Hello, all. I am just starting out. I have not played much yet, but it seems that it is hard to avoid a death spiral with out a lot of allies. I would appreciate some guidance on what sphere(s) of influence to take, and what expansions to buy. I like the idea of a small but elite group. Is this even feasible in this game? All I have right now is the core set, but I can afford an expansion or two adventures right now.

I too am just starting, but I have a couple expansions. I have Radaghast and Landroval. Landroval can recurr a hero when lost and radaghst can help you get Landroval.

Dont know if that helps. Sounds like you would prefer good attachments for your heros

It's true that in this game a common way to win is to spit out a bunch of allies. However, there are many decks that aim for just a few very strong allies. Harad decks are a recent example of this.

If you want to build a Harad deck you will need the Mumakil AP for Kahliel and the unique allies. You might also consider getting Race Across Harad for Kahliel's Tribesman and The Black Serpent for Southron Refugee.

Then there are decks built around Strider ( http://hallofbeorn.com/LotR/Details/Strider-TDRu ). You can see a list of these decks here (although not all of them focus on low ally counts): https://goo.gl/2u391e

Other decks focus even less on allies and go the Heroes+attachments route. I've listed a couple of my decks below that follow this strategy:

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/7199/the-eowyn-deck-you-want-your-friend-to-play-1.0

http://ringsdb.com/decklist/view/4455/the-tower-of-beregond-1.0