I think it's perfectly fine that the Karken/boss monster is a tentacled creature. It suggests that even though they may be slightly different, they also share a common ancestry. IMO, too many totally unique monsters stretches credibility (yes, I know, this is a fantasy world and everything stretches credibility ).

Does the Sam ally mean that we get a new version of Frodo? Perhaps a lore one?

Does the Sam ally mean that we get a new version of Frodo? Perhaps a lore one?

What makes you think that? He was obviously created for the Spirit Frodo, and even the article references it.

Does the Sam ally mean that we get a new version of Frodo? Perhaps a lore one?

What makes you think that? He was obviously created for the Spirit Frodo, and even the article references it.

Cause it would be a shame if Sam was limited to only one single hero version. Also, I have Frodo somewhat connected to that whole ship setting. I know we're not talking about post LOTR, but I somehow imagine a wiser Frodo sailing on a ship and kicking the asses of...

Ok, it doesn't really make sense.

Well, you can always play him in Saga quests that include Frodo hero

I wouldn't rule out possibility of another Frodo hero (or another hobbit hero in this pack), though, because there is a hobbit event art spoiled.

Does the Sam ally mean that we get a new version of Frodo? Perhaps a lore one?

Like @John Constantine said, I think he was designed primarily for Spirit and Saga Frodo. Still, I would love to see another Frodo considering how important he is and how many Aragorn's we have at this point. Though I don't know about Lore...Spirit does seem to fit him best. Maybe Spirit Ally Frodo? Or a Leadership Frodo?

As for the Kraken-squid and whether it is or isn't redundant considering the Watcher-pus...

Squid and Octopus are, in fact, very different things. But for most people they inhabit a very similar place in our perception. They are the things in the ocean with all the freaky tentacles and no skeleton. Maybe people remember that one gets super big and the other is the purple-ish sushi they see on the conveyor belt and don't eat.

From a thematic standpoint we are fighting a big boss enemy battering us around with tentacles. It's not the same but it is thematically similar.

Wow, this quest sounds complex. Also, I like the art on ally Sam much more than the art on hero Sam.

I am the exact opposite. I think the art on hero Sam is one of the best art pieces in the game. Even the sword and backpack look amazing. How elvish he looks just furthers the idea and concept that some hobbits were a bit more elvish than others or perhaps had a bit of elvish blood and his scar shows how he has turned from a simple farmer to a noble hobbit warrior/adventurer.

The ally version is just a fat ass ugly hobbit lol

The garden and background and house look amazing but Sam himself looks awful. He looks way too old too (he should look younger than Frodo because well... he is younger than Frodo!).

I think the ally is pretty weak too. Never going to defend with him even at 2 defense as he has 2 hitpoints so scrap that idea. So essentially you can pay a spirit resource to give +1 willpower or +1 attack (I know you get both but you wont get use out of both) to an ally..... oh and only when someone raises their threat...

why would I not just use those spirit resources to play other 1 or 2 cost allies with 1 or 2 questing power...

I'm sure there will be niche uses for him or at one cost with Frodo just with his stats he is pretty **** decent for his cost (ability still sucks though, you can just trigger it more often with Frodo) but overall I think he is pretty mediocre and more a "fun" card than a useful one.

Gosh sam is OP. and people call spirfindel over powered! and on top of that, he is a hibbit with all the pirks and also allows for bill. to much goodness for one card if you ask me. He is like spirit bofur, who is already ok, except you can get him in anytime for 1 with frodo in play + he has his extra boost thing. over the top.

Wow, this quest sounds complex. Also, I like the art on ally Sam much more than the art on hero Sam.

I am the exact opposite. I think the art on hero Sam is one of the best art pieces in the game. Even the sword and backpack look amazing. How elvish he looks just furthers the idea and concept that some hobbits were a bit more elvish than others or perhaps had a bit of elvish blood and his scar shows how he has turned from a simple farmer to a noble hobbit warrior/adventurer.

The ally version is just a fat ass ugly hobbit lol

The garden and background and house look amazing but Sam himself looks awful. He looks way too old too (he should look younger than Frodo because well... he is younger than Frodo!).

I think this is just a matter of personal opinion. While the art on hero Sam is pretty good and it shows his "elven warrior" side during the Cirith Ungol chapter, I think I just prefer to have "the" card representing Sam showing his more gentle and hobbity side we get to know and love during the course of the books. Clearly the art on ally Sam is supposed to represent the latter, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Call me one of those who don't like the theme. But the mechanics look promising. My favourite card so far is "Hold Steady!", but the kraken cards also look cool.

I'm not so deep into LOTR lore, so could someone tell me if there are mermaids and stuff like that in Middle earth? I mean, are there some good underwater guys like Namor or, cough, Aquaman, cough

Hmmmmm nothing springs to mind.....

There are the various Valar and Maiar that take on aquatic forms and live in/guard the seas.

Ulmo and his vassal Osse and others I do not remember. I think there was an enormous whale though...? Would be pretty epic to have an encounter with a huge whale that is actually a Maiar in that form!!!

Ulmo in the various pictures we have of him looks a fair bit like a merman so it is definitely possible that there are creatures or vassals or servants of his that may have forms similar to mermaids/merman etc. There is nothing explicitly outlined or talked about in tolkiens works as far as I am aware however. Sea serpents are mentioned... I hope we get a sea serpent in this cycle.... I definitely think the giant squid is still cool and don't mind it is similar to the watcher (and the ancient marsh dweller which everyone has forgotten about!) but would definitely prefer to see an epic sea serpent instead or hopefully as well.

Wow, this quest sounds complex. Also, I like the art on ally Sam much more than the art on hero Sam.

I am the exact opposite. I think the art on hero Sam is one of the best art pieces in the game. Even the sword and backpack look amazing. How elvish he looks just furthers the idea and concept that some hobbits were a bit more elvish than others or perhaps had a bit of elvish blood and his scar shows how he has turned from a simple farmer to a noble hobbit warrior/adventurer.

The ally version is just a fat ass ugly hobbit lol

The garden and background and house look amazing but Sam himself looks awful. He looks way too old too (he should look younger than Frodo because well... he is younger than Frodo!).

I think this is just a matter of personal opinion. While the art on hero Sam is pretty good and it shows his "elven warrior" side during the Cirith Ungol chapter, I think I just prefer to have "the" card representing Sam showing his more gentle and hobbity side we get to know and love during the course of the books. Clearly the art on ally Sam is supposed to represent the latter, and there's nothing wrong with that.

oh yeah no to each his own. I think the actual art itself on the card is really good I just really don't like the depiction of Sam personally. A bit superficial of me really but hey this is a fantasy world! I want everyone and everything to look beautiful/amazing

jokes aside definitely just a matter of preference. I like seeing the badass warrior side of Sam (that he was more or less forced to become) and you like seeing the gentler and average hobbit side of him that makes his various accomplishments seem so much more impressive and meaningful. Both equally important and interesting sides of a great character!

Gosh sam is OP. and people call spirfindel over powered! and on top of that, he is a hibbit with all the pirks and also allows for bill. to much goodness for one card if you ask me. He is like spirit bofur, who is already ok, except you can get him in anytime for 1 with frodo in play + he has his extra boost thing. over the top.

Yeah but his boost costs you a spirit resource every time you want to use it.... definitely not worth it in my opinion when you think of what else you could be spending those resources on...

In the last three cycles, with three exceptions, each hero had at least one thematically-connected card in their pack that matched their sphere. For example, in Angmar Awakened: Merry had Curious Brandybuck and Hobbit Pony, Dori had Longbeard Sentry, Erestor had Galdor of the Havens, Amarthiúl had Guardian of Arnor, and Arwen has Elvish Light and Tale of Tinuviel. The exceptions are Mirlonde and Rossiel (Advance Warning and Leave no Trace are connected mechanically, not thematically), and Mablung (where Galdhon Archer and Bow of the Galadhrim both support the cycle's Silvan focus). The article said it would be a Spirit hero, and both Spirit cards in this pack are hobbit-themed, so a hobbit hero seems likely. Since there are already Spirit hero versions of Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Fatty (and Sam is an ally here), there's a good chance we'll continue the Mirlonde-Idraen-Rossiel tradition of the second pack having an FFG-created (female?) hero. We could also get a new Bilbo hero, Rosie Cotton, Farmer Cotton, Farmer Maggot, or even Folco Boffin.

A detail I noticed in the last two announcement articles:

Flight of the Stormcaller introduces a new Leadership hero and three copies each of ten different player cards.

The sixty new cards in The Thing in the Depths allow you to determine the course of the resulting battle, even as they introduce a new Spirit hero and three copies each of eight different player cards, including innovative new allies for each of the four spheres.

It looks like they're giving themselves more design space by allowing for some quests to have more new encounter cards, while still roughly keeping the same player card progression rate.

On another point, I would love it if the support for decks with fewer than three heroes (mentioned in the Flight of the Stormcaller announcement article) were worded so that it helps a deck with two regular heroes and one saga hero. I would love to play the quests from The Land of Shadow and the sixth saga box with a thematic Galadriel-Sam-Frodo deck, using very few allies (Gandalf and Elrond, with some Gondor rangers in The Land of Shadow). This needs more support to work, and it would be disappointing if such a card (intended to support decks that don't use a full set of heroes) doesn't work for saga quests.

Good catch on the number of player cards in the packs. It seems that it will depend on the number of encounter cards in the pack, in that they want some packs to have more encounter cards for mechanical reasons, but the player card pool of the whole cycle will remain intact.

Gosh sam is OP. and people call spirfindel over powered! and on top of that, he is a hibbit with all the pirks and also allows for bill. to much goodness for one card if you ask me. He is like spirit bofur, who is already ok, except you can get him in anytime for 1 with frodo in play + he has his extra boost thing. over the top.

Yeah but his boost costs you a spirit resource every time you want to use it.... definitely not worth it in my opinion when you think of what else you could be spending those resources on...

That depends. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Given the fact that he can be readied during the quest if you're lucky, then he is 3 wp for questing and then 2 atk/def for combat. Doing this each turn will obviously put a dent on your economy, however he costs 1 (I don't think I'll be ever running him without Frodo) and that leaves some space for triggering his ability, especially when it makes the difference between defended and undefended attack, or those pesky 1-2 attack you're lacking to defeat a worthy foe looming over you.

Tactics Boromir goes great with ally Sam. Spirit Frodo is also good there -- as you can use A Good Meal to lower threat cheap. Now I just wish Bill the Pony was no longer Leadership, but of course he is meant for the hero Samwise.

Ah that's very true, if his ability is triggered before quest resolution you can get both the extra will and then extra attack.

Yeah in a Frodo deck I suppose he is decent, mainly for his cost... but his ability as well. Was a little too quick to judge as usual

Ah that's very true, if his ability is triggered before quest resolution you can get both the extra will and then extra attack.

Doomed is the magic word ...

Well, I still think it is better (or easier in a way) to use Boromir every round than play a Doomed card every round. Though, I have to say, I have not been exploring the Doomed avenue that much, mostly because I do not play Strider so often. I like some cards, mainly Deep Knowledge a lot, but not the whole deck made around the strategy.

In a kind of unrelated note, man, they've been quick in announcing the AP's of this cycle! We haven't even had another preview for the Grey Havens and we're already announcing pack #2. And on the other hand, it's been a while since The Land of Shadow was released and we don't know anything about the Flame of the West other than the title. I think they're building the expectations to the max.

Call me one of those who don't like the theme. But the mechanics look promising. My favourite card so far is "Hold Steady!", but the kraken cards also look cool.

I'm not so deep into LOTR lore, so could someone tell me if there are mermaids and stuff like that in Middle earth? I mean, are there some good underwater guys like Namor or, cough, Aquaman, cough

Hmmmmm nothing springs to mind.....

There are the various Valar and Maiar that take on aquatic forms and live in/guard the seas.

Ulmo and his vassal Osse and others I do not remember. I think there was an enormous whale though...? Would be pretty epic to have an encounter with a huge whale that is actually a Maiar in that form!!!

Ulmo in the various pictures we have of him looks a fair bit like a merman so it is definitely possible that there are creatures or vassals or servants of his that may have forms similar to mermaids/merman etc. There is nothing explicitly outlined or talked about in tolkiens works as far as I am aware however. Sea serpents are mentioned... I hope we get a sea serpent in this cycle.... I definitely think the giant squid is still cool and don't mind it is similar to the watcher (and the ancient marsh dweller which everyone has forgotten about!) but would definitely prefer to see an epic sea serpent instead or hopefully as well.

I don't think there are any direct mermaid references in the standard LOTR but "the book of hidden tales" mentions several early draft versions of Earendel's journey where he encounters and befriends mermaids/sirens.

Although they no longer appear in "the silmarillion" Tolkien did consider them during the evolution of the middle earth history.

In a kind of unrelated note, man, they've been quick in announcing the AP's of this cycle! We haven't even had another preview for the Grey Havens and we're already announcing pack #2. And on the other hand, it's been a while since The Land of Shadow was released and we don't know anything about the Flame of the West other than the title. I think they're building the expectations to the max.

I too expected the Flame announcement before the second pack. On the other hand, I think they tend to announce the adventures within the cycle in a rather quick succession. I just didn't expect the first one to come relatively early after the deluxe. How is the recent practice with the deluxe, did we get many previews for the last one? I believe it was the main one (including the "about" page which is now missing, I believe), then not much for a while, and then one closer to the release? And do you guys believe we get The Grey Havens before the year is out as they claimed?

Honestly, I think the worst part of Ally Sam is his name. He's a great card, no doubt--but are you going to switch Hero Sam (and probably Bill and Hobbit Cloak) out of your Hobbit Deck? I mean, if you aren't running Sam in the first place then sure but he's probably the most common of the Hobbit Heroes to hit the table.

I actually think Ally Sam will see a lot more play (at least in the short term) in non-Hobbit decks utilizing Frodo as a defender. He has a sphere match and is dirt cheap with Frodo on the board, plus synergizes with Frodo's ability. And if you weren't building primarily for Hobbit synergy then it's not as much of a loss to lose access to Hero Sam.

But of course you can have more decks ready at once. I too used to be concerned by this but it is rather inevitable to have the great characters in more alternatives. And it is only good when more of them are playable. I was actually hoping for a Tactics hero Glorfindel because the Lore one is not really that great but getting a powerful Spirit ally is also very nice.

Frodo then Sam then Bill the Pony. Paying for cards is so 2015. I love it!