Sneak Peek: Khazad-dûm for Lord of the Rings – The Card Game

Jan 5, 2012

Here’s a quick look at the first deluxe expansion, Khazad-dûm, for The Lord of the Rings – The Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games.

From FFG:

“For a while we had news and it seemed good: messages reported that Moria had been entered and a great work begun there. Then there was silence, and no word has ever come from Moria since.”
–Glóin, The Fellowship of the Ring

It has been many years since the Dwarves last heard from Balin. Now the heroes of Middle-earth must search for signs of him and his fledgling Dwarven colony.

Khazad-dûm is the first deluxe expansion for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, expanding your game with 165 new cards. Two new Dwarf heroes offer their services, and players gain the benefit of new player cards (three copies of each) while facing new scenarios filled with perilous locations and a menacing host of enemies.

The road goes ever on

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game offers a unique, narrative play experience for cooperative or solo play. Middle-earth’s heroes undertake fantastic quests that lead them to distant and dangerous locations. Along their journeys, they must battle past enemies and steer away from the Dark Lord’s reach and the treachery he plots for them.

The story that began with the Core Set continues to expand further into the world of Middle-earth with each new release.

Where the Core Set and Shadows of Mirkwood cycle of Adventure Packs explored the forests of Mirkwood and related the trials of chasing creatures through the wilds, Khazad-dûm evokes the ominous dread of your fellowship’s dark and perilous journey through Moria’s abandoned tunnels.

The Mines of Moria

“The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant… For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name.”
–Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

With no map nor guide to lead them, your heroes must light their torches and find their own way through the intersecting mines. Khazad-dûm introduces a number of dreadful new Underground and Dark locations, any of which may hold the clues to Balin’s silence that your heroes seek.

Fortunately, Dwarves are little bothered by the dark, and Khazad-dûm provides a wealth of new player cards that expand design options for any deck, but particularly for those with Dwarves! In addition to two new Dwarf heroes, Khazad-dûm strengthens the Dwarven contribution to any fellowship with new Dwarf allies, attachments, and events.

Drums in the deep

New treachery and a horde of new enemies await Middle-earth’s heroes amid the dark, Orc-infested mines of Moria.

The encounter sets in Khazad-dûm provide thrilling new challenges that will keep your heroes peering cautiously around each corner as they must face Orcs, goblins, and cave-trolls. Along their way, they must avoid the hazards of underground travel such as cave-ins, pitfalls, crumbling stairways, and impassable chasms. If your heroes take the wrong turns or delay too long, they’ll find that the Orcs of Khazad-dûm swarm against invaders in astonishing numbers. And while your heroes maneuver past the onrushing hordes, they risk delving too deep and waking the nameless fear.

Beyond the mines

From Orcs and Trolls to Ringwraiths and Dragons, Middle-earth is a rich and expansive world, filled with fantastic and iconic creatures. As you venture into the ancient Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm, you’ll enter a place in Middle-earth far removed from the settings and creatures represented by the Core Set encounter cards. Dark tunnels teem with goblins, and any wrong turn could send you plummeting through pits to find yourself confronted by older and fouler things than Orcs.

Therefore, in addition to expanding your existing game experience, Khazad-dûm introduces nine all-new encounter sets! These unique sets, when combined into encounter decks (as instructed by the rules), make up Khazad-dûm’s three included scenarios.

It’s also important to note that you will need these new encounter sets to play the scenarios of the subsequent Dwarrowdelf cycle of Adventure Packs.

So while the Khazad-dûm expansion is an exciting addition in its own right, it’s also the first step in the game’s next engaging narrative. With it, you’ll have the option of bringing new regions to your gaming experience. Explore more of Middle-earth than ever before, from the forests of the Core Set and the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle, to the perilous caves and treacherous peaks of the Misty Mountains.

Will your passage through Moria be tragic or heroic? The Dwarven kingdoms await word of Balin and his fledgling colony, so strike up a torch and head into the depths of Khazad-dûm!

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...