Back into the Shadows - BoLS GameWire

Three New Nightmare Decks Are Now Available for The Lord of the Rings

“Against the Power that now arises there is no victory. To this City only the first finger of its hand has yet been stretched. All the East is moving.”
–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce that three new Nightmare Decks are now available for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game!

When Middle-earth’s heroes returned to Minas Tirith, triumphant after the battles they faced through the scenarios from Heirs of Númenor, they found the City’s Steward wracked with worry. Traitors and treachery had infiltrated the City and spread throughout its underbelly like a disease.

After the Heirs of Númenor deluxe expansion, the Against the Shadow cycle followed the heroes and their efforts to purge the Dark Lord’s servants from the heart of Gondor. From the gutters and darkened alleys of Minas Tirith, their investigations led them into the neighboring Drúadan Forest and then to Amon Dîn. At each turn, the plot thickened, and players were immersed in an epic adventure, full of innovative mechanics, iconic locations, vibrant characters, plot twists, and treachery.

Now, three new Nightmare Decks allow you to experience the thrill of discovery all over again with new Plots and mechanics, as well as deadlier challenges. When you return to the first three scenarios from the Against the Shadow cycle with these Nightmare Decks, you’ll find that the conspiracies run deeper, your foes are more ferocious, and the Dark Lord’s servants have come closer than ever to plunging Gondor into chaos!

Lead Developer Matthew Newman on the Against the Shadow Nightmare Decks

When you play through the Against the Shadow cycle in Nightmare Mode, you’ll find that its scenarios have changed and evolved, and the shadow of Mordor has grown. Good luck!

The Steward’s Fear

This beloved scenario kicks off the Against the Shadow cycle with an investigation into an evil cabal secretly plotting the downfall of Minas Tirith.

One of the most entertaining aspects of this quest is its replayability. In the original scenario, players randomly select from three Plot objectives and three Villain enemies, then confront the cabal of traitors that has banded together in one of nine possible combinations. In Nightmare Mode, we added more depth to this theme by adding new Plot objectives and creating an unpredictable environment wherein your Plot and Villain are always moving forward and gaining strength. For example, if you don’t quickly explore the location Traitors’ Den (The Steward’s Fear Nightmare Deck, 6), the cabal may hatch an additional Plot that you’ll need to confront in addition to the one set aside during setup.

The Steward’s Fear also introduced locations with the Underworld X keyword, which allowed the enemies hiding within them to attack once they were revealed. This Nightmare Deck adds strength to this theme and the Underworld deck with new Underworld locations, a treachery card that you shuffle into the Underworld deck, and a slippery enemy who attacks you when he first emerges from the Underworld deck, only to vanish right out of your sight if you can’t destroy him immediately.

Finally, The Cabal’s Champion (The Steward’s Fear Nightmare Deck, 10) is an objective that increases the strength of the Villain you will eventually face at stage three. The longer you take to root out this Villain, the more powerful he or she becomes. This emphasizes your need to move swiftly through each quest stage and ensures a tense and climactic endgame for the adventure as you confront the leader of the cult.

The Drúadan Forest

When players first pursued those cabalists who fled from Minas Tirith into The Drúadan Forest, they likely found it much deadlier than they had imagined. The enemies the players had been hunting were dead, but the forest was full of deadly and cunning Wose enemies that provided a unique challenge, discarding the heroes’ resources with their Prowl X keyword and then punishing them with effects that grew more powerful as the players’ resources dwindled.

For this Nightmare Deck, we decided to change the dynamic of this quest in a way that complements the encounter deck as a natural fit, even while it dramatically alters the way players need to approach The Drúadan Forest. These changes all start with the setup card (The Drúadan Forest Nightmare Deck, 1):

“Heroes do not collect resources during the resource phase.

“Setup: Add resources to each hero’s resource pool until each hero has 5 resources. Search the encounter deck for 1 copy of Garden of Poisons and add it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.”

At first, as your heroes enter the Drúadan Forest, you may feel that you have everything you need at your disposal. Fifteen resources is a lot, after all! But since your heroes do not collect resources during the resource phase each round, you find yourself second-guessing every card you play. Meanwhile, the scenario’s Wose enemies and treachery cards continue to swipe at your remaining resources until you run out, at which point cards such as Drúadan Warrior (The Drúadan Forest Nightmare Deck, 3) and Eilenach (The Drúadan Forest Nightmare Deck, 6) become truly nightmarish.

The Drúadan Forest Nightmare Deck doesn’t just introduce new enemies and treacheries; it introduces an entirely new paradigm, one that challenges players to think outside the box and creates a truly tense and exciting experience!

Encounter at Amon Dîn

Encounter at Amon Dîn is a scenario that in many ways captures what The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is all about – noble heroes putting themselves in great danger in order to protect the lives of others. The Nightmare Mode version of this scenario is designed to truly emphasize the idea and feeling of this self-sacrifice. Nearly every card presents you with a difficult decision: you can confront some fierce obstacle in order to protect one or more villagers, or you can play it safe at the cost of innocent lives.

This idea first finds shape in the scenario’s setup card (Encounter at Amon Dîn Nightmare Deck, 1):

“Forced: At the beginning of the quest phase, either discard 1 villager token from Rescued Villagers, or reveal an encounter card.”

As you need to make this difficult choice each and every turn, you really begin to feel like you are throwing yourself into a series of dangerous situations in order to save lives. Other cards like Orc Raiders (Encounter at Amon Dîn Nightmare Deck, 2) and Save Us! (Encounter at Amon Dîn Nightmare Deck, 8) help to compliment this theme, as well.

These decisions almost guarantee you’ll suffer many more casualties, and that means you will find yourself bound for an epic confrontation with the deadly Ghulat (Encounter at Amon Dîn, 71). Simultaneously, though, you will need to make sure more villagers were rescued than slain, and this is a task that becomes much more difficult objective with this Nightmare Deck’s deadlier enemies and ravaged locations.

I hope you enjoy confronting the new challenges from these Nightmare Decks as much as we enjoyed crafting them. Be brave and confront the shadow head on.

Alámenë!

Will You Stand Against the Growing Shadow?

In the dark land of Mordor, the Enemy has grown stronger, and his agents have stolen secretly into the very heart of Gondor. Though many may think the streets of Minas Tirith are free from evil, the war against the Enemy is not won, nor are any of its battles truly ended. Traitors once again skulk about the darkest alleys of Minas Tirith and steal through the forests of Gondor. Your work is not ended until the Enemy himself is defeated.

Take up your arms once more, and stand fast against the growing Shadow. Pick up your copies of the Against the Shadow Nightmare Decks today!

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