So these are really the cards and not just speculation/player created cards? My first reaction is I'm not crazy about the art on Aragorn but Thorongil is really good.

I think A Desperate Path is the stand out card for me. Risky as someone else said, but a lot of fun! I also liked the art on it, and saw that that it is the same artist as Spiragorn.

1 hour ago, dalestephenson said:

Of course, starting at 48 threat the quests shouldn't take long....

If you want you can even start at 50 with a Treebeard/Saruman/Elrond + Gwaihir + SpTheoden + LeAragorn lineup for the quickest loss ever.

Very disappointing pack. I truly hope we have more cycles after this hiatus. There is still plenty to get to. We have a 8+ thread of cards we still want and I don't think we received anything in this pack, besides a disappointing Sparrowgorn.

Thorongil and Helm of Secrecy are exciting yet not so powerful cards. I think that might be the only redeeming value here.

We finally got our 4 hero contract but boy do those restrictions really narrow the field of possible decks you can run.

Perhaps not a terrible pack for a random cycle pack #4 (changing the name of aragorn to Halbarad or something), but if this truly is the last pack then it saddens me that the swan song of the game did not live up to expectations.

I, too, am disapointed from that hero's (not really worth mentioning Aragorn here) ability.

To bad, cannot use A Test of Will on the when revealed from A Desperate Path. 😄

I do like the buff for Dunedain. Finaly. That theme deserves more love.

And a good buff to Warrior charaters. Like it.

Thorongil: reads to me as the hero then have both the abilities, traits and resource icons (not 'printed' I guess). But not 100% sure. Not a native speaker or gaming nerd. 😉

And last but not least: The contract. I want to see all the non-hobbit decks comming up. Cannot be many, but still. Maybe Noldor? They do have some threat reduction at hands.

20 minutes ago, player3351457 said:

but if this truly is the last pack then it saddens me that the swan song of the game did not live up to expectations.

I am disappointed too in general about the cards in this last pack, but I have the suspicion that they might have been designed before (or around the same time) the decision for the hiatus hit.

4 minutes ago, Flrbb said:

I want to see all the non-hobbit decks comming up. Cannot be many, but still. Maybe Noldor? They do have some threat reduction at hands.

Dwarves seem like a good fit and also some Gondor Swarm decks. Possibly Silvan and Rohan?

15 minutes ago, Alonewolf87 said:

Gondor Swarm decks.

Thought about that, too. But Boromir , Lothíriel , Prince Imrahil + X ? These alone are 30 threat.

Silvan sounds good. 🙂

1 minute ago, Flrbb said:

Thought about that, too. But Boromir , Lothíriel , Prince Imrahil + X ? These alone are 30 threat.

Might be time to revive LoDenethor!

Technically, Thorongil is "pay 3 to do nothing" thanks to the uniqueness rule.

3 minutes ago, Flrbb said:

+ X ? These alone are 30 threat.

Lore Denethor, Damrod for some traps or Lore Faramir. Starting in Valour might not so bad for Gondor decks (Soldier of Gondor, Angbor the Fearless, Horn's Cry, Defender of Cair Andros, Honour Guard, Veteran of Osgiliath). You can then use Secret Vigil, Woodmen Clearing and some spirit card to reduce your threat (also Favor of the Valar, even Pillar of the Kings if need be)

1 minute ago, NathanH said:

Technically, Thorongil is "pay 3 to do nothing" thanks to the uniqueness rule.

I guess since what's in play is not the new hero but Thorongil (to which the hero is attached) you can bypass the uniqueness rule. Could it have been better written? Probably. But the intent is really clear.

No interest whatsoever in that Aragorn. The art stinks (disappointing too cause that artist has done much better work for the game), and the ability is lazy AF.

"Argalad for locations" is fine for an FFG-created Dúnedain character in some rando pack in a cycle, but for the final hero of the game, and Aragorn at that? Ridiculous.

I think there was a lot of pressure hanging on the shoulders of this last pack, given just how many cards and mechanics people were still hoping to see in what could be the final pack ever. That's too much pressure for any one AP, but I do agree that this feels like perhaps the least exciting of the APs from this cycle.


I am really glad to see the Woodman them further explored, though.

Haleth is really good, probably the stand-out card for me from this set.

It's nice to see the Woodman theme getting more attention, but Woodman's Lore seems iffy to me. Haldan should already be questing unexhausted, so unless you need him to fight twice this isn't a great card for him. For Woodman allies, not sure how valuable this will be -- I don't think you typically have more than one attachment on a location at a time (especially in 1-Handed where even getting a location can be a challenge). For 1 Lore resource, I'd probably rather just save up and pay for another ally entirely than probably just ready one.

Would still love (would have loved) to have seen some sort card(s) that allowed Woodmen to fish for locations, place progress / travel easier (Woodman's Axe?), and most importantly something that let them add attachments to locations that are "Immune to Player Card" effects. I know particular locations aren't meant to be brushed away by Thror's Key or swept under the rug by Asfaloth/Trackers, but in quests that have locations immune to player cards it's even less of an opportunity to Location-Attachment strategies to work. Nothing (mechanically) wrong with putting Woodman's Clearing on the The Carrock, for instance. One of the same issues with the Burglar Contract .

Not a fan of Aragorn's art at all. No disrespect meant to the artist. It's a very good picture just not the one I'd have used to depict Aragorn. He looks like a hipster version of Rowan Atkinson.

Aragorn is in fact Lord Blackadder II

I called spirit Aragorn ages ago for being the last hero. I'm sure I read or heard one of the designers say there would only ever be one hero from all the spheres.

I like his ability but not his art. He also reminds me of the Minas Tirith Lampright.

I have to agree, I find the pack probably the most underwhelming of the whole cycle. Aragorn in particular is pretty underwhelming.

I like to make a positive comment when I make a negative comment but, man... none of the cards speak to me really. I guess maybe the contract is interesting?

edit: oh I get it now. You're not supposed to ever have this spirit Aragorn on his own. Always use him as an attachment with Thorongil or use another ARagorn to attach to him. I guess that works.

3 minutes ago, GrandSpleen said:

I have to agree, I find the pack probably the most underwhelming of the whole cycle. Aragorn in particular is pretty underwhelming.

I like to make a positive comment when I make a negative comment but, man... none of the cards speak to me really. I guess maybe the contract is interesting?

edit: oh I get it now. You're not supposed to ever have this spirit Aragorn on his own. Always use him as an attachment with Thorongil or use another ARagorn to attach to him. I guess that works.

I would rather pay 2 for Celebrian's Stone than pay 3 for this Aragorn's ability + Spirit icon lol

4 minutes ago, GrandSpleen said:

edit: oh I get it now. You're not supposed to ever have this spirit Aragorn on his own. Always use him as an attachment with Thorongil or use another ARagorn to attach to him. I guess that works.

Via Thorongil, Spiragorn does have some powerful synergy with Leadagorn's innate readying ability. You could both nuke a location and then quest on top of it. If you can load up Aragorn with willpower, could (maybe) be worth it to get the setup in place. Actually, a Gray Wanderer version of this with Strider could be cool.

His other version of Aragorn art was better IMO.

I've always found LoAragorn's ability least exciting -- even though it's the largest threat reduction effect in the game, if you end up not needing it his text might as well be blank. SpAragorn needs three resources and Thorongil to acquire that ability now, and I think his ability *will* be useful. If there's a location, he can wait until after staging to decide whether to "quest" via threat reduction or stay ready for combat, and that's not a bad thing for Spirit. Too bad Thorongil is unique. Hmm, maybe instead of ignoring uniqueness to play four Aragorns, I should just run one Aragorn with four abilities...

Forest Road Ranger is the Woodman who could get buffed with a lot of location attachments, though that only counts as one ready for the card. I like readying Mirkwood Explorer to nuke a newly revealed location, but Leather Boots is the tool for that job.

I love Spirit Aragorn (Ladagorn)! He may not be the most powerful hero, but he is definitely better than Argalad who he is obviously has a similar ability to. Argalad is in effect questing with attack, while Ladagorn is using willpower. So you can give him a Silver Circlet and Unexpected Courage to have him be a beast of a quester!

Thorongil is great with MotK! Bilbo can come in for 4 threat and grab a spare pipe for the hitpoints and an attachment. Then either of the hero abilities are great additions!

Pippin with Lore Pippin's ability is great for card draw and ensuring his abilities work.

44 minutes ago, stimpaksam said:

His other version of Aragorn art was better IMO.

Now this would have been better indeed!

29 minutes ago, Felswrath said:

So you can give him a Silver Circlet and Unexpected Courage to have him be a beast of a quester!

Silver Circlet is indeed a perfect fit.

Not to be understated is also the fact that this action is not restricted to the Quest Phase.

1 hour ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

I would rather pay 2 for Celebrian's Stone than pay 3 for this Aragorn's ability + Spirit icon lol

now you can do both in the same deck 😃

It feels more like abandonment than swan song.

I think 'hiatus' is a loaded keyword.

Hiatus: don't reveal our true intentions to Kill off the game quickly and move on to other card games then in a years time release 2nd edition with more streamlined rules and better release model.

3 cost is a high entry point ... it's hard to find cards I would definitely want to use this with. You end up very much wanting to cheat this into play, and there are few ways to do that with an attachment.

Here's a fun thought experiment. Someone else gives you control of their hero temporarily via Desperate Alliance. If that hero is a Messenger of the King 'hero,' you could then attach a hero version to that. So, you could have someone starting the game with MotK Faramir and attach the leadership hero version to that instead. Start the game with MotK Gimli and attach the tactics hero version to him. A way to start the game with the ability that fits your deck best, even if it's the ally version. In some cases, starting with much lower threat. Just a thought.

It's a pity this doesn't allow you to use an ally version of that hero, that would make so many more options available. At first I thought you could, but the last couple of lines on the card make it very clear that the other version needs to be a hero card.

20 minutes ago, GrandSpleen said:

Here's a fun thought experiment. Someone else gives you control of their hero temporarily via Desperate Alliance. If that hero is a Messenger of the King 'hero,' you could then attach a hero version to that. So, you could have someone starting the game with MotK Faramir and attach the leadership hero version to that instead. Start the game with MotK Gimli and attach the tactics hero version to him. A way to start the game with the ability that fits your deck best, even if it's the ally version. In some cases, starting with much lower threat. Just a thought.

I don't exactly understand the Desperate Alliance part...

Anyway yes the Messenger of King - Thorongil many combos seems quite intriguing.

20 minutes ago, GrandSpleen said:

You end up very much wanting to cheat this into play, and there are few ways to do that with an attachment.

Everyone get your Ring of Thror 😄