I have the encounter deck on the left similar t in the rulebook, so from the left across, I tend to have questing, then defend, then attack as a general basic rule so that I work my way down the line through the turn. Obviously some heros multi task but its a basic generalisation for me.

my set up is the following:

-------Encounter cards------- Encounter deck Encounter discard tokens

tokens

Hero Hero Hero player deck Player discard tokens

Ally Ally ...

Interesting Topic.

I hadn't consciously thought about it, until now. First thought was quest-defend-Attack... but I think that I either put main quester or key hero on the left most and the least used or lone attacker right most... ie older decks Glor-Elrond-Legolas (but started swapping Glor & Elrond) ... or Aragorn/Theodred/Denethor ...and I like to put sphere's together too. From recollection Eowyn always went left most... Lore Pippin is always right most (where either an attacker or the least useful quest/defender goes)... and if no questers... best defender left most.

The combination of Boromir - Gimli - Pippin ??? is a puzzle for me... Boromir is often the 'key' hero for me, as if I use him, its in a 'give the attachment to Boromir' deck. But as he's not there for his questing and Lore Pippin is always on the right :/

Probably line them up like: Gimli - Boromir - Pippin (and subconsciously be unhappy about it all game)... Boromir with his two shorter, flanking, side kicks is how I would sell the story to myself. Unless it was a Battle or siege... and then all would be right in the team... as Boromir would then be left most... and Gimli could keep an eye on Pippin whilst Boromir does his many actions thing.

I find this thread somewhat humorous, and I mean that in a positive way, in that I never realized that so much thought could be put into hero order! Especially since I simply throw my heroes somewhat lazily onto the table in random order without any real consideration. But when I think about it some more, I do tend to develop a preferred order if I play a deck over and over again. The only real guidelines I think I unconsciously use are:

- Always putting heroes of the same sphere next to each there in dual sphere decks

- Always putting the "leader" character in the left spot if I'm playing a trait deck. For example, Dain/Hirluin/Celeborn/Theoden would always be in the first/leftmost spot.

I also always have put allies above my heroes, although that seems to be a rare choice. Not sure why I gravitated towards this way of doing things, but it always seemed natural to me.

It's largely random. More often than not though, the attacking hero is on the right. But I keep the same arrangement if I play that deck again. If there is an extra hero I push them off to the far left as if they were punished to sit in the corner. I sometimes have to make a conscious effort to remember they exist haha

Heroes are always on the left in my setup. On the left of my heroes is my deck with a discard pile to its right.

Allies are below my heroes, more on the right side.

I don't know why, but when I play the allies from my hand it's just easier to put the allies on the right since I'm righthanded I guess.

This is my setup: