http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4502

Did my guess about the story in the cycle Against the Shadow came true, and the Lord Alcaron are a traitor?

Looking at the setup on card The Rearguard I think that he is the second captain (the first is Murzug, third Nazgul of Minas Morgul).

Interesting idea…..i never like him anyway…..

Interesting idea…..i never like him anyway…..

I think, that he can be the real mastermind of the cabal.

Interesting idea…..i never like him anyway…..

me neither

I've played this quest 3 times now. All of them solo.

It's simple for me: this is the most difficult quest for solo players in all the cycle. I don't know about 2+ players yet, but solo is not only difficult, its beautiful. It has some neat mechanics. It's a mix of race against the clock (you have an objective card that other encounter cards put tokens on it and if you have 10 you lose the game, and there are HIGH chances to put tokens) and brutal combat.

When I say brutal combat I mean solid enemies: the ones from Mordor Elite and Creatures of the Forest are cool, the Captains of Morgul Vale have powerful stats, like 4 to 7 attack or 5 to 7 hit poitns. But stats are not the problem. The problem are how their abilities are so well connected with other cards.

For instance, the first Captain after he attacks he reveals a card and if it's an enemy (and there's high chances, because this scenario is full of them) he puts it engaged with the player. The second Captain when he attacks he puts a progress token on the objective, and of course there are enemies or treacheries that react to that and also he attacks again if there was no shadow effect when revealing a shadow card, basically attacking twice. Even the locations are really nasty, but more or less easy to explore. And then you have the spiders or Lieutenant of Mordor...

I've played with dwarfs deck, the Thorin & Co. deck from Glaurung (with a bit fo tuning by my part). And they raped me.

I think that here a good Gondor deck with nice defense can come in handy. My best try was arriving at the final quest, and I decided to rush it. And then, bam, shadow effect where the enemy has +1 strength for each token on the objective. There my heroes started to fall.

This is one of those quests that makes you think about taking right decisions, and not facerolling.

And for the Alcaron traitor, well I prefer not to spoil anything right now, but the story continues and ends in an interesting way. Actually there were 2 inserts to explain all what was left of the story.

So much for flavor and storytelling in this pack... and yet you can actually play with Faramir even though he's been captured. Anyway, It looks pretty good. Some great art on the enemies as well.

and yet you can actually play with Faramir even though he's been captured.

Doesn't the text on "To the Tower" take Faramir completely out of the game?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/lotr-lcg/against-the-shadow/the-morgul-vale/to-the-tower.png

and yet you can actually play with Faramir even though he's been captured.

Doesn't the test on "To the Tower" take Faramir completely out of the game?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/lotr-lcg/against-the-shadow/the-morgul-vale/to-the-tower.png

Right, right. Thanks for that, I stand corrected. Now I'm glad this quest makes much more sense. I can't wait to play it!

Sounds vey intrigue…...

Played solo in normal mode and beat it on my first try. This was my Glory(Sp), Strider, Boromir(Tc) deck that can be found in the strategy section.* Not sure if I got lucky or not. You certainly can rip some brutal cards off the top of the deck, as when I had to pull a card first turn from Murzag's attack and drew Morgul Spider... And I had NO characters committed to the quest so it was attacking for 7! Still, I think my deck is very well placed for beating this quest. I do think it's an easier final quest than we have seen in the first two cycles, but in my opinion, those quests were unfair to the solo player and I think this one is not.

Will try again in a little bit.

*The only change to the deck I think is that I have replace Healing Herbs with Self Preservation.

Finished my second game and was brutalized by bad draws from my deck. My opening hand was bad and my mulligan was worse.

My jury is still out.

Tried 3 more times. This time with a Tactics-Spirit-Lore with Beregond, Glorfindel (the more scenarios FFG deliver the more I think this hero is crazy) and Strider.

It went better, I won 2 times of 3, but by no means were easy victories. In one of them my threat was skyrocketing and I never had Gandalf. The other victory with one less hero.

It's great how the encounter deck can punish you always, if you decide not to put progress on the objective, it does other nasty things. And if you put progress tokens, then the middle game (between the second and third captain) becomes harder.

Overall is a nice experience. I am with Bullroarer Took, this quest for solo it's difficult but it's not unfair like RtM or SaF, when they were out. Of course now we have more options in terms of powerful deckbuilding, and that's nice.

What about scaling? Is going to be more hard with a number of players?

Another two games, another two loses. Needed one more turn on the last game and I would have had it. Off to side boarding. You don't have time in this quest to build up combos or a big army. You need cards with low cost that help you right now.

Not sure about multi-player.

Edit: This is brutal! I now realize how lucky I got in my encounter draws that first game. Three more plays and three more loses. Sooooo close twice, but couldn't seal the deal. The encounter deck is just merciless.

Can anyone scan the cards for us to see the art on them?

Can anyone scan the cards for us to see the art on them?

yes that will be amazing

I'd love to see spear of the mark

The cards are in Spanish, but here is important the art, right ?

And my 3 favourites, the art is gorgeous! (from left to right, Lay of Nimrodel, Spear of the Mark and Ered Nimrais Prospector:

a fantastic set of art. prospector and lay of nimrodel are amazing. i say this every pack, but the art just gets better and better.

does the spear remind anyone of the scene in the film where the wargs ambush the refugees?

rich

does the spear remind anyone of the scene in the film where the wargs ambush the refugees?

rich

yes maybe

a fantastic set of art. prospector and lay of nimrodel are amazing. i say this every pack, but the art just gets better and better.

does the spear remind anyone of the scene in the film where the wargs ambush the refugees?

rich

Did I just read Rich talking about the movies besides how he dislikes them?

Seriously though, the art on the spear is absolutely amazing. The prospector is also really good. Lay of Nimrodel is fine, but I was fearing we would get a Magali Villeneuve art for it. It's just getting a little tiring for me. She's good, but they're using her way too much. Can we get for once an elf/female/hero related art not done by her?

I'm from spain

I'm happy. Tomorrow i will buy the pack.

But i can't wait, and i have just seen the photo.

This is the translation, by order from the cards in the photo (this is a fast translation and my english is enough bad ):

Captain of Pelargir Ship (Ally - Leadership):
Response: After N enters play, move 1 resource from any hero of yours, to other hero.

Visionary leadership (Attachment - Leadership):
Attachment for Gondor Hero
While an attached hero has at least one resource in his resource pool, all gondor characters gains +1wp

--Horse-- ( ): Atachment spirit
Attachment for Gondor or Rohan hero
Response: after the attachment hero is commited to the quest, pay 1 resource of him to ready him.

Lay of Nimrodel (Event spirit):
Action: chose an spirit hero. Until the end of the phase, this hero gains +1wp by each resource on his resource pool.

--Spear--: Attachment Tactics
Attachment for a rohan character. Restricted.
The attached character get +1attack, or +2attack if he attacks an enemy from the staging area.

Go ahead, Eorlingas (Event tactics):
Combat action: each Rohan hero can be declared as a attacker versus enemies from stagin area this phase.

Ered Nimais (ally lore):
Response: after N enters play, discard the top 3 cards from your deck. After, chose 1 an add its from your discard pile to your deck, and shuffle it.

Isildur's Pergam (attachment lore):
- this is the attachment as the other spheres last pack adventures, but in Lore sphere -

Hidden stash (neutral event): ? can't see

a fantastic set of art. prospector and lay of nimrodel are amazing. i say this every pack, but the art just gets better and better.

does the spear remind anyone of the scene in the film where the wargs ambush the refugees?

rich

Did I just read Rich talking about the movies besides how he dislikes them?

Seriously though, the art on the spear is absolutely amazing. The prospector is also really good. Lay of Nimrodel is fine, but I was fearing we would get a Magali Villeneuve art for it. It's just getting a little tiring for me. She's good, but they're using her way too much. Can we get for once an elf/female/hero related art not done by her?

cocky little....... haha, i always get stuck with the film hater profile on this forum

i agree on the need for some alternate art. i think the game has steadily came to rely on the same artists, and amazing as thier pieces are (as i say above) i really liked the more traditional pieces

rich