...by Team Covenant. Just awesome!!

Caleb is a super-cool guy. One of the highlights of GenCon was having Caleb watch us play The Black Riders, and being able to talk with him about the expansion. It was interesting to hear him in this clip, explaining why a new version of Aragorn was not included in the box.

Also, "angry bear swings twice" is being added to my signature!

I want this so badly!

Really cool to hear some of the thought process behind some of the cards and design decisions. After playing it at Gen Con and giving it a spin at home, I have to say that Black Riders is probably my favorite expansion yet.

Caleb is as sweet in this video interview as in his answers by email.

Caleb talked about the possibility that other characters could bear the ring eventually as well. From the context, it seemed like that different ring-bearers would have different abilities regarding the ring.

Really good stuff. Thanks to everyone, especially Caleb.

Those buddies a cool. Always have interesting and useful videos! Love them!

Really great video. So cool listening to Caleb explain the design process and the logic that goes into making each card what it is.

Also since he explained the reasoning of not putting Aragorn in this box, I'm going to have to retract my whole hero prediction for the next box as I vehemently argued that we would receive new versions of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. After hearing Caleb it sounds as tho he is trying to avoid remakes of heroes from the core for the saga expansions; which I understand...just would be cool to get an update on some of these iconic characters

Considering Caleb saying that he's a big fan on the lore and corrects people in the design team occasionally on it, I'm surprised he didn't do so, in that it wasn't Aragorn who gave the Westernesse blades to the hobbits

It's really cool to see how passionate Caleb is about this game. Watch how he smiles when the Team Covenant guys are excited about a new card.

The edit at the end is hilarious! Some guy in a blue shirt walks up and interrupts the interview. The camera angle changes and he is gone.

Considering Caleb saying that he's a big fan on the lore and corrects people in the design team occasionally on it, I'm surprised he didn't do so, in that it wasn't Aragorn who gave the Westernesse blades to the hobbits

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't they find them at the Barrow Downs after their encounter with the wights?

I think Caleb was just being nice, as I am sure he knew when he designed those where they came from. He just didn't want to make a "fool" out the Covenant guys.

perhaps the most interesting thing out of this whole video was when Caleb said the designers are more interested in developing the Spheres instead of the individual Traits.

this is particularly interesting b/c most on these forums seem to want trait love, as opposed to overall sphere building...

dunno if this is a topic worthy of another thread, but i'd certainly like to discuss it more.

Considering Caleb saying that he's a big fan on the lore and corrects people in the design team occasionally on it, I'm surprised he didn't do so, in that it wasn't Aragorn who gave the Westernesse blades to the hobbits

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't they find them at the Barrow Downs after their encounter with the wights?

I think Caleb was just being nice, as I am sure he knew when he designed those where they came from. He just didn't want to make a "fool" out the Covenant guys.

perhaps the most interesting thing out of this whole video was when Caleb said the designers are more interested in developing the Spheres instead of the individual Traits.

this is particularly interesting b/c most on these forums seem to want trait love, as opposed to overall sphere building...

dunno if this is a topic worthy of another thread, but i'd certainly like to discuss it more.

I find this very intriguing as well, particularly since each cycle since mirkwood and even the saga expansions themselves have been quite trait focused. Maintaining sphere identity is obviously an important point in design but seems somewhat secondary on the surface anyway

The stupid question of the day .... when is the release date ?

The stupid question of the day .... when is the release date ?

4-6 weeks was said at gencon which was like 2 weeks ago

Argh! I'm tired of waiting for this! Shut up and take my money already

I picked up the Core Set on a whim last summer at GenCon 2012 and its become my go-to table-top game since then. I find the game immensely enjoyable.

Sadly, I couldn't attend GenCon this year but I was able to persuade a friend to pick up the Black Riders for me (should have had her snag BoG for me as well, but didn't know about it being on sale there until it was too late). I've had a chance to play the first scenario about a half dozen times times. Very happy with it so far. As you all likely already know, the player cards are almost entirely for hobbit decks. Those of us who follow the game closely have been waiting for hobbit support for some time, so I don't think this will be an issue for most of the community. As usual, the artwork on the cards is just outstanding.

In my opinion most LoTR players will greatly enjoy BR.

If you have any questions about BR, please feel free to PM me.

Bill the Pony just made Radagast a little more playable again! (Creature keyword)... If you decide to run without Sam, Radagast can pay for Bill, saving your heroes resources for other cards. And regardless of having Sam down or not, Radagast can heal Bill from any of those "single-wound to allies" effects...

Hopefully, we see more creatures to bring Radagast back into full swing!

Although, since he can pay for Bill without needing to have a sphere affiliation, they make for interesting combos with Eagles, Merry, Tactics, etc.