Hello – I have been playing the LotR: The Card Game for a month or so now and I am really enjoying it but I have only just managed to complete my first quest – Flies and Spiders – playing Solo with one deck and gaining two Resource Tokens per Turn! I am not sure I am playing the game correctly as it seems the odds are overwhelmingly against my Solo Deck! Even so, I was hoping to ask some questions to confirm I am playing certain aspects of the game correctly/incorrectly. All questions relate to Solo Play. Some questions may seem very obvious, but I am a very new Player and would like some confirmation/support to help me play the game correctly/better.

(1) I am really struggling with the fact that Heroes Exhaust for the Questing Phase, the Enemy Attack Phase and the Player Attack Phase! So, just to check... Am I correct in saying that if a Hero exhausts for a Quest Resolution they stay Exhausted (unless of a Card Effect such as the one on Aragorn – spend 1 Resource Token from his Resource Pool to Ready him) for the whole Turn, i.e. they do not Ready at the end of the Quest Resolution Phase in order to Defend or Attack later in that Turn?

(2) When Resolving Enemy Attacks; if there are two Engaged Enemies in Solo play, do I fight just one of the Engaged Enemies or do I have to fight both in an order of my choosing?

(3) In the Player Attacks Phase; if there are two Engaged Enemies, do I have to fight both? Or can my Heroes and Allies group together to just fight one of the Engaged Enemies?

(4) In the game in which I completed the ‘Flies and Spiders’ Quest, I had ‘Flies and Spiders’ as my Quest and ‘Old Forest Road’ as my Active Location. I paid for ‘Snowbourn Scout’ to enter play. The cards Response is ‘After Snowbourn Scout enters play, choose a location. Place 1 Progress Token on that location’. I chose to place the Progress Token on the ‘Flies and Spiders’ card – was this incorrect as it’s a Quest as opposed to a Location? Should I have, instead, placed it on the ‘Old Forest Road’?

(5) In the Resource Phase, Allies do not get a Resource Token, only Hero’s get Resource Tokens. Is this correct? I have seen some Youtube content where some Allies get a Resource Token. Is this because of Special Abilities these Allies have?

(6) When a Quest is completed, do all of the Damage Tokens stay on the Heroes and Allies as they enter the next Quest or do they get removed and the game ‘reset’ for the next Quest?

Thank you for taking the time to read these questions and to answer them.

1) Correct. A hero will exhaust to quest, attack or defend. They only ready at the refresh phase. This is one of the constraints you'll want to try and work around with deck construction. You've noticed the Aragorn interaction and if you team him with Theodred you get good synergy. Players will often construct decks with three heroes and assign one to each job.

2) Both enemies will attack you in the order of your choosing. You must first defend against both attacks before you can return with attacks of your own.

3) Then when its your turn to attack you can attack each enemy with more than one attacker to pool your attack strength. Note that you exhaust when you attack. You do not have to attack each enemy. Sometimes its advantageous to ignore a weak enemy whose attacks don't harm you much.

4) The quest card is not a location. Thus Snowbourn scout cannot apply his response to it. Old Forest Road would be the viable target.

5) Allies do not get resource tokens, unless, as you point out a rule allows this to happen.

6) Completing a quest card does not remove damage from heroes and allies. So if you have 2 damage on Aragorn when you complete step 1B Flies and Spiders, then he will still have 2 damage when you move to step 2A A Fork in the Road.

Welcome to the game. Its really really good.

on and on 1) Trying to be clear - you choose each hero you want to send to the quest. You choose the hero you want to defend. You choose the heroes you want to attack. You could choose not to commit (exhaust) any heroes to these activities.

1. You're correct.

2. All enemies engaged with you will attack you (the order they attack is up to you, but they each attack every turn). If the enemy is sitting in the staging area rather than engaged with you, it won't attack.

3. When attacking back, you can skip any enemies you don't want to attack. Typically it is more effective to gang up on an enemy until it's dead rather than deal small amounts of damage to multiple enemies.

4. A card that interacts with a Location such as Snowbourn Scout can't be used to interact with a Quest, and vice versa. So the progress should have gone on Old Forest Road, or any other location that might have been in play (Snowbourn Scout doesn't specify Active Location, so you can target other locations if they are in play).

5. Yes, typically only heroes get resource tokens, but some special allies also get them.

6. From one Quest Stage to another, everything remains. Once you've completed the entire adventure and moved on to the next one (e.g. you have defeated Stage 3 of the first adventure and won the game and are now starting stage 1A of Journey Along The Anduin) then everything gets reset.

Hello and thank you Vermithrax and NathanH for the quick replies – it is most appreciated.

(1) Having only three Heroes at the start is a difficult situation – I am trying to build a deck where I can get Allies into play as quickly as possible to help either Quest or Defend, but that is still leaving me with little to attack with. I will consider the possibility of assigning one Hero to each Task but at least Aragorn can double up in his role.

(2) I thought this was the case.

(3) I shall consider not attacking, particularly the weak enemies and focus my attention on the stronger threats. NathanH I was thinking of ganging up on an Enemy in my last game.

(4) Again, I thought as much! So, in the Quest I thought I completed I didn’t! Aaarrrggghhh!

(5) Good to know I was right on this.

(6) Given that the Heroes do not heal, how do you get through all the Quests?! In the Quest I thought I had won, most of my Heroes had only one ‘life’ left! They would not have made it through the next Quest, let alone two more!

Do you have any more advice for a Novice Solo Player? I am really enjoying the game but finding the fact that I am constantly losing even the first Quest a little frustrating!

Many thanks!

31 minutes ago, Solo Player said:

(6) Given that the Heroes do not heal, how do you get through all the Quests?! In the Quest I thought I had won, most of my Heroes had only one ‘life’ left! They would not have made it through the next Quest, let alone two more!

Maybe I can clarify-- "quest stage" refers to the quest card itself ("Quest card1A/B, Quest 2A/B," etc). You advance through these as you play a single scenario. One "scenario" is an encounter deck and a set of quest cards. "Passage through Mirkwood" is one scenario, "Journey Down the Anduin" is another scenario.

When you complete a quest card (like quest card 1B, and move on to quest 2A/B), the game is not over and nothing changes in the board state, except that you of course follow the 'when revealed' instructions on the new quest card.

When you are playing a different scenario, you're starting a fresh new game and yes your heroes will have no damage tokens on them at the beginning of the game. You are free to change your deck and heroes as well between games.

Yes! Advancing quest stages does not count as starting a new quest. That happens when you start a new game.

Take a look at the quest stage cards. Under each of their titles is listed the name of the quest. All the stages with the same quest name count as one quest together, and you attempt one quest each game (however many stage cards there are).

As for advice, this is one of the most difficult solo games out there. But don't worry! The learning curve is steep, but after about thirty plays, you shouldn't lose that first quest ever again! Focus on deckbuilding fundamentals and what cards are good in what circumstances/with different other cards. Understanding the action economy and what your primary objective should be will go a long way.

Most of all, don't get discouraged! The game can be punishing, but with enough time you'll become a pro. There are players that post better than 50% win rates, against very hard quests, too; and they started where you are. It just takes time and learning.

2 hours ago, Solo Player said:

Do you have any more advice for a Novice Solo Player? I am really enjoying the game but finding the fact that I am constantly losing even the first Quest a little frustrating!

https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/beorns-path/

This is where I started, and I highly recommend it. It taught me how to play and eased me into deck-building.

1 hour ago, dalestephenson said:

https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/beorns-path/

This is where I started, and I highly recommend it. It taught me how to play and eased me into deck-building.

Amen to that! If you think you might find it helpful, check out some YouTube playthroughs of the quest you're struggling with.

You mention two resources per turn. How many heroes are you playing?