Although fully on board with Leadership Eomer and Tactics Gwaihir/Meneldor, I'm left wondering what Spirit Rohan hero we'll be getting in The Black Serpent adventure pack. Part of me hoped it would be Eomer, so I could finally make a mono-Spirit Rohan deck that I'd enjoy (sorry Dunhere). But Eomer deserves the Leadership spot in Mountain of Fire more than anyone else. So perhaps Grimbold (or someone else of similar importance) will be the hero of The Black Serpent.

1 hour ago, pmdoug said:

Although fully on board with Leadership Eomer and Tactics Gwaihir/Meneldor, I'm left wondering what Spirit Rohan hero we'll be getting in The Black Serpent adventure pack. Part of me hoped it would be Eomer, so I could finally make a mono-Spirit Rohan deck that I'd enjoy (sorry Dunhere). But Eomer deserves the Leadership spot in Mountain of Fire more than anyone else. So perhaps Grimbold (or someone else of similar importance) will be the hero of The Black Serpent.

The fourth pack of the cycle usually has an FFG created hero, so I'm expecting Eometh, the last hero from Middle Earth Quest.

3 minutes ago, Authraw said:

The fourth pack of the cycle usually has an FFG created hero, so I'm expecting Eometh, the last hero from Middle Earth Quest.

Brand, Hama, Faramir, Mablung, Erestor, Argalad. Only one of those is an FFG creation. Am I missing something? I wouldn't be surprised or displeased if we got an FFG Rohan hero, but I'm not seeing the pattern.

9 minutes ago, pmdoug said:

Brand, Hama, Faramir, Mablung, Erestor, Argalad. Only one of those is an FFG creation. Am I missing something? I wouldn't be surprised or displeased if we got an FFG Rohan hero, but I'm not seeing the pattern.

Oh hey, you're right. I thought the pattern was 2 and 4, but it looks like only 2 is fairly consistently an FFG original.

On 12/4/2017 at 2:41 AM, JsBingley said:

Relax, Siege of Annuminas is MEC72, so the now blank code mec65-mec71 will be the 7th deluxe and 8th cycle.

This is a great observation!

This fantastic game will live in for a long time yet

9 hours ago, Authraw said:

I thought the pattern was 2 and 4

2 has been pretty consistent (Frodo, Elladan, Mirlonde, Idraen, Rossiel, Lanwyn, and Thurindir), and 5 has been almost as consistent (Boromir, Glorfindel, Caldara, Galadriel, Amarthiul, and Na'asiyah). The Ring-maker cycle is the latest cycle to have only one FFG-created hero, and the Dream-chaser cycle is the first cycle to have three FFG-created heroes.

We're getting more FFG-created heroes (partly to avoid uniqueness clashes from repeating Tolkien's characters too often), but I would be a bit surprised if the majority of a cycle's heroes were FFG-created. Since we already have two FFG-created heroes in this cycle, I expect that we'll only get one more. Since Argalad showed up, I'm confident we'll get Eometh at some point, possibly in The Black Serpent. If so, I expect the 5th pack's hero will be a slight break with tradition: it won't be FFG-created.

Here's a recap of what we know about this cycle's remaining heroes (after two Leadership, one Spirit, and one Lore hero in the Deluxe and first two packs):

Beneath the Sands - Scout, very likely Tactics (perhaps Hirgon, Orophin, or Rumil)

The Black Serpent - Spirit Rohan (perhaps Eometh, Grimbold, Gamling, or even Éomer)

The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat - Lore, perhaps Warrior

The Crossings of Poros - Ent, very likely Tactics (perhaps Quickbeam, Skinbark, or even Leaflock)

I would love to see a Grimbold hero at some point. The Crossings of Poros mentions that an Ent hero is accompanied by a Hobbit ally. That could be Merry or Pippin, which would decrease the likelihood of them showing up in The Mountain of Fire (though it's possible to get Merry in Crossings of Poros and Pippin in Mountain of Fire).

I would quite literally jump for joy if we got a Orophin/Rumil hero. I think Hirgon would be a great choice for a hero, just described enough to get a sense of his character, but still very open to ideas. Since we have a cycle after this on, it'll probably be up in the Dale region and that trait will finally get developed. That would also be a great time for us to get the long-awaited Thranduil hero and hopefully a Thorin III Stonehelm hero.

16 hours ago, legolas18 said:

I would quite literally jump for joy if we got a Orophin/Rumil hero. I think Hirgon would be a great choice for a hero, just described enough to get a sense of his character, but still very open to ideas. Since we have a cycle after this on, it'll probably be up in the Dale region and that trait will finally get developed. That would also be a great time for us to get the long-awaited Thranduil hero and hopefully a Thorin III Stonehelm hero.

And a new Dain hero! He is such a major character, but sadly very underpowered. Maybe something like: All dwarf characters gets +4 will/atk and def.

I'd like a Dain that has the "noble" trait.

The journey through Mordor is told almost exclusively from Sam's perspective. Frodo is pretty much deleroius the whole time. I can't imagine not having a Hero Sam in this box. I always felt the other person responsible for getting the ring bearers to the mountain was Galadriel. It seemed to me that she was protecting them from afar with her magic. How about tactics Sam and leadership Galadriel?

1 hour ago, JusticeLizard said:

The journey through Mordor is told almost exclusively from Sam's perspective. Frodo is pretty much deleroius the whole time. I can't imagine not having a Hero Sam in this box. I always felt the other person responsible for getting the ring bearers to the mountain was Galadriel. It seemed to me that she was protecting them from afar with her magic. How about tactics Sam and leadership Galadriel?

It would be a bit of a shame if neither of the new heroes fit well in Cirith Ungol or Mount Doom. A new Sam would be very welcome, even if it's a saga repetition. But if we don't get Sam, then an eagle is my favorite alternative. An eagle hero could be played on either side of the table (Black Gate or Mount Doom).

Sam would make sense, but I think that spirit Galadriel is perfect for representing her magic influence (although she is not from saga boxes). If we get another version she will be either mostly copy of spirit or won't represent how her magic helped Sam. The only version that would make sense would be keeping her nenya questing, but removing ally buff (it doesn't help Sam's journey). But her action is simply the best for secrecy decks...

On 4/13/2017 at 9:27 PM, Estel Edain said:

I noticed that Saga heroes almost always share a racial trait with any ally that shares their sphere in the same release. This is an ironclad rule since Treason of Saruman. (Road Darkens doesn't have any neutral allies. Bill the Pony and Barliman Butterbur are technically exceptions, but they interact with the hobbit trait. The only clear exception is way back in the first Saga expansion, with Beorn and Bofur.) If this rule is followed in The Mountain of Fire, I predict that we will get Leadership Éomer and Tactics Gwaihir heroes, with Leadership Elfhelm and Tactics Meneldor allies.

I wasn't sure about Elfhelm, since we already have two versions of him, but this new art spoiler would fit with my prediction (if you right-click to download the image, the art is for Elfhelm):

http://www.charroart.com/#4

1 hour ago, Estel Edain said:

I wasn't sure about Elfhelm, since we already have two versions of him, but this new art spoiler would fit with my prediction (if you right-click to download the image, the art is for Elfhelm):

http://www.charroart.com/#4

Hey, I posted that on Discord! With that said, it is very likely they originally commissioned that art for Elfhelm, but ended up using another piece of art for him. Happens a lot (a lot of the orc art gets renamed and reused). Then they reuse the commissioned art for other cards. Thus, even though the filename says Elfhelm, I'm almost certain they will use that art for Éomer or other Rohan character.

21 minutes ago, Gizlivadi said:

Hey, I posted that on Discord! With that said, it is very likely they originally commissioned that art for Elfhelm, but ended up using another piece of art for him. Happens a lot (a lot of the orc art gets renamed and reused). Then they reuse the commissioned art for other cards. Thus, even though the filename says Elfhelm, I'm almost certain they will use that art for Éomer or other Rohan character.

They could even put it on an event or attachment.

On 2017-4-16 at 1:20 PM, dalestephenson said:

I'd like a Dain that has the "noble" trait.

**** straight

I would honestly be kind of disappinted if we got a Rohan FFG-created hero in Black Serpent. Even though I love FFG-created heroes, 3 in a row would be way too much. We're finally in Harad, we don't know really how many cycles there are left, and I would just prefer if the game went back to canon Middle Earth. I mean. we don't know how much time is left for this game and there is still so much more stuff to explore. We still haven't seen Thranduil, and I think everyone would agree that we need a new version of Radagast, and Bilbo, and Saruman, even Eomer, plus as I ve always said there's the theme of artifacts that's been avoided like the plague by this game. As much as I love exploring the little known parts of Middle Earth and getting new unseen characters, I really wish the game just got on with it and returned to themes and characters Tolkien actually developed in his work.

18 minutes ago, Gizlivadi said:

I would honestly be kind of disappinted if we got a Rohan FFG-created hero in Black Serpent. Even though I love FFG-created heroes, 3 in a row would be way too much. We're finally in Harad, we don't know really how many cycles there are left, and I would just prefer if the game went back to canon Middle Earth. I mean. we don't know how much time is left for this game and there is still so much more stuff to explore. We still haven't seen Thranduil, and I think everyone would agree that we need a new version of Radagast, and Bilbo, and Saruman, even Eomer, plus as I ve always said there's the theme of artifacts that's been avoided like the plague by this game. As much as I love exploring the little known parts of Middle Earth and getting new unseen characters, I really wish the game just got on with it and returned to themes and characters Tolkien actually developed in his work.

I don't entirely agree with you regarding new areas - I've always thought that the Far North would be fun for example.

I should imagine that we'll hear within the next couple of months or so whether there will be a new cycle - personally I have no idea whatsoever if another one or two are coming. FFG are being pretty quiet these days about LoTR LCG but that could mean anything. I own 6 cycles with all of the sagas and standalone packs. I also have more player cards than you can shake a stick at. I don't really need any more stuff for this game....

1 hour ago, JonG said:

I don't entirely agree with you regarding new areas - I've always thought that the Far North would be fun for example.

I should imagine that we'll hear within the next couple of months or so whether there will be a new cycle - personally I have no idea whatsoever if another one or two are coming. FFG are being pretty quiet these days about LoTR LCG but that could mean anything. I own 6 cycles with all of the sagas and standalone packs. I also have more player cards than you can shake a stick at. I don't really need any more stuff for this game....

Sure I don't need more. But I want more! (Erebor, Forochel...)

Don't get me wrong, that was a hastily written post. I mean, I would love if next cycle we went to northern Rhovanion, particularly the mountains and the Withered Heath. That's pretty obscure, plus I would love to have a Forochel quest. I speak more about the player cards, and how *at this point* I wish they would finish developing the main themes of classic Middle Earth (Rohan needs a boost, Beornings, Istari heroes, artifacts, etc) instead of insisting with FFG created stuff which they've proven to be far more than capable of doing.

On 5/22/2017 at 11:58 AM, Gizlivadi said:

we don't know how much time is left for this game and there is still so much more stuff to explore. We still haven't seen Thranduil, and I think everyone would agree that we need a new version of Radagast, and Bilbo, and Saruman, even Eomer, plus as I ve always said there's the theme of artifacts that's been avoided like the plague by this game. As much as I love exploring the little known parts of Middle Earth and getting new unseen characters, I really wish the game just got on with it and returned to themes and characters Tolkien actually developed in his work.

18 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

I speak more about the player cards, and how *at this point* I wish they would finish developing the main themes of classic Middle Earth (Rohan needs a boost, Beornings, Istari heroes, artifacts, etc) instead of insisting with FFG created stuff which they've proven to be far more than capable of doing.

I hear you, and there are several canon elements of Middle Earth that I would love to see in the player cards (especially ally versions of some of the central characters, like Aragorn, Éomer, Merry and Pippin). At the same time, I expect that the designers will delay including some of Tolkien's significant characters (or at least good versions of them) until the end of the game, so that players have cards to anticipate. In the first Game of Thrones LCG, House Arryn (which is moderately significant in the story) only got cards for their characters in the last cycle.

If this game still has another two or more cycles left after the current cycle, I wouldn't really mind getting three FFG-created heroes this cycle, like in the last cycle: Lanwyn, Argalad, and Na'asiyah. The canon heroes from the Dreamchaser cycle are all duplicates of earlier player cards (although there was no Elfhelm hero before), and there are a limited number of named characters who seem like suitable heroes. Using three FFG-created heroes per cycle (with no FFG-created heroes in deluxe expansions) might allow FFG to prolong the game's lifespan without too many duplicate heroes, which can cause issues with uniqueness clashes, especially in multiplayer.

In terms of the specific player cards you mentioned that we're lacking, I think the designers have been addressing some of those issues, although the player card pool expands slowly. They've given more support to archetypes that needed it, like secrecy and sidequests. Rider of Rohan is a minor boost for Rohan, although it requires a side quest to maximize its potential. I'm confident we'll be getting more Rohan support (hopefully including a Grimbold hero at some point). We should be getting a new Éomer hero in The Mountain of Fire, and the announcement article mentioned Beorning support in The Crossings of Poros. I think there's a good chance that we'll see Thranduil in the next deluxe expansion, if the deluxe is set near Erebor/Dale. I'm not sure where a new Bilbo hero might fit, or what support they might print for Istari and artifacts: I could see that being one of the themes they develop during a cycle.

I can agree with that, especially if we still have at least a couple cycles left (which I hope is the case).

On 12/04/2017 at 5:38 AM, Teamjimby said:

I'm shocked PsychoRocka hasn't swooned on here yet about the new allies. He must be away from the internet at the moment.

They are glorious!! Cannot wait to put them in my decks!!!

I couldn't wait. Proxied the twins into my Erestor deck straight away.

I do so since a month and now I made some from Rosie and probably soon for Tom and rise the shire :).