What I said up there.....
Holy Crap, they already did it......We have got a new Aragorn.
I'm into it. I wanted a more Strider-like Aragorn anyway. Makes me wonder what other heroes/allies they may give this treatment to. His ability is incredible.
Hello, my name is Aragorn. I wear a sword and a jewel my girlfriend gave to me. I have 5 Willpower and can play lore, spirit and leadership cards.
At first glance, I don't think that his ability is that useful to maintain secrecy in a secrecy deck, since his starting threat is 12. The lowest that you can start with him in a two hero deck is 19, only two rounds shy of 20. On the other hand, in those games (using three hero decks) when you are closely ticking torwards 50, a reset to your original threat seems like a invaluable lifesaver. Still don't know how much useful he might be without also playing the broken sword attachment. Then he becomes a monster quester. This attachment might be even worth playing on the Leadership Aragorn even if he already is leadership anyways.
well im not sure what to think- that artwork is stunning though
Funny how the featured Secrecy deck in the article calls for 3 Celebrian's Stones. I see it as FFG's "subtle" push for us to buy three Core sets. Really? Aren't there plenty of cards available to build decent Secrecy decks?
juanma99 said:
At first glance, I don't think that his ability is that useful to maintain secrecy in a secrecy deck, since his starting threat is 12. The lowest that you can start with him in a two hero deck is 19, only two rounds shy of 20. On the other hand, in those games (using three hero decks) when you are closely ticking torwards 50, a reset to your original threat seems like a invaluable lifesaver. Still don't know how much useful he might be without also playing the broken sword attachment. Then he becomes a monster quester. This attachment might be even worth playing on the Leadership Aragorn even if he already is leadership anyways.
juanma99 said:
At first glance, I don't think that his ability is that useful to maintain secrecy in a secrecy deck, since his starting threat is 12. The lowest that you can start with him in a two hero deck is 19, only two rounds shy of 20. On the other hand, in those games (using three hero decks) when you are closely ticking torwards 50, a reset to your original threat seems like a invaluable lifesaver. Still don't know how much useful he might be without also playing the broken sword attachment. Then he becomes a monster quester. This attachment might be even worth playing on the Leadership Aragorn even if he already is leadership anyways.
It may not give you much time for secrecy, but it will give you secrecy when you know that you need it the most. Say you have a hand full of secrecy cards but your threat is above twenty: pop Strider's ability and then go to town with all of those cards (some of which may lower your threat even more, keeping you well below twenty).
I really love the card art on "Strider", much more than the Aragorn that was released in the core set... (something about his face I think)
No, you need to buy more core sets! 
Seriously though, I am down with the new preview.
Nobody crying power creep and broken yet, weird.
Anyway, might be time to retire Glorfindel from my Lore/Leadership deck with Gloin and Denethor, throw in Strider + Blade (and Stone), then toss out Aragorn from Leadership/Tactics and put Imrahil in there. But where to put Glorfindel 
? Only deck with Lore left is Beravor/Eleanor/Eowyn and, well, can't toss out Beravor I don't think. And not enough leftovers for Leftover #2 deck.
Dam said:
Nobody crying power creep and broken yet, weird.
Anyway, might be time to retire Glorfindel from my Lore/Leadership deck with Gloin and Denethor, throw in Strider + Blade (and Stone), then toss out Aragorn from Leadership/Tactics and put Imrahil in there. But where to put Glorfindel ? Only deck with Lore left is Beravor/Eleanor/Eowyn and, well, can't toss out Beravor I don't think. And not enough leftovers for Leftover #2 deck.
no but i thought it
Yeah, the artist redeemed himself....I didn't like the Bilbo or Gimli art.
loved the whole lot of them.....awesome stufff
muemakan said:
Yeah, the artist redeemed himself....I didn't like the Bilbo art.
You mean Middle-Earth's version of a "creepy" uncle who comes into your room in the middle of the night 
?
Khaden said:
juanma99 said:
At first glance, I don't think that his ability is that useful to maintain secrecy in a secrecy deck, since his starting threat is 12. The lowest that you can start with him in a two hero deck is 19, only two rounds shy of 20. On the other hand, in those games (using three hero decks) when you are closely ticking torwards 50, a reset to your original threat seems like a invaluable lifesaver. Still don't know how much useful he might be without also playing the broken sword attachment. Then he becomes a monster quester. This attachment might be even worth playing on the Leadership Aragorn even if he already is leadership anyways.
juanma99 said:
At first glance, I don't think that his ability is that useful to maintain secrecy in a secrecy deck, since his starting threat is 12. The lowest that you can start with him in a two hero deck is 19, only two rounds shy of 20. On the other hand, in those games (using three hero decks) when you are closely ticking torwards 50, a reset to your original threat seems like a invaluable lifesaver. Still don't know how much useful he might be without also playing the broken sword attachment. Then he becomes a monster quester. This attachment might be even worth playing on the Leadership Aragorn even if he already is leadership anyways.
It may not give you much time for secrecy, but it will give you secrecy when you know that you need it the most. Say you have a hand full of secrecy cards but your threat is above twenty: pop Strider's ability and then go to town with all of those cards (some of which may lower your threat even more, keeping you well below twenty).
I really love the card art on "Strider", much more than the Aragorn that was released in the core set... (something about his face I think)
Khaden said:
It may not give you much time for secrecy, but it will give you secrecy when you know that you need it the most. Say you have a hand full of secrecy cards but your threat is above twenty: pop Strider's ability and then go to town with all of those cards (some of which may lower your threat even more, keeping you well below twenty).
Excellent point, however, when you play Secrecy you need the allies out fast (via Timely Aid preferably) or you are going to get bogged down by the threat accumulation in the staging area. Without allies to quest (or optionally engaging enemies) you are quickly out of Secrecy AND with a resource disadvantage on top of that. You need those secrecy cards in your hand in the starting hand or very early in the game. Most games that I have played using Secrecy are won or lost in the first few turns...
"I really love the card art on "Strider", much more than the Aragorn that was released in the core set... (something about his face I think)"
I hear you, it's the wax museum look!
Interesting hero choice. OK, got to get this preordered, how about a little help with release (rather than soon)
Really...it is already hard enough for 4 players not to complain about hero selection but adding a new lore Aragorn is going to push my group over the fence on this one. They couldn't think of any new heroes to add for Lore. They could have made a custom hero with the same stats and abilities. Sadly I think in order to keep my group playing we will have to house rule it that both Aragorns can be in play under two different players.
Personally I like this game but my group is getting less and less interested with all these new Ambush, Lost, and insta-lose treachery cards. I hope once they get through this cycle they will stop adding new rules for each AP and get back to the basics. I'm all for new Enemy keywords but not a new one every AP.
I'm disappointed that by the end of the second year of this game we'll already have two Aragorns and two Bilbos. At this rate, I'll bet ya that Frodo's gonna get another version before the years' out. And why is he still a threat of 12? The reason I don't use Aragorn very much is because his threat is so high. I'm not gonna be any more likely to play this one than the last one since his stats are identical.
One thing's for sure, though: This one could be a game-changer for competitions.
While I'm horribly disappointed in FFG by re-releasing a hero already with the plethora of available characters that haven't had an adaptation yet, I think Lore Aragorn looks really interesting, and the Sword that was Broken pretty much makes up for it in my book. I've never been happier to already use Aragorn in my deck!
Hopefully this doesn't start a trend though. =(
I really like new Aragorn, the art and the rules. 
it had to be Strider. and i think that it is good that we get different versions of the same heroes instead of armies of new ones (same goes to new Bilbo). it gives those important characters an extra depth.
very excited about the watcher in the water AP. Game is getting better and better for me and my groups style of gaming
Chris51261 said:
Hopefully this doesn't start a trend though. =(
gotta be perfectly honest here and say that that's two pieces of news back to back ive havnt been impressed with
though i seem to still be alone on th hobbit expansion
All right, that looks interesting. I hoped for a hobbit, but I guess I can life with that. A shame that Aragorn can't be partnered with a dwarf (only Bifur, but that's be a waste). Théodred looks like a good partner choice indee, the other ones being Frodo or Dunhere.
Next hero should be spirit, right? I cross my finders for a cheap (6-7 threat) hobbit. Pippin? Or a spirit elf?
the next hero will be
aragorn elessar
threat 15
willpower 5
attack 4
defense 4
hitpoints 5
action: exhaust aragorn elessar to win game (limit once per game)
now thats powercreep
sorry aweful joke but its late
richsabre said:
the next hero will be
aragorn elessar
threat 15
willpower 5
attack 4
defense 4
hitpoints 5
action: exhaust aragorn elessar to win game (limit once per game)
now thats powercreep
sorry aweful joke but its late
Actually it's, "Draw 14 player cards and exhaust Aragorn to reveal the finall quest stage. Then place 37 progress tokens on it."
i was being serious thats just plain silly 