perpetual noob said: No one has mentioned the Alliance Agenda update. I assume the new working "place" implies that the no-penalty applies during setup now as well. Maybe you didn't read the thread.....

sWhiteboy said: Yeah, that's and hour and 30 minutes away from CH. Hope you find someone. I just realized this sounded super cold. I don't mean to be rude. Driving 1 hour and 30 minutes is not that bad to play a game that I have no one else to play with.

Yeah, that's and hour and 30 minutes away from CH. Hope you find someone.

I'm in the Triangle Area (specifically Chapel Hill). I don't know anyone else around here that plays, but you might find someone at college (or at least be able to talk some people into trying it). If you're going to UNC-G, then that's only 45 minutes from where I live.

Hummerhorn says that when "hummerhorn engages a player...." Does his forced ability still apply when the player engages the hummerhorn?

The subtlety of the card wording almost always matters. Thalin does not do damage to cards added to the Staging Area. "Revaled" and "added" should be handed differently. It's essentially the Encounter deck variations of "played from hand" and "put into play."

Blaze said: Everything else says to discard or place in discard pile except when you explore. Exploring (on pp 15) says to "discard from play" Does this imply the explored card is removed from the game, not to the discard pile? "Discard from play" means that you DISCARD it FROM PLAY. Where do discarded cards go? That's right, the discard pile.

CAlexander said: Lightdarker: Not sure if you've caught this or not, but you mention attaching cards to other player's heroes. That's a no go, you can only play your cards into your own play area per the rulebook, unless a specific card effect overrules it. You can only play Allies in your own play area. That's the only card-type with that restriction.

If I were playing competitively, I wouldn't include Will of the West.

lleimmoen said: leimmoen said:Oh come on, boy, don't be rude. I said I understand there'll be mistakes. I was responding to the part where you said: "I myself am not much inclined to do stuff that is not written on cards or in the rulebook..."

Adam said: Re: Leadership/Spirit winning every game: The game has been out, what, a month? And there isn't a single Quest Pack out yet. You might be jumping the gun there. A huge part of the team's Score is made up of Threat Level. Leadership/Spirit can effectively reduce Threat Level AND it can still win a match. So, Leadership is going to be boosting Resources, which will allow you to play allies while reducing Threat Level with The Galadhrim's Greeting. Also, with Leadership you get the option of playing Gandalf 6 times (3 of which only cost 1 Resource due to Sneak Attack), which will further reduce Threat or whatever else you want to do with Gandalf.

Toqtamish said: What little we know is 2 player tournaments against a new scenario and best score wins the day. And that tells me that dual Leadership/Spirit decks will win every tournament.

lleimmoen said: I wonder about the Nazgul thing. What the hell has happened? Haven't they had all the time in the world to get the text on the card? Or have they realized only just too late how powerful Forest Snare is? I myself am not much inclined to do stuff that is not written on cards or in the rulebook... You haven't played many card games, have you? Errata's happen. Either there is a mistake during printing, or a card turns out to be too strong/weak. When LotR Core set goes into another printing (I guess the 3rd), then the Errata should be on the cards in that printing.

My Deck 1 is similar to yours, but I did make a few different card choices: Deck 1 Denethor / Beravor / Legolas Veteran Axehand x3 --------- instead of Gondorian Spearman. Gandalf's Search x3 --------- instead of Lorien's Wealth Miner of the Iron Hills x3 and Gleowine x2 --------- instead of Self-Preservation and Swift Strike Reasons for differences: Veteran Axehand is a better ally; not much more to say about that. I use Gandalf's Search because I prefer pay 1 resource to draw 1 card over paying 3 resources to draw 3 cards. Plus, Gandalf's Search gives you the option of setting up your deck (options are good). Miner of the Iron Hills is in because he is an ok Ally for the cost, plus he can bring back an attachment. Self-Preservation is out because it is redundant when using Daughter of the Nimrodel (and especially when using Glorfindel). Gleowine and Swift Strike could go either way. I was just trying not to put too many Tactics cards in the deck. Your Deck 2 is a bit of a mess. There's a lot different that I would do with that.

jhaelen said: sWhiteboy said: 60 is the min limit for most other LCG/CCGs. WH:I and CoC use a 50 card deck. There's only one other LCG. AgoT indeed uses 60 cards - interesting. Still, since 50 cards is already too many 60 cards is obviously worse. That's why I said LCG/CCGs, and not just LCGs. Also, I think 50 is fine in the long run, but it currently sucks because the card pool is so small. In order to build a 50 card 2-sphere deck, you have to use most of the cards from both spheres.

Beating a Nightmare game isn't that hard, but using Spirit is almost a requirement.

Wait, so "expert" mode is just an easier form of "Nightmare" mode?

Neither Lore nor Tactics effectively deal with locations in the staging area. You want to use Gimli for damage (which works fine in a duo game where someone else handles locations), but in a solo Lore/Tactics deck, your best bet is to run Legolas over Gimli. This will allow faster progress, and slightly lower your beginning threat. I don't know what else you are running but: Since you only have 1 Tactics Hero, running Citadel Plate is crazy. Dwarven Axe is "ehh" without a Dwarf (maybe run 1-2 copies). 2-3 Blade of Gondolin should be an auto-include. You might as well include 1 Horn of Gondor (it speeds up resource generation, and 1 copy won't leave your deck with useless copies of a unique). 2-3 Feint is an auto-include. On the Lore side, running Daughter of the Nimrodel AND Self-Preservation is redundant. Run DotN over Self-Preservation. 1-2 Henemarth Riversong is good for a 1-cost Ally. You might want to run Secret Path since you are having trouble with locations (I normally wouldn't run it). 2-3 Forest Snare is awesome. So, those are the cards I would use to deal with the locations and creatures.

Bryon said: I've been thinking about Bilbo's cost a bit more: Berevor exhausts to draw 2. One 2-cost attachment (Unexpected Courage), and she picks any player to draw 2 cards extra per turn, pretty much for "free." There's more to it than just. Start with Berevor, pay 2 resources, and draw 2 cards every turn. First, you have to splash the Spirit Sphere into your deck. This limits your options, because you can no longer reliably splash Tactics or Leadership. Next, you have to draw Unexpected Courage. If you're running 3 copies, then your chances are decent. Now you pay the 2 resources. These resources might have been better spent on something else that turn (but I doubt it). What happens if Unexpected Courage is destroyed? You have to draw another Unexpected Courage and pay 2 more resources. In the long run, it is worth it to play Berevor+Unexpected Courage, but it is much more restricting to play this combo then it is to just play Bilbo.

Vyron said: I beg to differ: Spirit has a lot of cool cards to fetch: e.g. unexpected courage, if ever discarded via encounter deck, or the galadhrim's greeting, esp in 2nd scenario it can buy you A LOT of time to set up a perimeter against the troll... or stand and fight for gandalf, thus again eliminating the troll or nazgul the quicker... or will of the west, putting your entire discard pile into the deck (good for nightmare mode) again... Unexpected Courage is a fine card to fetch, but it has to be destroyed/discarded first. In this case, the Tomb is insurance, but you're betting against yourself. Also, you're not really buying any time with Galadhrim's Greeting if you are spending all your resources in two different turns casting it, fetching it, then casting it again.

Gearhead said: I've played the Spirit deck quite a bit and I really like Dwarven Tomb. For the cost of 1 resource you can get back any card you'd like. Not sure why I don't see this getting much love. I agree that Stand and Fight is probably my 2nd favorite card in the spirit deck. And Galadhrim's Greeting would be my third favorite. 3 resources is a lot, but the trade-off is excellent. Dwarven Tomb could be a decent card. You trade 1 Resource to choose a Spirit card in your discard pile. The card disadvantage (from playing a card) is nullified because you just got another card. Unfortunately, Spirit doesn't have great cards to fetch. The only card I'd grab would be Strength of Will. You could argue Stand and Fight, but now you're paying the cost of the Ally plus 1. You usually don't have too many good dead allies anyways. On Topic: Leadership: Sneak Attack, Steward of Gondor, Ever Vigilant, Snowbourn Scout* Lore: Daughter of the Nimrodel, Forest Snare, Protector of Lorien, Henemarth Riversong** Tactics: Blade of Gondolin, Feint, Veteran Axehand, Quick Strike*** Spirit: Unexpected Courage, Northern Tracker, Stand and Fight, Strength of Will**** *Snowbourn Scout is much better than he looks initially. At 1 Resource, you get to add a progress token to a location, have a 1-time chump-blocker, and possibly fodder for drawing (with Valiant Sacrifice). **Henemarth Riversong is the only 1 Cost ally that has any ATK or Willpower. It's ability is (barely) useful in a solo game. Unfortunately, it is a unique, which means that I would only run 1 or 2. ***Quick Strike costs 1 resource, and can allow you to kill an enemy before it can attack you. ****Strength of Will is not the best card, but it's probably the next best thing that Spirit has. Finishing locations as quickly as possible is always a good thing.

jhaelen said: Actually, I think the 50 card minimum was only picked because that's the number the other LCGs use. Imho, it's at least currently a bit too high for LotR. Unless I was playing Lore I don't think I ever got through half of the deck. Drawing only a single card per turn is very, very low. It plays better if you use a smaller deck and it would also play better if you could draw two cards per turn. Both methods help reduce chance which is way too high in a single player game. 60 is the min limit for most other LCG/CCGs. I think that 50 is fine. Typically the min deck size limit exists in order to give you a lower chance at drawing a specific card. Also, in a Nightmare run you do not reset your deck; you probably don't want to run out of cards.

kirkbauer said: I'm already maintaining one: javascript:void(0);/*1305815979825*/ I just did a quick glance and saw something. For Beorn: The description should say that he "either goes to your hand or is shuffled into your deck" and not "either goes to your hand or discard pile." Also, in AGoT (and I'm assuming the rest of the LCGs) the First Player chooses the order that actions resolve. So, you wouldn't get to decided whether or not Beorn returned to your hand. Whoever is the First Player at the time will choose for you.

The above poster is correct.

Mestrahd said: If you think Bilbo should be a 9 because he doesn't exhaust then Eowyn and Gloin should be 12. They're both vastly better than Bilbo and don't need to be exhausted to use their ability. Neither ability comes near the power of drawing an extra card (with a one-time cost of 3 threat) EVERY TURN. Eowyn's ability has the cost of discarding one card. That's the exact opposite of drawing a card. So, if drawing is "win", then discarding is "lose" (except in certain situations). Gloin's ability is amazing, but it requires him to take damage. The damage can be healed, but that uses up resources (which is counterproductive to the ability) and you have the opportunity cost of 1, or more, cards. For example, Citadel Plate gives him 4 hit-points (which means 4 more resources), but it also costs 4 resources. For every Lore of Imladris used on Gloin, you produce a gain of 1 Resource (only if you've already taken 3 damage). Your best option for resource gain, when using Gloin, is either Daughter of the Nimrodel or Self Preservation. Even still, it takes time to produce a gain in resources, and you have to draw the necessary card(s).