go with dwarves. And after seeing the models, and not liking very much the Iron Hills... Went with Khazad-Dum, and oh, boy, oh boy. What a great decision. Loved painting them and playing with them and still is my favorite army.
Later on, I got lucky and was finally able to build the RotK legendary legion, and after that, I built Lurtz Scouts legion. I mean, I'm 3 models away from completing my army, but I'm very close haha
And after that, I'm thinking of building a Shire list. Really want to, but oh man... They're super difficult to get (in my country) and they're expensive af... But we'll see, we'll see hahaha

Still. Always building an army is great and fun!

I’d probably go with Moria. Using big monsters sounds very fun. Moria orcs also look the best in my opinion.

Idk if this is a good tip but IF you are getting rohan like i did for my first army there is something i wish i did earlier and that is play a split of cavalry and warriors, so buy the battlehost and then grimbolds command pack and you are so set for great games! Having grimbold just boosts your troops and lets you remain in the game if you happen to get all your cav killed early (which honestly is very easy to do when you are new)

Grimbold just gives value to all the 24 warriors you get in the battlehost box and you get a banner which is awesome!

Great tips 👌 thanks 🙏

Bro thanks for this video. I will be getting back into the hobby and I can’t wait to play!

I went with AOL as I like orcs/goblin, bows and wargs
Azog hunter was a bit expensive (forgeworld🤮)
I want to try far harad tho, but all that metal is daunting (and expensive)
Anyway I got my first "tutorial" game this monday!

SOLID

I wish we really did have all the green alliances from the books. The real last alliance represented by a green alliance would be totally awesome. Rivendell, Numenor, Khazad-dûm, Mirkwood and Lothlorien.

Or Rivendell and Rangers.

Pick the most fun army. When it comes to the books, just find some free PDFs online. They are way too big an investment for a new player. Rule book, Hobbit armies, and LOTR armies. And then they aren't even up to date with the changes. They set you back €150.

And these are just the basic books. For those prices you can get a bunch of miniatures. Plus, you don't have to carry them around.

I was surprised to see an all grim hammer army as number 1, due to lack of spear supports you need to do some difficult maneuvering to get enough of your models in combat

I chose Isanguard

About to buy the Minas Tirith battlehost and Boromir (or Faramir) for my first set! Excited as a huge LOTR fan! Also, great video!

Is my list good

King Of The Dead
12 warriors of the dead

Eomer
14 warriors of Rohan

I’ve been a collector of MESBG since they were first released. I have been able to build numerous armies over the years but I’ve never been able to play the game. I recently started 40K and AOS with a few friends, and now I’ve convinced them to try out SBG with me….. I want to start with Lothlorien, but this video made me rethink bringing Galadriel for my first game! Haha

me sitting with 5 armies already "hmm yes interesting..."

As someone who is currently collecting a Rohan army I can tell you that if you want to play them as seen in the film they are not anywhere near a cheap army! You’re looking at a whole heap of heroes and tons of riders plus dismounts. For an ineffective list that new starters will lose every game with maybe they are cheap but I don’t feel it’s a fair place to put them.. moderate to high for sure!

I’m wanting to get back into mesbg I currently have the battle for osgiliath and escape from Goblin town. I like the look of the undead and army of Thror. I’ve noticed in battle reports the undead army has Aragon on horse . As a beginner should I go Aragon or the 3 hunters

Been wanting to get into tabletop for a while. Only thing scaring me is the painting because I absolutely suck at drawing or anything related to art. How hard is it to actually paint miniatures decent as an absolut noob? And can you repaint miniatures if you botch it or want to repaint it in the future?

Whelp, I'm brand new to the game (coming from a 40k background) and picked up the Fellowship because I love them & wanted to play as the iconic heroes.

Guess it's an uphill slog in front of me...

For rulebooks, do I just need to big blue one to start? Or do I need others based on my faction as well?

Do you have a recommended place to look at 3rd party models?

I'm a relatively new 40k player (about 1.5 years), and I've definitely been wanting to try out MESBG. Especially with the new edition being announced. Do you think it's a good idea to wait for the new edition to jump into the game? I figured I could just get whatever launch box they have for it. Also, I see The Hobbit and LOTR being talked about separately in a lot of places. Are the armies of each able to play in the same games and with he same rules, or is there some kind of separation? I got the Fellowship box just to have fun painting with my wife (they can also be used as TTRPG minis). Thanks for any advice.

I definitely want to build a Shire army.

Because it's so hilarious and so weird.

Do you think Army of the Dead will be mostly the same in the new edition? I just started with them as per this recommendation, and am worried im wasting my time now. 😢

What u can go for the army of the dead in 800 point? Its hard to fine a competitiv list

What army do you pla...
CLAP SNAP! THE BLACK CRACK!
GRIP GRAB PINCH AND NAB!
BATTER AND BEAT! MAKE EM STAMMER AND...SQUEAK!
POUND POUND FAAAR UNDERGROUUUND!
DOWN DOWN DOWN IN GOBLIN TOWN!

now what if i wanna run sauron

I am building Khazad Dum (Balin's Expedition). I like being able to take a nuke to the face and ask for more. I am also a short guy with a beard. I also really like the Vault Warden team. Simple as

Great video! Many thanks! :) I am returning to the game after... well 23 years. I bought second hand a big Angmar army because I love the theme and the Witch King, and it came with the Fellowship and Thorin's company. I also have some old minis from Rohan and Isengard. So, should I skip Angmar until I am ready and try with some other thing? I have the most minis of Angmar (a lot of points actually) and I like it the most, but it appeared in the hard list. hehe thanks for your videos!

Why you separate "The Army of Thror and Iron Hills Army" are they not the same? I'm new and I would like to understand better, thank you!

Do they not sell painted armies and terrain? I love the idea of the game but have no interest in forking out that much cash for something I have to finish the job on. And Im a bit of a purest/perfectionist, so Im not really interested in a used set with a less than perfectly colour coded paint job.
I get that people love the arts and crafts aspect but they dont seem to understand how many people are immediately turned off and dont give these games another thought because of the painting.

As a primarily 40K play who loves LOTR, Tolkien and fantasy in general, who wanted a new game system starting MESBG was a no brainer! Decided on Rohan as they are one of if not my favourite faction, and with the new edition coming out with the Rohan refresh it just made sense! The older sculpts definitely put me off for a while but after seeing the new miniatures and finding some great third party stuff I can’t wait to get started! Thanks for the great content it’s been amazing to help me learn more about the game! 🤩

Been a while since I played on this has honestly been a good refresher on how to get back into an army. Also, can confirm the validity of second hand markets.... I have aquired a full Rohan army without intending to or even trying. Must be a terrible army as most people I know were happy to part with their models for only a few beers haha

Brand new to this game, getting into gondor as I love their multi use soldiers in so many roles but lots of factions aren't even online

ive had a lotr resurgence over the last few months and would love to paint some of the minis. i used to collect the battle games in middle earth magazines and really wish i still had them!

I went Iron Hill Dwarves. I decided with no logic just with the heart. Got some Gundabad too.

Great video, love all the content! I’ve been trying to encourage new people to take up the game at my local gaming store by offering demo games, but I’ve been struggling a bit with the lists. I have almost all the models for Gondor, Mordor, and Isengard lists that you gave. Do you feel these would be good demo armies to use for beginners?

I’m glad to see that my army that I plan to begin with Isengard is easy to learn

RIP to Rohan...

Im new to the Hobby 😅 I want Iron Hill Army

Is it a good idea to buy now Gondor at War and War in Rohan books when new edition is coming soon especially those books are going out of print

I wanted to give a update to this one because it is going to be out of date in the near future. There is a new edition coming that will change the rules slightly. What we know so far is:

- Alliances and army building will work differently
- The factions will all be rebalanced and changed slightly
- All the current rulebooks will be obsolete so don't buy them!