Hi guys I have a selection of figures and the SBG rulebook and am looking to get into playing the game itself.

Currently I have a bunch of goblins and orcs with some warg riders, the mouth of sauron and a ringwraith (which my brother plans to use). I also have a couple of boxes of rangers of gondor (the plastic ones) and im looking to pick up the new Blackroot vale figures as they look really cool.

Now I have heard on some sites that the maximum amount of figures that can have bows is 33%. I was just wondering where exactly does it state this? The only thing is I really like the ranger concept and was hoping to make an army of them pretty much, but if I can only have 33% then I will have to look for something else to take. Does the rule only apply to tournaments?

Also what is the 'normal' size for a game? I know at tournaments its 700pts I think?

Anyway any help you can give would be great, as I really want to get to like the game as it looks more enjoyable than 40k and fantasy (which are bit dull right now).

The rule is there to Balance the game. It gets pretty boring quite quickly if you use 100% bows because you can just keep shooting and never have to fight.

The rule is in Legions of Middle Earth, this is the book that gives the Army lists and who they can ally with, so that you can build forces thematically and fairly.

There is only 1 army that is allowed 100% bows and that is the grey company.

...and Grey Company has certain conditions which must be met to get that 100% bow limit.

I'm not sure if there is a "normal" game size, but above 1000 points things tend to take a looooong time to resolve. I usually play around 500-700, which takes a couple hours when everyone knows the rules, but can take a lot longer if they don't.

I'd strongly suggest learning the rules with a much smaller army, say 250-350 points. Or do a few scenarios from the MoM set or the journeybooks. The most useful scenario I've found for new players who have a passing handle on the rules is the "Let's Hunt Some Orc" scenario from the Two Towers journeybook. If you don't have any Uruks, just proxy in some of your Orc models.

Welcome to OR. Sounds like you have quite a variety of figures. I wouldn't recommend black root vale archers because, frankly, GW made a true mess-up when it came to making their rules.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Good news is, you could use your rangers as part of a Grey Company army. To do this, you need to field 1 Ranger of the North per 4 Rangers of Arnor. Your plastic rangers can be used for this, and if you don't feel like buying Rangers of the North, you can just use some of the more distinctive plastic rangers to represent them.

Welcome to OR,

Try to play some small skirmishes, first with a couple of warriors.
After that try some bigger battle's with heroes, bigger creatures etc.

Ah right thanks for the info guys. I will probably do a grey company force eventually then.

Just another quick question - do the grey company rangers get to have banners or horns? Im asking as I just got the Blackroot Vale pair with banner and horn and would really like to use them as they are great looking figures. I guess I could use the banner bearer as Halbarad if they dont and the horn blower as a standard ranger so its no big deal if they cant have standards and horns, but it would be nice.

Grey company is an army that most players would rather not play as it is simply a force entirely revolving around shoot phase. I like allying in a small group of grey company as skirmishers but I don't think I would like an army entirely made out of them.

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"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."
- Bertrand Russel

Have to concur with spuds on that. GC isn't all that fun to play with or against. But a few squads added in to augment and elf or Gondor army works well. You could use CG with a 33% bow limit, led by Aragorn, Arathorn or Halbarad, where only those models posed as shooting get to use their bows. But then you need to be pretty careful as you'll have lower defense across the board.

Another option is a Rangers of Ithilien list, with a shield wall of WoMT, led by Faramir.

I'm pretty sure you could use the Blackroot Vale Hornblower and Banner as Rangers, I think that was part of the reason GW made them. Just pay the normal points for a Banner I suppose, I'm afraid I can't say how much a Hornblower costs and it isn't in the rulebook, but if you collect White Dwarf it is in one of the issues, the November or October one in the UK I think.

If you are playing in some tournaments you will have to check before whether you can use the ranger Banner...etc, but I'm guessing at your stage you aren't going to be doing that kind of thing yet.

Good luck.

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Sun is by sea-men always hoped for,
when they fare away over the fishes' bath,
until the brine-stallion they bring to land.
OERP

Welcome to OR!

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