Ive played LotOW by GW for awhile now. It does a few things fairly well:
*Quick and fast play based upon LotR's system (which I had heard about for some time before picking this up)
*Great campaign system based roughly on Mordheim's experience. There were a few flaws in it, and a force that has a lot of experience can roll any non-experienced list, but overall not bad
*Good scenarios
The expansion books are a tad expensive, but the quality of the print is typical GW, ie pretty darn good
Every character has a Shooting Value you must exceed. There are very few modifiers which makes it nice. If cover is in the way, after you make a successful to-hit roll, you must exceed 4+ to get past the cover. This includes mounted riders, as the horse might take the hit! Then its a wounding roll, usually a 4+ again (yes, rolling two or three 4+'s in a row is typical) and the target takes a wound. Most models have only one wound.
Characters have two special stats. One allows an "invulnerable save" and one allows them to perform special actions. These are often not very plentiful and get used up quickly, but allows for some neat action.
Close combat is, unfortunately, a joke. Certain weapons give you a modifier to your roll, usually negative if at all. The two models in base contact roll a d6 each and compare. Highest wins and gets to roll to wound the other. The game doesnt care if my model has a CC value of 5 and yours has a 1 unless we tie on the die roll. This is, in my opinion, a major failing, but regardless, it still plays out reasonably well.
The game is fast and fun, easy to learn and easier to play. ~8-12 models on a side is about right, plus civilians. So few die rolling means that each and every roll is important, which is one thing that a "buckets of dice" game does is balance things over the course of a game. There are some fantastic models out there, even for someone like me who fields female cowgirls only
