Before a game ships, when do they usually post the rules?

I am pretty sure I read Age of Conan before the game hit shelves, but I might be mistaken.

Like all of you, I want to know how the game plays. I have no idea from the previews even though it does look cool.

According to your collection, you already have M-E:Q, so you should have the rules, no ?

There's no guarantees, of course, but FFG usually has a fair bit of lead time before posting a PDF of a game's rulebook and the actual release of the physical product (and, Frog, your memory is correct: Age of Conan's rules were available for many weeks before the release date).

There's always exceptions, though: the near-stealth release of Android earlier this year springs to mind. And, in general, there's no rule (ha-ha, so to speak) that says FFG has to post anything, so I try not to read too much into it when rules either are or aren't posted by such-and-such date.

One Rules to to rule them all !

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=705

Frog said:

Right ...

about ...

NOW!

TheDukester said:

Woohoo!!!

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=705

I'm on page 21 and really liking the rules so far. As of now I am getting good vibes for the Influence aspect of the game. This reminds me very much of the 1990s Middle-Earch CCG by Iron Crown Enterprises. That game was complex, and the games were really long. I have a feeling the games will be quite lengthy in Middle-Earth Quest as well.

I also am curious if you can play this solitare by using the two-player rules. Since you would technically be playing Sauron against yourself I don't really see a problem. (I used to do that in Middle-Earth CCG as well. In that game your opponent would control the attacking creatures etc.)

I skimmed the normal rules, but looked at the 2-player rules a bit more. IIRC, the rules mention 2-4 player, but did they talk about which Heroes to choose. I mean, with 5 Heroes, there is no way for an equal division between the players. But the 2-player rules talked about Sauron taking his turn every other Hero turn, couldn't you have the Hero player run multiple Heroes instead (like in Arkham Horror, Fury of Dracula, Lord of the Rings, etc.), and have Sauron do his turns normally? Will read the rules in more detail today.

Dam said:

Don't see why not. I myself like that they have the single hero option, as sometimes I don't feel like controlling multiple characters at once...

Titeman said:

I'm just looking at it from the Sauron POV, getting 1 turn for every 2 turns your opponent gets might make him less than thrilled. Hard to say how much there is to do on the Hero turn though, could be Sauron has his hands full even when it's not his turn (yeah, said I'd read the rules in more detail, got derailed ).

Dam said:

How is that really any different from "(1) Sauron Turn; (2) Hero 1 Turn; (3) Hero 2 Turn; (4) Hero 3 Turn" in a 3 or 4 player game though?

Well, my gaming maxes out at 2-player, so...

Dam said:

Titeman said:

I knew I forgot to type another possibility in!

This is actually another thing that excites me about this game. There is clearly different ways to handle playing things. Also it sounds like each game will vary in that you can have a different combo of heroes being used as well as different starting quests. off-topic...Am I correct that this board is about an inch bigger than the War of the Ring board ?

Titeman said:

TBH, might be no difference, my mind just pictures 2-player with Sauron vs 2 Heroes (by 1 player) as somehow more involving then: Sauron, Hero 1, Hero 1. I think the key might be that if you have 1 player running 2 Heroes, Hero A doesn't get 2 turns in a row for his/her Quest(s), instead both Heroes go about their business. I imagine that if you knew you were getting 2 uninterrupted (relatively speaking) turns in a row, you could plan ahead more. If you're running 2 Heroes, you know Sauron will get a turn after each Hero has taken a turn, so you can't know with certainty that the thing you plan for is as feasible than it would be if you knew there would be no Sauron turn between your two turns. Like I said, will have to look deeper at the rules. Also will need to look at the cards and what not, to see what kind of tools each side has on offer.