by Cain.rpgorg in Jan 09,2012

On last week Fantasy Flight Games released the first big-box expansion to the Lord of the Rings LCG, Khazad-Dúm. With this new expansion you may lead your heroes into the depths of Moria in a search after Balin and his dwarwen colony.

  The Lords of the Rings LCG: Khazad-Dúm expansion, released last week has lots to offer the LotR LCG fans. In this 185 card expansion we receive 9 new encounter sets with 3 new scenarios, as well as several new cards for player-decks, including two new Dwarf heroes. This expansion's expansions sets are not only required for the new scenairos, but also for the soon to be released Dwarrowdelf Cycle adventure packs.

  The Lord of the Rings LCG is a cooperative game, where 1 to 4 players fighting to complete one quest, taking place in Middle-Earth, set before the events depicted in the trilogy. Every player is in control of 3 heroes and a deck of cards, consisting allies, equipment and tactics to face the many perils the game throw at him. Heroes must face enemies, dangerous locations and treachery or they may never reach home alive.

 Khazad-Dúm seems to be a very good expansion to the Core Set, providing a very thematic and interesting addition to the game. The three scenairos included provide a nicely scaled difficulty level (3, 5, 7) as well as a bunch of new mechanics and enemies.

  The mines are filled with Dark and Underground locations, but luckily our heroes could get a Cave Torch against the darkness.Several cards with the Dwarf trait are also stronger against Dark locations, thanks to the dwarf race inherent knowledge abut the underground. Oh, and speaking about the Dwarf trait, we receive enough new cards to build a deck around the theme, forming a deck from Dwarf heroes, allies and tactics. In the same time Orcs and Goblins receive several mechanics to simulate their endless hordes and their harassing. I think these new game mechanics are both thematically fitting and nicely executed so Fantasy Flight Games did a really good work here.

  The new enemies mostly include Goblins, Orcs and Cave Trolls, which would be nothing new if there weren't new abilities. There are almost untouchable archers shooting from the staging area, a drummer to strengthen the troops, cards able to turn from shadow effects into new enemies and many more. Some of this opponents, like the Cave Troll who could fell multiple opponents with one swing are extremely dangerous, and the players should employ new tactics to win these challenges.

  For the players side, there are two new heroes (Bifur and Dwalin) as well as 11 playsets of cards to include in player decks. Out of these only one which is not tied to the Dwarf trait in any way, while severals are only usable in a dedicated Dwarf deck. Thanks to this the expansion don't offer that much in deck building possibilities as is could, but what it's offer are great.

All in all, I think it's a very worthwhile addition to the game, and The Lord of the Rings - Khazad-Dúm expansion will provide hours upon hours of entertainment to LotR fans, especially when Dwarrowdelf came out.

Zoltán "Cain" Mészáros

 
Share Article: