Hello,

I have a large number of LOTR miniatures which have been boxed up in a cupboard for ten years or so. I collected and painted up quite a lot of the original range and I think I probably have enough models to field several different armies (Last Alliance, goblins, Uruk Hai, Rohan, Gondor, Orks, original dwarves etc.)

I've picked up some of the Hobbit miniatures more recently, including a few Iron Hills dwarves, and the two new rulebooks ... though I still have to paint the Hobbit stuff.

I never played competitively before ... just occasional games at home (and probably spent more time painting). I was wondering, if I got the armies out of the cupboard ... what rules do you use to play the competitive tournament games? Are they in one of the rulebooks or online?

Can you pick your armies using the rulebooks? I think I have all the LOTR and Hobbit rulebooks, and the original LOTR supplements, but not the five blue army sourcebooks that you can now buy ... would I need them for up-to-date profiles?

Where do you find listings of upcoming tournaments etc? I spotted the Ardacon event last year ... is it OK to turn up to something like that if you have a basic understanding of the rules and don't mind losing every game?

Also wondering ... do people ever play "counts as"? For example, it seems to me that eg. armoured Uruk-Hai look a lot like Gundabad Orcs (but much cheaper to buy) ... could you field Uruk-Hai with Azog and say they represented Gundabad Orcs?

Lots of questions ... I guess the information is probably covered elsewhere, but I've been searching a few sites and couldn't find it all!

Thanks.

Welcome back!

If attending tournaments, you will always need the most up-to-date rules and profiles. You have the basic rules for the game and all the Hobbit-era profiles, but will indeed require the 5 sourcebooks (Free Peoples, Fallen Realms etc.) for the LotR era models. As the game will receive some updates later this year, I would recommend just picking up 1 or 2 sourcebooks for armies you would most want to start playing with - then see what happens in the near future and expand accordingly.

If you are in the UK, I would recommend joining the Great British Hobbit League Facebook group - it has all the information on the many upcoming events, throughout the country. Here's the latest schedule for this year: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9KPDU ... MxY3c/view
If you have a basic understanding of the rules, you can pretty much turn up at any event and have a fun day - quite possibly win a game too, or otherwise at least learn a lot and meet a bunch of people. As tournament games have time restrictions, you will want to have some vague knowledge of what to do, but by the sounds of it you'll do fine. Most people are more than happy to show you the ropes and are only happy to see more people join the fray. As you can see in the calendar above, the UK scene is divided in so-called 100 and 80 point tournaments; a number referring to the points that can be earned in the national league (nothing to do with points size of the games). If practical, visting an 80pt tournament will be an especially great way to start, as them being 'worth' less means they tend to be a bit less competitive.

Finally, the eternal answer to any 'would having this or that model count as that profile be ok' is: ask the tournament organiser. Generally speaking, proxies (using unaltered models to stand in for others) is not allowed, to prevent confusion and so that people that did invest much money in the official models or time in converting them won't feel bad for having done so. How much conversion work would be required depends; the effort shown tends to be an important factor. Some tournaments are very strict, other organisers will allow anything that looks cool (e.g. a massive Warhammer spider using the dragon profile to represent Ungoliant, a big swan as a great eagle in a Dol Amroth list and even weirder stuff). Just small alterations also tend to be allowed if it concerns figures that have never been made or are currently out of production.

Thanks very much for answering my questions!

Are people expecting a new set of army books later this year? I saw there seems to be a feeling that the LOTR models are underpowered and might need rebalancing. Any definite information on this from GW?

Yes, the general vibe is that there will be in the not so distant future a new comprehensive rulebook which rebalances the older LotR profiles with the new Hobbit ones, and deals with some idiosyncracies in the rules (e.g. bannermen being able to also carry shields, spears, bows, etc.; or spearmen on 25mm bases being able to support cavalry, monsters, trolls, etc.)

This was announced if I recall correctly last December or thereabouts, and the plan then was to release this in the summer of 2017. Whether it will be that soon remains to be seen.

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Hi

I have also got back into lotr/hobbit after a break of about 15 years. Obviously a lot has changed, my last rulebook was the blue strategy battle game hardcover from early 2000's. I know there are new rule changes in the hobbit version.

Thanks again. Sounds like I might hold off buying the current sourcebooks if there's a new one expected in summer ... then I can save up for Thranduil on Elk instead!