Outside of the Hobbit Saga, that is.

Seems odd that we've wandered off to Harad leaving some more iconic locations (Laketown, Dale, Iron Hills, Withered Heath) undeveloped.

Agree. My thinking was we would head north out of Harad and move up the east side of the map. I hope we get to.

Agree. My thinking was we would head north out of Harad and move up the east side of the map. I hope we get to.

That was my thought as well. And then the northern wastes, around Forochel, after that?

Yeah, my hope is that next cycle we go to northern Rhovanion and the Withered Heath with a theme about Dragons, drakes and their hoards. It could also mean a player sub-theme of ancient artifacts which as you all know I really love and think the game has neglected.

I hope so! I was predicting Dale for this year before we found out it was going to be Harad. Still waiting for Thranduil to make an appearance, and a Dale cycle seems like a pretty good place for him to show up.

We also lack a hobbit-dedicated deluxe and Shire cycle maybe with adventures to be played on a lighter tone.

Otherwise, I agree Northern Renovation, Northern Mirkwood w Thranduil as well as Dale are overdue!

I sort of want Thranduil to appear in the current cycle only because he is so overdue and I really want to see him in the game already.

Also just for reference here is the last time this was discussed: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/231678-enemies-regions-you-would-like-to-see-in-future-cycles/

still holding onto hope that we'll see the Battle of Dale in the last saga box

Man that would be a surprise! And the two heroes in the box are Dain and Brand.

I'm assuming they are saving Dale/Erebor for when we go to Rhun. I'd imagine they'd lump those two locations in the same cycle.

Withered Heath sounds like it's own cycle to me, and I think it would be an excellent time to finally flesh out the Eagles.

We also lack a hobbit-dedicated deluxe and Shire cycle maybe with adventures to be played on a lighter tone.

Otherwise, I agree Northern Renovation, Northern Mirkwood w Thranduil as well as Dale are overdue!

On that note I desperately hope that the Scouring of the Shire is either a quest on the last saga box or a PoD title.

I doubt that the Battle of Dale will make it into the last saga box, but it'd be nice to get it as a PoD quest. And yes, Scouring needs to be a thing.

Talking about that, I answered someone about the Dale and Esgaroth trait, but I only did it from old memories... someone here could help me.

What's the diference between Esgaroth and Dale, seems to me that Dale was an ancient kingdom and have been destroyed by Smaug, then brought back after its death, and during the time, Dale was just a region of Esgaroth.

Is that right?

Also, we got Harad and the Outlands, so why not Dale... From our french forum, someone analysed the Heros and come up with three trait that would be cool if they got expanded: Esagorth, Dale and Beorning. The author of the post excluded Corsair, Steward and Isengard from being developped further.

I doubt we'll make it.

What's the diference between Esgaroth and Dale, seems to me that Dale was an ancient kingdom and have been destroyed by Smaug, then brought back after its death, and during the time, Dale was just a region of Esgaroth.

Dale was a kingdom before Smaug came, re-established after Smaug's death by Bard.

Esgaroth was a town, and there's no textual evidence of it claiming or ruling land outside of the town itself. When Dale was re-established, Esgaroth remained independent of Dale, and was still independent at the time of Gandalf and Balin's visit to Bilbo at the end of the Hobbit. Since descendants of the people of Dale were among Esgaroth, and since Dale was re-established by humans from Esgaroth, I think the two can be considered a common people even if they were politically separate entities.

I would love to have a deluxe cycle set in or around Dale - perhaps one starting in Mirkwood, then moving into Dale and the surrounding area. This would be great - we could explore a new focus for the Sylvan trait, finally get Thranduil, perhaps introduce some more Dwarf cards, and develop Dale into a serious trait.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a saga expansion dealing with the battles around Dale and the Lonely Mountain culminating in Bard & Dain's death and the Pyrrhic victory there.

I'm pretty certain that the Battle of Dale is destined to become POD for sure. It just has all the qualities. It's a separate, "standalone" event in the story of the novels, that's also distant and not really explored, it's the perfect example of a POD in the spirit of Lotr Lcg. But then again I think the same about the Scouring, which might as well actually appear as the last Mountain of Fire quest.

I'm pretty certain that the Battle of Dale is destined to become POD for sure. It just has all the qualities. It's a separate, "standalone" event in the story of the novels, that's also distant and not really explored, it's the perfect example of a POD in the spirit of Lotr Lcg. But then again I think the same about the Scouring, which might as well actually appear as the last Mountain of Fire quest.

either way, at the very least i suspect we'll see both in PoD format, but i'm hoping at least one makes it to the big box

i feel the same about both, but i honestly don't see three quests worth of stuff in the destruction of the ring. i could actually see it potentially being one quest with two separate staging areas

I can see:

1. Tower of Cirith Ungol (rescue Frodo)

2. Plain of gorgoroth (evade orcs)

3. Mount Doom (destroy the ring)

or

1. Tower of Cirith Ungol

2. Across the Plain + Mount Doom

3. Scouring of the Shire

//

Tharanduil would be definitely appreciated as would Brand, and more Beornings.

i feel the same about both, but i honestly don't see three quests worth of stuff in the destruction of the ring. i could actually see it potentially being one quest with two separate staging areas

I can see:

1. Tower of Cirith Ungol (rescue Frodo)

2. Plain of gorgoroth (evade orcs)

3. Mount Doom (destroy the ring)

or

1. Tower of Cirith Ungol

2. Across the Plain + Mount Doom

3. Scouring of the Shire

//

Tharanduil would be definitely appreciated as would Brand, and more Beornings.

I think your first three are the most likely scenario. They might combine your Mount Doom with the Battle at the Gate somehow?

Yes, we will visit Dale. Maybe in a PoD, maybe in a cycle. If it's a cycle, it will take us time to get there. Why? Because through the Deluxe cycles the designers have established that we are taking a "Tour of Middle Earth", with the four most recent cycles showing a deliberate geographic course.

The first three cycles did not seem to fit into a directional pattern, but all three cycles took place in different areas of Middle Earth:

1) Shadows Over Mirkwood - Mirkwood/Anduin/Rhovanion

2) Dwarrowdelf - Misty Mountains, more or less

3) Against the Shadow - Gondor

The latest four cycles seem to show a course the designers have laid out intentionally:

4) Ringmaker - Rohan/Dunland/Southern Eriador

5) Angmar Awakened - Eriador. At this point, we've continued northwest from southern Eriador into the rest of Eriador.

6) Dawnchaser - Grey Havens/ west into Belegaer (The Great Sea), we then sail south on the Great Sea to the Bay of Belfalas and Umbar.

7) Haradrim - picking up directly after the end of the Dawnchaser cycle, we start in Umbar and then head east into the desert of Far Harad.

Again, keep in mind that the stories in the Deluxe boxes and APs specifically mention the heroes moving from Rohan to Rivendell (Eriador) to the Grey Havens and then ending/starting in Umbar. This is clearly an intentional route established by the designers.

This course suggests that the following cycles after Haradrim will be Khand/Rhun or possibly Mordor. To my knowledge, little to zero textual material exists for Khand and Rhun, so who knows what the designers might create for those regions. Perhaps nothing, since essentially nothing exists. Mordor is, of course, highly developed, so a cycle here seems very likely to my mind. It may be saved for the last cycle of product, however, as it would seemingly be a climatic series of quests. This would then leave the Iron Hills, Erebor, the Withered Heath and Dale as areas for one other cycle. So again, yes, we will visit Dale, though it may not be extensively. With the directional precedent set by the last four cycles, I'd be very surprised if the designers set the next cycle anywhere but Khand/Rhun/Mordor or possibly the Iron Hills. Could they break from this pattern? Sure. But that would be a significant departure from the route we've traveled the past four years (last four cycles).

TL; DR - We are doing a tour of Middle Earth. Dale is a prominent enough to earn a stop on the tour.