Greetings,

I am brand new to the game. While I find the rules quite easy to grasp, I'm having a bit of trouble when it comes to army building. I found out that the force section of the rulebook doesn't really help on building an army but after reading for a while, I went to the legions of Middle Earth supplement and some of the sourcebook. This has help me a bit understand how to build my army but there are still a few things I'm unsure about.

First of all warbands. After reading a few post about list building and all, it seems everyone refers to warbands and people leading the warbands. However, I have found no such things in the Legions of Middle Earth or the other sourcebooks. Could someone explain me this concept?

As for alliance, this more of a specific question. I was looking into building an Angmar list but wanted to include the Witch-King. In the sourcebook of Angmar, the Withcking profile is listed but I don't see how you can select it. Now I thought I could go ahead and include it as an allied army by selecting it in the Mordor sourcebook. Under the nazgul entry, it does says that they can be allied with any evil army except Sharkey's Rogue but if I look under the Angmar allies, Nazgul are not listed. Therefore I'm confused again. Could someone help me understand this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

JN

Welcome to the game, hope you enjoy it once you get going. First, the rules predate everything by several years. Depending on what force you want to build, I wouldn't trust the profiles in the main rulebook, but the rules themselves have not changed.
Legions of Middle Earth is quite old and predates the "war band" method of army building. Nothing to stop you though from setting up a Legions game.
Not sure which sourcebooks you were looking at, but if they aren't one of the five new ones listed on GW's site (Free Peoples, Kingdoms of Men, Mordor, Moria and Angmar, Fallen Realms), they also predate the war band rules.

So grab one of the new five and the war band system should be pretty self-explanatory. The new Moria and Angmar book has the Witch-King listed as a hero, so he can lead your army. You can also ally war bands from any army you like, so long as they are all Evil or Good...IMHO this is a somewhat unwelcome change from Legions, but the onus is on the player to at least attempt something thematic.

I don't have any of those books as I have only the old books. So, where can I find the war bands rules beside those new source books?

JN

Only the new books I'm afraid, though they're very simple. Basically one hero can lead 12 troops, and some heroes such as a dragon knight cannot lead any.

_________________
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

as well the new books contain updated stats and new "upgrades" for a lot of units. Worth checking out!

As said, one hero per 12 warriors forms a war band. Some heroes are "independent" (e.g.: Rangers of the North)...they form a war band of their own. Angmar doesn't have any of those, so you should be safe.

But there's nothing wrong with using the Legions rules if you don't feel like buying new books before you figure out whether you like the game. The gameplay is very much the same. The real difference is the new scenarios and how deployment works (and the ripple effect that has on other strategy). Warband deployment has become a strategy of its own. There is a bit of that in some of the Legions scenarios.

You asked about Legions and Angmar: I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe the Witch-King must be allied in to an Angmar force. So you need another hero, like Burdur, to lead them. Don't know if that was an oversight by GW or intentional to keep the ring wraiths in their own list.

I'll get one or two book soon enough so I think this will be correct. Can you guys tell me if I need both the Mordor and the Angmar sourcebook if I want to use the Witch King in an Angmar list or is the witchking profile available in the Angmar book only.

Also, just out of curiosity, can you still make all heroes list like in the Legions sourcebook(not that I think this would be good)?

Thanks again

JN

Yes, you can still make all hero lists with the warbands rules.

Witch King is a hero in Angmar list so no need to ally him in, logicly really, he is the Witch King of ANGMAR after all

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"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten"

Also....Angmar heroes are not exactly cheap so you might struggle in smaller matches as you lack numbers, in larger matches the shear power of your units should help tip the scales but as far as i've heard Angmar doesnt realy shine in smaller matches like 500/750.

_________________
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten"

Sure it can shine, but a 500 point Angmar army will look very much like a 500 point Mordor army unless you get creative. Shades, Gulavhar and Buhrdur are all probably too expensive for a 500 point force. Here's a sample though:

Warband 1:
Witch King (2M/12W/2F) on horseback - 110pts
5 Spectres - 75pts
7 Orcs with spears - 42pts

Warband 2:
Orc Captain with shield - 45pts
12 Orcs (6 shields & 6 spears) - 72pts

Warband 3:
Chieftain of Carn-dum (Dunlending) with shield - 60pts
6 Carn dum Barbarians (Dunlendings) with shields - 48pts
6 Carn dum Barbarians (Dunlendings) with 2-h axes - 48pts

39 models, 6 Might. 500 points exactly.

The Orcs provide numbers while the Dunlendings pack a punch. They are themed as well, since in WoTR and the storyline there were evil hillmen who joined the Witch King to fight against Arnor.

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Gondor: 2339pts
Rohan: 1318pts
Dwarves: 2482pts
Elves: 1091pts
Mordor: 2305pts
Isengard: 1762pts
Moria: 1463pts
Evil Men: 381pts

Thank you all for your help. Now I'm good to go and I'll be able to drag others into the game as well

JN