I have conversion kit. I only recall reading last year or so from this forum or from some review that 1st ed. conv. kit unbalances the game. We've tried base game campaign till interlude, but never finished the first campaign. I haven't tried Nerekhall nor Heirs of Blood.

H&M versus conversion kit sans minis is not only a price issue, there is also the hassle to locate the 1ed minis, bid on whatever offer has to be made, trust the seller that the set is complete and not damaged, trust postal service etc. You have to be really commited to pull that out, and that's assuming you´re not facing huge shipping costs because you live on the wrong side of the ocean. I´m assuming these minis when put together in a box weight a ton.

The 1ed minis do not look at nice as the 2nd edition ones in my opinion. Even my collector side has close to no interest in buying the 1ed minis (or the game for that matters).

I would always use the latest version of the rules, and that includes the monster cards. The conversion kit has huge balance issues and that will cripple your experience of the game. However if you have the 1ed minis you could still print the H&M monster card from the internet and use it instead of the CK version.

Counter to most peoples suggestion i would refrain from buying all the core lieutenants quickly, dont know what the USA pricing is like but in the UK each lieutenant goes for about £10 with the base game selling at about £60-65.

Yes minis are great, and yes plot decks are useful, and yes the collector in me needs them all, but that's 6 figures and a one per campaign plot deck for roughly the cost of the whole **** game.

grab 1 or 2 and then fill up as you go.

IMO a much better route is a mini expansion (wyrm, troll or manor) and a hero and monster pack, then another big campaign box.

...grab 1 or 2 and then fill up as you go.

I second this notion. The plot decks are an interesting mechanic- but remember that you can only use one per campaign, and they have no place in mini campaigns, epic play, or coop modules. The LT minis are indeed good sculpts, but if you're just buying it for the mini, at $9-$13 per mini (US prices) I can't recommend that unless you're someone who really really dislikes tokens or really, really like minis. The price for utility ratio puts the LT packs on the lowest tier of priority for me personally. I have the important lieutenants (the big baddies of each story- Mirklace, Queen Ariad, etc) and the others I'll get when/if I have a reason to.

So again, last question is which campaign you guys recommend? Campaign is starting on tuesday and I want to prep things up. I have to choose from basic, nerekhall and heirs of blood campaings.

With a new group I'd start Nerekhall, but maybe not use a plot deck. Depending on how things go, Nerekhall can be rough. If you had Labyrinth, I'd suggest that, or this:

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/119675/legacy-timmorran

I'd go with the Heirs of Blood campaign. My group has just got to the interlude and it's a much better story than the base campaign. Lots going on and multiple lieutenants in play.

Update. After buying and playing the core set a little bit. I ended up trading my magic commander deck in for trade for decent expansions. I bought with the trade in: small expansion Lair of the Wyrm, H&M oath of the outcast, Co-op forgotten goals, and 2 of the base lieutenants. I was going for a variety of expansions to try them out and see what we like. The store doesn't cary descent so I have to wait for them to arrive in the mail.

We are 2/3 of the way through our first play through of the core campaigns act 1, and all of us really enjoy the game so far. I find that I don't like using the tokens for the lieutenants. They feel under whelming. I will probably buy the next 4 core ones next, and probably a dice pack or two so we don't have to pass around dice so much.

I get that you can get a large expansion for the price of all 6 lieutenants, but I personally hate using the tokens. I want a model I can paint up nicely and look cool and intimidating on the battle field.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestion to start figuring this all out.

Update. After buying and playing the core set a little bit. I ended up trading my magic commander deck in for trade for decent expansions. I bought with the trade in: small expansion Lair of the Wyrm, H&M oath of the outcast, Co-op forgotten goals, and 2 of the base lieutenants. I was going for a variety of expansions to try them out and see what we like. The store doesn't cary descent so I have to wait for them to arrive in the mail.

We are 2/3 of the way through our first play through of the core campaigns act 1, and all of us really enjoy the game so far. I find that I don't like using the tokens for the lieutenants. They feel under whelming. I will probably buy the next 4 core ones next, and probably a dice pack or two so we don't have to pass around dice so much.

I get that you can get a large expansion for the price of all 6 lieutenants, but I personally hate using the tokens. I want a model I can paint up nicely and look cool and intimidating on the battle field.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestion to start figuring this all out.

When you'll be done with your first play-through, I suggest you grab Shadow of Nerekhall big box expansion.

It has a full size campaign which is very thematic (the most of all descent expansion so far imho).

If you are a little short on money and prefer to focus on a new campaign Heirs of Blood would be the way to go.

Otherwise, there is always the quest vault for custom quest and campaign.

Everybody likes Nerkenhall. I suppose I'll have to get it one day.... for Christmas.

I am looking at the expansion next