Hi all!

I used to play lord of the rings strategy battle game back in the late 2000s and have now decided to dive back in! I am glad to see to many new models but also disheartened to see the game fall down the pecking order at GW!

I am planning to buy the rules for the latest edition but I was wondering if anyone could summarise the main differences in game play since this and the last edition. By last edition, I mean the old rule book prior to the Hobbit - you know, the lovely one ring with a blue background!

Thank you!

Hi Lord_Rushton,

welcome back, the good news is that fundamentally the basics of the game are still the same. There have been quite a number of changes in the details.

Warbands
I’m not sure if warbands were around last time you played. You build your army using warbands, each warband has a Hero and a number of warriors (the maximum number of warriors determined my the tier of the hero).

Heroes
All Heroes can use the 3 basic Heroic Actions (Heroic Move, Heroic Shoot, Heroic Combat), but there are also a range of new Heroic Actions. Each Heroes profile lists which (if any) additional Heroic Actions they can use.

Special Strikes
Some types of weapon now has special abilities it may use (e.g. axes may use Piercing Strike which lowers your Defence but increases your Strength).

Magic
Magic has become generally weaker and when a Hero rolls a natural 6 to resist it with Will, they get the Will point back.

Monsters
Monsters now have special Brutal Power Attacks, which allows them to do things like target a particular model and use it’s Strength rather than Defence to work out what it needs to roll to Wound.

I think those cover the major changes, their are also many subtle changes as well. Hopefully that should give you a rough idea though.

That was really useful and helpful, thank you!

Do you or anyone happen to know if LOME is still applicable?

No LoME is no longer applicable.

The two main sources of army lists/profiles are Armies of Lord of the Rings and Armies of The Hobbit.

Each of the recent supplements since then (Gondor at War, War in Rohan, Scouring of the Shire and Quest of Ringbearer) have added more profiles and army lists. The lists in the supplements are mainly Legendary Legions, which represent a particular point in time, e.g. Rangers of Ithilien or Lurtz’s Scouts.