https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/4/30/the-land-of-shadow/

I rather like the Gollum/Smeagol mechanic. And two new heros and more Ithilien Ranger stuff is cool! Only just got the latest saga box, and yet to play, but this looks exciting!

I was expecting a gollum hero,

Guess We will get a new faramir and another ranger instead.

They were quick to announce the new expansion!

It looks pretty cool. No player card spoilers made me sad, but still the scenarios look pretty amazing. It's great to finally have Shelob in the game. I was also expecting a Gollum hero or something like that, but it seems we'll have a new Faramir, which is of course great. Looks like they're trying to make the rangers of Ithilien a more viable faction, something we've all been expecting for a while. I hope they actually make them solo viable, though I can't think of a way to do that. So many enemies now have "cannot have attachments", so I hope they come up with a way to deal with those. All in all, very excited for this!

I was hoping for a Gollum/Sméagol flip card. This box looks very good so far.

They were quick to announce the new expansion!

It looks pretty cool. No player card spoilers made me sad, but still the scenarios look pretty amazing. It's great to finally have Shelob in the game. I was also expecting a Gollum hero or something like that, but it seems we'll have a new Faramir, which is of course great. Looks like they're trying to make the rangers of Ithilien a more viable faction, something we've all been expecting for a while. I hope they actually make them solo viable, though I can't think of a way to do that. So many enemies now have "cannot have attachments", so I hope they come up with a way to deal with those. All in all, very excited for this!

Taste it Again!

Yes, I missed that! Looks like a good card too.

Gollem! Make it Rain! Gollem.

When there is nothing, there seems plenty abroad.

When it rains, it can only get dry.

Shame there is no gollum hero.

This would have been the box to put him in if any.

I do like what they did with his mechanic however.

I'm guessing we'll get a leadership faramir & a tactics sam hero then.

Also, I hope the upcoming ranger/trap stuff they mentioned like 3 times, will get the trait really going.

And let's see if this can make lore faramir viable again.

He was pretty useless when released, but just a coaster with the arrival of haldir.

They really need to make another Lore Faramir sadly.

I'd be shocked if we didn't get a new Faramir. However, I don't think we'll get a new Sam. The designers have commented before that they want to keep the sagas accessible to people that just have a core set, so I think they are unlikely to duplicate any heroes from the previous sagas or core. I think this is partly why the new Legolas and Gimli were allies instead of heroes. Also, I think the existing Sam is perfect and doesn't need a remake.

So Faramir for sure. Probably not Sam or Gollum. I'd put my money on Anborn or Damrod.

I'd be shocked if we didn't get a new Faramir. However, I don't think we'll get a new Sam. The designers have commented before that they want to keep the sagas accessible to people that just have a core set, so I think they are unlikely to duplicate any heroes from the previous sagas or core. I think this is partly why the new Legolas and Gimli were allies instead of heroes. Also, I think the existing Sam is perfect and doesn't need a remake.

So Faramir for sure. Probably not Sam or Gollum. I'd put my money on Anborn or Damrod.

Will hope for Damrod between the two of those. The current Anborn ally fits great in the ithilien archetype where as the current Damrod ally, while a fine card in its own right doesn't truly fit being in the wrong sphere and high costed.

Are there even any other named characters we could potentially get as heroes from that part of the book?

Looks awesome

We don't necessarily need a new lore Faramir (plus I don't think they will). Yes, all the Ithilien and ranger stuff is lore, but all the Gondor and global boosts are in leadership. Plus resource acceleration. Imagine a Faramir that boosts your rangers ala Celeborn or Boromir using a Visionary leadership. Use him along with 2 lore heroes and you got a pretty nice archetype going on, with Faramir as linchpin.

Love the new Smeagol/Gollum mechanic--a thematic home run. It does muddy the design space a bit with respect to a future player card, however. Would you call the player card "Gollum" or "Smeagol"? How would it interact with the Uniqueness rules?

I suspect the answer is that we're not going to get a player card Smeagol.

I loved that they included a Gollum trait in both sides. Gives more consistency for the future.

They could still include a Smeagol player card in the future and just make him unusable in scenarios where there's a already a Smeagol/Gollum. That's what they did with Saruman and Grima in The Treason of Saruman.

Are there even any other named characters we could potentially get as heroes from that part of the book?

Mablung

We just got Mablung. It'd be weird to suddenly get another. They have learned since Amon Din.

Wow, my copy of Treason of Isenguard arrived yesterday and last night I was wondering when they would give us some news for the next expansion. I saw the name Land of Shadow in the rules insert for Treason and instantly got excited just from the name alone haha.

this looks awesomely done just like all the other saga boxes. So glad we aren't getting a Gollum or Smeagol player card (yes lots of people on here will hate me for this) and he is instead an objective ally/enemy.

Wow, my copy of Treason of Isenguard arrived yesterday and last night I was wondering when they would give us some news for the next expansion. I saw the name Land of Shadow in the rules insert for Treason and instantly got excited just from the name alone haha.

this looks awesomely done just like all the other saga boxes. So glad we aren't getting a Gollum or Smeagol player card (yes lots of people on here will hate me for this) and he is instead an objective ally/enemy.

Here in Germany there is nothing in the rules about the next expansion.

I'm really curious on how they will solve the dilemma with heroes participating in both "paths". Can you or anybody else elaborate on what we know so far?

Thanks in advance.

My money is on Faramir & Damrod.

Woohoo!! Rangers and traps!!

My guess is FFG will tackle the branching narrative by allowing players to change their heroes at the start of each box. That way, players who wish to keep the same heroes for the whole campaign can do so, and players that want two groups for Frodo's and Aragorn's journey will be able to do that too. It will also enable people to include all the cool new heroes as they are released.