I finished the first cycle (Mirkwood), and now I'm ready to move on to the next (Dwarrowdelf). Does anyone have any advice on how to approach this next cycle? Should I look for good cards to merge with my favorite decks, or try to use as many new cards as I can? Treat it like another adventure pack or more like a new game altogether? Obviously it looks like there is a heavy dwarf theme here.

From what I've read, there's a lot of slogging through enemies in some of these scenarios. Does this mean Tactics will be more useful than it was in the first cycle (bear in mind I play mainly solo)? Sounds like fun, a bunch of dwarves bashing orc heads in.

There’s really only one scenario (Seventh Level) that goes over the top on enemies. A few others definitely have a good deal of combat, but not that much more than normal. I actually found that extra willpower was valuable, especially in the very first quest.

I would make sure to bring lots of cancellation, both shadow and when revealed. There are plenty of nasty effects in this cycle. Other than that, I would just recommend using a Dwarf deck.

Depending on what you have available I'd add the Kazad-Dum set and Dwarrowdelf cycle cards to your card pool. Then go from there.

Tactics gets more interesting in this cycle. Rivendell Blade shows up along with Dwarrowdelf Axe. Also a few really nice tactics events. This increases the 'fun' level with them. You can certainly build a two-sphere deck with a tactics splash. Legolas comes to mind as he gets a few key cards this cycle.

I second the use of willpower. The game is still in its early stage in Dwarrowdelf and progress remains important. As mentioned the treacheries can be quite swingy as well.

For pure tactics decks - Against the Shadow cycle is where i remember first putting those together.

I'm playing progression solo and it sounds like I'm just ahead of you. I just finished the third scenario in KD and about to move onto Redhorn Gate.

I decided to go thematic and go mainly with dwarf themed decks. It's also an excuse to use most of the new cards and really start to try out Dain's synergy (which was fun - but I expect more fun once we get even more allies after the Hobbit saga).

The first scenario Into The Pit is very unforgiving and tougher than it's official rating (imo).

The Seventh Level is also much tougher than it's rating - it's also got a great flavour of the Moria scene from the Felllowship movie. I struggled with this scenario initially until I happened upon a Thalin + Gondorian Spearman combo. There are quite a lot of 1hp and 2hp orcs in here. With Thalin hitting anything that comes out of the encounter deck and then Gondorian Spearman hitting anything that attacks him - you can kill quite a lot of enemies before they even attack you.

Flight From Moria, really enjoyed this one. Has a great mechanic with the Nameless Fear and a similar mechanic with multiple/random cards like final stage of Passage Through Mirkwood (which I also enjoyed). But SO many treacheries. Thalin + GS came in useful here too.

Bifur's ability makes him a great splash hero for Lore. Haven't used Dwalin much yet. I found Frodo a useful hero in KD.

Overall, I've definitely played much more tactics than in the previous cycle. I'd go as far to say Tactics cards are not feasible in Shadows of Mirkwood when playing solo - so being able to legitimately play them was really fun and a welcome change.

To add another question:

Would you include Saga cards when building a dwarf deck? Was the first Saga expansion (Over Hill and Under Hill) released before Khazad Dum came out?

Do you think most people include Saga cards in their "Deluxe" adventures, or do they keep them separate?

For that matter, is there any sort of resource that gives the order of release of all the expansions?

OHAUH c ame out after Dwarrowdelf I believe.

Check the number on the products page. OHAUH is MEC16. Shadow & Flame , the last AP of the Dwarrowdelf Cycle is MEC14

34 minutes ago, dragoncymru said:

OHAUH c ame out after Dwarrowdelf I believe.

Check the number on the products page. OHAUH is MEC16. Shadow & Flame , the last AP of the Dwarrowdelf Cycle is MEC14

Okay, that helps a lot. Teach a man to fish and all

So build the dwarf deck without the Sagas then. Guess it will have to be a "partial" dwarf deck. I only introduce a new Adventure Pack when I have finished the one before it, even though I have nearly all of them.

On 6/9/2019 at 12:28 AM, Vince79 said:

To add another question:

Would you include Saga cards when building a dwarf deck? Was the first Saga expansion (Over Hill and Under Hill) released before Khazad Dum came out?

Do you think most people include Saga cards in their "Deluxe" adventures, or do they keep them separate?

For that matter, is there any sort of resource that gives the order of release of all the expansions?

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/LotR:LCG_Releases_by_Date