LOTR - Khazad-Dum Expansion

[Garzini]

Into the Misty Mountains

From Orcs and Trolls to Ringwraiths and Dragons, Middle-earth is a rich and expansive world, filled with fantastic and iconic creatures. As you venture into the ancient Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm, you'll enter a place in Middle-earth far removed from the settings and creatures represented by the Core Set encounter cards. Dark tunnels teem with goblins, and any wrong turn could send you plummeting through pits to find yourself confronted by older and fouler things than Orcs.

Therefore, in addition to expanding your existing game experience, Khazad-dûm introduces nine all-new encounter sets! These unique sets, when combined into encounter decks (as instructed by the rules), make up Khazad-dûm's three included scenarios.

It's also important to note that you will need these new encounter sets to play the scenarios of the subsequent Dwarrowdelf Cycle of Adventure Packs.

So while the Khazad-dûm expansion is an exciting addition in its own right, it's also the first step in the game's next engaging narrative. With it, you'll have the option of bringing new regions to your gaming experience. Explore more of Middle-earth than ever before, from the forests of the Core Set and the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle, to the perilous caves and treacherous peaks of the Misty Mountains.

[fatolaf]

Will be up for pre-order this week

[fatolaf]

Riches worthy of song

Flush with 165 new cards (including 3 copies of each new player card), Khazad-dûm contains a wealth of new player cards, enemies, treachery cards, and locations. Its nine encounter sets create encounter decks for its three new scenarios and form the backbone of the upcoming Dwarrowdelf cycle of Adventure Packs. While most of the locations from these encounter sets work together to immerse you in the dark and dangerous passageways that traverse Moria, these new locations also expose new creative ground within the game. When your heroes explore a Plundered Armoury (Khazad-dûm, 34), you have the chance to play a Weapon or Armor attachment from your hand for free. These will be welcome additions to your fellowship as enemies press in upon you from all sides, and the ability to equip your hero with an expensive attachment like Citadel Plate (Core Set, 40) may prove the decisive edge between death and the successful completion of your quest.

Another treasure from Khazad-dûm appears as a player card. Narvi's Belt (Khazad-dûm, 3) is a fantastic, unique two-cost attachment for the Leadership sphere that will soon prove indispensable in new deck builds, joining the ranks of Steward of Gondor (Core Set, 26) and Celebrían's Stone (Core Set, 27) as the keystones of different strategies. While the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle introduces Songs that grant your heroes resource icons for each of the four spheres of influence, Narvi's Belt provides a more efficient means of granting alternate resource icons in any deck with a Dwarf character. Resource versatility results in flexible deck-building, and you may be able to better focus your heroes toward their strengths even as you draw upon the best supporting cards from all four spheres of influence to aid them on their quest.

[fatolaf]

Sneak Peek at some of the new Heroes...

A number of players have already found images of Dwalin (Khazad-dûm, 1) floating about the internet. This spirited Dwarf was the first to introduce himself to Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Hobbit, and we originally previewed this card in an article for Game Trade Magazine.

Dwalin plays nicely into two of the Spirit sphere's common strengths with his low starting threat and his built-in ability to reduce your threat whenever he destroys an Orc enemy. Meanwhile, it's a fairly safe bet that Dwalin will have plenty of opportunities to confront Orcs within the mines of Moria.

However, with only two Attack Strength, Dwalin is certainly not the game's mightiest warrior. In fact, as a combatant he pales in comparison to heroes like Gimli (Core Set, 4) and Boromir (The Dead Marshes, 95), who can cleave through foes in a single axe stroke or stand against multiple foes, fending them off and cutting back at them. Still, Dwalin is a Dwarf and benefits from a number of racial synergies. While Dáin Ironfoot (Return to Mirkwood, 116) remains standing, Dwalin gains additional prowess in battle, and a single Dwarven Axe (Core Set, 41) can boost Dwalin to four Attack Strength, enough to destroy most Orc enemies. With support, Dwalin can more than carry his weight in combat, and when he starts cutting through Orcs, he buys you time to complete your quest, safe from the threats massing in the shadows.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that Dwalin is the game's first Dwarven Spirit hero, and this opens up a whole range of new deck types built around Dwarf cards. Many of the game's most powerful events require Spirit resources, and players utilizing Dwalin in their Dwarven fellowships will have the resource icon to play them.

Similarly, the second new Dwarf hero from Khazad-dûm offers fans of the all-Dwarf party their first Lore hero. Bifur (Khazad-dûm, 2) gives fans of the short and sturdy Dwarves tremendous deck-building versatility, but he can also make an excellent addition to any deck in need of a Lore hero. Bifur shares the lowest starting threat, at seven, of any hero in the game. In fact, he's a bargain. As many players have noticed, most heroes have a starting threat equal to the sum of their Willpower, Attack Strength, Defense Strength, and Hit Points, but Bifur's is one point lower. It's worth remembering that in key moments, a single point of starting threat may prove the difference between having one last turn to prepare for combat with a Hill Troll (Core Set, 82) and having it make paste from your exhausted heroes.

While his special ability is useful, allowing players to feed him resources (often from Leadership heroes with more resource tokens than ways to spend them), it doesn't allow him to ready himself or boost all Dwarves or damage every enemy that enters play or draw cards. Thus, Bifur gives players better base statistics than any other hero of his cost. Built into the right deck, this economic advantage can pay off in dividends, especially since Bifur's two Willpower makes him a decent hero to commit to a quest, and his two Defense Strength can make him a decent defender, especially when paired with a Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock, 33)

[fatolaf]

In stock on Tuesday, order this wknd if you want one in time...

http://www.oggames.co.uk/the-lord-of-the-rings-khazad-dum-expansion.html