So I'm going to be running an intro game or two for one of my friends to try to get him into SBG, the problem, I'm not too sure what kind of scenarios I should run.

I have two in mind... one involving the Fellowship (like MoM's scenario and GW's usual demo games) around Balin's Tomb... the problem, I don't have the goblins from that anymore, so I figure I'll use orcs. I'm just not sure on the numbers that I should use to make it a fair and fun game should my friend choose to be either side. My roommate does have a cave troll that I can use too, which I think I will so evil has a real chance at killing a hero. But, my biggest question, I suppose, is how many orcs should I throw in there with the cave troll? I was thinking 16ish with 6 with shield, 6 with spear, and 4 with bows.

Another scenario, and one I'm more enthusiastic for, would be a "To the Death!" between Rohan and Orcs. Each side will get a captain with a shield, 8 warriors with shields, and 3 bowmen. I already have a bit of a narrative in my head to give some background to try to suck him into the game. Rohan patrol meets an orc scouting party and they decide to kill each other.

In either game, I will introduce basic concepts (moving, shooting, fight value) up front and as we go along. I will include Might and Fate when the heroes need it.

Any other suggestions? Or any ideas to improve upon what I've got?

I'd love any and all help I can get!

One I've found that was really effective for teaching all the basics including heroic stuff was the one where Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas have to get past an Uruk gauntlet in the Two Towers journeybook. Not too many models, probable chance of a Good side win, and the scenario has a max number of turns so the players get the idea of objectives more interesting than just slaughtering each other.

I'm looking for some good learning scenarios myself. Excellent suggestion, whafrog. Thanks.

That sounds like a good one. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you have any more info on it? Unfortunately, I haven't purchased that book... yet. Nor do I have Uruks, but I can sub in a few more orcs to make it work.

In doing a search on GW's website, I found this one: Trapped in the Misty Mountains!

I think I could use the same basic principles to teach the heroic stuff while using, sadly not goblins, but orcs, which are close enough. If I can find more info on that Two Towers scenario, I'll let him choose which he'd prefer.

No reason you can't use orcs models as uruks. The board is 2' x 2', and the three hunters have 7 turns to get Aragorn and one other model off the edge of the board opposite the one they started. The hunters only have 1 point of Might Will and Fate each, though Aragorn has his free Might point per turn.

In their way are 8 scouts with hand weapon, 4 scouts with shield, and 3 with bows. If you wanted to use actual orcs, points equivalent would suggest another 33% orcs, but that might change the dynamic of the scenario and make it easier for the evil side to just get more models in the way.

Thinking again about how I introduced my friends to this game, I set up a much smaller game first, with 6 or 7 troops on a side, 1 or 2 elites (so Fight values matter), no heroes, to the death. Two warriors, 2 or three spears, two bows. This takes care of all the basics covering each Phase, but only takes about 1/2 hour to run. Then I did the above scenario.

A third option I used recently for a rule refresher. We're an older crowd (nearing 50... ) and each of us has the game we prefer, so one will host WW2 stuff, another American Civil War, another micro armour...and me with LotR. They are least familiar with mine, so each game I set up a small mini-game prelude to go over the basics. Here's what I set up most recently:

Board: 2' x 2', with 6-8 small pieces of terrain (small rocks, single trees, etc)
Good: 6 Warriors of Rohan (2 with shield, 2 with shield + throwing spears, 2 with bow), and 2 RRG with throwing spears.
Evil: Sharku on Warg, 6 Warg Riders (2 with shield, 2 with shield and throwing spear, 2 with bow).
Story: warg rider scouts have accidentally ended up behind enemy lines, when discovered by a small party from Rohan.
Objectives: There are no victory conditions, and rules for Broken do not apply. The Evil side must get as many Warg Riders off the opposite edge of the board by the end of turn 4. Any warg riders (including Sharku) who don't make it will not be useable in the next battle.

You can see the Good side is totally overpowered, by design. The point is to cover all the phases of the turn, refresh how Fight score can change things, getting shooting and throwing weapons on there, introduce a likely need for Might should Sharku get trapped and lose priority, and keep it short

Whafrog, if I had a Gold Coin, you'd be adding one more to your collection.

Thank you for those ideas, I'll definitely be using something very similar, if not the exact ones. One more question though, how much terrain should be included in the one with the fellowship? Should it be random trees interspersed or do I want to make a path for the three to move through?

No problem

Terrain is 3-5 small rocky outcrops, and a couple of larger sloping hills with cliff on one side. The hills take up about 1/4 of the board, and form a small ravine between them. But it would work equally well with two larger woods with a 2-model gap between them.

Well, I finally got my friend to come over and try. He loved it. We first played the basic captain + troops Rohan vs. Orcs. My dice were unstoppable... I even won fights outnumbered 4-1. The next game, thanks to Whafrog, was the Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas scenario. He played as the heroes and nearly won. Legolas lost a heroic combat in the last turn that would have gotten him off of the board edge for the victory, but instead, stalled just two inches short. Then we brawled it out with about 600 points worth of heroes each.


Three fun games and a new fan that can't wait to try some big army battles. Thanks again to Whafrog for the suggestions and the scenario specifically!

Excellent, glad it worked out