FFG: Fantasy Flight Games News

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The Great White Silence

Preview Preludes and an Ancient One in Mountains of Madness

The wind, however, had not decreased in intensity one iota; indeed, if it were possible, it grew momentarily wilder and more violent; the entire house shuddered and quaked while those thunderous footsteps echoed and reechoed in the valley before the house. And the cold grew worse, so that breath hung a white vapor in the air – a cold as of outer space.
    –August Derleth, Beyond the Threshold

The Mountains of Madness expansion for Eldritch Horror allows players to enter the mysterious, frozen world depicted in H.P. Lovecraft’s novella, At the Mountains of Madness. You can trace the path of the doomed Miskatonic University expedition across the bleak Antarctic wasteland, explore the ruins of a prehistoric, inhuman civilization, and fight the cruel Elder Things that are now awakening.

In today’s preview you’ll discover how Mountains of Madness brings a horrible chill to every region of the globe. We’ll look at Prelude Cards, which specify unique starting conditions for each game, and you’ll learn about Ithaqua: a terrifying, immense Ancient One from the frozen north – the opposite side of the globe from Antarctica. His aim is to spread a permanent winter over the entire world, creating the legendary, lethal Great White Silence. To defeat him, you might travel into a mythical, otherworldly kingdom, or face people driven to cannibalism by an unnatural hunger. Your team of investigators will be pushed to their limits in the quest to save humanity from frozen death.

For a fuller picture of Mountains of Madness, from its Antarctic Adventures and Outpost Encounters to the new Focus action, download the rulebook (pdf, 6.9 MB) for this expansion from the Eldritch Horror support page, or by clicking the thumbnail on the right.

Unpredictable Conditions

When playing with this expansion, you draw a random Prelude card before setup begins. Prelude cards adjust setup in specific ways, giving investigators helpful tools or challenging tasks from the very start of the game. One prelude card, The Doomsayer from Antarctica, requires you to set up the Antarctica side board, luring your team towards Antarctica no matter which Ancient One you are fighting.

The Ultimate Sacrifice changes the landscape of Eldritch Horror in a different way – by placing two defeated investigators on the board – one crippled, one driven insane – in their starting locations.  The doom track is advanced by two, as if your game begins in medias res, at the moment when these investigators succumbed to the darkness and horror. By encountering them, you may be able to gain their possessions and retreat Doom, profiting from those who went before you.

Hypothermia and Hunger

No one yet has gazed upon Ithaqua and lived. The only clues to his presence are terrible snowstorms, an uncanny, shrieking wind, and the terrible, earthshaking thud of his giant feet. His human victims are found thousands of miles away from where they were last seen, their limbs shattered as if dropped from a great height, and their bodies so cold that they freeze anything or anyone that touches them.

Ithaqua can move as fast as the wind of a blizzard. He starts the Doom track at 13, giving you limited time to solve the three mysteries necessary to defeat him. As you search for answers, you will likely struggle to combat not only monsters, but also hypothermia: at every Reckoning, Ithaqua causes each investigator to gain a Hypothermia condition unless that investigator can spend a Focus to avoid it. You can also get hypothermia from losing a fight against one of Ithaqua's Cultists. His worshippers may not threaten your sanity, but they can freeze you to your core.

Along with cold often comes hunger, another of Ithaqua’s powerful weapons against the human race. In the mystery Growing Hunger, investigators must travel to the northernmost cities of Europe and America. The citizens of these otherwise calm cities have been driven so mad by an insatiable appetite that they have begun to eat other humans, both dead and living. To end the cannibalism, you must defeat the Wendigo spirits haunting these cities. Not only are Wendigos ferocious and strong, but they can instill in anyone who encounters them a terrible, all-consuming hunger.

The Fabled Kingdom in the North

Defeating Ithaqua may take you beyond the ends of the earth, as in the Exploring Hyperborea mystery. During the long winter nights, people in the northern hemisphere have seen glimpses of an ancient civilization in the aurora borealis. You may have heard stories about Hyperborea or read about this hidden land in the ancient Greek histories. Now, for the first time in centuries, the veil between worlds is so thin that you can walk from Greenland into Hyperborea’s thick jungles and towards its magnificent, shimmering city.

In Hyperborea dwells the legendary sorcerer Eibon, who has travelled through numerous Other Worlds and knows more about the Ithaqua than any living being. Your task is to find this difficult, unpredictable man, or at least his library, and acquire his knowledge. The search will particularly test your observation and your understanding of arcane lore, but you’ll also need to keep your strength up in case a snow monster attacks you, or the Hyperborean citizens prove hostile to foreigners from Earth.

Winter Is Coming

The days are growing longer and the air is growing colder, so cold that your breath freezes instantly and you fear to go outside. Soon the frosted ground will be completely covered by snow, the rivers transformed into thick ice, and all life hidden away. If Ithaqua, his Cultists, and his minions have their way, this great white silence of winter will be all that humanity knows for the rest of existence. The world is relying on you and your team of investigators to defeat the wind-walking Ancient One and ensure that spring returns. Can you stave off hypothermia and hunger long enough to win?

Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness will be available at your local retailer soon.

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Source: The Great White Silence

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Find a Store Championship Near You!

FFG's 2015 Tournament Season Begins with Store Championships

Players, 2015 Store Championships will begin in just under one month! Running from January through March, these events are a great way to whet your competitive appetite in the new year, meet other passionate local players, vie for year-long bragging rights at your store, and battle for your chance at cool, exclusive prizes.

Find an Event Near You

Store Championships kick off the tournament season each year, serving as the first major tournament series in FFG’s Organized Play program. For anyone looking to attend World Championship Weekend, Store Championships are the first step toward that goal and provide the winner with a bye at a Regional Championship. This year, Store Championships are expanding to seven games. Find the Store Championship closest to you by following the links below:

     
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
     
• Android: Netrunner
     
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game
     
• Star Wars™: The Card Game
     
• Warhammer: Diskwars
     
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest
     
• X-Wing™

Note: Our tournaments are listed alphabetically by nation and then by city. Please contact the event venue for more information about the tournament date, time, and other details.

Join the Action

Whether you’re training at the Jedi Academy, attempting to seal away ancient horrors, conquering planets in the name of the Emperor of Mankind, constructing a particular nasty piece of ICE, or eyeing the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, Organized Play’s goal is to help you find other players with whom you can share your favorite games. Store Championships are the first step for anyone planning on attending World Championship Weekend and a great way to find other enthusiastic players. Find an event near you and join the action!

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Source: Find a Store Championship Near You!

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Wanton Destruction

A Look at the Rampant Anarchy of Order and Chaos

Should log in to class. Should attend virtual lecture. Should submit code project. Instead, music at MAXIMUM VOLUME. It is time to shred some poor bastard’s server. Whose? Doesn’t matter.

Part of the beauty of Android: Netrunner is that each faction has its own distinct identity.  All of the game’s Runners are lower-case “c” criminals, violating all manner of laws as they hack into Corporate servers, but a capital “C” Criminal does not play like a Shaper. A Shaper does not play like an Anarch. And Anarchs don’t play like anyone else.

As guest writer El-ad David Amir noted in “The Anarch Way,” the Runners who associate themselves with the Anarch faction don’t like to follow the rules that others set forth. Such rules make them chafe.

Accordingly, the Anarchs work against the rules. Ironically, this becomes a common, defining trait across the faction: Anarchs are defined by their opposition to the established order. What others build up, Anarchs tear down.

Now, as Order and Chaos draws near, we look forward to its new cards and focus on the Anarch faction. What will these malcontents gain from the expansion?

The Punk, the Saint, and the Wounded Man

For starters, Order and Chaos gives us three more of these angry, dissatisfied Runners around which we can build our Anarch decks: MaxX (Order and Chaos, 29), Valencia Estevez (Order and Chaos, 30), and Edward Kim (Order and Chaos, 28).

They’re all angry. They’re all talented. They’re all very, very good at tearing things apart. And apart from those shared qualities, they’re almost nothing alike.

MaxX

An angry, young g-mod streetbanger who has never appeared to live up to expectations, MaxX works a long, gray, tightly structured day job in MegaBuy customer service that fuels her appetite for nihilistic after-hours release.

For MaxX, the act of shredding corporate servers is a cathartic release akin to the scratchy blare of a power chord pushed through layers of feedback. Punks ripped apart the overly elaborate guitar solos that preceded their reductive songs. They thrashed and drummed and howled. Like them, MaxX expresses her rebuke of societal norms by processing codes that reduce servers to nothingness. Hers are acts of pure, Wanton Destruction (Order and Chaos, 35).

Moreover, MaxX thinks faster than nearly everyone, though she’s forced to idle in slow-mo with normals at the office all day long. Her ability reflects this, reading, “When your turn begins, trash the top 2 cards of your stack. Draw 1 card.”

It’s unclear, however, if her self-destructive tendencies will outpace her impact on the net. She’s a genetically modified dynamo who can process information at a blistering pace, but her rebellious ways constantly leave her at risk of suffering permanent brain damage – not that she cares. For MaxX, it’s all about loud, immediate thrills, and when she’s Amped Up (Order and Chaos, 31), she can do just about anything to which she sets her mind; the only question is if she’ll get it into her head to accomplish anything meaningful before she burns out.

Valencia Estevez

The Angel of Cayambe, Valencia Estevez uses her talents to assist some of the most desperately impoverished residents of New Angeles, while the shadow of the Beanstalk, in which she lives, casts a pall over everything she does.

The Beanstalk’s constant presence and the desperation in the eyes of those people with whom she works ensure that Valencia will never forget the injustices of the system that keeps those at the top of the Beanstalk removed from those at the bottom.

Accordingly, Valencia’s runs are acts of mercy. They’re not initiated to punish the megacorps she invades, nor to elicit chuckles from her friends. She takes her runs to buy second chances for people who never had a first chance. Hers is a sympathetic story, and it’s hard for any Corp to deny her intentions.

Valencia Estevez ensures that the Corp always starts with one bad publicity, and several other cards in Order and Chaos further play off of her ability. The current Itinerant Protesters (Order and Chaos, 33) shrinks the Corp’s maximum hand size by one for each bad publicity it has, and Valencia can give the Corp even more bad publicity with Investigative Journalism (Order and Chaos, 49). Of course, when you look outside of Order and Chaos, the neutral event Blackmail (Fear and Loathing, 89) is a natural inclusion, and it suggests that Valencia might not be as saintly as she first appears.

In fact, a Valencia Estevez deck might play downright dirty, leveraging the Corp’s dirty secrets against it until its maximum hand size is squeezed down to just one or two cards. Then, even if she uses shady methods to get there, Valencia’s almost guaranteed to be able to use the situation to her advantage, drawing free cards each turn from her signature console, Vigil (Order and Chaos, 47), and reversing the fortunes of some of New Angeles’ most desperate individuals.

Edward Kim

When we look at the angry man that is Edward Kim, we understand that he’s haunted by some past misfortune. For one, he’s missing a hand. We can see this, just as we can see that he hasn’t had it replaced with a cybernetic. Second, we know he lost someone – a woman or a girl – and, more than the loss of his hand, it seems that this is the loss that has truly forged him into a seething, muscular force for vengeance.

Kim’s runs aren’t for play, and they aren’t about giving people second chances. So far as he’s concerned, he’s already lost. What was taken from him can never be replaced. Kim’s fury drives him toward retaliation. At the far end of every server he crashes, he sees the faceless masks of those bioroids who cost him the life and love he once held. Now, he strides powerfully through the streets, a snarl on his face, and on the net, he bares his fangs.

With his built-in ability to trash the first operation he accesses at no cost, Edward Kim excels at ripping apart the Corp’s HQ. He can trash operations, he can pay to trash assets or upgrades, and if he finds agendas, he can score them.

Naturally, Kim partners well with Imp (What Lies Ahead, 3), Scrubber (A Study in Static, 63), and Paricia (Creation and Control, 45), as all these cards provide him with even more means to trash the cards he accesses. However, Order and Chaos pushes Kim and his destructive efforts even further, providing him with a trio of events and an AI icebreaker that allow him to rip through ice in the same way that he rips through operations, assets, upgrades, and agendas.

The run events Forked (Order and Chaos, 37), Knifed (Order and Chaos, 38), and Spooned (Order and Chaos, 39) all allow you to make a run and trash a specific type of ice if you can break all its subroutines. Boosting their efficiencies, meanwhile, is the AI icebreaker, Eater (Order and Chaos, 40), one of the most efficient of all icebreakers yet introduced to the game. In fact, Eater would be an overpowering addition to the game were it not for its single drawback: When you use Eater to break an ice subroutine, you cannot access cards for the remainder of your run.

Of course, if you can trash all the ice that stand between you and a server’s data, you can launch subsequent runs with impunity. And then you and Edward Kim can smash the Corp in the face, hurting it just as you have been injured.

Burn It All Down

If you ask any of the Anarchs from Order and Chaos, the world is broken. It’s unfair. It’s lopsided. It’s built on the backs of the downtrodden and modeled so that the rich just keep getting richer. Also, it’s stupid. It makes people stupid. The execs think of them as cattle with bank accounts that they need to find better ways to herd.

What, then, does Order and Chaos give to these runners as they look for ways to burn down the existing order? They ask for a match, and they get a blowtorch.

The world will burn.

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Source: Wanton Destruction

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Begin Your Assault

Imperial Assault Is Now Available at Your Local Retailer

“General, prepare your troops for a surface attack.”
    –Darth Vader, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Imperial commanders and Rebel strike team leaders, gather your soldiers and prepare for tactical Star Wars™ combat. Imperial Assault is now available at your local retailer!

You’ll have twice the opportunities to immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe with the two complete games included in Imperial Assault. In the campaign game, up to four players command heroes of the Rebellion, battling against a single Imperial player in a narrative campaign that changes every time you play through it. The skirmish game, on the other hand, gives you the chance to go head-to-head with a single opponent – mustering your own armies and fighting to complete conflicting objectives. Whichever game you play, your tactical decisions decide the fate of the galaxy!

A Narrative Campaign

Our series of in-depth previews examined each aspect of the Imperial Assault experience. We began with a discussion of the basis of every mission: moving and attacking. In Imperial Assault, every figure has two actions to move, fire a blaster, engage in melee combat, search crates, open doors, or complete other tasks. Deciding which actions your figures will take each turn is the heart of gameplay.

Next, we turned our attention to the Rebel heroes in the campaign game. When you play a hero in the Imperial Assault campaign game, you play as the same hero in every mission. Over the course of the campaign, you gain experience and credits, which you can use to purchase new skills and items. Whether you play as canny squad leader Gideon Argus or hardened veteran Fenn Signis, every hero offers a unique play experience and a new style of play.

We also examined the massive power wielded by the Imperial player during a campaign. One preview discussed the might of the Galactic Empire, made visible by countless stormtroopers, massive AT-ST walkers, and villains like Darth Vader. We also saw the tactics that the Imperial player can harness by calling upon reinforcements and pursuing nefarious agendas. Finally, we looked at the options made available to the Empire by taking advantage of Mercenary units, including Trandoshan hunters and the Assassin Droid, IG-88.

Deadly Skirmishes

Other previews focused on the second game within Imperial Assault: the skirmish game. In a skirmish mission, both players attempt to gain victory points by eliminating an opponent’s figures and completing the mission’s objectives. We presented a detailed overview of the skirmish game, highlighting the differences between campaign and skirmish missions and revealing some of the Deployment cards and Command cards you use to achieve victory.

Before any skirmish game, you and your opponent construct separate armies and Command decks. Once you’ve finished creating your squad, you and your opponent test your forces against each other on the field of battle. We featured a diary by Imperial Assault developer Paul Winchester that focused on the massive amount of armies available for each of the three factions in the Core Set.

The First Ally and Villain Packs

Ally Packs and Villain Packs are the first expansions to be released for Imperial Assault! We announced seven upcoming Ally Packs and Villain Packs, but the first two figure packs are included as a bonus in the Imperial Assault Core Set: the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack.

These figure packs each offer a detailed plastic figure, as well as new missions and powerful new cards for both the campaign game and the skirmish game. You may help Luke escape from the clutches of Darth Vader, or control the Sith Lord himself as he destroys a Rebel strike team. Whether you fight for the Rebellion or uphold the claim of the Empire, every figure pack offers new adventures for every game of Imperial Assault.

To Battle Stations!

The Galactic Civil War rages across the galaxy, consuming entire star systems in the turmoil of war. In Imperial Assault, you can influence this galactic struggle in the favor of the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance as you battle on countless planets. Grab your blasters and prepare to begin your first mission.

Visit your local retailer and pick up your copy of Imperial Assault!

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Source: Begin Your Assault

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Under the Skin

Tim Cox Previews a Scenario for Zombie Apocalypse

What if, all of a sudden, your friends and family weren’t themselves? And not just them, but your neighbors, coworkers – everyone. Even your pets. They still look like themselves, and even talk like themselves (except your pets, obviously)… mostly. But something’s off. That’s bad enough, but it gets so much worse. There’s something under their skin.
    –Under the Skin, Zombie Apocalypse

You’ll face countless zombies and unimaginable dangers in Zombie Apocalypse, the first book of The End of the World line. Five distinct scenarios each offer a different take on the rise of the living dead, and you’ll need all your wits and skills if you want to survive.

Some threats you may recognize from classic zombie movies or literature, but others are a little bit stranger. Today, Tim Cox, the writer who adapted Zombie Apocalypse from El Fin del Mundo, shares his thoughts on the game’s scenarios and goes in depth with his particular favorite: a scenario called Under the Skin…

Writer Tim Cox on Reinventing the Apocalypse

Zombie Apocalypse includes five distinct scenarios, each covering a different way that the world might end – specifically, with a different kind of zombie invasion. There are fast-moving infected zombies, corpses animated by a mysterious, radioactive meteor, the traditional living dead, and more. It was an exciting challenge for me to work on essentially five games at once, exploring the various dangers that players (and the rest of humanity!) might face under various circumstances. All of the scenarios were a blast to write, and it gave me a great reason to go back and binge-watch some classic (and not-so-classic) zombie movies – as if I really needed an excuse!

Writing for Zombie Apocalypse was a very different experience than working on previous Fantasy Flight Games RPG products that I’ve contributed to. FFG’s The End of the World game line is based on Edge Entertainment’s El Fin del Mundo series. Each scenario in Zombie Apocalypse takes its core concept from El Fin del Mundo, but as I wrote the scenarios, I had a lot of room to work with developing the scenarios and putting my own twist on them.

All in all, developing each scenario and working to make each one unique was a great experience. In addition to providing background information and general guidance for GMs, all scenarios include sample locations with encounter seeds and a timeline of events. The timeline helps GMs gauge the spread of the outbreak on a global scale, measuring how the world around the PCs changes regardless of their actions. Of course, PCs might be able to affect events to some extent, but The End of the World is not about preventing the apocalypse – you’re just trying to survive!

The Monster Within

Each scenario has its own unique elements that I really enjoy, but the scenario called Under the Skin stands out as a particular favorite. As much as I love “classic” zombies (which receive plenty of attention in Zombie Apocalypse, don’t worry), I was hoping to do something a little different that would hopefully surprise and maybe even frighten the players. The concept for this scenario – zombies that continue to “live” even when cut apart – and some very interesting artwork gave me a lot to ideas for developing a distinct zombie apocalypse.

The key to figuring out how these zombies would work and what set them apart was deciding the cause. I’ll give a spoiler alert now: if you don’t want the details about the cause of these zombies, you might want to skip to the end. In a nutshell, the “zombies” in this scenario aren’t animated corpses, but humans and animals infected by a parasitic organism. These parasites initially affect the behavior of the hosts, causing an uncontrollable hunger for fresh, living brains! As the infection continues, the ravenous parasites begin to break down the host’s body and consume it from within. So, in effect, we get two kinds of zombies in one. Zombies in the first stages of infection are intelligent, living hosts that use clever tricks and even weapons to eat their neighbors. In the later stages, the zombies are brain-dead corpses animated by the parasite within and almost impossible to destroy. Even when limbs get chopped off, the parasite continues to animate them!

Because these parasite hosts are so unlike more familiar undead or rage zombies, it meant giving a lot of thought to different factors and how they might affect a game. This included how the parasite spread, how quickly it affected a host, and – most importantly – how the parasite and infected hosts could be killed.

The parasite hosts offer varied challenges and encounters for players at each stage of infection. Those in the early phases are difficult to distinguish from ordinary people, and smart enough to conceal their nature until it’s too late. This required a different kind of approach from other zombies, which are generally obviously undead and not too bright. It was a lot of fun coming up with examples of strange behavior or methods of attack for these hosts, and I think GMs will also enjoy it!

After the End

Each scenario also includes a Post-Apocalypse section, giving players “lucky” enough to live through the apocalypse the chance to try their hand at surviving after the collapse of civilization. Each Post-Apocalypse presents its own situations and environments for the players to contend with and navigate, from blasted ruins ruled by vicious gangs to dystopian corporate-controlled cityscapes.

Under the Skin has perhaps the most extreme Post-Apocalypse section. To put it briefly, a practically indestructible parasite spreading throughout the environment and infecting most of the population calls for drastic measures. If the players survive long enough, they might be among the fortunate few relocated to secure, quarantined underground facilities while the surface is subjected to a thermo-nuclear scorched-earth campaign. I wouldn’t advise going up top without some serious protective gear. But at least there are no more parasites…

Thanks, Tim!

In Zombie Apocalypse, you’ll have to test yourself against parasite-infected zombies and other deadly denizens of the end times. Even if your fight for survival takes you to the Post-Apocalypse, there are endless trials and horrors in store for you at the end of the world.

Pre-order Zombie Apocalypse at your local retailer today!

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Source: Under the Skin

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Tame the Wildest Reaches of the Galaxy

Four New Edge of the Empire (TM) Specialization Decks Are Now Available

“The Jundland Wastes are not to be traveled lightly.”

    –Obi-Wan Kenobi

In the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ Roleplaying Game, a Colonist’s life is full of danger. You have your outstanding Obligations and your own reasons for avoiding the Empire, but you’re never really free from your debtors, bounty hunters, and Imperial agents. Moreover, the distant planets you seek to settle may have atmospheres and terrain as hostile as any pack of Stormtroopers.

Fortunately, four new Specialization Decks introduce plenty of tools for overcoming all the obstacles that life sets before you. Drawn from the pages of the Far Horizons sourcebook for Colonists, these Specialization Decks each offer quick and easy access to the rules for the talents and abilities from the Entrepreneur, Marshal, and Performer specializations, as well as the Colonist Signature Abilities.

   
• Colonist Entrepreneur
  
     

   
• Colonist Marshal
  
     

   
• Colonist Performer
  
     

   
• Colonist Signature Abilities

Building Better Lives

For reasons as diverse as the Outer Rim planets they settle, Colonists abandon their Core World homes to explore and tame the wilderness. They may not always appear as rough and ragged as many of the other individuals you’ll find undertaking adventures at the Edge of the Empire, but Colonists are far more capable than they seem.

Most of them are well-educated, and many of them formerly lived among the professional and cultural elite. Their combination of education and hard-earned life experiences give them the courage and resilience to overcome any challenges put before them. They also tend to have a good perspective on the bigger picture. When the time is right, they can grab their tools, draw upon their extensive knowledge, and put their experience to good use.

Likewise, Specialization Decks are an excellent tool for players and GMs looking to manage Colonists and their many skills. Each comes with twenty talent cards, one for each of the talents in the targeted specialization’s talent tree. These cards ensure that you’ll have the rules for your talents close at hand, along with art designed to help immerse you more deeply into the Star Wars galaxy.

   
• Entrepreneurs know the power of wealth, and handle any situation with a sharp mind and a fist full of credits. For Entrepreneurs, wealth is never a problem, just a solution.

   
• Marshals keep the peace in Outer Rim towns. Often the only thing standing between law and chaos, a Marshal must dispense justice with a steady hand and steely demeanor.

   
• Whether a musician, actor, comedian, or other entertainer, the Performer is always the center of attention. Using this to his advantage is the Performer’s greatest act.

Meanwhile, the Colonist Signature Abilities deck comes with eighteen cards that neatly summarize all the rules for the different talents from the two Colonist signature abilities found in the Far Horizons sourcebook, Insightful Revelation and Unmatched Expertise.

These signature abilities allow your Colonist to make a lasting impact as a paragon of his or her trade, and the cards from Colonist Signature Abilities serve as a tangible reminder of your character’s unparalleled skill and experience.

The Tools of the Trade

Outfit your Colonist for life on the galaxy’s wildest, deadliest, and most exciting planets. Whether you’re looking to ply your skills in the service of a wealthy gangster or you’re looking to tame a planet full of untapped natural resources, these Specialization Decks provide you with the tools you’ll need to build and play your Colonist the way you want.

Pick up your copy today!

   
• Colonist Entrepreneur
  
     

   
• Colonist Marshal
  
     

   
• Colonist Performer
  
     

   
• Colonist Signature Abilities

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Source: Tame the Wildest Reaches of the Galaxy

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Tame the Wildest Reaches of the Galaxy

Four New Edge of the Empire (TM) Specialization Decks Are Now Available

“The Jundland Wastes are not to be traveled lightly.”
     –Obi-Wan Kenobi

In the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ Roleplaying Game, a Colonist’s life is full of danger. You have your outstanding Obligations and your own reasons for avoiding the Empire, but you’re never really free from your debtors, bounty hunters, and Imperial agents. Moreover, the distant planets you seek to settle may have atmospheres and terrain as hostile as any pack of Stormtroopers.

Fortunately, four new Specialization Decks introduce plenty of tools for overcoming all the obstacles that life sets before you. Drawn from the pages of the Far Horizons sourcebook for Colonists, these Specialization Decks each offer quick and easy access to the rules for the talents and abilities from the Entrepreneur, Marshal, and Performer specializations, as well as the Colonist Signature Abilities.

     
• Colonist Entrepreneur
       
     
• Colonist Marshal
       
     
• Colonist Performer
       
     
• Colonist Signature Abilities

Building Better Lives

For reasons as diverse as the Outer Rim planets they settle, Colonists abandon their Core World homes to explore and tame the wilderness. They may not always appear as rough and ragged as many of the other individuals you’ll find undertaking adventures at the Edge of the Empire, but Colonists are far more capable than they seem.

Most of them are well-educated, and many of them formerly lived among the professional and cultural elite. Their combination of education and hard-earned life experiences give them the courage and resilience to overcome any challenges put before them. They also tend to have a good perspective on the bigger picture. When the time is right, they can grab their tools, draw upon their extensive knowledge, and put their experience to good use.

Likewise, Specialization Decks are an excellent tool for players and GMs looking to manage Colonists and their many skills. Each comes with twenty talent cards, one for each of the talents in the targeted specialization’s talent tree. These cards ensure that you’ll have the rules for your talents close at hand, along with art designed to help immerse you more deeply into the Star Wars galaxy.

     
• Entrepreneurs know the power of wealth, and handle any situation with a sharp mind and a fist full of credits. For Entrepreneurs, wealth is never a problem, just a solution.
     
• Marshals keep the peace in Outer Rim towns. Often the only thing standing between law and chaos, a Marshal must dispense justice with a steady hand and steely demeanor.
     
• Whether a musician, actor, comedian, or other entertainer, the Performer is always the center of attention. Using this to his advantage is the Performer’s greatest act.

Meanwhile, the Colonist Signature Abilities deck comes with eighteen cards that neatly summarize all the rules for the different talents from the two Colonist signature abilities found in the Far Horizons sourcebook, Insightful Revelation and Unmatched Expertise.

These signature abilities allow your Colonist to make a lasting impact as a paragon of his or her trade, and the cards from Colonist Signature Abilities serve as a tangible reminder of your character’s unparalleled skill and experience.

The Tools of the Trade

Outfit your Colonist for life on the galaxy’s wildest, deadliest, and most exciting planets. Whether you’re looking to ply your skills in the service of a wealthy gangster or you’re looking to tame a planet full of untapped natural resources, these Specialization Decks provide you with the tools you’ll need to build and play your Colonist the way you want.

Pick up your copy today!

     
• Colonist Entrepreneur
       
     
• Colonist Marshal
       
     
• Colonist Performer
       
     
• Colonist Signature Abilities

...

Source: Tame the Wildest Reaches of the Galaxy

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The Woodland Realms Unite, Part Two

A Second Breakfast Article by Developer Matthew Newman

The final chapter of The Ring-maker cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is coming. The Antlered Crown is scheduled to arrive at retailers next week, and after Middle-earth’s heroes have had their chance to help Saruman and the White Council throughout the scenarios from The Voice of Isengard and the first five Adventure Packs from The Ring-maker cycle, they must now enter a region at war and fighter their way through to the cycle’s climactic conclusion!

As the heroes are going to need all the help they can get, developer Matthew Newman has decided to share a strategic pairing of decks that features the newly revamped Silvan trait. Featuring a slew of cards from The Ring-maker cycle and playable with just one copy of the Core Set and one copy each of several Adventure Packs, these decks provide a nice balance of willpower and muscle, along with a thematic exploration of what it means to be a Silvan Elf in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.

The Elves of Northern Rhovanion

In last week’s Second Breakfast article, I shared with you some thoughts on the Silvan Elves from The Ring-maker cycle and offered a sample deck, The Elven Highborn, which was designed to take advantage of the strengths of the Elves of Lórien and their leaders, Galadriel and Celeborn.

Still, there is another kingdom of Elves in Rhovanion. Thranduil, father to Legolas, rules the Elven kingdom of northern Mirkwood. As Legolas meets with the Elves of Lothlórien, I’d like to share with you a second deck, meant to pair together with The Elven Highborn. I’ll also share some thoughts on how these two decks might play together.

This week’s deck, The Spear of Mirkwood, focuses on combat and healing, using direct damage and swiftness to take care of enemies before they ever become a threat.

The Spear of Mirkwood

Heroes

Haldir of Lórien (Trouble in Tharbad, 56)
 Legolas (Core Set, 5)
 Mirlonde (The Drúadan Forest, 32)

Allies

3x Daughter of the Nimrodel (Core Set, 56)
 3x Galadhon Archer (The Nin-in-Eilph, 87)
 2x Galadhrim Minstrel (Trouble in Tharbad, 63)
 2x Henamarth Riversong (Core Set, 60)
 3x Mirkwood Runner (Return to Mirkwood, 123)
 2x Rúmil (The Three Trials, 28)
 3x Silvan Tracker (The Dead Marshes, 102)

Attachments

2x Bow of the Galadhrim (The Nin-in-Eilph, 88)
 2x Cloak of Lórien (Celebrimbor's Secret, 120)
 2x Elven Mail (The Three Trials, 29)
 2x Lembas (Trouble in Tharbad, 64)
 3x Ranger Spikes (Heirs of Númenor, 17)
 2x Rivendell Blade (Road to Rivendell, 31)
 2x Rivendell Bow (The Watcher in the Water, 57)

Events

2x Feint (Core Set, 34)
 3x Foe-hammer (The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill, 15)
 3x Hands Upon the Bow (Shadow and Flame, 131)
 3x Pursuing the Enemy (Trouble in Tharbad, 60)
 2x Rain of Arrows (Core Set, 33)
 2x The Tree People (The Dunland Trap, 9)
 2x Unseen Strike (The Redhorn Gate, 4)

Playing The Spear of Mirkwood

The Spear of Mirkwood is all about managing enemies in the staging area and preventing them from ever becoming a threat. This is accomplished in a number of different ways, and becomes easier the more players are added to the game. Because Mirlonde ensures the deck features a low starting threat of just twenty-three, it can slip past many enemies unnoticed. Those that would engage you may still be trapped with Ranger Spikes or taken out swiftly using Hands Upon the Bow, Galadhon Archers, and Rúmil. The trick is to prevent enemies from engaging you so that you can take advantage of Haldir’s ability, using him to strike enemies in the staging area or enemies engaged with other players, before they get the chance to attack. If you find yourself engaged with several enemies, a well-timed combo of Rain of Arrows and Pursuing the Enemy can defeat more than one enemy at the same time!

In order to make this strategy easier, The Spear of Mirkwood contains an assortment of weapons which can be placed on Haldir or Legolas. The goal is to allow them to take enemies out in one shot, using Bow of the Galadhrim and Rivendell Blade. If these weapons are not enough to take out stronger enemies, Unseen Strike and some direct damage can surely do the trick. You can even place a Rivendell Bow on Mirlonde so she doesn’t feel left out. Better yet, give your Rivendell Bows to the Mirkwood Runners and they can take advantage of their abilities to penetrate an enemy’s defenses from afar.

Because most of the deck’s allies are a bit expensive, you have two Lore heroes and two copies of The Tree People. Your best bet is to use The Tree People on Galadhon Archers or Galadhrim Minstrels, so that you can play them again and trigger their Response abilities. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to get a three-cost Silvan Tracker, Mirkwood Runner, or Daughter of the Nimrodel for free. Since The Tree People doesn’t require exhausting the target character, you can also play it on Henamarth Riversong after looking at the top card of the encounter deck, then play him again for one resource and commit him to the quest.

Customizing The Spear of Mirkwood

As with The Elven Highborn, The Spear of Mirkwood can be customized or altered in many ways to suit your own needs or wants. Since this deck is very attachment and event-heavy, you might wish to add some other non-Silvan Tactics or Lore allies to help round it out. Also, The Spear of Mirkwood is built with the themes of the Silvans and the woodland realms in mind, so there are many cards that have been left out in order to complement this theme. In particular, the Horn of Gondor (Core Set, 42) makes for a wonderful addition to this deck, giving you resources every time you bounce a Silvan to your hand. Finally, if you have enough copies of The Tree People and Galadhrim Minstrel, these cards are useful enough to increase to three copies in both The Spear of Mirkwood and The Elven Highborn.

The Woodland Realms Unite!

While both The Elven Highborn and The Spear of Mirkwood are solid decks when played by themselves, they really shine when paired with one another.

Playing The Spear of Mirkwood:

Due to the high gap in starting threat between the two decks, most enemies will engage your partner. Your role is to focus on ranged combat and defeat the enemies revealed each turn, using Haldir’s ability as often as possible. If your partner is besieged by too many enemies to pick off with Haldir, you can use Rain of Arrows and Pursuing the Enemy to let fly a volley of arrows, and then you can pick off any stragglers with your ranged heroes. While your Willpower isn’t as high as your partner’s, you can still contribute to the quest. Ranger Spikes reduces an enemy’s threat, and Hands Upon the Bow allows you to pick off enemies in the staging area before resolving the quest.

Your deck features two defensive attachments, Cloak of Lórien and Elven Mail, which are intended for your partner; they can turn Celeborn, Elrond, or a Defender of the Naith into a defensive powerhouse who can grapple with the toughest of enemies, keeping them occupied while you pelt them with arrows from afar.

Playing The Elven Highborn:

Your most important boon to offer your partner is Celeborn’s ability, which is global and affects all Silvan allies that enter play, even the Lore and Tactics allies your partner plays. You can also use O Lórien! to discount your partner’s allies, making it easier to play clutch allies like Silvan Tracker or Galadhon Archer. Used tactically, O Lórien allows you and your partner to take the best advantage of the allies in your hands at any given moment. Additionally, the healing generated by your partner’s allies are amplified by Elrond’s ability, which makes even a single Silvan Tracker a huge benefit to both players. If your partner’s threat is starting to get high enough to attract the attention of enemies, thus reducing the benefit of Haldir’s ability, you can use Galadriel to lower the threat and provide some helpful card draw. Finally, in a pinch, you can use Stand and Fight to retrieve a defeated Silvan Tracker or Galadhon Archer from your partner’s discard pile.

The Woodlands Await You

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these two decks and the strengths of the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien. Feel free to assemble them and give them a shot through The Ring-maker cycle, or if you feel you have an even better Silvan deck to share, post it on our forums and discuss it with the rest of the community! As smoke rises over the ragged hills of Dunland, we’ll need all the help we can get…

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Source: The Woodland Realms Unite, Part Two

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Guarding the Land of Steel

Preview the Daqan Units of the Hernfar Guardians Army Pack

Countless Blood Harvesters filled the water, their scythes shining in the darkness. Torches and fires were being lit throughout Hernfar Isle, signaling that Citadel Guards and Knights were on the way, but for now a few Greyhaven Battlemages would have to hold off the invasion alone. As the hulking forms of the Uthuk Y’llan forces began to come ashore, one mage held aloft a rune and shouted an attack spell at the top of her lungs…

Take up arms against the ravenous hordes of the Uthuk Y’llan with Hernfar Guardians, an Army Pack expansion for BattleLore Second Edition. Hernfar Guardians features four new Daqan units, from mages skilled in combat magic to thundering metal automatons. With the included army cards, these units and the included Citadel Guard units can be instantly delployed in two different, complete, formidable armies, each able to stand firm against any onslaught. Or, you can combine units from Hernfar Guardians with those from the core set for a custom army suited to the battle at hand.

In today’s preview you’ll learn about these new Daqan units, their unique abilities, and the strategic strength of both the Hernfar Guardians and Tranlon’s Raiders armies.

Shield Your Forces and Trample Your Enemy

The powerful Greyhaven Battlemages are experts in battlefield spells trained in Terrinoth's center of magical knowledge. With the same movement, combat value, and health as Citadel Guards, they can be used in many of the same ways. Unlike the Citadel Guards, however, the Greyhaven Battlemages are not limited to melee fighting. Their combat magic can attack an enemy as far as three hexes away.

Two unit abilities allow these fearless wizards to benefit the entire army with their spells. Catalyst lets you draw a lore card and gain a lore point for every  result a unit of Battlemages rolls during combat, so that you can cycle through the lore deck quickly and keep the most tactically beneficial lore cards in hand. Rune Shield, activated with a  result, protects a friendly unit within one hex of the Caster unit that rolled it, allowing the protected unit to ignore one damage the next time it is attacked. Deploy a unit of Greyhaven Battlemages in the front lines, or pair them with another unit advancing into enemy territory to shield and support the entire advance.

A heavily armored cavalry unit is also joining the Daqan army: the Citadel Lancers. They are not as fast as the Riverwatch Riders, but the do have a higher combat value and two deadly unit abilities. Charge, activated with a  result, does damage to target units that your unit of Citadel Lancers moved towards during the Move Step, as if these horsemen’s momentum literally carries them into the enemy. Their strong horses can also Trample, doing damage for every retreat that a supported enemy unit ignores. The Riverwatch Riders excel in supporting friendly units and speeding behind enemy lines, but when you want to forcefully break an enemy line, deploy Citadel Lancers.

Stand Firm with Iron and Stone

The Greyhaven Battlemages and Citadel Lancers make a fast and fierce offensive team, but a balanced army is strong both offensively and defensively. Behind your infantry and cavalry, therefore, the armored Ironbound and a huge Siege Golem form a solid defensive wall of iron and stone. Both of these units are designed to stand firm and wipe out attacking enemies while taking minimal damage.

The magically controlled Ironbound automatons can easily wipe out an enemy unit with a single attack. With a combat value of four, they can do as much damage as a Roc Warrior and, thanks to their Armor ability, they ignore the first  result produced each combat. Their only limitation is in mobility: during the move step an Ironbound unit can only move one hex. If you spend a lore at the moment you order it, however, the unit can move one hex further, so as long as you have Greyhaven Battlemages fighting and maintaining your pool of lore, your Ironbound will remain as mobile as your Citadel Guards.

The Siege Golem, an immense, four-legged, artillery-carrying Rune Golem, is the most massive Daqan unit yet to take the field. Their sheer size gives these ranged units a health of six, and makes them Immovable so they can ignore a retreat, but it also prevents them from moving and attacking in the same turn. Yet, a Siege Golem can shoot as far as up to six hexes away, and ignores other units when determining line of sight, so you will not have to move it very often. The Barrage ability enables a Siege Golem to score a hit even when missing its main target: a  result causes damage to an enemy unit adjacent to the target unit. Positioning a Siege Golem close behind your front lines gives you the chance to eradicate approaching enemies long before those front units engage in melee combat.

Defend and Destroy

The army cards featured in Hernfar Guardians suggest two thoroughly different armies, each with its own strategic purpose. The Hernfar Guardians army is a defensive force, designed to protect the small, settled island that sits at the border between Terrinoth and the territory of the Uthuk Y’llan– the first place to be attacked in an invasion. The infantry component – two units of Greyhaven Battlemages – is smaller than the defensive line consisting of two Ironbound units and one Siege Golem. Citadel Lancers are included to herd the enemy units into perilous positions and trample them across the field, while a Crystal Spire hex is included to give any unit stationed on it an extra die during combat – perhaps your Siege Golem will linger there to make its artillery even more deadly.

Tranlon’s Raiders, on the other hand, with a five-unit infantry made of Citadel Guards and Greyhaven Battlemages, is made for making inroads into enemy territory and slaying as many of the enemy as possible while moving forward. This huge infantry force is supported by two units of Citadel Lancers and two units of Ironbound. You could send the Citadel Lancers ahead to ease the way for your swarm of guards and mages, keeping the Ironbound on the sides to prevent your forced from being flanked. Another option is to divide and conquer your opponent, attacking them with a cluster of mages, cavalry, and Ironbound on each side. Once more, a Crystal Spire allows you to make one hex a particularly strong location for any Daqan unit positioned there.

Take Command

Use the army cards to instantly put strong Daqan deployments on the battlefield, or combine the units introduced in Hernfar Guardians with those from the core set of BattleLore Second Edition.  For an impenetrable defensive force, you might combine Siege Golems and Ironbound with Rune Golems and a few Citadel Guards. If speed is what you’re looking for, pair the Greyhaven Battlemages and Citadel Lancers with Riverwatch Riders and a Roc Warrior, who can distract the enemy troops as the cavalry outflanks their defenses. Whether you use the included army cards or deploy armies specifically suited to your strengths as a commander, the new units of Hernfar Guardians promise to transform your battles.

In our next preview, you’ll discover the Uthuk Y’llan units and armies of the Warband of Scorn Army Pack expansion. Future previews will explore the new lore cards and scenarios introduced in each Army Pack. You can also visit the BattleLore Second Edition minisite for more details.

Pre-order Hernfar Guardians from your local retailer today!

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Source: Guarding the Land of Steel

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The Darkness On the Doorstep

Nightmare Decks Are Now Available for the Second Half of The Hobbit Saga

 

“A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side.”

    –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The time has come to summon up your courage once more and rejoin the illustrious burglar, Bilbo Baggins, along his adventures through the second half of The Hobbit. However, this time, the woods are darker, the enemies are stronger, and the threat of death by dragon flame is greater than ever…

The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Nightmare Decks are now available for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. With new encounter and setup cards for you to add to the classic scenarios from The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, these Nightmare Decks add new challenges, twists, and replay value to some of the game’s best loved adventures.

Think you have what it takes to confront Smaug in Nightmare Mode? Developer Caleb Grace shares more about the new challenges these Nightmare Decks offer the veteran players daring enough to confront them.

Flies and Spiders

I remember that the most daunting part of designing On the Doorstep was coming up with a fresh way to represent the Spiders of Mirkwood in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Several of the scenarios from the Core Set and the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle did a fantastic job of bringing them to life, and I wanted to introduce something equally compelling but mechanically unique. The scenario’s poison mechanic ended up doing that for me, and the Nightmare Mode version pushes this mechanic to the extreme.

Poison created a sort of countdown timer for characters, but in Standard Mode characters that are poisoned don’t appear to be adversely affected right up until they are made unconscious. In Nightmare Mode, this changes. In Nightmare Mode, the whole Flies and Spiders scenario is loaded with effects that represent the harmful qualities of the spiders’ poison. Even as the poison surges through your characters’ bodies and pushes them toward unconsciousness, it makes them susceptible to other threats, as well.

Two of my favorite are Attercop (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 2) and Dark Colony (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 4).

The six-Attack Strength enemy, Attercop, cannot be defended by poisoned characters, and it gets a one-point reduction in engagement cost for each poison card in play. Meanwhile, the four-Threat Strength location, Dark Colony, prevents poisoned characters from readying while it is the active location.  Effects like these really bring the threat of spider poison to the forefront of this scenario, and to drive it home, the Flies and Spiders setup card (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 1) forces each player to give one poison to a hero he controls during at the start of the game!

The Lonely Mountain

The Lonely Mountain was originally designed before Easy Mode and Nightmare Mode existed, but our team was already discussing ways to introduce multiple levels of difficulty. I saw an opportunity to merge a scaling difficulty with the scenario’s theme by giving players the option of deciding how much treasure they wanted to steal from Smaug’s hoard. It seemed fitting that the greedier players who sought to burgle all Smaug’s treasures would also face a greater degree of difficulty.

As a result, the easiest way to defeat the scenario was to steal just a single treasure from under The Lonely Mountain (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 43) and move on. In Nightmare Mode, we’ve taken away that option. The setup card for The Lonely Mountain (The Lonely Mountain Nightmare Deck, 1) decrees that the players cannot advance to stage three while there is at least one card stacked under the titular location. That means the players have to successfully burgle all five treasure cards from under The Lonely Mountain before they can advance to the final stage.

The scenario’s setup card also makes it harder to defeat Smaug. Now, it is impossible to damage him without first attaching A Bare Patch (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 39). Smaug was already a formidable enemy, so it wasn’t really necessary to make him any more aggressive. Instead, we wanted to prevent players from being able to destroy the dragon immediately after reaching stage three. This decision to make the players discover Smaug’s weak spot before being able to damage him seemed both thematically appropriate and mechanically wise since it reinforced the theme of burgling at stage three.

The rest of the cards in the encounter set focus on increasing each player’s threat to represent the heroes raising Smaug’s suspicions and arousing his ire. Speaking of which, Belching Fire (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 50) is replaced by four copies of the treachery card, The Dragon’s Ire (The Lonely Mountain Nightmare Deck, 6). Where previously Smaug could attack one player unexpectedly during the quest phase, now the dragon can attack each player!

The Battle of Five Armies

Many of the players who have played through The Hobbit: On the Doorstep have named The Battle of Five Armies as their favorite scenario. The decisions they make each round about which quest stage to tackle, and the repercussions of those decisions, give players the feeling they are caught up in a conflict bigger than their heroes, and they just can’t be everywhere at once.

In Nightmare Mode, these decisions are given even greater weight and importance with the introduction of more aggressive enemies and locations. Instead of a Gundabad Wolf Rider (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 55), who removes one progress from the current quest when it attacks, players will have to face the Frenzied Warg-Rider (The Battle of Five Armies Nightmare Deck, 3), who removes one progress from each quest stage when it attacks. Then there’s the Embattled Valley (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 5), which forces each player to assign X damage among heroes he controls at the end of each round, where X is the number of quest stages with no progress on them. The result is that you have more reason than ever to place progress upon each quest stage, but you have to work harder to do so.

Of course, if you were playing The Battle of Five Armies in Standard Mode, you’d gain a reprieve from all the effects that remove progress from the quest as soon as you reached stage five, since progress cannot be placed on that stage. However, there’s no escape from these effects in Nightmare Mode. Instead, we used these effects to further enhance the feeling of battle at stage five by adding an exciting effect to the scenario’s setup card (The Battle of Five Armies Nightmare Deck, 1):

“While the players are at stage 5b, this card gains: ‘Forced: When the players are instructed to remove any amount of progress from a quest stage, place 1 progress here instead.’”

Now, if Bolg’s armies succeed in placing a certain number of progress on the setup card, they win the battle, and the players lose the game! In Nightmare Mode, this mechanic makes the encounter deck even more dangerous at stage five and creates a lot of tension as the players must defeat the goblins before they themselves are defeated.

Thanks, Caleb!

Bilbo Baggins and his companions stand once more at the threshold of Mirkwood. Can you help them survive the forest and the dangers that follow? Will Bilbo survive to play his part in the greater fate of Middle-earth, or will he fall before the onslaught of dragon fire and goblin armies?

Steel your nerves for the darkest and deadliest perils you’ve yet faced in The Hobbit Saga Expansions for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Decks are now available!

...

Source: The Darkness On the Doorstep

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The Darkness On the Doorstep

Nightmare Decks Are Now Available for the Second Half of The Hobbit Saga

 

“A door five feet high and three broad was outlined, and slowly without a sound swung inwards. It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side.”
     –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The time has come to summon up your courage once more and rejoin the illustrious burglar, Bilbo Baggins, along his adventures through the second half of The Hobbit. However, this time, the woods are darker, the enemies are stronger, and the threat of death by dragon flame is greater than ever…

The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Nightmare Decks are now available for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. With new encounter and setup cards for you to add to the classic scenarios from The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, these Nightmare Decks add new challenges, twists, and replay value to some of the game’s best loved adventures.

Think you have what it takes to confront Smaug in Nightmare Mode? Developer Caleb Grace shares more about the new challenges these Nightmare Decks offer the veteran players daring enough to confront them.

Flies and Spiders

I remember that the most daunting part of designing On the Doorstep was coming up with a fresh way to represent the Spiders of Mirkwood in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Several of the scenarios from the Core Set and the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle did a fantastic job of bringing them to life, and I wanted to introduce something equally compelling but mechanically unique. The scenario’s poison mechanic ended up doing that for me, and the Nightmare Mode version pushes this mechanic to the extreme.

Poison created a sort of countdown timer for characters, but in Standard Mode characters that are poisoned don’t appear to be adversely affected right up until they are made unconscious. In Nightmare Mode, this changes. In Nightmare Mode, the whole Flies and Spiders scenario is loaded with effects that represent the harmful qualities of the spiders’ poison. Even as the poison surges through your characters’ bodies and pushes them toward unconsciousness, it makes them susceptible to other threats, as well.

Two of my favorite are Attercop (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 2) and Dark Colony (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 4).

The six-Attack Strength enemy, Attercop, cannot be defended by poisoned characters, and it gets a one-point reduction in engagement cost for each poison card in play. Meanwhile, the four-Threat Strength location, Dark Colony, prevents poisoned characters from readying while it is the active location.  Effects like these really bring the threat of spider poison to the forefront of this scenario, and to drive it home, the Flies and Spiders setup card (Flies and Spiders Nightmare Deck, 1) forces each player to give one poison to a hero he controls during at the start of the game!

The Lonely Mountain

The Lonely Mountain was originally designed before Easy Mode and Nightmare Mode existed, but our team was already discussing ways to introduce multiple levels of difficulty. I saw an opportunity to merge a scaling difficulty with the scenario’s theme by giving players the option of deciding how much treasure they wanted to steal from Smaug’s hoard. It seemed fitting that the greedier players who sought to burgle all Smaug’s treasures would also face a greater degree of difficulty.

As a result, the easiest way to defeat the scenario was to steal just a single treasure from under The Lonely Mountain (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 43) and move on. In Nightmare Mode, we’ve taken away that option. The setup card for The Lonely Mountain (The Lonely Mountain Nightmare Deck, 1) decrees that the players cannot advance to stage three while there is at least one card stacked under the titular location. That means the players have to successfully burgle all five treasure cards from under The Lonely Mountain before they can advance to the final stage.

The scenario’s setup card also makes it harder to defeat Smaug. Now, it is impossible to damage him without first attaching A Bare Patch (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 39). Smaug was already a formidable enemy, so it wasn’t really necessary to make him any more aggressive. Instead, we wanted to prevent players from being able to destroy the dragon immediately after reaching stage three. This decision to make the players discover Smaug’s weak spot before being able to damage him seemed both thematically appropriate and mechanically wise since it reinforced the theme of burgling at stage three.

The rest of the cards in the encounter set focus on increasing each player’s threat to represent the heroes raising Smaug’s suspicions and arousing his ire. Speaking of which, Belching Fire (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 50) is replaced by four copies of the treachery card, The Dragon’s Ire (The Lonely Mountain Nightmare Deck, 6). Where previously Smaug could attack one player unexpectedly during the quest phase, now the dragon can attack each player!

The Battle of Five Armies

Many of the players who have played through The Hobbit: On the Doorstep have named The Battle of Five Armies as their favorite scenario. The decisions they make each round about which quest stage to tackle, and the repercussions of those decisions, give players the feeling they are caught up in a conflict bigger than their heroes, and they just can’t be everywhere at once.

In Nightmare Mode, these decisions are given even greater weight and importance with the introduction of more aggressive enemies and locations. Instead of a Gundabad Wolf Rider (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 55), who removes one progress from the current quest when it attacks, players will have to face the Frenzied Warg-Rider (The Battle of Five Armies Nightmare Deck, 3), who removes one progress from each quest stage when it attacks. Then there’s the Embattled Valley (The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, 5), which forces each player to assign X damage among heroes he controls at the end of each round, where X is the number of quest stages with no progress on them. The result is that you have more reason than ever to place progress upon each quest stage, but you have to work harder to do so.

Of course, if you were playing The Battle of Five Armies in Standard Mode, you’d gain a reprieve from all the effects that remove progress from the quest as soon as you reached stage five, since progress cannot be placed on that stage. However, there’s no escape from these effects in Nightmare Mode. Instead, we used these effects to further enhance the feeling of battle at stage five by adding an exciting effect to the scenario’s setup card (The Battle of Five Armies Nightmare Deck, 1):

“While the players are at stage 5b, this card gains: ‘Forced: When the players are instructed to remove any amount of progress from a quest stage, place 1 progress here instead.’”

Now, if Bolg’s armies succeed in placing a certain number of progress on the setup card, they win the battle, and the players lose the game! In Nightmare Mode, this mechanic makes the encounter deck even more dangerous at stage five and creates a lot of tension as the players must defeat the goblins before they themselves are defeated.

Thanks, Caleb!

Bilbo Baggins and his companions stand once more at the threshold of Mirkwood. Can you help them survive the forest and the dangers that follow? Will Bilbo survive to play his part in the greater fate of Middle-earth, or will he fall before the onslaught of dragon fire and goblin armies?

Steel your nerves for the darkest and deadliest perils you’ve yet faced in The Hobbit Saga Expansions for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Decks are now available!

...

Source: The Darkness On the Doorstep

[RSSFeeder]

Nature's Ire

The Second Descent Cooperative Adventure Is Now Available

Nature’s Ire, the second cooperative adventure for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition, is now available via Fantasy Flight Games in-house manufacturing!

Previously available only through a Descent Game Night Kit, you can now pick up your own copy of the Nature’s Ire adventure. This expansion marks the second fully cooperative adventure for Descent Second Edition. In traditional games of Descent, one player is the overlord, controlling deadly monsters and springing traps, while up to four players battle these monsters, gathering items and experience as they move through the campaign.

Cooperative adventures like Nature’s Ire change this gameplay entirely by allowing up to four players to work together to defeat monsters and traps controlled by the game. Each cooperative adventure simulates a mini campaign in one session, inviting you to explore an expanding area, testing your wits, battling monsters, and grabbing loot and experience along the way!

Important: The rules for the Nature’s Ire expansion are not included in the box. The rules (pdf, 27.8MB) are available for free download by clicking the thumbnail to the right or from the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition support page.

Enter the Forest

In the Nature’s Ire cooperative adventure, you and your friends investigate the disappearance of the population of Blue Rock village. Accompanied by a single survivor, you must venture beneath the boughs of a foreboding forest, battling deadly foes and the forces of nature to save the missing villagers from a most gruesome fate. As you move through the adventure, new encounters and areas are revealed from a randomized Exploration deck, meaning you’ll never face the same adventure twice!

Each area that you encounter features its own objective that you must complete before you move on. You may clash with fearsome merriods on the shores of a river, or rescue hapless civilians from the clutches of goblin archers. Time is not on your side, however. If you delay too long, any number of unpleasant effects may occur. Only after an encounter has resolved, for good or for ill, can you open the next door and proceed forward in the adventure.

In Nature’s Ire, like all Descent cooperative adventures, there is no overlord player to command his monsters against you. Because of this, your objective also changes. In the cooperative variant of Descent, you and the other heroes win the game if you can make your way through the various encounters in the Exploration deck pushing forward to reach the heart of the forest and a showdown for the fate of Blue Rock’s villagers. If you rescue the civilians and defeat the forces arrayed against you, you win the game, but the threats you face along the way are legion.

Evil in the Woods

Because there’s no overlord in the cooperative variant of Descent, the overlord track replaces the overlord’s objective. A fate token and a doom token are placed at opposite ends of the overlord track, and if these tokens ever meet, the heroes lose the game. The doom token advances slowly, but once it moves forward, it never retreats. The fate token, however, fluctuates based on the outcomes of your encounters. For example, if a hero is knocked out, fate advances by one, but successfully completing a main encounter may allow you to reset the fate token to the beginning of its track.

Bloodthirsty monsters lurk in the shadow of the forest in Nature’s Ire, and you’ll enter combat with ettins, goblin archers, merriods, and cave spiders. Monsters in cooperative Descent adventures are controlled by a unique deck of monster activation cards that gives monsters a list of actions. Each turn, after the heroes have moved and activated, one monster activation card is revealed, and every monster on the map resolves actions based on the card. Because each monster activation card contains different actions, you’ll never know exactly how the monsters will react to your intrusion into their forest realm.

Because cooperative Descent adventures simulate a mini campaign, you’ll have the chance to gain Class cards and collect loot for your heroes. Experience is gained after main encounters, allowing you to immediately improve your hero’s skills by purchasing new Class cards. You’ll also be able to grab new items by filling the loot track. The loot track grows with each monster you kill, and killing larger monsters gives you access to more loot. By slaying the monsters that stands in your way, you gain better weapons and armor throughout the Nature’s Ire adventure.

Save the Villagers

The village of Blue Rock lies in peril. Only you and your fellow heroes can save its people. Venture into the forest when you order your copy of Nature’s Ire, now available through our webstore!

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Source: Nature's Ire

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Life and Death in the Virtual World

The Source Is Now Available for Android: Netrunner

The drive was just a small block of metal. His hands were shaking.

Back on Earth, in the relative safety of his apartment, cyber-explorer Nasir Meidan stares at the quantum drive in his hand. He boots up his console. He wonders, was he able to complete his download? Does this drive truly contain the net’s legendary source protocols? What will he find?

After five Data Packs of thrilling lunar encounters, Corporate security measures, and armed mercenaries, all Nasir has left to do is pull up the files… The Source, the sixth and final Data Pack in the Lunar Cycle for Android: Netrunner, is now available at retailers and online through our webstore!

The Source brings the cat-and-mouse cyberstruggles of Android: Netrunner back to Earth, but its sixty new cards (three copies each of twenty different cards) ensure that game will be forever changed by your journeys. At the end of your lunar expedition, you’ll find a final look at the moon’s locations, grail ice, and Corporate divisions.

You’ll also find surprising new takes on life, evolution, and death in the virtual world. Corps gain new cards that power up their servers and others that can self-destruct. Meanwhile, self-propagating viruses explode into the network, even as talented Runners find new ways to summon programs out of the aether.

With The Source, it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll find the seeds of a new power; it’s a question of whether you’ll use that power to create or to destroy.

The Power to Create…

In Android: Netrunner, you build by developing your economy and board state, and you destroy by attacking your opponent’s economy and board state. The Source gives both Corp and Runner plenty of new tools to do both.

Corp players can quickly build up their servers and economies with ice like Errand Boy (The Source, 102) and Excalibur (The Source, 111), as well as operations like Shoot the Moon (The Source, 107).

   
• Errand Boy is a piece of ice so apparently harmless that the Runner may simply never break any of its subroutines. However, the strength of Errand Boy isn’t in what it does to the Runner but what it does for the Corp. Weyland may use it to dig for copies of Scorched Earth (Core Set, 99) or Punitive Counterstrike (True Colors, 79), or it may simply collect the credits it will eventually need to pay for those cards. On the other hand, the ice’s low influence cost means that it is equally effective in a deck built around Jinteki: Replicating Perfection (Trace Amount, 31).

   
• The last of the grail ice, Excalibur can only be broken by AI icebreakers, and this makes it a fantastic building block for a solid Corporate defense. You can pair it with Swordsman (Second Thoughts, 33) to slow down any Runner who wants to probe the server your Excalibur protects, or you could play it in a deck with Mother Goddess (Upstalk, 10) and Chimera (Cyber Exodus, 60), adding new measures of defense to a deck that forces the Runner to find unusual means of breaking or bypassing your ice. Of course, you can always hold one or two copies of Excalibur in your hand to add its subroutine to another piece of grail ice.

   
• Shoot the Moon is just the latest in a long list of reasons that Runners simply do not want NBN to tag them. If the Runner’s foolish enough to end his turn with even a single tag, the Corp can then quickly convert it into three with Big Brother (Trace Amount, 35) before playing Shoot the Moon to rez any three pieces of its ice for free. Alternately, Shoot the Moon can played after Midseason Replacements (Future Proof, 116) to quickly slam shut the early game and open a scoring window by rezzing such intimidating ice as Tollbooth (Core Set, 90) and Flare (Future Proof, 117), or even out-of-faction ice like Janus 1.0 (What Lies Ahead, 12) and Wotan (Second Thoughts, 30).

Still, the game’s Runners aren’t about to concede any ground. Instead, they’re taking advantage of their new lunar resources, and taking advantage of events like Code Siphon (The Source, 115), to build rigs full of cards like Sage (The Source, 117) and Au Revoir (The Source, 119).

   
• The game’s Shapers gain another powerful search effect in Code Siphon. After you run successfully against the Corp’s R&D, you can elect to search your stack for a program and install it, instead of accessing cards. It costs you a tag to siphon the data away from the Corp, but you can lower the cost of the program you install by three for each piece of ice protecting R&D. Notably, this works even if those ice aren’t rezzed.

   
• Sage is effectively a two-for-one program and arguably one of the game’s most efficient icebreakers. For one card and two MU, Sage grants you the ability to break both code gate and barrier subroutines, and it gains strength as you gain memory. Though it doesn’t have the full versatility of the game’s AI icebreakers, it doesn’t suffer from their weaknesses. Moreover, as both a decoder and fracter, it offers efficient interactions with cards like Wraparound (Fear and Loathing, 96) and Lockpick (Opening Moves, 6).

   
• Assembling a rig full of the best and most efficient programs and pieces of hardware is one way to gain an economic advantage over your rival, but you can gain advantages in other ways, as well. You might force the Corp into overspending by assembling a cost-effective early rig of Snitch (Cyber Exodus, 45) and multiple copies of Au Revoir. Will the Corp allow you to run straight through its ice? Or will it pay the cost to rez it, knowing that you’ll simply jack out and collect your credits anytime the ice might damage you? Either way, you win.

…Or to Destroy

The same tools that can be used to create can be used to destroy. For example, you can use the credits that your Errand Boy grants you to pay for Markus 1.0 (The Source, 104) and trash the Runner’s cards, or you could use them to boost the trace you initiate with Troll (The Source, 108). Likewise, a Criminal Runner gaining credits with Au Revoir might choose to spend them on Bribery (The Source, 118), making it prohibitively expensive for the Corp to rez its ice.

Still, there are destructive measures rooted in The Source that are even more drastic.

Runners can accelerate the potency of their virus programs with Incubator (The Source, 113), reducing the amount of time it takes a Parasite (Core Set, 12) to eat through a piece of ice or for a Medium (Core Set, 10) to power up a Demolition Run (Core Set, 3) that can immediately force the Corp into a desperate end game.

However, there’s no card from The Source that’s more flagrantly destructive than the Corp upgrade Self-destruct (The Source, 112). Not only does it trash all cards in or protecting the server it enhances, Self-destruct also stands a good chance of dealing three net damage to any Runner who stumbles into it. Even better, because it can be used at any point during a run on its server, Self-destruct ensures your agendas won’t fall into Runner hands, even if they’re protected only by a piece of ice as thin as a Paper Wall (Mala Tempora, 59) or Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus, 56). Instead, you can blow up your Self-destruct as a properly equipped Runner approaches, blow up your ice, and blow up your agenda, leaving the Runner with nothing to find except a trace attempt with a base strength of three.

Unlock Your True Potential

Will you use The Source to create new virtual worlds or reduce them to ash? The choice is yours. The Source is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore.

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Source: Life and Death in the Virtual World

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Retailers: Pre-order Your Spring 2015 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Call of Cthulhu

The application window for our Spring 2015 Tournament Kits is now closed.

In the coming weeks, we will have more information about other upcoming opportunities for you to get involved with FFG Organized Play. Be sure to check our website for updates.

 

 

A game of nightmares, horror, and brave investigators fighting for the fate of the world, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Spring 2015 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is December 29th, and the Spring season begins in March.

How Do I Use a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are designed for use with our competitive games, such as Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, and they can be used in several ways. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. Run an eight-week tournament series or league, use the prizes to support a single, large tournament, or host a weekly casual game night. Tournament Kits also come with a guide that provides tips and ideas on how to run a great event.

What’s in the Spring 2015 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit?

Each Spring 2015 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with exciting prizes and materials to help tournament organizers:

     
• One playmat depicting Ruinous Star Spawn
     
• Two copies of an alternate art Twilight Gate
     
• Seventeen copies of an alternate art Dreamlands Fanatic
     
• Four deck boxes featuring Ruinous Star Spawn
     
• A promotional poster depicting Ruinous Star Spawn
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Spring 2015 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is December 29th, with the season starting in March.

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Source: Retailers: Pre-order Your Spring 2015 Tournament Kits

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Retailers: Pre-order Your Spring 2015 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Android: Netrunner

The application window for our Spring 2015 Tournament Kits is now closed.

In the coming weeks, we will have more information about other upcoming opportunities for you to get involved with FFG Organized Play. Be sure to check our website for updates.

 

 

Pitting two players against each other in a high-stakes, futuristic cyberstruggle, Android: Netrunner continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Spring 2015 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is December 29th, and the Spring season begins in March.

How Do I Use a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are designed for use with our competitive games, such as Android: Netrunner, and they can be used in several ways. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. Run an eight-week tournament series or league, use the prizes to support a single, large tournament, or host a weekly casual game night. Tournament Kits also come with a guide that provides tips and ideas on how to run a great event.

What’s in the Spring 2015 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit?

Each Spring 2015 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit comes with exciting prizes and materials to help tournament organizers:

     
• One playmat depicting the Criminal runner Silhouette
     
• Two copies of an alternate art Gordian Blade
     
• Seventeen copies of an alternate art Pop-up Window
     
• Four Criminal deck boxes featuring Silhouette
     
• A promotional poster depicting the Criminal runner Silhouette
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Order Your Kits Today

Don’t miss out on Spring 2015 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kits! Order your kits now through your distributor or our B2B store. The deadline to order is December 29th, with the season starting in March.

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Source: Retailers: Pre-order Your Spring 2015 Tournament Kits