Hi everyone,

I am pleased to announce that Vision of the Palantir will be starting a new series as we welcome a new author to the blog: dragoncymru. This new series of his will be called There and Back Again, and will be a true solo Progression series. But not just any progression series, this one will make slight tweeks to the card to balance them for solo players, and will try to stay as thematic as possible, ergo: no Eagles in Moria. Read all about this introduction to the series here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/02/introduction-to-the-there-and-back-again-series/

The entire series will be posted at a regular interval on Vision of the Palantir and can be found here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/other/there-and-back-again/

Hopefully, this will allow me to keep up the stream of content for the coming 5 months, as I will be busy graduating. In the mean time, I will also like to mention that the final date for becoming eligible for exclusive VotP loot will be August 31st. If you are subscribed to the Patreon page by then, you will have some awesome loot heading your way in October. I will be attending Con of the Rings 2019, so I can hand it to you in person. If you cannot attend, then I will mail it to you, but additional shipping costs may apply. We have recently crossed the $50 mark, so we are very close to meeting the next goal, at which I will be releasing the second strategy guide for cycles 3&4 to the public. Patreon subscribers get early access to this document, which is being worked on as we speak.

That about covers it. Please check out the new series, I will keep this thread updated with the new articles that are released (hopefully as soon as next week).

Durins_Father

Thank you, as a solo player i will definitely be following your blog and am interested in seeing your solo rule tweaks. I really enjoy your site so thank you...

My own take on how i enjoy solo play :

I do have two core sets and do not limit myself so i can use two copies of the relevant cards, for example unexpected courage, although it is so rare that i ever get both in play in one game it seems, but it does increases the odds of it appearing. I always use a 50 card support deck.

I use all the encounter cards, removing some always feels a little bit of a game limiting option and could lose the real flavour of the quest.

I always start with an extra resource, which to me has always been the best balancing item enabling you to get a card or two in play as a single player early on. So i use a semi-easy mode in reality.

I am not very knowledgeable on the books, but i would tend to limit thematically to some extent for instance no mounts included on the ships or eagles underground, as these just do not make sense to me.

I have dabbled with using rules for ranged and sentinel - mainly : exhaust a ranged character to deal one damage to an enemy in the staging area / sentinel exhaust to add their defense to another defender. However of late i have dropped these rules again and tend not to miss then overly much.

Tweak a quest card rule. This is rare but some harder quests are clearly written with only multiplayer in mind, for instance an example is some 'first player' triggers which would unfairly impact a solo game every round whereas there is a clear inference to spread the pain across players. So in some cases i may reduce the trigger to every other round to compensate for the fact that i should have passed the first player token on. I only do this for the most difficult quests and where i see a clear relationship between the trigger and player count. The witch king attack effect in battle of pelennor fields is an example of this. Conversely i have also been known to add an additional encounter trigger such as 'search for an enemy and add to staging', when a quest is too easy with my current deck to make them more difficult. Sometimes this is easier than starting to limit what you can include in your deck and trying to remember which cards were issued with which set.

In the end i have no issues about players making the game play out solo in a way that works for them. It is the best solo game i own by far > http://crusadersgames.co.uk/board-games/lord-of-the-rings-lcg/

Really hope everyone enjoys what I've written and I hope to keep up a regular stream of content.

The next article due next week will discuss my take on solo play - Story mode as I call it - and the rules I use.

Feedback and comments always welcome!

Looking forward to it! I love reading other's take on progression play.

The Story Mode rules have now been posted on the site, as for schedule, we will try and keep this series going with a new article every Thursday for the foreseeable future. Feel free to discuss any of the rules of the Story Mode in this thread.

http://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/09/story-mode-rules/

I don’t understand the Havens and Strongholds. Is that a saga thing?

Really interesting alternate way of playing curious to see how this goes.

No, Havens and Strongholds are new card-types that make the game-play more thematic (and harder for strongholds).

They are an idea I have modified from Banania's excellent 'Tales of the Years' campaign setting work and an idea from FFG community member Gizlivadi a few years back.

They need to take all the credit for the conception, I have just tweakd how they work in my 'Story Mode'

On 5/9/2019 at 8:12 AM, Durins_Father said:

The Story Mode rules have now been posted on the site, as for schedule, we will try and keep this series going with a new article every Thursday for the foreseeable future. Feel free to discuss any of the rules of the Story Mode in this thread.

http://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/09/story-mode-rules/

As an exclusively solo player I do find it frustrating that there are traits/cards that are only relevant in multiplayer.

I really like your use of sentinel. Definitely going to try and incorporate this into my games.

The introduction to the Mirkwood cycle is now online: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/16/intro-to-the-mirkwood-cycle/

The article explains the differences in player cards to better suit them for true solo play, and already includes the new Burning Brand errata.

The different Strongholds and Havens used in this cycle are also explained.

Next week we will kick off the series, now that all the rules have been established.

Enough introduction, it is time to get into this series proper! Today, the first quest of the game is discussed being played through 4 times. Even with these new rules, Passage through Mirkwood isn't too difficult, but is at least made more fun with the use of Havens, Strongholds, and slightly different rules. You can check out the article here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/23/passage-through-mirkwood-there-and-back-again/
Next week: Journey Along the Anduin.

Very Nice! I appreciate your fantastic work!

Another article this week as I Journey Along the Anduin, encountering (and overcoming) that pesky Hill Troll using my Story Mode rules:

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/05/30/journey-along-the...

It took long enough, but I got there...

It's Thursday again, and that means another There and Back Again article. Today, the bane of many progression players got taken care of: Escape from Dol Guldur. A couple of changes to the rules were made to make it more accessible to solo players with a limited cardpool, so be sure to check that out: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/06/06/escape-from-dol-guldur-there-and-back-again/

With the Core Set now covered, the series moves on to the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle of adventure packs. Today's article covers the very first scenario we ever got outside the Core Set: The Hunt for Gollum: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/06/13/the-hunt-for-gollum-there-and-back-again/

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/06/20/conflict-at-the-carrock-there-and-back-again/
The second AP of the cycle can be brutal for solo players if they go in blind. But if you know how to stall and keep your threat low, then the Trolls are less of a problem. Check out the link above for the article on Conflict at the Carrock

I'm off to Rhosgobel to save a wounded Eagle in my latest quest to go 'There & Back Again':

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/06/27/a-journey-to-rhosgobel-there-and-back-again/

Sure, it is not the best quest in the game, but I like the Hills of Emyn Muil quest. And any progression player must still face the many locations this quest throws at you. And so does the There and Back Again series in this new instalment: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/07/04/the-hills-of-emyn-muil-there-and-back-again/

Another week goes by, and as such, another There and Back Again article has been published. We are approaching the end of the first cycle, but first have to find Gollum in the Dead Marshes. You can find the article here: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/07/11/the-dead-marshes-there-and-back-again/

This week I'm completing the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle with 'Return to Mirkwood' (and a few tweaks to play in solo Story Mode) plus I'm sharing my thoughts on the cycle as a whole.

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/07/18/return-to-mirkwood-there-and-back-again/

So one complete cycle is done and it’s a very exciting time for me as I begin a brand new cycle which I remember to be very rich in theme. ‘Khazad-dum’ brings a totally different feel to the game from ‘Shadows of Mirkwood’ as leafy glades and paths get changed to darkly lit mines and twisting underground passages. Check out my introduction to the cycle:

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/07/25/intro-to-the-khazad-dum-cycle-there-and-back-again/

Take a look at my latest article as I start ‘Khazad-dum’, and a new cycle of adventures for the LCG. This cycle was eagerly awaited – both when it first came out in 2012 and in any subsequent reprints, due to its excellent player cards and exciting theme of exploring the lost Dwarven kingdom of Moria.

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/08/01/into-the-pit-there-and-back-again/

My latest article continues my adventures in the dark, twisting passages of Moria as I search for signs of Balin in 'The Seventh Level' – although, of course, we all know his unfortunate fate from reading ‘Fellowship of the Ring’…

https://visionofthepalantir.com/2019/08/08/the-seventh-level-there-and-back-again/