Flame of the West, New Saga

By Supertoe, in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

+9 attack and readying? I suppose 10 Attack is what you need to kill the Witch-King in one blow.

Edited by Kakita Shiro

+9 attack and readying? I suppose 10 Attack is what you need to kill the Witch-King in one blow.

Probably it has to be dealt by one hero. Like only one hero can attack the witch king each round, and he has 4 shields and 6 life or something like that.

woahhhhh overload of excitement!!!

Eowyn is badass but look at the new version of Arargorn!!!!

Attach Sword that was broken and he quests for three without exhausting and then has sentinel as well!!

Epic art on some of the encounter cards too!!

This is the moment I have waited for longer than any other. The Battle of the Pelennor absolutely needs to be the most epic quest to date.

And that Tactics Eowyn. Amazing.

Paired with theoden,eowyn will be a 5 WP tactics hero. That'll be nice and I wonder if it'll open up solo tactics decks a bit.

My God.

How about that art on Eowyn? Looks sweet to me: still Magali-pretty but bad-ass.

The wording on her means that Loragorn's threat reset (not in one of the Flame of the West scenarios, obviously) would count her as 9, not 6, right?

Heh, you need 16 attack to kill the burden enemy in the back. So Eowyn needs Herugrim + 2 extra attack from somewhere.

The wording on her means that Loragorn's threat reset (not in one of the Flame of the West scenarios, obviously) would count her as 9, not 6, right?

Yes, that is correct.

So glad they decided to just go with Tactics hero Eowyn with 4 willpower and all. This is a merry day for LOTR LCG.

Tactics Eowyn looks Amazing: she quests a ton, kills bosses, and her starting threat is basically 6, which is great... can't wait to see the decks created around her!

EDIT: It's also amazing how well she combines with Tactics Merry, which is fortunate for thematic decks

Edited by Rajam

Tactics Eowyn... One of the best all around heroes I've seen to date. Art, theme, ability, stats. Love it all. Watch out Sam Gamgee, Eowyn might just take that championship.

Eowyn is completely ridiculous. She'd be great at 9 threat, but she's basically 6? Absurd.

Tactics Eowyn is badass! My prayers for more mono, solo Tactics support has been answered! I'm so glad to see the designers not afraid to give tactics some new toys in terms of questing, a powerful one too. 4 Willpower hero in Tactics!? Thought I never see the day. :3

Seriously this looks amazing! :)

Still, we don't get to defend the walls of Minas Tirith?? :( That's what I've been looking forward to since the release of The Black Riders...

At six threat all you get is her raw stats (4 will is great but 1/1/3 sucks) and if you want to use her ability it sort of bumps her threat cost to 9.

I actually really like this design because it helps with secrecy and lower starting threat in general but on the flipside you need to raise threat when you use it which might be in the last few turns when you might not be able to take a threat increase of 3.

It might also put you at an unsafe threat level where nasty effects or enemies you were previously avoiding now directly effect or engage you.

yes she has an insane starting threat cost but in the vast majority of games I see her costing 9 threat eventually and because its 6 to start with then 3 later on it not only gives you more breathing room at the start but also forces you to be more strategic as to when you will use her ability abd whether you can afford its cost.

Think of Eowyn and tactics Theoden....

Finally,we got you!

4 willpower(5 with tac Theoden), could start with secrery, end with valour, makes the solo mono-tac solid,wow~~~

Think of Eowyn and tactics Theoden....

Add in Tactics Merry and you start with a respectable 24 starting Threat and questing for 11 Willpower out of the gate. That's unheard of in tactics!

Think of Eowyn and tactics Theoden....

I do love that combo for thematic reasons, but to fully take advantage of your Rohan synergy I would want to run a Rohan Spirit hero in slot 3...which is a problem unless you for some reason want to run Dunhere.

Of course, in multiplayer with another player rocking some Spirit this isn't as much of a problem.

This new Eowyn like a new breath for game. Solo red decks will have a good chance soon!

Think of Eowyn and tactics Theoden....

I do love that combo for thematic reasons, but to fully take advantage of your Rohan synergy I would want to run a Rohan Spirit hero in slot 3...which is a problem unless you for some reason want to run Dunhere.

Of course, in multiplayer with another player rocking some Spirit this isn't as much of a problem.

How about Spirit Merry?

I was looking at the encounter to see what kind of mechanics the quest might have, it looks like necromancer's reach is back with a vengeance. Admittedly it does have an alternate target but I'm guessing that's the objective with it being Mina's tirith.

Edited by Davachido
Very exciting, with excellent art for a powerful tactics version of Eowyn. I also like the name of her Tactics event, "Sterner than Steel."
A few observations, with speculation:
This is our first fellowship hero without an ability that requires fellowship resources. I wonder if the quests will be a bit more like the Hobbit quests, where encounter cards required Baggins resources. The boon version of Gildor Inglorion, Shifting Quagmire and We Hates Them! (both from The Land of Shadow), and the newly spoiled Overcome by Fear are the only encounter cards so far to use fellowship resources. Of course, Aragorn's resources won't be wasted if he has Celebrian's Stone or Sword that was Broken attached.
Overcome by Fear is a burden, though I imagine it will be possible to avoid it (probably it will only be earned if it's attached at the end of the quest). The flying Nazgul is our first burden enemy, and will almost certainly have surge (0 threat, high engagement). I wonder whether it will be possible to avoid earning that burden. I also wonder whether, if earned, that burden will be included for the Ringbearer quests in the sixth box, or only in the Battle of the Morannon quest.
How important will hit points be in The Passing of the Grey Company? Into Fangorn had several cards that damaged characters, and the nightmare version had a location that removed the Hinder keyword from enemies. I wonder if we'll see anything like that here.
Since speed is important in The Siege of Gondor, I hope we get a powerful Oathbreakers objective ally.
I wonder whether the Witch-king will interact with the Sorcery trait. "Forced: When the Witch-king is dealt a shadow card with the Sorcery trait, resolve that card's When Revealed effect" would be brutal.

Still, we don't get to defend the walls of Minas Tirith?

There are so many great moments in the story. I like how campaign mode follows the Ringbearer and Aragorn, while sneaking in elements of other stories (like Rouse the Ents, stage 1 of The Road to Isengard). I imagine that the beginning of The Battle of Pelennor Fields will involve Grond and defending Minas Tirith, especially since Spells of Ruin mentions damage on Minas Tirith. I like Aragorn's delayed entry into the battle (using our first double-sided card that's part of two different encounter sets!), and I imagine his arrival will be significant: perhaps he needs to be in play to advance to the next stage, or perhaps spending Fellowship resources helps to make things less difficult.

the expansion's new heroes and player cards represent the strength of the alliance between the Men of Gondor, the Riders of Rohan, and the Elves and Dúnedain of the Grey Company. Nearly all the new player cards bear either the Gondor, Rohan, or Dúnedain traits...
...you'll find new boons that allow you to swear your fealty to either Gondor or Rohan

The focus on Rohan and Gondor means that the second hero is probably Gondor. Leadership Denethor and Spirit Imrahil are reasonable possibilities (though Denethor feels strange, especially since there isn't a siege of Gondor quest that focuses on Minas Tirith). Other options include Beregond (perhaps Leadership), Hurin the Tall or Forlong (both of whom rode out with Imrahil and Hirluin to help Eomer), or perhaps even Duinhir, lord of Morthond. Ally Halbarad seems very likely, and ally Merry and Pippin are almost certainly excluded (perhaps delayed to the last box). Eomer is important, so unless we get hero Eomer in the last box or two Rohan heroes in this box, ally Eomer seems likely.
I was hoping for the banner that Arwen made for Aragorn (with the emblems of Elendil) as a boon, but that seems unlikely now (though perhaps it could be the boon that allows you to swear fealty to Gondor). Maybe we'll get it as a player card instead.
Finally, the announcement article for The Land of Shadow was April 30, 2015, and it was at Gen Con last year. While there's no guarantee, a tentative Q3 release date (July to September) means there's a good chance The Flame of the West will be at Gen Con this year.
Edited by Estel Edain