Lord of the Rings The Card Game Review

When Lord of the Rings: The Card Game came out, I wasn't too interested.  I already owned Warhammer: Invasion, and I was already having enough trouble getting anyone to play that with me.  So I passed on it.  However, years later, a friend of mine was completely geeking out over Lord of the Rings.  When I mentioned there was a card game, she bought it on impulse at PAX East 2013.  It took us a few months to get around to digging it out and learning how to play, but once we did, we immediately loved it.

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2011.  It was designed by Nate French and Caleb Grace.  For those unfamiliar with the Living Card Game format, small booster packs are released roughly monthly.  They contain a set roster of cards.  There is no randomness, as you would find in a Collectible Card Game.  This is highly appealing to a lot of people, myself included.  But Living Card Games also try to bill themselves as complete games right out of the core box, using only the starter decks.  So how well does Lord of the Rings hold up?

Lord of the Rings, a Passage Through Mirkwood

This week I'm reviewing Lord of the Rings: The Card Game since my friend was kind enough to loan it to me.  But I figured while I'm working on that, I can record a solo play session.  The last time we played, I threw together a combined Leadership and Spirit deck, using Aragorn, Theodred and Eowyn as my heroes, and a ton of Ally cards.  She played a straight Tactics deck to complement it.  But tonight I'm curious how well my Spirit/Leadership deck holds up on its own, so I'm trying the first adventure, Passage Through Mirkwood, by my lonesome.  The game is all set up, so lets play!

Beginning of Turn 1