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http://fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1565

The Legolas preview card is awesome. I can't wait to read next week's article to get another insight of the game mechanics

Thanks for the heads-up, that was the best description of the game I've seen yet. I was surprised to see mention of the Necromancer that really opens up the timeframe for this thing, and together with this thread is giving me hope we will see expansions for the whole of Thorin's Company and their adventures along the way to confront Smaug... :)

majo said:

Legolas?  I saw Gimli, did they have a different card up earlier that I missed?  If so, someone has to spoil it for me.

you can see legolas on the main page screen banner, but yes in this article it was Gimli.

I like the story-element very much: Journey from Mirkwood along the Anduin, captured in Dol Guldur an then to Lorien.

I assume the next "story-arc" starts in Lorien, so maybe we will travel through Moria to the Hobbits

By the way: what's the situation in Moria at this time ?

Frank6 said:

In the time between the Hobbit and Bilbo's Party, Balin (Gimli's cousin, was one of the Dwarves who went to the Lonely Mountain with Thorin Oakenshield) went on the quest to reclaim Moria for the Dwarves. However all was in Vain and Balin was killed, the rest of the Dwarves were destroyed. They awoke the Balrog (which hopefully hints that a Balrog could be in this game), and the aftermath was seen in The Fellowship of the Ring. The Fellowship entered Balin's Tomb!

Thank you. I think it would be very interesting for our parties in Moria

I am really excited for this game!  I might have to re-read LOTR now...

A unique scoring system allows players to gauge the effectiveness of their party and compare how they did from session to session with different deck builds and combinations.

It will be interesting to see how the scenario/encounter deck is balanced to compensate for deck building so that it can both be beaten by the included pre-made decks, and not get walked over by player made decks that have acess to full play sets. In a co-op game you could easily make things way too easy or way too hard when building a scenario/encounter deck your self if the goal was simply to beat the scenario.

My guess is that all the scenario/encounter cards have point values, so easier cards give you less points, tougher cards give you more, and then you could try to beat your best score. This would encourage making the shadow deck as tough as possible for a higher potential score with the risk being greater chance of failure, and would also allow for competitive play in a co-op game by comparing scores between different groups and/or players.

kjpw_88 said:

If the Balrog is (or is going to be) in the game, it would be great. 

I hope the Demon of the ancient world will be in the game. I can hear Gandalf the Grey's last words: 'Fly, you fools!'...