I have been playing this game for about 6 years and found this video very useful. Many thanks for putting this together. I would recommend to players at all levels of experience.
Very helpful video with great ideas. I really like the different uses of Bofur in the Quest Phase and the idea of using Gandalf in the Refresh Phase for A Very Good Tale. Thank you for the video.
I think that this is the single best and most important resource a player can (and MUST) watch. This should be linked in the official rulebook ;). I wish you made more content for this game, your insight is invaluable.
That extra combat action window could theoretically be used as follows: Play Flight of the Eagles (recall Eagle ally to your hand) to recall Vassal of the Windlord to your hand, after adding in its +3 to your attack but before the attack resolves (to avoid discarding Vassal). As an added perk, you also get a good card into the encounter deck, and at no cost for FotE, and 2x use of the low cost Vassal card. Have I ever seen it happen? No. But it theoretically could!
Sorry for being late to the party 😅 Just wanted to say that I found a thread on BGG where one of the designers - Nate French - said that the action window comes after (!) Forced effects. So, the whole thing with commiting characters to the attack (same with quest commiting, by the way) and then recalling your allies back to your hand is not allowed. The extra action window after tallying up your strength but before assigning damage to the enemy is added there for the purpose of further boosting your strength in case you've forgotten to do so in the previous action window. So the guide on ringsdb is not correct on this one when describing the action window after step 6.8.2. To wrap thing up, one cannot remove a character commited to the phase and still count the character's stats. Because the resolution step marks the end of it. The confusion stems from the idea that stats can stack until the end of the phase (even if you remove a character after adding their stats). But it cannot be done since stats don't stack - if a character is removed, then their stats don't count. That is also why they added those superfluos steps in the chart which formalize the end of the phases. Simply to show that actions cannot be done before everything is calculated. In your example, Vassal of the Windlord's Forced effect is triggered right after damaging the enemy and it's too late to play Flight of the Eagles.
Your trick re Bofur and the action window after quest resolution… I’m afraid it seems like that isn’t entirely legal, I agree that the action header is simply Quest Action, which means you should be able to… but the text says you should put him committed to the quest, and that cannot be done once the quest has resolved…
Although the quest is resolved, characters remain committed to the quest up until the end of the quest phase. The Bifur trick is 100% legal, and has been used throughout the community for many years.
@@ChrisStanfordSeastan interesting. While i knew characters remain committed... Did not think you could then add a *new* commit to the Quest... Well, so be it!
@@netcrashYT Merely wanted to make a slight correction. The quest is not resolved until after the action window after Staging. So one can activate actions to adjust the willpower after revealing the encounter cards. With Bofur it's not a usual 'play an ally and commit them before Staging', it's an action. So, you're adding (not playing) an already commited ally which is essentially willpower adjustment.
The action window after 6.8.2. might be useful if you are playing Journey in the Dark, need a damaged Gimli to kill the last enemy on stage 2, so you can heal (and ready) him before potentially revealing an Uruk from Mordor with stage 3 of which the attack can then safer be defended by Gimli. The same applies to Lurker of the Deep and Orc of Ered Luin in The Ruins of Belegost. Admittedly this is a very unusual case, but not an impossible one.
Ah, yes of course, I somehow missed that, because 6.4b comes before 6.8.2. Well, in that case using Gimli to kill a Nazgûl of Dol Guldur and thus finishing Escape from Dol Guldur but healing him before assigning the damage could at least improve the score :D Otherwise treacheries like We cannot get out and Concealed Spikes are not as bad, as other characters could have been healed before.
Probably a better example would be: Chieftan Ufthak is engaged with you on Stage 2 of Journey along the Anduin and has already attacked. Your only ready characters are Gimli with 4 damage tokens on him and Legolas (both without attachments), there are 14 progress tokens on the quest and your threat is 35 or higher. You can kill Ufthak with both of your heroes, but Gimli needs all 4 damage tokens on him to deal the killing blow. If you then use Legolas's response, this will advance the quest and reveal 2 additional encounter cards. If at least one of them is Evil Storm or The Necromancer's Reach and you cannot cancel it, Gimli will die. Not using Legolas's response will result in 2 additional cards next round from staging, so if you manage to advance the quest then, you will face 4 revealed encounter cards next round. So healing Gimli by 2 before killing Ufthak ensures that he will survive the beginning of stage 3.
I am kind of surprised about planning phase, once you phase and you have still resources, you cannot play ally or attachment? We play it in way, that you do in this phase simultaneous play of cards, getting of resources and so on. Also there is "It is player 1 to play allies and attachments. Player 2 plays Deep Knowledge and everyone draws 2 cards" Why ? It was turn of play one, so he should play something first and if not, then pass. This section shall be better explained. Otherwise, very nice tips, I used one with A Very Good Tale and Gandalf after refresh phase.
I just started playing Lotr lcg, and you sir are a hero! Thank you very much!
I have been playing this game for about 6 years and found this video very useful. Many thanks for putting this together. I would recommend to players at all levels of experience.
Very helpful video with great ideas. I really like the different uses of Bofur in the Quest Phase and the idea of using Gandalf in the Refresh Phase for A Very Good Tale. Thank you for the video.
I think that this is the single best and most important resource a player can (and MUST) watch. This should be linked in the official rulebook ;). I wish you made more content for this game, your insight is invaluable.
Not sure if this is what you meant, but I am VERY busy making content for the game: www.alongextendedparty.com
Fantastically helpful. Thank you.
Thanks so much! Just reviewed this again. Absolutely incredible GenCon swag this year, by the way :)
Glad you like it!
Great resource! Thanks Chris.
Really useful. Thanks a lot mate!
Very useful, thanks!
That extra combat action window could theoretically be used as follows:
Play Flight of the Eagles (recall Eagle ally to your hand) to recall Vassal of the Windlord to your hand, after adding in its +3 to your attack but before the attack resolves (to avoid discarding Vassal). As an added perk, you also get a good card into the encounter deck, and at no cost for FotE, and 2x use of the low cost Vassal card.
Have I ever seen it happen? No. But it theoretically could!
Sorry for being late to the party 😅 Just wanted to say that I found a thread on BGG where one of the designers - Nate French - said that the action window comes after (!) Forced effects. So, the whole thing with commiting characters to the attack (same with quest commiting, by the way) and then recalling your allies back to your hand is not allowed.
The extra action window after tallying up your strength but before assigning damage to the enemy is added there for the purpose of further boosting your strength in case you've forgotten to do so in the previous action window. So the guide on ringsdb is not correct on this one when describing the action window after step 6.8.2.
To wrap thing up, one cannot remove a character commited to the phase and still count the character's stats. Because the resolution step marks the end of it. The confusion stems from the idea that stats can stack until the end of the phase (even if you remove a character after adding their stats). But it cannot be done since stats don't stack - if a character is removed, then their stats don't count. That is also why they added those superfluos steps in the chart which formalize the end of the phases. Simply to show that actions cannot be done before everything is calculated. In your example, Vassal of the Windlord's Forced effect is triggered right after damaging the enemy and it's too late to play Flight of the Eagles.
This was super helpful!!
This is awesome for new players!
Where is this reference guide you speak of
The ringsdb link in the description will take you to the decklist, which links to a pdf of the rules reference.
Your trick re Bofur and the action window after quest resolution… I’m afraid it seems like that isn’t entirely legal, I agree that the action header is simply Quest Action, which means you should be able to… but the text says you should put him committed to the quest, and that cannot be done once the quest has resolved…
Although the quest is resolved, characters remain committed to the quest up until the end of the quest phase. The Bifur trick is 100% legal, and has been used throughout the community for many years.
@@ChrisStanfordSeastan interesting. While i knew characters remain committed... Did not think you could then add a *new* commit to the Quest... Well, so be it!
@@netcrashYT Merely wanted to make a slight correction. The quest is not resolved until after the action window after Staging. So one can activate actions to adjust the willpower after revealing the encounter cards. With Bofur it's not a usual 'play an ally and commit them before Staging', it's an action. So, you're adding (not playing) an already commited ally which is essentially willpower adjustment.
The action window after 6.8.2. might be useful if you are playing Journey in the Dark, need a damaged Gimli to kill the last enemy on stage 2, so you can heal (and ready) him before potentially revealing an Uruk from Mordor with stage 3 of which the attack can then safer be defended by Gimli. The same applies to Lurker of the Deep and Orc of Ered Luin in The Ruins of Belegost. Admittedly this is a very unusual case, but not an impossible one.
In the case you're describing you could ready and heal Gimli in the action window after the new enemy initiates its attack (6.4b).
Ah, yes of course, I somehow missed that, because 6.4b comes before 6.8.2. Well, in that case using Gimli to kill a Nazgûl of Dol Guldur and thus finishing Escape from Dol Guldur but healing him before assigning the damage could at least improve the score :D Otherwise treacheries like We cannot get out and Concealed Spikes are not as bad, as other characters could have been healed before.
Probably a better example would be: Chieftan Ufthak is engaged with you on Stage 2 of Journey along the Anduin and has already attacked. Your only ready characters are Gimli with 4 damage tokens on him and Legolas (both without attachments), there are 14 progress tokens on the quest and your threat is 35 or higher. You can kill Ufthak with both of your heroes, but Gimli needs all 4 damage tokens on him to deal the killing blow. If you then use Legolas's response, this will advance the quest and reveal 2 additional encounter cards. If at least one of them is Evil Storm or The Necromancer's Reach and you cannot cancel it, Gimli will die. Not using Legolas's response will result in 2 additional cards next round from staging, so if you manage to advance the quest then, you will face 4 revealed encounter cards next round.
So healing Gimli by 2 before killing Ufthak ensures that he will survive the beginning of stage 3.
@@baschdiro8565 Legolas triggers after the attack (at 6.8.4), so even without the window after 6.8.2 you could still heal Gimli after 6.8.3.
Hmmm, you might be right and in that case I also cannot think of any other example.
I am kind of surprised about planning phase, once you phase and you have still resources, you cannot play ally or attachment? We play it in way, that you do in this phase simultaneous play of cards, getting of resources and so on. Also there is "It is player 1 to play allies and attachments. Player 2 plays Deep Knowledge and everyone draws 2 cards" Why ? It was turn of play one, so he should play something first and if not, then pass. This section shall be better explained. Otherwise, very nice tips, I used one with A Very Good Tale and Gandalf after refresh phase.