its poll time again…..this time whats you wish list for the next cycle? here are the options ive come up with, any others will be added and updated

A-The Shire

B- Breeland/ Cardolan

C- Northern Arnor/ Evendim

D- Ered Luin

E- Grey Havens

F- Rohan/Isengard

G- Lothlorien

H- Mordor/ Brown Lands

I- Iron Hills

J- Erebor/Lake Town

K- Rivendell/Trollshaws/ Lonelands

L - Rhun

M- Harad

N- Angmar/ Northern Misty Mountains

O- Ice Bay of Forochel

P- outside of LOTR timeline- ie Numenor/First age locations

OTHERS (will be added in order of getting them)

THANKS FOR VOTING

A- 4

B-2

C-1

D-

E-

F- 4

G-1

H-

I-

J-

K-

L-1

M-4

N-1

O-1

P-

Mine is A the shire

hmm… interesting post. I'd have to go for Harad. I reckon there's good scope for a lot of creativity without breaking the lore too much.

i agree on that….plenty of options

thanks

I'd really like B or N (my LOTRO character is a Breeman; I also think we need some snow cards, although I don't have KD or any of DD yet), but I'd bet we see A and F first (since they are the major LotR locations still unrepresented, once AtS comes out). If your Hobbit heroes in AtS hypothesis is right, Rich, I'd even say that would add more support to the Shire for next cycle (although I'm unsure why, as the DD heroes are fairly unrepresentative of Gondor, with the possible exception of Lore Aragorn). With B perhaps we'd get some Barrow Downs quests (or with A, I suppose).

N could get us lots of Snow, Orcs, and Black Numenoreans (if we go back in time). In fact we could have an Angmar/Forochel cycle that was in the Second Age (but we'd need a new Witch-King card right?).

F would be cool, we could have some Ents, Huorns (at least they made it into the extended cut), Saruman, hopefully a Theoden, probably a Grima, ERKENBRAND!!!, Eomer, maybe even going back Helm Hammerhand, Eorl, Thengel (so many options!). Maybe FFG will hold on a lot of the later characters for the Saga (if there is one), certainly we'll get a new Eowyn with the saga (maybe just an ally?). A cool quest (granted for a Saga Exp.) would be the "exorcism" of Theoden, much more drawn out in the book than in the movie, where one would have to find the different events/objects (hearken, rise up, gaze over the lands, grasp a sword hilt, etc.) in the encounter deck, although this might prove difficult as there were no enemies (ok maybe you could have guards and wormtongue, or a treachery "reach of saruman" or something like that). just an idea.

At any rate, for the purposes of this poll though I'm going to say that I'd really like to see B (Bree), although A is a close second (and darn I want some more horse-lords too!!!)

so many good options isnt there? thanks for voting

rich

richsabre said:

Yep, many, many, and we should be happy b/c then there is no excuse to end the game (unless people tire of it and sales fall off)

John85 said:

i can say with certainty ill buy this game until it dies…..which i hope is many years away, and i shall keep playing it long after

richsabre said:

And that's why I'm sleeving now, so the cards will stay in good condition for a long time (esp. with small children running around). I want to have them to play once the small children are bigger and wanting to play instead of accidentally damaging cards. That being said, as you noted rich, sleeves are expensive. That last "to sleeve or not to sleeve thread got me considering a limited sleeve arrangement (current payer decks, all heroes, all quests, all encounters, popular cards) to save a little coin.

Forochel or Angmar…. let's say Forochel.

Mine is the Shire too. But I would like that cycle to cover the area around as well, perhaps the whole Eriador cycle; after all there are NINE quests to be included.

To stretch to answer further, sorry Richard, the next faction (after Gondor that is) that I would like to see developed is Silvan.

@ John- thats a good point- im hoping that there will be cards on the secondary market for a long time to come, incase any get lost/damaged etc

@benhanses- thanks for voting

@lleimmoen- thanks for voting- as for the factions, thats an interesting point in itself as often there seems no or little relation between cycle and faction, so id be interesting in knowing how/why ffg chose the races they do. i agree though- silvan needs it

rich

Great idea this poll, rich. About my vote, although I would love ALL middle earth covered by this wonderful game, I think that a great place to visit after Gondor could be the lost realm of Cardolan (your B option).

And I say so thinking in the multiple options we can get in these lands. For example, I would think something as the following:

1- Bandits arount the Gwathló.

Our fellowship could get to Minhiriath (the southern part of Cardolan) by sea with a message to Bree, and on arriving there, they are warned about lots of dunlendings bandits from Dunland and Enedwaith, plaguing the remnants of Cardolani people that live around the mouths of the Gwathló. Here we can get some new foes as the Dunlendings.

2- Ruins of Tharbad

Going up the river in a boat, they finally reach the ruins of Tharbad, and in this journey they can get some nasty river treacheries and locations in tharbad.

3- Spies within Bree

Finally reaching Bree, we can have here some hobbit interaction, and some quest of helping the Rangers uncovering dark spies within the city (maybe Saruman's agents that can lead lately to Isengard).

4- The Barrow Downs

The pursuit of Saruman's agents lead our heros to the Old Forest, and lately to the Barrow Downs, where we have the undead as new foes.

5- Retreat to Amon Sûl

Having to fight their way out of the Barrow Downs, our heros retreat to Weathertop, having to fight back the hordes of undead.

6- The Gap of Rohan

Free of the undead, our heros address south following the lead of the agents found in Bree. Here they could meet the Half-orcs of the White Hand along with the Dunlendings again due to travel across their lands.

And this could lead to a new cycle in Rohan.

What do you think?

I would also really like to see Harad explored a bit more. It's been a long time since I last read any of Tolkein's books, but it would be nice to see that area fleshed out, although I'm not sure what the coinciding faction would be developed there (Gondor, which is already coming?). And more Silvan faction would be cool; definitely some of my favourite cards so far are Silvan.

@robert- that sounds fantastic- great ideas for the cyle….id be happy if we got something along those lines

@monkeyrama- thats an interesting point on the faction, i suppose it could be random, but that would feel a bit dissapointing….perhaps some of the southern factions of gondor?

thanks both for voting

rich

EDIT - **** it, I forgot about the Deluxe expansion. Mmmm… it should be Bree, and re-arrange from there.

As I said before, the foes for this cycle could be the Dunlendings and the undead from the Barrow Downs.

And the player cards, we can get the Dúnedain and the Hobbits mainly.

Greetings

Robert McMutton said:

dont forget about old man willow!!!

richsabre said:

I wouldn't dare .

I think I should plan it like the following:

Deluxe: Bree (Spies within Bree and two more quest… maybe one of them a journey to buckland of hobbiton)

1- The Old Forest (with Old man willow, of course. old forest treacheries and locations)

2- The Barrow Downs (lots of undead)

3- Retreat to Amon Sûl (some evil undead again)

4- Ruins of Tharbad (dunlending bandits, river treacheries, and ruins locations)

5- Bandits arount the Gwathló (dunlending bandits)

6- The Gap of Rohan (half orcs and dunlendings)

Robert McMutton said:

i think the art for that cycle would be amazing…..imagine seeing breetown or weathertop in all its glory…..and the old forest has always been a favourite place in middle earth

richsabre said:

Oh, I'm just thinking in all those (possible) surely great artworks, and I am delighted

F - I love Rohan, but I can't really justify using them in any of the quests so far, thematically. I'd love direct a band of Riders through a quest to protect the Mark from Dunland and the hordes of Isengard.

Bryon said:

yeah, rohan desperatly needs more tactics- theyre cavalry for crying out loud!! so yes, im looking forward to rohan

rich

richsabre said:

I've thought this since I started opening the SoM APs. Also on a side topic, I wish FFG would add a like button or thumb button for posts. so often I just want to click a thumb for a +1 or something (like here).

John85 said:

never thought of that- yeah it would be a good idea…….id also like (and have suggested this from the start) a post counter (which has gone) and poster levels….like

1-50 posts - young hobbit

50-250- hobbit tween

250-500- respectable hobbit

500-1000-hobbit mayor

2000- hobbit thain

im annoyed they got rid of the post counter as i was 1000 + around christmas last year….so it would be cool to see how many i have now

things like that

what about a Cavalry Charge mechanic?

Cavalry Charge

if you control at least 5 mounted characters (see below) then all mounted characters gain

"exhaust as many mounted characters as you wish to declare them attackers against 1 enemy- that enemy does not count its defence

the mounted keyword is different from current horse traits as it specifies the cavalry from the standard riders

the idea is to show the devastating effect of a cavalry charge…..it may sound overkill doing this to one enemy but im thinking more along the lines of taking down a mumak or a similar heavily armoured foe…..i also think mounted characters should have modest stats OR have something that says mounted characters gain -1 attack unless you control 5 mounted characters

i also think there should be a risk to this like 'un-horsed' mechanic….where everytime you perform a charge you discard the top of the enounter deck and if its a treachery all attackers get 1 damage

also it would be cool to see some pikemen to counter act the cavalry charge where if you are engaged with a pike enemy, charges cant be performed

also an archer enemy that targets mounted character horses….not sure how that would work, but perhaps if the horse gets it, then they can join charges, get 2 damage and -1 all stats

the problem with all of this is that a different mounted mechanic stops the likes of theoden and dunhere and so on from carrying these out, and bit un-themeatic if you ask me…..

maybe you could have cavalry attatchments which give characters the trait????