I'm seriously considering getting The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, but I have a few questions before I spend the money.

First of all, I just want to make sure, it does work fine as a single-player game, right? That's part of the appeal for me. I've played the A Game of Thrones and Star Wars LCGs, but it can be tricky to find time that both I and fellow players in my area can play. I would love to play the game with friends, as I really like cooperative games, but the ability to play the game on its own is really appealing, too.

My other question is if there are any "must-have" expansions from a gameplay experience standpoint -- things that you think are crucial to getting the real experience of the game?

Hi! To answer the first part of you question, YES, LOTR LCG is a fabulous solo experience, if not one of the best. Just know that it can take a little while before you grasp the game, and some quests of the core set are pretty brutal in solo. I would suggest trying to play in easy mode.

For the second part of your question, this is a very good read for new players.

Hope to see you soon on the forums!

Yes.

No. But having more expansions means more quests you can play and more various decks you can build. But no extreme gameplay experience alterations you're mentioning.

Great. And thanks for the link, Lecitadin. I don't know if I would have realized a deluxe expansion is needed to run the adventures in the related cycle, so that buying guide was handy.

It should also be noted that while LotR is in general a very good solo experience, the third quest in the Core Set, Escape from Dol Guldur, is very difficult for solo play.

You'll probably want some expansions to get some more quests (since only two of the quests in the core set really play well single player) but which expansions to get first are a matter of personal opinion.

Awesome awesome solo experience!!!

Well, that was a disappointing shopping trip. I went to the game store that I knew carried stuff for the game, and they were all out of core sets. So I'm going back Thursday when they get a new one in. I should have saved myself the drive time (this particular game store is about 50 miles away).

Since I have a few more days to plan out my initial purchase now, what sorts of "theme decks" really work right now. My understanding is that dwarf decks can be especially synergistic. Do other theme decks play well? Rohan? Gondor? Tricksy hobbitses?

I don't think they do. I mean, with drawves you just slap eveyrthing that has "Dwarf" in it's trait box or mentions that trait in the text box into one deck and you get viable stuff going on. With other decks... not so much. And hobbits are not even a faction, so to speak. They have some little theme going around them, similar to rangers, but that's more like a class specialty, rather than a faction.

Since I have a few more days to plan out my initial purchase now, what sorts of "theme decks" really work right now. My understanding is that dwarf decks can be especially synergistic. Do other theme decks play well? Rohan? Gondor? Tricksy hobbitses?

If you buy the right expansions, you can make any of the theme decks you mentioned word sufficiently well.

At minimum,

For Dwarves you may want Dain from Return to Mirkwood

For Rohan you may want Theoden from the Treason of Saruman

For Gondor you may want Boromir from Heirs of Numenor and Visionary Leadership from The Morgul Vale

For Hobbits you may want everything from The Black Riders

But in my opinion it makes the most sense to just buy them in order of release date.

Highly recommend trying out two handed solo as well once you get started. It might not be for you but it also might be perfect for you and allows you to use far more heroes, traits, combos and player cards in general while still playing on your own. It can get a little complex or tiring playing for two players but I personally will never go back to pure solo now, two handed is just too much fun. Not to mention there are many quests that are far more doable with 2 players/decks (or more!) whereas playing pure solo there will always be a handful of quests are that are very very difficult.

I'm seriously considering getting The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, but I have a few questions before I spend the money.

First of all, I just want to make sure, it does work fine as a single-player game, right? That's part of the appeal for me. I've played the A Game of Thrones and Star Wars LCGs, but it can be tricky to find time that both I and fellow players in my area can play. I would love to play the game with friends, as I really like cooperative games, but the ability to play the game on its own is really appealing, too.

My other question is if there are any "must-have" expansions from a gameplay experience standpoint -- things that you think are crucial to getting the real experience of the game?

Hi @Leveton, welcome to the game!

To revisit your original question for a moment, YES the game plays pretty well solo. But I would try to get a very solid handle on the mechanics over multiple plays before attempting @PsychoRocka’s suggestion of trying two-handed play. It works (though personally I prefer single-handed solo) but there is more to keep track of and attempting it before you have an easy familiarity with the game is likely to lead to more frustration than fun.

Will agree with everyone though, without a very specifically tuned deck the third Core Quest (Escape from Dol Guldur) is very difficult in single-handed solo.

As for “Must Have” expansions…it kind of depends. There are several if you are trying to build a specific “theme” deck. Dwarves, for instance, want Return to Mirkwood, Khazad Dum and the two Hobbit boxes. Outlands and Gondor really want the Heirs of Numenor Deluxe and most of the Against the Shadow cycle to be able to do some deck-building within the trait-type. @Seastan mentions some others in his comment too.

But for my money, chasing any specific trait-type player cards is the wrong way to expand this game. Or at least, the less satisfying way.

Personally, I always recommend to new players to start with the Core Set and (difficulty aside, because it WILL be hard) see if they like the game. From there if they want to expand, I always point towards the first cycle—The Shadows of Mirkwood. Not because these quests and player cards are the BEST (they aren’t, though most of the quests are very solid and enjoyable) but because they are designed specifically to slowly teach players the finer points of the game quest-by-quest. Hunt for Gollum introduces some interesting treacheries and focuses on finding objective attachments, Conflict at the Carrock forces you to learn to deal with powerful Boss-type enemies and strategies to do so, Journey to Rhosgobel teaches you about treachery management and healing, etc.

And while many of the player cards have since been replaced with more effective alternatives as the cardpool has grown, some are still very clutch (the Dunedain signals, the resource-fixing songs, A Burning Brand, Fast Hitch, Dain, etc.).

YMMV, of course. I would never say that my way is the ONLY way. But I definitely think getting the expansions chronologically provides the best experience so that you, as a player, can grow along with the player and encounter cards. And after you finish Mirkwood, Khazad Dum and The Dwarrodelf awaits with a focus on Noldor and Dwarf player cards and more combat-focused quests (also secrecy, but that will take a LONG time to pay off in the cardpool) and that is a perfect place to slot in the two Hobbit Saga Expansions (with their very heavy focus on dwarf-traited player cards).

Anyway, long comment is long. But whatever you choose to do, I think you’ll have a lot of fun.

I'm seriously considering getting The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, but I have a few questions before I spend the money.

First of all, I just want to make sure, it does work fine as a single-player game, right? That's part of the appeal for me. I've played the A Game of Thrones and Star Wars LCGs, but it can be tricky to find time that both I and fellow players in my area can play. I would love to play the game with friends, as I really like cooperative games, but the ability to play the game on its own is really appealing, too.

My other question is if there are any "must-have" expansions from a gameplay experience standpoint -- things that you think are crucial to getting the real experience of the game?

Hi @Leveton, welcome to the game!

To revisit your original question for a moment, YES the game plays pretty well solo. But I would try to get a very solid handle on the mechanics over multiple plays before attempting @PsychoRocka’s suggestion of trying two-handed play. It works (though personally I prefer single-handed solo) but there is more to keep track of and attempting it before you have an easy familiarity with the game is likely to lead to more frustration than fun.

Will agree with everyone though, without a very specifically tuned deck the third Core Quest (Escape from Dol Guldur) is very difficult in single-handed solo.

As for “Must Have” expansions…it kind of depends. There are several if you are trying to build a specific “theme” deck. Dwarves, for instance, want Return to Mirkwood, Khazad Dum and the two Hobbit boxes. Outlands and Gondor really want the Heirs of Numenor Deluxe and most of the Against the Shadow cycle to be able to do some deck-building within the trait-type. @Seastan mentions some others in his comment too.

But for my money, chasing any specific trait-type player cards is the wrong way to expand this game. Or at least, the less satisfying way.

Personally, I always recommend to new players to start with the Core Set and (difficulty aside, because it WILL be hard) see if they like the game. From there if they want to expand, I always point towards the first cycle—The Shadows of Mirkwood. Not because these quests and player cards are the BEST (they aren’t, though most of the quests are very solid and enjoyable) but because they are designed specifically to slowly teach players the finer points of the game quest-by-quest. Hunt for Gollum introduces some interesting treacheries and focuses on finding objective attachments, Conflict at the Carrock forces you to learn to deal with powerful Boss-type enemies and strategies to do so, Journey to Rhosgobel teaches you about treachery management and healing, etc.

And while many of the player cards have since been replaced with more effective alternatives as the cardpool has grown, some are still very clutch (the Dunedain signals, the resource-fixing songs, A Burning Brand, Fast Hitch, Dain, etc.).

YMMV, of course. I would never say that my way is the ONLY way. But I definitely think getting the expansions chronologically provides the best experience so that you, as a player, can grow along with the player and encounter cards. And after you finish Mirkwood, Khazad Dum and The Dwarrodelf awaits with a focus on Noldor and Dwarf player cards and more combat-focused quests (also secrecy, but that will take a LONG time to pay off in the cardpool) and that is a perfect place to slot in the two Hobbit Saga Expansions (with their very heavy focus on dwarf-traited player cards).

Anyway, long comment is long. But whatever you choose to do, I think you’ll have a lot of fun.

Agree with the above 100% well said

I think the theme question depends on how strictly you consider a "theme". If a "Rohan theme" means "I won't include any card that doesn't have Rohan printed on it" then it's going to be hard. One thing about the LOTR release model is that every pack is half scenario and half player cards, so the card pool is actually much smaller than you might expect for a game with this many releases. So there are definitely some cases where you might need to be flexible to get certain effects.

But that said, I think you can put together pretty strong theme decks that work well. I'm playing a Hobbit deck right now that's pretty much wrecking its way through the Saga edition. Run from Nazgul? Pfft. Let Merry at em! Again, some flexibility even here, as I use Ents for backup, but what goes together better than hobbits and ents? Dwarves are still really strong, Outlands and Silvan are very popular, and I'm also working a Gondorian Family deck (Boromir, Faramir, Denethor) that's proving not too bad, although it's pretty combo dependent. I'm still tuning it.

One of the other great things about LOTR being cooperative is that you can decide how hard core you want to play, and what qualifies as "good". My decks are typically themed, and solid enough to get through most scenarios. That's my goal, and makes it fun. Other people are about finding combos that let them draw their entire hand in one turn, or count turns to score themselves very aggressively. If you're willing to move your expectation for "win" down a bit, the window for functional theme decks opens up greatly. Especially if you're playing solo, you don't have to worry about That Guy showing up and crushing you in two turns because you were making a lighter theme deck.

Thanks for all the input. I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of the core set tonight. The LGS I usually go to had a couple of used copies that weren't on the shelves, I just happened to mention it to one of the owners. Got it at a bit of a discount, even.

buying a second core set is a good idea also.

Thanks for all the input. I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of the core set tonight. The LGS I usually go to had a couple of used copies that weren't on the shelves, I just happened to mention it to one of the owners. Got it at a bit of a discount, even.

Fantastic! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the game when you get to dig into it.

buying a second core set is a good idea also.

Maybe...

As someone who owns two Core Sets, I certainly don't think it's a BAD idea to get a second one. Some of the single and double cards in the Core can be very clutch in some decks and you want to be able to put a full play-set into a deck to make it more efficient.

But I played the game for years before getting a second Core Set and while I DID occasionally wish for a couple more Unexpected Courages or a third Northern Tracker I never felt the game was lacking without them. All things considered, I think you would get more bang for your buck getting the first 2 or 3 Adventure Packs rather than pay for a few more copies of cards you already have.

YMMV of course, a lot of people would probably agree with @vilainn6 that consistency is king but for me the extra Quests and greater variety of player cards wins out--especially in a coop game.

Sleeves and proxies.

Ftw

I played my first solo quest yesterday: Passage Through Mirkwood with the Leadership starter deck. I got really lucky both on my draws and how things came out of the encounter deck. Hummerhorns showed up fairly early, but my threat never went up enough for him to engage me. I never got too many enemies to handle, and I got Faramir out pretty early so I was able to quickly progress through locations and quest stages, and with Steward of Gondor on turn 1, I was pretty much always able to play anything I needed to.

I might have been in trouble if I'd picked Don't Leave the Path for the third stage, because I didn't have a ton of fighting prowess. Instead, I got Beorn's Path, and I had plenty of questing prowess to get through that in two turns.

I played my first solo quest yesterday: Passage Through Mirkwood with the Leadership starter deck. I got really lucky both on my draws and how things came out of the encounter deck. Hummerhorns showed up fairly early, but my threat never went up enough for him to engage me. I never got too many enemies to handle, and I got Faramir out pretty early so I was able to quickly progress through locations and quest stages, and with Steward of Gondor on turn 1, I was pretty much always able to play anything I needed to.

I might have been in trouble if I'd picked Don't Leave the Path for the third stage, because I didn't have a ton of fighting prowess. Instead, I got Beorn's Path, and I had plenty of questing prowess to get through that in two turns.

Cool--sounds like you had a pretty good first game. And some lucky draws!

The starter decks are honestly pretty weak but the Leadership one is probably the best of them if only because it's the most well-rounded. Lore and Spirit have some great clutch effects, but suffer from lack of offensive ability. Tactics is probably the hardest of the Core starters to play well--a lot of great combat ability but almost NOTHING else.

When you start deck building, a good starting place can be Leadership/Spirit (probably Aragorn/Eowyn/Theodred) since that has some built in resource smoothing with Eowyn discard/Stand and Fight and Celebrian Stone.

Have fun!

Exactly what JonofPDX says above.

Really glad you enjoyed it, sounds like a good game.

Its worth trying passage through Mirkwood with each of the starter decks individually because that really really teaches you the initial strengths and weaknesses of the spheres (dont expect to win though with some, especially tactics).

Then my own take on the other two core scenarios:

Anduin: lots of fun and good thematic theme with good variety in the quest stages (raft riding is fun picking off enemies from the bank) but.... the Hill Troll is a big challenge for new players and takes some beating and clever deck thinking. Its harder than I would say is good for only the second quest but its really fun.

Dol Guldur: I had no chance playing this solo and single handed. Rock hard solo. I think it was included as a challenge to multiplayers but man its hard. Two goes abd I skipped it until another day with bigger card pool. Dont be discouraged if this scenario hammers you.

The rest of the whole first cycle (Mirkwood) all comfortably do-able yet challenging, well balanced I thought.

So enjoy and welcome to more defeats than victories lol.

Awesome game (so much variety of different quests too, im fighting a Balrog in my quest at the moment)

OK, I played through Passage Through Mirkwood twice again today, this time with a friend. The first game I played tactics and he played spirit -- the first stage took forever, because we had to clear out a lot of locations that kept showing up and slowing our quest progress. Thank goodness for Legolas with a Blade of Gondolin. There were a few moments where heroes were really at risk, but once Beorn showed up, we had pretty smooth sailing. My friend provided a lot of the willpower for questing, cancels, and a little bit of fighting (Dunhere killed a couple of enemies in the staging area), while I tanked and fought enemies. The final stage went really easily when the spiders showed up, since I had a lot of attack power out, including Beorn, and a Feint in hand.

For the second game I played leadership and my friend played lore. I ended up responsible for most of the fighting and questing, while my friend fueled us with card draw, healing, and some control stuff. Enemies really started to pile up as we got to the second and final stages, but a couple of chump blocks kept them off us long enough to kill the spawn again, finishing it with a Sneak Attack by Gandalf.

My friend liked the game mechanics, cooperative nature, and support style of the two decks he played. It sounds like he'll try to build a spirit/lore deck.

OK, I played through Passage Through Mirkwood twice again today, this time with a friend. The first game I played tactics and he played spirit -- the first stage took forever, because we had to clear out a lot of locations that kept showing up and slowing our quest progress. Thank goodness for Legolas with a Blade of Gondolin. There were a few moments where heroes were really at risk, but once Beorn showed up, we had pretty smooth sailing. My friend provided a lot of the willpower for questing, cancels, and a little bit of fighting (Dunhere killed a couple of enemies in the staging area), while I tanked and fought enemies. The final stage went really easily when the spiders showed up, since I had a lot of attack power out, including Beorn, and a Feint in hand.

For the second game I played leadership and my friend played lore. I ended up responsible for most of the fighting and questing, while my friend fueled us with card draw, healing, and some control stuff. Enemies really started to pile up as we got to the second and final stages, but a couple of chump blocks kept them off us long enough to kill the spawn again, finishing it with a Sneak Attack by Gandalf.

My friend liked the game mechanics, cooperative nature, and support style of the two decks he played. It sounds like he'll try to build a spirit/lore deck.

Cool. Glad you were able to find a friend to play with that enjoys the game!

Right out of Core I know a lot of people playing 2-player gravitated towards setting up one Aggressive Tactics/Leadership deck designed to engage and defeat enemies while the other player ran a more Willpower oriented Spirit/Lore deck designed to push through Questing and provide support and cancellation effects. It’s a combination that can work pretty well but it does suffer from neither deck being particularly well-rounded, which can get you in trouble if you hit a bad flop from the Encounter deck. Personally with the available cardpool in the Core Set I’m more of a fan of Leadership/Spirit (for resource acceleration/fixing and cancels) and Tactics/Lore (for card draw and healing your big hitters) but half the fun of a game like this is exploring new combos--the important part is that you guys are having fun.

You might want to stick with 40-card decks for now, though, and slowly work your way up to “Tournament Legal” 50-card decks. You’ll be able to get a little more consistency and be able to be a little more choosey about the cards you slot in until you get some APs and move up to 50 cards.

Come back and update us when you hit the Anduin! It’s a big jump in difficulty but still one of my favorite quests. Good luck!