So far, I have tried (using the core set only), twice with lore, twice with leadership, once with a spirit and once with tatics. I have lost everytime, with typically being overwhelmed by threat or enemies by the 3rd round and dead by the fifth round.

Is there a way to create a deck with using the core to make it winnable?

Is there some handicap that should be applied when trying solo play?

Thanks

hello

one major tip-make multi sphere decks. that is the only way you are going to win often in solo. you have just too much to do. whereas in mulitplay you can have 1 deck defending and fighting and the other questing and healing etc. here you need to do most, if not all, in 1 deck

i would recommend lore/spirit. this may not seem like a good combo as it lakes the power fighting of tactics, but questing should be easy, and you can run some nice combos to help

things like high card draw (with beravor for instance) and protector of lorien. this allows you to increase you defense or willpower by 1 for each card you discard from your hand (this was errated to be max 3 per card).

so put unexpected courage on a hero, and you have a great quester and defender.

attacking is a little harder, but managable. someone like dunhere is great to hit in staging area, though he is better once you have some APs to get him extra attack stats.

you could even got tri sphere. tactics spirit lore. perhaps thalin to quest and deal 1 damage to enemy revealed, then put unexpected courage and dwarven axe to give him higher attack. then eowyn could quest, then beravor.

alternatively you could go with legolas and 2 blade of gondolins to give you some nice progress combos.

rich

Hi there,

I only have the Core Set too and it can be difficult to get through even the first scenario with starter decks, but it is possible.

The first thing I did after buying the Core Set was to play Passage Through Mirkwood with each starter deck once. I only won with Leadership and Spirit. I found that Leadership gave me enough allies to fend off the enemies while Spirit kept my Threat low enough and put enough Progress tokens down to get through unscathed. With Tactics and Lore, I was quickly bogged down and overwhelmed as you found.

However, you need a little luck with the draw.

Since then, I have experimented with multi-sphere decks as Rich has suggested. I got through with a mixed Spirit and Tactics deck using Eowyn to quest, Gimli to defend and Legolas to attack. However, this deck didn't do so well in Journey Down the Anduin. I had two attempts and I think setting up lasted longer than the actual game!

For my next deck, I am going to combine Leadership and Lore and see how that goes.

There are a lot of options to explore, even in the Core Set, and I think it's a case of seeing what works for you. There is also a good series of articles called Beorn's Path which are aimed at introducing new players to the game. I got some good advice from there and I would recommend having a look.

I hope you enjoy the game!

thanks,

Ok, I will try the multisphere... it makes sense to go heavier on Questing as that its the only way to progress in the game. I typically tried to heavy on questing (2 out of 3 heros would quest) but then that left me wide open for enemy attacks(much harder to defend/defeat the enemy).

I did get the furthest with Leadership as that I was able to use the allies for defending. They died every round, but there were enough allies to restock the ranks....for a while anyway!

It seems unbalanced when enemy card get pulled during the questing phase. Typically that card gets to "Quest" against me and also "Attacks" in the same round, whereas a typical character does not.

Also, the Encounter cards for this scenario don't seem to be a "level 1 difficulty" as the rules suggest.

I've haven't been able to recover from "Caught in a web", "Uglidoing, spider", those bees that automatically cause 5 damage to a hero.., etc.. hah maybe i just suck!

If I keep losing, I think I will turn off the "shadow cards" and if that doesn't work..start with extra resources or something!
thanx!

Perhaps you can try the "Easy Mode" first: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/lotr-lcg/support/easy-mode/LOTR_Easy_Mode.pdf

It's possible to beat the first quest using any of the four starter decks (although some decks struggle more than others). This quest has a couple of soft locations, which makes life easier for you, and you don't need to accrue tons of progress tokens (like you do in Journey Along the Anduin).

Before I started making decks (which is a frustrating exercise with just the one core set), I played all four of the starter decks until I could beat the first quest with them. This gives you the best idea of how to play each of the spheres, as well as the cards you want to keep and those you want to cut when you start building decks. Using limited cards forces you to develop strategies to deal with particular quest issues (such as how to beat very hardy enemies, how to rapidly progress through a quest, when to travel, when to optionally engage, what to do with Gandalf, etc). You will also begin to see synergies between cards, so you can squeeze the most value from your deck.

To start with, it's probably best to use leadership. Try to build up a swarm of allies, before surging with Faramir. Most of your event cards are better with multiple allies in play, so prioritising allies helps you get the most value from your events. Both of your attachments are excellent, and are probably worth playing as soon as you draw them. Keep in mind that Celebrian's Stone works no better on Aragorn than it does on Theodred, who will probably commit to the quest every round.

Hope that helps.

Whitman

Hey all,

I am having the same issues as the OP. I was posting about my woe's on cardgamedb just earlier today. While I don't have much to add (as I am 0 and 4 against it still) I would say that I can see the need for balance in this quest. I've lost several times by being too combat oriented or too leadership oriented.

I've also heard that this game is crushingly difficult solo. Odd though isn't it? This game spanks me every time yet I am addicted and keep coming back for more!

Hey Fens

If you're playing with leadership, here's a rough guide to your first turn...

Look to get some willpower on the table early. Your main way to do this is allies, but you also have Celebrian's Stone. If you have no willpower in hand, what do you have? Most of your events are ally-hungry, so you want allies. Steward of Gondor is awesome, but it doesn't win the game by itself. Your deck needs allies on the table, so if you're running short, don't be afraid to mulligan to find them.

You'll be looking at something like 5 threat in your staging area (Forest Spider, Old Forest Road and 1 other card). Your heroes generate exactly 5 willpower, so commit all of them. Then, ready Aragorn. This should prevent you from taking a threat hit in the first round. Travel to Old Forest Road and ready Gloin. You now have at least two characters to deal with the Forest Spider. If you take the hit undefended, you can kill the spider this round. Or you can defend the hit with Gloin (for resources) and hit back with Aragorn. Or you can take a couple of hits (if you drew a second enemy).

This done, you will either have a nasty enemy in the staging area, a less scary enemy in your engagement area, a location in the staging area, or a treachery card in the discard. After this, you will be drawing 1 encounter card per round for most of the rest of the quest. If you can take care of 1 card per round, you should be able to finish the quest in a timely fashion.

Hope that helps.

Whitman

Another important thing for beginner players is to remember that once you are engaged with an enemy, that enemy doesn't count its threat anymore when you quest.

It's near impossible to solo your way through the quests with just one sphere, and that's true no matter how much you own. You have to be able to quest, attack, defend, and heal (sometimes).

For Passage, I recommend starting with this:

Heroes

Aragorn

Eowyn

Theodred

Allies

Snowborn Scout x3

Faramir x2

Son of Arnor x2

Northern Tracker x2

Gandalf x3

Lothlorien Scout x2

Events

Sneak Attack x2

Galadrin's Greeting x2

Test of Will x2

Hasty Stroke x2

Attachments

Celebrian Stone x1

Unexpected Courage x1

Dwarven Tomb x1

Then fill out with whatever you have to in order to get to 50 cards. It's still an uphill battle and your threat is high. You also have to rely on your heroes to do almost everything. There's no way to reduce damage or heal with this set-up, so you just have to rely mostly on luck to carry you. But it's your best chance unless you drop Theodred and run Denethor, which means adding allies, attachments, and events from a third color. Good luck!

I'm having some similar problems myself although I own more than just the core set. I have one core set plus an extra lore and leadership collection from the core set that I bought on ebay (so essentially one and a half core sets), khazad-dum, both hobbit expansions and the first four adventure packs from the mirkwood cycle. My son and I both play sometimes so the cards have to spread out amongst two players but I tried solo the other day using monosphere spirit and got overwhelmed with enemies then I tried monosphere tactics and got overwhelmed with locations and threat. Is it just impossible to play monosphere solo in this game unless you have every set and two complete core sets or should I just start on easy mode until I learn how to play a little better? Thanks

I'm having some similar problems myself although I own more than just the core set. I have one core set plus an extra lore and leadership collection from the core set that I bought on ebay (so essentially one and a half core sets), khazad-dum, both hobbit expansions and the first four adventure packs from the mirkwood cycle. My son and I both play sometimes so the cards have to spread out amongst two players but I tried solo the other day using monosphere spirit and got overwhelmed with enemies then I tried monosphere tactics and got overwhelmed with locations and threat. Is it just impossible to play monosphere solo in this game unless you have every set and two complete core sets or should I just start on easy mode until I learn how to play a little better? Thanks

It's not impossible -- I've solo'd the first quest with all of the starter decks (although I suspect Journey Along the Anduin and Escape from Dol Guldur would be too hard to be enjoyable with these decks). However, as you've discovered, the encounter deck can punish the starter decks pretty hard. We've all played those games when you draw all enemies or all locations, but you can take heart from the fact that these games should be in the minority. Statistically, the encounter deck is bound to get the "nut draw" sometimes.

Another important thing for beginner players is to remember that once you are engaged with an enemy, that enemy doesn't count its threat anymore when you quest.

Is this actually true?

Another important thing for beginner players is to remember that once you are engaged with an enemy, that enemy doesn't count its threat anymore when you quest.

Is this actually true?

yes, it is

Whoa played almost month and didnt know XD

Whoa played almost month and didnt know XD

I did the same thing! The active location also doesn't count it's threat. Forest snare was really my friend when I played with just the core set!