https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/3/3/darker-roads-darker-deeds/

very cool. Looking forward to the Antlered Crown in particular.

Great art and theme as usual. Otherwise, meh.

I wonder who's that handsome devil with half burnt face.

I wonder who's that handsome devil with half burnt face.

Thranduil?

What? Why?

I just figured out it might be Bellach.

Road Darkens nightmare looks like a challenging and rich addition to the saga quests (though the cover art looks a bit too much like the movies, with blond Legolas). One "benefit" of nightmare Journey in the Dark is that you won't get all four burdens (which is probably the wrong choice, even when you're tempted to run away). Also, now when The Great Bridge removes The Balrog's keywords, it can remove Archery or Regenerate.

What? Why?

I just figured out it might be Bellach.

That happened in the movie? Still haven't watched it. I probably should.

That happened in the movie? Still haven't watched it. I probably should.

Yep, second one I think. Despite all the many bad parts, (which I won't bother mentioning as the list will get quite long) I did like them. I liked how it was more a representation of what was going on in Middle Earth at the time, rather than just what Bilbo saw.

Then again, I'm not an overly critical person when it comes to film so you might hate them.

Raven Stronghold is an interesting one. Whether you explore it or whether the time goes off, you get an enemy either way, the only difference being whether or not you trigger when revealed effects, so I wonder how big a deal that'll be.

I'm going to have fun with the fact that Dunhere can somehow charge up into the sky to kill a hawk.

And I can't help but note on the Flaming Sword that they've forgotten how Regenerate works - it triggers at the beginning of Refresh, after passing the first player token, not at the end.

All looks cool though (and brutally hard of course).

Raven Stronghold is an interesting one. Whether you explore it or whether the time goes off, you get an enemy either way, the only difference being whether or not you trigger when revealed effects, so I wonder how big a deal that'll be.

The timed function will get you 1 card per player. Exploring it just gets you 1 card total.

Raven Stronghold is an interesting one. Whether you explore it or whether the time goes off, you get an enemy either way, the only difference being whether or not you trigger when revealed effects, so I wonder how big a deal that'll be.

The timed function will get you 1 card per player. Exploring it just gets you 1 card total.

Ohhh. Yeah, I misread that. My comment still applies to solo though I guess.

I certainly don't approve of Victory display cards that have "when in the victory display' effects. How is anyone supposed to remember that? When the Dol guldur nazgul had that text that put itself into play (which could be forgotten about) I assumed it was a formatting error, not something that should be repeated!

Oh my goodness gracious.... some of that art is sending me into shock..... so god **** good....

holy hell that new art direction of the balrog is **** interesting and very cool in its own way as well.... love seeing all the various ways that artists represent or imagine the Balrog (Or rather a balrog, Durin's Bane to be exact) and although this version is quite different I think its really cool!

Hilarious that the whip and sword have been added to the campaign quest that features Durin's Bane as they already exist in shadow and flame and are **** nasty. I think these versions are not only a little more thematic (archery for the whip, regenerate for the fire sword) but definitely easier to deal with as well.... (CONSTANTLY discarding cards to the other version of the whip is awful and the +3 attack from the other version of the sword is bonkers as well)

The tracker, deadly waters side quest, hunting the ring, river langford, closing in and the raven clan elite all have utterly magnificent artwork! cannot wait to get my hands on these... im actually fairly behind in nightmare decks and am super tempted to order them all along with these new ones straight from ffg OVERLY EXORBITANT POSTAGE FEES BE DAMNED!

More Nightmare saga is amazing as well and now there is more reason to play nightmare saga as you can actually use the boon cards from the first three quests in these three new scenarios now!!! I already have Black Riders Nightmare which I will actually attempt now that Road Darkens Nightmare is out.

Half burned face guy is 100% Bellach or at the very least one of his cronies. Doesn't fit any of the other quests and its clearly an encounter card as there are no player cards in nightmare decks. Lol why was Thranduil suggested exactly?? Also why are people claiming he gets his face burnt in the hobbit movies, I never saw that. I will admit I could have easily missed certain details in those movies though as half of my attention/focus was spent wondering why the films were so awful and why Jackson went in the various directions he did...

Ok wow turns out I did massively miss that part (or just do not remember it at all) in the movie.

What an absolutely ridiculous scene...

What part was that in the movie, because I don't remember it at all either.

Either when they are interrogating an orc or when the dwarves have been captured and Thorin is talking to Thranduil alone. He just changes his face for a moment and then back. Kind of out of place.

It's when confronting Thorin after they capture the dwarves. Thorin is angry because the elves left when Smaug attacked and Thranduil breaks a glamour kind of spell for a second to show he had faced the dragons of the north. Pretty pointless, much like the rest of these movies.

Finally got round to reading the actual article.......

That realization guided my design, and the entire scenario focuses on trying to outrun the Balrog and escape Moria before the last token is removed from Doom, Doom, Doom (The Road Darkens, 43). In the Nightmare version, that unlikely escape is no longer possible, and players must always confront the Balrog. The Nightmare card for this scenario reads: “The players cannot defeat stage 3B unless The Balrog is in the victory display.” That means not only will players have to confront the servant of Morgoth; they'll have to defeat it, which also means sacrificing a hero at The Great Bridge (The Road Darkens, 50).

So looks like when I eventually get round to Nightmare Saga play I'll be subbing in a hero without the threat penalty before The Ring Goes South just so I can sacrifice them and get my proper hero back immediately after Journey through the Dark......

As much as I can see how this is a thematic choice and whats more does make sense for Nightmare which is specifically meant to be far harder I'm still pretty disappointed by this decision... I love that if you do it JUST RIGHT you can avoid it altogether... at least you can change heroes without any penalty a single quest beforehand so you can just sacrifice some chump to it..... hmmmm guess its not so bad at the end of the day...

What about dat boon which resurrects a hero? You can purposely sacrifice a hero you want a sronger version of which at the later quests. I would sac Boromir.

What about dat boon which resurrects a hero? You can purposely sacrifice a hero you want a sronger version of which at the later quests. I would sac Boromir.

You are very correct HOWEVER if you choose that boon you can't choose TWO of the others and all of the others are extremely useful (shadow discard every turn, -2 def to an enemy every turn, resource acceleration more or less every turn or healing which you have from the start of a game). If you were able to choose it as ONE of two boon choices it would be amazing (perhaps too good though...) but because you can get two of these awesome other boons and still get around the hero loss by either subbing in someone you don't want to keep anyway during The Ring Goes South for example I don't really even consider the Beyond All Hope path..... to me it just isn't that great a strategic choice at all... unless you have specifically built/planned for it or unless you run an all purpose plenty of readying hero like Boromir or Gandalf....

You definitely have a good point and its definitely an option but just for me and my personal choices I don't really consider it an option =\ just can't bring myself to lose out on two of those epic other boons...

sorry edit: I play two handed so specified two boons rather than one per player so you could get 3 or 4 rather than just Beyond All Hope. Single player Beyond All Hope is amazing but two player or more it becomes a harder decision of whether to take just beyond all hope or multiple other boons instead.

Also just realised that whether you:
a) put in a substitute hero before The Ring Goes South and play two quests with that Hero (Ring Goes South and Journey into the Dark) and sacrifice them to the Balrog to switch back to the actual hero you want to use

or

b) sacrifice a hero you want to keep to the Balrog, play two quests (Breaking of the Fellowship and The Uruk Hai) and then bring them back with Beyond All Hope...

you only have to play and beat two quests without one of the heroes in your lineup using a substitute hero instead.
So really either way it isn't that much of a wait and you only have to beat two quests (and none of these except Journey into the Dark is especially hard or tricky) with a handicap....

hmmm

Well, the beoynd all hope boon is crazy good with Boromir. I think I will kill him in the Uruk Hai quest in my campaign to get BAH on him. Stats 2 4 3 5, immune to treachery attackment effects and (nearly) unlimited redaying? Yes please. If you have tireless ranger form earliegr he is 2 4 4 5, which is nearly unstoppable with some attachmets. Maybe Glamdring and Anduril? Then he is a 3 7 5 5 unstoppable force. Add Galadriel for the mirror, card draw and threat reduction and Glorfindel for low threat and questing and the campaign is finished.

Anyway, the cards (mostly antlered crown) is really theamatic and overall great.

Bought the first 3 NM packs for the Ringmaker cycle because either the quests were great, or they were too easy. These newest 3 don't qualify. Nin-in-Eliph is so odd and difficult, takes too long to deck build for. Celbrimbor's Secret is obnoxious with all the cards it brings into the staging area. Antlered Crown is best out of the 3 but hate the time on all the locations. I've only skipped Escape from Dol Guldur, HObbits, the Eagle one in Mirkwood Cycle, and The Long Dark, packs up till now but ill pass on these 3.