title says it all…………..the silver boon cards are amazing

rich

This is easily the product I most want to get my hands on once it's released. For some reason the saga expansions have by far the best art in all the game. This looks amazing.

agreed. it is strange, before saga packs were released, whenever someone said 'what would you think of packs based on the books' i thought that they would not be as exciting as it would take away the fun of an 'unknown' adventure

….however, the designers have done a wonderful job of bringing tolkien's creation (and my obsession) to life

the boons and burdens are genius. i shall be counting the days until this is out. so yes, this is also the pack i am most looking forward to!

rich

PS- who's for gildor in top 3 best art?

Yes i love it too. I dont like Hobbit saga to be fair but this BR looks cool! Since they Nightmare mode from the rule book was completely mess they create a new compaigh mode. I thing is really good idea and hope it will be more interesting then nighmare rule book (which is so annoying and boring).

I love burdens not sure about boons sound to powerfull for me.. Hope it will be not walk in the park and always can skip boons and add only burdens to make it more challenge!

Gildor card looks too much…ummm…. stunning, or kinda just too much. Kinda like it was taken in a picture studio . I like a more relaxed picture that's actually real looking but Gildor himself looks a bit fakeish and the rest of the card is too bright and rather too wonderfull looking for me. I'd prefer a more relaxed card that looks kinda real. I also like the cards where the person isnt looking right at you. I like more when the picture looks like it was taken right in the middle of something happening.

I cannot comment on the article cuz I didn't look at any of the other pictures or at any of the text on the cards since I have now recently decided to not look at any pictures, card text, or spoilers of any kind. I think it would make it MUCH more fun to buy the expansion and open it up and look at all the new cards in person right in front of you. It also takes away lots of the exitement for when you get it. So its gonna be kinda hard to not look at ant spoilers, but overall I think it will be much more exiting to look at all the new stuff right when you get it out of the box.

Khamul

really great article. boons and burdens seem 1000% more fun than the treasure cards ever were.

speaking of gildor…i'm actually a fan of the original art for him compared to this new one…as if my avatar was any indication.

but holy cow, i dont know how "valiant warrior" hasnt been mentioned tho, now there is a magnificent piece of artwork. Re-print the lore glorfindel with that beauty and i would try to use it way more than i currently do haha

Khamul The Easterling said:

Well, that's kinda the problem I have with pretty much all the art in this game. Strange for you to have noticed just now. That's why I prefer the visual style of MECCG. But recently I've learned to take this game's art for what it's worth and still appreciate it. I kinda like to see modern interpretations of Tolkien's work, though i still prefer the classics by a mile.

@Gizlivadi - Well I noticed it a while ago I guess but it hasn't bothered me too much since I am always thinking about the game when playing, not looking at the art a bunch. But this new Gildor art is just kinda ruining it I think. Gosh does that picture look unreal and….what I said in my other post. I don't care too much about the art except for the enemies (which there are some prettty bad looking enemies out there) but yeah this Gildor is not to my likeing.

Khamul

i tend to love both styles…for different reasons

i have always loved Howe and Nasmith….and always will, their art is iconic to tolkien, and i dont think any ultra-realistic art can touch their work

howevr, i also like looking at one of these realistic cards, and getting that 'wow' feeling.

so different styles for different tastes i quess

i looked at gildor again and i agree, it is almost too realistic, however the reason i love the art so much is not so much the elf himself, but the surroundings…those leaves are stunning…i would have preffered if the artist had shown more of the surroundings, but its still great as it is.

rich

I like this new idea, it's wonderful. The art of Valiant Warrior and Noble Hero is amazing (it's Magali's art after all), now the art of Gildor is great but i prefer the Lore one better. Now regarding Burdens, Gandalf´s Delay seems very thematic but why in Durin´s name would you claim it?, unless the quest forces you to claim. Anyway i'm really looking forward for this saga expansion.

Alex6222 said:

the quest will force you to claim it

i think it was discussed in the previous spoiler for this….but if not im guessing if you fail to do something (like quest through a quest card quick enough) then you will get these burdens

rich

I hope that boons and burdens (the concept of them) will make it into future cycles, I really like to play linked scenarios and while I kind of get the linked story (in mirkwood, dwawordwelf, heirs, Khazard, and even in the new cycle - though the story is very good), I think that the in game effect of treasures or boons/burdens is much better than just having a thematic link, an actual link that effects game play is much better.

Boons and burdens also look to me like an evolved form of the treasures (the problems in the first saga expansion of the treasures being too rare were somewhat addressed in the 2nd expansion - but making them auto- set up and having good and bad ones is much better for keeping that thematic link).

I hope to eventually see boons and burdens released for the three cycles (probably not worth it for the plot of the 3 adventures in any of the delux expansions or core). and possibly if we get nightmare saga decks for the hobbit, seeing some boons and burdens (perhaps ones which interact with treasures) in there.

This boon and burden stuff really inspires me for what they could do to make this game even better, I'm definitely looking forward to this expansion (and seeing if they add the concept to past/future other products that aren't the lord of the rings saga too).

P.s. please push to get the licence for the silmarilian, for the saga expansions after the lord of the rings is concluded (in I presume, 9 expansions time, since it probably takes 3 per lord of the rings book). You have years if you release one saga a year - but it also takes years to get anywhere with the Tolkien estate when it comes to the silmarilian.

I would love to see Boons and Burdens to be mixed in with current encounters to tweak them to a lower or higher challenge level.

Let's try to grasp what we know about the Boons and Burdens untill now:

• Boon cards based on Player cards (the Attachments) will be added to the players' area if discovered though scenario effects. The article says, "after I’ve earned it".
• Boon cards based on Encounter Set cards (Gildor) wil be shuffled into the Encounter Set each game. Also, they might be searched through scenario effects. The article says "During setup, he is shuffled into the encounter deck, and if he is revealed during the quest phase, the first player gains control of him". But, how do we know when to shuffle Gildor into the Encounter Deck? There is no Encounter Set icon to guide us. Gildor Inglorion seem cycle dependant, because he has The Black Riders text as seen on nornal Objectives for scenarios. Note that this is the Saga box name, not the scenario name. I remember that there's no scenario with the same name as the DeLuxe/Saga box it comes into. Thus, I'm not sure if Gildor is used only for the current Saga box (The Black Riders), for The Fellowship of the Ring book (as suggested by the Encounter Set icon) or for the whole The Lord of the Rings Saga. Or does he appear only in 1 scenario, and then used in later scenarios if discovered?
• Burden Treachery cards seem Encounter Set dependant, because of the Encounter Set icon, and it seems that they won't come back in later scenarios if they aren't revealed in the scenario. The article says, "as you accumulate them, they won’t water-down the encounter for each different scenario". Also, each of these cards seems related to The One Ring or the Ring-Bearer.
• Burden Objectives may be added to play through scenario effects. Gandalf's Delay has an icon apparently related to one of the scenarios (the same shown in the "Black Rider" Enemy card). But also has The Black Riders text shown as scenario. The article says, "after you’ve earned it, you need to search the encounter deck for it at the beginning of each of your games and put it into play".

Khamul The Easterling said:

Yeah, I likethe art ot look like art. Not really a fan of the super smooth computer looking art many games and comic use now. I think the 2nd pack of stewards fear is a step in the correct direction.. rather than some of art we see in BR. I like a little syle, and artiostci imprssion, ot just a drawing of a frame like a film special effect.

JHG Hendriks said:

this idea is to brilliant for FFG. Instead of that fuckign pathetic "easy" mode, add boon cards to the original quests and package them in the nightmare packs. Sell more packs, make quest harder or easyer at teh will of the player… brilliant. You shoudl be workign at FFG.

booored said:

Yes agree here. I aslo though they will do something like this…. Insted they start make nightmare addition for every quest. So probably is even better and they can make more money. Ok will see.

But still i aslo love Boon and Burden idea. And probably it will be good additional for all future packs if is work right to make for all quests compaign mode. Since they original nightmare idea from the Core set rule book is really sucks…..didn work at all!