LotR Game - General Questions/Confusion

So this past weekend I played over at an official GW store and again came across their very impressive LOTR selection. I know that in my area and it seems generically in the US in general, the interest in this game is minimal at best. There are a few people that might play it here and there but by in large it seems it is probably played among friends (maybe I'm wrong).

Having said that, the miniatures look really cool to paint and they deal with one of the best story lines I've read/watched since I was young.

So my question is generically, how does the game work? I play 40K and have a general understanding of WHFB as well as War Machine...

It seems that the game plays a skirmish style as well. I looked at the boxed set they have now (The Mines of Moria) and it seems that you simply re-enact the battle in Balin's Tomb. So after that, what happens? I guess a while back I understood the game could be played with different smaller scenarios and re-enactments or could be played more like the other games (40K, WHFB, etc) in that each side selects a force based on a total number of points and has at it.

If I were to get the Mines of Moria set, does that at all lead into the different army-style battles? Or would I be better off getting one of the source books (Free People, Armies of Men, Mordor, etc) and just growing my force from there? I guess I'm usually used to starter sets starting you with a fledgling army to grow but this isn't necessarily the case here.

or is it? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Honestly unless you know of someone personally who plays, don't count on getting many games. I got my younger brother into it so we have small skirmishes from time to time. The thing about the lotr minis is that with such a small community of collectors let alone players, it has become, if it wasn't to begin with, more of a collectors piece than a gamer's. If you find someone to play with then that's cool to. The cool thing about the mines of moria box is that it come with two fairly even forces (the 9 of the fellowship, 24 goblins and a troll) so you can start playing almost straight away (bar painting and assembly, but you play 40K so you know the drill). This is great for the smaller sbg. If you want to start building an army for something like wotr then I hope you have deep pockets. Just remember that in lotr like 40K all armies handle differently so maybe see if you can either get some friendly advice from your store/blogs/etc or maybe get a box of troops and hero from the armies you like. Just remember that a small squad of one army is fine as it works well with sbg. YOU DONT NEED A LOT OF MINIS. Wotr on the other hand.....
IMO choose the army you like the look of most because if the player base is anything like here then you will mostly be looking at it on the shelf.

I'm very impressed by the Mines of Moria box. It's cheaper than all the other GW boxed sets, contains 2 very different but iconic armies, and some fun terrain. Even better it includes 2 rules booklets: a set of simplified rules enabling you to fight a series of 6 linked games themed around skirmishes in Moria; and the mini-rulebook containing all the rules from the big rulebook AND points costs for every LotR model from the films. It's a great value set.

As eFail said, there really aren't many players around though. Maybe that'll change come the Hobbit, we'll see.

Again another player here pitching his thoughts, I was very happy with the mines box set too and will probably get whatever Hobbit box set they draw up.

I love the new warbands rules as it stops power-gaming from certain friends of mine and makes for a fair fight, I do wish LotR would get more of an uptake as it is a truely fantastic game, given the back-story and films you can really paint the picture in your mind with whats going on down on that tabletop.

I hope things change with the Hobbit, as I need somebody for my Uruk-Hai army to butcher!

Got a very large group of players here (average about 15-18 per session) so I guess its regional, but yeah the game is a great skirmish but lends well to larger battles as well. I personally like that it flows well with very little time of one player or the other sitting and watching the game.