So everyone, I have never played SBG before, only WOTR, so I'm wondering if this new version is worth me getting into? What does everyone think? Is this warbands any good?

If you like skirmish games, yes.

I mean, if you play WotR then I assume you already have miniatures, all you'd need to do would be pick up the rules and the sourcebook for whatever you play.

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Talaan-u rûk-ir tor Urûk
Nauru-ir agh kragoru nûrsu grishûrz
Nork-ulu furtun agh goð
Mordor-ob bot-tuk

I've only been playing for a few months and my first games were WOTR and as much as I enjoy it, I think that SBG is just that bit more engaging and you can really get involved with individual characters.

Both have their own pros and cons so I'm gonna play both.

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Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!!

I'm not into WotR-style tray games at all, so YES, SBG is worth it

SBG is an extremely fun game. You can play a much wider variety of games with it rather then the straight up clashes of armies. Definitely worth playing.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

How many pieces do you typically need to play a game? And what armies are good in SBG as I'm sure it's different to WOTR?

You need anywhere between 10-100 models, depending on the size of the game your playing, but anything over about 75 models gets boring fast.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Rohan is still one of the hardest armies to play, while the Moria armies are quite similar to those in WotR, swarm em with goblins and then smash em with cave trolls and the Balrog.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Are there any weak armies in this version of the game? For instance the elves were poor in WOTR?

Can you go on in a bit more detail? I don't wanna spend £50 on 2 books only to not enjoy it as much as WOTR, what makes it more engaging? And why can you get involved more with the characters? Thanx x

It's a lot better balanced than WotR. What faction(s) do you play, anyway?

You'll find that many players still consider Rohan to be lacklustre, but they certainly aren't terrible.

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Talaan-u rûk-ir tor Urûk
Nauru-ir agh kragoru nûrsu grishûrz
Nork-ulu furtun agh goð
Mordor-ob bot-tuk

I used to have elves, a real big painted army but sold them all on eBay as they were useless in WOTR against my enemies who played Moror and Gondor so now I'm busy collecting and painting Misty Mountain and Fallen Realms armies. But I'm nearly done with these as was about to start collecting and painting a new army, but as I've never played or watched being played SBG I've no idea who's good and who's poor, so help guys x

You'll do fine with either of those. Goblins will need a lot more heroes than you might be used to, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. All the fallen realms factions are solid and tend to complement eachother well.

As for the rulebook, you may not have to shell out for the hardback; there are usually a few of the little ones that come in the starter set floating around on ebay for a much better price.

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Talaan-u rûk-ir tor Urûk
Nauru-ir agh kragoru nûrsu grishûrz
Nork-ulu furtun agh goð
Mordor-ob bot-tuk

This is better experienced than talked about, so if you are near a GW shop and can find someone to take the time you'll be able to make a more informed decision. Like others have said, what I like about it is it feels more personal. Rather than the illusion of big armies and formations, it really is 1:1. That wose you stuck in the woods really is a guy in the woods taking a potshot at some orcs. That orc and his trusty sidekick spear supporter holding a gap between two rocks while Glorfindel bears down can be an epic moment.

I think you can set up more interesting scenarios because it doesn't always have to be about battle, it can be about evasion, subterfuge, flight, ambush, and other stories. I think the SBG boards look better, because you can include many more small pieces that would get in the way of the WotR trays, giving a lot more tactical variability. In short, SBG is less abstract and more wysiwyg.

As for which armies are better: I think SBG on the whole is more balanced than WotR, you can make almost anything work. The new profiles appear to have fixed a few issues (while, of course, introducing others), but on the whole it still looks balanced. Pick something based on the flavour and aesthetics, isn't that what LotR is all about anyway?

Not for the orc player, those 2 orcs are as good as dead.

The elves are a very powerful army. They have some of the best heros in the game, without them being too expensive (Thranduil and Son, Glorfindel). The weakest army (aka the hardest to play well) is Rohan, but that can be fixed quite easily by allying in some guys from Gondor.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

Thanx Whafrog, it really does sounds like it should be a fun game, it's just half annoying that I feel i finally understand the WOTR rules and now need to learn a totally new rules system, but I do fancy giving it a go. Does the little soft back rules book contain everything in the hard bak book then?

So is an Elven army decent in SBG?

Tell it to my son's specially painted white-haired goblin. We've had several games where he's threaded the needle across a couple in-the-ways to take out a pesky elf, or single-handedly held off 2 RoR for a couple of turns, or was the last to run in a game to the death. Lots of fun



If you mean the MoM book with some profiles in it, yes, it's page-for-page the same. You don't need anything else, except for the new books for the region you want.



Yep. I have yet to play with the new profiles and war band rules, but I had a lot of success with a Galadhrim/Wood elf force with the LoME rules, I don't see it changing much except for the number of heroes, e.g.: Rumil + Haldir + Stormcaller. Though now I'm looking forward to trying out Celeborn and/or Galadriel.

I'm annoyed I sold all my elves now. Lol.

If you mean the MoM book with some profiles in it, yes, it's page-for-page the same. You don't need anything else, except for the new books for the region you want.

So what's in the hardback book that's not in the smaller book?