Category Archives: New Players

Celebration: A Decade of the Hall of Beorn

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Beorn

It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Like many epic … Continue reading →

Posted in A Long-extended Party, Austin Community, Books, Celebration, Community, Con of the Rings, Events, Fellowship Events, GenCon, Hall of Beorn Card Search, Legendarium, Live Play, Lure of Middle Earth, New Players, Patreon, Play Style, Series, The Grey Company | Tagged A Decade, Alternate Art, BeornBot, Blog, Cardboard of the Rings, Celebration, Community, Con of the Rings, Conventions, Discord, Fantasy Flight Games, Friends, Fun, GenCon, Gratitude, Hall of Beorn Card Search, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Lure of Middle-earth, The Grey Company, Tolkien | 2 Comments

Poll Results: Most Anticipated Starter Deck

Posted on May 8, 2022 by Beorn

Depending on your location, the Started Decks have been available since March or April. At this point, most players interested in these four decks have probably had a chance to try one or more of them. Each deck focused on … Continue reading →

Posted in Archetypes, BGG, Community, Multiplayer, New Players, Play Style, Poll, RingsDB, Series, Solo, Support, Tempo, Theme | Tagged Community, Decisions, Deck Building, Defenders of Gondor, Dwarves of Durin, Elves of Lorien, Fantasy Flight Games, Fun, Introduction, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, New Players, Riders of Rohan, Starter Deck, Strategy, Tactics, Theme, Tolkien, Tribal, Tribal Decks | Leave a comment

Bear Market: Starter Deck Supplements

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Beorn

Thanks to an intrepid player in Australia, we finally have the full lists for the four Starter Decks. The cards from Defenders of Gondor, Dwarves of Durin, Elves of Lórien, and Riders of Rohan have also been added to Hall … Continue reading →

Posted in Archetypes, Bear Market, New Players, Series, Swarm, Theme, Tribal | Tagged Ally Discard, Ally Mustering, Ally Swarm, Deck Building, Defenders of Gondor, Dwarf, Dwarves of Durin, Elves of Lorien, Fantasy Flight Games, Gondor, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Mining, New Players, Resource Acceleration, Riders of Rohan, Rohan, Silvan, Staging Area Attack, Staging Area Control, Starter Decks, Strategy, Swarm, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Valour Effects | 2 Comments

Metagame: The Core of the Problem

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Beorn

The announcement of the repacked Core Set was greeted by the community with much fanfare. The excitement is understandable, especially when some players thought that the hiatus of official content amounted to a death sentence. Caleb has confirmed that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Archetypes, Community, Metagame, Mono-Sphere, New Players, Play Style, Series, Solo, Theme, Tribal, Two Handed | Tagged Balance, Core Set, Deckbuilding, Fantasy Flight Games, Fellowship, Full Play Set, Introduction, Learn to Play, Living Card Games, Metagame, Mono-Sphere, New Players, Out of the Box Experience, Player Cards, Revised Core Set, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Theme, Tolkien, Tribal Decks, Unique Cards | 6 Comments

Key Concepts: Learning How to Lose

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Beorn

At times like these it can be tempting for a bear to hole up in his cave and hibernate. While waiting for my turn to receive the vaccine I’ve had to find alternative venues in which to enjoy board and … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Key Concepts, Multiplayer, New Players, Play Style, Series, Solo | Tagged Aggro, Bad Luck, Combat, Deckbuilding, Difficulty, Digital vs Physical, Easy Mode, Fantasy Flight Games, Key Concepts, Learning, Living Card Games, Lords of Waterdeep, Losing, Luck, Metagame, Mulligan, Nightmare Mode, Player Side Quests, Questing, Setup, Standard Mode, Starting Threat, Steam, Strategy, The Lord of the Rings LCG, The One Ring, Through the Ages, Tolkien, Treachery Cancelation, Turtle, Video Games | 1 Comment

Alternate Art: Core Set Completion

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Beorn

It is encouraging to see that FFG has changed their release model for the Marvel LCG. Having products centered around player cards with a particular theme, and a Core Set with more playable decks are both excellent decisions. It will … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternate-Art, Art, Community, New Players, The Lord of the Rings | Tagged 3x, Alternate Art, Board Game Geek, Community, Completion, Core Set, Criticism, Fantasy Flight Games, Full Play Set, Introduction, Living Card Games, Marvel, New Players, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Two Player Limited Edition Starter | 3 Comments

Metagame: A Few, Key, Words

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Beorn

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to teach The Lord of the Rings LCG to a fair number of players. In the spectrum of design complexity, this game sits firmly on the opposite end from “beer and pretzels” or … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Metagame, New Players, Series | Tagged ACG, Card Templating, Cognitive Load, Complexity, Difficulty, Fantasy Flight Games, Hemmingway, Keywords, Language, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings ACG, Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game, Metagame, pedagogy, Readability, Simplicity, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Tolkien, Wall of Text | 4 Comments

Guest Author: Making Every Card Count

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Beorn

Editor’s Note: This article is brought to you by a guest writer named Ulrik. I’d like to thank him for contributing this article about suggested changes to balance the early card pool. Imagine this: when deck building for your upcoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Game Variant, Guest Author, Homebrew Cards, Metagame, New Players | Tagged Early Card Pool, Fantasy Flight Games, Feint, Living Card Games, Metagame, Northern Tracker, Over-powered Cards, Rebalancing, Steward of Gondor, The Lord of the Rings LCG, Under-powered Cards, Unexpected Courage | 2 Comments

Poll Results: Your preferred play style

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Beorn

The fall is a busy time for a bear, what with preparing for hibernation and all, but I’ve finally had a chance to poke my head up and do some housecleaning around the hall. Our last poll asked players about … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Game Variant, New Players, Poll | Tagged Big Announcement December 2017, Core Set 1.5, Core Set 2.0, Fantasy Flight Games, Living Card Games, Lord of the Rings LCG, Nightmare 2.0, Player Card-Only POD, Please Be Good News!, Poll Result, Revised Core, Saga-Cycle, Silmarillion, Tolkien | 3 Comments

Metagame: Core Set Supplements

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Beorn

One of the biggest challenges to introducing new players to this game is the Core Set. This statement might at first seem controversial, but anyone who has played this game this for long will begin to notice certain flaws in … Continue reading →