Due to popular demand, we’re going to put together a Lord of the Rings Legends expansion of 6 decks!
I suggested a LOTRED: Legends expansion back in 2008. Separatist and I discussed it again in 2015, and discussed holding Smaug back from The Hobbit set. Ultimately, Smaug was included in that set, but there are enough other LOTR characters to explore.
James Bungart got things started with his take on Elrond, and then JAG followed with a pretty great Sauron deck. I went ahead and finished out a draft of Isildur and JAG and I are now discussing the Balrog deck.
The set was going to be just those 4 decks, but I was inspired to come up with an Eye of Sauron deck. So, we just need to decide on the 6th deck and it’s looking like it will be Treebeard & Ents though if there was enough interest to do otherwise, we could go with Galadriel & Haldir.
So that’s the Legends set so far:
Treebeard (or maybe Galadriel)
So, anyone else that others might want to see?
For those that don’t know, LOTR was a collaborative effort in the Epic Duels Online Community in 2007-09, mostly. We released 12 original decks and 4 maps, then followed by an “Armies” expansion with 6 additional decks and 2 additional maps, then a Hobbit expansion with 8 more decks. By adding 6 more Legends decks, we’d have 32 total LOTRED decks, a pretty big set with tons of replayability.
Does anyone out there play LOTRED? Do you play online using Vassal, or have you printed your own decks and found your own figures? Let us know!
There are plenty of candidates for a Legends expansion; Treebeard (already has a deck), Beorn, Eagles, a Mumakil, The Watcher in the Water, etc. But, I don’t think I’d be hugely interested in either making or playing those decks (except maybe an Eagle deck that poked fun of their Deus Ex Machina status). Galadriel is probably the best choice for another deck, but like you I don’t think I’d play her that often.
I think we have a nice little mini set going and should just stick with finishing the four we have.
I guess I’m inspired enough to add an Eye of Sauron to the set, which means I want to add a light side character, too. We’ll go with Galadriel & Haldir unless there’s another suggestion.
Here’s where I’d like to go with this set: With the possible exception of Galadriel, these are all the heaviest of hitters: Sauron himself, in 2 forms, the Balrog, Isildur and Elrond should all be Tier 1A decks. However, they would still be beatable by other Tier 1 decks like Aragorn, Gandalf or the Witch King. The challenge is making them very powerful without being overpowered.
If I can I’d like to make a plea to include Robert’s Treebeard deck. I tried it out once and from what I can remember it wasn’t too bad. From a power level perspective, I think Treebeard is as tough as the Cave Troll if not tougher (although I don’t remember if the deck is) plus the deck is pretty much done.
I would struggle to find suitable figures for that deck, but unless I hear from others wanting Galadriel, that’s fine with me.
I would think that the Balrog would be the hardest deck to find a figure for. At least with the Ents you use miniature trees and at least get the idea across.