Well it will certainly be a lot easier with those changes. I don't  track score so I don't care about that one, except it completely messes up some quests notably Hills of Emyn Muil. You need to double the VP needed for that one.

Really it's a solo game so you can play it however you want to. Making it really easy will be a bit pointless for steamrollering the scenarios with the strongest decks but will widen the pool of viable cards & decks so if that's what you want have at it! 

I tired the house rules posted and I just think its too easy.

1) There is no stress on resouces, especially during Dol Guldur and Jouney down the Anduin.  In Anduin you have low enough threat to avoid the troll, get a forest snare, and a weak ally and sacrifice your ally, snare the troll and enough resources to "Gandalf" him in like 2 turns.

2) Using exhausted characters to attack makes the planning phase almost irrelivant.  I can defend with Gandalf use his 4 def + 4 hp and turn around and attack with him also.  The dice method means Gandalf will always get an attack and Aragorn or Gimli or any hero really with attachments can be guarenteed an attack also, with a greater attack than heroes who have a chance at failure.

Since I didnt play a vp specific game I have no comment about the vp rules.

It just seems to me these rules have eliminated much of the "cost" of questing and defending, and therefore you will dominate every game with very rudamentary planning.  There is also a puzzle factor to this game thay goes arwy when you eliminate these things.  For instance for Journey with only the core set your best friend is "forest snare", but with the ability to go in with the low threat of one hero and literally buy your way out of trouble makes the scenario moot.

I dont like games that I just dominate by showing up, I like the failures of Dwarrowdelf (for instance) they make success feel all the better.  And knowing how easy it is to fail makes the excitement of putting that last progress tokien on the last quest card very rewarding.

I usuallly always play 2P and have never tried single played 2-handed.  I can completely understand why some people would do this, especially if you have no-one else to play with and you want to make use of all the cards you payed for, but does it not make the game too easy?  The rules state that players 'cannot name or read out loud directly from cards in their hand, or from cards that they have seen but the rest of the players have not', presumably so that it's not too easy to set up combos etc.  Obviously this element is removed in a 2-handed game.

No disresepect to people who play like this - like I said, I understand why you would want to - but do you not feel like you're *whispers* cheating the game a little bit?

Further to my last post also, it seems that a lot of people who play '2-handed' are under the belief that the game is easier in 2 player.  Over the last 18 months or so of playing, I have simply found this not to be true.  I play almost exclusively 2P, but when I do play solo I almost always find things a lot easier and my win rate goes up.  I dunno… maybe my partner is just a bit rubbish 

2 player is easier with a lot of scenarios such as those in the core set & return to Mirkwood. I expect it is not easier in eg Into Ithilien where you burn through the deck faster  & have much more chance of hitting a Warg Apocalypse.

Another thing I suspect is that 2 player will work with slightly less good decks a reasonable part of the time so it's a chance to try out weaker stuff & still win sometimes.  & one more thing is probably 2 decks not synergising as well as one deck does.

Playing solo also eliminates some good mechanics (like FOS) and makes a few scenarios unwinnable, which is why i started going to a 2 deck game.

bollywongaloid said:

I played pure solo for a long time before moving to 2-handed play, and I haven't looked back since. To me, it's not about making the game easier, it's just a lot more fun to actually be able to use "ranged" and "sentinel" and to build two decks that work together. As far as whether or not this is "cheating", I guess that is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I always thought the "table talk" rule was pointless and misguided. The game is supposed to be cooperative, and players should be able to freely discuss whatever they want with each other. I don't think the "table talk" rule adds anything to the game, and it doesn't fundamentally make the game easier to ignore it. 

flightmaster101 said:

Hmmm i play mostly solo and i win against every scenarios which is here for current day.

2 player game si more fun bu much most of scenarios is too easy for 2 player game special if they are good players and both have good synergy decks.

But HON change it! So now 2 or more player game is much more interesting and hard then before.

Glaurung said:

Can you beat Shadow and Flame with only cards released up to that point?

flightmaster101 said:

Yes sure. With Elrond/Hama/Glorifindel(spirit) deck. There is a eagles as well, feint ( to stop the Balrog) and Vilya mechanic. Actually this deck can beat any quests Up to SAF date.

I have another deck which one can beat any quest Up to date now! If you go to Strategy and deck buliding part of this forum you will see topic Thorin complany dwarves deck. Check it out! IS most powerfull solo deck in my opinion now. Can win all quests and HON as well.

Glaurung said:

Here is a deck list of the Elrond wisdom deck. Can manage SAF and all other quests. HON i didn try but i think have a good chance to win  as well.

Total Cards (50)

Hero (3)
Elrond (SaF) x1
Glorfindel (FoS) x1
Hama (TLD) x1

Ally (20)
Arwen Undomiel (TWitW) x2
Eagles of the Misty Mountains (RtM) x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Gildor Inglorion (THoEM) x1
Gleowine (Core) x2
Haldir of Lorien (AJtR) x1
Winged Guardian (THfG) x2
Imladris Stargazer (FoS) x3
Vassal of the Windlord (TDM) x3

Attachment (15)
A Burning Brand (CatC) x2
Asfaloth (FoS) x2
Healing Herbs (FoS) x3
Light of Valinor (FoS) x3
Unexpected Courage (Core) x2
Vilya (SaF) x3

Event (15)
A Test of Will (Core) x3
Daeron's Runes (FoS) x3
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x1
Elrond's Counsel (TWitW) x3
Feint (Core) x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core) x2

There's just too many mechanics that only profit from 'dual-wielding' two decks, so I'd rather play 2.

***Update***

I dont know how many have been waiting around, but I made it 5/6th of the way through Dwarrowdelf and continue to get creamed on Shadow and Flame.  I did some analysis on my decks and realized that I have only 18 characters in my Lead/Tactics deck.  So I took out a few attachments and added some low cost characters as sacraficial lambs to Durin's Bane.  Unfortunatly this means I will have to play all 6 again to make sure these decks work for the entire cycle.  I also will change from a core x1 to a core x3 since Amazon had that sale, and I may as well use all my cards.  This will give me feint x3, I think that will be benificial over the whole cycle.

Marginal0 said:

So true bro too many mechanics in palyer and enqounter cards go off in 1 deck play ,its like u r playing the game in a wrong way ! all the way !!!

Are there any videos showing how to play 2-handed solo in OCTGN, LackeyCCG, or Vassal?