hahahahaha sweet sig.............

Personally, I think this game has a little something for everybody. For instance, if you really want a hard game and challenge everywhere, you can go for solo play. IMO, the couple of games I played solo were really tough, even if you only draw one encounter card. Two players can also be quite a challenge on some quests.

For those who want to kick back and relax, 3 or 4 players is usually more thrilling but easier most of the time. Even an additional encounter card can't compete with 3 more heroes and an additional hand of cards. Plus, you can cooperate, talk strategy, play single ressources deck and really feel like you have a specific and crucial role for the team.

I remember that playing Journey along the Anduin with the core set alone or with two players was quite tough, almost impossible. However, I tried it with three players, and it was a breeze. Granted, the game can sometimes surprise you, but my take it : multiplayer (3 to 4) is more casual, but also more communicative and more fun. You're allowed to make mistakes in building your deck cause other players can pick up the slack. Solo or duo play is more about the challenge, building the best deck possible, managing the different ressource types.

In closing, I like the fact that LOTR has many quests of varying challenge level. I like it once in a while when a coop game kicks my ass...means more replay value for me. Other coop games you end up figuring them out and you can win reliably after a while (example : Shadows over Camelot, or even Arkham Horror). Ok, you can always buy Arkham expansions but they are pricy and they really make the game setup more tedious and the sheer amount of rules you have to remember becomes borderline annoying.

I won't deny the game can be hard, but there's many ways to play it :-)

leptokurt said:

Whenever I read one of his posts, it puts me on edge. Even if there may be some brilliant insight hidden somewhere in his torrent of abuse, I find I totally don't care about it. His posts also show an amazing lack of empathy, so I have to agree with Arathorn299's impression.

He's not quite as bad as Glaurung, but that's not really saying much. I'd put both on ignore if this forum offered that feature.

@ Arathorn:

I had the same problem. I mainly play AGoT but I also liked the prospect of a LCG which can be played solo. LotR seemed a good choice with all the Tolkien richness behind and both the artwork and the cards construction rock.

So, I 've bought the Core set. Lore was the sphere that caught my eye, followed by Tactics. I decided to make a deck with two Lore Heroes and a Tactics one. I picked Denethor as the prime defender (his ability is also perfect), Glorfindel as the prime quester (and additional healer) and Legolas as the prime attacker (and a contributor to questing via his ability). It seemed a solid choice at first. Then, I played the Passage scenario. I lost, though I was still learning the rules and, of course, I didn't mind. I played again and won. Then, I decided to buy the Hunt for Gollum AP for the Songs and the Minstrels to add a splash of Leadership to the deck so as to empower it and make it ready for the challenges ahead. I played Hunt for Gollum and, after a strong start, the adventure started taking its toll. I lost. Soundly. I played again. Lost again. Easily. I tried the Journey scenario from the CS. Lost. Played again. Lost. I started despairing. Probably you still feel that way yourself. I needed something drastic.

So, I bit the bullet and tried Spirit. Let me tell you, it's definitely not only the best sphere for solo questing, but something more. It's godly. I made a deck with Eowyn (quester), Dunhere (attacker) and Denethor (defender). I played the above scenarios. Defeated all. Without much hassle, save, strangely, the "easiest" one, the Passage. I defeated it of course each and every time I played it, but with a worse score that the other two, where I always won with a negative score (I followed the old scoring system).

Then, I decided that the deck can get even stronger. Dunhere is nice, but not very competitive, ceratinly not on par with Eowyn and Denethor. So, I bought Conflict at the Carrock, mainly for Frodo. I ditched Dunhere for Frodo and played all the scenarios at my disposal at that time, save the Dol Guldur one. Won each and every time, save the first time vs the Carrock where I made a terrible mistake and was extremely unlucky at the exact same time. Then, in a flash of insight, I thought that two top-notch defenders (Frodo and Denethor) are overkill in a deck with Spirit as a main sphere. And I replaced Denethor with Beravor.

Oh, God.

Let me tell you, with that deck I absolutely destroyed and still destroy every scenario I play. Passage? Check. Journey? Check. Hunt? Check? Carrock? Check. I recently bought Khazad-Dum and played the three scenarios with that deck. I raped them. Once each, though I played only once each till now. I 'm considering the Nightmare mode, though, with two Will of the West in my deck, I doubt they 'll provide a greater challenge.

I 've yet to play the Dol Guldur scenario, which almost everyone agrees in nigh on impossible for solo play, so I cannot comment on it yet. But let me tell you this: My Spirit / Lore with a splash of Leadership deck with Eowyn / Frodo / Beravor defeats every time the first two CS scenarios and the Hunt and Carrock AP. Most probably, the Khazad-Dum ones as well. I own only a CS, HfG, CatC and Khazad-Dum.

The game may range from very difficult to very easy, depending on the deck you make. If you find yourself constantly losing, try a combination of Spirit and Lore at a 2:1 ratio. It will get easier. Much much easier.

Serazu said:

Yes deck building skill is really important. But problem of this game when you already start to play good, you win all the time! Nightmare can be more easy then normal game cose there is some tricks by Beravur to get very good card in your hand between quests. Me and my friend have couple of decks to win all quests already. What next???? There is no challenge anymore........

So what we do now, we make decks for 2 players game and we use 1 sphere only once.

So if i use spirit my friends cannot use it. And this is quite cool!!! We still win but is not easy and you really need to use your brain to win.Of course we dont play quest less then difficult 6.

And we never use Beravur or Glimly. Or if someone really want use Beravur we limited her ability : once per turn.

@Serazu

Heard that. I have not decided what solo deck I want to construct, I have been having a good time just playing 2 decks at the same time, tactics and spirit. Totally agree that spirit is the bomb at the moment. I have not played any lore decks or lore cards yet, I may mess around with them in the future. I'm getting another core set due to the amount of good cards in there to beef up a player's deck, the AP's don't seem to have the power that the core set has. I played a game once where I started each of my heros with an attachment that costed 2 or less right from the deck, that was fun lol. After all, why would Gimli go into battle without an axe?

though spirit is great, there are quests where you soon find out what the true power is- LORE- just so many good combos- protector of lorien, long beard map maker, denethor, bilbo, beravor, gloin and healing cards, and its still getting stronger, not to mention its key for rhosgobel