Month in review: April 2019

Another month has passed and it has been a wonderful month for the game. Not only did we receive news on the new Deluxe expansion and the accompanying cycle, the community also got their hands on the Mount Gundabad adventure pack and the new Journeys of Middle Earth board game. So while half the community is freaking out about “It has all led to this”, the game is in a better position than ever and I personally am looking forward to going east and discovering the new cycle.

For the blog, April has been a standard month with a steady stream of content. A lot of things are happening behind the scenes though, so in this review, we will uncover all that has happened in the last month, and I look ahead to the month of May and beyond.

April

A lot happened this month, starting with the various community contributions on April Fools’ Day. Besides that, a new AP dropped and those that pre-ordered the new Journeys game received it near the end of the month. Another big announcement comes from the Con of the Rings planning team that launched their website this month. Tickets sold out really quickly, but there may be more tickets available when October draws near. If you didn’t get a ticket this month, be sure to keep following the Con of the Rings news on their website. They may announce more available tickets near the Con if people have to return their tickets. I did pick up a ticket, so I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Minneapolis this Fall.

Scenario Analyses

Besides the continuation of the Dream-chaser cycle, we received the second, and last scenario analysis of the Two Player Deluxe Set. This rounds out that expansion, giving players who got into the game through that set a guide for playing through the scenarios. Next month will see the continuation of the Dream-chaser cycle, which we are already over halfway done with. The conclusion of this cycle draws near, meaning that the Haradrim cycle will be next on the list. Once the new Vengence of Mordor cycle begins, the Ered Mithrin cycle will also be open on the blog for analysis, although that may well take a while before we can start on that cycle’s analyses.

Nightmare Analyses

I have started work on the Nightmare Journey Along the Anduin analysis, which I hope to publish soon. Besides this, The Purple Wizard is undertaking a large project to go through the entire saga in nightmare version. Not only does he want to write the nightmare articles on these quests, but he also wants to go through them in all different player counts. These playthroughs will be added to the article to give players tips on how to beat the scenarios in any player count. Of course these articles will take some time to be written, so they will likely start appearing on the blog in the summer.

Traits

I hope everyone enjoyed the April Fools joke with the Steward trait. I would like to continue filling out the traits list, but there are just very few traits remaining at this point. During the next month, I will like start redoing the various traits that have received an update during the past cycle. On top of the reworked articles, I hope to add some more traits in the future, with the Shirrif and Creature trait being high on the list.

Staples

I should really start getting more of these articles out when I have time, as they are quite fun to write and don’t take as much time as the scenario analyses. I will see if I can start getting more of these articles out in the next month, although my schedule for the coming 5 months is going to be quite full. Direct Damage should be the next on the list, which fits somewhat with the cards we just received (Sting for instance).

Player card reviews

The player card reviews continued this month with the cards of Conflict at the Carrock. This series will continue during the next months at a slow but steady pace, probably keeping to one article per month on average. Remember that any thoughts you have on the article, you can share at the FFG community forums under the strategy tab.

Storage Hub

While I have received confirmation from several people in the community that their storage articles are being written, this month only saw a doubling in size of the storage hub. Besides those 2 articles, I have another one already in the pipeline. Other than that one, I am sure that next month will see some new additions to the hub, giving new players more examples on how to store their cards.

Additional articles

I wrote the first Patreon requested article this month that got requested by the Master of the Avallonë stone. This article concerned the various cards players can bring in their side-board and when they should consider creating and bringing a side-board to their deck. If you want to request an article as well, check out the Patreon tiers and pledge something each month. I am willing to cover most topics concerning the game, so any requests will help to keep the blog going! Other than the side-board article, this month also saw my first impressions article on the Mount Gundabad player cards and scenario. I believe that Fate of Wilderland will be released early June, so next month won’t see a First Impressions article. If I have time, I will look into other topics for additional articles.

The Future

As some of you may have noticed, content on the blog has been slow in the second half of this month. This has a reason, I have started my graduation project and will be kept busy by the company each day during normal working hours. This leaves little to no time during the day for blogging, and as I have to stare at a screen all day, the evenings are usually not suitable either. This means that articles by me will be few and far between until November. Between now and November, I will try to keep at least some articles going during the weekends, and I will also rely on my co-authors to write some articles to fill out the rest of the month. I hope the community will understand and continues to appreciate the content, but it won’t be as frequent as it has been in the past.

Support for the blog has grown as well, with more Patreon supporters jumping to the occasion. I have added a new tier to the page for $5 which allows 7 more people to pledge if they want to. Check out this page to see all the different rewards and the different tiers that have been added since last year. The loot of this year has also been more or less defined, and now a budget has to be created to find enough money for me to make the loot. Patreon will be the chief source of income, so all patrons there and the people contributing to the site by making articles will automatically receive a piece of the loot. I am moving the deadline to receive loot through Patreon to August, as I need to have the money by then to be able to order the loot and have enough time to receive it. On top of the people mentioned earlier, I may have enough funds to create a few extra pieces, which I will be bringing to Con of the Rings. Depending on how many extra pieces I can make, I will be handing them out to members of the community that make the Con amazing to me. A special thanks goes out to Thaurdir (the community member, not the wraith) who is the first to reach the Valar tier. This means I will have an extra set of eyes looking over the blog in the months to come!

I hope everyone can live with the blog keeping things on a low burner for the coming half year, and am looking forward to meeting many of you in person during Con of the Rings.