I checked online and see that FFG has a booth set up at the NY Toy Fair, which starts today. A friend of mine is working there for a different company and he usually doesn't get the chance to leave the booth to look around. (He's actually told me that some companies don't want employees from other booths stopping by because they think they are scouting for ideas to "borrow".) I did call him earlier and asked him to try to take a look by the FFG booth to see if there is any news if he can get away from the booth. I've attended in the past, but can't get there this year...

Anyone else on the boards attending Toy Fair? Any news from there?

Any official announcements coming from FFG at the Toy Fair?

I've been scouring the internet for this, and all I can find is that they are, in fact, there.

I heard back from my buddy, and he knows FFG was there, but he never got out of his booth to check it out for me. Anyone hear anything? Does anyone from FFG want to let us know how things were?

I'm very curious as well because the official FFG twitter account a couple days ago tweeted something like "2 more days of FFG at NY Toy Fair, booth 6170. Stop by and see Star Wars, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones, etc."

So yeah, there's a chance of some info, though it could just be info on the X-wing game.

Here's a link to some pics from the Toy Fair. No news, but some images. I don't remember who was creating the game, but there are two names on the box....are these the same guys or has the creative team changed?

http://rebelscum.com/2012TF/FantasyFlight/

This sucks in those pics it says 2 players. I'm out if this holds.... might as well look at getting into LOTR

That's the same cover that they've always been promoting. And LOTR is also 1-2 on the box (to play with 3-4 they want you to get another copy for the extra threat trackers).

Grudunza said:

Here is the box they had from last year's GenCon. It says A Card Game of Galactic Conflict for 1-4 Players*

So now its only a 2 player game?? Not impressed.

I didn't catch that it says "2 players" and not "1-2." So I guess it's PvP now. Bummer.

Holy cow! What a bummer! I'll still probably comment on these forums and keep touch with the community here, but I don't foresee myself purchasing this now. Not unless a miracle happens and my twin and I move to the same city . . . which is unlikely since we're both just starting Ph.D. programs.

This is getting old. It's Star Wars: The Old Republic all over again. I was on the forums from the very beginning, but by time it came out, I wasn't in a position where I could play it. Now I've spent the past six months thinking about this game and it's turning out to be totally different.

At least the Lord of the Rings LCG is really good, so I'll just continue to play that I guess, if this sucks. I just don't foresee this holding my interest like a co-op version would have.

There's just soo many pvp card games out there already, including like four Star Wars ones. And there's just almost no way this can be as good as Decipher's old game.

*shrug*

Mattr0polis said:

Whoomp. There it is.

It could be that it means 2 player out of the box and that if you were to add a second core set it could be 4 player? I hope.

And co-op or pvp, multi player would be preferable for the majority of players I think.

I've just taken a look at the Lord of the rings LCG page and that one also says 1-2 players and in brackets on the description then says 'up to 4 players with 2 core sets. This gives me hope for the multiplayer.

I get the impression it's going to be more like Warhammer than LotR. No real reason for that, just based on a lot of assumptions. I mean, if they stick to the idea of the four zones that you can play characters into (ship, operations, whatever they were) it sounds more like you'll have a capital board in front of you, and you'll be going against your opponent with the same setup. I suppose you could play it multiplayer, as Warhammer seems possibly capable of being played, but I get the impression that "officially" it'll remain 1 vs 1.

My thoughts keep coming back to the update announcement, though. A "groundbreaking" game experience, with just 1 vs 1? Even with multiplayer, this wouldn't be groundbreaking, as AGoT has that built in. They're either lying, don't understand what "groundbreaking" means, or have something completely awesome up their sleeve that will make people around the world collectively faint when they announce the mechanics...

spirit said:

The difference is that the LOTR box says "1-2 players," and the SW box now says "2 players." All of the other PvP LCG games say "2 players."

It's funny, in a sad kinda way. I picked-up the LotR:LCG core set recently so that I could get aquainted with cooperative game play, primarily because I was looking forward to this game. LotR has really grown on me, and now it seems that I will stick with it and probably avoid Star Wars. It's funny how things work out.

FFG probably doesn't care one way or the other; they are getting my $ in either case.

Pericles said:

Ditto! That's exactly what happened to me too.

Budgernaut said:

And me! Though I kinda went overboard and also got into AGoT and Warhammer, so they're probably rubbing their hands with glee at me...

Similar story here - when it was announced that FFG had got the Star Wars license, I bought Battlestar Galactica to see what the company was all about. Then, I bought my son Talisman for Xmas based on how impressed I was with BSG.

I've sort of been looking at LotR, but the introductory videos here on the site make it look sort of... boring. Not so?

I don't think so, no! I think the major drawback people have been griping about is the fact that, once you've played one of the quests, you know what cards are going to come up and so can tailor your deck to beat it, because that game will never change. But I win and I lose, and I enjoy it immensely either way. Knowing what cards you're going to come up against is no different to knowing what's available to your opponent in his chosen card pool, in my book. You can put cards in your deck to counter the beasties of Return to Mirkwood in the same way you can counter Baratheon power-rush, or whatever.

I suppose the big put-off for people could be boiled down to them not being able to gloat over an AI...

I don't think LotR is boring (which is why I bought all the Adventure Packs to Shadows of Mirkwood last week). It's especially fun to play with multiple people, but it can be complicated, so most of the time I play by myself. I think it's still a really rewarding solo play experience. I think if they had reskinned it as Star Wars, you would have LOVED it, I.J. Thompson. But I think that if the setting doesn't interest you, it can be hard to get into a game. I just finished reading the LotR trilogy for the first time in December and that had a lot to do with me getting fired up about this game.

Budgernaut said:

Good man! A very sound investment, there! Have they been delivered, yet?

The point about theme is a very valid one. The LotR game is dripping in theme, it's almost unbearable. But in a good way, I hasten to add. I would heartily recommend the game to anyone who stood still long enough, but you won't get half as much enjoyment out of it if you don't like the theme than if you do. That said, I wouldn't call myself a Tolkien fan, and I go nuts over the LotR LCG! I'm either in denial, or there are Tolkien fans playing this game having minor heart attacks with every card draw because they're enjoying it so much...