My son and I are interested in getting started playing this game. I have the core set. Where should we start? Start with under/over hill and play through the sagas?

It depends on what quests you want to play and what decks you want to play. Are you really into the Hobbit? Or the Lord of the Rings? Or do you want to play new adventures you haven't seen/read before?

I'd suggest starting here: https://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/new-player-buying-guide/

I assume you played the core set quests?

The posted link is very good and covers most of the Releases, check it out!

Personally I never wanted to something to do anything else than playing Progression style (as I discovered this game about 2,5 years after the core release). Of Course you can to that by just using Cards released t that time (bulding decks with this specifics iss easy when you use an online deck builder that only Shows the Cards of specific packs), but for me me it was always sure I wouldn't have the discipline to go back and put all These new shiny Cards back^^

Should you not care about Progression style I see Options: Start the Hobbit Saga, the Lotr Saga (what brings you campaign mode, Feelings about that mode are mixed I would say, personally I love it), pick up the mirkwood APs or get Khazad-Dum (this and the cycle work VERY well with both Hobbit boxes).

In my opinion you should NOT get anything from heirs of numenor, isengard and so on. The game got harder with the time and only having core + a later Expansion can easily cause Trouble.

Will I need a copy of everything for each player? That seems excessive.

Will I need a copy of everything for each player? That seems excessive.

No, you won't need more than one copy of everything. You can definitely make multiple strong decks with just one copy of everything. A lot of players buy more than one Core Set, however, in order to get more copies of the cards that they only include two or one of in the set.

Every set after the Core Set includes 3x copies of each player card.

All I can find locally are the two hobbit expansion packs. Would those and a single core set be a bad place to start?

I don't think it's a bad place to start - but with that limited card pool the saga quests will prove difficult. I'd need to look through the available cards again, but I'm not certain you'd be able to compete. I could be wrong though.

Also, here is a plug for my local store Covenant that offers on-line purchases and some nifty swag options for subscribing.

So there aren't sufficient cards in the saga expansions to play them?

So there aren't sufficient cards in the saga expansions to play them?

There are sufficient cards to play them, but as the game produced more and more scenarios, they, on average, got more difficult. Since you will only have the player cards from the Core Set and the Hobbit boxes, you will not have some of the strong player cards from other expansions and, as a result, may have difficulty beating the scenarios in the Hobbit boxes.

I see. Well I kinda splurged a bit and now have 2 cores, both hobbit sets, and the land of shadow. What would you guys recommend for deck building from that for 2-3 decks (my son, my wife, and myself)?

I don't know, I think Hobbit Sagas + Core would be a good place to start. The Battle of Five Armies quest will probably be pretty difficult, but the rest of them should be pretty doable with a little elbow grease. The first Hobbit box has a lot of really good staple cards in it that form a good basis for a collection.

You might consider looking for a copy of the Across the Ettenmoors Adventure Pack too. You won't be able to play the quest yet (because it requires cards from the Lost Realm Deluxe pack) but the hero, Dori, would fit in well with the card pool you'd have with Hobbit + Core. He was really lambasted when he came out because he was already outclassed by some of the cards from a different expansion, but if he had come out earlier in the game's life (with the Hobbit boxes, for instance) I think he would have been really well received.

Anyway, I think you'll be fine. Some of the quests will be hard, but there's fun to be had from that too! (And there's always easy mode to help out when the going gets tough.)

With what I have would it be possible to do a three hunters type deck with Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli?

I see. Well I kinda splurged a bit and now have 2 cores, both hobbit sets, and the land of shadow. What would you guys recommend for deck building from that for 2-3 decks (my son, my wife, and myself)?

Dwarf decks.

With what I have would it be possible to do a three hunters type deck with Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli?

You could certainly try it.

With what I have would it be possible to do a three hunters type deck with Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli?

I don't see why not! Those three heroes are in the Core set, and could form the basis of a pretty solid combat deck. You'll want to pair it with a deck that is strong at questing, probably focusing on characters from the Spirit sphere.

You'll also have plenty of cards to build a pretty decent Dwarf-based deck, so you might want to look into that as well.

Nice to see another father/son team. We only play LotR LCG now because he beats me at everything else.

With what I have would it be possible to do a three hunters type deck with Aragon, Legolas, and Gimli?

I don't see why not! Those three heroes are in the Core set, and could form the basis of a pretty solid combat deck. You'll want to pair it with a deck that is strong at questing, probably focusing on characters from the Spirit sphere.

You'll also have plenty of cards to build a pretty decent Dwarf-based deck, so you might want to look into that as well.

Yeah, Dwarves. I've used them to beat everything. Although, they struggle against Battle of Five Armies.

Here is a 3 player pairing I've come up with for the core+saga sets you have now.

Bard, Legolas and Damrod -

Highlights: Lots of weapon attachments for your own guys and other heroes. Goblin-cleave and Quick Strike to kill things before they hit you. Expert Treasure hunter to put on the other dwarf deck since it is 90% allies.

Card draw through Traps, Foe Hammer, Gleowine and Bofur

Resources from Horn of Gondor

Note that you can easily change Bard to Gimli for your Hunter theme.

Aragorn, Balin and Eowyn -

Highlights: Sneak attack + Gandalf, Test of Will, Unexpected Courage, Northern Tracker.

Card draw through Valiant Sacrifice and King Under the Mountain.

Resources from Steward of Gondor.

Resource matching through Celebrain's Stone.

Thorin, Gloin and Ori -

Highlights: All the dwarf allies possible plus additional allies to make use of A Very Good Tale. Discard (using Eowyn) and use To me! O my Kinsfolk! to get more allies out for A Very Good Tale

Card draw through Bifur (ally), Ori (hero) and Expert Treasure Hunter (from first deck)

Resources from Thorin and Gloin (hero)

If this sounds interesting enough, I'll post actual deck lists if you like.

Sloth j think that could be cool. How do I know what support type cards go in the decks though?

Bard, Legolas and Damrod

Aragorn, Balin and Eowyn

Thorin, Gloin and Ori

I'm pretty sure I did the numbers correctly for how many copies of a card you should have from 2x cores.

Dain Ironfoot is one of the best heroes to include in a dwarf deck (he boosts the attack and willpower of all dwarves while he is readied)... but you'd have to track down Return to Mirkwood to get a copy of him :-(.

Would any of those decks work for solo play while I'm getting the rules figured out?

I'd say the Aragorn deck would be your best bet there.

We played our first game tonight. We used the tactics and spirit deck from the core set to do the first quest. Had a great time but I'm sure we made some mistakes. I died at the end but my death bought him the time needed to kill Ungoliant's Spawn. There were still enemies in the staging area and the ones that killed me would be going back there next turn. Did he have to defeat them too to win the game? We lucked up and got the 3b quest that didn't have a cost to beat but said you had to find and defeat the spawn.

We played our first game tonight. We used the tactics and spirit deck from the core set to do the first quest. Had a great time but I'm sure we made some mistakes. I died at the end but my death bought him the time needed to kill Ungoliant's Spawn. There were still enemies in the staging area and the ones that killed me would be going back there next turn. Did he have to defeat them too to win the game? We lucked up and got the 3b quest that didn't have a cost to beat but said you had to find and defeat the spawn.