Ok - I built a lore/spirit hobbit deck and a tactics/leadership dwarf/eagle deck.

The dwarf deck did what it was supposed to returning covered in blood but successful non-the-less. There was much drinking and rejoicing.

The hobbits with their starting threat of 16 were hoping for a less eventful wander through the forest but boy were they disappointed. Its seems the orcs were having a very noisy picnic in the forest. The poor old hobbits didn't manage to quest successfully during the first 10 or more turns and their threat was rising at an alarming rate until finally they were spotted and attacked by Ufthak and his bodyguards along with 2 big spiders. The silvan rangers managed to hold them at bay and a couple of forest snares meant there was time to counter-attack. Sadly the hummerhorns heard the noise and turned up to investigate next turn along with the Ungoliant spwan as a shadow effect. Suddenly the hobbits were in the open (threat 44) and still no progress on the first quest.

Having forgotten to tie their shoe laces, the hobbits remembered how to make a fast hitch and a well timed greeting from the elves started to turn the tides. Gandalf finally made an appearance and the trackers were making progress too. With only 3 cards left in the encounter deck, the path through the forest was cleared. The hobbits made it out rattled but unscathed.

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The decks were built with 1xCore and all APs. Both games were REALLY enjoyable. The start is hairy, resources and allies are slow to arrive, but you know if you can hang on in, things will get better. I think there is a lot of scope for coming up with different deck types and different hero combinations.

It would be very easy to sprinkle in songs and make the decks very similar in style. This would be a shame, so I suggest you enforce the decks to be 2 sphere, only allowing cards from spheres that match your heroes.

Go for it!

And hopefully I'll have a chance to participate this time.

My last couple of weekends have been too full for much LOTR playing.