Month in Review: July 2019

These months are going by fast, just 5 more until we live in the year 2020. But until then, a lot of things will happen with the blog. Let’s first focus on what has happened in the last month, and see where the future takes us. With things ramping up for GenCon 2019, a bunch of stuff got announced by FFG as well, so it seems like this game won’t be dying yet!

July

While officially released in June, I got the final AP of the cycle this month, so I had my share of LOTR LCG products already. We also got some news articles on the new GenCon scenario, and we got to know what our next alt art hero was. Turns out to be Lore Bilbo, which makes me rather confident that we will get Spirit Frodo for the Fellowship event. I am not really too hyped for these heroes, but hey: could have been worse. Could have been Dwalin and Dori. We will also get another playmat that is based on a quest card from the Hobbit cycle. It looks great and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Hopefully we will get a new one for the Fellowship event, else I have 2 identical mats. I guess I’ll be able to sell one off, or give away through a contest or whatever.

For the blog, the month of July has been one of a lot of articles from my co-authors. I only have to do my graduation assignment for 2 more months, meaning that I will be back to blogging non-stop after Con of the Rings. I am really looking forward to meeting you all there and play some games! The articles this month were split into several categories, so let’s run through all of them and see what was released this month.

Scenario Analyses

July has been a good month for the main cycles of scenarios, as several quests have been put online this month. We are now in a position where the Haradrim cycle is being carved up among authors, while I am finishing up the Dream-chaser cycle. I am especially grateful for my co-authors for this, as they have allowed me to carry on this project of covering every scenarios in depth, while I am doing my thesis. It saps away a lot of time during the week and leaves me without much motivation in the weekend. But continuing forward, we will likely finish the Dream-chaser cycle in August, while we also start publishing more Haradrim cycle scenarios. If you want to help and write an article on this cycle, feel free to claim any of the unclaimed scenarios!

Saga Analyses

The Saga’s are on a bit of a delay, but those quests aren’t going anywhere. There will be some progress made on the Hobbit saga next month, which should at least round out the first of the Hobbit Saga boxes. The LOTR campaign has been suspended for the time being, but the Nightmare version is making progress, hopefully releasing the first article soon.

Traits and Staples

These series have taken a backseat while I am doing my thesis, as I try to focus on what the blog was originally meant for: scenario analyses. Once I graduate, I will have much more time to cover the final mechanics that are left to be analyzed. I will also look more to the different staples that we have received for aspects of the game that I haven’t covered yet. I might also do an update on the already existing articles, as we have received some solid cards lately.

Storage Hub

The Storage Hub received two new articles this month, covering a beautiful solution with everything contained in a single box. This was a type of solution that I felt was missing from the hub, so I feel like it is more complete now. That does not mean it is finished though, there are a lot more storage solutions out there in the community that could be uploaded to the hub, but for that I will need you as reader to send me an article with pictures describing your solution. There was also another, more affordable option added to the hub, bringing the total solutions to 10 already!

Player card reviews

This in-depth series has nearly covered all of the player cards from the first cycle. Next month will see the conclusion of the first cycle, after which the Khazad-Dum deluxe box is next on the chopping block. I hope that newer players are learning many new combos from this series, and have now got an understanding on what cards to leave in the binder, and which to bring.

There and Back Again

This series has been going strong in July, publishing on every Thursday the next installment of this solo-progression style series. The forest of Mirkwood is now left behind for the dark depths of Moria, where many new threat will try to waylay the series as it moves on! Check out the most recent article for a list of the new rules that were implented in order to make the game more enjoyable from a solo player’s point of view.

Deckbuilding

I’m adding this section to the monthly review, as the new series has taken off properly this month! Roka has completed the Voice of Isengard deluxe box and the first AP of the Ringmaker cycle, which he intends to continue in the future. In the coming months, more articles will come out that cover how to deckbuild for a specific scenario. There isn’t a set schedule, but I will let you all know when they are published.

Additional Articles

Other than the articles from the main series mentioned above, there has been an additional article this month. This was the First Impressions article on the final Adventure Pack, which I finally received during July. I am debating whether or not to continue this series for the next cycle, as it does cost me some time that could perhaps be better spent working on main series articles. I will let you all know what I will do with the First Impressions series once the new Deluxe is out for general purchase.

Other than the First Impressions article, there was no other article outside those of the main series. I will have some loot based articles planned for the near future, but no other additional articles are planned for next month.

The Future

This has been a very productive month, and I think it is in part to blame on me creating a schedule for this summer and sitting on everyone’s ass. Because of this, I will also have plenty of articles to share with you all in August. I am thinking of taking a bit more time off next month for my own health, meaning there is more time to spend on writing for the blog. There are a lot of articles left to cover, and I feel like the Haradrim cycle will take far less time than the Dream-chaser cycle to complete. This is in part to the incrediable team of people that are working with me to put out this amazing content.

The rest of the blog will follow its own course, with no real changes on the horizon. We have a lot of series ongoing, covering nearly everything from this awesome game. I will be back next month with another update on the blog, but I will leave you with a short segment on our loot.

Loot

I’m gonna make a separate section for this topic this month, as you do not have a lot of time left to claim your loot. At the first of September, the loot window will close, after which I will have a lot of work to do in order to make sure that it all arrives on time and at the right address. For those of you that are not yet on the loot-list, you can get there by either pledging to the blog via Patreon BEFORE the end of August. Those attending Con of the Rings are not guaranteed a piece like last year, but I will have some extra to hand out if you make the con special for me. This can be either an epic game, or it can be traded for food!

To those already pledged, I will be in touch via a survey at the beginning of September where you can fill in your preferences on how to receive it. I won’t ship until after Con of the Rings, and might ship to those living in the US during the weekend. I will have to see how the shipping costs are being handled, but I’m sure that will work itself out.

As for the loot itself, I have been busy reworking the prototypes this month. It has been quite a feat to design everything with my crappy artist skills, but I’m sure that they will be welcomed by those of you that will receive the loot. On top the loot, I will also have promotional sticker to hand out, and everyone who receives the loot, will automatically receive stickers as well. These have already been finished and will have a use outside of just looking cool and showing off your support for the blog (and no, you can’t scratch them to smell fruit or anything).

I am looking forward seeing all of your happy faces once I hand the loot to you in person at the con, and won’t look forward to printing all those shipping labels to those that can’t make it. The people at the post office will be soooooo happy with me…

~Aa’menealla nauva calen ar-malta~