yeah….first time for a while ive been first to it…..(im sad i know)

looks like some interesting theme aspects

thoughts?

no hero preview though…..

just like to say congrats to caleb and the team for making a really intriguing quest line (at least it looks it)

PS - ive been trying to edit this post for about 15 minutes now….**** forum being slow again…anyways what i was wanting add was given the storyline on the rules sheet and the title i think its clear the hero is denethor

pps. is there something wrong with the forum….its the worst its been for a long time, about 50 minutes for it to start loading, and its still not right…….

I was a bit sad we had no Player Card spoiler, but the mechanics seem awsome…as for the hero…I have to agree with you, I've always thought it was Faramir but everything in this article says "Denethor"…who knows…XD

I was actually worried after reading the preview that Denethor might not be the new hero, felt like he was more like non-playable character.

But yeah, I hope it's Denethor.
I'm ready for Denethor/Boromir/Imrahil Gondor Mono leadership deck.

i predict (and im sure someone else has already suggested this) that he will give a dain-like all gondor buff. theoden gives +1 willpower, dain gives +1 willpwoer, so i think he will give +1 willpower, but given his vulnerability, he will be weak in willpower himself.

i think perhaps

threat 10

willpower -1

attack - 1

defense - 2

hit point 5

will denethor is ready all gondor characters get +1 willpower

action: exhaust denethor to move 1 ally card from your discard pile to your hand

something like that

richsabre said:

Would they change all of his stats though? I can't remember but with second versions (at least with Aragorn and Glorfindel) had mostly the same stats (but different threat).

well i suppose he could easily have lore denethor's stats and the ability. i cant see him having much else, i mean he was no warrior when it came to the war of the ring, his willpower was debatable….so i guess his defense should be high (more from a bodyguard than anything else)….perhaps he gets a personal defense buff when at least 1 gondor character is in play?

This one look interesting mechanic but sound very easy as a quest. Kind of Hunt for Gollum or Hills of Emyn Muil. Just long walking around a city and look for some clue……….Sounds a but boring……hope i wrong…..

Glaurung said:

after HoN quests we are due one for players who like it a bit easier and enjoy the theme. i consider myself a good player but i still cant win all of the numenor quests. (though i admit i havnt made decks specifically for it which ive heard you really must)

personally i want a few more quests which i will have a 50% + win rate…the sound of taking a leisurely stroll round minas tirith appeals to me

Yeah 50% win rate would be good. I think they should start out with a more easy quest. I hope the hero is not a Denethor. I'd rather have somebody way differant. Can't wait!

hahaha nice new picture Rich! but it just doesnt seem like you! Now every time I see you I'm so confused from you always having the Gandalf picture and now HUGE smiley! I'm like "who's that?" Nice going for changing it all up and making me all confused now

Khamul

richsabre said:

richsabre said:

we play nightmre cards core sets cards now. Really hard think!. So after this go back to easy level no way! But we already discuss this case many times…..

Someone want more easy, someone more challenge. still we need system when every quest can be rank up by the players (like in video games). Then will be ok. And please new ones dont try to say just revealed one more card (most of the time is brake a game and make it impossible).

I think most interesting quests in new cycle is Osgiliath( this one sounds great and challenge) Morgul vale and Blood of Gondor. Others look less interesting… I hate a feeling when you buy new pack and win from the first attempt without any problems. What a point of interesting mechanic if there is no challenge? But still is the best cycle for now and at least 3 quests is challenge there as i mention above!

pretty bummed that there was no hero preview…was reallllly looking forward to a reveal that would tide me over until the pack's release. that being said, it looks like FFG has made a really cool and original quest despite it's pedestrian appearance. cannnnnot wait. the time between when it is avaliable and when it arrives via mail will be tortuous

richsabre said:

Oh boy would I love to argue this.

Denethor had great Will Power that none of Sauron's underlings (including Black Numenoreans and Nazguls) would've been able to influence Denethor through Palantir. In fact, even when Sauron himself tried to 'mind control' Denethor, he was unable to penetrate through Denethor's mental strength and most he could do was show vague illusions from time to time (which proved enough).

Denethor wore ringmail under his shirt any given time so his body won't go out of shape, so it is not unreasonable to assume he was once a great captain of Gondorian army in his youth and still maintains some of that physical prowness.

I mean, even his arch-enemy (or whom he regarded as his political arch-enemy) Gandalf admitted that somehow blood of Numenor ran true and strong in Denethor's veins, so Denethor couldn't have been cowering weakling sitting in chair all day eating tomatoes while his son leads suicide charge (a single line of cavalry against batallion of Orcs. Great tactics btw).

Having said that, I was hoping for Leadership Denethor with 1/1/3/3 stats to maintain starting threat of 8 to counter rather costly starting threat of Boromir and Imrahil. And have something like 'response: When you raise your threat as result of card effect, spend 1 resource from Denethor to reduce your threat by 1' or 'response: When you raise your threat as result of card effect, place X damage tokens on Denethor to reduce your threat by X, X cannot be higher than threat you would have gained from the card effect'. That way Denethor can hold back the 'threat' of Mordor as long as he can by either using any means he have (resource) or sacrificing his mentality (damage tokens) and it would somewhat make sense to use the Palantir card along with him.

Edit:
@Glaurung
I think you are correct to assume Steward's Fear won't be the 'challenging' scenario you are looking for.
It is the beginning of a Cycle and I expect somewhat similar difficulty to Hunt for Gollum or Redhorn Gate in respect to card pool we had when they were released (which wasn't mind-blowingly difficult).
As you suggested, the only way (or the only way I can see) FFG can satisfy both end of players (extremist such as yourself and casual players) is to make nightmare decks for each Cycle / Delux Expansions.

In regards to difficulty, the rulesheet rates it at a 5. Then again, those ratings are a crapshoot. I found Peril in Pelargir way easier than Into Ithilien.

I agree about Denethor being portrayed terribly in the film, Ellareth. I actually do like the films very much, and I find some of the characters done just as well as they are in the books, or even better at times (Boromir, for instance). Whilst I am not very happy about Samwise, the one I think has been done awfully (and not because of the acting which is fine) is Denethor. There was nothing in the books suggesting Denethor just became mad and would everything to kill his son and let Minas Tirith destroyed. He was a great character.

As for the game, I think the stats remain the same. The only time the stats change between heroes is in case of Beorn, which is reasonable. Denethor shall keep his 1/1/3 + 3 and probably even the threat cost of 8. It will surprise me a bit if he is Leadership though, as we got Boromir last being Leadership too.

@khamul - haha it was good wasnt it? my partner saw it and made me have it on through night to see if anyone recognised me…pleased to be back to my old grey self

@ellareth….easy there friend, wasnt trying to say he was a weak 'filmy' guy- you know what i think of them ….though i can see how you would read it that way…i admit i was forgetting some of the things (its been a while since i read the return)

however….i was pointing out that he wasnt a warrior at the time of the war of the ring….by that i mean he wasnt like theoden for isntance, leading charges against the morder forces…he was more a tactician (though not tactics as in the sphere tactics)

… and the willpower thing….again, i agree he withstood the palantir for a long time and i should have gave him credit for that in my post…he of course used it to his advantage, but you have to agree in the end the biased images sauron sent to him did drive him to his death.

whos to say that another in his place would have fared better in the long run? probably not, unless it was the likes of aragorn …i havnt read the return of the king as much as the fellowship, but i do remember the battle between aragorn and sauron through the palantir

still, i think that in the end, my main point resides on the fact that given the likes of frodo and aragorn have 2 willpower, and i personally see them far more powerful in will than denethor, that he should have 1 willpower only.

rich

PS. its probably worth noting that its fair to mention denethor hardly had it easy as a ruler. i think it was certainly a case of wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time…seeing your kingdom fall to ruins and the death of your eldest son was probably enough to drive anyone to madness. but i still hold by my opinion on his willpower

rich

Ana said:

We read different books.

Unless I missed this in the spoiler, does anyone thing this quest will be a battle or siege quest like the HoN quests mostly were?

I can see this quest just using standard questing if only because the later adventure packs seem much more epic and "battle" oriented in scale. Still would be surprised if it included the battle/siege elements just cause that's a big focus of this cycle.

thoughts?

Pharmboys2013 said:

For me it seems like Peril in Pelargir… So i see it as having some battle…

Pharmboys2013 said:

FFG makes two comments related to this that I find interesting:

"Can you muster enough Willpower to quest successfully each turn"

So there will be some "traditional" willpower questing

"Their effects vary greatly, too, so a strategy that may prove successful against one combination of Villain and Plot may suffer against the one you reveal"

I can easily see some combination of plot and villain changing the quest mechanics.

I can almost see it as being the opposite of PiP where we would need to quest thru the first few stages and wind up in a battle in the end rather than starting with a battle and feeling with alcaron's scroll at the end (via regular questing)

Thanatopsis said:

maybe if a villain is revealed it changes to a battle to represent the challenge to overcome the adversary, but maybe that's thinking too much into it