Welcome to the Middle Earth SBG! Alex123 has covered a lot of what I was going to say, but I'll try to throw my thoughts in. Generally the best advice to give anyone, new or experienced, is to play the models you're most interested in, nevertheless I'll do a deeper dive. Still, if there's a hero or warrior that you think is really cool, there's your first answer. My advice would be to search this site and Reddit's Middle Earth Miniatures sub to see if there have been discussions about it (just keep in mind that the most recent rulebook is from 2017, if you go older than that, you may get discussions about some different mechanics).
So it sounds like you're looking for the opposite of Orks in every way, is that fair to say? Free Peoples (non evil, or the light side, whatever terminology you prefer), not a horde, and by tactical, do you mean something more involved than throwing numbers at every problem (like you can with Orks)?
If there isn't one hero or troop that caught your attention, let's have a brief overview of some Free Peoples' factions from the Lord of the Rings era:
Armies of Men
Numenor: I cheated, not from the Third Age of Middle Earth. Elendil and Isildur are two of the most powerful combat heroes in the game, Captains of Numenor are some of the most versatile Captains in the game, and Warriors of Numenor are fairly solid, having decent Fight Value and Strength (they'll win more fights and kill more stuff) but average Defence (they'll die more easily when they do get hit). Other than that, it's an army low on variety, most of what you're doing is related to your big heroes.
Minas Tirith: It's hard to talk about Minas Tirith because it's such a diverse faction. It can do almost anything you want it to quite well, jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none kind of army. It has access to big combat heroes and elite troops, should you choose to go that route. It has high Defence formations. It has cheap Captains if you decide to horde out later. Some really powerful Siege Engines and great archers for that pew-pew-pew. You also benefit from Gondor being a key player in the LotR story, so you know it's always going to get updated.
The Fiefdoms: Elite infantry, elite cavalry, alite archers, solid-to-powerful combat heroes. This army is very much built around its leader, Imrahil. The special rules are mostly related to buffs he gives the rest of the army.
Arnor: Not an easy one to buy these days, but if you're into converting then it's a pretty good army. Strong warriors with high Fight Value and fairly high Defence, heroes that are very good at keeping those warriors alive, but it does lean on the side of being high in numbers.
Rohan: Another army with lots of variety, with a number of updates over the last few years that have dramatically altered how you can play Rohan. Traditionally, it's a mounted skirmish army. Shoot from horseback, use your mobility, then charge when the enemy is weak. There are many other ways to play Rohan if you like, but that's my best summary of Rohan at its most basic.
I'll skip a few factions of men because they're super specialized.
Elves:
Rivendell: Good at everything, you have access to most of the highest Fight Value in the game here (heroes and warriors), great archery, a number of terrific combat heroes, good magic that can be buffed to great, a number of terrific support heroes, powerful cavalry. Just know that you will be outnumbered by most things, and that your troops aren't great at killing.
Lothlorien: I have a Lothlorien army, and I've been trying to place what they're best at for a while. To me, it's one of the most tactically exciting armies in the game. You have a number of magic options and Galadriel is one of the best, very capable combat heroes (though not as good at pure butchering as Rivendell's or Mirkwood's), great archers, and a really interesting selection of warriors. They range from decent Defence to low Defence, they can be the cheapest Elves in the game, you can have loads of ranged weapons and still outrun most opponents, and they also have cavalry.
Halls of Thranduil: Can get as elite as Rivendell, also gets very expensive in points. Thranduil is your centre-piece, he's a terrific combat hero and he buffs a number of models in the army. I have seen some effective armies sans Thranduil; Mirkwood Rangers and Tauriel have a bunch of really cool dynamics that force your opponents to think about how they will deal with them.
Dwarves:
Khazad-Dum/Durin's Folk: One of the few armies with limited options for spears/pikes, which forces you to rethink how you're lining up your forces. In exchange, you have high Fight Value and Defence, great options for elites, very strong combat heroes, and you can have a decent sized army without being too big. I consider this one another tactically exciting army, the inherent weakness of lack of spears can turn into a strength if you position yourself well. Dwarves in general are quite forgiving too, because they're so hard to kill.
The Iron Hills: Hobbit era, but they're around during LotR. Basically, everything that Khazad Dum does, Iron Hills does better, but they're incredibly expensive (points and money). You'll be outnumbered, but your basic infantry is similar to Khazad Dum's elites with spears and extra Defence, you have tough cavalry, again great combat heroes, incredibly powerful siege engines, and basically all the goodies you see the in Battle of Five Armies movie are available for your enjoyment.
Other Stuff
Probably things to ally in, though I have seen people take pure Eagle or pure Ent armies, but for a first army, I'd look into allying the big monsters in first. Beorn is a lot of fun, so is Treebeard and his Ents, Eagles fly, wizards give you lots of fun things to do (the White Council, Radagast, etc). That's all more if you decide on a main army but think it's missing a bit of punch, for example I like allying Tom Bombadil in with my Khazad Dum because, though wildly unthematic, he allows for some delightful shenanigans.
I hope I helped, and feel free to ask any more questions!
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). If I say that I loved to play with high elves and dwarfs maybe you'll understand better?
And if you answer... thank you!
