Nightmare Run Episode 2 - Passage Through Mirkwood (Solo, Take 2)

In this episode of Nightmare Run, I get my revenge on The Passage through Mirkwood.

Sidetrack - Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Last September, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was released to much fanfare.  Instead of following the stories already told in Tolkien's Legendarium, Monolith Productions decided to make their own story.  The video game follows the story of Talion, a Gondor ranger assigned to guard the border between his home land and Mordor.  His garrison is attacked by Orcs, led by the Black Hand of Sauron.  The Black Númenórean sacrifices Talion and his family in an effort to summon a wraith, who ends up being (semi-spoiler) Celebrimbor, the Elven Lord who crafted the rings of power for Sauron.  Over the course of the game, Talion's power grows as Celebrimbor's power is revealed, and eventually he gains the power to dominate lesser minds (namely Orcs) to build an army up against the forces of Mordor.

This game does a good job of weaving old characters and new into the story without it feeling tacked on.  During parts of the game, you are following Gollum as he finds artifacts for the "Bright Master", and other times you are hunting with Torvin the dwarf, tracking down the mighty Graug.

I have enjoyed playing through this game, and hope that they continue the story.  Bringing it back to the living card game, inspired by Ian's (Tales from the Cards) work on the First Age, I have been developing custom player cards and quests to follow the adventure of Talion.  In a later post, I will share some of the cards I have made, but here's a sneak preview of what is to come:

OCTGN Tutorial

I've had a few people ask about using OCTGN, so I put together a fairly basic tutorial.  Enjoy!

Custodio de la Casa del Manantial

Today, an interesting card appeared on my Twitter feed.  A spanish LOTR blog released a supposed spoiler for an upcoming card.  Custodio de la Casa del Manantial, roughly translated to Custodian of the Spring, is a new Ent ally.

His text translates to: "Cannot have restricted attachments.  Enters play exhausted.  Response: After the Custodian of the Spring readies , heal 1 point of damage on an Ent character." The effect sounds very similar to Silvan Tracker, though more limited. There will definitely be synergy with the recently spoiled Treebeard hero, who gains willpower and attack by dealing himself damage. I hope this card turns out to be real, and if so, look forward to adding him to my Ent decks.

Sidetrack - The Lord of the Rings Deck-Building Game

Welcome to the first Sidetrack entry.  These are meant to be opportunities for me to discuss things not related to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.  For this first entry, I chose to stay close to the card game.  I'd like to talk about The Lord of the Rings Deck-Building Game.

Cryptozoic has put out a wide variety of deck-building games: Street Fighter, Naruto, DC Comics, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.  All of these are essentially the same.  All are based on the Cerberus engine, which is a fancy word for "Theme Glue".  Regardless of the theme, you basically have a hand of cards, all of which are used to either gain power (the currency of the game), hurt your opponents, or do some shenanigans.  I first played the the DC version and was not a fan.  I did not understand why I was Nightwing, but was collecting different colored power rings, or how I spent punches to buy a kick.  With that said, I actually like the Lord of the Rings version.

Why?  Maybe it's bias towards LOTR, though I am a fan  of DC Comics.  Maybe it's a bias towards DC to the point that I can't get over the abstraction.  Regardless, I enjoy it, to the point of buying all three versions, sleeving it, and even buying a custom insert so I could hold them all in one box.

What do you think? Have you played any of Cryptozoic's games, and which is your favorite?

Keep Running!

A Call to Arms

The Treason of Saruman is shipping now.  We've already had a preview of some of the cards and quests, but now we given a look at the heroes we will be getting.  We already knew about our new Fellowship hero, Aragorn v4.  Now we have our two other heroes: Théoden and Treebeard!

Many people online were predicting a new version of Théoden, considering the source material.  Personally, I had completely written off a hero version of Treebeard when we got the ally version in the last cycle.  As it stands, I'm more excited for spirit Théoden than I am hero Treebeard.  His ability to boost willpower and strength is interesting, especially since there is so much opportunity for in-sphere healing.  Théoden shows lot of promise.  Already being in the same sphere as his niece, Éowyn, shows promise by itself, but his cost reduction should make a lot of the more expensive Rohan cards more viable.  

My favorite from this update is Herugtim.  This weapon works well Théoden, either version, or Éowyn.  Add some willpower boost, like Dúnedain Quest, or Éowyn base ability, and you can get some significant attack power.  All in all, I'm excited to get my copy late next week.

Nightmare Run Episode 1 - Passage Through Mirkwood (Solo)

In the first episode of the series, Nightmare Run, I decided to take the Dúnedain through the nightmare version of our first quest, Passage Through Mirkwood.  It didn't go well..  Regardless, here it is, and I hope you enjoy!