Hi All,

Euphemism aside, whats the best way to play with my wife? I have just ordered the game and intend to play solo a couple of times to learn the rules. I have read some of the guides such as Beorn's deck building etc and although I have decent experience of card games and strategies (loads of games with friends) my goal is for my wife to enjoy this too.

The two reasons I bought this was because of the theme (she loves the LotR) and that its co-op - both of which my wife should appeal to my wife. I just need advice on how deliver the perfect first gaming experience (LoTR card game experience that is) to keep her interested. We play light board/card games together very occasionally but this is the first serious one I want to introduce her to, hopefully with the aim that she will ask me to play rather than the other way around (a man can dream).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as this purchase was just for her and I need to get her hooked.

Cheers!

If your wife is anything like my wife, the key to selling a new game is to make sure she wins or at least comes close to winning in the first game. Assuming you are just starting with a single core set, the game is going to be very hard. Don't try any quests other than Passage through Mirkwood until you have beaten it a few times. Also, don't be afraid to play on easy mode if you think a brutal loss will crush her enthusiasm.

If you want to keep things simple, you could use the premade decks. I would probably use leadership and spirit.

If you think she can handle a 2 sphere deck and you want the best chance to win, check out these decks: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1294079/back-basics-two-pair-tandem-decks-using-one-core-s

I think that building in some early mastery experiences, senses of accomplishment, would be helpful in increasing her interest in the game, as Teamjimby mentioned above. My wife and I play quite often and really enjoy this game. In the early days of the game, she really enjoyed Tactics (the red cards) decks, since they are able to deal a lot of damage and kill off enemies. Each of the four spheres have certain specialties. For example, Tactics sphere is good at killing things. Killing enemies has an immediate and tangible effect on the game state, so feels satisfying. The Legolas hero has the Ranged keyword, and he can even kill things that are engaged (fighting) with other players. Killing off an enemy that is damaging one of your fellow players feels good. I think my recommendation would be to start her out with Tactics.

Oh play CARDS with your wife... I was going to say...!

Not so sure what's the problem of "wives" here. When I play, I tend to see "players", and not looking at their sex or make assumptions based on being males or females.

Anyhoo, possibly the main problem here is that she's not that into "heavier" games, while LotR is a heavier game, no doubt. If she never built a deck in her life, build her a deck. No probs if it's mono or dual, you play together and you can play with cards revealed (like you were soloing 2H), so that you can guide her through the most difficult choices and explain her keywords interactions. First guide, then follow, she needs to understand the game and this does not mean understanding the rules, but the timing of different effects and when to push and when to defend.

Play Passage through Mirkwood until you beat it easily, and then move to Anduin. Before levelling up, be sure she wants to level up in difficulty. Otherwise try to have access to some different easy quest (Hunt for Gollum, for instance) just to increase variety without going crazy with prisoners in Dol Guldur of Trolls roaming the Carrock.

And spend some time in reading flavour text and stuff, the game is well done also in terms of references to Tolkien's lore, and it's a pleasure for fans also under this pov

Id say this game is awesome fun as a nwebie.

But journey down the anduin and escape from dol guldur are both very hard, especially with only core cards.

As others mentioned, stick to passage through mirkwood a lot... also if you want to spend money, i agree with buying/playing hunt for gollum.

Only go for journey/anduin and dol guldur once already hooked (and be ok losing)

Not so sure what's the problem of "wives" here. When I play, I tend to see "players", and not looking at their sex or make assumptions based on being males or females.

Jeez, way to remind us all of how easily a feminist can get offended. Lighten up, it's just a guy asking for help. Can we give him some help without the politically correct language police please?

I like the suggestions already made. I would add that you should make sure the quests are quick, as nothing turns off a casual player like a long slog. That is another reason to play only passage through mirkwood. It is short and sweet.

Nobody made any generalizations.

It must be said, though, that Journey Down the Anduin is easier two-player than solo (as is Escape from Dol Guldur… which remains very tough with only Core set cards). Still, as others have said, definitely focus on getting a good win ratio vs. Passage Through Mirkwood before moving on to Journey Down the Anduin. My spouse is not really big on complex games, but she enjoys playing Lord of the Rings with me, and thus far she has really enjoyed Journey Down the Anduin, Hunt for Gollum, and Conflict at the Carrock. Haven't played much beyond that with her. I do handle the deck-construction, as she has not interest in that.

That may be another recommendation: in the beginning, try to ensure that she mostly plays with the same/familiar cards. There are a lot of details in this game, and getting comfortable with a set of cards and their synergies can ease the learning curve. Try seeing if you can consistently beat given scenarios solo 2-handed with the same pair of decks before handing one to her.

Thank you all for the great advice. A really good response I must say. Seems like an excellent community on this board.

Regards to assumptions based upon sex; I honestly did not realise I did this. I apologise if I offended anyone, that was never my intent.

Apologies for the wall of text below. I understand if you do not want to read it!

So, it seems that the consensus is to play Passage Through Mirkwood solo until I consistently beat it. I like the idea of play 2 decks and then later giving one of these decks for my wife to use. Also many thanks for the link Teamjimby, I'll take a look and go from there. I think it will really help if we can win the first playthrough or come close at the very least.

As people kindly mentioned; if she can slay loads of stuff or get my bacon out of the fire I think this will resonate positively and spur discussion. We have some great gaming memories together where I have gone off trying to accomplish the 'win' condition only for my wife to come to my rescue (eg. Forbidden Island). I can see lots of potential for this here! I think the artwork in this LCG is stunning so that helps immersion. As does the flavour text of course.

Initially when we both discussed this game I said that you can pick a few of your favourite characters and go questing and slaying etc but now I am wondering if that was wise what with the varying strength of the spheres in the core game. That being said I asked her last night which were her favourite characters from LotR and she said: Gandalf (I know not playable hero in core), Samwise, Legolas, Arwen, Eowyn, Faramir (ally I know), Aragorn and Galadriel - so its looking like Legolas, Eowyn and Aragorn from the core, so I'll take a look at these first. Perhaps filling any sphere difficiencies with my own choices. I am probably getting well ahead of myself here but I won't get to play for a little while yet anyway so I can digest all the guides and deck building in the interim.

Which pack/expansion is Hunt for Gollum in? I had intended to purchase The Hobbit expansions later but will refrain if it would be better to expand upon the core first.

If you read this far - thank you!

So, it seems that the consensus is to play Passage Through Mirkwood solo until I consistently beat it. I like the idea of play 2 decks and then later giving one of these decks for my wife to use.

This sounds like a good idea, to get yourself used to the rules of the game. But, the thing to remember here is that it will be important to resist too much advice-giving while she learns. You will have already played the deck that she is using, so it will be tempting to make all sorts of suggestions and this can turn into essentially playing her hand for her. For me, sometimes it takes great effort to resist giving advice when I see good plays that someone could make. It will be important to let her go through the learning experience on her own. Your role, as the person who has already learned the rules, will be to answer any questions she has about what she "can" do, and not to tell her what she "should" do.

Thank you all for the great advice. A really good response I must say. Seems like an excellent community on this board.

Regards to assumptions based upon sex; I honestly did not realise I did this. I apologise if I offended anyone, that was never my intent.

Apologies for the wall of text below. I understand if you do not want to read it!

So, it seems that the consensus is to play Passage Through Mirkwood solo until I consistently beat it. I like the idea of play 2 decks and then later giving one of these decks for my wife to use. Also many thanks for the link Teamjimby, I'll take a look and go from there. I think it will really help if we can win the first playthrough or come close at the very least.

As people kindly mentioned; if she can slay loads of stuff or get my bacon out of the fire I think this will resonate positively and spur discussion. We have some great gaming memories together where I have gone off trying to accomplish the 'win' condition only for my wife to come to my rescue (eg. Forbidden Island). I can see lots of potential for this here! I think the artwork in this LCG is stunning so that helps immersion. As does the flavour text of course.

Initially when we both discussed this game I said that you can pick a few of your favourite characters and go questing and slaying etc but now I am wondering if that was wise what with the varying strength of the spheres in the core game. That being said I asked her last night which were her favourite characters from LotR and she said: Gandalf (I know not playable hero in core), Samwise, Legolas, Arwen, Eowyn, Faramir (ally I know), Aragorn and Galadriel - so its looking like Legolas, Eowyn and Aragorn from the core, so I'll take a look at these first. Perhaps filling any sphere difficiencies with my own choices. I am probably getting well ahead of myself here but I won't get to play for a little while yet anyway so I can digest all the guides and deck building in the interim.

Which pack/expansion is Hunt for Gollum in? I had intended to purchase The Hobbit expansions later but will refrain if it would be better to expand upon the core first.

If you read this far - thank you!

Hunt for Gollum is the very first expansion pack of the very first cycle (Shadows of Mirkwood)

I find it has a nice mix of quest/fight/location and some interesting tactics. Usually beat it, while I usually lose Anduin and always lose Dol-Guldur.

The hero choice for your wife that you mention is certainly possible BUT do bear in mind these three are from different spheres if core versions are used. So her deck would be splitting cards and resource three ways. This isnt hard, but does add a layer of complex to a new player which you might not want to go with at first.

Also, choice of hero often depends on other things, firstly what their threat level is (you dont want it too high, so if you pick a high threat like Aragorn you often want some lower threat heros to balance that). Also, the heros special abilities and stats often affect the choice more than who the actual hero is.

Berevor is a made-up character yet her sphere, stats and ability make me use her a LOT so the books dont influence that.

There is an official "Easy Mode" for this game that is included in the rules. I read that often if players want to play with thematic decks (assembled for favourite characters or recreating book-moments... but often sacrificng a perfect/better effective deck) then easy mode makes this much more possible. You may want to give that a test first too to see if your wifes fave heroes fair well in easy mode.

Lastly, with deck building. You cant expect one deck to be suitable for every scenario/adventure. The adventures are so varied that it often means re-tweaking the decks to be able to tackle the dangers of that scenario.

Bset of luck, its a steep learning curve but AWESOME game

This sounds like a good idea, to get yourself used to the rules of the game. But, the thing to remember here is that it will be important to resist too much advice-giving while she learns. You will have already played the deck that she is using, so it will be tempting to make all sorts of suggestions and this can turn into essentially playing her hand for her. For me, sometimes it takes great effort to resist giving advice when I see good plays that someone could make. It will be important to let her go through the learning experience on her own. Your role, as the person who has already learned the rules, will be to answer any questions she has about what she "can" do, and not to tell her what she "should" do.

Thanks, I'll try to remember this. A very good point. It is far to easy to 'suggest' decisions and I need to reign this in here. I try to bite my tongue when playing Forbidden Island and we quite often beat that so my input is by no means crucial.

Hunt for Gollum is the very first expansion pack of the very first cycle (Shadows of Mirkwood)

I find it has a nice mix of quest/fight/location and some interesting tactics. Usually beat it, while I usually lose Anduin and always lose Dol-Guldur.

The hero choice for your wife that you mention is certainly possible BUT do bear in mind these three are from different spheres if core versions are used. So her deck would be splitting cards and resource three ways. This isnt hard, but does add a layer of complex to a new player which you might not want to go with at first.

Also, choice of hero often depends on other things, firstly what their threat level is (you dont want it too high, so if you pick a high threat like Aragorn you often want some lower threat heros to balance that). Also, the heros special abilities and stats often affect the choice more than who the actual hero is.

Berevor is a made-up character yet her sphere, stats and ability make me use her a LOT so the books dont influence that.

There is an official "Easy Mode" for this game that is included in the rules. I read that often if players want to play with thematic decks (assembled for favourite characters or recreating book-moments... but often sacrificng a perfect/better effective deck) then easy mode makes this much more possible. You may want to give that a test first too to see if your wifes fave heroes fair well in easy mode.

Lastly, with deck building. You cant expect one deck to be suitable for every scenario/adventure. The adventures are so varied that it often means re-tweaking the decks to be able to tackle the dangers of that scenario.

Bset of luck, its a steep learning curve but AWESOME game

Okay I think I'll pick this up first in time then. Thanks for the recommendation. Seems very sensible. If the game really takes off I may even buy an extra core copy.

Ah, the easy mode sounds great! If we can smash that with various spheres that might be best. Although it is a valid point that mono-deck would be easier to learn. I think she would be fine using other characters, so I could just build around Aragorn or Legolas. I suppose the best thing to do is sit down with the game once I get it and really look at the synergies of the spheres from there.

I am quite excited now! Just hope this pans out (although if not I will just play this with my mates). Thanks for all of your help everyone. I will let you know how we get on.

Great stuff

Getting a few games under your belt helps.

First I played Passage through Mirkwood with each mono deck and enjoyed it but clearly had my favourites as Lore and Leadership, so I composed a duo-sphere deck with Lore/Leadership and had some success, lots of fun and lots of losses at Anduin.

But

After reading up, trying different things, other scenarios, my most successful and fun deck ended up being one from BGG which is tri-sphere and Spirit/Tactics/Leadership with Leadership actually being least important of that. So its funny how your tastes and opinions change over the time of replaying quests and trying different combos.

The reason for saying this being, make sure you have a good all-round test of all things before making recommendations or judgements on some quests. The game can be very fluid and changeable.

I think the game is generally aimed at being one where you lose more than you win (ok not you pro deck builders reading I know ) but its the fun of the journey that matters. So if you are prepared to lose, then that is a big big bonus to start with

Best of luck.

Cheers. I really like how this game has so much variety and repeatability. You mention trying various quests and that's awesome. Plus every so often mixing it up with a mini expansion makes for ever increasing depth.

Fingers firmly crossed.

Yes, most card games the experience can be fun, but essentially you are playing against an opponent for a general goal and so deckbuilding and tactics can follow some basic similar paths.... but this game : the different adventures can be SO different that not only is the experience of gameplay constantly varied, but also one peferc deckbuild for a scenario might well be awful at a different scenario.. so you dont stick wirh a standard deck, you are always tweaking/changing. Even the sceanarios themselves play very different if you use different sphere decks.

The variety is very impressive

How do you keep tabs of all of your cards and decks? This will be useful for future reference.

How do you keep tabs of all of your cards and decks? This will be useful for future reference.

Well I have a case that is generally made for tools (google aluminium flight case for similar)

Its divided up by strips of MDF. I then have the cards in sleeves and simply slotted in. You can buy thin plastic card dividers from card shops cheap, these split them up.

So I have a section for spare sphere cards (one for each sphere) then a section for current deck/deck, then a section for the encounter decks, each one divided by one of the divider cards.

If I remember when I am home I will take a photo.

At the moment, I also have all the adventure packs I havent yet played (plus their sphere cards) off to one side of the box ready for when I "open" that pack. So the box is very one sided.

If you want to print out dividers on paper/card, then BGG (Board Game Geek) has quite a few files you can download of these.

I imagine as I use more cards, the sphere sections will get quite big, but sorting through them to make new decks is part of the fun anyway.

This is what I use. It's just a shoebox with some cardboard in it:

And these are the dividers:

Only Passage Mirkwood as nightmare? Where do you place the other encounter cards?

I believe he has a regular section for the normal quest as well, you can see it right behind the smilies.

Well I have a case that is generally made for tools (google aluminium flight case for similar)

Its divided up by strips of MDF. I then have the cards in sleeves and simply slotted in. You can buy thin plastic card dividers from card shops cheap, these split them up.

So I have a section for spare sphere cards (one for each sphere) then a section for current deck/deck, then a section for the encounter decks, each one divided by one of the divider cards.

If I remember when I am home I will take a photo.

At the moment, I also have all the adventure packs I havent yet played (plus their sphere cards) off to one side of the box ready for when I "open" that pack. So the box is very one sided.

If you want to print out dividers on paper/card, then BGG (Board Game Geek) has quite a few files you can download of these.

I imagine as I use more cards, the sphere sections will get quite big, but sorting through them to make new decks is part of the fun anyway.

Thanks Alex, I will take a look at BGG. Though I have time before my collection grows to make this an issue, it is still nice to know how others store their collections. Fortunately I still have a number of card sleeves from the BSG game which I will use for now and store the cards in the box.

This is what I use. It's just a shoebox with some cardboard in it:

And these are the dividers:

Excellent organisation Ecthelion! Extra kudos on the dividers.

This is my case at the moment:

On the left are current cards for each sphere and encounter decks (Only 2APs and Core at the moment. They are wedged in with bags of card sleeves.

On the right are the packs waiting to be used. Also wedged by card sleeve packs.

On the far right, the thin section has counters, threat counter and some open bags containing my constructed decks ready to play.

In the lid are playmats and instructions.

Plastic dividers separate everything nicely.

Alex

One helpful thing is to download all of the rules documents and inserts and put them onto an iPad or other tablet. I throw away all of the inserts and simply save everything electronically. It is so nice to be able to sit at a table and play and not have to get up or dig through things to get rules clarifications. Or, sometimes I will be playing in some public space, such as a coffee shop, and it is nice to always have all of the rules documents readily accessible. Plus, it saves space.

Hey, Alex, your storage looks better than mine at this point!