Here is a compilation of my comments on the scenario, note that they were made some time ago and I have not edited them much so they tell a story of how my view point changed (but my current opinion may differ). They are presented chronologically in each section.
[Session Reports]
NinjaDorg's Scenario 1 - The Old Forest
NinjaDorg's Scenario 2 - The Lost Road
NinjaDorg's Scenario 3 - Forgotten Ruins
NinjaDorg's Scenario 4 - The Elven Assembly
NinjaDorg's Scenario 5 - Ungoliant's Lair
NinjaDorg's Scenario 6 - Branching Paths
Scenario 1 - Tactics/Spirit deck - As far as I remember it seems to be similar to Forgotten Ruins in terms on how difficult enemies come out etc.
Scenario 2 - Glorfindel (mono lore deck) - nice idea with a single hero. Fun and can be hard.
Pacing of Forgotten Ruins is just ideal for new players, it gives you time to prepare before attacking you hard (with Spawn and later with Nazgul), it teaches you to time completing the stages right, shows importance of allies and lower threat. I consider it to be easier then Journey down the Anduin and would recommend it for all players that finished Passage through Mirkwood.
The Elven Assembly was very easy to beat and never posed a real threat (although I was fairly lucky with my draws of the Orks that happen few times in the quest).
Ungoliant's Lair - This is what I call a one trick pony scenarios. There is a certain mechanic/restriction built to the scenario and if you are surprised by it on first try it is likely that you will loose. Once you are familiar with it then it is much easier to succeed and scenario becomes much easier.
Branching Paths - explores the concept that I find very interesting namely that your choices at the end of the scenario impact what stage you will face next. This particular quest did not fully explore the potential of this approach (as choices were quite easy) but showed that it can be done and can be very interesting.
[General Thoughts]
I played two previous custom scenarios by NinjaDorg's some time ago and I liked them quite a bit. Now I am ready to form an initial opinion on the whole series (I am still planing on trying the following scenarios as well to see how they differ). This series of scenarios should be recommended to all new players (some of them even before Passage through Mirkwood), I really think that will teach important game concepts without tossing new players into the deep water right away (I am looking at you Journey down the Anduin). There is a drawback to this namely NinjaDorg's scenarios get much easier with increased player card pool much faster then the original ones that still propose a decent challenge.
Again I want to reiterate that FFGs scenarios seem to handle repeat plays much better then the custom ones while the latter are much better suited for new players. I love the fact that people do create those as it greatly increases longevity of the game. Kudos to all people that develop them.
Nov 2012: I have not tried other custom scenarios but I am glad to see that people still develop them. It is great to know that Feonix (who created few respected ones) got a job at FFG to work on LOTR:LCG full time. Once I do catch up with current releases I might try few more custom scenarios.
[Session Reports]
NinjaDorg's Scenario 1 - The Old Forest
NinjaDorg's Scenario 2 - The Lost Road
NinjaDorg's Scenario 3 - Forgotten Ruins
NinjaDorg's Scenario 4 - The Elven Assembly
NinjaDorg's Scenario 5 - Ungoliant's Lair
NinjaDorg's Scenario 6 - Branching Paths
Scenario 1 - Tactics/Spirit deck - As far as I remember it seems to be similar to Forgotten Ruins in terms on how difficult enemies come out etc.
Scenario 2 - Glorfindel (mono lore deck) - nice idea with a single hero. Fun and can be hard.
Pacing of Forgotten Ruins is just ideal for new players, it gives you time to prepare before attacking you hard (with Spawn and later with Nazgul), it teaches you to time completing the stages right, shows importance of allies and lower threat. I consider it to be easier then Journey down the Anduin and would recommend it for all players that finished Passage through Mirkwood.
The Elven Assembly was very easy to beat and never posed a real threat (although I was fairly lucky with my draws of the Orks that happen few times in the quest).
Ungoliant's Lair - This is what I call a one trick pony scenarios. There is a certain mechanic/restriction built to the scenario and if you are surprised by it on first try it is likely that you will loose. Once you are familiar with it then it is much easier to succeed and scenario becomes much easier.
Branching Paths - explores the concept that I find very interesting namely that your choices at the end of the scenario impact what stage you will face next. This particular quest did not fully explore the potential of this approach (as choices were quite easy) but showed that it can be done and can be very interesting.
[General Thoughts]
I played two previous custom scenarios by NinjaDorg's some time ago and I liked them quite a bit. Now I am ready to form an initial opinion on the whole series (I am still planing on trying the following scenarios as well to see how they differ). This series of scenarios should be recommended to all new players (some of them even before Passage through Mirkwood), I really think that will teach important game concepts without tossing new players into the deep water right away (I am looking at you Journey down the Anduin). There is a drawback to this namely NinjaDorg's scenarios get much easier with increased player card pool much faster then the original ones that still propose a decent challenge.
Again I want to reiterate that FFGs scenarios seem to handle repeat plays much better then the custom ones while the latter are much better suited for new players. I love the fact that people do create those as it greatly increases longevity of the game. Kudos to all people that develop them.
Nov 2012: I have not tried other custom scenarios but I am glad to see that people still develop them. It is great to know that Feonix (who created few respected ones) got a job at FFG to work on LOTR:LCG full time. Once I do catch up with current releases I might try few more custom scenarios.