https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/6/29/the-battle-of-the-pelennor-fields/

Man, this looks awesome! Love the way that they tie in the scenarios beyond just boons and burdens with the Corsairs and the Harad.

Beyond the fact that they take you as close to the Nine Walkers and their stories as you can get with any game, the Saga Expansions for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game are remarkable for the ways they ensure that every decision you make has lasting consequences.

Through the first four Saga Expansions, these consequences have come primarily in the form of boons and burdens , as well as the inability to play with any characters that appear on your list of fallen heroes. Now, however, as we look forward to The Flame of the West , we see new weight and new dimensions to your decisions. Will Aragorn show up in time to aid the defense of Minas Tirith? Will the White City's defenders fall to the Haradrim who managed to survive Faramir's ambush?

You'll have your chance to make your decisions and to live with the outcomes when The Flame of the West arrives at retailers. This first Saga Expansion from The Return of the King is on its way, so be sure to pre-order your copy today!

If that wasn’t enough, the scenario gets even bigger in Campaign Mode, tying in the results of several other scenarios! First of all, when your group sets up The Battle of the Pelennor Fields in Campaign Mode, the first player is required to set Aragorn ( The Flame of the West , 1) aside, out of play. That’s because in the story, the siege of Minas Tirith begins while the Heir of Isildur is on his way to Pelargir. So instead of taking control of Aragorn at the beginning of the scenario, the first player adds The Corsair Fleet objective ( The Flame of the West , ##) to the staging area and places a number of resource tokens on it. This number is determined by how many rounds it took the players to defeat the Corsairs in the previous scenario: The Siege of Gondor .

In that scenario, Aragorn leads The Grey Company to Pelargir where they battle the Corsairs of Umbar. At the end of that battle, Aragorn and his companions capture the Black Fleet and use the Corsair ships to sail up Anduin to Minas Tirith. Then, when you play The Battle of the Pelennor Fields in Campaign Mode, you, your friends, and all the heroes at Minas Tirith must endure the waves of Mordor's armies as they wait for Aragorn to travel up the river in his captured ships. And when the last resource token is finally removed from The Corsair Fleet, you can once again take control of Aragorn.

Just as in the books, the arrival of Isildur’s Heir can turn the tide of the battle. But that’s not the only thing that can tip the scales: The Witch-king also held forces in reserve. When the players advance to stage 5A in campaign mode, the campaign card instructs the players to add each Harad enemy recorded in the campaign log to the staging area. These are the same Harad enemies that the players were unable to defeat in Journey to the Cross-roads from The Land of Shadow . Because they were able to advance to The Black Gate ( The Land of Shadow , ##) in that scenario, they can return now to attack you and your heroes at stage 5 of The Battle of the

Grond!

That art on Spells of Ruin is fantastic.

That art on Fighting in the Fields is a little too PJ-ish, imho. Unless the Professor wrote something about battle lines of Mumakil that's slipping my mind.

If i do not get a divorce after I buy this, my marriage will last forever

Note the new boons to make one hero Rohan and another one Gondor, as mentioned on one of the quest cards. I guess that means we're not getting Merry and Pippin cards with the traits baked in. That's okay by me, I kinda figured as much.

Note the new boons to make one hero Rohan and another one Gondor, as mentioned on one of the quest cards. I guess that means we're not getting Merry and Pippin cards with the traits baked in. That's okay by me, I kinda figured as much.

I don't think that's a necessary conclusion from the article. They could still be allies with those traits.

you missed the card for the witch king!

And its flip side:

I had high expectations for this quest, since it involves so many different elements coming together. I love the narrative flow through the different quest stages, as the pressure and the stakes get higher (but there are also moments of hope when Rohan and Aragorn arrive).

I had thought that the quest might involve players on separate stages (if there were multiple players) to represent the Rohirrim getting closer to Gondor and finally arriving. That wouldn't work well for solo, though. My theme OCD is slightly disappointed because it feels like Rohan heroes shouldn't be present at the start of the game, but I'll get over it. The Rohan player's contributions will represent the fact that Witch-King diverted an army to try to stop Rohan from reaching Minas Tirith.

I wonder how significant Aragorn's arrival will be. He has good stats (and potentially Sword that was Broken), but I wonder whether there will be any encounter cards that are less bad if Aragorn's in play (or perhaps the fellowship player card in the box will really help for this quest, but Aragorn needs to be in play to use it).

Way to go, Caleb! This looks richly thematic and epic, and I am definitely looking forward to it.

The charge of the Rohirrim is... one ally?

When I saw "Captain side faceup" I thought: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The charge of the Rohirrim is... one ally?

It is also damage on enemies in the staging area by the difference Willpower - Threat for one questing. And there you have it - if Aragorn arrives with the Rohirrim and you slap him with the Sword that was broken, the charge may wipe the board clean. I say it is a pretty **** good representation of enemies being overrun by cavalry.

Keep in mind that the Campaign card is not shown and it might have additional bonuses for Aragorn and/or Rohan, like bonus stats for the player controlling him, +1 Willpower for all Rohan characters once you reach Stage 4 etc. This scenario's design is godlike.

The design of the city and siege towers in "The White City Besieged" look awfully similar to their depictions in the movies. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Also, I have to disagree with the statement:

"When The Flame of the West Saga Expansion makes its way to retailers, you will have the opportunity to play a personal role in what is possibly the most exciting battle in fantasy fiction: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields."

I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll be getting to the "most exciting battle" until next saga expansion, when we (hopefully) get the Scouring of the Shire!

(Though, I suppose the massive clash of all the free peoples of Middle Earth against the thralls of Morder with the Witch-king himself at their head would probably rate a close second.)

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

I am pretty excited to see what nasty stuff a Fell Beast does.

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

Nenya is a Quest Action(sorry).

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

Nenya is a Quest Action(sorry).

Mutual Accord + Gondorian Fire, then. And maybe a Parting Gifts thrown in, since if you're playing Mutual Accord, you have a Leadership hero.

I thought they might do a Helm's Deep 2.0 for this quest and I would have been happy with that as it is an awesome quest. But seeing what is actually coming is incredible. Playing quests that give you a turn to set up before you have to do anything always feels like the encounter deck taunting you: "Go ahead, I will crush you anyway" and you know you are in for some trouble if you want to get a nice result.

Everything feels so thematic, too! You feel the doom that is gathering just from the quest Cards and you know you will be relieved when Aragorn and Rohan arrive and you have to battle it out with the witch king.

The art is great, stage 3 and 5 surely look similiar to the movies, but I can't see the downside of this. If I was to order an Oliphant attack against thousands of Rohirim I would you the same Formation. This is an organised army after all, you don't Need mumakils running left and right without order, you just want to hit as much enemies as possible with These Monsters and the line is perfect for that.

I don't think it is wise to choose art for this game with the first rule being: Don't let it look like the movies. Just take the best If it Looks PJ-like so be it.

You could also just give her Elf-Friend and use Tale of Tinuviel to ready her with your fellowship Aragorn. That would give her another +4 attack with Herugrim, and you could attack with her twice in the round. Only the second attack could use Herugrim to the fullest though.

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

Nenya is a Quest Action(sorry).

Haha nice catch!

How about... Add a Quick Strike and attack during the Quest Phase . And if you're not engaged, discard a Westfold Outrider .

I just thought it was funny thinking about how many cards you'd need in order to make this work.

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

Nenya is a Quest Action(sorry).

Haha nice catch!

How about... Add a Quick Strike and attack during the Quest Phase . And if you're not engaged, discard a Westfold Outrider .

I just thought it was funny thinking about how many cards you'd need in order to make this work.

Quest card makes the Witch-King immune so the Outrider is a no go.

Or Eowyn's rogue build: + 2x Dagger of Westernesse + 2x Unseen Strike.

Tactics Eowyn + Hergrim + Galadriel and Nenya + Astonishing Speed = Witch-King Insta-kill

Nenya is a Quest Action(sorry).

Haha nice catch!

How about... Add a Quick Strike and attack during the Quest Phase . And if you're not engaged, discard a Westfold Outrider .

I just thought it was funny thinking about how many cards you'd need in order to make this work.

Quest card makes the Witch-King immune so the Outrider is a no go.

Shucks. I'll just stop trying to make cool combos.

Free People: Armies of Mordor:

-Free round. -Wraiths on Wings and Encounter Cards for players.

-Free, rescueable allies. -Witch-king, Gorg(?) and more enemies.

-More free allies at stage 4.-Witch-king, Fell Beast and more Encounter Cards.

-Enemy onslaught. -Haradrim.

-Aragorn.

THIS IS GONNA BE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!