1 hour ago, 987654321 said:

Journey UP the Anduin lol. Anyone else wanna begin it with a big troll to commemorate the good ol' times?

The announcement says the Anduin is patrolled by Mountain Trolls so yep =)

If were going *up* the Anduin, shouldnt it *end* with a big troll?

I don't want to be that guy, but this is the first time I feel like this could be the final cycle. That's because it gives me a feel of "coming full circle". The first quest being calles journey up the Anduin. Returning to Mirkwood (again :D). It would be a fitting end, like coming home after a long workday^^

Anyway I am excited about the new cycle and the "item focus" of the dale trait. It always sucked to loose your atachments, so I rarely put them on allies. Hopefully this will change

Final or not is this new cycle indeed the Big News they were announcing?

Cooooooooooool~

23 minutes ago, Szww said:

Final or not is this new cycle indeed the Big News they were announcing?

Probably not.

18 minutes ago, Szww said:

Final or not is this new cycle indeed the Big News they were announcing?

Nope, we are getting another announcement most likely.

As for this being the final cycle, I could honestly live with that, as long as they finally explore my favorite themes in the player cards. Hero Saruman, Radagast, unique Palantiri and wizard-realted cards, encounter Tom & Goldberry, and player saga attachments like Sting, Glamdring, Phial, etc.

Here to eat my crebain pie!

58 minutes ago, Bullroarer Took said:

Here to eat my crebain pie!

You are a man (or Hobbit) of your word.

6 hours ago, 987654321 said:

Journey UP the Anduin lol. Anyone else wanna begin it with a big troll to commemorate the good ol' times?

I'm willing to wager this quest ends with a big troll.

I like how they're developing Dale and Items. The player cards in this expansion might be only focused on the Dale trait, in which case Leadership Brand might be the other hero. We see Dale-related cards in every sphere, whereas The Voice of Isengard (the only deluxe to focus on two traits so far) had no Rohan-related Lore and Leadership cards (except Grima) and no cards that reference the Isengard trait in Tactics and Spirit (though thematically The Wizard's Voice and Power of Orthanc are connected to Isengard). Specifically, the fact that we're getting a Leadership event that's useless if you don't have a Dale hero makes me think there's a decent chance we're getting a Leadership Dale hero. On the other hand, The Wilds of Rhovanion covers a lot of territory, and there are plenty of possible heroes they could include. If we don't get them in the deluxe, I think there's a good chance we'll get Thranduil and Thorin Stonehelm in the following cycle. A new version of Dain Ironfoot as well as Grimbeorn the Old are other possibilities.

Since Bard son of Brand is numbered 2, the other hero should be Leadership or Tactics. Since Warrior of Dale has a bow in his art and seems to not have the Ranged keyword (Tactics Beregond, for example, has the Sentinel keyword at the beginning of his text box, before his cost-reducing ability), there's a good chance we'll get a bow (probably not racially restricted) that can attach to allies.

"Wilds of Rhovanion" but the cover art shows a sprawling walled city/fortress. Title and cover art doesn't seem to mesh.

8 hours ago, ppsantos said:

"Wilds of Rhovanion" but the cover art shows a sprawling walled city/fortress. Title and cover art doesn't seem to mesh.

????

I thought it was pretty obvious that the city depicted is Dale. Dale is part of Wilderland/Rhovanion and is the reason for a lot of the new player cards having the Dale trait. I believe the last quest in the expansion takes us there. The bird is also pretty significant. It's a thrush. It played a bigger part in the books than the films.

12 minutes ago, stimpaksam said:

????

I thought it was pretty obvious that the city depicted is Dale. Dale is part of Wilderland/Rhovanion and is the reason for a lot of the new player cards having the Dale trait. I believe the last quest in the expansion takes us there. The bird is also pretty significant. It's a thrush. It played a bigger part in the books than the films.

I think he was thrown by the "Wilds" part of the name. Though I don't think wilds have to necessarily have no cities whatsoever. Rather, it means that most of the land outside the cities is ungoverned (as opposed to the Shire or Gondor, which have bounds claiming quite a bit of empty land).

There is certainly trade going through Esgaroth, and I'm sure dwarves travel between Erebor and the Iron Hills, but the lands between are ungoverned and unclaimed, and even such settlements as there are could be considered wild and independent.

About the thrush...It could be on the front of this beautiful background as a hint of draconian proportions (wink wink)!

1 hour ago, Jekzer said:

About the thrush...It could be on the front of this beautiful background as a hint of draconian proportions (wink wink)!

The game takes place after the events of The Hobbit. Smaug was quite dead, unfortunately.

4 minutes ago, Network57 said:

The game takes place after the events of The Hobbit. Smaug was quite dead, unfortunately.

But what about Smaug’s great grandson, Smaug son of Smig?

40 minutes ago, Network57 said:

The game takes place after the events of The Hobbit. Smaug was quite dead, unfortunately.

"Have I said anything to suggest the final ending of dragons? If so it should be altered. The only passage I can think of is Vol. I p. 70: 'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think that there are still dragons." -- J.R.R. Tolkein, Letter No. 144

4 minutes ago, Kjeld said:

"Have I said anything to suggest the final ending of dragons? If so it should be altered. The only passage I can think of is Vol. I p. 70: 'there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough'. But that implies, I think that there are still dragons." -- J.R.R. Tolkein, Letter No. 144

Fair, but it's highly unlikely to find another dragon in Rhovanian so soon after the death of Smaug. We've seen Naurlhug already, so at least in FFG's version, there are dragons living somewhere in Middle-Earth. I, for one, would be disappointed to see another one around Dale. We've already done that.

1 hour ago, Network57 said:

Fair, but it's highly unlikely to find another dragon in Rhovanian so soon after the death of Smaug. We've seen Naurlhug already, so at least in FFG's version, there are dragons living somewhere in Middle-Earth. I, for one, would be disappointed to see another one around Dale. We've already done that.

I'm thinking more of a drake/baby dragon. Maybe we discover that those goblins (from Gundabad or other near places) have on enslaved.

Maybe I'm going too far

I for one would love to see dragons this cycle. As in, I think it's be a huge wasted opportunity if they didn't include any drakes/dragons. Now, one attacking Dale as @Network57 suggests would be silly, but a visit to the Withered Heath, where we know are still some left (or at least, they could make some left, like Naurlhug), would be awesome. Maybe a pack could be about going to the Heath and try to recover some artifact from a dragon-hoard.

I think it'd be cool if we got to steal treasure from a dragon. Or maybe throw us a twist and have us help a dragon take back it's lair from a horde of goblins, in return for it not attacking Dale. How cool would a dragon objective-ally be?

5 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

I for one would love to see dragons this cycle. As in, I think it's be a huge wasted opportunity if they didn't include any drakes/dragons. Now, one attacking Dale as @Network57 suggests would be silly, but a visit to the Withered Heath, where we know are still some left (or at least, they could make some left, like Naurlhug), would be awesome. Maybe a pack could be about going to the Heath and try to recover some artifact from a dragon-hoard.

Two places I hope we get to see are the Withered Heath and the Iron Hills!

We know from the announcements we'll be in the Iron Hills:

"it is up to you to explore the caverns of the Iron Hills"

I'd like to see us explore the Withered Heath in this cycle, and then go into Rhun next cycle.

13 hours ago, Bunston said:

I think it'd be cool if we got to steal treasure from a dragon. Or maybe throw us a twist and have us help a dragon take back it's lair from a horde of goblins, in return for it not attacking Dale. How cool would a dragon objective-ally be?

Maybe like A Journey To Rhosgobel but where you have to nurse a very sick dragon back to health with gold.