The Dunland Trap Is Now Available for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

“He had heard something, or thought he had. As soon as the shadows had fallen about them and the road behind was dim, he had heard again the quick patter of feet. Even now he heard it.”
    –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The quick patter of feet carries faintly through the dark. Does it herald an ambush, or the arrival of Silvan allies? The time has come to ready your weapons, keep your eyes open, and discover what approaches. The Dunland Trap is now available at your local retailer!

The Dunland Trap is the first Adventure Pack in The Ring-maker cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, and its scenario begins an epic narrative that follows immediately upon the events of The Voice of Isengard deluxe expansion. Advised by the White Wizard Saruman, several of Middle-earth’s greatest heroes set forth from the Vale of Isen to locate Celebrimbor’s hidden forge and safeguard any secrets it may hold. It is Saruman’s hope that its secrets will help the White Council resist the growing might of Mordor, and it is his fear that should they fall into enemy hands they would further add to the Dark Lord’s power. Still, the Dark Lord isn’t the only enemy the heroes need to consider. The wild men of Dunland are ferocious warriors in their own right, and when your heroes fall into their trap, you’ll need to summon all your strength to survive the ensuing battle!

Meanwhile, as its new scenario tests your heroes, The Dunland Trap also introduces a new hero and twenty-seven new player cards (three copies each of nine new cards). These focus heavily on The Ring-maker cycle’s exploration of the Silvan trait and the Doomed X keyword, but they also lend new strength to other traits and themes: Dwarf, Secrecy, Gondor, Rohan, and more!

Smart and Secret

“All had swords at their sides, and were clad in green and brown of varied hues, as if the better to walk unseen in the glades of Ithilien. Green gauntlets covered their hands, and their faces were hooded and masked with green, except for their eyes, which were very keen and bright.”
    –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Elves aren’t the only ones who can blend in among the leaves and trees of the forest. The Rangers of Ithilien made good use of stealth and concealment as they scouted the forests at the edges of the Dark Lord’s domain.

As The Dunland Trap continues to explore the game’s Secrecy keyword, it introduces two new cards which allow players to call upon the talents of Gondor’s rangers.

As an ally with the Secrecy keyword, as well as the Gondor and Ranger traits, Ithilien Lookout (The Dunland Trap, 8) simultaneously enhances and benefits from a few of the game’s most popular themes. Because it has the Secrecy 2 keyword, a player whose threat is at twenty or below can bring the Ithilien Lookout into play for just a single resource. Then once it’s in play, the Ithilien Lookout’s Gondor and Ranger traits permit a wide range of combinations with other cards.

As a Gondor ally, the Ithilien Lookout can have its Attack Strength of “2” increased by Boromir (Heirs of Númenor, 2) and For Gondor! (Core Set, 22). Since it has a Defense Strength of zero, you won’t often want to use the Ithilien Lookout as a defender, but you can still prevent it from taking damage by playing Gondorian Discipline (Encounter at Amon-Dîn, 60).

As a Ranger ally, Ithilien Lookout is an excellent candidate for a Ranger Bow (Assault on Osgiliath, 88) and can help you derive maximum benefits from your Trap cards while it serves on Forest Patrol (Assault on Osgiliath, 89).

Finally, when the Ithilien Lookout enters play, it allows you to look at the top card of the encounter deck. Notably, this ability allows you to do more than gain advance knowledge of the challenges you’ll need to face, if the top encounter card is an enemy, you can choose to discard it. In this way, you might be buy yourself a little time to avoid enemies while you gather your forces.

The second card from The Dunland Trap that works well with Secrecy decks isn’t actually a “Secrecy” card. Instead, Swift and Silent (The Dunland Trap, 3) is a one-cost Leadership event that readies one of your heroes and adds a bonus effect if you’ve managed to keep your threat at twenty or less. In that situation, Swift and Silent returns to your hand the first time you play it, instead of going to your discard pile.

It’s not ultimately as efficient at readying your heroes as cards such as Unexpected Courage (Core Set, 59) and Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes, 103), but Swift and Silent is more versatile because you can choose which hero you wish to ready at the appropriate moment, rather than committing to the repeated use of a single hero before identifying which might be best suited to a particular situation. Additionally, it provides mono-sphere Leadership decks with some solid action advantage, and the fact that it returns to your hand means that you’ll have reduced need for draw, which is particularly important in a scenario featuring the Dunlendings, who punish players for drawing cards or holding too many in their hand!

Head into the Hills

Who will you find in the hills of Dunland? The ferocious Dunlendings, or the secretive Silvan Elves? The Dunland Trap is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

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