What I like about the game so much:
a) It's a living card game.
That means that the tedious (and expensive) process of collecting the required cards is not necessary. The boxes and adventure-packs that you buy include all the cards that you need. So you can start playing immediately, but still your card-pool grows with each new expansion. And you can still be creative, build, develop and change your decks and so on.
b) It's a cooperative game.
That means you don't play versus an opponent, but you play versus the game itself. To be more precise: You choose a scenario, build an encounter-deck, and you try to survive together with your fellow players (or alone, you can play it solo, too). Believe me: It's hard enough
. You don't just rush through an adventure, you need planning, tactics, and sometimes even a bit of luck. And there can be some nasty surprises.c) It's an in-print game.
Of course, it is less popular than MtG or similar games. But there is a community, forums, support, official errata and everything you need.
d) It has flavour!
As the name implies, it is set in Tolkien's world. And just like in MECCG you take a group of heroes like Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas, collect items and allies, and go adventuring in Mirkwood or Moria. Each adventure has its own storyline, and the cards are beautiful little pieces of art themselves. Most mechanics are easy to understand - though some might appear a bit odd at first, if you are used to playing MECCG or MtG.
I hope that suffices as a kind of introduction. If you want to know more, let me know. But please note that I am a fan, not an expert.
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For those of you who are interested, but have never played the game:
Don't panic
. I could offer some introductory rounds for up to 3 additional players. In such a round, we could start with the original 4 decks from the core-set and an easy scenario, just to get into it and see how the game works. All of my cards, however, are in German language. So it might help if you can speak - or at least read and understand - German. ___________________
For those of you who already know the game and would also like to play:
My favourite deck at the moment is a Spirit/Lore deck with Eowyn, Glorfindel (2.0) and Beravor as heroes, with the Zigl/Stargazer-engine and lots of card-drawing/healing/counter-effects. My pool is not very big. It's just 1 core-set, the Khazad-Dum box and 3 additional adventure packs from the Khazad-Dum cycle. But that means, there are some nice tricky adventures we might try together. I could also build a Leadership/Tactics deck with lots of dwarves, but that one is not so strong.
So, maybe we can indeed gather for some rounds and play the game at the Lure - in addition to the regular activities, of course. Not instead.
