A Couple Questions

By Stewart777, in Rules questions & answers

So I'm new to board/card games so have some questions for you folk.

1. I know that you are only allowed to attach a maximum of two restricted attachments per hero but are you allowed to attach two of the SAME attachments two a single hero.

For instance attaching 2 " Citadel Plate " to 1 hero. Or 2 " Dwarven Axe " to 1 hero. I doubt it but just thought I'd ask.

And what about attachments that aren't restricted, can you attach 2 of the same attachment to 1 hero/ally?

2. Are you allowed to play (and pay with resources) additional cards from your hand after an enemy has revealed it's shadow card?

3. Are you allowed to play (and pay with resources) just before the player attacks.

Edited by Stewart777
21 minutes ago, Stewart777 said:

1. I know that you are only allowed to attach a maximum of two restricted attachments per hero but are you allowed to attach two of the SAME attachments two a single hero.

For instance attaching 2 " Citadel Plate " to 1 hero. Or 2 " Dwarven Axe " to 1 hero. I doubt it but just thought I'd ask.

And what about attachments that aren't restricted, can you attach 2 of the same attachment to 1 hero/ally?

2. Are you allowed to play (and pay with resources) additional cards from your hand after an enemy has revealed it's shadow card?

3. Are you allowed to play (and pay with resources) just before the player attacks.

1. Yes, as long as the attachment doesn't say "limit one per character" (or hero, ally, etc.).

2. Only events, since the planning phase is the only time you may play attachments and allies.

3. Same answer as two.

There should be a round sequence chart at the back of your rulebook/learn to play guide that shows you when you can take what actions. I also recommend downloading the FAQ and Rules Reference from FFG. They answer pretty much any question you might have about action windows or anything else.

For questions 2 and 3, Event cards are the only cards that you can play outside of the planning phase, assuming there is an action window. That said, some events may allow you to get an ally into play - depending in the card.

For question 1... As far as I'm aware there would be no restriction unless the attachment was unique (for example Horn of Gondor).

Edited by icabod
Rearranged some words to stop confusion

Oh, and any amount of unrestricted attachments may go on a hero; given that they are not unique.

Ah ok great, so it's only events that can be played, and of course Action text on a hero's card.

I did read the rule book from the Core set and it didn't address that exact question. Yeah I think the FAQ and other FFG resources should prove useful. Will read that next.

4 minutes ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Oh, and any amount of unrestricted attachments may go on a hero; given that they are not unique.

Can attachments ever go on Allies?

4 minutes ago, Stewart777 said:

Can attachments   ever go on  Allies  ?

Yes, unless the attachment says otherwise.

Some attachments can only go on allies -- each attachment will specify who or what it can be attached to.

Note that the requirement for attaching only is checked when placed on a character; for example if you put A Burning Branch on a hero who is Lore only because they have Song of Wisdom, and they subsequently lose their Song of Wisdom, A Burning Brand is still attached and still works.

Worth noting that for 2) the shadow effect will resolve before you are able to play a card, unless that card specifically responds to shadow cards. So for example if you reveal a shadow card that says "deal 1 damage to defending character" this damage is dealt before you can play e.g. a healing event, potentially killing the defender. However, cards such as Hasty Stroke specifically respond to shadow cards being revealed, so you can play them.

However, you can play actions between resolving the card and completing the enemy attack, so if the shadow card says "attacking enemy gets +1 attack" you can play an event that gives the defender +1 defence before the attack resolves.

Edited by NathanH

Ok so I just started my first game :) I'm following the rules and am playing a pre-made starter deck from Spirit.

1. Question - I have dealt out my 6 cards starting hand, put 3 resources on the heroes and drawn one card. The card is Stand and Fight with text:

Quote

Event. Cost: X.

Action: Choose an ally with a printed cost of X in any player's discard pile. Put that ally into play under your control. (The chosen ally can belong to any sphere of influence.)

Firstly, I'm confused about X - what is the cost. Is it simply the amount on whatever card you choose? So technically it could be any amount.

Secondly I don't have a discard pile yet... so does this card just get put in the discard pile or shuffled back into the deck?

2. Also, what happens to card Actions that rely on 2 players for the effect to occur? For instance, I'm playing a 1 player game and have Wandering Took as an Ally in play with the text:

Quote

Action: Reduce your threat by 3 to give control of Wandering Took to another player. Raise that player's threat by 3.

Does the text just get ignored? Because that is a huge disadvantage as I could reduce my threat by 3...

3. Let's say a Forest Spider is engaged with the Wandering Took, and the FS isn't killed and so goes through to the next round. Can you choose a new defender, or does the defender have to remain the WT?

Edited by Stewart777

Yes, X is the cost of the card you are returning from the discard pile. Basically, if you return a 2-cost card from the pile, you pay 2 resources. And you'll get a discard pile soon enough :)

LOTR LCG doesn't have a maximum hand-size, so you just keep the card in your hand until such time as you want to play it. It's useful if an Ally you really wanted to keep gets destroyed in combat, for example.

Wandering Took isn't really much use in Single Player, IMO. But if you're playing multi-player, or two-handed, then it's a great way to help out if one of the "players" has too much threat,

Edited by icabod
9 minutes ago, icabod said:

Yes, X is the cost of the card you are returning from the discard pile. Basically, if you return a 2-cost card from the pile, you pay 2 resources. And you'll get a discard pile soon enough :)

LOTR LCG doesn't have a maximum hand-size, so you just keep the card in your hand until such time as you want to play it. It's useful if an Ally you really wanted to keep gets destroyed in combat, for example.

Wandering Took isn't really much use in Single Player, IMO. But if you're playing multi-player, or two-handed, then it's a great way to help out if one of the "players" has too much threat,

Great thanks!

And what about this one :

3. Let's say a Forest Spider is engaged with the Wandering Took, and the FS isn't killed and so goes through to the next round. Can you choose a new defender, or does the defender have to remain the WT?

Yes, you may choose a new defender every time the Forest Spider attacks. The Forest Spider isn't engaged with Wandering Took -- the spider is engaged with you, the player.

1. If a hero dies do his resources get put into the resource pile or distributed amongst the heroes of the same sphere?

2. if all characters are exhausted through defending and survive but there is still an enemy that has to engage, does that damage that is applied go undefended - so would ignore defence?

Well I got my bum kicked on the first go. Too many locations and enemies (2 Beastmasters with 2 threat level and two Necromancer's Pass with 3 threat level!) in the staging area and so my threat level just kept increasing and so had to engage the 2 Beastmasters, a King Spider and a Chieften Ufthak simultaneously... hopeless.

This game is hard. But I like it. Thought by going with Eowyn I could deal with quests and locations quite quickly but the locations and enemies just kept piling up. Surprised they included such strong enemies for an introductory game, and this is level 1!

Edited by Stewart777

If a hero dies, their resources and attachments are discarded. So yes, resources go back into the resource pile.

And unless you have some way to ready a character, then the attack would go undefended, with the damage going to one of your heroes.

Yes, it's a tricky game, but it's ultimately worth the effort :)

Location lock can be a killer in a game, too, where you keep drawing locations and end up making zero progress.

4 minutes ago, icabod said:

If a hero dies, their resources and attachments are discarded. So yes, resources go back into the resource pile.

And unless you have some way to ready a character, then the attack would go undefended, with the damage going to one of your heroes.

Yes, it's a tricky game, but it's ultimately worth the effort :)

Location lock can be a killer in a game, too, where you keep drawing locations and end up making zero progress.

I was just surprised at the toughness of the enemies for an intro to the game ?

10 hours ago, Stewart777 said:

I was just surprised at the toughness of the enemies for an intro to the game ?

If you think those were tough . . .

Have fun with quest two! :P

On 10/14/2018 at 3:24 PM, Stewart777 said:

I was just surprised at the toughness of the enemies for an intro to the game ?

Well, you were playing the Spirit deck, which is the worst deck for combat. On the other hand it's probably the best deck for questing. If, on the other hand, you'd played your first game with the Tactics deck you would've been much better equipped to handle enemies, but totally unable to actually complete the quest due to a lack of willpower.

It's worth noting - none of the starter decks in the Core Set are that great. Use them to learn the basics of how to play the game, but beyond that (and especially once you move on to the second quest) you probably want to look into building your own deck or finding a good decklist online to use, mixing two (or maybe three) spheres together rather than just taking all the good and bad cards from a single sphere.

Yes, don't expect to win with those starter decks (although it is possible to do so with each of them). Like PocketWraith said, learn the flow of the game with them, and then move on to deckbuilding.

11 hours ago, PocketWraith said:

Well, you were playing the Spirit deck, which is the worst deck for combat. On the other hand it's probably the best deck for questing. If, on the other hand, you'd played your first game with the Tactics deck you would've been much better equipped to handle enemies, but totally unable to actually complete the quest due to a lack of willpower.

It's worth noting - none of the starter decks in the Core Set are that great. Use them to learn the basics of how to play the game, but beyond that (and especially once you move on to the second quest) you probably want to look into building your own deck or finding a good decklist online to use, mixing two (or maybe three) spheres together rather than just taking all the good and bad cards from a single sphere.

The tutorial video I watched used Tactics Legolas to help kill enemies and every time he done that you add 2 progress tokens to the quest, so the Tactics deck wasn't all bad at questing when used like that.

I think for my next go I'll use Leadership Aragorn (he can spend 1 resource to ready after committing to a quest), Tactics Legolas (can add tokens to quest after defeating an enemy) and Lore Glorfindel (1 resource to heal 1 damage, always useful).

Am I doing it right?

1 hour ago, Stewart777 said:

The tutorial video I watched used Tactics Legolas to help kill enemies and every time he done that you add 2 progress tokens to the quest, so the Tactics deck wasn't all bad at questing when used like that.

I think for my next go I'll use Leadership Aragorn (he can spend 1 resource to ready after committing to a quest), Tactics Legolas (can add tokens to quest after defeating an enemy) and Lore Glorfindel (1 resource to heal 1 damage, always useful).

Am I doing it right?

Using three different spheres is quite risky, especially just with a core set. I would replace Glorfindel with Theodred (he can ready Aragorn after questing with his ability).

For what it's worth, I almost always use 3 spheres in solo. If you just bring cheap cards you should be fine.

Give it a try and see what works for you!

19 minutes ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Using three different spheres is quite risky, especially just with a core set. I would replace Glorfindel with Theodred (he can ready Aragorn after questing with his ability).

That doesn't leave me much room for defending either, only Aragorn with 2 armour but I wanted to use his readying ability after questing to attack enemies. Might have to rethink things. I wanted to include Lore for it's healing effects.

1 hour ago, Stewart777 said:

That doesn't leave me much room for defending either, only Aragorn with 2 armour but I wanted to use his readying ability after questing to attack enemies. Might have to rethink things. I wanted to include Lore for it's healing effects.

Use whatever hero combos you like! I'm just giving (hopefully helpful) tips. If you go with Glorfindel as your Lore hero, I would advise making sure your other two heroes have lower threat. He would work quite well with Denethor and Eowyn.

17 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Use whatever hero combos you like! I'm just giving (hopefully helpful) tips. If you go with Glorfindel as your Lore hero, I would advise making sure your other two heroes have lower threat. He would work quite well with Denethor and Eowyn.

Is a Lore hero essential in some of the harder quests? I mean some of the enemies hit for 5! So I just assume so sort of healing mechanism could be important.

Edited by Stewart777