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The Two Rings

Posted by simon cogan

17 Feb 2012

simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

I've been saying for a few weeks now that I've been tempted by 'Lord of the Rings: The Card Game'.

And I have finally succumbed to my Tolkien urge - but not to that game.

I've rediscovered MECCG after finding a big box of cards in my attic - and what a fantastic game it is!

All my theme and mechanic problems of (the admittedly gorgeous) 'Lord of the Rings: The Card Game', as well as my increasing frustration of being slaughtered at every opportunity are just removed by this timeless classic of a game that just lets you adventure through Middle Earth with a hop and a skip.

I bought a lot of cards when they first came out in 1995 (gosh, 17 years ago) and have kept them all safe and lovely since. I got a lot of the expansions too (Dragons, Dark Minions) but my interest dwindled as the game became a little too top heavy and lost it's way a bit (coincidentally, the text on the cards got smaler and smaller...). I've also got some of the ICE guides and rulebooks, so it was a real pleasure to sit down and rediscover them and the wonderful game all again.

In my opinion it beats the FFG version hands down in nearly every respect. Gameplay is more thematic and smooth and far less mechanical. you don't have to play the odds so deck design is a breeze too.

Being a solo player, I dont feel short-changed with this game either. The artwork may not be as good all the time (some of it is gorgeous though) and I think the scenario aspect of LOTR:TCG is brilliant - much better than the rather cold MP gaining objective of MECCG. But with all these player guides there are a lot of scenarios that are a joy to play through.

I'm off to ebay to find some more cards to build up my adventures...and find some more player guides too...

My 'Who' watching this week has been that Colin Baker 'gem' - 'The Two Doctors'. When I checked my viewing log, I was astonished to find that I hadn't watched it for 10 years.

Hmm, age has not made it any better! What really stood out was how toe-curlingly slow the adventure is. It moves along at an absolute snail's pace with the Doctor (the Colin Baker version) not meeting Chessene or the Sontarans until Episode 3 (Episode 5 in old money...). It's stock full of padding this one.

Along with this, the performances are 'full on' and the Sontarans are a sad shadow of their former selves (but very tall...). the Seville filming is a bit wasted and the direction is as flat as a pancake, robbing the story of any real drama at all.

There are some fun moments. Troughton is having a whale of a time and enjoying himself enormously - especially when he gets turned into an Androgum . Going OTT with him are Shockeye and Oscar (who gets some funny Holmes lines in the vein of Henry Gordon Jago) - but both have deaths that are woefully misplayed. Nicola Bryant is very easy on the eye too.

I watched this with the commentary on too (where Jacqqueline Pearce just says 'darling' every other minute). It's nice to know the cast enjoyed themselves...

Not impressed I'm afraid - 3/10 this week.

Anyone else care to share memories of this - or indeed MECCG?

15 Comments

Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:47 pm

Post Comment

FEB

(Containerguy)

Germany
Hamburg

Indeed, I find that MECCG is the single best Collectible Card Game, and I'm still hoping for a reprint (though chances are very very small, owing the legal status of the intellectual property).

Quote:

Being a solo player, I dont feel short-changed with this game either. The artwork may not be as good all the time (some of it is gorgeous though) and I think the scenario aspect of LOTR:TCG is brilliant - much better than the rather cold MP gaining objective of MECCG. But with all these player guides there are a lot of scenarios that are a joy to play through.

The Hamburg MECCG club is playing a scenario-tournament system, with a wide range of both Hero and Minion scenarios, which are all well themed, challenging and still competitve, even on a "general opponent" play (with some small deck alterations). These Scenarios are well usable for casual play too. The Scenario list is available in german only, but I#ll be glad to translate it for BGG is desired.

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:59 pm
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simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

A translation of all the scenarios would be simply fantastic. I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in appreciating you posting them.

I'm not into Lidless Eye yet, so mainly Hero scenarios would interest me more.

I'm really into MECCG at the moment (trying to track down the Dragon and Dark Minion Player Guides too...) and think that scenario play is far better than the MP gathering.

Many thanks in advance

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:05 pm
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David Bate

(wrrlykam)

United Kingdom

Staffordshire

1E Trek, SW and METW were my favourite old school CCGs.

I was always short of one region card. Never did track it down. I loved the ME:TWCCG travel / event / hazard system. I felt you were part of a story and on a journey/quest rather than just a one on one opponent thrashing game (MTG, Pokemon, et al.).

It is one of those games that I'd love to see a second edition streamlined rules set especially one that can be solo orientated too. The 72 page rulebook was a bit of bind and the extra 8 pages per expansion just clogged up the game. But having said that a lot of the rule book did feature gameplay examples. A beginners play guide would have been good.

Let me know if you are looking for a particular card and I'll check see if I have a spare. I have a big brown bag in the cupboard with cards I pucked up at a market stall that I haven't even looked at in 7 years.

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:39 pm
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simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

Cheers David
- I'm at this moment spreadsheeting all my cards....

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:45 pm
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David Bate

(wrrlykam)

United Kingdom

Staffordshire

Simon

This link has details of the player's guide including ISBN code to help locate them.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Middle-earth_Collectible_Card...

Dave

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 4:48 pm
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Paul Blake

(Thedalek)

United States
Westerville
Ohio

dragoncymru wrote:

My 'Who' watching this week has been that Colin Baker 'gem' - 'The Two Doctors'.

Ah, the birthplace of Season 6b. The first time I sat down to watch it, I was cheerfully tucking in to a sliced pork barbeque sandwich. Let's just say I didn't appreciate Robert Holmes' lecture on the subject.

To demonstrate just how lackluster this story is: I've seen it multiple times. Every time, I'm consistently surprised to see the Sontarans in it, because I'd completely forgotten they were in this story. Even reading through your comments, my brain did a double-take as I struggled to recall a memorable Sontaran moment from the story.

And that's the trouble with The Two Doctors, really. Between the hamfisted moral message that doesn't even resonate with most of the audience and John Stratton's constant scenery-chewing, the bits which should be interesting and memorable are overshadowed by over-the-top throwaway bits that don't really contribute to a compelling narrative.

The revelation that Jamie and the Doctor had gone on to do "tidying up" missions for the Time Lords should have been a major event in itself. Instead, JNT deigned to treat it as a case of sloppy writing, and casually ignored it from that point on.

Really, the entirety of Season 22 is something of a nadir for Doctor Who, which is a shame for Colin Baker. This was the point during which the writers were meant to turn around the paranoid and psychotic Doctor who nearly tried to kill Peri - to turn the intentionally unfriendly Sixth Doctor into everyone's favorite, making the audience love him. Instead, his second season is loaded with stories which make Time Flight look downright bearable.

Every episode is riddled with absurdities (Why exactly is The Master disguised as a scarecrow in The Mark of the Rani?), character derailment (The Doctor's glib line upon intentionally killing the guards in Attack of the Cybermen, for instance), sloppy writing (No amount of lampshading will obscure the fact that Glen McCoy just couldn't come up with a plausible escape for the Doctor in Timelash) and boorish social commentary. Vengeance on Varos could almost be seen as a direct criticism of Doctor Who's fandom, and The Two Doctors constant "meat is murder" lecturing grew tiresome within the first ten minutes.

It's almost as if Colin had been intentionally sabotaged by BBC executives - Executives who had already publicly expressed a dislike for science fiction in general, Doctor Who in particular, and even a personal dislike of Colin specifically. Small wonder that season 23 was his last. "Let's follow our worst season yet with a single, 14-part courtroom drama! Let's get rid of a popular companion, and replace her with a companion who comes equipped with a confusing backstory, which we have no intention of ever resolving! Let's turn Doctor Who into the least approachable show on television! Hey, Colin, why aren't you pulling in the ratings?"

Thank heavens for Big Finish.

Edited Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:21 pm
Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:05 pm
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simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

Gosh Paul - we DO have the same taste in Who!

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:15 pm
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Paul Blake

(Thedalek)

United States
Westerville
Ohio

dragoncymru wrote:

Gosh Paul - we DO have the same taste in Who!

Well, close, anyway. I find the Paul McGann telemovie to be pretty inoffensive (although I'll admit it's more palatable given Blum/Orman's explanation of the regeneration process given in Unnatural History), and think that Mission to Magnus would probably have been Colin's best televised episode - had it ever have been produced. Then again, that's probably not saying much. It hasn't aged very well, and as the BF commentary repeatedly states, "It was definitely an artifact of its era," which is a nice way of saying "It was offensively chauvinistic." Still a vast improvement over the likes of Season 22, and comparable with some well-regarded Pertwee stories.

Of course, if The Nightmare Fair had ever been filmed, it would have easily been his number one story, full stop. The Celestial Toymaker is always good for that perfect balance of "playful" and "horrifying," and the animatronic dwarf miners in Graham Williams' novelization scared the colorful euphemism right out of me.

Edited Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:41 pm
Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:40 pm
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Tim Taylor

(Herr Niemand)

United States
Port Townsend
Washington

Recently saw this one myself.

One of the problems with The Two Doctors, I feel, is how poorly the show uses Patrick Troughton's considerable talents.

Troughton's Doctor was always very active, in a physical comedic way. So what does the writer do? Strap him to a table and knock him out for a majority of the program!

At the time I suspected that Troughton's performance was a perhaps bit too good and whether it didn't eclipse Colin Baker a bit too much, so there was a hasty rewrite to prevent the star from looking too bad. That's probably too harsh a judgement, but I still wonder...

I guess my summation would be -- everyone's talents were wasted in this story. Too bad really.

Edited Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:52 pm
Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:51 pm
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Paul Blake

(Thedalek)

United States
Westerville
Ohio

Herr Niemand wrote:

I guess my summation would be -- everyone's talents were wasted in this story. Too bad really.

Based on the highly preachy nature of the script, and the mildly disinterested performances by the main cast, I'd say it was mostly a case of Robert Holmes bludgeoning everyone with his vegetarian stance, and everyone else going along with it because they didn't have a choice.

Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:58 pm
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Phil Sauer

(aaxiom)

United States
Willow Street
Pennsylvania

RE: MECCG...

Man, I have GOT to get to the point of getting this one down -- especially for solitaire play. Each time I try, I feel as if the game is real awkward. I'm missing something on my end... the game is raved about in FAR too many circles for me to believe it's the game.

I think I need a detailed session report to get this to come alive for me somehow. I'll keep trying, but I notice more time passes between attempts, which is bad.

I have ALL of the challenge decks and a significant number of the cards from Wizards and Dragons, if that helps any.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would value that! Simon, many thanks for sharing your rediscovery with us... interesting read, for certain.

Edited Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:39 am
Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:38 am
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simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

Phil

o give MECCG another try:

The big rulebooks you can buy - Wizard's Companion etc - are a real bonus for this as apart from laying out the rules easier they have lots of examples of play, plus some neat decks and scenarios us solitaire players can attempt.

(I've got the Rulebook, Wizards Player Guide, casual Companion and just tracked down the Dragon Companion too). All are fab.

Plus - get the players map and mount it on board or frame it under glass using a picture frame bought cheaply from any hardware store. You really need to have a board to play on and with this method, you can salient cards around the edge when playing too.

Then get some LOTR miniatures from the hundreds available and use them as pawns/markers to bring the game alive even more.

let me know how you get on and I'll keep you updated on my adventures too...

Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:41 pm
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Steve Mackenzie

(Epicurean)

United Kingdom

Poor old Colin. Such a great man, such a great actor. I do think it has become somewhat 'cool' to find fault with late 80s Who (any fault at all will do, preferably as many as possible), although I do accept it isn't exactly the programme's greatest hour! I'm a big fan of Colin (he's in my top 3 favourite Doctors) and his era, even with its undoubted problems, and Colin always makes it watchable. If only the budget could have stretched a little further and the writing and editing team could have been tighter - but you could have said this for just about every BBC department during the 80s. Colin's take on the Doctor was fascinating and could have reaped massive rewards given time and energy from everyone else. Shame. As has already been said, thank goodness for Big Finish!

Regarding LotR and MECCG, I like both, but I'm glad Simon mentioned the latter again as it made me dust off my cards and give it a try again. It is indeed a great game! I've even been poking around eBay for those cards I always knew I needed but never had an opportunity to get back in the day!

Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:24 pm
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Patrick Leacock

(Sylvicolus)

United States
Chicago
Illinois

I have the Dark Minions Player Guide, Mastering Middle-Earth (strategy book by Scott Langlinais), The Wizards Player Guide, and The Wizards Companion, as well as many extra cards. Guess it is time I put them on e-Bay or BGG marketplace.

Posted Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:49 am
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simon cogan

(dragoncymru)

United Kingdom

Sylvicolus wrote:

First dibs...

Posted Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:36 am
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