"GW LOTR Strategy Game, which rulebook?" Topic

I have the 'Return of the King' version of the rulebook which contains a lot of stats but how does it differ from the new hardcover rulebook?

The new hardcover has only a few minor rule changes to RotK. The Big Blue Book (BBB) attempted to include all characters and creatures released up to that point. GW accidentally left out "Army of the Dead", but offers that on their website. Of course, as soon as new books were released, the "complete" list fell out of date.

The same *rules* as the BBB are included in the Mines of Moria boxed set, although the miniature sized rulebook only includes characters and creatures that were found in the LotR movies.

Definitely get the BBB, as thosmoss recommends.

I'd disagree – unless you want stats that aren't in what you've got, I'd duck the spending. The ROTK rules are pretty much identical to the hardback, so it's an expensive purchase just for the sake of it.

Dom.

At thosmos said, I would recommend the Mines of Moria boxed set, it has a soft cover version of the new rules. I think that it actually only includes the creatures/characters that would be in or around Moria. (I'm not positive that the boxed set is still available)

I have the MoM boxed set. The small book includes most of the creature/army/character stats from the films (including the Army of the Dead), plus some others (Dwarf King, Isildur, Gilgalad), but not all the figures GW produced (no stats for Dwarf guards or archers, Bombadil, Goldberry, generic hobbits, Corsairs of Umbar, barrowwights, etc.).

The set itself is a great value.

The MoM box has gone up in price a couple times, and might be at the $60-80 mark now. Even remembering the good old days when it was much cheaper, I still find it quite the deal now. The smaller book from MoM does include stats for most the guys from the movie -- not just Moria, but also Mumakil and Uruk Hai Siege Engineers.

The rule changes between RotK and BBB are not big -- the only ones that come to mind is now Volley Fire requires more archers, and Courage is done a little differently with fleeing the field and Will points being spent to rally. Both rules are easy to absorb if a BBB owner tries to correct your tabletop ettiquette.

Curiously, the rule part of the BBB and the MoM books are identical, at least up until the character stats. So if I tell you to look on page "x" in the "y" paragraph for rules on spears, it'll be the same page between the books. The artwork is different, sometimes. The layout between the characters is odd -- BBB splits them into realms, MoM splits them into good and evil. The good and evil lists do get long, but I find it much easier to find, for instance, the members of the Fellowship in the little book compared to the BBB. In BBB, Gandalf the Gray (in the Shire section) is not on the same page as Gandalf the White (in the Gondor section). Just try finding the stats for Legolas and Gimli when you're in a hurry.

BBB is about the most complete book, so it's a matter of choice. If all you want are the rules, don't bother. Stick with ROTK. If you want a reference book for the entire system, then BBB is a good choice.

The problem with the hardbound book is that many new minis are not in that book either. At this point, I would actually recommend the MOM book and the appropriate journey or source book.

Lost Pict

The Big Blue book is not just a repackaged RoTK book, it also includes other rules and units, such a siege, that came in separate books when RoTK came out.

So Get the Big Blue Book, it has the most rules in one place.

But the sense that I have of this discussion is that if you already have RotK there would be no compelling need to get the BBB?
Phil

The BBB is a great book (I have throughly enjoyed mine) and has all the current rules (i.e. game mechanics). Unfortunately, at this point it no longer has a complete set of stats for many of the minis. If you are focused on a LOTR Movie experience, it has what you need (mostly), if you want to explore other areas such as Harad, Easterlings, Khand, Galadrim, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc. it is probably not adequate for those interests.

The rules with MOM are the same rules as the BBB, but the only stats are for minis from the movies. The net is that neither is adequate by themselves at this juncture.

So to supplement either you probably also want either a Journey book (provides a nice backdrop with stats for LOTR gaming following the actual books) or a Source book (which contains the stats for a larger exploration of a specific culture).

It is all kind of a bother and I hope the GW releases compendium as we get closer to the Hobbit.

Lost Pict (a LOTR-holic)

Thanks everybody, this was a great help!

One final 'me, too' for MoM. It also doubles as a nice stand-alone board game that uses many but not all of special rules. The board game version (my term) can be played by marking off the required space, laying out the terrain and opposing forces and playing the final scenario in the starter rules---a separate book from the full mini-sized rulebook.

When my nephew visits, we play the 'boardgame' version since he's not interested in keeping up with all the special rules for Legolas, Gandalf, etc. It's still a great game in its own right.