Option 1: Automatic card sorter

You know how banks have machines that QUICKLY count paper money?

Well, are there machines that can sort (or at least find and dispense) cards from a large (multi-thousand card) deck?

Just imagine, you load your entire LotR LCG collection into the sorter. And then you tell it what player deck you want, and what encounter set you want. And, a few minutes (or even seconds) later it spits out those cards. When you are done playing, you simply load your cards back into the sorter.

Of course it needs to be MUCH faster than this:

I looked at a few other card sorting videos on YouTube but they all look similarly slow. Nothing at all like the bank counting machines!

Option 2 : Kindle Cards

Is there such thing as a " kindle card "?

And no, I don't mean Kindle gift cards. I mean playing cards that, like Doctor Who's psychic paper, can be made to temporarily show ANYTHING. Like an etch-a-sketch.

Just imagine the flexibility we'd have if we could instantly "load" any set of cards, from any game!

Option 3 : A card app

Okay, so some people on here don't like OCTGN. Well, imagine if there were an app which simulated just the player cards. Or just the encounter cards. Or maybe both. So you don't have to sort and select them by hand.

Okay... that really sounds like OCTGN, doesn't it? Oh well. Next!

Option 4 : Augmented reality cards

What if each card had some sort of symbol on it, which, when detected by augmented reality glasses, could be "painted over" to resemble a card in the game? This is similar to the Kindle Cards idea, except it allows the cards themselves to be normal cardboard. The glasses would do all the work.

I've only tried augmented reality goggles a couple times, and they were okay. I think the resolution wasn't enough to allow us to read cards at a distance of a couple feet, though. It's been a while, however. And maybe there could be "clever" zooming features. It's all software, after all.

Option 5 : Card slaves

Can we train our kids to sort our cards?

Without getting food on them?

Or bending them?

Or dropping them between the sofa cushions?

Or "borrowing" one or two to show their friends... or as bookmarks?

No?

I didn't think so.

Sigh.

Option X : Any other ideas???

I know, I know... every minute spend on here complaining about time spent sorting cards is a minute that could be spent sorting cards...

But certainly there has to be SOME way to reduce the overhead of deck rebuilds?

2 hours ago, tripecac said:

Can we train our kids to sort our cards?

Without getting food on them?

Or bending them?

Or dropping them between the sofa cushions?

Or "borrowing" one or two to show their friends... or as bookmarks?

No?

I didn't think so.

Sigh.

So much yes!

But seriously, I can't help you, man. I know this is important to you, but I don't think there's a convenient way.

I like to watch Netflix while I sort if that helps. ?

I'd vote for option 1 or 2! Any ideas how to make them reality?

Edit: there are credit cards with a field for e-ink (not covering the whole card) and also in b/w. But it's a start at least.

Given all your recent threads, are you really sure playing an LCG is right for you?

The game is fantastic, if only it could be cured of that pesky "existing in the physical world" thing. I salute your efforts, my friend. The solution is that we should just play on OCTGN sometime.

Given all your recent threads, are you really sure playing an LCG is right for you?

Good point.

Basically, I love Tolkien stuff, and games, and collecting, so naturally LotR LCG falls in the "must buy" category for me.

What's been hard is reducing all the "overhead" of deck building, card sorting, storage, etc... basically, those features which are inherent to LCG/CCGs. So, naturally LotR LCG falls in the "too much work" category for me.

So yeah, maybe the "LCG/CCG" overhead isn't a perfect match for me, but the rest of the game is. So I love the LotR part, but maybe not the LCG part.

On those rare occasions when I [force myself to] actually play LotR LCG, I enjoy the process, even if I lose. I've played maybe 25 games total. The vast majority of those games were on OCTGN, the last time I was on travel (back in 2014). I will be traveling again soon, and plan to play lots of LotR LCG again when I do, which is why I have been posting lots of questions recently.

So it's a weird mix: I love collecting, enjoy playing, but dislike the card handling/sorting/choosing.

I enjoy handling, looking at, and reading about the cards. I like listening to the podcasts and watching the progression series videos. I read the forum (and BGG) on an almost daily basis. I daydream about playing.

I just don't seem to ever actually play it... unless I am on vacation, where all I have is my laptop, and I can't play "real games". It's at that point that OCTGN starts to look like the best way to kill/fill an hour.

One thing has changed recently and that's my kids. They're now to a point where they can play cool games with me. It started with Ticket to Ride, but now includes Carcassonne, Catan, Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert, Pandemic, 7 Wonders, and we're now getting into Stuffed Fables. So naturally I am starting to hope that they will some day soon join me in some LotR LCG questing. And maybe I can pay them to sort the $%&*# cards!

So anyway, yeah, the "LCG" part is causing me some problems, but I am hoping to find a way to overcome them. Hopefully this "quest" I'm on is not the equivalent of Escape from Dol Guldur!

Uhmmm... kinda option 2:

HTTPS://patents.google.com/patent/US20080234024

Also: /US20130296008A1

I keep a whole bunch of decks permanently set (Dwarves, Gondor-Swarm, Rohirrim, Dunedain etc). I then keep some general use cards such as Steward of Gondor, sneak attack, ally Faramir etc in a sideboard pile and just swap them in each game. It takes 10 seconds and makes set up much easier. It also means that you have a bunch of decks ready to play against each AP, so you really get your money's-worth.

That sounds like a good idea, having multiple faction-based decks ready to go, plus a sideboard for shared cards.

Questions:

1) How do you keep the decks divided in your storage?

2) How many Core Sets do you have?

3) And how big's your sideboard?

4) Where's Northern Tracker?

5) Are any cards in multiple factions?

6) What spheres are each faction?

7) Do you play 2 handed, so that you can have multiple spheres covered?

8 ) If you play 2 handed, do you find yourself playing certain pairs of faction decks together, or do you want (or need) to force yourself to pair up different decks?

9) How often do you find yourself wanting (or needing) to break up your factions in order to play a multi-faction super-group/"Avengers" deck in order to beat a quest or cycle?

10) Do you find yourself resisting the breaking up the factions, or are you able to easily assemble your super-team and then re-sort back into factions when you're done?

Thanks!

No one's ever been interested before! My replies are in bold below:

1) How do you keep the decks divided in your storage?

I use carboard dividers with designs printed out from BGG. All my cards are in 4 core boxes (the previous type) one of which has the AP, tokens, decks & sideboard I'm currently using, another two boxes have APs, and the fourth box just has player cards. Each box has 3 columns for cards with wooden type dividers purchased from a UK company called OpticalPower. Believe it or not but I own just about everything and the boxes are nearly full! I do not sleeve cards as that's far too much like hard work.

2) How many Core Sets do you have?

Three

3) And how big's your sideboard?

Approx 20 x 3 cards. It tends to be general purpose power cards such as Gandalf, Miner of the Iron Hills etc. Several are healing cards. Interestingly many of them come from the core set - with 6 years experience under my belt, I can now see just how powerful core decks are when you have 3x of everything.

4) Where's Northern Tracker?

In my sideboard. It actually doesn't get used that often - it's very expensive and not all APs have large numbers of locations anyway. I prefer cards that boost the WP of characters - ally-Faramir or Aragorn/Sword that was broken are good examples.

5) Are any cards in multiple factions?

Yes - generally up to a maximum of 4 different cards (for instance my Gondor Swarm decks needs Ally-Faramir, Gandalf, Sneak Attack, and Steward of Gondor all of which are in the sideboard). What I do is write on the dividers which cards go into that particular deck from the sideboard. I then take them out at the end of the game and put them back into the sideboard. It takes 10 seconds or so.

6) What spheres are each faction?

Gondor Swarm - (all Leadership)

Hobbits (Lore, Leadership, Spirit)

Rohirrim (Spirit, Tactics)

Dwarves (Tactics, Leadership, Lore)

Dunedain (all leadership)

Outlands - (Lore, leadership, Spirit)

Noldor - (Tactics, spirit, lore)

Sindar - (Leadership, Lore, Spirit)

I am generally rigorous as to what cards go into each deck - for example the Dunedain deck only has cards related to them (no Steward of Gondor!) The exceptions are my two power decks (see below) where I will add in non-faction cards as needed to boost power (i.e. Steward of Gondor goes into my Dwarf deck). Leadership is my favourite sphere - Tactics my least favourite. There are quite a few tri-sphere decks which I find work out OK.

7) Do you play 2 handed, so that you can have multiple spheres covered?

No just one handed. I find 2 handed too difficult to keep track of.

8 ) If you play 2 handed, do you find yourself playing certain pairs of faction decks together, or do you want (or need) to force yourself to pair up different decks?

Not applicable. When I started I did play a variant called the Fellowship Rules. This combines two hands into one. It makes the game easier which I needed as a new player with a limited deck pool. It also reduces the bookkeeping needed for 2 decks. If you're interested I'll post the rules.

9) How often do you find yourself wanting (or needing) to break up your factions in order to play a multi-faction super-group/"Avengers" deck in order to beat a quest or cycle?

Interesting question. The decks above have different power levels. The Dwarf and Gondor Swarm decks are really powerful and can beat just about anything with exceptions - as a rule I don't really need to modify those decks. The rest have medium power and struggle against the most difficult APs (i.e. Carn Dum). The Hobbit deck is still really weak - not enough will power. Having said that, it's interesting as to which decks succeed against different quests; for example my Gondor deck with its numerous but weak allies struggled against Into Ithilien whereas my Dunedain deck with its powerful but expensive allies succeeded first time. I do occasionally break down decks and form new decks - for example the Hobbit deck is a new creation which was born out of a Merry/Pippin/Treebeard deck which just had Hobbit and Ent cards.

10) Do you find yourself resisting the breaking up the factions, or are you able to easily assemble your super-team and then re-sort back into factions when you're done? 

I will very occasionally modify decks if I want to create a Rohirrim deck that beats everything for example. That's rare though - if it's clear that a deck won't defeat an AP without extensive modification I usually give up on it - after all I have 7 other decks to play with, one of which will likely succeed at some point! Like yourself I also don't want to have to modify decks all the time.

Thanks!

Wow, thanks a bunch for those awesome answers!

It looks like you have a very good system for being able to play a quest quickly (with very little card fiddling before/after play), while at the same time having a lot of variety since you maintain not just one main deck but several.

Out of curiosity, where are your ents now? And eagles? Do you ever let them "tag along" or do they tend to stay in the box?

Also, when you start a new quest, with how many decks do you try to beat it, before continuing to the next quest?

And finally, which of those decks would you use against Escape from Dol Guldur? Or is that a quest which you're prefer to tackle 2-handed (or with those fellowship rules you mentioned)?

The system I have works for me. Like you I don't want to fiddle with decks endlessly (I don't mind it now and again) and this approach allows me to do that.

Out of curiosity, where are your ents now? And eagles? Do you ever let them "tag along" or do they tend to stay in the box?

I really enjoyed the Ent/Hobbits deck I mentioned above but it was another fairly low power deck that eventually became frustrating. The Ents having to exhaust when they come into play is a real disadvantage. Currently they are unused but I might bring them out again sometime as they were fun.

I've never really got into the Eagles, and they've actually been unplayed for some years. I tried them when I first got into the game, but found them low in WP and expensive for what you get. I notice that new Eagles cards are coming in the latest APs - I am watching this closely to see whether my view of them changes.

Also, when you start a new quest, with how many decks do you try to beat it, before continuing to the next quest?

That depends. I am currently replaying the Heirs of Numenor/Against the Shadow scenarios. My last game was into Ithilien. That scenario went like this:

Gondor Swarm - won it on the 4th try

Dwarves - won it on the 1st go quite easily

Dunedain - won it on the 1st go

Rohirrim - completely beaten on the first try. Didn't bother again.

Sindar - fought hard but beaten on the 1st try. Tried a second time and again defeated. Gave up.

Noldor - completely beaten on the first try. Didn't bother again.

Hobbits - completely beaten on the first try. Didn't bother again.

Outlands - didn't use. I'm a bit bored of this deck, so at some point may get rid of it and create a new one.

With other APs such as Carn Dum, I didn't bother with the lesser decks as I knew they wouldn't have a chance.

And finally, which of those decks would you use against Escape from Dol Guldur? Or is that a quest which you're prefer to tackle 2-handed (or with those fellowship rules you mentioned)? 

I think that I haven't used any of them against Dol Guldor (trying to remember). I've only beaten that scenario with the 6 Heroes fellowship variant that I mentioned above. I should probably get it out and test my Dwarf deck against it and see how that does. One scenario I did have to create a new deck for was Rhosgobel - I created a lore deck with lots of healing cards for that one. I knew what I wanted though, and it didn't take long to do.

13 hours ago, tripecac said:

I enjoy handling, looking at, and reading about the cards. I like listening to the podcasts and watching the progression series videos. I read the forum (and BGG) on an almost daily basis. I daydream about playing.

I think this is a good way to enjoy this game. I spend more time doing what you describe than playing the game. And I’m sure it’s quite common.

Just make your peace with that!

For you, I think chronological sorting would be best. RingsDB can be set to display your decklist that way for ease of deck building, and it's easy to add new cards to your collection. Disassembling decks is a bit tricky, though.

Jon, I really like your deck suite, and would love to work up to it.

Since I restarted with the core set, I know that some of the well-themed decks like a Dwarven deck won't be available until Dwarrowdelf... but are some other of your deck ideas viable early on in the progression series? Or is the initial card pool so limited that it's just a matter of scraping by with quest-specific decks until enough archetype supporting cards are available?

Until roughly the end of the Shadows of Mirkood cycle, you can't do much by way of deckbuilding. With Return to Mirkwood, you can make a solid Rohan questing deck, an Eagle combat deck, a Lore control deck, and a fourth support deck with Dain if you want to play with a big group.

I wouldn't say quest-specific deck is needed at any point. I personally never do it (except for mount doom) At the beginning of the game there is no thematic deckbuilding, only playing the cards that are not garbage from the sphere you are using. Little by little you will be able to build around synergies and to adapt your deck to your heroes.