Month in Review: August 2018

Another month has gone by, and while the blog has been silent for a while, the game feels more alive than ever, with news articles every week and some fan-made content as well. Lets quickly take a look at what this month has brought us.

August

August has been a quiet month on the blog, as I and many co-authors have been taking it slow and have been on holiday during this month. As a result, not a lot of articles were posted, though a lot of news did get released by FFG. At the start of the month, GenCon released the Withered Heath expansion, and during the last week, we got details on this year’s Fellowship event. Since the Fellowship event is rumoured to be at the end of September, it seems that next month will be very exciting.

Cycle Scenarios

But back to the blog for a minute. As some of you have noticed, we didn’t post a lot of regular scenarios, though we did finish the Ringmaker cycle this month. This leads us to the Angmar Awakened cycle, which has already begun with the first scenario. I will be continuing this progression style of writing for next month as well, at least finishing the Deluxe and maybe dipping my toe into the various Adventure Packs of this cycle. I will be taking help from other authors who would like to do the write up for some of these scenarios, so hopefully next month will see about 4 new articles on this cycle.

Saga Scenarios

With me not being involved directly with these articles, they have stalled for now as their authors are enjoying their holidays. In September, we are hoping to bring you the end of the Road Darkens box and the beginning of the Treason of Saruman box. For the rest, I will be keeping the other scenarios on a low burner for a while, as there is a lot of content that can get posted next month as well.

Nightmare Scenarios

Yes, this has become a thing! I posted the first Nightmare scenario analysis on the blog this month about the Passage through Mirkwood scenario. I will be looking to do other Nightmare scenarios in the future, though I do not yet own a lot of them right now. I feel like I should own the Nightmare packs before I start talking about them, as well as having played them a couple of times. With that said, I do own Hunt For Gollum, and will likely make that the next Nightmare analysis next month. After that, I do also have Steward’s Fear, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Trait Analyses

Like I said last month, I wasn’t too sure if I had the time and inspiration for any trait analyses. As such, I haven’t posted any this month. But in light of the scenario analyses going to Arnor, I might do a Dunedain article next month and talk about their ability to survive with multiple enemies engaged.

Staples

The staples have been on a low burner as well this month, as I was away and spent my time writing the scenario analyses. I will be returning to this segment next month with Player deck scrying, and maybe throw in another article on a different mechanic in there as well. With that said, these articles aren’t the focus of the blog, and will have to be delayed for scenario analyses if it comes to that decision.

Additional Articles

Despite the lack of content this month, I did post a new article on the Withered Heath. As per usual, I got the pack early again (can’t tell you why, though I am not complaining). I decided to write a new impressions article on the player cards and the quest, though I did not go into depth on the quest too much. I am saving that for a seperate article when I get to it. Next month, I hope to receive Roam across Rhovanion and the glorious bare-chested Haldan. That will definetly be worthy of another impressions article.

The Future

The month of September will be busy, as I start my final year of university that month. On top of this, I will be moving to a place of my own in the first week, greatly reducing my travel time between home and the faculty. This does have the benefit that I can spend more time on the blog that I would otherwise spend in public transport, but on the other hand, I will also have to set aside some of that time for household chores for which I am now responisble. Having a quiet place for my thoughts will hopefully improve the quality and the rate at which these articles are released.

Besides that, I hope to finish creating my personal loot/swag for the blog that month as well. I have done a fair bit of production already (as you could have seen when following me on Twitter) and the items will now only need some polishing and adding some finishing touches. I unfortunately got less loot than I hoped for, but at I am very happy with the result that I did get. The loot will be handed out to my supporters during Con of the Rings or will be shipped to you after the convention if you cannot make it. Only people who are Patreon supporters and/or have created articles for the blog will be eligible for the loot. If I have more left over, I would be handing out to faithful readers as well, though I might not have the luxery yet. Should I have something left over, I will be dedicating an article in October/November about how to obtain this exclusive loot.

With that said, I hope you have enjoyed your holidays as well and are looking forward to the Fellowship event next month. In the meantime, we are hoping to continue bringing you articles about this game in depth and are grateful for your support.