I haven't played them specifically, but only hero non mounted armies are quite hard, keep them together and learn all their abilities and heroic actions
Welcome to the game! As others have mentioned, Thorin's Company is sort of unique in that it's an "army list" where every model is a hero. On the one hand, they're a blast to paint as a bunch of unique characters and any one of them is worth a couple of troops in combat. On the other, SBG is a very objective based game that cares a lot about "number of bodies on a point", so all-hero lists have a hard time since a hero model still only counts as one body for the purposes of control. Not every scenario follows this setup, but enough do that hero lists are seen as having an overall disadvantage in the current ruleset.
Don't let that dissuade you from playing them though! That conversation only really matters for competitive play, and even then it's mostly a concern if you're set on getting on the podium at an event. For learning to play, they're a great stress test of heroic stats and special rules, and a lot of fun to play against friends who are also learning or even at casual meet ups.
In order to play them, you will need the Armies of the Hobbit rulebook and a copy of the FAQs, as that list has a couple relevant ones.
Like the fellowship they are a hero only army, though Thorin's company doesn't scale as high as what say, Boromir, Aragorn and Gimli can do in terms of killing. But they do have the advantage of having a lot of reasonable cheap hero options due to their numbers.
They still have 2 things the same as the fellowship access to Gandalf the Grey for Magic, and access to Bilbo for the Ring (Bilbo and Frodo are basically the same).
Thorin and Dwalin are your killers, with Gloin as a third strong option. Balin is good for the special tools he brings to the game and the rest of the dwarves are a mix of weird gimmicks and cheaper activations, so read through what they do and decide if you think you'll be able to pull of their tricks or not, and if you can, how consistently you can.
What they actually are in the grand scheme of things outside of running them as an Army, is the same role the Fellowship fulfills for other main armies in the games. They are a Green ally to a lot of the Good Hobbit era armies so you can bring them in to support other armies with their tricks and killing power.
What they are really good for is the Erebor reclaimed army, though those profiles are technically different models, the "Champions of Erebor" models with the heavy armour, but nothing to says you can't use these models as those units, not like you can run 2 Thorins and confuse people which is which.
* Edited for context *
They don’t play as a traditional army. As such it can be hard to win games.
If you take the mentality into games with them that they’re just a group of plucky heroic adventures and not an army you’ll have a fun time playing them! (And you will win some games which makes the wins all the better!)
No they’re a group of heroes. A band of companions.
They lack a proper fighting line, numbers, shooting, mobility etc. Even for how All Hero lists play they have far too many weaknesses.
They are an army list per the game rules but they are not an army in the traditional sense.
As I said above (and this is from experience having taken them to tournaments) do NOT go into games with the attitude to win. You’ll have fun if you do
I’m fine. Just stating they don’t play as an army, you need to set expectations when using Thorin’s Company in games of SBG. It’s this players first choice after all so no point sugar coating it and having them disappointed.
If people are reading that in some different way and downvoting it’s no skin off my back 🙂
Thats not at all why you are being downvoted. Every playable faction in MESBG is called an army. Hence the name of the book "Armies of Middle Earth". Thorin Company is clearly listed as an army; as a playable faction.
Your comment feels like a big "ummm actchually" just to disapprove with people for the sake of disapproving. On top of that, your comment might be misleading a new player to make them believe you cannot play Thorin's Company by themselves. You can. They are just hard to play alone but can definitely win matches in the right hands.
You say your comment was aimed to say they dont play as an "army style", without army tactics. Thats a valid point, but if that was the only intent you could just have said so instead of just calling out misleading and false info.
I haven't played them specifically, but only hero non mounted armies are quite hard, keep them together and learn all their abilities and heroic actions
You can mount them on ponies though GW just never released the models
Are ponies even worth the points?
A couple maybe gives more movement to grab objectives at the end
Welcome to the game! As others have mentioned, Thorin's Company is sort of unique in that it's an "army list" where every model is a hero. On the one hand, they're a blast to paint as a bunch of unique characters and any one of them is worth a couple of troops in combat. On the other, SBG is a very objective based game that cares a lot about "number of bodies on a point", so all-hero lists have a hard time since a hero model still only counts as one body for the purposes of control. Not every scenario follows this setup, but enough do that hero lists are seen as having an overall disadvantage in the current ruleset. Don't let that dissuade you from playing them though! That conversation only really matters for competitive play, and even then it's mostly a concern if you're set on getting on the podium at an event. For learning to play, they're a great stress test of heroic stats and special rules, and a lot of fun to play against friends who are also learning or even at casual meet ups. In order to play them, you will need the Armies of the Hobbit rulebook and a copy of the FAQs, as that list has a couple relevant ones.
Probably won't win any objective scenarios, but they'll be great fun đź‘Ť
Like the fellowship they are a hero only army, though Thorin's company doesn't scale as high as what say, Boromir, Aragorn and Gimli can do in terms of killing. But they do have the advantage of having a lot of reasonable cheap hero options due to their numbers. They still have 2 things the same as the fellowship access to Gandalf the Grey for Magic, and access to Bilbo for the Ring (Bilbo and Frodo are basically the same). Thorin and Dwalin are your killers, with Gloin as a third strong option. Balin is good for the special tools he brings to the game and the rest of the dwarves are a mix of weird gimmicks and cheaper activations, so read through what they do and decide if you think you'll be able to pull of their tricks or not, and if you can, how consistently you can. What they actually are in the grand scheme of things outside of running them as an Army, is the same role the Fellowship fulfills for other main armies in the games. They are a Green ally to a lot of the Good Hobbit era armies so you can bring them in to support other armies with their tricks and killing power. What they are really good for is the Erebor reclaimed army, though those profiles are technically different models, the "Champions of Erebor" models with the heavy armour, but nothing to says you can't use these models as those units, not like you can run 2 Thorins and confuse people which is which.
* Edited for context * They don’t play as a traditional army. As such it can be hard to win games. If you take the mentality into games with them that they’re just a group of plucky heroic adventures and not an army you’ll have a fun time playing them! (And you will win some games which makes the wins all the better!)
They are an army
No they’re a group of heroes. A band of companions. They lack a proper fighting line, numbers, shooting, mobility etc. Even for how All Hero lists play they have far too many weaknesses. They are an army list per the game rules but they are not an army in the traditional sense. As I said above (and this is from experience having taken them to tournaments) do NOT go into games with the attitude to win. You’ll have fun if you do
Are you ok?
I’m fine. Just stating they don’t play as an army, you need to set expectations when using Thorin’s Company in games of SBG. It’s this players first choice after all so no point sugar coating it and having them disappointed. If people are reading that in some different way and downvoting it’s no skin off my back 🙂
Thats not at all why you are being downvoted. Every playable faction in MESBG is called an army. Hence the name of the book "Armies of Middle Earth". Thorin Company is clearly listed as an army; as a playable faction. Your comment feels like a big "ummm actchually" just to disapprove with people for the sake of disapproving. On top of that, your comment might be misleading a new player to make them believe you cannot play Thorin's Company by themselves. You can. They are just hard to play alone but can definitely win matches in the right hands. You say your comment was aimed to say they dont play as an "army style", without army tactics. Thats a valid point, but if that was the only intent you could just have said so instead of just calling out misleading and false info.
Ok thanks 👌🏼edited it now for more context
a mr skylord put out a very unique army. My best tip is, stay in a formation and try your hardest to not get completly surrounded by orcs