Starter-ship of the Ring.

Here is a fellowship comprised of the Starter Decks released on 2022-03-11.

Playing the Dwarves of Durin Starter Deck

*"Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things." - The Two Towers

The Dwarves of Middle-earth are a people well-versed in delving deep into the earth. To evoke their affinity for mining, the Dwarves in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game introduces the concept to the game that is often referred to as "delving", or discarding cards from your deck.

Cards like Ered Nimrais Prospector and King Under the Mountain are used to delve into your deck, searching for cards you need.

And with the luck of the Dwarves, your deck is littered with incidental treasures such as Hidden Cache and the Ered Luin Miner. While discarding from your deck, keep your eye out for such cards, and remember to trigger their effects.

As you delve, you will want to take advantage of the Dwarves' natural durability to build a powerful lineup of allies. Cards like A Very Good Tale can be particularly helpful in expanding your position.

Dáin Ironfoot is the centrepiece and backbone of your forces. With a deck consisting primarily of Dwarf characters, Dain's kingly bonuses will really shine.

When your position is solid with a legion of Dwarves, use Lure of Moria to realise their full potential. After exhausting your Dwarves to quest, play Lure of Moria to bring them back into the fight, ready to defend or attack.

"Arise, arise, riders of Theoden!" - The Return of the King

This starter pack contains everything you need to play a Rohan-themed Deck for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Playing the Rohirrm Starter Deck

The Rohirrim are renowned for their cavalry, and this deck is built to mimic the idea of a cavalry charge: characters who will charge into danger, strike powerfully against the enemy, then withdraw from the engagement quickly via self-discard effects.

Your heroes lean into this idea, with Lothírielputting characters into play during the quest phase. Then, when the character leaves play due to the expiration of Lothíriel's ability, Éomercan gain an impressive attack bonus for the remainder of the round.

Combos like this drive the deck, along with cards like Éomundand Westfold Horse-breederthat have their own "enters play" and"leaves play" effects. When playing with a Rohirrim Deck, you should expect to have seen a large portion of it by the end of the game.

Because the deck is so reliant on the abilities of its heroes, you'll need to take extra care to protect them. Defend against enemy attacks with allies such as Westfold Outrider to prevent damage to your heroes and activate Éomer's ability.

Alternatively, if you're running a little short on spare allies, you can use Feint to prevent those attacks from occurring at all.

Further, because you will frequently be discarding your own characters to use your "leaves play" abilities, take care that you do not run of out cards. Horn of the Markand Ancient Mathomare both good options for keeping cards in your hand.

New Rules

Valour is a trigger that appears on some player cards. Actions and Responses with the Valour trigger, presented as "Valour Action" or "Valour Response" can onl y be triggered by a player whose threat is 40 or higher.

"In the Wide World the Wood-elves lingered in the twilight of our Sun and Moon... and they wandered in the great forests that grew tall in lands that are now lost."

This starter pack contains everything you need to play a Silvan-themed deck for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.

Playing the Wood-elves Starter Deck

The Wood-elves are reclusive people, preferring to ambush their enemies rather than meet them head-on. To play this deck you will want to focus on situational efficiency and graceful adaptation.

The deck is built around a number of Silvan allies with specific one-time abilities focused on when they enter play such as Naith Guide and Galadhrim Minstrel. These are then combined with effects that allow you to return an ally to your hand.

Try to identify the character with abilities that are going to be most helpful given the circumstances of the game, and then use a return-to-hand effect from an event (such as The Tree People) to get an extra use of the ability. When you are setup with a handful of Silvan allies in play, aim to use Host of Galadhrimfor a powerful and potentially game-winning turn.

Because this deck uses three spheres, balancing your resources may be a little more challenging than with other decks. The Nenyaattachment can be used to add the lore icon to Galadriel, and this should help mitigate this challenge.

Many of the ally cards in this deck (such as Galadriel's Handmaiden) also have low hit point values so take care to protect your board from effects that can damage multiple characters at once.

Some abilities may be more useful later in the game. If you draw an ally like Orophin, consider holding on to him until there is a good target in your discard pile for his return-to-hand effect.

"By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained and the terror of Morgul kept at bay..." - Boromir, The Fellowship of the Ring

Playing the Gondorians Starter Deck

The Kingdom of Gondor has been beset by enemies for centuries. As the defenders of the Free Peoples' easter flank, the Gondorians have thrived with their backs up against the wall.

One of the major driving forces of this deck is a group of cards that work optimally when your thread is 40 or higher, such as Angbor the Fearless and Soldier of Gondor. You may want to let your threat increase a bit faster than normal, to activate these powerful abilities.

However, take care when doing so that you don't let your threat get too high - you'll be walking a fine line between activating your card abilities and losing the game. A few thread reduction effects, like Pillars of the Kings and Gandalf, are available in the deck to assist in managing this aspect of the game.

Another intriguing feature of this deck is the ability that you unlock by attacking the Visionary Leadership card to Boromir. both of these cards will work best when you have extra resources in Boromir's resource pool.

This means you'll have to pay extra attention to your spending, and sometimes hold back on playing a card to preserve the extra tokens in your resource pools. There are a number of other cards in the deck, such as Steward of Gondor and Squire of the Citadel, that can be used to manage your resources and ensure that these abilities are active at critical times.