Picking a SBG sourcebook and building an army: Help Needed

[Chaotic Pumpkin]

My SBG rulebook has been sitting idly on the shelf almost since day one; with the new sourcebooks coming out, I have been scheming and planning my return to Middle-Earth.I already have some abused gondorian minis, last alliance numenorians and elves, and a couple of heroes, but now I want to take things seriously and start something from scratch.

I am torn between the lists of "Arnor" and "Lothlorien & Mirkwood".

My idea for Arnor is to use my Amon Hen Aragorn, buy a couple of boxes of Rangers of Middle Earth to use as Dunedain, and look for some fancy metal blisters for captains and Bannerbearer.

My idea for Lothlorien is, buy Haldir, a Ghaladrim Command and Ghaladrim Warriors. Maybe even a box of Knights.

Since I haven't read the new Sourcebooks, my questions are these:

Which of the two purchases make for a sound list? Do they get me enough points for a 500 pts game?
How do "allies" work? (I've always wanted to bring Gandalf on the table somehow)

[Peregrin]

Unless you are going to use the more historical figures from Arnor (like the warriors of arnor), you're limited a bit in the units, especially with the 33% bow limit. There are rules to get around that for the Rangers of Arnor, but that basically means taking more captains. Otherwise you can't use them because all of the rangers come with bows.

It would be much easier to make the 500 points with elves, in my opinion. The sourcebook for the elves (Free Peoples) is also the biggest of the sourcebooks including elves from both sides of the Misty Mountains, Dwarves, the full Fellowship as it's own warband, and things like Ents and Eagles.

As for allying, any good force can ally with any other good force. They are sepparated into their own contingents and warbands, and the bow limit is applied to the contingent rather than the force as a whole. That last bit has been a bit of an irritation for me. I have a nice Gondor army which includes some rangers. I wanted to add Aragorn Isildur's Heir leading Rangers of Arnor, but I couldn't because they all have bows. Arnor and Gondor are considered seperate contingents so it doesn't matter how many Gondor warriors I have, only 33% of my Arnor warband can carry bows. In addition, I wanted to ally in my 6 Clansmen of Lamedon and fill the warband out with some of the other Gondor forces. I couldn't because Lamedon is part of the Feifdom contingent and I don't have any other forces from the Feifdoms.

I could ally in Aragorn, use the cheap Damrod leading a warband of Gondorian or Ithilian Rangers, but that leaves Aragorn as a warband of 1. I don't have the model for Aragorn the King.

[Chaotic Pumpkin]

Pity. Perhaps I can just play with Rangers of Osgiliath, since I really like the ranger models and I already have some warriors of minas tirith.

So there's no issue with throwing Gandalf in there then?

[The Lion's Shade]

Personally I'm not a big fan of the Arnor idea. As if you run into a stubborn player who wants you to spend hundreds of pounds buying real dunedain(although I think it is a good idea) then your army list might turn upside down. Also watch out if you are drawn towards the Arnor side of things as their normal troops only have courage 2. So I would advise that you go for the galadhrim(elves) as your idea is perfect. The heavy armored foot and cavalry working in tandem to outmaneuver the enemy. Haldirs a good strong leader and cheap! However you may consider investing in his brother Rumil, who has the parry rule(all enemy rolls to win a fight that are a 6 are re-rolled).

[Peregrin]

I may eventually pick up a 3 pack of Dunedain just so I can thematically add some Grey Co. Rangers to my Minas Tirith Army without having to worry about the bow rule... but that's on my list along with a Troll and an Eagle.... not necessary for my army at the moment. Only going to order them when I don't have anything else pressing on my list.
I'd also like to get another company of Rohan Royal Guards for my WotR army, but that will be a while as well... $54+ CDA for those.