Here's what was going on around the LOTR LCG community in January 2019.  Below is the table of contents and all the links to the community content we mention.

9:49 - Card Talk Recap and Future!

Card Talk’s Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/cardtalk2018

Card Talk’s YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-QcL_YcA_DQKe7bSe9byA

Card Talk’s RSS Feed: http://cardtalk2018.libsyn.com/

Card Talk’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CardTalk2018/

The Lure of Middle-Earth:   https://lureofmiddleearth.com/

19:01 - Grey Company:  https://greycompanypodcast.com/

      Facebook: The Grey Company Podcast

21:01 - Cardboard of the Rings: https://cardboardoftherings.com/

23:48 - Facebook Group:  Lord of the Rings LCG Players

25:19 - Discord Group: http://discord.me/cotr

27:46 - FFG Forums:  

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/forum/178-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game/

28:56 - The Mouth of Sauron:   https://themouthofsauronpodcast.com/

29:27 - Reddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/lotrlcg/

31:45 - Mr. Underhill's YouTube Channel:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS2N7fiQxgXwdMu-dMwLluA

35:36 - LotR Deck Tech YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJF9Fhw9rPyrARoJDwI1mcA

37:10 - Rolling Intentions' YouTube Channel:   https://www.youtube.com/user/King27Jason

38:39 - Warden of Arnor's YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvhIOR_9ADZDCmvsyEs9Oeg

Warden of Arnor's blog: https://wardenofarnor.wordpress.com/

40:52 - Vision of the Palantir:  https://visionofthepalantir.com/

44:08 - The White Tower Blog:   https://thewhitetower.wordpress.com/

The Lure of Middle Earth!  It's not just the draw that all Tolkien fans feel toward the realm he created.  It's an event that draws in over 100 Lord of the Rings LCG players and enthusiasts every year.  It's been going on now for almost 19 years, and there is still room for you to go!

Other than the Lure of Middle Earth, we talk to Dominik Schonleben (one of it's organizers) about Saruman the neutral Istari ally.  How do you use him?  Can you use him?  What makes the most sense?  Is he any good?  Wait, what - Doomed 3?!  

For information about the Lure of Middle Earth, visit https://lureofmiddleearth.com/

We approached Ian about the opportunity to talk about a card on Card Talk and he chose (somewhat to our surprise!) Palantir.  This card ultimately was better than we initially thought, but does it push it to a playable card in our decks?  Tune in and find out!

In this episode of Encounter Card Talk, we take on one of the smaller encounter sets and arguably the easiest set of cards to manage in the whole core set.  What are your thoughts on these cards?

Why not take on the last of the Aragorns that have been released to this point?  We talked about Lore Aragorn last week with Mr. Underhill, and now we take on the tactics version.  He has the same stat line, but his ability is far different, yet equally thematic.  Which of the three do you prefer?