Could someone please help me with the game setup for solo play? I just got the core set for my birthday, have watched the online tutorial, read the rule book, and want to play my first game, but am lost in the setup for solo play. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Short answer, try watching Rodney Smith's "Watch It Played" Tutorial to our fantastic game. This was one of the first games Rodney did a walk-through for, so it's not as polished as his current stuff but he still does a fine job explaining how to set up and play the game:

Setting up Passage Through Mirkwood (Scenario 1) starts at about 4:45 into the video.

Assuming you are playing Passage through Mirkwood, here's a run-through of how to set up the game. Keep in mind that while the rules have diagrams of how the Quest Deck, Encounter Deck and Player Deck can be laid out on your playing surface (on Page 11), it's entirely up to you how you want to arrange them based on your preferences. I have a fairly standard way I lay the various decks out, but it changes a little depending on the size of my playing surface and the specifics of the scenario.

1) Select your Player deck. You can either use one of the pre-constructed mono-sphere decks that comes in the box or you can take those decks and build your own multi-sphere deck. If you are brand new to the game it might be better to play a mono-sphere deck for simplicity's sake. If you do, DO NOT play the mono-sphere Tactics deck as it is difficult to succeed with that deck without some games under your belt. Play any of the other three mono-sphere decks, just not Tactics. Assuming you are playing a mono-sphere deck take the three heroes associated with that deck. So if you are playing Leadership (Purple) for example, take Aragorn, Gloin, and Theodred. Those are your 3 Leadership heroes.

2) Find a spot on your playing surface where you will set your Player deck. Your Player deck should sit below or well to the side of space you allocate for the Encounter Deck, the Staging Area and the Quest Deck. Once you have the space for your Player Deck place your three heroes out near the Player Deck (either to the left of it, to the right of it, whatever you feel comfortable with).

3) Set your Starting Threat on your Threat Tracker. This is done by adding together the white Threat Cost numbers of your heroes. If you play mono-Leadership, your Starting Threat would be 29 (Aragorn 12 + Gloin 9 + Theodred 8 = 29). Place your Threat Tracker near the game area. I usually keep mine near my Player deck.

4) Shuffle your Player Deck and draw 6 cards from it. If you do not like your cards, you can mulligan and draw a new hand of 6 cards. Technically you are only supposed to get one mulligan, but as you are new to the game feel free to play however you want, i.e. you could simply pick the cards you want in your opening hand, mulligan multiple times, or play with your initial draw if you don't really have a sense of the cards yet.

5) Set up the Quest Deck in Stage Order with the A sides face up on all the Stages. So Quest 1A in the front, then 2A, etc.

6) Pull out 1 copy of Forest Spider and 1 copy of Old Forest Road from the Encounter deck.

7) Shuffle the Encounter deck and set it on appropriate place on your playing surface. You will want a good deal of space to the left of the Encounter deck for your Staging Area.

8) Put the Forest Spider and the Old Forest Road into space you have designated as your the Staging Area.

9) Set your Quest Deck below or to the right of the Encounter deck. You don't need to be picky, just find a spot that seems good.

10) Set the three types of tracking tokens near your play area (Silver = resources, Green = Progress, Red = Damage).

11) Add a resource to each of your heroes and draw a 7th card into your hand.

12) Flip Quest 1A to 1B (back-side) and begin your game by following the rules in the rule book. When you complete Stage 1B (8 progress on the quest), place that Quest card in back of the Quest Deck so that Stage 2A becomes the top Quest card. Read Stage 2A and follow any instructions on it and then flip it to Stage 2B.

Remember, you are playing for your enjoyment, so proceed however you wish. No one is keeping score, you are not competing with anyone, and you are learning the game so you don't need to be rules lawyer unless you want to be.

As I said before, the rules have a pretty good diagram of how to lay out the game on Page 11, but you are free to set up the three game decks however you want. Don't feel compelled to rigidly adhere to what is in the rule book.

If you have more questions, feel free to check in with the community here on these forums, on the BoardGameGeek forums, or on the various Lord of the Rings blogs and websites. Our community is quite friendly and helpful.

Have fun!

I should also comment on the arrangement of the Staging Area. You need to resolve any "when revealed" effects of cards that come off the Encounter Deck in order. However, once the cards are in the Staging Area it doesn't really matter where they lie. It may be important in some scenarios to keep them ordered as they came off the Encounter Deck, but (and I could be wrong here), it's not essential. If my space is limited, I will often re-arrange some of the cards in the Staging Area so that they better suit my space. You may also find that organizing cards by card type makes the game a little easier to play (put Locations on the top row of your Staging Area, then put Enemies underneath the Locations, etc.).

Regarding Treacheries. Most Treacheries are simply revealed, resolved and then put into the discard pile. You will discover a few that deviate from this process. Caught in the Web, in Passage Through Mirkwood is one of these. This Treachery will attach itself to one of your heroes and remain on that hero for the rest of the game, barring a few exceptions. Some scenarios may also have a few Treacheries that have a lingering effect that lasts through the Quest phase or for the rest of the Game Round. For Treacheries like this, you may want to keep the card in or near your Staging Area to help remind you of its effect.

Thanks for the help! One more question, should I include the neutral Gandalf cards in my player deck?

Yes 3 copies.

Definitely include Gandalf when you are playing with Core set only cards. While expensive, he's one of the best cards in the box. If you play Leadership, he's top notch, as you can use Sneak Attack to get him in for one phase of the game, trigger his comes-into-play effect and then have him pop back to your hand and play him again later on when you have 5 resources available (assuming he doesn't die when you Sneak him in).

Welcome to the game it truly is fantastic, what a great present. A few newbie points though:

1: Because this is a solo/cooperative game where you are not competing against another clever mind, they purposely make the game very hard to keep up a challenge. So do expect to lose more often than you win (but the fun is in the adventure even if you lose).

2: Dont worry, the learning curve happens and if you buy expansions the deck building gets easier with practice

3: Be aware that the second adventure, Journey Down The Anduin is very hard with the starting cards. Great fun but I lost this countless times before I ever beat it.

4: Escape From Dol Guldur is ridiculously hard solo with starting set cards. I couldnt beat it. Better with more players or later cards.

5: All the expansions I have played have been awesome.

6: If you need some deck/play hints, there are great websites. Beorn's Path I found to be excellent.

7: Dont forget, the rules also have easy mode if you find it hard. Some people only ever play easy mode because it lets them build more thematic decks.

Enjoy it, the game is awesome!!

Welcome to the game and the community! Their both great, and I'm sure you'll enjoy them both. Always remember that you can come here for help, or just to talk about the game.