Hearthstone the intro

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free to play online Collectible Card Game (CCG).  In Hearthstone, players first choose a hero class and then from their collection of cards choose a 30 card deck.  Cards are either minion cards, or spell cards and cost different amounts of mana to play.  Card packs can be bought from the in game shop for real money or in game gold.  Heroes start each game with 30 health and one mana.  Mana is increased every round by 1 up to a maximum of 10.  Games are played 1v1 and players take turns to play cards from their hand while trying to reduce their opponents health to 0 before they are reduced to 0.  Cards are randomly put into players hands from their deck.  This is a very simple cut down description of what Hearthstone is but it is a fun game and if you haven't before you should definitely give it a go.  A tutorial is offered at the start and it explains everything you need to know.  Also here is a guide from the website IcyVeins which is a great introduction to the game IcyVeins Hearthstone Intro

I am a Noob Hearthstone Player.  I have played since it started on 11 March 2014, and I really can't believe its been going that long.  I know people who research decks and there are special deck combinations called things like MechWarrior, PatronWarrior and FaceHunter which I have never investigated.  I just play my own created decks and each months get to level 20 just to get myself the monthly card back.  Let me explain that a bit.  You always start at level 25 and can get to 1 after which there are legendary levels which only the very top % of players ever achieve.  As you win games you get stars which increase your level.  If you reach level 20 in a calendar month you are rewarded with a card back which you can use to cosmetically change the look of your deck.  My target each month is to get to level 20.  I have achieved this every month except Jan and Feb 2015 which I didn't play and I am gutted that I have missed those card backs :(  Level 20 is not that difficult to reach because until you reach level 20 you do not lose starts if you lose a game.  If you reach level 20 in a month you will received a level 20 chest.  There are also chests containing better prizes for the highest the level you reach in a month.  The chests include things such as cards, dust and bonus stars which means that the following month instead of starting on level 25 you start on 23 making reaching 20 even easier. 

Game Modes
The main games modes are :

Ranked Play mode:  This is the main mode which you can play to earn stars for winning games.  When playing play mode you are always matched against a player who is the same level as you (ish) so if you are level 23 you should be playing another player who is level 22-24 and not a player with the legendary skill.
Casual Play mode:  Where you can practice playing without any danger of losing stars.  There is danger in playing this as you do not know who you will be up against so you can come up against much more experienced players.  A lot of the skill in being good at Hearthstone is based on card knowledge, and since the release of the Grand Tournament expansion the chest you receive at the end of the month is based on the highest level you reached during the month and not the level you end up on.  This means players are more willing to risk their hard earned stars.
Solo Adventures:  Self explanatory really, this is a solo adventure mode where you create decks to defeat bosses.  You play against these bosses and not against other players.
The Arena:  Arena costs either real money (£1.49) or in game gold (150) to play.  When playing arenas you draft a deck from various cards offered to you and you can play until you have lost 3 matches.  The cards in arena are picked from all cards released in Hearthstone and not from only the cards in your collection but you are only offered two cards each time while you draft your deck until you have 30 cards.
Tavern Brawl:  Tavern Brawl is a new game mode introduced in August 2015.  This is a weekly extra challenge which has different special rules each week.  At the moment for winning your first Tavern Brawl each week you will received a pack of cards.

Expansions
There have been two expansions for Hearthstone so far:
The first was Goblins vs Gnomes released in December 2014.  This expansion introduces 143 new cards into the game and brought us mechs (mechanicals)
The second was The Grand Tournament released in August 2014.  This expansion introduced 130 new cards and introduced a new mechanic called inspire.  If a card has inspire on it it will trigger if the players hero power is used in that round.

Solo Adventures
There have also been two solo adventures released.  The solo adventures both included 5 wings of 3 bosses each, as well as class challenges, and they reward new cards.  The solo adventures can be purchased with real money (£4.99 per wing) or in-game gold (700 per wing):
The first was Curse of Naxxramas released in July 2014.  This solo adventure introduces 30 new cards.
The second was Blackrock Mountain released in April 2015.  This solo adventure introduced 31 new cards.

In-game Gold

In-game gold can be collected by playing games.  Every day you will received some quests which rewards gold.  Quests like win 3 games with priest and kill 20 minions which cost 3 or less mana etc.
You also get 10 gold just from winning three games.  Gold can be used for in-game purchased buying packs of cards and the solo adventures and entering the Arena.




Overall Hearthstone is a game you should try.  You can play it on PC, tablet and phone where ever you are and it is perfectly good as free to play. :)

Coming soon my Noob attempts at the Solo adventures and maybe an arena run to see if I can do better than 0-3 :)