Which game would you rather play?

A tradeable card game covering the events of the Lord of the Rings movies. Frodo and his companions journey from Bag End to the destruction of the Ring at Mount Doom. The coverage of the cards is largely loyal to the movies, but it does take some of ... SHOW MORE 

A tradeable card game covering the events of the Lord of the Rings movies. Frodo and his companions journey from Bag End to the destruction of the Ring at Mount Doom. The coverage of the cards is largely loyal to the movies, but it does take some of its lore from the book, and make references to certain atmospheres within the book. Some card sets, such as the Expanded Middle Earth Draft collection, have actors playing roles that were not seen in the movie, replete with costume. This allows for Tom Bombadil and Ghan Buri Ghan (among others) to be considered part of the card game. Nonetheless, they are rare, and typically you feel as if you are playing the movie rather than the book. The game will be fairly familiar to veteran CCG players with a couple of important exceptions: firstly, combat is magic-like in execution but more incremental in resolution: each "lost" combat results in only a wound, not elimination as in Magic, L5R, Star Wars, or most other CCGs. Each character can suffer a limited number of wounds before being eliminated, but this "health" rating is also expended for card special actions - there is no "tapping". Also importantly, this is not a "draw one" game but a "hand-filling" game, which results in a very different dynamic. Lastly, like ICEs Middle-Earth CCG that came before, cards are either "hero" or "shadow" cards; when you play Free Peoples cards in your turn, you effectively pay their cost in Twilight Points to your opponent, who then turns around and uses those points to play Shadow Cards to attack you. Unlike some of their other published games, Decipher finally saw the light and put a 4-card cap on every card during deck building (and this includes variations; so there is an Aragorn: Ranger of the North and an Aragorn: King in Exile; you can only have total of 4 combined). Additionally, there is a much more sane rarity distribution than previous Decipher products (many - in fact most - familiar characters are common or uncommon, or at least have common or uncommon variations that are no less powerful than the rare versions). This game "ended" when Decipher ran into financial difficulties and let the license expire. The following sets were released: 1 Fellowship of the Ring 2 Mines of Moria 3 Realms of the Elf-Lords 4 The Two Towers 5 Battle of Helm's Deep 6 Ents of Fangorn 7 Return of the King 8 Siege of Gondor 9 Reflections 10 Mount Doom 11 Shadows (Starting with this Set, Minion Cultures were re-formatted) 12 Black Rider 13 Bloodlines 14 Expanded Middle Earth 15 The Hunters 16 Wraith Collection 17 Rise of Saruman 18 Treachery and Deceit 19 Ages' End ... SHOW LESS 

X-Wing Second Edition puts you in command of your own squadron of advanced starfighters locked in thrilling, tactical space combat. Following in the footsteps of the first edition, the second edition refines the intuitive and exciting core formula of... SHOW MORE 

X-Wing Second Edition puts you in command of your own squadron of advanced starfighters locked in thrilling, tactical space combat. Following in the footsteps of the first edition, the second edition refines the intuitive and exciting core formula of maneuvering your ships into position by placing a central focus on the visceral thrill of flying starships in the Star Wars galaxy. During a battle, you’ll use your squadron’s unique capabilities to give yourself an advantage in the thick of combat. Each X-Wing ship flies differently, with its own set of maneuvers ranging from gentle banks to aggressive Koiogran turns. As in the game’s first edition, you’ll need to use every ship’s maneuvering capabilities to the fullest in order to strategically position your ships. A round begins with players secretly selecting a maneuver on each of their ships’ unique maneuver dials. Once you’ve decided how each of your ships is going to fly, you’ll begin revealing the dials and moving your ships, starting with the lowest skilled pilots. As you move, you’ll enter a tense duel with your opponent as you both try to line up the perfect shot. Before you can open fire on an opponent’s ship, however, they must be in your firing arc and within range. By carefully selecting your maneuvers, you can get enemy ships in your sights, and once you’ve locked onto your target, you’re free to choose your plan of attack. You might pepper the enemy with blaster fire to whittle away their shields. Or, you could go for massive damage and launch a devastating volley of proton torpedoes. No matter how you approach the battle, you have complete control of your squadron. One player wins when all of their opponent’s ships are destroyed! Slick flying is certainly important, but it isn’t the only consideration you’ll have to make in the midst of a dogfight. As in the first edition of X-Wing, once your ships have completed a maneuver, you can also perform an action to gain the upper hand. Whether you choose to acquire a target lock on a rival ship or barrel roll out of an enemy’s firing arc, the actions you take affect the course of the battle and determine the fate of your squadron. Now, in the second edition of the game, your actions offer greater strategic depth than ever before. Some actions are red and induce stress when they are used. Other actions may be linked, allowing you to chain two actions together and push the limits of how your ship can handle in a dogfight! —description from the publisher ... SHOW LESS