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Encounter at Amon Dîn

Announcing the Third Adventure Pack in the Against the Shadow Cycle

“The beacons of Gondor are alight, calling for aid. War is kindled. See, there is the fire on Amon Dîn.”

    –Gandalf, The Return of the King

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Encounter at Amon Dîn, the third Adventure Pack in the Against the Shadow cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game!

Emerging from The Drúadan Forest, Middle-earth’s heroes begin their return journey to Minas Tirith, but dark plumes of smoke rise across the lands of Anórien. Amon Dîn is burning, and it falls to your heroes to save the village’s citizens from the spreading fires and the threat of an Orcish siege.

Encounter at Amon Dîn is the tale of a dramatic rescue mission, but whether the mission succeeds or fails is up to you! You’ll have to move quickly, battle Orcs, and fight fires, and you’ll need to take advantage of whatever assistance you can find. This time, you’re not just fighting for your lives; your fighting for the lives of everyone in Amon Dîn!

Hobbits to the Rescue

As you race to the aid of Amon Dîn’s besieged villagers, Encounter at Amon Dîn opens up some all-new, all-Hobbit strategies with the game’s third Hobbit hero, Pippin (Encounter at Amon Dîn, 56), and a pair of events that provide your all-Hobbit fellowship some sneaky, potent tricks.

At six starting threat and two Willpower, Pippin is an excellent, efficient questing hero. However, it’s when he’s partnered solely with other Hobbit heroes that he shines. In such company, Pippin becomes quite resourceful, gaining an extra line of text:

“Response: After an enemy engages you, raise your threat by 3 to return it to the staging area. Until the end of the round, that enemy cannot engage you.” We’ve long known that the short-statured Hobbits are good at hiding from their foes, and Pippin gives your all-Hobbit company the means to do so.

Right now, building a deck around Pippin’s ability means starting him with Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock, 25) and Bilbo Baggins (The Hunt for Gollum, 1). It also means that while your heroes may be able to avoid some enemies with Pippin’s ability and survive them with Frodo’s ability, it will be hard-pressed to fight back.

This problem can be mitigated in multiplayer games by partnering one player’s Hobbits with another player’s hefty fighters. In such games, Pippin’s ability allows the Hobbit player to focus on questing and controlling threat while other heroes defeat the enemies.

In a single player game, the situation is a bit trickier. Gandalf (Core Set, 73) will likely join the Hobbits at times and take care of some enemies, but even with Bilbo’s extra card draw, it’s hard to imagine Gandalf will be able to keep all the fellowship’s enemies at bay. Fortunately, Hobbits are crafty, and Encounter at Amon Dîn also introduces two events for your Hobbit heroes, Small Target (Encounter at Amon Dîn, 62) and Hobbit-sense (Encounter at Amon Dîn, 65).

With these tricks and with its new hero, Pippin, Encounter at Amon Dîn finally permits fans of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game to undertake their quests with a fellowship devoted to second breakfasts!

Smoke on the Wind

Look for more information on Encounter at Amon Dîn to follow, including a Hobbit-themed deck list, as we get closer to the Adventure Pack’s release.

Encounter at Amon Dîn is scheduled to arrive at retailers everywhere late in the first quarter of 2013!

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Source: Encounter at Amon Dîn (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3785)