I got the impression that the hiatus would last a few years ... maybe a return around 2023 or '24.

Good to see more from the game. Never suspected it was dead for good, but didn't expect something so soon. I think they would be more than fine releasing things like this with scenarios and at least something to play with, be it a contract, a hero, or a few player cards.

5 hours ago, asgardianphil said:

So we have this new pack but have we had the hiatus yet and what's with the mysterious announcement on the fate of our game... is that still happening?

I'm not an employee of FFG but if you look on the reddit Lotr forum, there is a recent interview with Caleb where he makes it clear that no one is working on the game and haven't been for a while. There may still be something to come that he completed before he finished, but I think we can assume that this is pretty much it.

7 hours ago, JonG said:

...no one is working on the game and haven't been for a while.

I sure hope that doesn't extend to the department that handles the reprinting.

It's worth noting that they clarified this as being what was supposed to be the gencon scenario this year. Not a new product line, although I would of course love that.

My question is, who is going to organize a remote event?

On 9/23/2020 at 6:14 PM, JusticeLizard said:

My question is, who is going to organize a remote event?

12 player OCTGN games (3 steps of four players) have been played at least three times over the summer. They were streamed and also now available on youtube.

There was a League of Cooperative Gaming Convention hosted over GenCon weekend. The LotR LCG community as a whole played and won every single quest in the game!

2 hours ago, Thanatopsis said:

There was a League of Cooperative Gaming Convention hosted over GenCon weekend. The LotR LCG community as a whole played and won every single quest in the game!

Wow! Is there a writeup or report on that event?

On 9/25/2020 at 3:57 PM, Kjeld said:

Wow! Is there a writeup or report on that event?

Cardboard of the Rings episode 169.5 focuses on the convention. It's 3 hours long, not quite a "summary"

In short,

- A fan made epic (12 player) version of Cobas Haven was played.
- A Discord bot tracked and managed a database so that the community could beat every single normal mode quest.
- A version of CotR / Mythos Busters "After Dark" was held. Mythos Buster had a stream, LotR had online games.
- It actually covered all of FFG's co-op card games. There was a schedule for Marvel, LotR, and Arkham

There's a Con of the Rings "replacement" online convention that's happening this weekend as well.

Apparently HftD comes out in the UK next week (although, considering that the national lockdown finishes mid-week who knows if the pack will actually be out next week)

Yup. Mine arrived today. It’s finally the end of the road. Nothing official to further to add to my collection. Bitter sweet.

Not a fan of the quest, but will try to get it because it has the final player card.

About the new players Ships, in particular the one that allows one Hero to gain another one's traits, would you guys think that a Lothiriel - Treebeard/Skinbark deck to get around some of the ents usual limitations or a Lothiriel/Tactis Imrahil - Gwaihir deck to keep a steady supplies of Eagles be worhty a spin?

My copy arrived today. What surprised me is the high print quality. I was originally a bit worried to have a sub-par quality player card (even if just a contract), but the product appears to use the regular produce print process (or a really good alternative). In a side-by-side comparison with a recent AP card, I only noticed that the font on the HfD cards appears ever so slightly thicker.

Great stuff!

On 12/4/2020 at 10:51 AM, Alonewolf87 said:

About the new players Ships, in particular the one that allows one Hero to gain another one's traits, would you guys think that a Lothiriel - Treebeard/Skinbark deck to get around some of the ents usual limitations or a Lothiriel/Tactis Imrahil - Gwaihir deck to keep a steady supplies of Eagles be worhty a spin?

That’s an awesome idea!

Anyone who would like to try to do this remotely, let me know.

My copy came today. Uk. Lancashire.

Print quality is excellent and is not the print on demand rubbish that they use

Now... this contract.. scratches head

I’m very excited for this contract as the idea of a 100 card deck is quite interesting to me

I think there are a couple questions to the contract that people have asked, but I am not sure questions have been answered:

1) As you are approaching your threat limit, it is possible for a threat event to raise threat above the threat limit. If your threat is near the threat limit and you fail to quest successfully and net threat gain will put you at threat limit + 10 or more (60 or more if threat limit is 50, 55 or more if threat limit is 45 for one ring, etc) does the contract trigger at 50 (effectively stopping the rest of the threat) and then place you at 40 or does all the threat get added first and after the -10 from flipping the contract, you still lose the game because you are at or above the threat limit?

2)Side A says threat can't be reduced from Player card effects. So are we talking all Heroes (like Le Frodo and Galadriel), all Allys, all Attachments, and all Events (like The Shirefolk) can't be used to lower threat? How does the current Setup ruling affect Ta Eowyn since she has Setup threat reduction. I am assuming Folco will still start with lower threat if you play a group of Hobbits.

I would like to try this contract with a low threat group of hobbits.

Got my copy last week and decided to put my thoughts on it in an article. Here you go: https://visionofthepalantir.com/2020/12/20/first-impressions-the-hunt-for-the-dreadnaught/

Overall, I am very pleased with the quest, and feel that it is also quite new-player friendly compared to the other POD stuff. The quality of the cards is a lot better than the other POD products, and the fact that Caleb snuck in a contract at all is worth praise.
I have also played a 13-player game this weekend where we took on the Dreadnaught across 4 tables. For the video of my table, see this replay on the brand new VotP youtube channel: