This is a great game. The game is good with two players, but shines in multiplayer. The offical tournaments are multiplayer.

Well worth a look.

I love the game and cannot even begin to explain the amount of interaction and chaos that occurs in a multiplayer game. The best part is the company does not focus on it being a collectible game. If you want to just go buy one starter, you can play with your friends. If you purchase 2 starters or one starter and a few boosters you are ready to compete.

Another rare winner in the glutted field of CCG
I have played 85% of the CCGs out there, this one shines when playing 3 or more.
A real treat in a difficult genre.
The website is also top-notch, so support, forums, cardlists, etc are all available at your fingertips, er, mousepointers...

I can't wait to give this a try...

I've never played a CCG before and I heard great things about this one. But I found the print on the cards to be significantly smaller, fainter and harder to read than other games, so much so that I had to take a pass. I bought into AGOT and MtG, which I have no problem reading. If the publisher of Allegieance reprints in more legible type, I'll grab it up in an instant.

After playing M:tG for years and sinking gobs of time/money into it, I vowed to never play a CCG again.

Until now.

This is a really good multiplayer game. I love the shared resource and diplomatic/political aspects of this one.

With only 220 cards available to date (first expansion due soon), only 2 copies of a card per deck permitted, and rarity more based on artwork than utility/power, this game is not very expensive either.

Apparently this one went OOP because it "plays so well out of the starters."

This game seems to hit a nerve with young high school computer geeks. The same guys who love to program RoboRally to push each other down pits seem to love the punching actions and cool-esque quotes. "I've got too much blood in my caffeine system."

I have trouble keeping it in the game club because every couple years there's a kid who loves it so much I give him our stash when he goes off to college.

This game was another of the best CCGs out there. I loved it!

This game was another of the best CCGs out there. I loved it!

Of all CCG's I must say that I love onely this one. It practicly plays as a well designed board game, you dont need that many card (you might want that many though...) and each of the players (Runner and Corp) actualy play quite a different game, but seem to meet in the middle of those games... Real clever design. Love it!

Ok... who here has tried this one besides me?

Come on, I know you're out there!

J

This is an excellent game. It can get a little unweildy (you need a lot of table space to play), and the rulebook leaves a lot to be desired (this is fixed with the downloadable rulebook and FAQs), but it's a lot of fun. I usually use my Malak voice when we play.

Great game - can't wait for the 1st expansion!!

The first expansion is also out, though it is really just the remainder of the first edition (it's First Edition Part 2).

And the game is really good.

This is a great game. Anyone can pick it up with less than 4 pages of rules. The Spoils has something for casual and hard-core gamers alike offering local in store events along with larger money events at premier cons around the nation. Anyone intrested in getting into the TCG/CCG world will find The Spoils a great game both to learn and to play. With the game being a little less than a year old it is easy to get into without needing to give up your first born for decent cards. Anyone intrested in playing should pick up a starter deck or two at your local gaming store that carries The Spoils, and if your local gaming store doesn't carry the spoils encourage them to buy a little product to test the waters. After a few people get playing the game will take off in your area. I have played numerous TCG's competitivly including Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh(ughh...), M:tG and some casually including Magi Nation and Vs. and I can honestly say this surpasses what I thought was possible from a TCG.

This is dead as of 08 due to financial troubles at Tenacious Games.

Revived by Arcane Tinmen.

Just picked up two tournament decks of the new "Seed" expansion, and while I haven't played it yet, I have to say the artwork is GORGEOUS and I'm liking the slim rule set.

Got two decks. I stopped playing.

A money pit game. nuff said.

A boring two player game that you have to 'invest' in to be able to play the game you want to play. Just dreadful. Grandfather of all the other money pit games (card, figure, and otherwise) to follow. That is hardly a fantastic legacy to leave.

Just the 4 thumbs including mine? But I suppose if people are happy sticking with this game they wouldn't be looking here.

Yes. I have grown out of it too. But it makes no sense to try to compare it with the other CCGs because THIS is the one that started it all. It's the others' purpose to outdo this one. And it's not Magic's fault if they succeed.

Why did this game do so well, and is STILL doing so well? I know I got suckered into it, I still have 2 big boxes full of cards. Only now am I discovering other great CCG games such as:

7th Sea
Deadlands: Doomtown
Netrunner
Spycraft CCG

mainly because of BGG and threads like this one. So I am now scrambling to find as many of these cards for these games that I can because they are all now dead. Even though they are WAAAAY better than MTG. I don't get it! Back in the day when I was actively buying and playing MTG, I never noticed these other games or never really gave them a closer look. WHY!?

Better known as Dynasty Warriors 4 in English speaking countries, for the curious.

One of the best. Currently trying to add to my collection, and especially looking for the fixed 'Do Unto Others' final expansion. I just bought a box of 'Ashes to Ashes' starters for under ten bucks.

The best CCG ever made. Great story, great gameplay, by far the best multiplayer ccg.

One can only hope that someday the ccg will revive, heck Shadowfist came back....

Lost my whole collection somewhere. They were all in my "Do Unto Others" boxes (I think that was the last set)

THE GREATEST CCG EVER!!!

With a combat system based on poker hands, what's not to love!!! I have thousands of DL: DT cards, starters, etc., & I'm trying to convince by board gaming group to give it a try since it does really well with multiple players. They are all poker players so it shouldn't be this hard to convince them.

The only problem I had with the game was the introduction of new card types in later expansions. With a 52 card limit deck building rule, this played hell on your ability to craft a good deck that you found yourself ignoring the new cards.

Probably the most mature and difficult CCG. Wouldn't be my best. Maybe it's just I don't have the right people to play against.

I totally agree with you; this was indeed ruined by the "Rolling Thunder" (Blunder?) release schedule. Too bad; this trading card game is fantastic, both in gameplay and theme (I've yet to see another "Arabian Nights" type of TCG out there.

I don't blame the rolling thunder marketing scheme for this games collapse. Rolling thunder didn't really hurt Doomtown. What killed this game was 1) only three factions to start with, one of which was far more powerful and 2) use of only one deck which made unbalanced starts common with a bad start hand equalling a lost game.

The final fourth set with the multitude of factions complete with a host of broken cards was almost impossible to get.

I understand that WOTC destroyed all remaining stock after only 6 months from releasing the final set. Hence LOTBS is hard to get.

Best CCG ever (or at least close).
The game was brilliant, not in the least because of the dark, forbidding atmosphere that is around it.
If anyone has some cards from the Awakening expansion, please let me know! I only need 4 cards to complete my set.

I'm not sure if you've seen this from the AEG boards, but
this yahoogroups was started:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/LBS_Resurrection

There is a visual spoiler of all cards started:

http://imperialblock.com/visualspoiler

(then choose LBS)

If anyone has awakenings cards, we need awakenings scans. (I personally had a complete set of everything before awakenings, so scans of those are complete).

Contact me or join the yahoogroups list if you want to contribute.

Yep, I was an ambassador like the whole time this game lived.

I think the original plan was that LBS was to be a more refinedly designed game (certainly true in the sense of turn ordering and duelling) than L5R so they were hoping to the players move on to LBS from L5R.

But obviously people far more loyal to L5R than AEG expected. (just like way more people were loyal to M:TG than we expected)

I didn't mind "rolling thunder" that much. My experience was that the messy rulings were the doom of this game.

Doomtown suffered from a similar problem. The "(what the **** is or isn't a) move" rule took up half the FAQ.

Alive and well! Z-Man games now puts it out.

Awesome game. Incredibly balanced, best pre-con starters ever, and lots of fun. Also a focus on comeback cards and no eliminated players adds to the fun factor.

Shadowfist is one of those CCG's where I can have fun, get in character and just roll with it. Very nicely done, has a lot of interesting mechanics and strategies. Only not enough people play it to be something I get incredibly tied up in.

I have a substantial Shadowfist collection dating between 1996 and 2002 (when I bought a box of Netherworld II boosters while visiting London). I got into it around the time I was discovering the golden age of Hong Kong action cinema. I even subscribe to the Shadowfist trading list, though I haven't brokered any trades lately. This game was extremely fun and playable, not to mention hilarious (my Jammers decks were played mostly for laughs). The Battlechimp Potemkin remains one of my favorites from the original Netherworld. But little was more satisfying than building up enough resources to throw down Fong Sai Yuk on some unsuspecting opponent and hear him emit a satisfying "Damn!"

Shadowfist was, and remains, a blast to play.

Its an alright game, one of the better ones but just a tad too complicated.. :P

Never played the game but just wanted to add that Perry Rhodan is very much like Buck Rogers.

Bullshit.

My old favourite.

Another great one, too bad they added tooo much complexity as time and expansions went on.
I will NEVER sell/trade my large set of this game as one day, I look foward to teaching my son

Can buy from www.treebeard.com, very nice prices, bought from him and pleasant to deal with. He also sells on eBay. Can get in the game quick. I bought cards from him and off of eBay (got into a lot of different CCGs recently).

Hit or miss on eBay but can get some good deals if you wait, watch, and research. Most boxes of stuff are 300-500 cards and cost $15, so bid appropiately when someone says 1000 cards... be sure of what you're getting, a collection or did he just buy a couple of boxes of the same stuff.

I would echo the positive comments about www.treebeard.com - good prices, very friendly/helpful, excellent selection. I bought some Challenge Decks and was very pleased.

I remember first learning the rules to this game (was in 7th grade) was like rocket science 0_0. Very good game that I highly recomend. You can play as on of 5 wizards (and there "corrupted versions), one of the 9 Ring Wraiths, and later on a balrog I believe making for a total of 20 playable "heroes (?)". I also believe it was the first game to use a card to represent the player. I also think you can play as sauron as well, The biggest rares where "The One Ring (seeing that it was a win condition)" and "The Lidless Eye (let you play as Sauron)".

Looks fun. Never seen a starter.

My personal favorite. Hope it keeps up momentum. I love the theme and the mechanics are elegant.

That's the second favorite for me (the first one is A Game Of Thrones)

One of the best CCGs out on the market now. If you like the theme, you should definitely check it out. Even if you don't like the theme, but are curious about CCGs...find yourself a Premium starter (less than the cost of a Kosmos 2-player game nowadays) and play it; I don't think you'll be disappointed. It reminds me somewhat of what a CCG would be like if Knizia did one (and that's a big compliment to Eric Lang, the game's designer).

this on looks better than the old one (MYTHOS), but the older game mechanics were much better. The graphics are great and you can play a really, really bad guy - OK! But I think, MYTHOS was the better game with ugly graphics...

This game doesn't even come close to Mythos, IMHO anyway. Plus, Mythos is far better when played with 3 or more people.

One of my top 3 choices ever.
I have played TOO MANY CCG's and therefore, am entitled an opinion on them.
This one, along with Doomtown and very few others, deserve to be played.
Nice start!

I tried it but got frustrated with the "cards of the same name" mechanic which I found *very* confusing.

This is one of my top games ever. I love the books and the card game captures the flavor perfectly. Also probably the best multiplayer CCG.

Still my favorite, although I haven't played in a tourney in a while. I remember being absolutely blown away by the tough choices in the game, from what to put out on any given turn, to who to kill when a battle doesn't go your way.