Quick Starter Armies with the Armies of the Lord of the Rings!

Good morning gamers,

We've previously looked at how to take the Army of Edoras box set or the Armies of the Hobbit supplement and get started for $200-$500 USD in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game. Today, we're tackling the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement as a new player - and since we've already looked at the Army of Edoras box set, we'll be assuming that you aren't interested in playing the factions from the War of the Rohirrim film (but might be interested in playing a Rohan/Dunland faction, so the starter set will only be on the table if you are interested in these factions).

As we said last time, GW is not sponsoring us here at TMAT. I get no kickbacks from the way you spend money, I don't have affiliate links, and I'm not associated with a webstore or physical store of any kind. We here at TMAT are just a bunch of gamers trying to play with toy soldiers on a budget. As a result, the recommendations I provide here are the result of much thinking and planning - mostly for myself and maybe my musings and plannings will help you too!

Like we did with the Armies of the Hobbit, we're going to assume that you've spent $60 on a rulebook and $50 on the Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement, which means that we'll be looking for armies that you can get for $100 to $400 more (between $200 and $500 total). I'll do my best with as many of these as possible to provide stacking ways to get into the more expensive armies at lower points levels (to ease into the purchase structure). With that, let's start with the Good armies . . .

$300 Investment in The Breaking of the Fellowship: the Fellowship, Haldir, and 1 box of Lothlorien Warriors

I could have said, "Just buy the Fellowship", but let's be honest, that's boring. :-) This way, you get not only a Fellowship list (and are on your way to any number of other lists), but you're also starting out a Lothlorien army. Now I will say that the three purchases required for this list - the Fellowship, Lothlorien Warriors, and Haldir is just shy of $300 with the main rulebook and the Armies of the Lord of the Rings in hand, so if you wanted to pick up a mounted Boromir to fill out your Fellowship roster (or the Wood Elf Command blister so you can have a banner), you can do that.

The list provided below is a fun list and you can try it out with just the purchase of the main rulebook, the Armies of the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship, and the Lothlorien Warriors (if you proxy one of your bowmen as Haldir):

20 models isn't a lot at 650, but 17 Might and counting is CERTAINLY good. Also, 11 arrows go twang! Purchasing three copies of Haldir is pretty pricey - but if you did go all-in on buying him, you'll be a good ways towards collecting a Lothlorien list, so you're getting into at least three army lists with this purchase plan!

$400 Investment in Atop the Walls: 1 Minas Tirith Battle Host, 1 Trebuchet, Irolas and Denethor, and 12 Citadel Guard

I will note that you CAN get into this army more cheaply by getting the Minas Tirith Command blister and a box of Warriors of Minas Tirith instead of Denethor/Irolas and the two blisters of Citadel Guard - this will get you access to a banner (which we currently don't have), but will also give you access to exactly one unit type. The Citadel Guard get +1 To Wound near Irolas and their upgrade to longbows are essentially free when compared to Warriors of Minas Tirith with bows, so while the Citadel Guard are expensive, I think they're definitely a worthwhile investment (and they can be fielded in a LOT of Minas Tirith lists):

The trebuchet provides a bit of fun for the list - and adds an element of come-and-get-me in certain scenarios, even if your opponent brought archery of his own. Gandalf is great in this edition and the shieldwall you can field with this list (which would be better if we had another box of Minas Tirith Warriors) is pretty strong. Of course, if you want a more resilient shieldwall, you might want to look into . . .

$300 Investment in the Defenders of the Pelennor: 1 Minas Tirith Battle Host, The King of the Dead, 1 box of Warriors of the Dead

This list is basically the previous list but swapping out the trebuchet and Denethor/Irolas for the King of the Dead and a box of dudes. You end up with about the same number of models, but you have higher Defense and a Terror frontline (I think the trade of Citadel Guard near Irolas and Warriors of the Dead probably comes out near a tie for killing power):

You could run the Return of the King list by getting the Three Hunters and another box of the Dead instead of the Minas Tirith Battlehost if you wanted to - I like the cheaper spears and option for bows from the Minas Tirith side of the house in this list (not to mention Gandalf the White), but to each his own. This list is pretty easy to collect and super hard to clear out (even if its archery is a little lack-luster).

$300 Investment in the Kingdom of Rohan: Rohan Battle Host, 1 Rohan Infantry Command Blister, Gamling and Hama

The Rohan Battle Host box isn't currently available - I hope because they're repackaging it with the new Warriors of Rohan in it (I don't dare to hope that they're resculpting the Riders of Rohan). If you are able to buy that box, you'll have Eomer (as good as Theoden as your General now that the Arise, Riders of Rohan rule applies to any General instead of Theoden specifically), 6 Riders of Rohan (perfectly functional cavalry), and a host of Warriors of Rohan. With the purchase of a few heroes (the Rohan Command blister is mostly so you can get a second banner and war horn - you could get more cavalry if you wanted to), you're good to go:

You CAN swap Eomer for Theoden and the Riders of Rohan for 9 Royal Guards if you want to lean into the Hama/Dominant (2) mechanic instead of cavalry - but this will make you an infantry list instead of a cavalry list and I'm not sure that you'd be a very good one:

All in all, getting started with Rohan without the Battle for Edoras starter set is pretty hard - and I've dupmed a LOT of money into foot-based Rohan Royal Guard here and am not convinced that it's a good investment overall (you'd really want mounted Royal Guards - but at $65/3 models, I can't in good faith recommend that as an initial purchase option). Okay, one last one for the Forces of Good . . .

$300 Investment in the Garrison of Ithilien: Faramir/Madril/Damrod, Frodo/Sam/Smeagol, 1 box of Warriors of Minas Tirith, 1 box of Rangers of Middle-Earth

I will say that if you can find a Battle for Osgiliath starter box (or if you already have it), a good chunk of the investment you need for this list goes away. We're only using 14 Warriors of Minas Tirith (all melee) and 14 Rangers of Gondor (only 2 spears), so a good chunk of our Warriors of Minas Tirith (mostly bows) and Rangers (nearly even-split between having and not having spears) will be unused. Still, the list gives you some free VPs from Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol - you could get two Rangers and one Warrior of Minas Tirith if you drop Smeagol - and it has 17 bows to keep the model disparity close. If you wanted to spend more money, I'd highly recommend getting a Minas Tirith command blister to get a banner (and possibly some Knights of Minas Tirith - and OsVets if you think they're cool):

You may have noticed that there are a lot of Minas Tirith lists in this "buyer's guide" . . . and that's simply because getting started with them is incredibly points- and money-efficient! Rohan lists are awesome, but you have to buy cavalry in addition to your infantry to really make them sing (though I tried my best here). Numenor and Rivendell are awesome, but unless you're trying to collect both and spend a LOT of money, you just can't get what you would want in a good starter list. Riders of Theoden is . . . incredibly expensive even WITH the Rohan Battlehost (that isn't available right now). But still, I think we covered the basics - now let's turn our gaze to the Evil side of the house!

$250 Investment in Barad-Dur: 1 Mordor Battle Host box and The Dark Lord Sauron

Look, if you don't want to spend a lot of money, you want to find a hero who can lead a lot of troops, doesn't cost that much actual money to buy, and is worth a lot of points in-game. If you want that . . . you should look into Sauron. For $52 on the GW webstore, you not only get a 400-point model, but you also get a Hero of Legend who can lead 24 warriors - and if you also buy the Mordor Battle Host box, you not only get 24 infantry, but up to six of those guys can be used as dismounts for Warg Riders, which can give you speed and knock-down potential:

You'll also have a Witch-King in your Battle Host, so the next purchases should definitely go towards an Orc Command blister and another box of Mordor Orcs - this will give you a Captain for Heroic March, a banner for much-needed rerolls on Sauron, and a host of extra bodies that can be fielded alongside a support caster for Sauron (who blessedly isn't forced into taking either a Fell Beast or a horse, so his cost is quite manageable).

$250 Investment in Muster of Isengard: 1 Isengard Battle Host box and a Fighting Uruk-Hai Warrior Command Pack

This is a super simple way to get started in MESBG: get the Isengard Battle Host and a command blister to help you field all of the guys. The way the army special rules in this list work, Uruk-Hai Captains are better overall investments than Uruk-Hai Scout Captains - and the list below runs 5pts under but with one of the lowest overall costs of any army list we've looked at to date:

I will say here that if you're willing to do some conversion work on an Uruk-Hai Warrior with shield and an Uruk-Hai Warrior with banner, the command pack is completely optional - you have plenty of helmetless Uruk-Hai Scouts that you can do a head-swap with an Uruk-Hai Warrior with shield model to make a Captain and you can add a cross-bar and a paper flag to a pike in order to make a banner, so if you want to get this army for closer to $200 (including the books), you certainly can. Alternatively, you could take the money you would have spent on the Uruk-Hai Command blister and get two boxes of Uruk-Hai Berserkers or almost another box of Uruk-Hai Warriors (converting more Captains), which would easily allow you to play at points levels at/above 800pts.

$350 Investment in the Depths of Moria: The Balrog, 2 Moria Command Blisters, 2 boxes of Moria Goblins

Techincally speaking, we could field this army for nearly $100 less if we convert two of our Moria Goblin Warriors with shields to be Captains with no extra gear (or two of our bowmen into bow-armed Captains). This makes the investment in the Depths of Moria pretty simple - $250-$350 depending on how much work you want to put into it. The reason for this, simply put, is that a) Moria Goblins are some of the oldest sculpts in the range and so can be bought for close to $2/model and b) the Balrog is a really old model as well and while expensive is a very good points-for-cash investment (350 points for $70, or put differently 5pts/$1 - which is only twice as high as the 2.5pts/$1 that you get from Moria Goblins!).

If I were to find the "knee in the curve" for least investment of money into the most competitive list in this whole post, this is probably it - and yes, that may be my Balrog-bias speaking but I don't care. This list has ways to not count as being broken, has a global banner buff to help its weakest pieces, and has Dominant (10) on its army leader (so if he escapes in Recon or gets to the middle in Hold Ground, your opponent has an uphill battle to climb). Additionally, if you want to scale this list up to higher points levels, you can choose to get a Cave Troll for ~$50 to bring it up to 700pts or spend ~$100 to get another Moria Command blister and a box of guys (if you've already bought two of these, you'll have enough Shamans to field all the warriors that come in a new box).

$350 Investment in Ugluk's Scouts: Lurtz and Ugluk, Uruk-Hai Scout Command, Uruk-Hai Scout Box, Mordor Orc Box, Snaga and Grishnakh

This actually comes in a LITTLE above $250 for the models, but I'm going to round it down to $350 with the books in tow. Ugluk's Scouts is a very dominant Isengard list in the current edition of the game - not only because Ugluk can trade an Orc Warrior each turn to grant nearby Uruk-Hai Scouts Fearless and +1 To Wound (without having to be in the same fight as an Orc!), but also because their units are cheap and they can get ridiculously good model counts at ridiculously low points levels. Here's a 50-model list you can get by just buying one box of each of the plastic troops, Lurtz and Ugluk, an Uruk-Hai command blister, and Snaga and Grishnakh (both of whom I think are inferior to both Orc and Uruk-Hai Scout Captains, but are better in the dollar category, since it's about half as cheap to get these two heroes than it is to get two Orc Command blisters):

This purchase plan gives you Lurtz as well as Ugluk, so you actually have 506pts worth of Lurtz's Scouts in your collection - and that means if you wanted to pass on Grishnakh and Snaga, you could swap the Orc Warrior box for another Uruk-Hai Scout box and get a less-good-in-most-respects Lurtz's Scouts list for more like $300. Not bad, per se, but certainly not as competitive as investing in Ugluk's Scouts.

$400 Investment in Corsair Fleets: Corsair Ballista, 2 Corsair Command Blisters, 2 Corsair Crossbowmen Blisters, 2 boxes of Corsairs of Umbar

The purchase list for this is stupidly simple - two boxes of dudes led by two boxes of commanders, two boxes of crossbows to better use our points (and take our ranged damage lethality up a notch), and a ballista because free shooting attack at the start of most games. I will note that there are 10 Corsairs of Umbar with bows in this list - which you can replace with 9 more Corsair Crossbowmen, so if you want to add $90 to the cost, you can certainly go all-crossbow if you want (this would bring the purchase price up to $500 including the books, but will also have a negligible impact on your model count, increase your resilience to counter-archery, and add additional damage threats to your own archery - all for the low, low price of greatly reduced archery mobility):

Corsairs are in an interesting spot - but this list sports a ballista, 10 crossbows, 10 bows, 14 throwing weapons that aren't on heroes, and 52 total models, which makes it an interesting horde option for those who are shooting-inclined. The 1pt price hike that the base warriors received and the limitation of D4 to shooting resilience only has brought some censure on these guys, but if you want a lot of guys and a 700pt list for $400-500, this list is a pretty decent start to the game.

$500 Investment in the Legions of Mordor: the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement, 1 box of Morannon Orcs, 1 box of Haradrim Warriors, 1 box of Haradrim Raiders, Suladan, Morannon Orc Command, and 3 blisters of Black Numenoreans

I couldn't help myself - I included some of the mods from the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement (hey, I didn't want to have to go back and revisit this list, okay? I did add $50 to the investment cost to cover the additional sourcebook, so I feel like it's fair). If you don't have that supplement yet, you can swap out the Black Numenoreans for Morannon Orcs (this list has some to spare) and you can turn Suladan into 2 Haradrim Chieftains (which WILL require you to buy a second Haradrim Commanders box OR you can just use the Taskmaster model as a Chieftain) and use the money you saved on the Black Numenoreans to get a second box of Haradrim. Either way, you're investing about $400 into an army that sports a good number of models, very high Defense, and VERY flexible movement - and you can actually get one more Black Numenorean in your list if you're willing to convert one of your Morannon Orcs with shield into a Captain (and this will also allow you to bring more cavalry in your list and get shields on all of your Morannon spearmen).

It is rather telling that you can field nearly this same list for $100 less by skipping on the Black Numenoreans - this could get you a Troll and a second set of Morannon Orc Captains OR you could get a Haradrim Command blister and another 24 Haradrim (relying on the cheap spearmen they provide to supplement the high-defense frontline of Morannons. Alternatively, you could invest in an Easterling Command blister and get a box of Easterlings, but with only 8 sword-and-board dudes (the same as the Black Numenoreans you're picking up), that investment may not stretch quite as far as you want.

Conclusion

As you may expect, we have one more supplement to cover, so in the next few weeks, we'll be looking at how to take the Armies of Middle-Earth supplement and the main rulebook and make armies with them. We hope you're enjoying this mini-series - let us know if you have other ideas in the comments below! Until next time, happy hobbying!