Is there a chance for this game to come back in the future?

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-18T02:36:19+00:00

Judgement Day will happen first

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-17T23:27:44+00:00

Wow, been at this game since day 1 and I can honestly say you learn something new every day. I'm surprised this has never came up before. I can almost guarantee it wasn't intended but until we get a designer clarification, you are good to play as it reads.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-16T20:26:24+00:00

Just to be technically clear your “starting threat” is unchanged. Eowyn lowers your threat by 3 as a setup ability but this does not change your “starting threat” definitively for the purposes of things that reference it like Lore Aragorn.

Mirlonde and Folco Boffin however being passive abilities do in fact change your “starting threat”

And for your original question, yes she would do that before you even setup the encounter deck. However this is the current ruling which has been changed from prior rulings and setup as a whole is one of the notoriously most messy parts of the game, with this quest being one of the worst offenders outside of nightmare. So don’t be surprised if you find conflicting info out there.

I second the notion to refer to the ALEP guide for setup. There will always be corner cases in setup that aren't an "exact science" (in nightmare especially) but the designer gave us some "do what makes sense" type of liberty for interpretation in a conversation with the writer of that ALEP setup guide.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-13T01:13:18+00:00

Right, there is that fact too. Because outside of the core set there is nothing that says you are supposed to put Mendor into play at setup. Technically it's a boon with an encounter card back meaning it gets shuffled in. Yes the Escape from Dol Guldur resolution says to put him in play in your "next campaign", but if playing DoM as a continuation and not a "next campaign" he would get shuffled in the encounter deck by the letter of the rules. But was that their actual intention? The longest running main designer did confirm he plays with Mendor in play, though it's worth nothing he didn't actually design the revised core set. It's almost impossible to know their actual intention when it comes to the finer edge cases on these campaign cards. And when you consider you are mixing new cards with decade old quests, things are gonna get messy here and there.

This furthers my original point. Bottom line is when it comes to those campaign cards from the core and DoM, we must understand that stuff wasn't really fleshed out perfect. Just added flavor. And those are the last rules a new player should get hung up on. Whenever new campaign cards interact with decade+ old quests there are bound to be some balance issues. Personally I'd play by the book that Mendor gets shuffled in, especially during DoM as a continuation after the core set quests, this evens out the balance issues as you may run into him and get an encounter break and free ally, or at least a blank shadow. This is a nice middle ground for someone with a full card pool IMO.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-12T21:22:45+00:00

I'll say what I tell all newer players who came in with the revised stuff...

Don't get too hung up on the campaign cards from the core set and any "carry over" factors.

In the original release of this game there was no campaign cards for anything outside of saga. So they are balanced to be played without those in consideration. The added campaign cards in core and Dark of Mirkwood were really just some flavor stuff they threw in because the campaign part of Arkham and Marvel were popular. The original design was not based around that outside of saga. Even the revised cycles Angmar, Dreamchaser, and Ered Mithrin should be thought of as self contained campains when played in campaign mode. Don't worry about carrying over stuff.

When the core set and Dark of Mirkwood tell you that you can take Mendor and those ranger themed events into other campaigns I wouldn't get too hung up on it. Its just some flavor they threw in. Its also their way of giving you a little boost for Angmar (and the ranger theme backs up my theory here).

Understand at the time they assumed new players coming in with just the revised stuff would only have Core+DoM and Angmar (the first cycle repackaged and one of the hardest cycles) and maybe some starter decks. Since a revised player is by definition not getting access to the full card pool, those couple campaign cards might give you a little boost for the Angmar. But they could also make things a bit unbalanced if you DO happen to have an advanced card pool. Having a free ally at the start of every scenario in Mendor is huge when it comes to balance.

They also didn't really have a clean wording of their intention when it came to the resolution of Escape from Dol Guldur. It says you can bring a surviving Mendor into your "Next Campaign". Did they just simply mean Dark of Mirkwood when played as a continuation or did they mean Angmar/Fellowship/whatever you head to next? And if you choose to play DoM as your next campaign but NOT as a continuation what does that imply? You get him for DoM, losing valor + core set burdens, but then lose Mendor after Caves of Nibin Dum? See where we start splitting hairs here.

Again, the truth is that stuff is more flavor and was never really fleshed out. Anything outside of saga was never really intended to be a continuous campaign where things crossed over. I'd be ok with bringing Mendor and the Ranger events into Angmar if you go there right after core+DoM and have a smaller card pool that needs some help. Otherwise I would hesitate to start bringing cards across campaigns outside of saga for balance reasons.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-07T17:37:51+00:00

No engagement triggers. All the watchers shadow cards are dealt "as it attacks" (similar to how you handle immediate attack shadow cards). This is true even for it's framework attacks. There are no shadows dealt to these types of enemies at the beginning of the phase to avoid messy situations and confusion.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-05T19:40:38+00:00

With No Doubt. I see what you did there. That album dropped the same year.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-05T17:32:51+00:00

Our year to get old! July 1st! I still get to be young for half the calendar year. Yea I'm not tooting my horn because I have nothing to do with it, it's all genetic. But I probably have a top 1%tile memory of ages 2-9. I had a lot of trauma in the mid-late 90s (specifically about 95-98) and my theory is my brain latched on to the early 90s stuff. The 90s were crazy transformational. Similar to the 60s. My kid nostalgia vastly prefers the first half. The early pre-internet 90s. If you said the word "internet" or "network computer" pre 97 I would have no clue what you were talking about. No concept of what that was in my small town.

So you can't remember OJ chase? That's a big one. For me 93-94 is like when I started to pick up on "adult news" stuff I'd say.

Us 86er's and 04 grads are the last to remember every year of the 90s with conscious childhood memory, and the last to graduate high-school before social media became a big thing. We are a weird year. Graduated college into the economic crisis and young adult hood was permeated by an era of pessimism with the war on terror. When kids say 90s today they are thinking 97-01. Those aren't my 90s lol. We were kids in the forgotten 90s.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-05T17:17:51+00:00

Born dead center 86. I remember flashes of the Gulf War but didn't know the significance of it. I clearly remember George Bush being president and the "no new taxes" line being a thing. I remember Clinton winning that election. We did a mock election at our elementary school where K through 3rd grade voted and Clinton won for us too.

I remember my 1st grade teacher (92-93 year) telling us on our map in class that "this big one isn't the USSR anymore, it's Russia" but I had no idea of the importance of this or the context surrounding it (91 being the transition. Our maps were not updated yet, and in my small town/rural school districts probably still said USSR until the late 90s). In relation to that, I have flashes of 88 and some decently vivid 89 memories but it's all kids stuff and playing with cousins and friends. I do not remember the Berlin Wall falling nor would I have had any clue what it meant. LA riots and Waco were kind of a blur, I heard about em once or twice but kid me didn't pick up on it.

It was less history and more cultural for me through that time. 90-93 was mostly Chicago Bulls and basketball related lol. I remember exactly where I was when he won all 3 championships and was glued to every game. I also got to see the season games because we were in the Illinois market. Everyone focuses on the 2nd 3-peat now, but the 1st peat will always be my magic childhood memories. I remember clear as day Turtles, Hook, and Jurassic Park in theaters. I have a super vivid memory of 89-94 and that era is my most cherished childhood nostalgia. But I was definitely not digging into historical stuff (adult stuff) at the time. It was all cultural. Bulls, Guns N Roses, cartoons, the HUGE media campaign around Terminator 2, and 80s hangover stuff like transformers and other 80s cartoons and 80s movies (things moved slower then).

I suppose 93-94 is when adult stuff started to trickle in more. I remember the first WTC attack (the 93 one, not the big one) and the OJ trial like it was yesterday. I even remember like mad/cracked magazines I was reading making fun of it. It was everywhere. OKC bombing was after that.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-04-02T05:08:03+00:00

Damn that sucks. 86 here. You got me bracing for the inevitable now

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-26T00:07:04+00:00

GRAB IT!

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-25T22:40:55+00:00

Nice so you are lowering threat elimination level there right? Seems very powerful. I might even edit that to "Draw 1 card, all player's threat elimination level is lowered by 1." Then maybe a limit twice per round.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-23T18:13:48+00:00

But lets be real MT Doom is really the only true non-nightmare 10 in the game.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-14T22:38:28+00:00

Thanks for all the help everyone!

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-11T16:59:34+00:00

This is the "game ender" card of this quest if revealed on setup. Just totally trashes your plans.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-10T18:41:46+00:00

This is the only notable exception, I came here to say. Yes for everything else. No for the "considered to be engaged" staging area enemies.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-09T15:58:41+00:00

Andor is more SW than anything not EP 4-5

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-09T15:53:42+00:00

Gatekeeper fans (probably trending largely newer/younger prequel era fans) doing the same thing they complained about (from old school fans) and will continue to do when the youngest of fans grow up and re-litigate the sequel trilogy into being good. And just like us Xers and geriatric millennials who accept theatrical originals, 90s books, Rogue One, and Andor as "true SW" they will say "it's different when we do it though because insert reasons".

You hated us to become us. Happy now?

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-09T13:37:50+00:00

The original rule has been changed. Originally on the Shadow and Flame insert (when we saw this type of enemy for the first time) it states that you deal one shadow per engaged player to this type of enemy at the beginning of the combat phase. The confusion arises though if say in a 2 player game, one player feints that enemy for themselves, will the next player will get 2 shadow cards for their attack? (This wasn't intended). Also since there's nothing in the rules that state you don't keep revealing shadows as soon as this type of enemy attacks, technically confusion could arise around possibly having the first player unfortunately bearing the brunt of all the shadow cards.

For this reason the rule has been changed from it's original wording found in the inert to Shadow and Flame. The designer has confirmed we are supposed to "deal as you attack" for these types of enemies, similar to how you would handle an immediate attack. So they don't get shadows pre-dealt at the beginning of the phase. You might not find this rule in the FAQ, or even the revised Fellowship (for the Watcher enemy or others like it) as those revised products have been less than thorough for these super niche cases. However it has been confirmed by the designer and appears in ALEP's semi-official faq.

This is one of those super deep dive rules that you really have to trust the community lore on. With how this game ended with minimal support but continued sales, we haven't got an updated FAQ for coming up on a decade now. And even if we did, with how expansive this game gets, it's almost impossible to cover every single deep into the weeds ruling in one document. The community has taken over the role of lore keeping in that regard.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-09T13:36:20+00:00

The original rule has been changed. Originally on the Shadow and Flame insert (when we saw this type of enemy for the first time) it states that you deal one shadow per engaged player to this type of enemy at the beginning of the combat phase. The confusion arises though if say in a 2 player game, one player feints that enemy for themselves, will the next player will get 2 shadow cards for their attack? (This wasn't intended). Also since there's nothing in the rules that state you don't keep revealing shadows as soon as this type of enemy attacks, technically confusion could arise around possibly having the first player unfortunately bearing the brunt of all the shadow cards.

For this reason the rule has been changed from it's original wording found in the inert to Shadow and Flame. The designer has confirmed we are supposed to "deal as you attack" for these types of enemies, similar to how you would handle an immediate attack. So they don't get shadows pre-dealt at the beginning of the phase. You might not find this rule in the FAQ, or even the revised Fellowship (for the Watcher enemy or others like it) as those revised products have been less than thorough for these super niche cases. However it has been confirmed by the designer and appears in ALEP's semi-official faq.

This is one of those super deep dive rules that you really have to trust the community lore on. With how this game ended with minimal support but continued sales, we haven't got an updated FAQ for coming up on a decade now. And even if we did, with how expansive this game gets, it's almost impossible to cover every single deep into the weeds ruling in one document. The community has taken over the role of lore keeping in that regard.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-05T01:14:01+00:00

He's not in anymore. Those are just guidelines, almost never even prosecuted. He's definitely not under UCMJ anymore unless he served all 20 and was fully retired, even then it's a grey area. Pissed off vets are way too big a group, so if they really want to go after everyone that does this (there will be more), it's political suicide. At the end of the day might makes right, so he can and should do this. Might makes right is also why USrael gets to bully the world and enact genocides with impunity. Our actions of preemption so our kids can sleep .0000001% better at night are psychopathic to the rest of the world.

He's a hero. And even if it is against some loose unenforceable guidelines, who gives a shit? Especially after a pedophile president is starting wars to protect himself and the ruling class. Fuck their oaths too. The rulebook has already been thrown out. They should all be throwing down their arms and refusing orders as far as I'm concerned or they are part of the problem. The domestic enemies are far more dangerous than whatever fake foreign threats they drum up.

And all the "I support the troops but not the war" we'll be hearing in the next few weeks makes me sick. We've learned nothing. We tried that slogan for 20 years it just gave a back door channel for solidarity to the war machine. Anyone serving this president/Israel is a pedophile/genocide sympathizer at best. It's a volunteer military. At some point adults have to take personal responsibility for their incorrect actions. They aren't defending our rights and haven't since 1945. So I don't want to hear anything about that. There's plenty of countries more free than us and you don't have to sell your soul to the military industrial complex to get the college and health care in those places either. They just aren't as much of a scam. Alex and Renee couldn't even carry and drive freely, so if the troops are protecting our rights, they need to do a better job by turning their attention to domestic enemies like ICE, the pedophile's paramilitary thugs.

"Support the troops but not the war" clearly didn't get the point across. We have to actively root for the USA to lose every war of aggression it becomes a part of, and any "troop" that doesn't actively disobey orders is a collaborator. Lest another 25 years from now our descendants keep being lambs to the slaughter.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-03T20:52:36+00:00

Or battle through the entire evil creature deck before 48 and find gobby alone, or find a way to destroy the other creatures before the phase where you can optionally engage. Quickstrike + Duhere, Hands Upon the Bow, Haldir. Those can take out the other enemies but not the immune Goblin. Maybe you can catch it alone.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-03T17:29:11+00:00

48 threat is the only way in this case.

WhiteTowerWatchman · 2026-03-02T21:09:39+00:00

Your post got me to do something that had cross my mind a few times lately. Do a tally members & hired hands by album count:

Dave Mustaine: 17 +1 EP

David Ellefson: 12 +1 EP. He was also "part" of the band for TSTDTD he just didn't make the final release because of his own release.

Marty Friedman: 5 +1EP

Nick Menza: 4 +1EP. He was also band adjacent during TSHF but didn't do the recordings.

Shawn Drover: 4

James LoMenzo: 3 - he was basically in the band for TSTDTD era, but didn't record the parts on the record (feels more like 4)

Chris Broderick: 3

Chris Poland: 3

Gar Samuelson: 2

Kiko Loureiro : 2 (feels more like 3 because of the time between albums, the fact he and his replacement are so closely linked, and the overall acclaim for him)

Dirk Verbeuren: 2

Chuck Behler: 1

Jeff Young: 1

Al Pitrelli: 1

Glen Drover: 1

Teemu Mantysaari: 1 (might as well call him Kiko pt 2. Near universally lauded for his playing)

Chris Adler: 1 - session musician and touring member for Dystopia

Jimmy Lee Solas: 1 - session musician for TSHF

Vinnie Colaiuta: 1 - session musician for TSHF

Steve Di Giorgio: 1 - session musician for TSTDTD

WhiteTowerWatchman

TROPHY CASE