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Which army, which army? As outlined above the reasons to make any faction are many and varied. I wanted to make Rohan army for example and ended up with a 2000 point Isengard list, just because I started painting 3 companies to make a viable opponent for my Horselords...
But to give some general ideas and pointers:
Gondor: A good solid choice for sure, and very popular. They have 2 artillery choices a couple of cavalry choices, a wide selection of epic heroes and legendary formations. If you need magic, then allying in Gandalf or radagast from Forgotten Kingdoms is simple enough. You can 'focus' too, on a subset easily, for example taking a list mainly focussing on Dol Amroth, Or warriors of the tower led by Boromir, Or an allied support force of the fiefdoms, (lamedon, Blackroot vale etc), or even a force based on the Kingdom of Arnor. (It would look cool) At GamesDay in October in the WotR 'hero of the west' mini tournament I fought a Gondor player with a 1500 point list of mainly Rangers, and the Grey Company, and bulked out with formations of WoMT (Basically an expeditionary force into Ithilien effectively).
Rohan: This can look very cool fielded. There are fewer 'options' in terms of thematic armies, and if you want any artillery or magic they have to be allied in. But the point of Rohan is of course cavalry, they have plenty of this and so many common choices and only 1 rare choice the decree of rarity doesnt bother the Rohan player. They also have I think the largest selection of Epic heroes too. With this army how you use you epic heroes and cavalry is the key. It does mean you need to assemble/paint fewer models to make up a large points force...
Elves: Ah these look and sound as if they are cool. They certainly look cool, and thematic choices... Wood elves, high elves, Galadhrim. However, the troops in general are overpriced. This doesn't mean there aren't good and effective Elf armies, just they are a lot harder to make and use effectively, unlike Gondor or Mordor, they aren't very 'pont-and-click', meaning you have to play them right and if you don't you can easily get overwhelmed. My biggest loss ever was with a rapidly concocted elf list where my elf force was wiped out to an elf by a Morannon based Mordor list, and I killed only 5 orcs, and in reverse my biggest margins of victory have always been against elves. (though I have lost to them)
Fallen Realms: was discussed above. I think the Haradrim *almost* had enough troop choices to make a faction on their own.
Isengard: If Rohan is cavalry, Isengard is infantry. The warg riders are a cheap cavalry unit, and must be viewed as that... disposable almost. Otherwise there is plenty to choose from here, Magic (Saruman) Artillery (Ballista) along with the infantry and one cavalry and one monster (troll). means you have all the possible offensive tools in your arsenal without allying in help, though the core will be heavy slogging foot-soldiers. Again as with Rohan, not much variety in flavour, but you do get options in what kind of infantry eg Heavy Uruks (warband/phalanx), Uruk Scouts, and of course Orcs. (others such as ruffians and dunlendings are available too). The epic heroes though are limited to the expensive (Saruman Lurtz) to the insanely cheap (Thryden), and Grima (...) You mentioned wanting good archery units, well with Isengard you have a variety of 'long range' attacks: Saruman with spells of Ruin, The assault ballista, Uruk-Hai with crossbows (strength 4!), Scouts with bows, or orcs with bows.
Moria. The key of Misty Mountains (to use the correct faction name in WotR though we all know it's Moria really) is lots of cheap disposable infantry and big heavy hitting monsters. Blackshields are very good, but expensive financially to build an army around. I helped my son make his Misty Mountaisn list and preparing, and painting 150 l'il goblins was an exercise in patience ....Misty can be sometimes harder to play, but nothing like the elves, and its easier to settle on troops and tactics that fit your 'style'. So misty have cheap but weak infantry, ONLY TWO (though underpriced) epic heroes, and a large selection of monsters to complement the hordes. Druzhag and the Balrog or a magic wielding Dragon means spells of ruin are flying about and.. well a lot of fun can be had here. It can be abused like anything, at GamesDay the player representating a neighbouring GW store took two magic wielding dragons as the core of his army... Cheeze anyone? But sying that the MM goblin battlehost is very effective, with both Druzhag and Durbuz summoning more troops each turn, the enemy really will feel overwhelmed and has to keep formations protecting any vulnerable archers or artillery at the rear... Don't forget goblins have move 8, pathfindermaster, so with a drum and a succesful At The Double! They can cover 18 inches a turn, ignoring defensive or dificult terrain penalties. While the cheap goblins engage the enemy and die a lot (they are meant to) the monsters and specials are free to move up and turn the tide.
Ultimately its personal choice and combat style and money available. Again, if you like Gondor and feel an affinity.. you won't be making a wrong choice.
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