Hi.

For all You Guys first batch of information.

The Game has:

2xstring bag with cards. The art is top notch. So is fragility. I mean before You go out of the ship buy yourself 5 bags of sleeves.

2xsheets of cardboard with all threat meters, and everything You need to punch out.

1xinstruction. If You bought Game of Thrones LCG nothing woudl ever surprise You

Hello Sky, how about a card list with the # of times the card appears in the core.

Leadership

Alies

Citadel Guard x 3

Faramir x 2 U

Son of Arnor x 2

Snow Creek Scout x 3

Archer from Silver Vein x 2

Long Beard Orc Killer x 2

Brog Iron Fist x 1 U

Events

Always Watchful x 2

Common Target x 2

For Gondor! x 2

Sneak Attack x 2

Noble Sacrifice x 2

Grim Determination x 1

Attachments

Steward of Gondor x 2

Celebrian's Stone x 1 U

Tactics

Allies

Veteran Axeman x 3

Gondor Spearman x 3

Horse Archer x 2

Beorn x 1 U

Events

Swordplay Mastery x 3

Rain of Arrows x 2

Feint x 2

Quick Strike x 2

Valley of Spears x 2

Broad Hit x 1

United x 1

Attachments

Blade from Gondolin x 2

Citadek Plate x 2

Dwarven Axe x 2

Horn of Gondor x 1 U

Spirit

Allies

Wandering Took x 2

Lorien Guide x 3

Scout from the North x 2

Events

Galadrihms Bless x 2

Strnght of Will x 2

Hurried Strike x 2

Will of the West x 2

Test of Will x 2

Face the Enemy x 3

Light in the Darkness x 2

Luck or Fate x 1

Dwarven Tomb x 1

Attachments

Blessings of the Lady x 2

Power of the Earth x 2

Unexpected Bravery x 1

Lore

Allies

Daughter of the Nimrodel x 3

Erebor Smith x 2

Henamarth The River Song x 1 U

Miner from the Iron Hills x 2

Gleowin x 2 U

Events

Imladris' Knowledge x 3

Wealth of Lorien x 2

Flair of Radaggast x 2

Secret Path x 2

Gandalf's Searches x 2

Hospitality of Beorn x 1

Forest Snare x 2

Attachments

Guardian of Lorien x 2

Dark Knowledge x1

Instinct of Self Preservation x 2

Neutral

Gandalf x 4

 Thanks for the information!   It seems that buying two copies instead of three will work out well for me!.... for now.

That is what i think also. But... for now i will stay with 1 copy of Core Set. On the first sight i found only 2 or 3 cards i would like to multiply in quantity.

Now a pinch of salt.

I just finished putting all cards into sleeves now - and the box sreams for organization!!!!! This two stringbags just will not do the justice to the game (you can storage tokens in them) , In my opinion u need:

1 space for heroes

4 spaces for spheres

1 space for quest cards

about 6 spaces for different types of cards in the encounter deck i got the box shut so i am not sure (three quests specific) 3 generic types (spiders, beasts, orcs).

About the encounter deck I shall write nothing :). It would be like summarise the movie You are just going to. To tell You the truth I tried not to look to closely at those cards too. Tomorrow I will have the first game and would like it to be so surprising as it could be :)

I had one question though. In the cardboard there was a bit named Proof of purchase - what is it used for?

Thank you so much for the information on the Player cards! I am so ready for this game, it is making me wild! I'll have to go do some math to occupy my time until I can go find it somewhere.

WOW, Thanks for the info.

Thanks for posting the list. I was pondering whether I would need 2 starters or not, and now I know I can make do with just one. 

wow Beorn is in the starter. That's a nice surprise.

I could not bear waiting. I had to move through Mirkwood.
Old way was ahead of me, and I heard sounds that made my hair bristle. Only great spiders moved that way. The three of us were not afraid. Lore was our Shield.
The adventure did not start rosy. We proudly entered into the dark forest sure that moss covered path would let us silently move through. We were aware that from this side of Mirkwood only an old forest way was quick enough. Though we noticed spider lurking among the trees we did not hesitate. We were silent, focused and brave, and the fact that accidentally met Blacksmith wanted to travel with us only make us feel better. Once we passed first trees we saw that our plan was not foolproof. Just after few steps we saw the Forrest Gate and we felt that something was wrong there. The fear started to emerge from our thoughts and only the fact, that we found the secret path allowed us to stay calm. Not for long... The spider we thought was left behind, jumped among us in the least expected moment. Denethor was brave enough to take first blow. We hoped that his legendary skills will protect him.
The spider behaved predictable, and Belavora scored her first hit. They say that spider's blood is not red, and they are right. Black drops sprinkled from the wounded beast. It became reckless and he was nearly immediately hit by the Blacksmith.
The beast was screeching and we felt the building of threat around us. Who would be the first - we ore other beasts that were being summoned by the wounded arachnid. We knew it was now or never. Denethor blocked the incoming blow, and the Balcksmith impaled wounded spider with his spear.
We had to choose: advance now or retreat. Our lack of experience chose instead of us.
Once we gathered to walk through the gate, we saw like the Spawn of Ungolianth emerges of its Shadow. It was quick and ferocious. One second it was away, the next we saw as it cut Denethor twice with its pincers. Hadn't we have forrest snare with us, we would all be killed the next few seconds. Once the beast was entangled we managed to hit it a few times. We had to escape but we did not know where to go. And the more we looked around we were more confused.
Shall we go through an Enchanted Creek or shall we use the Necromancers Pass? The evil will of the denizen of the latter place we felt the very next moment when the Necromancer reached us and killed Daughter of the Nimrodel. We could only stare as he sucked all life out of her slender body.
We whacked th weakening spawn till its death only to be confronted by Chieftain Uthak. The moment he enter the Gate, he swung his sword through the legs of Beravora. The scream made us drop everything we got to cover our ears. Her pain was unbearable. It was the first moment we saw the end coming. But if we have to die we would do it on our terms. The knowledge Imladris gave us let us heal the wounds of Beravora so she could fight for the last time. We even wounded Uthak twice, but then we saw that we were surrounded by countless enemies. It was the end.
 

Lotr LCG - Sky

1:0

So after the pulse has slowed down a little I can post what it was like.
Hard. That is the first thing that comes to my mind. I purposefully chose one of the spheres. Should I mix two of them I shall first try each of them individually. The Lore deck is good at card management a lot of cards allows You to draw or make someone draw. It is surely good at other things, but my mediocre skill did not allow to use them.
I played conservatively. Tried to be prepared for everything. It is not a case here. Now I know I should risk some free hits from the Enemies drawn in the first rounds just to make sure to kill them in the same turn. You can ask why it does matter so much? Because each round the game ads 1 card to the staging area. I did not pay attention to long term effects of it and allowed first fights to take two turns instead of one. And threat from locations that was building in the staging area became falling avalanche – one round I seem to have everything under control, the next it was successful struggle, and on round 3 i add up 5 threat after Quest phase. Two such rounds and I was done.
I noticed it too late. I got 5 locations in the staging area of the threat level of 8. I had to commit all my heroes, and half of allies to commit to quest, and at the same moment Uthak was bashing my head with his Warhammer.
Tomorrow I will make second attempt with the Lore deck. One shall learn by his mistakes :)

Be strong, friend Sky. The shadow may have won today, but it will never prevail. The wisdom you've gained will serve you well in the days ahead.

I can't wait to have my own cards so I can post reports like this.