It doesn't, it just forces us to play 12-handed (how do I hold all those cards?)

What about a case where you have three staging, like 2A/B -> 3A/B, 2C/D -> 3C/D, and 2E/F -> 3E/F, and each group of 4 tackles a different stage. Then for solo, you just pick one of the series. Or for two player, you both go to the same or you each pick your own, type of thing.

For those who haven't had the benefit of buying tickets yet, this is from the confirmation email:

Fantasy Flight Games presents a Gen Con 2016 special event for 1-12 players: The Siege of Annuminas! In this unique scenario for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game players must protect the Dunedain city of Annuminas from the ravaging hordes of Angmar. Players may play the scenario as a single team of 1-4 players in standard mode, or join two other teams to play the scenario in epic multiplayer mode. Each team must defeat their own stage in order for the players as a group to save the city and win the game. Epic multiplayer mode divides a group of 3-12 players into 3 teams who play at 3 different stages simultaneously. Each stage is its own game with its own staging area and requires its own encounter deck to play. Participating players will each receive a copy of the Gen Con-exclusive quest “The Siege of Annuminas”, however we will provide copies of the encounter deck to play with at the event so players need not use their own. Each player must bring a deck, threat dial, and tokens to participate. Players participate in this event as part of a team of up to 4 players. If you do not have a team, we will do our best to match you with other available players. Each group will consist of up to three 4-player teams. Within each 4-player team, a Hero cannot be duplicated, however, multiple players may play the same Hero in the same group, but will be seated in separate teams. In an effort to help build groups for the event, please show up early and allow some time at the beginning of the event to be paired with your team before play can begin.

For those who haven't had the benefit of buying tickets yet, this is from the confirmation email:

Fantasy Flight Games presents a Gen Con 2016 special event for 1-12 players: The Siege of Annuminas! In this unique scenario for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game players must protect the Dunedain city of Annuminas from the ravaging hordes of Angmar. Players may play the scenario as a single team of 1-4 players in standard mode, or join two other teams to play the scenario in epic multiplayer mode. Each team must defeat their own stage in order for the players as a group to save the city and win the game. Epic multiplayer mode divides a group of 3-12 players into 3 teams who play at 3 different stages simultaneously. Each stage is its own game with its own staging area and requires its own encounter deck to play. Participating players will each receive a copy of the Gen Con-exclusive quest “The Siege of Annuminas”, however we will provide copies of the encounter deck to play with at the event so players need not use their own. Each player must bring a deck, threat dial, and tokens to participate. Players participate in this event as part of a team of up to 4 players. If you do not have a team, we will do our best to match you with other available players. Each group will consist of up to three 4-player teams. Within each 4-player team, a Hero cannot be duplicated, however, multiple players may play the same Hero in the same group, but will be seated in separate teams. In an effort to help build groups for the event, please show up early and allow some time at the beginning of the event to be paired with your team before play can begin.

So does that mean it is like 3 separate scenarios for standard play since each of the three stages has its own encounter deck in "Epic multiplayer mode"?

Because I had nothing else to do, I made a spreadsheet for people looking to preform groups.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EYheHy4mQyCD6Poi9lHDaHSypYUZm8Y4mpTV2Ar6GwM/edit?usp=sharing

Along the bottom the sheet, there are tabs denoting which slot you're playing in. Be sure to use the right tab. If there are additional fields people want to see, please use the Google Docs comment function.

@Cmabr, not sure if it sounds like the single quest will contain enough encounter cards to make all 3 separate encounter decks, or if you will need to own 3 copies to make the epic-mode.

Given that POD quests come with around 40 encounter cards, it seems unlikely that 1 set could create 4 encounter decks.

Hm. No mention in the announcement on the webpage, the GenCon page, or the confirmation email about an alternative art card.

Perhaps there will be a surprise card, but it's probably more likely they learned their lesson from the big brouhaha of last year over Gimli and from here on will limit such cards to Fellowship events. Or maybe they're not going to do any alt art cards again.

On one hand, it makes sense and would please many people to not have limited cards at relatively "small" events such as GenCon. On the other, I want more alt art cards to come out!

I have a question, maybe silly

Will this be playable solo?

Hm. No mention in the announcement on the webpage, the GenCon page, or the confirmation email about an alternative art card.

Perhaps there will be a surprise card, but it's probably more likely they learned their lesson from the big brouhaha of last year over Gimli and from here on will limit such cards to Fellowship events. Or maybe they're not going to do any alt art cards again.

On one hand, it makes sense and would please many people to not have limited cards at relatively "small" events such as GenCon. On the other, I want more alt art cards to come out!

I hope they do continue with the alt art cards at Gen Con, and this is coming from someone who will probably never get to go. If it were new heroes or existing ones with different abilities I'd feel different, but it's a nice way of rewarding those who do make it out there and to Fellowship events (bear in mind there's also people who don't have any Fellowship events near them).

I have a question, maybe silly

Will this be playable solo?

Listening to COTR Episode 100 (3 hour long interview with Matt, Caleb and Nate...good stuff) the devs do state that it will be playable solo as well...although it sound like initially it wasn't, but they got asked to make sure it works for solo too.

EDIT: Woohoo! Post #100!

Hm. No mention in the announcement on the webpage, the GenCon page, or the confirmation email about an alternative art card.

Perhaps there will be a surprise card, but it's probably more likely they learned their lesson from the big brouhaha of last year over Gimli and from here on will limit such cards to Fellowship events. Or maybe they're not going to do any alt art cards again.

On one hand, it makes sense and would please many people to not have limited cards at relatively "small" events such as GenCon. On the other, I want more alt art cards to come out!

I hope they do continue with the alt art cards at Gen Con, and this is coming from someone who will probably never get to go. If it were new heroes or existing ones with different abilities I'd feel different, but it's a nice way of rewarding those who do make it out there and to Fellowship events (bear in mind there's also people who don't have any Fellowship events near them).

Last year there were distinct alt arts for GenCon and the Fellowship event, which means that alt art Gimli is quite rare (there were 4 GenCon sessions, each with a limited number of players, so I think there were fewer than 200 copies handed out). For completionists who can't make it GenCon, that's annoying. Even if there was no Fellowship event near you, it's easier to find copies of alt art Legolas, since there were many Fellowship events, so many copies were sent out. The previous year was the first year they had alt art cards or Fellowship events, and Aragorn was the alt art card for both GenCon (which previously had just given attendees the GenCon quest before anyone else could buy it) and Fellowship events. That means that alt art Aragorn isn't hard to find.

It makes sense for FFG to give something special to the dedicated fans of the game who go to GenCon, and they have exclusive cards for other LCGs at special events (last year's GenCon had an exclusive alt art plot card for AGoT 2nd ed, though GenCon was AGoT 2nd ed's launch, and I think all competitive LCGs get exclusive alt art cards at FFG's Worlds championship each year). On the other hand, the competitive LCGs tend to have many alt art cards, so players are usually less concerned about getting all the promo cards. Since LOTR has 1-2 alt arts per year, it makes some sense for players who can't go to GenCon to be disappointed that it's very difficult to get one of the alt arts. Personally, I'd prefer if there were a GenCon exclusive playmat, and only one alt art card each year (available at Fellowship events). Some players would be disappointed at how hard it is to find the GenCon playmat, but I think most players care more about the cards themselves than the playmats. There are several older promo playmats, which are difficult but not impossible to find, so the community is already used to rare playmats: Khazad-dûm, Heirs of Numenor, Hands Upon the Bow.

Regardless of whether there's an alt art card at GenCon this year, I think there's a good chance that we'll see an alt art version of Spirit Eowyn this year. All three alt arts so far have been core set heroes. Of the remaining core set heroes, Eowyn is the most central to the story of the Lord of the Rings, her core set art is not widely loved, and the soon to be released Flame of the West has Eowyn's epic moment in it (just like last year's Gimli and Legolas cards and playmat came out around the same time as Treason of Saruman, with their epic battle at Helm's Deep).

Couldn't disagree more about the play-mat vs. alt-art card issue. Getting a play-mat at the Fellowship Event is a huge deal to me. The alt-art card, not so much. If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd take the play-mat over the card every single time.

My understanding is that last year GenCon participants got alt art Gimli, but no playmat. Alt art Legolas and the Helm's Deep playmat were exclusive to the fellowship event, which meant that they were relatively available (compared to Gimli). I'd prefer if GenCon participants got an exclusive playmat, and another playmat and an alt-art card were available for the fellowship event. I'm not proposing that fellowship events have no playmat.

Compared to last year, I'd prefer if there were two playmats each year (one being exclusive to GenCon and thus rare) and one alt art each year. (I expect that this would be somewhat more expensive for FFG.) Basically, I don't especially mind missing out on a particular playmat. Once I have a couple of nice playmats, I can reuse them. However, if I want to use a particular card in my deck and there's an alt art version of that card, I'm a bit disappointed if I don't have the alt art (especially given how few alt arts there are for LOTR).

I would like FFG to release some LOTR playmats. I know it's not as straightforward as "print a bit of art on a playmat and sell it", but this and Conquest are the only current LCGs they don't sell playmats for.

I could certainly see playmats at GenCon, although these would be more exclusive than the Fellowship mats. Ultimately, I'd like to see FFG simply put LOTR playmats up for sale, as blinky suggests.

While I like the alt-art cards in principal, I just haven't found the art to be all that compelling, so they're not such a big deal to me. Moreover, it wouldn't be that hard to grab a pic of the art and print out a copy of the card for play on paper or cardstock. I do agree that it would be nice if there were more ways in which to obtain the alt-art cards. The Gimli card from GenCon last year was especially hard to obtain.

I would like FFG to release some LOTR playmats. I know it's not as straightforward as "print a bit of art on a playmat and sell it", but this and Conquest are the only current LCGs they don't sell playmats for.

I second this notion

Having said that (with a lack of official ones), I've gone and bought tablemats from a housing store, keeping it simple for now