by clydecloggie
For me, the epic battles are a sideshow in the LotR universe. It is much more about small groups of heroes doing heroic things, from passing the doors of Dol Guldur to sinking the Ring into the Cracks of Doom.Of the three LotR CCG/LCG, I absolutely love the two that recreate that 'small group thing' (MECCG and the LCG), and was pretty disappointed with the movie-based epicness of the Decipher game.
I also disagree that the game mechanic is stale. Even with each stat being confined to its original purpose, I feel that there is huge variety between quests. Take three of my favourites: Journey Down the Anduin, The Redhorn Gate, and Foundations of Stone. Each requires a different style of play and different difficult choices, even if mechanically all you're doing is comparing willpower and attack/defense stats.
Heirs of Numenor, with its Battle and Siege keywords, will diversify the mechanics of the game even more.
I do agree that this game is hard, and probably not suited to players who like to win most of the time. For me that is no problem at all but I can understand why it might put others, and possible young children in particular, off the game.
Endless deck building isn't what draws me into the game. I do try and build strong decks but not for single quests normally and my deck building to playing time ratio is pretty healthy.
Tactics then? Part of any CCG/LCG is that there is a shifting power dynamic throughout its life span (the meta-game). In MECCG for instance, the second expansion made Undead hazard decks very powerful and put them at the top of the curve. Before and after, they were less popular and powerful.
Similarly, in the LCG Spirit ruled the roost from the start but I felt that Khazad-dum and Dwarrowdelf did a lot for Lore in particular. Heirs of Numenor looks like pumping up Tactics, allowing the players to dust off those old tactics cards and re-appraise them.
The meta-game was a big part of why I loved MECCG so much. Because this LCG is non-competitive, all the meta-game has to come from the scenarios and I feel the designers are doing a great job in fluctuating the power curves for all the spheres, again preventing staleness.