I understand my greed for ever new previews and news in general but compared to other packs, these have been very few for the Return to Mirkwood. There has been a discussion about a hero, and I hope to see him soon - perhaps Monday? What else do you expect? Also, has the release date been given? It is drawing ever nearer to Chrismas and FFG still have both the final expansion for Shadows of Mirkwood and Khazad-dum to publish before the year is over. At least I understand that is still the plan...

Hero should be Celeborn. I remember he was appear as a spirit hero on gencon 2010. I bet he will be the hero this time.

Is should be release in the beginning of December i suppose. Hope it will be more interesting and challenge then last 2 quests.

Yeah, I must say I was kind of disappointed with the difficulty of the Dead Marshes scenario. I've only played it twice, so perhaps I haven't seen everything the encounter deck can throw out there, but seriously the second game I tried lasted 3 turns... I'm hoping Return to Mirkwood closes it out strong! Then bring on the balrog =P

I don't think we will see a spirit hero.

So far, we have 3 heroes from each sphere from the core set. In addition, we have 2 tactics heroes, 1 spirit hero, 1 lore hero, and 1 leadership hero from the Mirkwood cycle.

I think that we will have a total of 5 heroes from each sphere with the release of the new boxed set. We know at least one of the two new dwarf heroes is a spirit hero. Given the vast number of dwarf allies that we already have in lore, I would be willing to bet that the other dwarf hero from the boxed set will be a lore hero.

If FFg wants to keep a balance between the spheres, that would mean a leadership hero in Return to Mirkwood.

It seems obvious the trend of the sphere heroes for the expansions is: Lore, Spirit, Leadership, Tactics, Tactics, Leadership (Mirkwood) and Spirit and Lore for KD. However who it may be we have had no signs of. Thematicaly I am bound to say Thranduil but...

I hope to see Gwaihir to round up the Eagles. Plus a great Eagle event, I really like Descendent of Thorondor and Vassal of the Windlord but I think the Eagle events are lacking a bit. Maybe I have not played them well or put them in a right deck.

Wonder if Leadership will get yet another signal. Something for Sentinel? Guess not. Ally would be cool. Probably Dunedain, hoping Gondorians will come later.

And a Spirit Rohan ally for sure. Would like to see a cheap one, even though both unique ones are very good.

And I hope for another Elven ally in Lore. Perhaps also someone cheap like Henamarth. Gildor and Haldir are super cool but one cannot have just expensive cards in a Lore deck. It seems that has been the trend. Lore cards being in general more costly than other spheres?

lleimmoen said:

That's when you start threatening the Leadership player in a multi-player game to attach Steward to one of your Lore heroes instead of being selfish and always putting it on theirs.

"Sure, I'll heal ya...but you need to do something for me."

Marlow said:

Funny. Has that happened to you a lot?

It happens to me a lot, I can say. The local leadership players often attach steward of Gondor to their own heroes. later in the game they are complaining how they have nothing worth playing while sitting on a pile of resources. Whilst I am needing every token I can get and having to argue for Theodred to toss me a point every so often.

lleimmoen said:

I rather like the fact that elven allies are strong but quiet expensive. It seemed to fit well with the lore. I think that, top to bottom, Lore has the best allies in the game. Between Henamarth, the Rivendell Minstrel, and the Smith you have three very strong lore allies in the 1-2 cost range.

Bohemond said:

Rivendell Minstrel is 3. But I do agree. I think it is good that unique Elves are costly but I would not mind to see say a 2-cost Elf with something slick like Henamarth. Actually we got 5 Lore allies (one in each expansion), 2 Noldor, 2 Silvan, 1 Dwarf, could be we shall get another Dwarf. And the costs so far have been 3, 3, 4, 5, 3...

I was thinking last night that it is a shame that RtM seems to be overshadowed by KD. I'm excited about KD, but let's see the wrap up on SoM! I believe this is the closest we've been to an expansion release without knowing the hero.

One thing I really hope they do with RtM is make the quest an epic climax to the SoM cycle. I'd love to see it have 5 -6 quest cards and maybe 2 separate encounter decks to give the flavor of a long, arduous return encountering danger through locations, creatures and treachery cards. The ceiling for threat would likely have to be raised - that would be interesting!

For the hero my initial guess is Leadership. I think there will be a balance of the spheres as of KD release and I think the unknown Dwarf is likely Lore. I'm guessing Elf as we've not seen Dwarves or Elves in the expansion and there are two Dwarves on the way in KD. I'll go with Thranduril as the Elf as he fits the theme and would be a good Ldr hero. However, I'm second guessing myself some. I think Thranduril would be a cool objective ally in the RtM encounter deck like the Rangers in MaO. Also, I want to see Dain as a leadership hero in KD, leaving this next one to be lore if the balance theory is correct.

I'd love to see some of the themes show up in new spheres - not as strong but giving some secondary ties. Examples would be some minor healing in Leadership, Threat reduction in lore, Buffs in spirit, etc. Again, not as strong as the primary cards.. And I would love a stud, unique ally for leadership!

Anyway, looking forward to it and KD! 4 new quests in a month or so!

The french editor board revealed the hero will be Dain II and that he will "help other dwarf".

No pictures or else for the moment !

lleimmoen said:

I was mixing up my minstrels. The rohan minstrel is the two cost card.

Shiv@n said:

Oh ! I believe I read somewhere on the same board the neutral card will be an event with Gandalf face on it !

EDIT : I confirm this and I add that it will help with objective cards (get it back from the deck or not losing it... I don't know for now, but it will deal with objective cards)

Shiv@n said:

Hmmm sounds good. Is good idea i think. Actually the neutral cards have a big potential..... I tottaly forget about this......

TheRomance said:

Yes and i must to say i was kind of dissapointed with difficulty level from First Adv pack........ And i dont think The RTM will be really exiting. Look like first cycle is little bit boring and i dont thing the last chapter will change this tendency. I look forward for Khazad-Dum and next cycle.

Dain 2 as a hero??? Yes its ok but im not fan of the Dwarfs at all. I wont some Elf or Eagle heroes. Rivendell should to have lot of Elfs for sure!!!

Glaurung said:

French site has spoiled player cards which I hope everyone's seen by now.

Also spoiled is the difficulty level:

7

The encounter sets are Wilderlands + Spiders of Mirkwood

We are going to die.

Really looking forward to the quest. And really hoping that some day they release an excellent Leadership ally other than Faramir...

Just looked at the spoilers. Good times. Tactics is going to be a wrecking crew. Which indicates that some nasty stuff is coming in Khazad Dum and beyond. We'll be wishing all we had to deal with was Hill Trolls.

Narsil0420 said:

Can anyone tell me why the French site aways seems to spoil the cards before the English? Its just that I can't read French.

silverhand77 said:

You don't need to:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/724229/french-spoiler-list

silverhand77 said:

I heard the translator for the French version is active on the boards and "leaking" (maybe they forgot to let him sign a confidentialy clause?)

Narsil0420 said:

Thanks for the link, some of those cards are awesome!

I'm still not sure why the French site spoils the cards before the English one. When FFG prints the cards, does anyone know if they do all the languages all at once or one at a time?