# The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set is a board game for 1–4 players. It plays in 30–120 minutes and is meant for ages 14 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 2. It is rated 8.2 out of 10 by 52 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $57.94 (United States).

- **Players:** 1–4 (best with 2)
- **Playing time:** 30–120 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 14+
- **Complexity:** 3.6 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2022
- **Categories:** Fantasy, Collectible Components, Novel-based, Adventure, Card Game
- **Mechanics:** Hand Management, Variable Player Powers, Automatic Resource Growth, Deck Construction, Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game, Events, Solo / Solitaire Game, Cooperative Game, Variable Set-up
- **Ludoya rating:** 8.2 out of 10, from 52 reviews
- **Owned by:** 124 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 1,771
- **Unique players:** 164

**Designers:** Nate French

**Artists:** Kristina Gehrmann, Kaya, Alexandru Sabo, Daarken, Igor Kieryluk, WiL Springer, Jeff Himmelman, Daryl Mandryk, John Wigley, Winona Nelson, Nicholas Cloister, Alexandr Shaldin, Fredrik Tyskerud, Marc Scheff, Jason Ward, Mark Winters, Kevin Childress, Noah Bradley, David Lecossu, Jen Zee, Christopher Hosch, Lucas Graciano, Lius Lasahido, Drew Whitmore, Tiziano Baracchi, Andrew Olson, Tony Foti, Nikolay Stoyanov, John Stanko, Sara Biddle, Sandara Tang, Gabrielle Portal, Ben Zweifel, Matthew Starbuck, Ijur, David Auden Nash, Marco Caradonna, Katherine Dinger, Rio Sabda, Tom Garden, Angela Sung, David Horne, Mathias Kollros, Henning Ludvigsen, Leonardo Borazio, Ryan Barger, Margaret Hardy, Florian Stitz, Anna Christenson, Even Mehl Amundsen, Erfian Asafat, Amanda Sartor, Loren Fetterman, Soul Core, Yoann Boissonnet, Frank Walls, Dominik Kasprzycki, Magali Villeneuve, West Clendinning, Mike Nash, Santiago Villa

**Publishers:** Fantasy Flight Games

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 401 Games | 81.95 $ | https://store.401games.ca/products/lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-set |
| Games Empire | 104.99 $ | https://gamesempire.com.au/products/lord-of-the-rings-card-game-revised-core-set |
| BoardGames.BG | 72 € | https://boardgames-bg.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-core-set-lotr-lcg-revised-edition-2021.html |

## Expansions

- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-hobbit-over-hill-and-under-hill)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Hobbit: On the Doorstep](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-hobbit-on-the-doorstep)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dark of Mirkwood](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-dark-of-mirkwood)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Fellowship of the Ring: Saga Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-saga-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core – Elves of Lórien Starter Deck](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-elves-of-lorien-starter-deck)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Angmar Awakened Campaign Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-angmar-awakened-campaign-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core: Dwarves of Durin Starter Deck](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-dwarves-of-durin-starter-deck)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Angmar Awakened Hero Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-angmar-awakened-hero-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core: Defenders of Gondor Starter Deck](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-defenders-of-gondor-starter)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core: Riders of Rohan Starter Deck](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-riders-of-rohan-starter-deck)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Two Towers: Saga Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-two-towers-saga-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-dream-chaser-campaign-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dream-chaser Hero Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-dream-chaser-hero-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Return of the King: Saga Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-the-return-of-the-king-saga-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Ered Mithrin Campaign Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-ered-mithrin-campaign-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Ered Mithrin Hero Expansion](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-ered-mithrin-hero-expansion)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: Over Hill and Under Hill](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-nightmare-decks-over-hill-and-under-hill)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: On the Doorstep](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-nightmare-decks-on-the-doorstep)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Game Night Kit 2014 Season One](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-game-night-kit-2014-season-one)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Game Night Kit 2014 Fall Season](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-game-night-kit-2014-fall-season)

## Similar games

- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game)
- [Arkham Horror: The Card Game (Revised Core Set)](https://www.ludoya.com/games/arkham-horror-the-card-game-revised-edition)
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- [The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-fate-of-the-fellowship)
- [Maladum: Dungeons of Enveron](https://www.ludoya.com/games/maladum-dungeons-of-enveron)

## Rules questions

### Do I have to engage every enemy in the staging area, or can I choose not to?

Each player has one option to engage a single enemy from the staging area during the Optional Engagement step; after that, engagement checks may cause remaining enemies to engage players based on engagement cost versus player threat (p. 24).

### If I commit characters to the quest and we succeed, do they ready immediately or stay exhausted?

Characters committed to a quest remain exhausted through the end of the quest phase and do not ready at quest resolution; cards are readied only during the Refresh step (p. 23, p. 25).

### How do I calculate damage for enemy and player attacks — does defense subtract from attack, and what about undefended attacks?

Damage is attack minus defense (if defense ≥ attack, no damage is dealt); if an attack is undefended all damage is assigned to a single hero and a character’s defense value does not absorb damage from undefended attacks (p. 25–26).

### When can I play ally and attachment cards from my hand?

Ally and attachment cards may be played during the Planning phase’s special action window (the active player may play as many as they can afford while the window remains open), and action windows also occur at many steps throughout the round for other actions (p. 23, p. 21).

### What does “ranged” let me do — can I attack enemies engaged with other players or have others join my attack?

If every attacking character has ranged, you may declare the attack against any enemy engaged with any player, and any number of ranged characters controlled by other players may exhaust to be declared as attackers (p. 26).

### Two triggered abilities trigger at the same time — how do I know which resolves first?

Triggered abilities resolve in this order: constant abilities, then forced abilities, then response abilities; within categories, “when” effects resolve before “after,” and if effects still occur simultaneously the first player chooses the order (p. 18).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-set)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-set)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/349067)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-24. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._