Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:14 pm
here is my contribution for this issue, which deals about the collector´s part of MECCG:
The typical MECCG player is not only enjoying the game but also collector of the wonderful cards. Thanks to the great artwork it´s really a wonderful feeling sitting at home in front of a fireplace, taking the binder and looking at Cirdan thinking “Ah, yes! That´s exactly how an old and wise Elf should look like.” Of course the passionate collector has to make a decision first: Should I take the finnish or the italian binder today, or maybe the japanese? Am I in the mood of some shabby unlimited cards (after a bad day at work maybe)? Or should I have a look at my collection of Promocards, especially the very rare spanish and japanese ones? Maybe it is even time again to reassure myself, that this japanese Fury of the Iron Crown is real! (“Aaahh yes, it is …”)
Now the collectors among us know, that it is a long way to finally complete a set. With special thanks to Chris Cable fantastic trading centre it´s not that tiresome, most of the time even a pleasure, since it offers the chance to get in touch with many cool MECCG folk. Many of us wouldn´t have learnt to know each other but for some email contact for trading business.
Now when I started with MECCG collecting the cards became important very soon. As a fan of Tolkien´s stories I loved it to finally get a face to some of the characters. Of course I also hated some of those faces!! (Was Elrond an Indian? Maybe Michael Jackson is Glorfindel III?)
Naturally I wanted to have one of every card. As a player from the beginning I was aiming a a player´s collecting very soon, meaning I needed three of all non-unique cards. And since I was playing with my wife, we needed 2 complete player´s collections (one in english and one in german). After having completed this, my need for collecting was satisfied for a while.
For a very short while! After I have become a very passionate trader, I couldn´t simple stop then. So I decided to collect MECCG in all languages, that is: english, spanish (TW-WH), german (TW-AS), french (TW-LE), japanese (TW-DM), italian (TW), dutch (TW) and finnish (TW). Many years of still being among the collector´s community were guaranteed!
But after all I also finished this task (just a few months ago). The card that filled the final slot in my collection was a common: Friendship (japanese) – which was overlooked all those years. Another chapter closed, so what to collect next?
The first that came to my mind: a complete set of signed cards! Some time ago I already contacted many artists, and most of them them have been very friendly and I got my cards signed by them. Soon I had to find out, that a complete collection is a thing of impossibilty. Too bad …
But I found out something else: there are many cool items connected with MECCG. And the Gollum in me soon convinced me: we musssst have all of thissss preciousssesss …
Most of the stuff is commonly known, such as the different card boxes (english and german), all the player guides and rules books (for TW also in german, spanish and japanese). I should also mention the MERP books The Northern Waste and Hands of a Healer, which contains scenarios for MECCG, as well as A Long Expected Party.
Of course there are dice and maps in different variations. Then there are some still not very hard to find items like the german MP counter, the dutch card binders with artwork from John Howe or the hobbit tokens from the english beginner set. ICE also gave away pins with the images of all the avatars. The winner of US Nationals was awarded with a Council of Lorien coin (there are gold and silver ones existing). Lidless Eye T-shirts are very sought after nowadays. Hardly anyone knows, that there also exists a cap with the Lidless Eye (the proof is at my home . I have heard about Burning Eye temporary tatooes. Maybe one of the biggest curiosities are the Warlord-backed MECCG cards. Of course a misprint mixture of two different CCGs, still giving the collector who owns a few big pleasure. Finally there are also playtesting cards with a blank front side.
And why not also collecting the jigsaw puzzles from ICE, since all 7 of them contain artwork from the CCG. And of course there is the promo jigsay Gandalf´s Mark!
Chasing after all of these items may take a very long time. And even if you think you have got them all, the collector is never spared the feeling, that there is still something out there. So it happened to me, that an american ex-player offered me some Lidless Eye stickers. In addition he sent me some postcard-sized advertising cards with images of the backs of our cards. Very nice indeed!!
One might think it´s difficult enough to collect all of these things. Actually there is MECCG folk out there, that even started to create their own stuff!! And I would never consider my collection completed without Mark Alfano´s pins or Mikko Vihtemaki´s stickers nor Nigel Buckle´s pendants, and all of what is still to come to make my collectors life a neverending story – which is exactly what I am looking for!
At the COE we have been thinking of making a compreehensive list of all the official items, that have something to do with MECCG. You will find it at the COE homepage. If any of you knows of something, that is mentioned in this article yet, please contact me at thorondor@gmx.at.
In case the Gollum in many of you has just been awakened, the author of this article is not to be blamed of course.