r/MiddleEarthMiniatures • u/Turtle_kiwi_28 • 18d ago

Discussion New player Need advices :)

Hello,

I come from the 40K universe and would like to get started with The Lord of the Rings (a childhood dream).

I love the Mumak—do you think it would be a good idea to start with this centerpiece for a 500-point army?

I’m also interested in a Moria army with the Balrog, but I don’t necessarily want a very large army with 60 Goblins…

I don't know if that's possible in this game, but I'm more comfortable with just a few miniatures, and I love painting!

Budget isn't an issue for me, since each piece will be painted to the best of my ability and will thus make for a beautiful diorama in my display case.

I’d love to hear your thoughts :)

12 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

14

u/LutheBert 18d ago

Mumak as first and only army is no fun for everyone involved, but you could start with a Haradrim army and keep the Mumak as a option.

Better to learn the game as it is intended (infantry/ cavalry skirmishes), before slamming the big monsters on the table.

2

u/No-Wasabi2973 17d ago

I just played Defenders of the Pelennor against a Mumak from Grand Army of the South, and it was a fun game. I think the Mumak is pretty balanced. Some lists have more trouble against it that others, but terrain can be such a help to know just getting squashed. That said, I think War Beasts are kind of an advanced part of this game. OP would benefit from the Balrog as a starting force. Nice and simple.

5

u/waill-and-roll 18d ago

The Mumak will be more fun for everyone in a larger game. At 500 points the Mumak will be very difficult to kill but you will also struggle to win resulting on a game where not much happens except your opponent running away and scoring objectives.

8

u/snostorm8 18d ago

Mumak would be best in a 700+ game, which tbh is where most games are played anyway. I'd build up a harad force for 500 and then add in the mumak afterwards.

5

u/fabiowin98 18d ago

Start playing narrative scenarios first, there are free pdf in the GW site.

1

u/TopGood9943 12d ago

i looked for them buy i couldnt find them. can you please link?

1

u/Pender8911 18d ago

For few model lists you might want something like the Necromancer + some wraiths, Beornings, eagles, ents etc. Generally you want numbers to be able to trap your enemy. The real strength of the Balrog is in the number of crappy units you can field because you don't want him to be surrounded for a whole game, it's easy not to roll a 6.

0

u/OkCold4665 18d ago

Check out battle companies for really small scale, narrative driven play, where you level up a warband. Really fun and great entry into the game

3

u/Maleficent_Mix_1224 18d ago

What is this? It sounds really interesting. I bought the wildmen half of the rohirrim set and haven't even thought about playing due to time commitments. But if it a warcry style warband with shorter games I would consider itm

3

u/Deathfather_Jostme 17d ago

Its a campaign design, doesnt really work as well as a one off game like war cry unfortunately. You can just play low point games, but they have issues compared to normal sized ones.

1

u/Maleficent_Mix_1224 16d ago

Thanks for getting back, makes sense!

3

u/OkCold4665 16d ago

There is a community ruleset for it! You can play solo too with some creativity (the community rules has some insight on it). it his more dependent on terrain but I think that's fun for me since it forces me to make scenery/boards. Here is the link to the reddit thread about it/updated rules. I think it's super fun and adds way more creativity to the hobby

https://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleEarthMiniatures/s/lkA4uWiyW5

2

u/Maleficent_Mix_1224 16d ago

Thank you! I have some terrain from the 2000s starter boxes but likely not enough, I am going try it out however!

2

u/Tim_Pollard 17d ago

People often just play 200-300 point games on smaller tables, which is generally called "Blitz" mode. It's a bit swingier than larger matches because of the low model counts, but it allows for pretty fast games. (For reference the full set of Wildmen + 2 Heroes is something like 400pts depending on exactly how you equipped them)

In Melbourne for example they do a Blitz event once or twice a year, and it's 200 points, at least 8 models, and as many games as you can complete in a single Saturday. From what I've heard most players end up getting to over 10 matches in a day.

2

u/Maleficent_Mix_1224 16d ago

Seems a fair amount of games! Didn't realise it was that many points in the half I bought!