Lord of the Rings: The Strategy Battle Game

Yep, that's where it all started. I saw the then just released Mines of Moraia boxed set, and as a true Tolkien fan*... Well, I was sold immediately.
Then I started to read every single hobby/tactica/house rule there was to find on the net.. Yes, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Painting, however, wasn't something to boast about. I refused my first 50 miniatures to be even primed. I guess I just didn't understand why that was necessary.
But even then it was clear that Evil was something for me. Every single game we played, I wanted to play with the goblins. It just felt better that way.
But that was untill I finally decided what army to collect. Between brackets: for those of you who have never played the game (... where are you waiting for?), it's a common symptom for Tolkien fans to have no idea where to start. Really, ask any player of this game what his first  boxes were, and I garantee you he'll say: 'well, I started with a box of this, then I bought a box of Uruk-Hai, then a box of  dwarves, then some L.A. elves,...'