How to build up a SBG-army?

TheBucklandBrewer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:22 pm

Hi, I'm new into gaming and want to prepare some warbands of all races... :-)

So, how do you start building up a good SBG-army?

Let's imagine I want to make some 500pts warbands of just any race, following the LoME (Legions of Middle-Earth) restrictions.

How do you start making your selection and/or what makes you decide to pick certain heroes / forces?
What do you look at first? A good hero? A certain amount of might / will /... ?
Or do you start with a band of regular warriors and add heroes later?
Or is it the kind of weapons you find most important?

Where should I start?

FireKnife · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:44 pm

I look at it like this:

1. Is it a competitive or fun force?
2. Do you want a named hero or unnamed one to lead it?
3. Do you want mass infantry or elites?
4. Are you going to have support from Archers or Spears or both?
5. Do you want it to play to one armies weaknesses or take on anyone?

Basically answer those and you will find what you want from a force, however obviously you will need a force to match, if you want elites then go for Elves or Uruk Hai, if you want hordes then Gondor or Orcs or if you want cavalry then Rohan or Wargs.

Surely that will work for most forces but at the end of the day how you want it to play is all up to you.

'FireKnife'

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:15 pm

In your case it seems like you're trying to make some playable 500pt lists from your large collection, so I'd approach each group a little different. Basically, start with the model or models you really want to play.

At 500points in a friendly game you can have a competitive list while remaining pretty flexible. Each force in SBG has some strong and weak points and many of us here can help clarify those from experience if you are working on a specific force at a time.

Basically, at 500pts I would not take more than two Heroes (named or unnamed) and try to keep the Hero points to <200. If you want to bring a big model along, such as a Troll, then you probably want to keep those Hero points at or less than 150. From there fill in the rest of the points with a mix of your base troops. In most cases you want to have solid ranged fire, often right to your 33%. This isn't a hard rule, but generally if you are the one player on the board with weak or non-existent ranged fire then you're going to regret it. If you have access to Spears they are usually worth it as support in SBG is very important and can make a strong force stronger and shore up weaker models.

If you are bringing along elite troops such as Isengard Berserkers or Wood Elf Sentinels then I try to keep those to 10% - 15% of your points. In some cases you can go higher but your risk your overall numbers, especially if you are also at the upper edge of the Hero range.

Cavalry in SBG can be very effective but is weak as you're learning to use it. If you're serious about it you almost need a Hero in there and if you just have a few models they're more of a liability than anything else. I have played with 4-6 Warg Riders without a Captain just for fun and did ok. If you're looking to build a 500pt force that really wants some Cav in there then that should be worked on here on a case-by-case basis.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:55 pm

Firstly, I would suggest that you pick just one or two models that you really like, or a particular troop time, find out what army list(s) that it/they appear in and use that as a starting point. Make sure you use models that you actually want to use. Or alternatively, if there is a particular battle or scene that you like one or both armies involved, then, under LOME restriction, try, as bast as you can, to make that force(s).

Hilbert · **Joined:** Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:07 am **Posts:** 2088

Pick around your favourite army.. Use it and slow by the tiem you can improve it more and more

TheBucklandBrewer · **Posted:** Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:15 am

Excellent feedback guys!!
You've all given me some great advice and nice things to think about!
This will be very helpful

Also interesting to know how others start up their army.
More feedback / advice / ideas still welcome :-)

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:30 am

Let us know which one you want to work on first. Our aim is better with a target.

One of the things I love so much about SBG is that you don't get a lot of cloned armies. I'm seeing certain themes repeat a lot in WotR (certain Heroes or Formations are "must have") but in SBG you can build several unique lists for almost every list and find only the base common troops common among them (different Heroes, different tactics, different allies, etc.). So you're bound to get a few people's advice to choose from no matter if you start with Gondor, Moria, etc.

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:03 pm

I second Beowulf, more info.

Hilbert · **Joined:** Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:07 am **Posts:** 2088

1) I chose my favourite hero... ( Good Aragorn, Evil Witch-King)
2) I chose soemthing conencted to them as armies ( Gondor, Angmar)
3) You see I am planning on both but for the ebgin I use army lists without them to test. Right now I have a Gondor army (With Boromir instead) and an army of evil men(Easy to start with)
4) So chose your favorite army or ask who is an easy one to begin with

For exampel you may want a Hobbit army as I understand from your username :-D

How to build up a SBG-army?

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