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Post by Gormonghast on Oct 5, 2004 16:55:59 GMT 1
Just thought I'd find out how much interest there might be in an expansion set. Of course, when designing the base game there had to be a balance between providing everything we wanted in the game, and keeping costs low enough to make the game affordable. In my view, WOTR is almost perfect in this regard, the exception being the lack of mounted Gandalf the White and King Aragorn figures. Placing a counter under the base minis doesn't do the job for me. The question assumes that an expansion would be sold primarily on the strength of new miniatures which, although hardly necessary to play the game, would add more flavour to it. Some event cards might be updated to give a more active role to the new character minis, and settlement sculpts might be included as the designers had considered for the original. Some kind of tactical battle system could be considered to give the "wargame" aspect more depth, but I realise this would make the game too long for most people. Anyway, what do you think? Remember that creating new figures from scratch is an expensive business, so we should try to be realistic about what can be included.
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Post by stevehope on Oct 5, 2004 17:17:19 GMT 1
The only "expansion" I'd like to see is the counter set. The game sounds pretty tightly constructed as is, though I guess you can always add more cards, or even alternate scenarios for non-purists.
As far as the counters you have to put under the minis, why not just place the counters somewhere near the elven rings or something to show that Aragorn/GtW are in play? It seems a little unwieldy to be always moving one counter around with a bunch of minis. IMO, it's pretty easy to remember whether they've been "promoted" or not anyway--I don't imagine it's an easy event to forget, especially since it means you're adding a die to your action dice.
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Post by Kris on Oct 5, 2004 21:52:21 GMT 1
We can only gain from expansions. If they invent something we don’t like, we can just stick with the basic game.
I think there are two kinds of expansion elements we could see. The first is the usual new game developments: cards, figures, game systems. The second would be improved version of standard elements (a bigger easy-to-read deck of cards). The first is probably much more likely than the second, but I hold out hope for both.
There have been several expansion suggestions on Boardgamegeek, and I make no claims for originality here. But it seems to me that the most likely expansion elements would be:
1) New cards. Easy to design, low cost to produce. A sure money maker. With a little imagination, the designers can give us more “what if…” options. A card that lets Frodo travel by sea from the Gray Havens to Gondor. A card that lets the Free People’s player use the Palantir of Orthanc if Saruman is defeated (and peek at the Shadow’s cards). I think the designers should hold a contest for suggesting new cards. Winners get a free expansion set.
2) New miniatures. The most important race that didn’t get miniatures is, of course, the Ents. But more individual leaders would be nice. A Theoden miniature, Faramir, etc…Along with cards with their special abilities. Giving Theoden or Eomer the ability to move any army they are leading two or three spaces would help create the feeling of Rohan as a cavalry nation. Of course, most of these potential miniatures are for the Free Peoples. Other than the Balrog and Gothmog I can’t think of any major villains who aren’t in the game (and Gothmog hardly qualifies as major; he barely gets a mention in the book). Of course, the Shadow could get siege engines.
3) New game sub-systems. Perhaps the least likely expansion option. An example would be rules that allow the Free People’s to use the Ring as a weapon of war (and we’ve had enough on-line debate about that!). Or rules that allow Saruman to be truly independent of Sauron and try to seize the ring for himself. An example of a minor change might be rules that allow Saruman to be a weather worker. The Shadow Player could use a character die to throw a blizzard into a space within three or four spaces from Orthanc. A blizzard would cancel all movement into and out of a space, and prevent any mustering.
The thing I would most like to see is the least likely expansion item: a bigger game board. Yes, a bigger board wouldn’t fit very well on most tables. But it would be fun to see Sauron’s hordes fitting nicely into the Minas Tirith space and not have to use replacement disks. I’d pay $50 or $60 or a board that is 50% bigger.
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Post by PaleKing on Dec 5, 2004 22:04:01 GMT 1
Hi, So is there any confirmation out there that there actually will be an expansion of some sort in the future?
Cheers
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Post by RedShark92 on Dec 7, 2004 12:58:18 GMT 1
We don't bother with the counters for the upgraded Gandalf or Aragorn either.
We just put the 'old' card away and get the new one out and that serves as plenty of reminder. Even without this, it's not likely that you'll forget that you've upgraded either of them.
I suppose if someone worked out a double-blind system the counter would be important so that the opponent could tell at a glance which version he was dealing with but other than that it's not at all necessary, IMO.
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Post by AussieLurker on Dec 13, 2004 13:09:13 GMT 1
What I would love is if they had an expansion which covered the journey from the Shire to Rivendell-with the nine riders, Tom Bombadil and Old Man Willow added in, just to name a few ! Yours, Aussie_Lurker
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Post by GoldenHobbit on Dec 13, 2004 18:35:04 GMT 1
I think that realistically a new expansion will work within the current rule set, which is pretty tight as it is. I wouldn't expect a new board, but the addition of new cards, figures, and new scenerios would be great. The addition of new scenarios could easily be accomplished by changing the initial set-up conditions (and some serious play testing for balance).
Rich
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Post by Belisarius on Dec 30, 2004 1:11:08 GMT 1
This wouldn't qualify as an expansion, but I would like to see the designers work their magic on the struggle in the 2d age between Sauron with his ring and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Because this game would appeal to purists, it should involve heavier tactical combat play, no Nazgul (they were all alive then correct?) but the Istari (Wizards, all 5 of them) would see play. Great leaders and epic battles, I would pay $50 for this.
Anyway, if the designers make an expansion for this game I would buy it because War of the Ring rocks!
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Post by eXistenZ on Jan 5, 2005 14:29:53 GMT 1
As new expansion I see 2 possibilities:
1) A sort of "deluxe" edition, with for example new miniatures and/or more detailed, but with the gameplay substantially unchanged (actually I can't see what "luxury" they can add!)
2) Different scenarios, as e.g. somebody suggested the journey from the Shire to Rivendell, not only of the hobbits+strider but even of the other have-to-become "companions". In this case maybe just a new set of event cards and a slightly different gameplay are needed, but this could introduce an interesting rule: the ending scenario of this expansion could be the starting one of a WotR game... Another idea might be to trace the events between Bilbo's adventure and his departure, that is Gandalf's and Sauron's search of information about the ring (Saruman still belongs to "Good", but with the propensity to betrayal!) in addition to the gathering of the armies.
About the Silmarillion, maybe they have to create a new brand game!
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