I'm one of the lucky ones who scored the expansion already. Last night I had a chance to give the first two adventures a spin. So far... very fun!

Ran into a couple of questions though, and I wonder for those who have the set already or have been studying the cards - I need some clarification.

Question 1:

Orc Horn Blower
Orc. Summoner.

Surge.

When Revealed: Reveal 1 card from the encounter deck and add it to the staging area.

My question: does this function basically like Surge 2, or is the When Revealed text just redundant (i.e. explaining the surge mechanic on the card)?

Question 2:

Book of Mazarbul
Item. Artifact.

Restricted.

Action: Exhaust a hero to claim this objective. Then, attach Book of Mazarbul to that hero. (If detached, return Book of Mazarbul to the staging area.)

Attached hero cannot attack and does not exhaust to commit to a quest.

[Text from The Seventh Level 1A reads: Setup: Search the encounter deck for Book of Mazarbul, and have the first player attach it to a hero of his choice. Shuffle the encounter deck.]

[Text from Rules Insert reads: Book of Mazarbul: This scenario uses the Book of Mazarbul objective card. If Book of Mazarbul is detached from a hero, either through a card effect or due to the hero it is attached to leaving play, then it returns to the staging area, and can be claimed by any player who triggers its action. A hero can also exchange to claim Book of Mazarbul even if it is attached to another hero. If Book of Mazarbul is removed from the game, it should be set aside and ignored for the rest of the game.]

My question: During set up, do you need to exhaust the initial hero to whom it is attached? Just going off the cards, it seems a bit unclear. The reading from the rules makes me think you only follow the Action text on the card when you are claiming it from the staging area by a hero after it has been detached at some point or to make an exchange.

Appreciate your thoughts.

About Orc. I think surge 2 is to powerful so they decide to make surge 1 + one more card by when revealed effect. So you can chance to cancelit (Test of will for example)

About book .I think in setup you dont need to tap hero for this but later in the game yes if you want to claim it from the staging area.

Good Questions!

My take is:

Orc Summoner: I see this as essentially Surge 2. However perhaps they left the second card reveal as a "When Revealed" effect because it enables us to cancel the effect if we want to.

Book of Marzabul: I think you're right about this. At the beginning of the turn you get the book without having to exhaust but then if you want to transfer the book or reclaim it after it was lost and moved to the staging area, you have to exhaust. I really like the book's effect, very interesting mechanic. I used it to good effect on Thalin during the one time I've tried The Seventh Level. It also obviously would work great on Dain.

Thanks also for posting this, I didn't realize you could transfer the book, sweet!

While I have ordered the cards, have not received yet. My take on the book would be that you do in fact have to exhaust a hero at the beginning of the game. All when revealed effects that come out during the initial staging take effect, so why wouldn't this as well?

Because the text on the book is an Action:, not a When Revealed:.

Thanks all. Very helpful clarifying discussion.

The way I see it, the Book of Mazarbul's function would still apply to the hero that wishes to claim it, and that they would need to exhaust.

Normally, when there isn't clarification, the conditions associated are checked for direct contradictions, and in this case there aren't any, meaning that we can safely assume that we would need to exhaust a Hero to claim the objective.

If it helps, unless there are clear exceptions to the rule, I go with everything it tells me, so I'd exhaust the Hero.

As for the Horn-blower, I have to agree with the others, it is a Surge x2, but the When Revealed gives you the option to cancel.

Mechanoise said:

Book of Mazarbul: "Action: Exhaust a hero to claim this objective. Then, attach Book of Mazarbul to that hero. (If detached, return Book of Mazarbul to the staging area.)"

Quest Text: "Setup: Search the encounter deck for Book of Mazarbul, and have the first player attach it to a hero of his choice. Shuffle the encounter deck."

Note that the Book of Mazarbul has 2 parts to it's action, exhausting a hero to claim the objective and THEN attaching the book. The quest text says to attach it to a hero, not to exhaust a hero nor to "claim the objective", just to attach it. It also does not specify to use the action on the book.

Svenn's note sounds like it would make sense. The quest card is simply telling you to attach, ignoring the claim part.

Well said, I retract my statement.

We had some (possibly stupid) questions about some card effects... one of the guys in the first quest has an effect like "Shadow: Cancel all damage done to this character" (paraphrasing, dont have the card in front of me). What does that mean? It doesnt say remove all damage already done, does it only apply if the defender is a Gondorian Spearman? There was another card with similar Shadow text, that we didnt quite understand but I can't remember the wording...

Well, the way I see it is that it simply means if the appropriate shadow card is dealt to it, any damage your character would deal it that turn is void. I may be understanding this wrong.

I think it is to cancel all combat damage (that's one) or all damage (that's another). I assume the first one means all damage the enemy already has on it that came from combat. (meaning the combat phase and not say from Thalin or Gandalf). The second is to remove all damage the enemy already has, period. I don't think it can be future damage, because that is a different part of the combat phase.

patrol leader....cancel all damage dealt to this enemy......i would say this means take all damage off, and do not deal any further damage for the attack that has just been resolved

lightless passage....... cancel all combat damage dealt to the attacking enemy.... i would say this one you just take off combat damge as was stated above.....

these are quite ambiguous terms though

"Shadow: Cancel all damage dealt to this enemy." to me sounds like this guy becomes immune to damage for that combat. It doesn't matter how many guys smack this dude this round, the shadow effect states to cancel that damage (besides shadow cards stay in play until the end of combat). Any damage dealt to him before the shadow card is revealed should not be affected in any way (Gondorion Spearmen or Thalin's response from questing effect for example). That's my take on it.

Soullos: good catch. I tend to forget that shadow cards remain the whole time, not just during their stage of battle. That seems to make more sense, that you are canceling damage he would be dealt during this rounds combat phase.

"Cancel all damage" would mean to void any damage as it happens. It doesn't mean to take off damage that was there previously.

7th level ?: goblin archer in staging. Forced effect says, "after an enemy is revealed from the encounter deck, the first player must deal 1 damage to a character he controls.". During combat, my enemy drew as a shadow effect, a goblin swordsman. That is a shadow card...and he goes into staging, but does it count for triggering the forced effect on the archer? I say no as it is not revealed as a normal card, but a shadow that goes into staging.

Zjb12 said:

I would agree with you. The card was revealed as a shadow card, not from the encounter deck, so I would say the Goblin Archer doesn't trigger.

Ok, another one, zigil mineshaft, 5 threat. Let's say it comes out during questing---I exhaust cave torch, check to see if an enemy, then put 3 progress tokens on the mineshaft. Since it says to raise your threat by 1 to put one progress token on zigil mineshaft, am I safe to assume that I can raise my threat by 2 to put 2 tokens on it? Or if I didn't have the torch available, I could raise my threat as much as five to put all five tokens on it?

I don't see why not - Zigil Mineshaft's text is an Action:, so you could take that action whenever actions are generally allowed.

Some questions about Flight from Moria:

Abandoned Tools can enter the staging area through the quest card Narrow Paths (side 2B states: "After placing the first progress token on Narrow Paths, search the encounter deck and discard pile for Abandoned Tools and add it to the staging area, if able.") In this case, does Abandoned Tools enter guarded or unguarded? Also, what do the words "if able" apply to? Is there any case other than Abandoned Tools already being in the staging area where one would not be able to add them?

Why does The Nameless Fear have hit points? How could one possibly put any damage on it? For that matter, why does it have attack points and shield points if it cannot engage or be engaged? I think there must be something I am missing here. Or is it just that this card will function differently in future quests?

Nenya said:

Does it say if it is guarded? If not, then probably it is not guarded. If able, probably refers to whether it is already out or out of play.

Into the pit question on part 2b and the torch. (don't have the cards in front of me right now.). Quest 2b has a forced effect saying any enemies that come out of the encounter deck are discarded. The torch if is exhausted and still being used at this time says any enemies pulled through its forced action are put in the staging area. Which trumps which? I assume the quest card trumps the torch card. And that's how we've been playing it? Thoughts???

Zjb12 said:

good question...i would say the quest card always trumps, but id wait for other opinions on this one