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Product Description
From the Manufacturer
"An ancient evil stirs in the black lands of Mordor, and the people of Middle-earth speak of a terrible doom approaching from the east. The only hope lies in a heroic few who must work together to stem the tide of evil...Forge new legends in Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game! Gather your friends and together take on the forces of shadow. As the first cooperative Living Card Game, The Lord of the Rings puts 1-2 players (or up to four with two Core Sets!) in control of the most powerful characters and artifacts of Middleearth. Players will select heroes, gather allies, acquire artifacts, and coordinate their efforts to face Middle-earth’s most dangerous fiends. Following the Living Card Game format, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game will be expanded by monthly Adventure packs that will expand player card pools while introducing new challenging scenarios for the players to undertake."
Product Description
"An ancient evil stirs in the black lands of Mordor, and the people of Middle-earth speak of a terrible doom approaching from the east. The only hope lies in a heroic few who must work together to stem the tide of evil...Forge new legends in Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game! Gather your friends and together take on the forces of shadow. As the first cooperative Living Card Game, The Lord of the Rings puts 1-2 players (or up to four with two Core Sets!) in control of the most powerful characters and artifacts of Middleearth. Players will select heroes, gather allies, acquire artifacts, and coordinate their efforts to face Middle-earth's most dangerous fiends. Following the Living Card Game format, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game will be expanded by monthly Adventure packs that will expand player card pools while introducing new challenging scenarios for the players to undertake."
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
148 of 153 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
* So what exactly is this game?
The Lord of the Rings: The Card game is the latest LCG (Living Card Game), to be released by the publisher Fantasy Flight Games, as of April 20th, 2011. This game can be played by up to 2-4 players cooperatively, but also makes for a satisfying solitaire experience if you don't have any friends handy, would like to experiment with deck construction, or simply opt to play alone. This product is the very first release in this exciting new series, and represents the base game that will be required to play any of the future expansions currently planned for development and release on an approximately monthly basis.
NOTE: If you are planning on playing this game exclusively alone, you should keep in mind that only the first of the three scenarios included within this box set is generally considered by the fanbase to be properly balanced for one player, and that from my personal experience, I think that this game seems to provide the best balance between challenge and sheer entertainment value when played with two players. With each player beyond the first, the general consensus seems to be that the game becomes less difficult overall, although it nevertheless remains a challenge throughout.
* What does this Core set come with?
The Lord of the Rings LCG Core set comes with 226 cards, separated into three different types of decks:
1) The Player Decks (of which there are four included in this Core set), are composed of a total of 116 cards from 4 different "Spheres of Influence," or factions (think colors of Mana, a la Magic: the Gathering). Also included are 4 copies of one Character card not belonging to any specific "Sphere" or faction, and when put together, 29 "Sphere" cards + 1 neutral card = 30 cards in each of the 4 pre-constructed Player Decks. These decks, regardless of "Sphere," are all composed of Allies (supporting characters), Attachments (weapons, items, or character enhancements), and Events (one-time effects and interrupts). These, along with 12 unique Hero cards (3 per Sphere), make up the pool of cards that players can draw from and use to construct any deck they would like to design to play in whatever game scenario they decide to pit themselves against. Each of the different Spheres of Influence can be mixed or matched with one another at each player's preference, and each Sphere of Influence has its own strong and weak points, working most effectively when paired with other Spheres that complement its strengths and compensate for its weaknesses. The four Spheres and some (not all), of their strong points are: Tactics (focused on offensive combat, damage avoidance and assisting other players with their own attacks), Leadership (with a focus on defensive combat, protecting other players, character buffs and resource generation), Spirit (focused on location exploration, cancellation effects, quest completion and Threat reduction), and Lore (with a focus on healing, card draw, Enemy control and Threat mitigation).
2) The Encounter Decks, which represent the "opponent" mechanism that the players are set against in each scenario, are made up of a total of 84 cards divided among several different card types, namely Enemies (monsters and evil characters), Treacheries (instant, punishing effects), and Locations (cards that have detrimental effects until discarded through the process of exploration). These cards are all grouped into seven different themed "Encounter Sets," for example, "Orcs of Dol Guldur," or "Spiders of Mirkwood." For each of the three playable scenarios that are included within the Core set, a different combination of these Encounter Sets is specified to be used to compose each quest's unique Encounter Deck. To illustrate this concept, while players do not encounter any "Spiders of Mirkwood" cards in the Journey Down the Anduin scenario, they will face them in the Passage Through Mirkwood quest, whereas cards from the "Orcs of Dol Guldur" Encounter Set will see use in both of these scenarios. I think that this is a very imaginative way to make each individual scenario a distinct, unique experience that nevertheless fits with all of the others. Though all three quests are initially set up in a very precise, specific way at the start of each game, there is always an unpredictable element in regard to which Encounter cards will be drawn and revealed for the players to contend with (and when), during each game. Additionally, during combat, each Enemy is dealt a card at random from the Encounter Deck which, when revealed, may have no effect whatsoever (if the players are lucky), but nevertheless has a fair chance to either somehow empower the Enemy or otherwise harm the players. This "shadow effect" can take a variety of forms, but often significantly bolsters an Enemy's attack strength or either triggers some other undesirable effect that could result in an unfavorable, unpredicted, punishing outcome and potentially turn the tide of the game against the players. This element of unpredictability adds a level of strategy to the game that I find extraordinarily engaging, and prevents combat and gameplay from ever becoming stale, predictable or overly simple, making sure that the players treat even the weakest adversaries at times with great caution, lest they be unpleasantly surprised and suffer unexpected losses or other adverse effects.
3) The Quest Decks (of which there are three included in this Core set), are composed of a total of 10 double-sided, sequential cards that lead the players through each of the three unique scenarios and specify different events that occur in each of the different phases of every quest. For example, upon completion of the first phase of a scenario and immediately revealing the next quest card in sequence, this new card may require the players to search the Encounter Deck and put a particular Enemy or Location into play, or instead introduce an unfavorable modification to the normal game rules until that quest phase is completed. Each new quest card also specifies novel objectives for continuing to progress toward eventually winning the scenario, and the final card of every Quest Deck always explains the unique conditions of victory for that game (which can sometimes vary even within the same scenario, due to branching paths of progression).
Additionally, every Core set also comes with a multitude of high quality cardboard tokens to represent 1) damage inflicted upon Characters and Enemies, 2) progress made toward completing quests or exploring locations, and 3) the resources available to every player's Heroes, which are used to play Allies, Events, and Attachments that match that Heroes' Sphere of Influence icon (or neutral cards). Further, this set includes one large "First Player Token" to signify which player acts first in each phase (which rotates clockwise after every full game round has passed), and also comes with two very handsome "Threat Dials" for players to keep track of their current level of "Threat" in a more dignified way than simply writing numbers on a piece of paper or tediously changing numbers on a pair of dice. This concept of "Threat" serves a variety of different purposes in the game, and although it primarily exists as something that players cannot help but to accumulate, it is a value that they nevertheless strive to reduce and minimize. First and foremost, during any scenario, if a player's Threat level ever reaches a certain value (50), that player is immediately eliminated from the game. Secondly, this unique mechanic also determines whether players have the option of choosing if and when to engage opposing Enemies in combat, or if they will instead have battle forced upon them, whether they are prepared to handle the onslaught or not. For example, if players want to bide their time to better outfit their Characters before contending with any Enemies, they may want to delay combat for several rounds while they prepare; however, if their Threat climbs high enough, they will be left with no choice but to confront their foes immediately, as each Enemy has an "engagement threshold" for attacking the players that, when met, means it is forced to enter combat with the offending player as soon as possible. Finally, as a third function, keeping track of Threat also serves to give the players a "score" upon winning a scenario so that they can attempt to either compare their performance between successive plays of the same quest, or the relative efficacy of different decks at completing the same scenario.
* So what does the game actually play like?
At the beginning of every game, each player selects 1-3 Heroes, and then constructs a deck of 50 or more cards made up of the Attachments, Allies and Event cards of their choice corresponding to the Sphere of Influence icons that match those of the Heroes that they decided to use. Every Hero has a different starting level of Threat that is added to its controller's Threat Dial at the beginning of each game, and this usually means that the player that selected the strongest Heroes to play with also begins with the highest level of Threat; as a result, this player must typically contend with the most attention and harassment from the Encounter Deck, which can be painfully unmerciful at times. Read more ›
The Lord of the Rings: The Card game is the latest LCG (Living Card Game), to be released by the publisher Fantasy Flight Games, as of April 20th, 2011. This game can be played by up to 2-4 players cooperatively, but also makes for a satisfying solitaire experience if you don't have any friends handy, would like to experiment with deck construction, or simply opt to play alone. This product is the very first release in this exciting new series, and represents the base game that will be required to play any of the future expansions currently planned for development and release on an approximately monthly basis.
NOTE: If you are planning on playing this game exclusively alone, you should keep in mind that only the first of the three scenarios included within this box set is generally considered by the fanbase to be properly balanced for one player, and that from my personal experience, I think that this game seems to provide the best balance between challenge and sheer entertainment value when played with two players. With each player beyond the first, the general consensus seems to be that the game becomes less difficult overall, although it nevertheless remains a challenge throughout.
* What does this Core set come with?
The Lord of the Rings LCG Core set comes with 226 cards, separated into three different types of decks:
1) The Player Decks (of which there are four included in this Core set), are composed of a total of 116 cards from 4 different "Spheres of Influence," or factions (think colors of Mana, a la Magic: the Gathering). Also included are 4 copies of one Character card not belonging to any specific "Sphere" or faction, and when put together, 29 "Sphere" cards + 1 neutral card = 30 cards in each of the 4 pre-constructed Player Decks. These decks, regardless of "Sphere," are all composed of Allies (supporting characters), Attachments (weapons, items, or character enhancements), and Events (one-time effects and interrupts). These, along with 12 unique Hero cards (3 per Sphere), make up the pool of cards that players can draw from and use to construct any deck they would like to design to play in whatever game scenario they decide to pit themselves against. Each of the different Spheres of Influence can be mixed or matched with one another at each player's preference, and each Sphere of Influence has its own strong and weak points, working most effectively when paired with other Spheres that complement its strengths and compensate for its weaknesses. The four Spheres and some (not all), of their strong points are: Tactics (focused on offensive combat, damage avoidance and assisting other players with their own attacks), Leadership (with a focus on defensive combat, protecting other players, character buffs and resource generation), Spirit (focused on location exploration, cancellation effects, quest completion and Threat reduction), and Lore (with a focus on healing, card draw, Enemy control and Threat mitigation).
2) The Encounter Decks, which represent the "opponent" mechanism that the players are set against in each scenario, are made up of a total of 84 cards divided among several different card types, namely Enemies (monsters and evil characters), Treacheries (instant, punishing effects), and Locations (cards that have detrimental effects until discarded through the process of exploration). These cards are all grouped into seven different themed "Encounter Sets," for example, "Orcs of Dol Guldur," or "Spiders of Mirkwood." For each of the three playable scenarios that are included within the Core set, a different combination of these Encounter Sets is specified to be used to compose each quest's unique Encounter Deck. To illustrate this concept, while players do not encounter any "Spiders of Mirkwood" cards in the Journey Down the Anduin scenario, they will face them in the Passage Through Mirkwood quest, whereas cards from the "Orcs of Dol Guldur" Encounter Set will see use in both of these scenarios. I think that this is a very imaginative way to make each individual scenario a distinct, unique experience that nevertheless fits with all of the others. Though all three quests are initially set up in a very precise, specific way at the start of each game, there is always an unpredictable element in regard to which Encounter cards will be drawn and revealed for the players to contend with (and when), during each game. Additionally, during combat, each Enemy is dealt a card at random from the Encounter Deck which, when revealed, may have no effect whatsoever (if the players are lucky), but nevertheless has a fair chance to either somehow empower the Enemy or otherwise harm the players. This "shadow effect" can take a variety of forms, but often significantly bolsters an Enemy's attack strength or either triggers some other undesirable effect that could result in an unfavorable, unpredicted, punishing outcome and potentially turn the tide of the game against the players. This element of unpredictability adds a level of strategy to the game that I find extraordinarily engaging, and prevents combat and gameplay from ever becoming stale, predictable or overly simple, making sure that the players treat even the weakest adversaries at times with great caution, lest they be unpleasantly surprised and suffer unexpected losses or other adverse effects.
3) The Quest Decks (of which there are three included in this Core set), are composed of a total of 10 double-sided, sequential cards that lead the players through each of the three unique scenarios and specify different events that occur in each of the different phases of every quest. For example, upon completion of the first phase of a scenario and immediately revealing the next quest card in sequence, this new card may require the players to search the Encounter Deck and put a particular Enemy or Location into play, or instead introduce an unfavorable modification to the normal game rules until that quest phase is completed. Each new quest card also specifies novel objectives for continuing to progress toward eventually winning the scenario, and the final card of every Quest Deck always explains the unique conditions of victory for that game (which can sometimes vary even within the same scenario, due to branching paths of progression).
Additionally, every Core set also comes with a multitude of high quality cardboard tokens to represent 1) damage inflicted upon Characters and Enemies, 2) progress made toward completing quests or exploring locations, and 3) the resources available to every player's Heroes, which are used to play Allies, Events, and Attachments that match that Heroes' Sphere of Influence icon (or neutral cards). Further, this set includes one large "First Player Token" to signify which player acts first in each phase (which rotates clockwise after every full game round has passed), and also comes with two very handsome "Threat Dials" for players to keep track of their current level of "Threat" in a more dignified way than simply writing numbers on a piece of paper or tediously changing numbers on a pair of dice. This concept of "Threat" serves a variety of different purposes in the game, and although it primarily exists as something that players cannot help but to accumulate, it is a value that they nevertheless strive to reduce and minimize. First and foremost, during any scenario, if a player's Threat level ever reaches a certain value (50), that player is immediately eliminated from the game. Secondly, this unique mechanic also determines whether players have the option of choosing if and when to engage opposing Enemies in combat, or if they will instead have battle forced upon them, whether they are prepared to handle the onslaught or not. For example, if players want to bide their time to better outfit their Characters before contending with any Enemies, they may want to delay combat for several rounds while they prepare; however, if their Threat climbs high enough, they will be left with no choice but to confront their foes immediately, as each Enemy has an "engagement threshold" for attacking the players that, when met, means it is forced to enter combat with the offending player as soon as possible. Finally, as a third function, keeping track of Threat also serves to give the players a "score" upon winning a scenario so that they can attempt to either compare their performance between successive plays of the same quest, or the relative efficacy of different decks at completing the same scenario.
* So what does the game actually play like?
At the beginning of every game, each player selects 1-3 Heroes, and then constructs a deck of 50 or more cards made up of the Attachments, Allies and Event cards of their choice corresponding to the Sphere of Influence icons that match those of the Heroes that they decided to use. Every Hero has a different starting level of Threat that is added to its controller's Threat Dial at the beginning of each game, and this usually means that the player that selected the strongest Heroes to play with also begins with the highest level of Threat; as a result, this player must typically contend with the most attention and harassment from the Encounter Deck, which can be painfully unmerciful at times. Read more ›
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pros:
- High quality cards and components. Like most FFG games, the cards are well made and the art is fantastic.
- Box says 1-2 players, but you can unofficially play up to 4 players with just 1 core set, it works fine, but you will be playing with just the pre-constructed decks
- Has a solo play option if you can't find someone to play with, or want to test a new deck idea
- Is Wife/Girlfriend compatible. As a co-operative game, many people have reported that they can get their wife/girlfriend to play with them, while they cannot get them to play a competitive card game like Warhammer Invasion Core Set or MTG. This is the primary reason I bought it, and on that count, it delivers.
- Playable out of the box (1 of the pre-constructed decks is really, really bad solo though). You could buy this game, and nothing else, and still get many hours of entertainment out of it for 2-4 players. I can't imagine a single core set holding a person's interest for *that* long if they are only playing solo.
- 2 player game is well balanced in terms of difficulty
- Because it is co-op, its a good introduction to TCG/CCG/LCGs.
- Has a scoring system, so you can compare your score on a quest to other people, or your previous score.
Cons:
- Limited deck construction choices with 1 core set (or even 2), but this will be fixed as more expansion packs are released
- The solo game can be disproportionately hard. The 3rd quest is virtually unbeatable (solo) with a single core set. Few players with 2 core sets have even been able to beat it, and winning it currently relies on a lot of luck (the 3rd quest is ranked a 7 in difficulty, and is the hardest in the core set).
- Difficulty can be very random. All card games have good and bad draws, but some of the mechanics in this game are set up so that very strong cards can have no effect at all, just by chance. The number of times this happens to you in a single game makes a huge difference in difficulty. There are also a few cards that help you control this, making the "odds" tilt more in your favor. Perhaps future cards will help it seem less random.
- Game difficulty scales very poorly with more players. 3 and 4 player games are very easy (luckily, there are some very easy "house rules" you can add to make it more of a challenge for yourself).
- Rules are somewhat complicated compared to more mainstream card games, such as Dominion, Thunderstone (AEG) Board Game, etc. This is not really a con, its just something to be aware of if you are new to this type of game. Rules have a few things that are unclear, but the next FAQ will probably clear most of them up.
- Scoring system is kind of simple, and decks have already been created that will get a "perfect" score if you are willing to play long enough.
- High quality cards and components. Like most FFG games, the cards are well made and the art is fantastic.
- Box says 1-2 players, but you can unofficially play up to 4 players with just 1 core set, it works fine, but you will be playing with just the pre-constructed decks
- Has a solo play option if you can't find someone to play with, or want to test a new deck idea
- Is Wife/Girlfriend compatible. As a co-operative game, many people have reported that they can get their wife/girlfriend to play with them, while they cannot get them to play a competitive card game like Warhammer Invasion Core Set or MTG. This is the primary reason I bought it, and on that count, it delivers.
- Playable out of the box (1 of the pre-constructed decks is really, really bad solo though). You could buy this game, and nothing else, and still get many hours of entertainment out of it for 2-4 players. I can't imagine a single core set holding a person's interest for *that* long if they are only playing solo.
- 2 player game is well balanced in terms of difficulty
- Because it is co-op, its a good introduction to TCG/CCG/LCGs.
- Has a scoring system, so you can compare your score on a quest to other people, or your previous score.
Cons:
- Limited deck construction choices with 1 core set (or even 2), but this will be fixed as more expansion packs are released
- The solo game can be disproportionately hard. The 3rd quest is virtually unbeatable (solo) with a single core set. Few players with 2 core sets have even been able to beat it, and winning it currently relies on a lot of luck (the 3rd quest is ranked a 7 in difficulty, and is the hardest in the core set).
- Difficulty can be very random. All card games have good and bad draws, but some of the mechanics in this game are set up so that very strong cards can have no effect at all, just by chance. The number of times this happens to you in a single game makes a huge difference in difficulty. There are also a few cards that help you control this, making the "odds" tilt more in your favor. Perhaps future cards will help it seem less random.
- Game difficulty scales very poorly with more players. 3 and 4 player games are very easy (luckily, there are some very easy "house rules" you can add to make it more of a challenge for yourself).
- Rules are somewhat complicated compared to more mainstream card games, such as Dominion, Thunderstone (AEG) Board Game, etc. This is not really a con, its just something to be aware of if you are new to this type of game. Rules have a few things that are unclear, but the next FAQ will probably clear most of them up.
- Scoring system is kind of simple, and decks have already been created that will get a "perfect" score if you are willing to play long enough.
37 of 46 people found the following review helpful
By J. Hammel
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Educational:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
**ORIGINAL REVIEW (5/28/11)**: If I were rating the game itself, I would've given it 4 stars minimum. However, rating the core set from the perspective of a standalone product, I (reluctantly) can't give it more than 3 stars. I don't feel that what is contained in the core product is sufficient for long term enjoyment of the game. Allow me to elaborate.
Per the rulebook, if you are going to create a custom deck (a tournament legal one anyways), it has to be a *minimum* of 50 cards with no more than 3 copies of each card. What you get in this box is 4 starter decks with approximately 30 cards each. I'm not implying a deck need be tournament legal for casual play or to be enjoyable, but you'll have a difficult time dealing with the harder scenarios "as is". The reason you need a second core set for 3-4 players is becuase Fantasy Flight knows that the 30 card decks alone aren't going to cut it against harder scenarios. (You can, however, use the starter decks against the Mirkwood scenario quite easily, though players 3 and 4 will need to find another way to track their threat.)
While it is possible to mix two starter decks together of different themes, it becomes impractical to do so. You really need a second copy of the same deck (and therefore a second copy of the core set) to get cards you really want to play with in sufficient number. You can never start with more than 3 heroes (and so if you are playing with a mixed bag, you can never have anything other than a 2/1 split or an even more impractical 1/1/1 split) and since you can't play additional heros later (generally speaking, though there are events that let you play them from your discard pile), if you happen to lose your only hero of a certain resource, you can't play any card in your hand of that resource type for the rest of the game. This limitation of resource generation and consequently deck building, I feel, is a flaw of the mechanics itself which is why I wouldn't rate this a 5 star game, even if I were reviewing the game rather than the Core set product.
While I do think this game will improve over time, particularly if they address the difficulty in blending your spheres of influence for deck building (or at the very least giving all sphere types availability to cards that allow you to replay heroes), right now I believe it is enough to hinder the single Core set owner from really enjoying the game as much as he or she should be able to. I would've liked to have seen more robust starter decks (why do I need 4 starter decks in a Core set only intended for two people?) or at the very least suggested deck variations for advanced play. As it stands, you're going to have a hard time playing the middle difficulty scenario with 2 players rocking starter decks and you may as well forget the hardest scenario, while the simplest scenario is a cake-walk and isn't really very engaging for more than a play or two just starting out. (Seriously, the difficulty jump from Mirkwood to Anduin is kind of ridiculous.)
If you're planning on playing the game, I suggest trying it first, if possible, to see if you enjoy it, and then expect to pony up enough $$ for a second Core set. And even though this isn't a TCG, you're going to have to build some comfort with deck building. I like the game, I think it's fun, but I can't rate what I feel is an incomplete product higher than 3 stars. And by incomplete product, I mean, I feel that you are not given the resources required for 2 players to adequately complete the 3 scenarios supplied.
**UPDATE (7/24/11)**: After a few more weeks of playing this game, I've decided I don't like it very much. Even after buying the second Core set, I am finding deck building to be a chore. As I am attempting to stick to the prescribed 50 card decks with only 3 copies of each card, I find I can really only make two decks that are worth a da**. Even if you wanted to just make a mono sphere deck, you have to buy 2 Core sets for 2 copies of the 30 card starter decks and even then, you have so many garbage cards that are already at the 3 max, you really still can't make a deck that abides by FFG's own rules. And tying resource generation to heroes is an awful mechanic that has led to so many NPE (negative player experiences) that I am now stuck with 2 Core sets and the first expansion that nobody in the gaming group (myself included) really wants to ever play again. The Gollum expansion was highly disappointing, but I'll save that for another review.
The purpose of the LCGs was to move past the expensive hobbies of CCGs while retaining some of that flexibility of deck building and enjoyment of that style of gameplay. I feel LOTR isn't really significantly cheaper to get into (the power gamers that would spend a lot on, say, Magic are likely the ones that would buy 3+ Core Sets) and while in theory the mechanics seem solid, there a few aspects of the gameplay that make it notably inferior to other gaming experiences out there. This could have been so much better. As a fan of the book, movies and Decipher's LOTR TCG years ago, I really was looking forward to new and innovative adventures into Middle Earth but this really doesn't deliver.
Per the rulebook, if you are going to create a custom deck (a tournament legal one anyways), it has to be a *minimum* of 50 cards with no more than 3 copies of each card. What you get in this box is 4 starter decks with approximately 30 cards each. I'm not implying a deck need be tournament legal for casual play or to be enjoyable, but you'll have a difficult time dealing with the harder scenarios "as is". The reason you need a second core set for 3-4 players is becuase Fantasy Flight knows that the 30 card decks alone aren't going to cut it against harder scenarios. (You can, however, use the starter decks against the Mirkwood scenario quite easily, though players 3 and 4 will need to find another way to track their threat.)
While it is possible to mix two starter decks together of different themes, it becomes impractical to do so. You really need a second copy of the same deck (and therefore a second copy of the core set) to get cards you really want to play with in sufficient number. You can never start with more than 3 heroes (and so if you are playing with a mixed bag, you can never have anything other than a 2/1 split or an even more impractical 1/1/1 split) and since you can't play additional heros later (generally speaking, though there are events that let you play them from your discard pile), if you happen to lose your only hero of a certain resource, you can't play any card in your hand of that resource type for the rest of the game. This limitation of resource generation and consequently deck building, I feel, is a flaw of the mechanics itself which is why I wouldn't rate this a 5 star game, even if I were reviewing the game rather than the Core set product.
While I do think this game will improve over time, particularly if they address the difficulty in blending your spheres of influence for deck building (or at the very least giving all sphere types availability to cards that allow you to replay heroes), right now I believe it is enough to hinder the single Core set owner from really enjoying the game as much as he or she should be able to. I would've liked to have seen more robust starter decks (why do I need 4 starter decks in a Core set only intended for two people?) or at the very least suggested deck variations for advanced play. As it stands, you're going to have a hard time playing the middle difficulty scenario with 2 players rocking starter decks and you may as well forget the hardest scenario, while the simplest scenario is a cake-walk and isn't really very engaging for more than a play or two just starting out. (Seriously, the difficulty jump from Mirkwood to Anduin is kind of ridiculous.)
If you're planning on playing the game, I suggest trying it first, if possible, to see if you enjoy it, and then expect to pony up enough $$ for a second Core set. And even though this isn't a TCG, you're going to have to build some comfort with deck building. I like the game, I think it's fun, but I can't rate what I feel is an incomplete product higher than 3 stars. And by incomplete product, I mean, I feel that you are not given the resources required for 2 players to adequately complete the 3 scenarios supplied.
**UPDATE (7/24/11)**: After a few more weeks of playing this game, I've decided I don't like it very much. Even after buying the second Core set, I am finding deck building to be a chore. As I am attempting to stick to the prescribed 50 card decks with only 3 copies of each card, I find I can really only make two decks that are worth a da**. Even if you wanted to just make a mono sphere deck, you have to buy 2 Core sets for 2 copies of the 30 card starter decks and even then, you have so many garbage cards that are already at the 3 max, you really still can't make a deck that abides by FFG's own rules. And tying resource generation to heroes is an awful mechanic that has led to so many NPE (negative player experiences) that I am now stuck with 2 Core sets and the first expansion that nobody in the gaming group (myself included) really wants to ever play again. The Gollum expansion was highly disappointing, but I'll save that for another review.
The purpose of the LCGs was to move past the expensive hobbies of CCGs while retaining some of that flexibility of deck building and enjoyment of that style of gameplay. I feel LOTR isn't really significantly cheaper to get into (the power gamers that would spend a lot on, say, Magic are likely the ones that would buy 3+ Core Sets) and while in theory the mechanics seem solid, there a few aspects of the gameplay that make it notably inferior to other gaming experiences out there. This could have been so much better. As a fan of the book, movies and Decipher's LOTR TCG years ago, I really was looking forward to new and innovative adventures into Middle Earth but this really doesn't deliver.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Long, expensive version of Solitaire.
Other than being very pretty, I don't get why this game has such high reviews. This is coming from someone who loves LOTR and MTG.
Published 14 days ago by Emma
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good right out of the box
This is a very fun, very involved 1-2 person game right out of the box. The art on the cards is beautiful, and the different tokens and threat counter are well made, like most FFG... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Travis Whitcomb
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun but Challenging Game
I actually give this game 4.5 stars. I got it for my father for Christmas. We have not gotten around to playing it together but I spent about two hours reading over the rules and... Read more
Published 1 month ago
4.0 out of 5 stars
My wife and I play this at least twice a week
I'm a serious board gamer who likes complicated games (Twilight Imperium), and my wife is less serious and prefers games such as Shadows Over Camelot and Settlers of Catan. Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. B. Hogan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great game
This game is great for 1 or 2 people. The mechanics of the game are very solid and the Lord of the Rings theme is implemented very well. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ryan T. Janway
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid game, good components and value
Solid balanced rules, not too easy, lots of replayability right out of the box. Excellent art, the theme comes through and living card games are an excellent format for this co-op... Read more
Published 2 months ago by inkali
5.0 out of 5 stars
So much fun!
The game is amazing! Can't stop playing. There are so many ways you can play each quest, so it's always exciting. Can't wait to get some expansions.
Published 2 months ago by Andrea Daugherty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Solo
I love card games, but tended to shy away from things like Magic back in the day. It was too expensive to keep up, and it was hard to find people that I enjoyed playing against. Read more
Published 2 months ago by David E.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lord Of The Rings: The Card Game
Nifty game, decent price. Solo play works real well. Looking forward to trying a few of the expansions. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bryan P Green
5.0 out of 5 stars
“The board is set, the pieces are moving. We come to it at last, the...
If you like Lord of the Rings books, movies and want to re-experience it in a new way get Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Joshua A Hartsell
