Fantasy Flight Games announces new LCG: Lord of the Rings!

Fantasy Flight Games recently added a new game to the very successful “Living Card Games” family: The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game.

Together with A Game of Thrones, Warhammer Invasion, and Call of Cthulhu, Lord of the Rings will be the fourth card game which will be published in the new LCG distribution format.

What is a Living Card Game?

Living Card Games are customizable dueling card games where players build their own individual decks (of their favorite faction, strategy, sub-theme, focus etc.) and pitch these decks into battle against their opponents’ decks. Deckbuilding, improving and refining the deck is as important as playing the game itself. Players get into the game by buying a Core Pack and then improve their decks by buying monthly expansions which add new cards, new themes, new tactics, and sometimes even new factions or rules to the game.

The card artworks are really nice!

In contrast to a Collectible Card Game (for example Magic: The Gathering), where players buy regular published randomized booster packs without knowing the exact contents of a game, the contents of the expansions for Living Card Games are public knowledge. There are no more “rare” cards which must be hunted by spending hundreds of Dollars for “blind buying” booster packs.

Instead, new contents are added regularly and you can decide in advance whether you need an expansion and whether it adds valuable content to your specific deck and deckbuilding strategy or whether you can skip an add-on. In the end, LCG players will buy all expansions anyway, “just to have them”, but the distribution model is much cheaper than buying lots of booster packs without ever getting the rare cards you are hunting for.

Besides from the distribution model, there is no difference between a Living Card Game and a Collectible Card Game. The card games published so far are all very good and very unique in their game mechanics. I think Lord of the Rings will be a very great addition to the line-up and won’t interfere with the other LCGs.

Plans for the Lord of the Rings LCG

The game layout

In contrast to the other the LCGs, Lord of the Rings will be a 2-player cooperative LCG. A 4-player variant will be possible by using 2 Core Packs. The Core Pack will be released for $39,95 (publishing date yet unknown). The cards will include the famous heroes from the books, artefacts, allies, attachments, weapons and an encounter deck which contains the foes and dangers the players will oppose.

There are only few information available about how the game will work in detail, but I think FFG will publish an introduction video (as they did for their other 3 LCGs). The Core Set will include 216 Cards and will allow for assembling various decks right out of the box (in contrast to the pre-built decks in the A Game of Thrones and Warhammer Invasion Core Packs).

The game appears to be scenario-driven; the Core Packs includes 4 scenarios and offers “near-endless replayability”, according to FFG. Add-Ons will add more stuff regularly in monthly 60-card “Adventure Packs“. The game focuses on four spheres of influence: Leadership, Lore, Spirit, and Tactics. How you build your decks and on which sphere your focus lies is entirely up to you.

Check out the FFG Micro Site for more information. So far, the artworks and design looks really cool, but I expect nothing less from FFG. Their other three LCGs are all great and I like them all.