Lord of the Rings - Strategy Battle Game
So my friend invited me to a game night with about a dozen players, coming up in about 3 weeks. Its not really a tournament, but you play a series of 2 hour time limit skirmishes with a 500pt army.

My friend has completed his dwarf army (including Dwarf Rangers and Kazad-Guard). I'm not exclusively building my army to go up against dwarves, but it would be a nice touch to not have to be afraid of the stumpies wrapped in armor.

So I thought I'd bust out the Uruk-hai and see where I could go. I like the Eastern influence of Samurais, so I'm going to convert all the warriors in my army to have the following Samurai concepts, integrated into their theme:
All swords will be converted to look like the traditional Samurai sword.
All warrior will carry a back mounted war-flag (this is not a banner per the banner rules, this is just for thematic flare)
All warriors with helmets will have helmet modifications to look more Samurai-ish (think Shredder from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Also, because I like blue, I'm going to paint non-standard orc flesh in light-bluish tints and modify armor colors to darker blues and golds. (I'm not 100% on this one... I'm going to test paint a warrior and see how it turns out... I may substitute gold for silver.)

So anyway, here's my Army list:

Vrasku - 60 pts
Uruk-Hai Captain (Heavy Armor + Shield) - 60 pts
14 Uruk-Hai Warriors with Shields - 140 pts
10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with Pikes - 100 pts
6 Uruk-Hai Warriors with Crossbows - 66 pts
6 Feral Uruk-Hai - 72 pts

498 points
5 Might
38 models
(break point: 19 models)

A good number of models on the field. Decent shooting power, especial with STR4 crossbows and Vrasku's 3 shots. And a small contingent of Elite (Feral) Uruks. Good ability to stack Pikes to bring more force to bear on individual battles.

My tactics will be to form a shield line with the Captain in the middle, and the Feral Uruk at the flanks. If needed I could split this main force in half and have two.
The crossbows will be lead by Vrasku and will pick off as many as possible while marching towards (or possibly waiting for my enemy to come to me).
Once we engage, try to isolate opponents into 1 on 1's and stack Ferals with 2 attacks and Shields supports by Pikes.
Chew through squishys, rinse, repeat.

Would you have any suggestions for my battle force?

You like blue. Oni are blue (see D&D miniatures' take on Oni). I think it fits your theme really well.

Your list is also strong.

When I play I like to have an even spread of shield/spears/pikes. Have you thought about min/maxing by using orcs to do spears and uruk-hai to do pikes? This way you'd get say 10 shields 10 orc spears 10 pikes.

I'll have to check out these Oni.

I have thought about using Orcs with Spears, or even cheaper, Goblins with Spears, but since I'm already branching between Uruk-hai and Isenguard Raiders, I'm not quite sure how legal my Army list becomes. (I don't have the Legions of Middle-Earth book.)

What changes could I make to include Orc or Gobbie Spears?

Also, on the note of balancing shields/spears/pikes...
I find that I lose a few Shieldman in the process, so I like to have a few more of them to step in and continue fighting, without exposing my Pikeman (and possibly Spearman). Its not always perfect, but especially if I put a lesser than Uruk in the middle ranks, I don't want them to get chewed through when the Shield in front falls.

First of all: can someone explain me why everybody is worrying on this ''legal'' army?? Then for the loosing of shieldmen: Normally if you have an uruk with shield on the front line and 2 men supporting him (with either spears or pikes) you don't lose battle because of your 3 attacks. But if you do lose one, you are in some trouble because your orc or goblin will be slaughtered (most of the times). You can solve this problem by fielding one (or more) banner(s) to re-roll your dices. Hope this helped you a bit

_________________
Isengard - 1500+
Gondor - 1000+
Imperial Guard - 1000+
Blood Angels - 850+

From my personal experience only, and from what few glances I've had in the Legions of Middle-Earth book (I don't own the book), it looks like you can pick any force that you want to start with, but to expand into another Alliance, you have to have Heroes or Captains to lead the Alliance forces.

So in my case, starting with an Uruk-Hai Captain, I need an Isenguard Raiders Captain/Hero to field my Feral Uruks... so I take Vrasku. Now to expand out to Orcs or Goblins, I would need one of their Captains or Heroes.

Also, some places that host battle events, have a house rule of no more than 2 or sometimes 3 Alliances. This is more dependent on who and where you play, though.

--
But I do like your point about Banners. But doesn't it all come out in the wash... I mean, if I have Banners and that allows me a re-roll, and my opponent has Banners that allow him a re-roll, aren't I statistically going to come up with the same thing... essentially my re-roll cancels out my opponents re-roll, or vice-versa.

I've never used Banners... maybe I should try them out.

LoME describes army configurations and alliance rules. Each army has a list of what troops it can be compose of, and who it can ally with. This is partly to preserve some thematic flavour, but mostly it's to help ensure balanced games. IMHO they've done a pretty good job of that, so we usually stick with LoME-legal games because we're more sure of a fair contest. Each sourcebook comes with updated army lists for the region they cover.

Still, it's only really necessary if you're playing a tournament, and you can make whatever house rules you want.

The most important LoME rules are these:
<= 500 points: 3-50 models.
501-1000 points: 3-75 models.
1001-1500 points: 3-100 models.
Allies must be led by a hero.
Most armies and allies have a 33% bow limit. When calculating bow limit, each army and ally is configured separately.

Not that I'm saying you shouldn't buy LoME...I think the scenarios are great.

Even if the point values are wrong, I think LoME if great for "standard play". Else you're just playing until you kill everyone in sight.

Having objectives and scenarios means you need to make an "all comers" list that can tackle territorial control, fighting effectively, moving fast or keeping your general alive.

So if regular Orcs are within the Legion of the White Hand army, then I can add those to my fighting Uruk-hai forces without a commander.

So here's what I did, playing with the numbers a bit:

All Uruks, balanced shooting and ferals:
Vrasku
Uruk-hai Captain
14x Uruks w/Shield
10x Uruks w/Pike
6x Uruks w/Crossbow
6x Feral Uruks
38 units
498 pts

All Uruks, heavy shooting, less ferals:
Vrasku
Uruk-hai Captain
14x Uruks w/Shield
10x Uruks w/Pike
9x Uruks w/Crossbow
3x Feral Uruks
38 units
495 pts

All Uruks, volley shooting, no ferals:
Vrasku
Uruk-hai Captain
14x Uruks w/Shield
10x Uruks w/Pike
12x Uruks w/Crossbow
38 units
492 pts

Uruks and Orcs, heavy shooting, less ferals:
Vrasku
Uruk-hai Captain
12x Uruks w/Shield
9x Orcs w/Spear
9x Uruks w/Pike
7x Uruks w/Crossbow
3x Feral Uruks
42 units
497 pts

Uruks, Orcs, Troll, light shooting, no ferals:
Vrasku
Uruk-hai Captain
10x Uruks w/Shield
9x Orcs w/Spear
9x Uruks w/Pike
3x Uruks w/Crossbow
1x Isenguard Troll
34 units
497 pts

------
There is a lot of versatility and flexibility in the core of this battle group.

I really like the idea of the fourth battle group: "Uruks and Orcs, heavy shooting, less ferals"

42 models under 500 pts, with the full might of the fighting Uruk-hai!! Plus 7 crossbows!

I think my second favorite is the thrid battle group with 12 crossbows... Crossbow Volley fire!! Kill everything on the board, no matter how far away!!

With all these options, I'll be able to flex around anything you through at me.

Sorry, crossbows can't volley fire.

I suppose test them out, see how they work in a friendly environment if you can before using them competitively. Personally a troll would be too big a points sink at 500 points, so go for one with a reasonable number of models that best suits your style.