After having the opportunity to play both Hunt for Gollum and Conflict at the Carrock several times, I am certain that I vastly prefer them over any of the scenarios in the Core set. Not only are they mechanically more interesting, but they overcome some of the major flaws of the core scenarios. They do a better job of scaling to a variable number of players and do a better job of presenting a challenge over the whole of a scenario (instead of just at the beginning).

I’ve gotten to the point that, when I introduce the game to new players, I do a quick run through Mirkwood to teach them core mechanics, and never let them see a core scenario again. How do other people feel about the difference in scenarios? Do you still find yourself playing them? Is there a danger that the game will lose players who are turned off by the initial scenarios (though, what we know about sales seems to suggest otherwise)?

Well, I hadn't played the game in a few months, so I've done a couple of refresher run-throughs on Mirkwood. I've beat the Anduin scenario several times back then and I still don't have any interest in going back to it. Dol Guldur is still nearly impossible to do solo, so I'm going to wait until I feel the decks are strong enough and tackle it again. I will be getting the two new quests today, so I will be experiencing the difference first hand soon. But yeah, for right now, other than as a refresher, I don't have much use for the core quests.

as a completely solo player ive been playing since the game was released and still havnt beat anduin (i didnt play for a couple of months though) so im still tackling that one. mirkwood's still enjoyable and dol guldor is impossible. Im getting hunt for gollum this week though so hopefully will have more luck soloing. I think as more packs are released the scenarios in the core set will see less play, maybe even be changed in reprints.

Anduin is my favourite scenario so far out of the four I've played (Carrock should arrvie this week). I really like the combat-questing-combat sequence of the quest.

I normally play Mirkwood after I've put together a new deck to see if there is any clear flaw in the deck, and then go on to Anduin and Gollum. I mostly ignore Dol Guldur because I'm keen to tackle it with a monosphere deck and we're only now getting into the stage where building a 50-card monosphere deck is actually possible. Having said that, i've had an alarmingly high success rate against Anduin and Gollum lately so maybe it's time to bite the bullet and tackle Dol Guldur...

Bohemond said:

letsdance said:

I think Carrock has the easiest begining of any scenario thus far. With the core scenarios, the game is generally won or lost in the first couple of turns. Carrock, with its soft opening and careful pacing as you try and build up resources for a large conflict, without getting too many heroes stuffed into body bags, has an entirely different pace.

I play solo, so I tend to mix and match with the quests quite a bit. I'm trying to find a balanced deck that I can try a Nightmare run with, but some quests are so much harder solo that I might just make my own sequential quest build.

I'm thinking for solo play a good run might be Core Quests 1 and 2 and then Hunt For Gollum.

Core Quest 3 is almost impossible solo and while Carrock isn't impossible playing alone, it's not all that solo-friendly. You really need to start with low threat and build up a huge ally base without tripping 2b, and then have enough snares and Gandalf tricks to take them out quickly before they all attack at once.

But more on topic question: I really enjoy the first two quests. CQ2 is challenging, and CQ1 is easy but a good quick fix for testing new decks. CQ3 looks fun, but until they release more expansion cards to help solo players get through it...idk.

Last Sunday a friend of mine (who also owns the game) and I introduced LotR LCG to two friends of ours who were completely new to the game for a couple of 4-Player-Games (having 3 core sets in total and both expansions twice). We played Mirkwood, Anduin, Gollum and Dol Goldur. Both of the new players liked the game a lot and kept asking for more scenarios to play. Surprinsingly they liked Gollum the least (too much willpower management, too unpredictable due to nasty treachery effects and little fighting) and Dol guldur the most (some pretty fights, objective card mechanics, dodging the Dungeon Jailors ability and the final fight against the Nazgul).

But the real benefit was that all scenarious played differently and this variety constitutes much of the game appeal. But in terms of scaling, Gollum was best as with four players it was much harder than Dol Guldur... Still Dol Guldur seemed to have the most entertainment value for the new players.

I find that Passage Through Mirkwood is very easy and I have yet to fail it. It makes a good introduction scenario. Passage Down the Anduin is about the right difficulty level of the game for my money. It's tough but not impossible. The Dol Guldor scenario is just too tough and I've never managed to complete the first stage whether solo or multiplayer.

As for The Hunt of Gollum (Only picked up Carrock today) I haven't tried it solo yet, but we have failed to do it with 2 or 4 players despite many tries.

Talking about the difficulty levels today with a fellow player, we both agreed that some lower level scenarios are needed, not just the hard ones.