So I got into this game after observing a few gamers over a couple of days going nuts over it and having a lot of fun (talking Steve Jackson or Kung Fu Fighting level fun here).

I bought the core set and two Asylum Packs (Horrors & Mountains) to start with, but I was frazzled by a few looming questions and quandaries...

#1 There seem to be cards that suggest you should be getting more than one Asylum pack gives you (i.e. 3 sledge dogs, suggesting 8)

#2 The rules suggest compatibility with the CCG... should I bother considering this allowance, or is that for people who started with the CCG? Are these old cards redundant now?

#3 Is there any point in getting CCG packs or additional copies of the Asylum packs for casual play?

Are there any tips you guys have for a player just starting the game in a community of 6 players in a game store? CCG packs and Asylum packs are available here, both, so my options for pursuing this new game are open to me either way.

Thanks,

~J~

Chibithulhu said:

1. Of course! Notice that in AP you have only 1 copy of morepowerful cards. If you want 3 in a deck - you need to buy 3 APs or exchange

2. CCG is LCG comatible for now. We do not hear any announcements from FFG team (alas!). If you play casual or with friends - just do not bother. In Poland we plan to have 2 tournaments Open and Resticted to LCG.

3. CCG for casual - yes. More copies AP for casual - I do not think so. If you are 6 friends and eveybody buys 1 AP - you can have all by exchanging.

4. I would propose you guys to buy a BOX of CCG (36 boosters) and play Draft - 6 boosters per player. I am just finishing my Draft Tournament in Poland (on Cities BOX) and it is a lot of lot of fun - and you gain more cards for future use.

Thank you for the very well-written and to-the-point reply!

I may just go buy the 3x APs myself, if needed, but now I feel justified in getting NONE of the CCG cards, as I don't think any of my co-gamers are at all aspiring to tournament play, and who knows what the future of the rules will be - maybe LCG will truly be stand-alone in the future! Could be screwed if I went for the CCG collection.

Even 3x APs seems hefty by any measure, though. I'm talking a drop of 30 bucks per expansion, and with 6 more on the heels of the first two, that's just ridiculous! Plus, that amounts to way too many of the 20 different cards that I can't even use. I guess more resource cards for me! Or maybe I'll trade for them...?

If FF had any brains at all, to reduce card waste and all that, they'd bring out a series of connected APs in which the rare cards only show up once PER PACK, but over the 3 or 6 packs, you get 3 of each. That would be super nice of them!!!

~J~

Though the LCG cards are compatible with the CCG cards, their backs are not the same. To play fair if you decide to get CCG cards you'll need the card sleeves. You probably already knew that, but some people may not.

I did NOT know about the card backs, but regardless, the deal is I'm only buying...

3x core sets (1 now on back-order)

3x each LCG Asylum Pack (currently 2x Ancient Horrors, 3x Mountains of Madness, and so on) - don't want to have to deal with the rarity and old-CCG feel of the previous four APs... just getting the new ones as they become available!

No CCG packs/sets/boosters for me! I paid the price with M:tG and SW:tCCG, so I'm done with that waste of money. I worked it out, it's SO much less expensive even to get triplicates of APs and core sets than buying random boosters and what not.

Also, this way I won't have to deal with the inevitable segregation of CCG cards - this seems to me to be a holdover until LCG card diversity is high enough for them to enforce purchase of the new series of cards in fixed sets. They're just helping you CCG jockeys along to the "new wave." Seeing as how I started in the LCG waters, I don't feel like doing the backstroke. I'll be the one treading water where it's safe, and rare sets are available in every package. Glee!

~J~

Chibithulhu said:

Actually, I'm not even going to bother buying three of each Asylum Packs. As long as I'm just playing casually within my circle of friends, there'll be a level playing field.

In the past when we played CCGs, we'd often use a single card pool and/or played Highlander style. That's the way I prefer things.

A friend an I are getting involved with the LCG for similar reasons already laid out above - already spent too much money on different CCG's over the years + we love Lovecraft (of course). We're still discussing how we're going to go about our buying. Ideally, we'll focus on different factions and just do card-sharing for our own circle of friends.

With as small a number of folks who have started playing at my store (approx. 6 in. me!), and with the major collector among them being a major rare-hog who has the others started meagerly on his discarded commons, I'm kind of on my own for collecting and having decent cards. Thankfully, I also play Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, and am the local army painting specialist, so I am currently being compensated for painting someone's army, and that pretty much pays my way in CoC LCG.

I have it in mind to collect triplicates of the core set, and triplicates of good APs (mountains & sleeper #1), with duplicates of OK ones (ancient horrors), and so far I have doubles of all. Just need to get one more sleeper and one more core atm! With this amount of awesome, I can share around for casual gaming, without actually giving any cards away - just allowing deck builds from my collection to play for "funsies."

I think it's the socially correct thing to do with a fixed set game such as this. I after all am an avid supporter of SJ and KFF. Some games just need a stable host!

~J~

Chibithulhu said:

I do remember those beautiful days of WH and WH40k. Where did they go...... ? I feel so old...