So I have managed to get some of my friends started to LOTR instead of 40K and now we are a bit confused on which books to get. We have the little rulebook from MoM set and should we just get the sourcebook for the respective armies we wish to build or does new big Hobbit book have all the stuff needed for current Hobbit mini profiles and old LOTR ones?

Also I wonder how do you use the new released minis if they don't have a profile in the Hobbit book?

Oh and another question, would you guys recommend us to play by Hobbit's rules or is the MoM rulebook is enough to cover the game in a balanced way?

At the back of the Hobbit rulebook, there is a list of profiles for each of the armies (Much like a summary page), but you cannot see the special abilities or point values.

To see the special abilities and point values, you have to get the LOTR sourcebooks. Also which new released minis do you mean? If you mean LOTR new - ish minis, they are in the sourcebooks.

And the Hobbit's rules are quite good, but LOTRs rules are good too. The biggest change for me is how different weapons can do different things.

I meant the new Hobbit ones. Book got released before some minatures and how do you get the profiles of the new ones? White Dwarf?

Rules for the Men of Dale are included in their box.

The only ruleset we don't have right now are for Yazneg, but that will be rectified in the upcoming sourcebook/journeybook.

As for the rest of the range you're right - just pick the sourcebook(s) you need.

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If you have the MoM book, and the sourcebooks for your armies (Kings of Men, Moria/Angmar, etc) then you have enough to learn the game. MoM doesn't talk about warbands, but those rules are in the front of each sourcebook. Once you're comfortable with that, I'd recommend getting the big Hobbit book, as there are some welcome changes, especially surrounding monster, spells, and new heroic actions. But the basic game play is almost identical. And who knows...if you take your time learning, GW might put out a new rulebook for movie 2.

Yup, pretty much do what whafrog said.

The MoM rules will serve you well for a long time, just add the sourcebook and you will have the latest profiles for all the troops which should get you many, many months of fun out of it. Take your time with the Hobbit rules as you will have a better understanding of hero's & how to use troops in different ways by playing with the old rules for a while - once you know this like the back of your hand the special strikes in the hobbit would be put to much better use.

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