I think internationally, this was the first part of the strangulation of online retailers plan that's getting into full swing in the USA come April 1st, as reported on in the BGG retailer forums. Somehow by both restricting online sales and making them more expensive, FFG (or Asmodee) actually believe brick and mortar stores are going to be better off. Somehow magically on April 1st, my FLGS will no longer be a 40min drive away, it will be completely cleansed of its BO smell and have staff with actual social skills!
 
With increased costs and less online options I'll clearly have to buy less but the FFG Marketing guy, Anton Torres claims he would rather 'purchase only one or two games a year from FFG than buy ten that will sit in his closet'. Bizarrely, he's decided what's best for everyone! But mission accomplished at least for me. Since being discouraged by bookdepository.com non availability and learning of the upcoming policy change, I've weened myself off new X-wing miniatures, didn't buy the last 2 Battlelore expansions and decided to skip the new Game of Thrones LCG altogether. 
 
But having said that, they got me on the Star Wars Rebellion and I'll still throw my wallet at any Forbidden Stars expansions.

Hmm....you raise some interesting points. I really like the newer quests because of their intense narration and strong thematic coherency. Actually, I really enjoy the complex board state we noe get since the Ringmaker cycle with a lot of interaction between the encounter cards and lots of triggers and responses. On the other hand, playing a quest now, also means that a severe time investment because I meticulously check after everys phase all triggers, responses and whatever to make sure I did not miss anything. To me the game feels more intense than ever this way and I love the storytelling and complexity more than ever.
 
However, I also feel that the quests become quite challenging and more often than I find myself falling back to proven decks and strategies using the same old cards as always rather than facing another humbling defeat while trying out the new cards. Some happened to me with the Lost Realm box as I did not manage to build a solid Dunedain deck. However, now I've gotten used to playing two handed solo (which requires a little time to adapt and get used to the increased management that is necessary) and I really enjoy the increased interaction between different deck archetypes and cards.

Seriously?

Hello, all! I recently made the attempt to start up a central calendar for all LOTR LCG local/online groups looking for players. We have the forums here, and on BGG, and on Reddit, and so on, and they're fine, but I feel that a one-stop-shop in calendar format could be huge for people looking for games. 
 
The link is below, so please have a look, submit your game, hit me with some suggestions, and find some buddies to play with. 
 
Yes, I did post this on the 'Player Community' subforum and I'm sorry if this is spammy.
 
http://greycompanypodcast.com/community-calendar/
 
Thanks!

Keep an eye out for the next episode of TGC

Here be the chronicle of my travels through Middle Earth with Lord of the Rings The Card Game. These will most likely all be solo games and I will be starting at the beginning of the quest lines and working my way forward.

I'm going to be using a semi limited card pool. A Cycle pool so to speak. Meaning, that each delux expantion has its own associated 6 pack cycle.. and that is a pool. So the Mirkwood Pool is CORE + The Mirkwood cycle. The Darowdelf Pool is CORE + The Mirkwood cycle + Kaz + the Darrowdelf cycle. Etc etc.

I'm going to try and show a different deck every time, and will attempt to not favor any sphere or hero.. Though that may be hard at the start as Lore / Spirit was really so strong!

Hope you enjoy it ...

Have Fun and ROLL HIGH!
--Tragic


The Tragic Quests of Middle Earth
Full Playlist

Mirkwood Cycle
Passage Through Mirkwood - (Lost in the Forest) Journey Down the Anduin - (Denethor's Duck Shoot) Journey Down the Anduin (NIGHTMARE) - (For The Russian) (invalid) Journey Down the Anduin (NIGHTMARE) - (For The Russian v2) Hunt for Gollum (Denethor's Oracle) Conflict at the Carrock (Denethor's Duck Shoot (CaTC)) A Journey to Rhosgobel - Attempt: 1 - (Heal Vac) A Journey to Rhosgobel - Attempt: 2 - (Heal Vac) The Hills of Emyn Muil (A Pleasant Walk) The Dead Marshes (No Escape) Return to Mirkwood - Attempt 1 - (Denethor's Secret Road) Return to Mirkwood - Attempt 2 - (Denethor's Secret Road The Massing at Osgiliath - Attempt 1 - (Cheese It) The Massing at Osgiliath - Attempt 2 - (Cheese It) Dwarrowdelf Cycle
Khazad-Dum 1/3 - Into The Pit - Attempt 1 (OPE) Khazad-Dum 1/3 - Into The Pit - Attempt 2 (OPE v2) Khazad-Dum 2/3 - The Seventh Level (Bev's Break) Khazad-Dum 3/3 - Flight from Moria - Attempt 2 - (Gon-DIG-or) Khazad-Dum 3/3 - Flight from Moria - Attempt 3 - (Gon-DIG-or) The Redhorn Gate - 1/6 - (Snow Boots) The Redhorn Gate - Attempt 2 - 1/6 - (Snow Boots) to be continued

Ooh....yes, I still remember the Dark Age. When I was sitting in my empty cave gnawing on bones and eagerly waiting for the game to release! Funny thing is, that I also started playing Arkham Horror and then checked out the ffg site to find out they just anounced a lotr card game. Upon which I registered here at the forums and been following the game closely ever since. Although not always that active in the forums
 
Thanks for the awesome overview, it's really a lot of fun to browse through these articles!

It is interesting to remember just how many articles they used to do for AP's, especially during the Dwarrowdelf cycle, compared to now. Of course, the current designers have a lot more to manage than the designers did back then, between the regular cycles, saga expansions, new Fellowship quests, and Nightmare. Still, it'd be nice to see more articles like they used to do back in the day, about strategy, deck building...
 
Wait a minute, why am I trying to put myself out of business.   Forget I said anything....

I don't have it yet either, but I put together a silvan deck with Galadriel, Celeborn and Mirlond and ran it against Nin-in-Elph. The deck did great on the scenario and beat it 4 out of 5 times. This was a scenario giving me problems too. Galadriel's built in threat reduction and card draw really changes the game. It makes it so easy to turtle along and build up the elven force.
At first I was running 3 copies of her Ring and Mirror and then cut it to 2 copies, and the settled on 1 of each. I found that I never used her willpower with the ring, threat reduction and card draw were more important and I did not feel like taking up deck space with UC to get her to do both. The biggest thing was getting lore Icon, so I kept one copy and added 1 song of wisdom for Celeborn rather that go for multiple copies of the ring.
The Mirror is cool to have, but not really essential. It was more useful when I had a lot more unique dead card in hand. But I tightened the deck up to only having 3 copies of Oh Lorien as duplicates. All other unique cards were singles. The draw back of potentially losing a Test of Will or another key card I was sitting on was to great to warrant using it. I kept one copy, because every once in awhile it was worth the gamble, but for the most part I did not find it to be a game changer. If anything I think it had potential for more of a negative impact if my hand was already looking good, so it felt like a situational card rather than an every turn kind of thing.
Really looking forward to getting my hands on the actual cards to keep exploring them, but I don't see her attachments being as strong or as essential as an Elrond/Vilya or Gandalf and his tools. However, as a hero, I think she is pretty amazing for solo play, her ability incredible. Allies not exhausting when entering play (action advantage), card draw, and threat reduction all in one.
Another card That worked well with her was Silver Lamp. i ran 1 copy i. The deck and when attached it really helped deciding when to defend with an ally or a hero.
Not directly related to this pack, but I'll ad it here. Tighten the Belt resource acceleration card is pretty good in a tri sphere deck, since it provides the boost to all the heroes that don't spend. Worked really nice in this deck since resource use was somewhat equally spread out amongst the spheres.
Silvan is pretty cool, I just wish I could find a good way to splash some tactics cards in the deck.

Strange how he just wanted us to know about the opportunity to buy off a whole collection and then suddenly had to defend himself regarding as to 1) why he sells the collection, 2) why he bought it in the first place and 3) why he is busy at work.
 
I mean seriously guys, give him a break. And thanks dojimaster for letting us know, it is a pity you did not find more time to enjoy such a great game.

Strange how he just wanted us to know about the opportunity to buy off a whole collection and then suddenly had to defend himself regarding as to 1) why he sells the collection, 2) why he bought it in the first place and 3) why he is busy at work.
 
I mean seriously guys, give him a break. And thanks dojimaster for letting us know, it is a pity you did not find more time to enjoy such a great game.

How could you say that? No break for him! And no slack!

Strange how he just wanted us to know about the opportunity to buy off a whole collection and then suddenly had to defend himself regarding as to 1) why he sells the collection, 2) why he bought it in the first place and 3) why he is busy at work.
 
I mean seriously guys, give him a break. And thanks dojimaster for letting us know, it is a pity you did not find more time to enjoy such a great game.

I personally am really happy with lotr as it is....i just love it. No interest in a VS mode whatsoever, but I can understand that some of you might like that.
Although I can't see it happen any time soon...

I like 'em all as well.  Regarding the cloak, I think 1 resource for 1 defense is very fair (Dunedain Warning is the same thing, and it still makes its way into my non-tactics decks sometimes).  The 2 defense for a Forest location is just gravy, I wouldn't judge the card as a "+2 or nothing" card.  

I personally am really happy with lotr as it is....i just love it. No interest in a VS mode whatsoever, but I can understand that some of you might like that.
Although I can't see it happen any time soon...

I finished adding quest and encounter cards.
Enjoy!
http://hallofbeorn.com/Cards/Search?CardSet=The+Nîn-in-Eilph

Murzag is a beast.  Look for turn 1 Feint in your hand, or some other way to keep him from attacking.  When he attacks he will indeed add the revealed card to the staging area if it's a location (or resolve its effects if it is a treachery).  We had an official clarification way back:
-----------------------
Since "reveal and add to the staging area" is just long-hand for "reveal" we've mostly stopped using "and add to the staging area" in order to save space and allow room for more effects or flavor text. Therefore, Murzag's Forced effect works the same as any other effect that forces players to reveal cards from the encounter deck: resolve any "when revealed" effects and keywords, then resolve the staging of that card. If it is a treachery card, it is discarded after resolving its effects. If it is a location, add it to the staging area. If it is an enemy, Murzag's ability instructs the defending player to put it into play engaged with him instead of adding it to the staging area. That enemy will make an attack since it is still the "resolve enemy attacks" part of the combat phase, but it will not be dealt a shadow card.
Hope you're enjoying the conclusion of the Against the Shadow cycle!
Caleb
------------
 
And that is from this thread here.

To answer your other question, the defending player is the player with whom the enemy is engaged.  So if your friend defends for you via sentinel, you are still considered the defending player.

Yes BUT you also count 1 for To the Tower. See this ruling from Caleb:
 
The Power of Mordor should read:
"When Revealed: Count the number of encounter cards in the staging area and shuffle them into the encounter deck. Reveal an equal number of cards from the encounter deck and add them to the staging area. This effect cannot be canceled."
It should not use the word 'Then'. That will be corrected in the next FAQ.
Without the word 'Then', The Power of Mordor interacts with To The Tower and a Captain enemy like this:
-You count the number of encounter cards in the staging area, including To The Tower and the Captain enemy.
-Shuffle all the cards counted into the encounter deck, except To The Tower and the Captain enemy.
-You reveal the number of encounter cards that you counted and resolve their staging.
This does make The Power of Mordor a nastier treachery card in The Morgul Vale than in any previous scenario, since you are in a way revealing 2 additional encounter cards. However, it seemed fitting to us that The Power of Mordor should be stronger when you are in fact on the very doorstep of Mordor in that scenario.

Yes, yes, we all saw the C&D for Jinteki.net coming, but I am disappointed that FFG does not bother to involve itself enough into the community around one of their major LCGs to actually realize that a complete shutdown of netrunnerdb is a huge slap in the face of a big part of the community.
Just doing away with a generic C&D does not do justice to the great contribution of netrunnerdb to the community. In my eyes, a C&D for jinteki.net and approaching netrunnerdb to discuss a possible future for it (e.g. no images hosted on netrunnerdb or no API or whatever) or giving it some restraints might have been the desirable approach.
 
Edit: Signed! (Obviously)

Yes, yes, we all saw the C&D for Jinteki.net coming, but I am disappointed that FFG does not bother to involve itself enough into the community around one of their major LCGs to actually realize that a complete shutdown of netrunnerdb is a huge slap in the face of a big part of the community.
Just doing away with a generic C&D does not do justice to the great contribution of netrunnerdb to the community. In my eyes, a C&D for jinteki.net and approaching netrunnerdb to discuss a possible future for it (e.g. no images hosted on netrunnerdb or no API or whatever) or giving it some restraints might have been the desirable approach.
 
Edit: Signed! (Obviously)

pff...we can handle our trolls. Something lotr lcg taught us already in Core Set Quest #2! Go ahead and boycott whatever you like, certainly no one in this forum or game community is going to miss you

pff...we can handle our trolls. Something lotr lcg taught us already in Core Set Quest #2! Go ahead and boycott whatever you like, certainly no one in this forum or game community is going to miss you

This is a nice topic, interesting to hear from everybody. Myself I prefer to listen to the Full Scores of Lotr and the Hobbit Score. I can imagine Hans Zimmer to be very fitting too. Personally, I prefer some thematic sound rather than modern music to go with my game. But I really like the idea of listening to Pirates Soundtrack for the Pelargir quest! ;-)