In order to get away from spending a lot more time deck building than actually playing LOTR I decided to challenge myself to play the game two hundred times in a year. I decided to start with the Hobbit quests using a all-Dwarf deck comprising Balin, Nori & Thorin Oakenshild alongside another deck consisting of Legolas, Mirlonde and Beorn (until another Silvan hero is released).

GAME ONE - WE MUST AWAY ERE BREAK OF DAY

The game was a success (although the ally body count was astronomical) and all the booty was collected from the Troll Cave. Points totals were as follows:

THE DWARVES: Threat Level: 41 + Threat From Dead Heroes: 0 +Damage on surviving heroes: 0 - Victory Points: 14 +Rounds (6) x10: 60. Total: 87.

THE NON-DWARVES: Threat Level: 41 + Threat From Dead Heroes: + Damage on surviving heroes: 3 - Victory Points: 14 +Rounds (6) x10: 60. Total: 90.

Go for 300 games!

I'd be scared to know how many times I've played over a year.

I keep a spreadsheet of my victories and losses, so I've got a record of almost every game I've ever played... right now it's sitting at 355, and I've been playing for just over two years. So 200 a year is not in my league and this is a goal I can root for -- go for it silverthorn!

I usually play 3 or 4 times for a day..., so: 3'5 x 365 days: lol

I usually play 3 or 4 times for a day..., so: 3'5 x 365 days: lol

Thats pretty good!

I have not played this for a year yet so I do not know if I can do 300, or 200 games, but Im sure I can definitely do 200 games once a year has came around. Sounds like a fun challenge!

I started playing in December and my current record is at 53 games so far. May do one more before I go to bed.

I wish I played this game more often. Rephrase: I wish I could find the TIME to play this game more often.

I wish I played this game more often. Rephrase: I wish I could find the TIME to play this game more often.

Same here.

In 3 words: Job. Wife. Kids.

nuff said.

Why single people doesn't think about this game. Only after you have married and have kids? lol

I've played a lot of LOTR since I first posted (since I'm going to have a lot less time to play for most of April I'm getting as much questing in as possible). Thanks for the encouragement.

GAME TWO - OVER THE MISTY MOUNTAINS GRIM (ATTEMPT ONE).

A complete failure, nothing more to say. Move along.

GAME THREE - OVER THE MISTY MOUNTAINS GRIM (ATTEMPT TWO).

More succesful, Legolas killed a lot of goblins (and I was glad that I swapped three copies of Mighty Prowess into my Elf heavy deck when all the Gobbos turned up). The final points totals were as follows.

DWARVES Threat Level: 46. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 4. Victory Points: 3. Rounds (5): 50. Total: 97.
NON-DWARVES: Threat Level: 49. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 3. Victory Points: 3. Rounds (5): 50. Total: 99.

GAME FOUR - DUNGEONS DEEP AND CAVERNS DIM

This was more down to luck than anything else but a win's a win. Points Totals were as follows:
DWARVES Threat Level: 35. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 0. Victory Points: 1. Rounds (9): 90. Total: 124.
NON-DWARVES: Threat Level: 42. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 0. Victory Points: 1. Rounds (9): 90. Total: 131.

GAME FIVE - FLIES AND SPIDERS

Again, a game where Legolas turned the tide, adding a ridiculous amount of Progress Tokens by killing an industrial amount of Spiders. Points Values were as follows:
DWARVES Threat Level: 32. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 5. Victory Points: 0. Rounds (10): 100. Total: 137.
NON-DWARVES: Threat Level: 37. Dead Hero Threat: 0. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 8 (all on Beorn, that bear-man can take a truly unfeasable amount of hurt). Victory Points: 0. Rounds (10): 100. Total: 145.

GAME SIX - THE LONELY MOUNTAIN

A game won by nothing more than excessive amounts of jammy luck. By the time I had finished the Elves had hit 50 threat two turns before, the last hero standing was Balin and I would have been fubar'd if I had drawn badly on the last Quest Phase. Points Values were as follows:
DWARVES Threat Level: 48. Dead Hero Threat: 21. Damage on Surviving Heroes: 5. (Balin had Citadel Plate on him) Victory Points: 10. Rounds (11): 110. Total: 174.
NON-DWARVES: Failed to complete game.

As an aside, I have noticed that Legolas has been MVP in pretty much every game (he killed Smaug in Lonely Mountain using the Black Arrow on the turn before the Elves hit 50 threat). He's a absolute beast when the killing starts.

Why single people doesn't think about this game. Only after you have married and have kids? lol

Wait what? Could you maybe try and rephrase that?

Sorry, but I can't seem to make out what you mean by this.

Why single people doesn't think about this game. Only after you have married and have kids? lol

Wait what? Could you maybe try and rephrase that?

Sorry, but I can't seem to make out what you mean by this.

I think he means that putting time into this game is easier when you are single, as compared to having a wife, and kids (aka time consumers).

Yes, true.

And it is a little joke, but really: when people are single, they don't know the game; when are married, then they find out it.

Yes, true.

And it is a little joke, but really: when people are single, they don't know the game; when are married, then they find out it.

I get what you are saying. I think it is because Lord of the Rings has been around for such a long time that it appeals to a range of age groups; the Hobbit novel first came out in 1937. This card game only has been around for what, a few years now?

GAME SEVEN - BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES (ATTEMPT ONE)

Game lost due to losing all my heroes to a ridiculous amount of Orcs.

GAME EIGHT - BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES (ATTEMPT TWO)

More of the above.

GAME NINE - BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES (ATTEMPT ONE)

Finally managed to beat the mission (one part a lot more luck as far as Shadow draws go, one part managing to get all of the healing related cards into play early). Ponts Totals were as follows:

DWARVES: Threat Level: 36, Dad Hero Threat Level: 0, Damage on surviving heroes: 9, Victory Points: 1, Turns (9): 90, Total: 134.
NON-DWARVES: Threat Level: 37, Dad Hero Threat Level: 0, Damage on surviving heroes: 9, Victory Points: 1, Turns (9): 90, Total: 135.

Having completed the Hobbit Saga Expansions I wanted to make some changes to my decks for the quests set fifty-odd years since two thirds of the heroes in my Dwarf deck died at the Battle of Five Armies or in Moria. I changed the decks to a Lore & Spirit deck consisting of Aragorn, Eowyn and Glorfindel and a Leadership & Tactics deck consisting of Beorn (presumably being a were-bear made him longer-living than average), Legolas and Theodred (mostly just to keep the threat level under 30).

With new decks to fine-tune I readied myself for the Nightmare decks.

GAME TEN - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (NIGHTMARE)

This was much harder than I expected (I know, the clue is in the name of the difficulty level). If it hadn't been for the two Blades of Gondolin on Legolas I would have been swamped by the amount of Locations in play.The new decks worked well, although differently to the old decks. Although he was included for his low Threat Value, Theodred managed to keep the resources flowing whilst ensuring several drawn Quest Phases after the locations started to mount up. Points Totals were as follows:

LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 43, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage on surviving heroes: 0 (I had five healers out at one point healing for all it was worth), Victory Points: 4, Turns (6): 60, Total: 99.
LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 27 (I used Aragorn's ability on the last turn to drop the decks threat from 47 to 26), Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage on surviving heroes: 0, Victory Points: 4, Turns (6): 60, Total: 83.

Yes, true.

And it is a little joke, but really: when people are single, they don't know the game; when are married, then they find out it.

Me too. I found the game then I'am married.

But I don't think it is to time consuming. The the Kids are in bed and my wife is watching TV, I sit at the diner table and play the game. I can chat with my wife than I do so - so I play rather than watching TV and I have enough time. I play now for 4 months and have played 166 Games. So 200 in a year will work.

GAME 11 - JOURNEY DOWN THE ANDUIN (NIGHTMARE)

A mission which was less complicated than I had expected, mostly due to having probably the two best starting hands I've managed to get since I started this challenge. Points Totals were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 37, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 4, VP: 0, Turns (5): 50, Total: 91.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 39, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 1, VP: 0, Turns (5): 50, Total: 90.

GAME 12 - ESCAPE FROM DOL GOLDUR (NIGHTMARE) TRY ONE

A total loss, Eowyn being the prisoner meant that I was questing for so little that I was swamped withing five turns.

GAME 13 - ESCAPE FROM DOL GOLDUR (NIGHTMARE) TRY TWO

Again, swamped (this time due to Beorn being captured).

GAME 14 - ESCAPE FROM DOL GOLDUR (NIGHTMARE) TRY THREE

Two rebuilt decks (along with Theodred being captured) meant that I managed to grind out a win at last. Points Totals were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 40, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 11, VP: 0, Turns (7): 70, Total: 121.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 44, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 15, VP: 0, Turns (7): 70, Total: 129.

GAME 15 - HUNT FOR GOLLUM (NIGHTMARE)

Managed to win the game with one Clue card in play (due to a combination of Legolas with Blade of Gondolin killing a lot of enemies before I could get through too much of the Encounter deck). Points Totals were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 32, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 2, VP: 0, Turns (6): 60, Total: 94.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 35, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 0, VP: 0, Turns (60): , Total: 95.

GAME 16 - CONFLICT AT THE CARROCK (NIGHTMARE) TRY ONE

Failed, everyone was killed by Trolls, basically anything which could go wrong did go wrong.

GAME 17 - CONFLICT AT THE CARROCK (NIGHTMARE) TRY TWO

Completely diffferent from last time, I managed to avoid Trolls before hitting Stage 2 and just managed to scrape a win with casualties (Glorfindel and Theodred) after avoiding my Lore and Spirit deck threating out by remembering to use Aragorn's ability (I'm used to using Leadership Aragorn more than Loragorn). Points Totals were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 27, Dead Hero Threat: 5, Damage: 6, VP: 20, Turns (7): 70, Total: 88.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 49, Dead Hero Threat: 8, Damage: 9, VP: 20, Turns (7): 70, Total: 116.

GAME 18 - A JOURNEY TO RHOSGOBEL (NIGHTMARE)

An interesting quest where I burned through all of my healing-related cards and had to hope that I could get a third Athelas before I completed Phase 2. Thankfully I managed to gain the third Athelas on the turn that Legolas killed a goblin and provided the Progress to complete Phase 2. Wilyador had 15 wounds which were just removed by the Athelas gaining me the win. Points values were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 31, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 2, VP: 4, Turns (5): 50, Total: 87.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 31, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 0, VP: 4, Turns (5): 50, Total: 85.

GAME 19 - HILLS OF EMYN MUIL

After all the Nightmare quests I was glad to be back to standard difficulty. This was a quest where I was thankful for getting a Asfaloth in my starting hand because he/she was instrumental in blowing through enough locations to complete the quest. One of the few quests where Legolas was not the MVP (Glorfindel took the honors). Points values were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 40, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 2, VP: 21, Turns (9): 90, Total: 111.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 32, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 7, VP: 21, Turns (9): , Total: 108.

GAME 20 - THE DEAD MARSHES

Again, a game where the double act of Beorn and Legolas were killing enough enemies to counter the amount of locations which were coming into play. Points values were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 32, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 0, VP: 7, Turns (6): 60, Total: 85.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 32, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 3, VP: 7, Turns (6): 60, Total: 88.

GAME 21 - RETURN TO MIRKWOOD

Beorn, Legolas and Theodred were mostly guarding Gollum (thanks to Beorn's ability to defend all day long). Points values were as follows:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 39, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 4, VP: 0, Turns (8): 80, Total: 118.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 44, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 0, VP: 0, Turns (8): 80, Total: 124.

After finishing Return to Mirkwood I changed the Leadership/Tactics deck to remove all the Eagles and Eagle-related cards (for various not being able to fit underground relared reasons, the were-bear is bad enough), the Lore and Spirit deck didn't need any alterations. Anyway, onward to Dwarrowdelf.

After further consideration I decided to make more substantial changes to the decks. Eowyn & Theodred have returned to Rohan, replaced by Beravor (joining Aragorn and Glorfindel) and Prince Imrahil (joining Beorn & Legolas in a deck with a large number of chump blockers so that Imrahil can hopefully quest and attack in the same round). the only sticking point is the high starting threat but hopefully I'll draw threat reduction cards quickly.

Yes, true.

And it is a little joke, but really: when people are single, they don't know the game; when are married, then they find out it.

Me too. I found the game then I'am married.

But I don't think it is to time consuming. The the Kids are in bed and my wife is watching TV, I sit at the diner table and play the game. I can chat with my wife than I do so - so I play rather than watching TV and I have enough time. I play now for 4 months and have played 166 Games. So 200 in a year will work.

I'd say this is such a great game for new Dads that it should come with the baby. You probably will not get much playing in right away, but in a few months it's the perfect time filler if you like gaming, and can't get out much to do it at the time.

This game needs lot of time. I am a gamer of lots of games. And since i knew LOTR, i onlly play it, no time for other games.

GAME 21 - INTO THE PIT (ATTEMPT ONE)

A resounding failure. After losing Aragorn in turn one to a Sudden Pitfall shadow draw there was no recovery. Both decks hit 50 threat by turn 7.

GAME 22 - INTO THE PIT (ATTEMPT TWO)

More succesful. Pretty much everything went to plan. Prince Imrahil was a lot more useful than Theodred ever was (He was mostly just accumulating more resources than I could spend with the Leadership cards in the deck at the time) and the Ranger-ish deck did what it was meant to do, having two Lore heroes in play meant that I was playing certain important cards a lot faster (especially with a Song of Wisdom in my opening hand). Points values were as follws:

LORE & SPIRIT: Threat Level: 39, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 0, VP: 4, Turns (6): 60, Total: 95.
LEADERSHIP & TACTICS: Threat Level: 42, Dead Hero Threat: 0, Damage: 5 (all on Beorn), VP: 4, Turns (60): , Total: 103.

22 games in a week. Keep this up and you will accomplish 200 games in under 3 months my friend.

22 games in a week. Keep this up and you will accomplish 200 games in under 3 months my friend.

I'm going to be playing a lot less for about a month from next week, added to a agreement I made with a newly found group of fellow players which means that I'm having to build a deck for solo and multi-player play (sometimes we play the scenario solo, sometimes we play multi-player).

We decided that, rather than everyone turning up with the same heroes (the night where four players turned up with decks featuring Spirit Glorfindel apparently being a shining example) everyone would draw a race/faction at random from a hat and build a deck based on that. After being stupid enough to agree to that I drew Dwarves out of the hat. It's a long time since I played anything other than two-handed so it's a uphill struggle working out which heroes to put in the deck.

everyone would draw a race/faction at random from a hat and build a deck based on that.

hah, I actually like this idea. You might get something like dwarves, which essentially builds itself, but what if you get shafted and have to build a deck that focuses on Silvan? (in its current game state) You could do it but you won't reach the power level of other archetypes... could make for a fun deckbuilding challenge.