Yesterday DHL delivered the Lord of the Rings the Card Game Revised Edition (that’s a bit of a mouthful so let’s shorten it to LoTR the card game) along with the two starter decks and scenario pack for it. Plus the final scenario pack I was missing for Marvel Champions and two more hero packs.

So how did I decide what I was going to order for LoTR the card game for my initial dive into it?

Unlike the majority of content creators that are really into these games my advice will differ. Where as they usually go with how they rate each expansion, and recommend based on that and/or difficulty. My decision process is slightly different.

Let’s face it LoTR the card game has been around for a long time now. There are a lot of expansions for it.

Luckily FFG simplified things for new players or those wanting to get into the game a couple of years back when they updated the core set with a revised edition. Plus they announced their plans going forward for the game.

A lot of the expansion packs were hard to get (mainly as they were out of print), miss one in a series for whatever reason and that buggers up that series.

So in this iteration of LoTR the card game they were going to gather the expansions that make up a series into two boxes. One with just the hero decks, and the other just the campaign cards. Players could then just buy the part they were interested in.

But even with the reprints and new way of getting them you still have to decide what to buy.

Obviously a big impact on the decisions I made were decided by budget. In an ideal world where money is no problem you’d just buy everything there is. But we don’t live in that world sadly. And last time I looked at my bank account I hadn’t had a big lottery win either.

So I was trying to maximise my bang per buck that fitted within my budget.

The first thing you have to buy obviously is the revised core set.

I went with the mini expansion The Dark of Mirkwood. Which apparently follows on from the campaign in the core set. This mini expansion is the two adventures The Oath and The Caves of Nibindûm from the deluxe box set that FFG did. This is the first time they have been available since the out of print deluxe box came out.

This seemed a natural choice to make because it did follow on from the campaign I would initially be playing in the core set.

After that my budget dictated that the saga and campaign box sets were not an option. However looking at the starter decks also available I could possibly get all four. But in reality I could only justify two. But which two? I went with theme as the decider. I like dwarves and elves. So those are the two I went with. The remaining two I can pick up in the future sometime.

And theme is something I’ll becoming back to. As that’s an important factor in deciding my purchases with LoTR the card game and also Marvel Champions.

Being a fan of the books/movies/radio play my next purchase for the game to play with Nathan (assuming he enjoys his experience of it next week when he tries it) will be the start of the sagas that cover them, The Fellowship of the Ring. But I’ll get that just before my next visit to him.

In the meantime I’m hoping I can get a regular session set up with interested friends at Fenland Gamers both for LoTR and Marvel Champions. For that I’m going to go down the campaign path starting with Angmar Awakened once we have done the core set campaign and The Dark of Mirkwood. Budget at the time will decide if I get both the campaign and hero boxes. However the priority will be the campaign first followed by the hero box when budget allows.

For me this approach ticks all the boxes. With Nathan I get to experience the source material events that we both love. Then with my friends I get to explore more of the lore and Middle Earth with the campaigns.

But that’s the crux of the decision you have to make after the core set. Do I want to follow the books or explore more of the lore/Middle Earth?

When it comes to Marvel Champions and what to purchase after you get a core set my decisions are a bit easier.

Although my initial buy in to the game was purchasing my friend Gavin’s collection. Which was the core game, two or three of the campaigns, a few heroes, and a couple of the scenario packs.

My decisions are based on theme. Who do I want to play or go up against?

So when it came to filling the gaps in the collection I’ve bought based on my personal preferences. If I’ve been a big fan of a particular hero then obviously they are top of the list. With heroes I’m not fussed about dropping to the back of the queue. Or if I know a particular hero I don’t have is a favourite of Nathan’s then they also get priority.

How many gaps I fill at a time are just like LoTR determined by budget. I think at the moment I have six heroes from the current hero waves that I don’t have. However shopping around does allow that budget go a little further.

Eventually I’ll have everything.

But I want to be able with Champions to grab one of my favourite heroes, choose a villain I like and have them go head to head against each other.

My thematic root allows me to do that. Whether it’s a good match up or not is almost secondary. Which seems at odds with the advice all the more experienced content creators who live and breathe these games go with.

It’s like when they do their videos on which FFG lcg to buy. There is only one way to choose and that’s which theme do you like the most. No point buying one of the others, even if the game may be mechanically slightly better, if you don’t like the theme.

Now all I have to do is decide how my limited budget for this area of gaming gets split between these two lcgs in future.