Hey guys! So I was super psyched to get this for my birthday in late May, but it's looking like it won't be out until a good bit later than that at this point. While we wait for more news on that matter--or maybe even another preview article--I just wanted to discuss one of the biggest things I'm excited about, and that's the new equipment coming with the expansion.

In the base game, we got:

Sword - Might

Axe - Might (Upgrade option to Spirit)

Bow - Agility

Staff - Agility (Upgrade option to Wisdom)

Dagger - Wit

Dagger - Wit

Banner - Support

Harp - Support

In the expansion, we're getting:

Knife (Arwen, spoiled in the article) - Agility

Sling (Arwen, spoiled in the article) - Agility or Wit

Sword (Gandalf, Game Trade Magazine ) - Might?

Walking Stick (Gandalf, GTM) - Support?

Warhammer (Dis mini) - Might?

Axe (Balin mini) - Might?

Another sword and staff of sorts (Eleanor mini) - Might/Support?

The meat of the discussion: are we likely to get repeats from the core set weapons? I personally doubt Eleanor and Gandalf are going to come with the exact same pairing of weapons, but if "Walking Stick" is indeed what they're choosing to call Gandalf's staff, does that mean it's going to be a generic support item that anyone can use? Perhaps it allows you to scout or otherwise prepare cards, so that it can aid Gandalf in casting spells from his own personal cards, while only aiding others with their own cards.

I also feel like there are pretty good odds that we get a new type of sword, rather than having three of the same basic one. The axe I could see going either way; new or repeat.

The one I'm really intrigued with is the Warhammer. As it stands, I don't feel like any of the damage bonus keywords particularly fit? It certainly shouldn't have pierce, sunder doesn't make much sense... stun would make some sense, but it would seem odd to give another weapon that capability without some way to set it apart. And then there's the matter of balancing it against the staff so neither is a given. Which begs the question: does anyone think they might add more of those damage keywords?


Armor/Capes are another question entirely. The Gandalf blurb ("Like every hero, players can use Gandalf in any role, but his suggested role has him beginning with the Meddler role, along with his trusty walking stick, sword, and cloak.") uses the word Cloak. I guess they might choose to keep the base number of items a bit lower and simply include more tier 2/3 options for those items. Which would be an acceptable option if they did want to give us a total of 3 Swords. I think I would like to see another heavy/medium armor option, which seems fairly likely given the two dwarves, but cloaks seem like a pretty standard item type that they're keen to stick to.

19 hours ago, SpiderMana said:

The one I'm really intrigued with is the Warhammer. As it stands, I don't feel like any of the damage bonus keywords particularly fit? It certainly shouldn't have pierce, sunder doesn't make much sense... stun would make some sense, but it would seem odd to give another weapon that capability without some way to set it apart. And then there's the matter o f balancing it against the staff so neither is a given. Which begs the question: does anyone think they might add more of those damage keywords?

Such an intriguing discussion initiated 🙂

My birthday is mid - May and live in Greece, so the way things evolve i may have the extension available for my next half year "birthday"...

Re: additional damage bonus keywords, I think it would make sense should the new enemies have different types of shields.

What would also be interesting would be for different skills to achieve different "hits". For example Sword Level 3 Fate Bender tests either Might or Wisdom, could get different hit outcomes accordingly.

Totally agree on Heavy/Medium armour options... fingers crossed

I think it's most likely they will stick with the basic weapons, and simply add new Tier II and III (and IV??) options that give flavor and new abilities (though they could make a base two-handed sword). There is significant design space to explore through the upgrade tiers without having to bloat the basic gear options. However, they seem to have already branched out from "Dagger" to "Knife", so who knows?

I think it's likely we'll get additional armor and a shield (just makes sense within the lore).

I also am most intrigued by the Warhammer. My guess is that it will Sunder (bashing through armor). Would be interesting it could hit very big, but also had a higher risk of whiffing. For example, the base version could have just an option for 2+ successes that deals like 6 damage or so, but nothing if you only get 1 success.

Gandalf Sword most likely is two hand variant. Also warhammer may have less damage capasity, if it is one handed and so on.

So I don`t Expect new damage types. I Expect different requirements for hand (1h or 2h) different damage capasities, how much damage They produce per succes and how Many succes lines there Are. Also different amounth of succes needed to tricker those effects and damage tresholds.
Not very fansy, but a weapon is a weapon. They do damage, They may have special effects, but basically They all Are the same.

For example a morning Star with a chain. Very unpractical and difficult weapon to use. Could require a lot of succes to deal any damage, but when you manage to get Many succes it could cause quite a lot damage. If you would get no succes at all you could damage yourself.

Spear: very much used, simple to use weapon, very effective weapon. You need very Little amouth of succes to cause desent amounth of damage. If you get lot of succes you can cause a lot of damage. Maybe a posibility to get stuck on opponent?

So different weapons can have different characteristic but all in all they cause just damage.

What about a new range weapon? The bow is insanely good, I don't think I'll start a campaign without it (especially when you've got the one with Cleave). Throwing axe maybe?

1 hour ago, LK9. said:

What about a new range weapon? The bow is insanely good, I don't think I'll start a campaign without it (especially when you've got the one with Cleave). Throwing axe maybe?

To be blunt, considering the distances each space represents on a tile, it would be quite silly to have a throwing axe as a ranged weapon. A crossbow could be a bow without cleave. More single target damage.

Throwing axe + Keen Eye would be hilarious.

2 hours ago, LK9. said:

What about a new range weapon? The bow is insanely good, I don't think I'll start a campaign without it (especially when you've got the one with Cleave). Throwing axe maybe?

Arwen’s got a sling! The base item is Agility OR Wit, one handed, and ranged! So you can pair it with either a Dagger or Knife, for the versatility of a ranged option or extra damage on your melee attacks (or once you get the ranged Dagger).

(Edit: Or, personally, I’m probably gonna pair the sling with the harp on Legolas for at least one game. The harp allows him to use his ability every single turn, which is cool, but in the core set, the only real option I had to pair it with for him was the dagger, so. Now having not only an agility weapon but a ranged one with it? 😄 )

13 minutes ago, Thaeggan said:

To be blunt, considering the distances each space represents on a tile, it would be quite silly to have a throwing axe as a ranged weapon. A crossbow could be a bow without cleave. More single target damage.

Throwing axe + Keen Eye would be hilarious.

Given that one of the Dagger upgrade options gains the ranged trait (at the cost of inspiration), a throwing axe isn’t particularly odd. The scale of the journey maps is very fluid, IMO, and the Ranged ability on weapons is more about theme than exact range.

7 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

G iven that one of the Dagger upgrade options gains the ranged trait (at the cost of inspiration), a throwing axe isn’t particularly odd. The scale of the journey maps is very fluid, IMO, and the Ranged ability on weapons is more about theme than exact range.

Totally forgot the dagger can be thrown. I still stand by it being silly 😅

On 4/17/2020 at 4:53 PM, Thaeggan said:

Totally forgot the dagger can be thrown. I still stand by it being silly 😅

Could work (ish) when being nearby, but yeah paired with Keen Eye that would be really awkward 😁

I'd like to see a short bow or similar that would be allowed as a 2nd weapon. It would be less powerful than the Great Bow, but allow characters like Aragorn to take a Sword and Bow.

I would like to see something like a short/slender bow as well, though I guess the sling probably does about the same. We have seen leaks of the War Hammer (Might test, 1 success: 4 hits, 1 success: 3 hits, 2-handed) and Walking Stick (Wisdom test, 1 success: 2 hits, 2 success: 2 hits, stun, 1-handed)

4 minutes ago, Birdman137 said:

I would like to see something like a short/slender bow as well, though I guess the sling probably does about the same. We have seen leaks of the War Hammer (Might test, 1 success: 4 hits, 1 success: 3 hits, 2-handed) and Walking Stick (Wisdom test, 1 success: 2 hits, 2 success: 2 hits, stun, 1-handed)

What, where?!

Over on the Board Game Geek forums somebody posted this Facebook video of an unboxing of the Czech version of the game.

Nice. I'm also excited to see a Shield of some sort on the back-of-box art somebody also posted on BGG. Can't really make out any of the text on it, but.

Would you look at that! I missed that the first time I saw that picture. I just assumed it was a prepared card of some sort.

32 minutes ago, Birdman137 said:

Would you look at that! I missed that the first time I saw that picture. I just assumed it was a prepared card of some sort.

I could tell the card next to it was a weapon. Looks like it’s probably the upgraded dagger?

As for a Shield, I guess that’s gotta be for Balin? (I saw another Staff in the Polish unboxing which I assume is Eleanor’s weapon of choice). So a one-handed Axe maybe? And what are he odds Gandalf gets a new sword vs just having two different weapons that can’t test together on the same attack? I also saw another set of the heavy armor, presumably for one of the dwarves, but I hope there’s a new option for the other one.

8 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

I could tell the card next to it was a weapon. Looks like it’s probably the upgraded dagger?

I believe it's the upgraded knife.

8 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

As for a Shield, I guess that’s gotta be for Balin? (I saw another Staff in the Polish unboxing which I assume is Eleanor’s weapon of choice). So a one-handed Axe maybe?

Yes, by process of elimination, I would say the shield is intended for Balin.

33 minutes ago, Birdman137 said:

I believe it's the upgraded knife.

Yes, by process of elimination, I would say the shield is intended for Balin.

Knife, my bad. That’s the one I meant. I’m so pumped for so many more options, and I love that the sling can be paired with either dagger or knife effectively.

(Edit: Don’t think I won’t be trying out Harp!Legolas again with the Sling instead of a dagger so that he can guarantee use of his sneak!sprint ability every turn.)

On 4/17/2020 at 10:32 AM, Thaeggan said:

To be blunt, considering the distances each space represents on a tile, it would be quite silly to have a throwing axe as a ranged weapon. A crossbow could be a bow without cleave. More single target damage.

Throwing axe + Keen Eye would be hilarious.

Another new weapon tease just surfaced.

https://www.wydawnictworebel.pl/games/wladca-pierscieni-podroze-przez-srodziemie-cieniste-sciezki-1489.html

It's a....wait for it.... Ranged Axe! 😂

2 hours ago, Birdman137 said:

It's a....wait for it.... Ranged Axe! 😂

Yeeeeees I almost included "throwing(?)" when I said one-handed axe.

I also got inordinately excited to see it's might/agility, but it's the tier 3 version, so I'll try to not get my hopes up for earlier builds with it. The Horn, I assume, is an item that you can find throughout the campaign? And then there's a tier 2 bow showing? So maybe we'll get some new upper-tier options for core set items even if we don't get a second tier-one bow.

Edit: For that matter, the tier 1 axe very well might not have ranged. I'm kindof expecting it to be a non-ranged, might test item, and it gains the ability to test agility when it gains ranged.