I'm trying 2-handed solo for the first time. I'ver never played coop so there is a bit of a learing curve.

I have some questions, which seem a bit basic, but which should have easy answers:

1) Can Daughter of the Nimrodel heal heroes belonging to the other player? In general can players perfom actions on each other's characters, unless there is a keyword "your"?

2) Similarly, if Theodred quests, can he put a resource token on one of the other player's questers?

3) Can one player play attachments on another player's characters?

Thanks!

Yes yes and yes. The best thing to do is just read the cards literally -- "choose a hero" means any hero on the table. "Choose a hero you control" limits that card to your own heroes. And so forth. Attachments can target any eligible character regardless of the player they belong to.

What you've got to remember, though, is that there is still a definite turn order.

-In the planning phase, the first player plays his attachments/allies, then the next player, and so on. That has implications if you're playing attachments on one another. For example, if player 2 puts Steward of Gondor on player 1, it's too late for player 1 to play additional allies/attachments with the extra money he can get on that turn. Gotta wait til next turn.

-Theodred can put money on any questing hero, regardless of who that hero belongs to. But player 1 chooses questing characters first, then player 2. So if the hand with Theodred is currently the First Player, he won't be able to put any cash on the other hand's heroes.

And so on and so forth. Implications abound for the Encounter phase, for dealing Shadow cards in the proper order, etc.

Thanks. I get the feeling I will create lots of blunders as I learn 2-handed play. How long does it usually take to get used to it (once you know 1-handed solo pretty well)?

Okay, I won the first scenario. It was pretty easy. It helped that I was able to heal any of the 6 heroes. This let one "player" fight while the other heals.

My heroes were:

- Theodred, Aragorn, Bilbo
- Eowyn, Dunhere, Thalin

I was going to write down what each hero ended up doing, except by now everyone pretty much knows their roles. Bilbo twiddled his thumbs, though. I was afraid to quest with him until I got my healer out, which was pretty late in the game. I love the second card draw, but I wish he had something else to do.

I didn't do any ranged attacks or defence, mostly because I forgot. Just to clarify: Ranged means a character can attack enemies engaged to the other player, and Sentinel means a character can defend against enemies engaged to the other player, correct? Ranged seems the more useful of the two, since it seems the only time you need to defend another player (using a Sentinel) is if that player is in a jam, either from engaging too many enemies involuntarily (if the player's threat is higher than yours) or due to a exhausted/eliminated defenders. Ranged, on the other hand, can be used if you have already dealt with your own enemies. It seems like you use Ranged if things are going well, and Sentinel if things are going poorly. In general, of course.

Anyway, playing 2-handed was pretty fun, though slow, since I was trying to figure out the timing and who-can-play-what-on-whom rules. One thing that was a bit of a downer is the amount of space it required. I need a bigger table!

I am curious to see people's recommended 2-deck layouts. What is the most efficient way to organize the two "players'" hands?

I am curious to see people's recommended 2-deck layouts. What is the most efficient way to organize the two "players'" hands?

The simple way is the best way ! so just build a combat deck (sentinel and range are important) and a questing deck .I dont give u more info cause the deck building is 50% of the fun so have fun bro !

Yeah, sentinel and ranged are great for divide-and-conquer tactics. Frequently an enemy will come out during Questing, and we'll find that one player has enough power to destroy it, but not if they have to defend as well. Enter Sentinel. Move that enemy to the player with more combat power, have the other player defend with a Sentinel character, and wallah, no more enemy.

I can't speak as to how long it takes to get used to 2-handed play, as I actually play with 2 players. I imagine there would be lots of unintentional mistakes with 2-handers at first, mostly because one forgets to observe the turn order (as I mentioned above).

And we tend to play 1 player with a dwarf lore/leadership deck, and the other player with tactics/spirit loaded with dwarves and eagles, tailored to the quest.

I just wanted to add something about attachments that can be easily overlooked for new players. You can't have more than two restricted attachments on a single hero. So, if you attach a third restricted attachment to a hero, one of the other two (that you control) must be removed and discarded.

tripecac said:

Lol, I told ya about the BIG TABLE.

To make better use of Bilbo you could give im PoL and BB, some Fast Hitches and make him a defense machine.

Gunny_J said:

I have a question about this. Can you choose to attach a restricted attachment to a hero who already has 2 restricted attachments, or are you prohibited from doing so in the first place? The manual says "if a third restricted attachment is ever attached to the character…" I interpreted that to mean if a restricted attachment was forcibly attached to a character (through an encounter card effect). I've played it as if you are not allowed to attach a third restricted attachment. Currently there are no encounter cards that say "Restricted," but I figured they were laying groundwork for the future.

GrandSpleen said:

You are able to attach a third attachment, but you have to discard one of the other two.

Note that when they say "ever attached" it includes all scenarios in which a third restricted attachment is attached - and that includes attachments that come from your player deck. Or in other words - if they don't mention a restrictionspecifically in a rule (like: "if a character already has two attachments, the players are not allowed to attach a third one") and it isn't covered by other rules - well, then it s allowed.

Gotcha. Thanks!

Both of the LotR LCG blogs' most recent posts address the issue of 2-deck design!

http://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/a-guide-to-playing-two-handed/

http://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/beorns-path-part-5-building-a-second-core-set-deck/

Happy reading!