Okay this pack seams a bit of an up and down in regard of the player cards. For me the hero seems very weak. The player cards are a rollercoaster. Leadership got the best cards withe the ally and the dwarf event. Spirit has a good event and a bad ally. Lore got the best trap and the trap-recycling ally. Tactics got something interesting. Seems an okay pack, well will have to see how the quest is.

By the way Leadership got 3 cards!! Amazing

And i agree with Karlson, Black Riders rule!!

Well-equipped is a neutral card.

I like most of the cards in the pack, especially the new trap, Anborn and the squire. But seriously, STILL we don't get any decent Leadership Gondor ally to combo with Boromir? I think I'm just gonna burn my copy right now...

Also Children of the sea was obviously meant to combo with the silvan refugee... pretty decent.

Whilst I partly agree, on the other hand, boosting many cheap allies is better than boosting one big one, for the Leadership Boromir. Plus, the new one combos quite well with Horn and Imrahil and Valiant Sacrifice (not that I am a great fan of either).

Okay this pack seams a bit of an up and down in regard of the player cards. For me the hero seems very weak. The player cards are a rollercoaster. Leadership got the best cards withe the ally and the dwarf event. Spirit has a good event and a bad ally. Lore got the best trap and the trap-recycling ally. Tactics got something interesting. Seems an okay pack, well will have to see how the quest is.

By the way Leadership got 3 cards!! Amazing

And i agree with Karlson, Black Riders rule!!

The dwarf event is neutral. The color itself kind if looks purple I guess from the hue of inside lighting, but there's no leadership icons anywhere on it

I still think Landroval would save Caldera if you sacrificed her for 2 free allies. In that case it wouldn't be bad. Otherwise, her starting threat and Gondor trait seem like a fairly good thing. I don't know. I'm holding out that something interesting will emerge for this hero.

Of course, anyone following Lore Faramir will have a tough act to follow.

I like most of the cards in the pack, especially the new trap, Anborn and the squire. But seriously, STILL we don't get any decent Leadership Gondor ally to combo with Boromir? I think I'm just gonna burn my copy right now...

Also Children of the sea was obviously meant to combo with the silvan refugee... pretty decent.

Whilst I partly agree, on the other hand, boosting many cheap allies is better than boosting one big one, for the Leadership Boromir. Plus, the new one combos quite well with Horn and Imrahil and Valiant Sacrifice (not that I am a great fan of either).

But that's exactly the point; the squire was meant to be discarded, through chump blocking I suppose. He was not meant to attack, so you're just missing the point if you want to boost him with Boromir (and he'd only get +1 attack anyways).

At this point our only hope is to expect a large leadership ally, not many little ones since there's only 1 leadership card to be revealed (unless we get another global boost attachment which is very unlikely).

The perfect ally for this could have been the Knight of Minas Tirith, he's just perfect in almost every way, except for that restriction some dim-wit over at FFG decided to give him.

Okay this pack seams a bit of an up and down in regard of the player cards. For me the hero seems very weak. The player cards are a rollercoaster. Leadership got the best cards withe the ally and the dwarf event. Spirit has a good event and a bad ally. Lore got the best trap and the trap-recycling ally. Tactics got something interesting. Seems an okay pack, well will have to see how the quest is.

By the way Leadership got 3 cards!! Amazing

And i agree with Karlson, Black Riders rule!!

The dwarf event is neutral. The color itself kind if looks purple I guess from the hue of inside lighting, but there's no leadership icons anywhere on it

Crap. I need to pay more attention or else i will mistake a hobbit for a gondor.

indeed- perhaps you are correct grandspleen...i mean take for example if ffg hadnt spoiled light of valinor the same time as glorfindel..he would seem a bit rubbish. perhaps we just need to wait

You know better than this Rich.

Spirit Glorfindel without light of Valinar still has to quest 7 times before his threat even matches what it should be for his stats. How many games are there where you would quest with a hero that also has 3 attack 8 times? Spirit Glorfindel would in my opinion still be the best hero by an absolute mile without Light of Valinar, which is just broken on him.

So broken that I feel spirit Glorfindel actually breaks the game - he definitely makes everyone look at other spirit heroes with a slight disdain.

Lets take a look at this hero: Threat 8: 2, 1, 2: 3 - fairly standard for a cheap hero. The ability is a bit lacking but I think it could be made to work.

For instance, you know that she's going to die to maximize her use you can use her to soak 2 wounds early, then use her ability. Currently the allies we can get are also a bit limited (None of them particularly work with the Gondor trait). I think her best use might be to let you get back two escorts of Edoras, which would give you a lot of questing early in the game. (It's +8 willpower).

Her ability is slightly gimped by the fact she's been forced into the mono-sphere role (she'd be far better and more interesting if she could bring back 1 ally that matched the sphere of each other hero you had). It also wouldn't have seemed that broken if it brought back one ally for each hero you had (3 total).

Currently I'd probably have wanted her to get 1 or 2 less threat - I think if she'd been 2/1/1/3 for 6 threat with the same ability she'd have seen a lot more play, even 7 threat.

On the other hand, this ability is going to get better as the card pool expands and I happen to think it is very interesting. It lets you play a lot more recklessly with spirit allies, and it's easy to think of extra uses for it that might not be apparant without play.

She can defend, then sacrifice herself to give you two allies that are ready to also defend or attack for you (for example).

I'm excited for her as a hero, even though currently we lack options in the spirit ally pool to really use her with.

As for the other cards; Most seem good; I'd like to comment on the three that seem worth talking about.

Poision spikes; I like the trap theme, but this trap seems to be rubbish compared to the others. Forest Snare, pit trap and the best trap (-2 threat and no engagement checks) are all better. 2 damage a round is just so much worse when you can't aim it at the target you want either.

A dwarf boosting card of any kind if unwelcome, a 0 cost discard two cards dwarf boosting card seems to be weak and unwelcome. It doesn't fit the dwarven theme or synergise well with dwarfs. They don't have deck manipulation to get the cards they want coming up next and they're mainly going to be full of allies rather than equipment.

Combined with stargazer it would obviously be good if you set it up right, but they can't do it with just the dwarf trait. Even then, do we need to make dwarfs better in any way? (The answer is no: they're going to get some stuff from the sagas fairly soon automatically because of moria and gimli)

The spirit ally that you pay for with cards: This is amazing. Opening up a new mechanic for paying for cards with card discard instead of resources is a very welcome thing for the game.

She's somewhat ruined by two negative features: being Gondor (the trait most associated with resource wealth) and being heavily tied into the mono-deck theme (you would never use her outside of a mono-deck theme because discarding 3 cards to discard a card from your hand is so awful you'd never risk it.

This is a potentially very interesting line of new spirit cards though (cards paid for by discarding). and I think in a mono-spirit deck she would often see play (with stargazer especially). Also you can discard the cards to play her outside the planning phase (in response to a bad encounter deck draw for instance) which is very valuable imo.

indeed- perhaps you are correct grandspleen...i mean take for example if ffg hadnt spoiled light of valinor the same time as glorfindel..he would seem a bit rubbish. perhaps we just need to wait

You know better than this Rich.

you are of course correct- i did have a mouthful of dinner whilst writing that and my mind cannot function whilst thinking of food

what i meant to point out was that glorfindel is so much better with a key card that just 'happened' to be spoilt at the same time. so perhaps it will work better by the end of the cycle...it will have to be quick though

Yea. You could play Caldera, Spirit Glorfindel and Eleanor. Starting threat: 20 and great artwork. Seems like that would be a pretty good combination with secrecy if you had some threat mitigation with it. Light of valinor, fortune or fate, asfaloth, and you could make a decent deck, or so it would seem at first glance. I'd give it a shot.

Yea. You could play Caldera, Spirit Glorfindel and Eleanor. Starting threat: 20 and great artwork. Seems like that would be a pretty good combination with secrecy if you had some threat mitigation with it. Light of valinor, fortune or fate, asfaloth, and you could make a decent deck, or so it would seem at first glance. I'd give it a shot.

Working her into a deck that you can get Resourceful out early would at least mitigate some of her downside (losing the resource she would generate each turn once she is dicarded)..

Ok guys so is it just me or do you now also terribly want to build a multiplayer tactics Boromir deck with spoiled Hammer stroke? I literally dream about wiping whole table of enemies with Boromir..
What do you think that such a deck would need?
Here are my thoughts:
-Shield of Gondor (obvious one)
-Some attack increase (Still don't know which one... maybe just leadership marks)
-Burning Brand would do its job (but Boromit would also need a song)
-Some threat reduction will be definitivelly needed so I thought about lore Aragorn or some Spirit stuff (still don't know which would be better)

Any other ideas? :-)


And I am really looking forward to see more Rohan characters in deluxe expansions... Do you think that they will be more combat like instead of the old questing ones?

Ok guys so is it just me or do you now also terribly want to build a multiplayer tactics Boromir deck with spoiled Hammer stroke? I literally dream about wiping whole table of enemies with Boromir..

What do you think that such a deck would need?

Here are my thoughts:

-Shield of Gondor (obvious one)

-Some attack increase (Still don't know which one... maybe just leadership marks)

-Burning Brand would do its job (but Boromit would also need a song)

-Some threat reduction will be definitivelly needed so I thought about lore Aragorn or some Spirit stuff (still don't know which would be better)

Any other ideas? :-)

And I am really looking forward to see more Rohan characters in deluxe expansions... Do you think that they will be more combat like instead of the old questing ones?

Throw the steward of gondor attachment on him and you can rack up a pretty nice atk value with gondorian fire. Or run some eagles and support of the eagles can be an easy buff with even just one vassal of the windlord out

Man, if her threat was 6 instead of 8 I'd fall in love with her. Cool ability which you can use in endgame to gain that extra bit of advantage that you need. Let's not forget that some spirit allies have to leave play to trigger theri effects. Eomund comes to mind, but also Riddermark's finest and Escort from Edoras. She also comboes nicely with Outlands, giving you back all the d dead Ethir Swordsmen. And let's not forget that she can use Blood of Gondor to turn her into a defense tower of awesome!

Imagine you discard two Riddermark's Finest to place 4 progress on a location, and whoops, you can do it again!

Certainly no ability for early or midgame, but she might save the day when you're under pressure, like Boromir's ability does. Also, she can be recycled through Fate and Fortune -which isn't exactly difficult with a momo spirirt deck (sucks that I only hae one core set though). In theory that means that you can play two 4 cost allies for the cost of 5 resources.

Personally I'm glad that they quit creating overly powerful heroes in this cycle.

Yea. You could play Caldera, Spirit Glorfindel and Eleanor. Starting threat: 20 and great artwork. Seems like that would be a pretty good combination with secrecy if you had some threat mitigation with it. Light of valinor, fortune or fate, asfaloth, and you could make a decent deck, or so it would seem at first glance. I'd give it a shot.

Working her into a deck that you can get Resourceful out early would at least mitigate some of her downside (losing the resource she would generate each turn once she is dicarded)..

O man, Resourceful + Blood of Gondor + UC on her = :ph34r:

I really like the art on Children of the sea, I think it really captures what it's about, something that doesn't happen often in this game sadly, barring pure technique. Reminds me so much of the older, classic LOTR illustrations. For a second I thought that could be Donato Giancola there, pretty good artist they should give him more lotr comissions lol.

Yea. You could play Caldera, Spirit Glorfindel and Eleanor. Starting threat: 20 and great artwork. Seems like that would be a pretty good combination with secrecy if you had some threat mitigation with it. Light of valinor, fortune or fate, asfaloth, and you could make a decent deck, or so it would seem at first glance. I'd give it a shot.

Working her into a deck that you can get Resourceful out early would at least mitigate some of her downside (losing the resource she would generate each turn once she is dicarded)..

O man, Resourceful + Blood of Gondor + UC on her = :ph34r:

i feel as tho that combo of cards might be better suited for Eleanor if using that string of heroes as Caldara would lose the attachments when shes discarded.

I am kind of tempted to give her a try now however. Trying to abuse fortune and fate along with dwarven tomb and map of earnil to ensure she never leaves permanently. The resources to pay for fortune and fate could still be generated thru the aforementioned resourceful and stargazer/zigil miner combo (which would also help fuel which allies are in your discard pile). Sounds like its token enough to give it a shot

Maybe, there are some card in this AP that support Caldara,

She's like a Ninja, disappeared, then 2or 3 or more ally appear.

O man, Resourceful + Blood of Gondor + UC on her = :ph34r:

Stupid question alert ...

What are the blood of gondor and UC cards?

O man, Resourceful + Blood of Gondor + UC on her = :ph34r:

Stupid question alert ...

What are the blood of gondor and UC cards?

UC = Unexpected Courage

I meant of course Blood of Numenor which is an attachment that allows its bearer to pay one resource to get + 1 DEF for every resource he owns until the end of the phase. Just realized that it's limited to only once per phase which is a shame.

Resourceful seems made for Spirit. The two Gondor chicks and Glorfindel will work well I think, as suggested above. And yes, put Resourceful and Blood of Númenor on Eleanor, and once you use Caldara's ability, you should still have enough resources, to buy Fortune or Fate, for instance. Questing shouldn't be too bad, defence enhanced by the Blood, and the combination of the Beacons, Out of Sight and Against the Shadow; the attack comes from the likes of Northern Tracker, Elfhelm or Damrod (who combos well with Caldara). This is certainly a very intriguing line-up, though again only made good by Glorfindel, and I do feel bad for having him in so many decks.

I´m not so disappoined about her...I´ll give her a chance.

With "Fortune or Fate" you can bring her back and with a Hobbit and "Good Meal" it should be no problem.

Also very nice to combine is "Desperate Alliance"...

If you can discard 3 "Northern Tracker" before you use her, this would be a bargain buy.

UC = Unexpected Courage

I meant of course Blood of Numenor which is an attachment that allows its bearer to pay one resource to get + 1 DEF for every resource he owns until the end of the phase. Just realized that it's limited to only once per phase which is a shame.

Thanks ... I do not have unexpected courage in mind since while I always have it on my deck (I like Spirit) I never (really) draw it, it always end up bottom.

Yes with Blood of Numenor and Resourcefull she can be a good Spirit defender

Well, you mean to send Caldara to a three-hero Spirit team? It is intriguing but a bit complicated to set up, I mean you use her ability if you don't draw Desperate Alliance, unless, of course, you're also running a mono-Spirit.

No, you misunderstood me...

Caldara should be in the Mono-spirit deck and the other players can maybe add more spirit-heroes.

(I will try it)

Oh, I see, that is better surely. So you have mono-Spirit with Caldara (as it makes total sense) and the other deck sends you a Spirit hero via Desperate Alliance. Yeah, nice.