New Players

Basic Rules Overview:

Nothing beats reading the actual rules - get a rulebook, you can find them on ebay if you don't mind them used. Otherwise, get a pristine copy from Amazon or from the Games Workshop main page.

For the basics of the game (as well as some basic tactica for "soft" armies, spell-casters, etc.), look here at our "New Players" labeled posts. These posts are written specifically for new players, though long-time players may see some interesting things as well.

Hero review:

Look at this post for some detailed information on some of the heroes provided here. This page is intended to rank a few heroes from different lists in order to provide new players with an idea of what kinds of heroes are valuable to take, given different roles. These heroes are also fairly easy to use and don't require a developed strategy, allowing a newer player who is still mastering the rules to get started quickly. The number in parentheses is the value score of the model, given the criteria for the category. Any entries in blue have one or more models that tied in score.

Slayers (heroes built to rampage through the enemy in melee combat):
Criteria: SUM(FV, S, D, A, H, C, M/W/F)/Point Cost
Note: if a hero has a special rule that provides him with additional stats, the attribute that receives the bonus is increased (assumes 5 rounds of melee combat for rules like "Mighty Hero").

1. Balin, Son of Fundin/Mauhur/Ugluk/Lurtz/Vrasku (0.47)
2. Elladan and Elrohir (0.45)
3. Eomer, Knight of the Riddermark/Theodred, Heir of Rohan (0.41)
4. Gimli, Son of Gloin (0.40)
5. Eorl the Young/Tauriel (0.38)
6. Dwalin (0.37)
7. Boromir of Gondor/Shagrat, War Leader (0.33)
8. Eomer, Knight of the Pelennor (0.32)
9. Buhrdur (0.31)
10. Gil-Galad (0.29)
11. Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth (0.28)
12. Celeborn/Treebeard (0.26)
13. Elrond (0.24)
14. Aragorn/Strider/Boromir, Captain of the White Tower (0.23)
15. Bolg (0.21)

Spell-Casters (heroes who employ magic to defeat enemy heroes or monsters):
Criteria: SUM(Defense, Health, Might, Will, Fate, Average spell casting value)/Point Cost
Note: this criteria is still being evaluated, though the important casters have been discussed regardless of their ranking.

1. The Undying (0.28) - assumes he receives 2 Will from another caster
2. Ringwraith w/ 2M/8W/2F/Barrow-Wight (0.27)
3. Saruman the White/Radagast the Brown (0.18)
4. Gandalf the Grey (0.17)

Snipers (heroes who use archery to devastate the enemy):
Criteria: Probability of killing either a D5 unit or a D6 unit, with the D6 unit obscuring view of the D5 unit in a single turn

1. Legolas (0.50)
2. Bard (0.47)
3. Vrasku (0.44)
4. Ent/Treebeard/Buhrdur/Haldir w/ Elf bow (0.33)
5. King's Huntsman (0.28)
6. Drar (0.25)
7. Thranduil (0.21)
8. Narzug/Uruk Captain with crossbow (0.17)

Secondaries (unnamed heroes who can be taken to fill out ranks):
Criteria: (SUM(FV, S, D, A, H, C, M/W/F) - SUM(stat line of reference hero))/(Point Cost - Point Cost of reference unit)
Note: reference hero is a Moria Goblin Captain with shield.

Further note: The original issuance of this report was miscalculated - the updated results have some different winners than before! If you only purchase one Ranger of the North (instead of two), the computation puts the single entry near the bottom of the list, because the computational method doesn't compensate for costing less than the reference case very well.

1. 2x Ranger of the North (2.20)
2. Easterling Captain with shield (0.30)
3. Dwarf King (0.26)
4. Uruk Captain with heavy armor and shield (0.25)
5. King of Men with heavy armor and shield/Captain of Minas Tirith with shield/Captain of Rohan with heavy armor and shield/Dwarf Captain with shield/Dwarf Shield-Bearer (0.20)
6. High Elf Captain with shield (0.18)
7. Wild Warg Chieftain (0.17)
8. Wood Elf Captain with Elf cloak and Elf bow (0.13)
9. Hasharin (0.06)