Hi guys,
I recently started the ME: SBG.

I plan to collect a good and an evil force, Iron Hills Dwarves or Army of Lake-town and Azog‘s Legion...

What I need are suggestions for starting warbands for each faction, especially which weapon types to use. Is it a good idea to mix different weapon types within one warband?
Which heroes should I use?

Thank you in advance!

Hi there - welcome aboard and get ready for some SBG fun !

Here's some simpler suggestions to get you started. Go to the GW and/or Forge World Web sites and consider the following options ( I marked GW or FW next to each item)

Iron Hills - Dain Ironfoot, ft & mtd (FW) and Iron Hills War band consisting of 12 Warriors, plus 1 Captain and 1 Warrior with Banner (FW)

Lake Town - Bard the Bowman, ft & mtd (GW), Lake Town Guard War band consisting of 12 Lake Town Guard (GW) and/or the Lake Town Militia war band, consisting of 12 Lake Town Militia Warriors (GW)

Azog' Legions - Azog ft & mtd (GW), and Gundabad Orc Warband consisting of 12 Gundabad Orc Warriors (GW). You could also add in a pack of 3 Gundabad Bezerkers (FW).

All of these options give you great starting points, plus powerful heroes who are fun to use. One other big piece of advice that I'd give you is to start small and don't buy too much too soon. I'd bet 90% of the people reading this are nodding their heads right now, as almost all of us got into the game, got very excited and then bought way too much, way too soon. I've been collecting and painting for 4 years now and have painted up over 500 models, but....I still have another 500+ models sitting in my closet, waiting for their turn on the painting table - i.e, I have 4 years worth of models sitting in boxes and blister packs ! So...again, I would urge you to take your time and don't overbuy

Good luck....

_________________
T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair..
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her..

Thank you very much for your suggestions! I think I will leave the heavy hitters out at the moment. I like generic heroes a lot... giving them names, creating backgrounds, maybe doing some minor conversions. And not too many special rules to familiarise myself with.

I will try something like this:

Azog‘s Legion:
* 1 Gundabad Captain
* 6 Gundabad Orcs with spears
* 6 Gundabad Orcs with shields

Is it a good idea to field two different kind of weapon types in one warband?

Iron Hills Dwarves:
* 1 Iron Hills Captain
* 12 Iron Hills Dwarves with spears

That’s £110 for two starting armies (£60 for an Iron Hills Warband, £40 for a Gundabad Orc Warband, and £10 for a Gundabad Captain). The price point is really fine by me.

I did overbuying a lot in the past! AoS, WH40k, several skirmish systems... I know exactly what you mean! I hope I can pull myself up this time! And we all know how well that works...

I think those lists are fine to start with. It is usually standard to have mixed weapons within a warband for deployment reasons. Some of the scenarios mix up were the bands land so all your swordsmen might get separated from the spearmen if they are in different bands. The dwarves should be fine with everyone being shield and spears in the regard.

_________________
"Draw your sword with a heavy heart, but swing it with a heavy hand"

Thank you, very helpful!
Please review my list:

Warband I
* 1 Gundabad Orc Captain w/shield
* 6 Gundabad Orc Warriors w/spears
* 4 Gundabad Orc Warriors w/shields
* 1 Gundabad Orc Warrior w/banner
* 1 Gundabad Ogre
238 pts.

Warband II
* 1 Gundabad Orc Captain w/shield
* 6 Gundabad Orc Warriors w/spears
* 5 Gundabad Orc Warriors w/shields
* 1 Gundabad Ogre
214 pts.

Anything to improve?