Hi there

I'm planning on buying the base set of the game to take on holiday with me, and I have a few questions about it. Apologies if these have been answered many times before!

- How long does each quest take on average?

- Is there any purpose to play a quest again if it has been successfully completed already?

- How many quests are there in the expansion packs? e.g. The hunt for Gollum

- Would you recommend sleeving the cards? If so, are there any official sleeves available to buy?

- Do sleeved cards fit in the base set box?

- Is there room for expansion cards to be stored in the base set box?

Thanks!

- 0.5 to 3 hours.

- Yes.

- One.

- I would. Official FFG - yes.

- Yes.

- Yes.

To elaborate a little more:

- In my experience the game length is on average about 20 to 30 minutes per player. Maybe quicker if you really know what you're doing.

- You'll definitely want to play quests several times. Even with the same player decks, each quest can play totally differently depending on the card draw. Plus, you'll want to try new decks against it. There are definitely some quests that I just played 2 or 3 times and never touched again. But some of the good quests I've probably played 20 or 30 times.

- 3 quests per deluxe or saga expansion (big box), 1 quest per adventure pack (small box)

- It's up to you. The cards are pretty high quality and last a while. I didn't sleeve until I had 100+ plays, and that was only my player cards. There's not much reason to sleeve encounter cards because they get used much less and all the cards in an encounter set get equal wear. You may need to sleeve if you get into nightmare quests because they are different stock, but I wouldn't worry about that. FFG sleeves are good. I use Mayday premium because they are cheaper and have a snugger fit. Ultra Pro Deck Protectors are good too.

- The base set box has a pretty crappy insert, but it's big enough to hold sleeved cards. Pretty soon you will outgrow the insert. Later on if you get a custom insert like Broken Token or Go7 gaming, the FFG sleeves might be too big. That's why I use Mayday Premium. Deck Protectors also fit in those inserts.

- Each row in the box can hold about 800 unsleeved cards, so the stock insert can hold that many. If you flip the insert over you can get two rows of cards. If you get one of those custom inserts you can get 3 rows of cards. The core set has about 300 cards, each saga/deluxe box has 165 cards, and each AP has 60 cards. So you can use those numbers to figure out your storage. The entire card pool (excluding nightmare) is about 3,300 cards. Sooner or later you will need extra boxes.

Also: it is a great game, do take it on your holiday.

The game deserves it, and so do you.

One thing that I would add... this game can be brutal in terms of losing a lot of games!

I started this game having never deck built before and the initial learning curve was pretty steep.. but then I was expecting to lose a lot in the beginning so it didn't dampen my enthusiasm. (There are some really great blogs such as and many very helpful members if you have questions).

One of blogs I have found useful:

https://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-when-i-started-playing-lotr-lcg/

I have to say as a fairly new player I still cant get my head around how good this game is.

Firstly its got a hard difficulty level be prepared for that, but there is an official easy-mode so you can play to your own skill/difficulty level.

Because this card game plays agaainst automated encounter decks... and those decks are different for every adventure, I find this infinitely more variable than most card games where the game mechanic is usually to defeat the other player.

There are currently over 50 different quests available (wow!!!) as well as nightmare versions of many of them.

You can enjoy the mechanics of deck design, then enjoy a quest. Also, where in a game of player v player you may fix with a standard deck..the varied encounters may mean that to beat a specific encounter you need to fully redesign a deck. Awesome. So far I have played maybe 16 games and thats only over two different quests from core. They play out so differently the replay value is huge.

Theres a good card pool to choose from for player deck design.

Also, as the encounter decks are so unique, they can introduce new mechanics just by designing them and writing it on the card they dont even need to change the rules. So whether its traditional quest, journeys on rafts, searching fir clues, escorting dignitaries, sieges in cities, its all there.

Its just an awsome game.

Took me about three plays to get my head around the rules abd as I said, if you decide nit to use eady-mode then the quests can be hard, but if you are prepared for thattgen this game is truly outstanding.

Items, weapons, allies, heroes, spells, events, secrecy, spies, monsters, clues, locations, treacheries, sagas from the books, new unique adventures.... its all here.

Ive been playing fantasy themed games for over 30 years and its not often I find one that I am this impressed with.

Hope you buy it, hope you love it.

If you do buy it, best to experiment yourself first few games and then if you need insight, google tge excelent Beorns Path blog for excelent advice tips abd deck builds (but try it all yourself first before going to Beorns)

All the best with it!!!

Ps: I use ultra pro deck protector sleeves for player cards and ultra pro penny sleeves fir encounter cards and very happy with them, but I think you would get aclot of plays without damage from these even with no sleeves.

If you only plan on getting the core set, don't use the 30-card pre-built decks. They...stink.

If you're an experienced deckbuilder, go ahead and make your own deck right out of the gate. Otherwise, this one is pretty good:

https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/beorns-path-part-1-core-set-deck-building/

Regular UltraPro sleeves for player cards and clear penny sleeves for encounter deck cards works well. I sleeve my current decks and leave the cards that see heavy use (i.e., tend to be included in a variety of decks) sleeved, but I do not have all player cards sleeved at all times. I do have all Hero cards sleeved at all times.

One thing I would add is that while Ecthellion is right (above) I would advise that you DO use the pre built starter decks at first (just dont expect to win) because this will easily let you realise the strengths and weaknesses of those decks before you start combining and mixing them to make a proper deck. Reading the cards can do the same thing but I found that the knowledge was so much clearer when stuck in a scenario not being able to quest or fight etc.

I found the Leadership sphere to be the best all rounder of core starters so thats a good one to try first.

I played the first adventure twice with each of the four spheres before then building my own deck from specific selections from my favourite complementary two (there are some good three sphere core deck lists online too).

Ive also read that the Mirkwood cycle of packs is good, but not AS good as the ones that come after, but its still a good idea to buy/play in release-order so that your card pool grows as the game did.

Ps no offence to Ecthellion as his info is indeed right, but I found this method Ive put here to be great as an introduction. As the first games are also consumed with getting your head around the rules, its helpful to only worry about a single sphere.

Thanks for all the info folks, really helpful. I will pick a copy up - I'm just trying to decide how many expansions to get to keep me going all week on my holiday. :-)

I have played a lot of the Pathfinder adventure card game, and also games like dominion and star realms; so I have some experience with deck builders.

I'm just trying to decide how many expansions to get to keep me going all week on my holiday. :-)

Just the Core Set kept me going for a couple of weeks, but if you're going to be playing a lot each day I would suggest picking up The Black Riders, the first LOTR Saga Expansion. Many players say that it is the best or one of the best expansions available. The Road Darkens, the second LOTR Saga Expansion, is also an amazing purchase and my favorite box, but don't get overwhelmed with too many expansions at first.

I have played a lot of the Pathfinder adventure card game, and also games like dominion and star realms; so I have some experience with deck builders.

I'm afraid to say, LotR LCG is nothing like PACG, and even more remote to games like Dominion. Experience with "this" kind of deckbuilders will hardly help you.

As for expansions, I'd suggest you, if able, to buy some Sagas. They offer 3 quests at the cost of 2, plus player cards, of course. But if you decide to keep it serious, just buy everything in order of release.

One thing I would add is that while Ecthellion is right (above) I would advise that you DO use the pre built starter decks at first (just dont expect to win) because this will easily let you realise the strengths and weaknesses of those decks before you start combining and mixing them to make a proper deck. Reading the cards can do the same thing but I found that the knowledge was so much clearer when stuck in a scenario not being able to quest or fight etc.

I found the Leadership sphere to be the best all rounder of core starters so thats a good one to try first.

I played the first adventure twice with each of the four spheres before then building my own deck from specific selections from my favourite complementary two (there are some good three sphere core deck lists online too).

Ive also read that the Mirkwood cycle of packs is good, but not AS good as the ones that come after, but its still a good idea to buy/play in release-order so that your card pool grows as the game did.

Ps no offence to Ecthellion as his info is indeed right, but I found this method Ive put here to be great as an introduction. As the first games are also consumed with getting your head around the rules, its helpful to only worry about a single sphere.

Here are my thoughts on each of the starter decks:

Leadership - I agree, it is the best of the 4. I can actually beat the first quest with it!

Lore - A balanced, but not well-balanced, deck. Most of the cards are too expensive. Denethor is epic though in the Core Set.

Spirit - The second best deck, at least against the first quest. There are many staple cards here such as Unexpected Courage. Eowyn rocks.

Tactics - Unplayable solo. In multiplayer don't expect this deck to be sending any willpower to the quest. (Except maybe 1 if Thalin is questing.)

A quick way to instantly make the decks better is just to substitute in extra copies of Gandalf.

100% agree with Ecthellions post above. Though I preffer Berevor to Denethor as her card draw has been more useful to me than Denethors higher defense. Great summary though!

For buying expansions, depends on how you like to play. Personally I have bought 15 expansions so far (eek) yet am still happily playing the core quests. As noted above, fir value, the saga or deluxe expansions get you more quests fir your money.

100% agree with Ecthellions post above. Though I preffer Berevor to Denethor as her card draw has been more useful to me than Denethors higher defense. Great summary though!

Ah, but attach Unexpected Courage, Dark Knowledge, Citadel Plate and/or Self-Preservation to Denethor in a multi-sphere deck, and you will get an entirely different experience out of him (i.e., actually get to use his special power, which, for me, has been key to winning many quests)… :-)

And now, back to our regular program…

I have played a lot of the Pathfinder adventure card game, and also games like dominion and star realms; so I have some experience with deck builders.

I'm afraid to say, LotR LCG is nothing like PACG, and even more remote to games like Dominion. Experience with "this" kind of deckbuilders will hardly help you.

As for expansions, I'd suggest you, if able, to buy some Sagas. They offer 3 quests at the cost of 2, plus player cards, of course. But if you decide to keep it serious, just buy everything in order of release.

I'm kind of obsessive about having sets of things in order, so I was planning on getting them in order of release providing I get into the game enough!

I'm kind of obsessive about having sets of things in order, so I was planning on getting them in order of release providing I get into the game enough!

That's how I've been doing it, and I have no regrets. Nice thing is, you can take your time to collect, as there is no sign the game will go out of print soon… so no need to buy everything all at once.

I'm kind of obsessive about having sets of things in order, so I was planning on getting them in order of release providing I get into the game enough!

That's how I've been doing it, and I have no regrets. Nice thing is, you can take your time to collect, as there is no sign the game will go out of print soon… so no need to buy everything all at once.

Thats how I planned it too but wooah is buying expansions addictive!