Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[DáinIronfoot]

My wife MAY be joining the ranks of LOTR TCG players. She's been wanting to learn for a little while about this game that her husband is addicted to , and tonight I finally let her borrow one of my Three Hunter decks and try it out. We started kind of late, but are only at Site 5 now and broke for the night. It's 2:30 here...we have church in 7.5 hours. Oops. We'll finish it tomorrow probably.

Anyway, she's slowly getting the hang of it, but trying to explain it from scratch just reminds me of how complicated the game is.   Once we finish this intro game, does anyone have some good, simple decks they could suggest for me to build her in SdA and get her started with? Decks that are powerful and tried and true, but not overly complicated for a new player? Any block will due, but something Expanded or Standard would probably be best.

[menace64]

Rohan is usually an easy starter culture. Start Eowyn and Eomer, toss in a second or third companion, then throw in a bunch of mounts, weapons, and strength pumps. Perhaps a condition or two. Make sure to include 2 Hobbit Swords.

As for a simple Shadow... some kind of Uruk beatdown.

[GarrisonofGondor]

 Matbe a Dwarf Swarm, Discard or Possession.

[SomeRandomDude]

I actually have a deck that I give everyone I'm teaching, and its Ent/Southron Wounding. Gives them a feel of beatdown strength and the wounding strategies of LotR. But Rohan, Ents, Uruks and Moria are some of the easier strategies to play with. Or Warg-Riders, TT style.

I learned to play off of the LOTRO Tutorial which had 2 decks, TT Three Hunters/Dunland and TT Rohan/Beatdown Uruks. Then borrowing my friends deck which was Elvents/Besiegers. I got into the game late...

[SomeRandomDude]

Maybe try this.

Frodo, Weary from the Journey
The Ring of Doom (Try not to explain how Decipher sabotaged the game with The Great Ring just yet).

Merry, ItBoH
Quickbeam, Hastiest of all Ents

Treebeard, ES
Leaflock
Gandalf, LotC x 2
Shepherd of the Trees x 4
Huorn

Momentous Gathering x 4

Strange Meeting x 4

Pallando, Far-Travelling One
Meneldor, Misty Mountain Eagle
Alatar, Final Envoy
Gwaihir, The Windlord

Look to My Coming x 4
For A While Less Dark x 3


Tracking the Prize x 2
With All Possible Speed x 2
Violent Hurl x 4
Isengard Sword x 4

Mauhur, Relentless Hunter x 2
Ugluk, Ugly Fellow x 2
Following Uruk x 4
Searching Uruk x 2
Seeking Uruk x 4
White Hand Scout x 4

Try that or something like it. It basically allows you to learn a lot of the mechanics of the game, as the deck doens't make you wrack your brain on strategy except BANG BANG BANG hard as you can, pretty much, so you can focus on the mechanics.

And please...keep it 30/30. Ents like it that way. They really do.

[Pepin The Breve]

   Hmm... my standard Tank Fellowship is a very simple fellowship (no wacky loops or combination of actions to unleash a devastating combo) and i think can be pretty competitive. You just have to play your stuff at Durin III and discard some troll to make Grimbeon huge to start the fun. You can see it at the standard deck section.

   Instead of besigers i´m pairing them with Troll Swarm that is a little bit more complicated to play, cause you have to change sitepath, discard condition to play possession in the right minions and count the twilight really well to manage a big troll swarm, but i guess it´s a fun deck too. If you want something simple you could try the already mentioned Uruk beatdown or most of "anything beatdown".

   Well let´s wait...hope your wife enjoy the game!

[DáinIronfoot]

Well, our first test was met with mixed success. She got the basic concepts down, but since the first deck I gave her had hunters, threats, burdens, archery, and some other little things thrown in, she had trouble wrapping her mind around it all and got understandably frustrated.

So does anyone have any SPECIFIC decklist suggestions that are really, really simple? Something like Eomer/Eowyn with a bunch of possessions sounds promising. I think followers might be a bit much until we cover the very basics a couple more times.

[FingolfinFinwe]

I started simple with my wife.  Fellowship block.  Each game I moved forward to introduce things at a reasonable pace: site control, threats etc.  She pretty much knows everything now, but I still have a hard time keeping her focused lol.  She tends to get sleepy around site 6 or 7.   

[DáinIronfoot]

Heheh. Yeah, I may try that, if I can get her to play several games in a short period of time.

[SomeRandomDude]

I have a piece of paper with all the game mechanics and how they work printed out for showing the game to other people. Then I give them a deck that implements them all, but require little thinking other than bam bam bam. That way, they get the entire game, and after a few times playing, they're familiar.

Of course, that may just be bad teaching.

[DáinIronfoot]

That's kind of the tactic I took, NB, but it overwhelmed the poor girl. She used to play MtG and thought this might be similiar, but it's "so complicated" compared to that, she says, that it's difficult to wrap her mind around it all.

[FingolfinFinwe]

Definitely give her the better deck though.    Winning helps.  A lot.

[DáinIronfoot]

Yeah, I played the exact same deck as she did last game, and I was getting the better draws. That didn't help either. :-\

I'll try a real simple Fellowship deck next time. Perhaps something with Gimli and Legolas starting, Aragorn pulled with Prancing Pony, Gandalf FotS, all their gear, and a lot of Servant of the Secret Fire, Fireworks, and Trust Me As You Once Did. Just tank them all out. Can't imagine much simpler than that.

How about this?

FREE PEOPLES (36 cards):

Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir w/ Isildur's Bane

Gimli, Son of Gloin (starting)
Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood (starting)
Aragorn, Ranger of the North (pull with The Prancing Pony*)
Gandalf, Friend of the Shirefolk x4

Bounder

Sting
Glamdring
Gandalf's Staff
Ranger's Sword
Aragorn's Bow
Flaming Brand
Coat of Mail
Athelas x4
Long-knives of Legolas
Bow of the Galadhrim
Gimli's Battle Axe
Hand Axe x2
Dwarven Armor
Gimli's Helm

Gandalf's Wisdom x3
Trust Me As You Once Did x2

Servant of the Secret Fire x4
Fireworks

That's about as simple a fellowship as I can think of. Get Gandalf, then Gandalf's Wisdom, and play all her possessions (except Glamdring ) for free. Use Trust Me As You Once Did and Servant of the Secret Fire to win any skirmishes her (potential) 12-strength Gandalf, 11(+)-strength Aragorn, 9(+)-strength Gimli, and 8-strength Legolas can't handle with their stats alone. Aragorn and Gimli are tough to overwhelm with their respective armor on, and Aragorn especially becomes the perfect pin cushion with his defender-adding text. Heal critical wounds with Athelas (again, for free). Her archer-boosting Legolas and Aragorn should help thin out swarms (and Frodo can even help fight off swarms if he has to with Sting and Bounder to help out), the sheer strength potential of her companions should overcome nearly all Uruks and Orcs (Long-knives of Legolas helps here for sure), Legolas and Aragorn (with the Flaming Brand) should be able to deal with Nazzies effectively enough, and Gimli, Aragorn, and/or Gandalf should be able to withstand Ol' Balgy by the time the fellowship hits The Bridge of Khazad-dum*. The biggest threats I see are wounding Orcs and heavy burdening decks, but if it comes down to straight skirmishing (which it usually does in Fellowship block, doesn't it?), then it should be fine. She may lose a companion or two along the way, worst case, but Frodo should be plenty insulated for the journey.

Think this would be a good deck to start over with? I'd likely throw some Nazzies at her to make her feel good about Legolas and Aragorn, or maybe some Uruks. swarm at worst if I'm feeling truly evil , though I really think this deck could handle one well enough.

What would be a good, simple Shadow side to pair this with? Hand clog shouldn't be a problem since she would only have 5 fellowship cards (events) that couldn't be played right away, so maybe...Uruks? I dunno...haven't played a whole lot of Fellowship block, and if I do, it's usually Nazzies for my Shadow.

[Elessar's Socks]

I'd throw in Sam, Son of Hamfast as a backup Ring-bearer. He can always be pitched if you don't want to run afoul of Enquea.

Matching to 36 cards:

2 Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
3 Saruman, Keeper of Isengard
4 Troop of Uruk-hai
2 Uruk Captain
4 Uruk Lieutenant
2 Uruk Ravager
4 Uruk Warrior

4 Saruman's Ambition
1 Tower of Orthanc

2 Bred for Battle
2 One of You Must Do This
2 Saruman's Power
4 Savagery to Match Their Numbers

Feel free to change it around to your liking (it's untested). Bred for Battle is a nice pump that no one sees coming. One of You Must Do This can cause trouble in Fellowship block when more races might make an appearance. If you see irritating allies run Tower Assassin. If you see Armor run Beyond the Height of Men.

Remind her that she has to activate the maneuver abilities on Lurtz and Uruk Warrior (technically if you forget until the skirmish phase rolls around, it's too late).

[FM]

She used to play MtG and thought this might be similiar, but it's "so complicated" compared to that, she says, that it's difficult to wrap her mind around it all.

You've got to be joking! But really, want her to learn? Get the rulebook so she can look the phases up, get a pair of Starter lists, and play with them as they come. Starter decks are weaker, more loose, but way simpler to handle. They usually have a not-so-much sophisticated strategy, plus sometimes they have side-strategies, which is a nice concept, and they'll usually make use of a bunch of the game's mechanics. I'd start with Fellowhisp Block starters, and move into TTT (so as to introduce new cultures and strategies, as well as site control), and finally RotK, to introduce threats.