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The Hunt Begins
Our adventures have taken us to the Anduin Valley, located between the Misty Mountains. Here, reports of Gollum being sighted have reached you, and so you have come here in search of clues that might lead you to his location. The journey continues with the Lord of the Rings LCG: The Hunt for Gollum Adventure Pack. Beautifully designed, this adventure follows on nicely from the scenarios in the core set, and introduces further lore surrounding Gollum and the Aunduin Valley.
Having enjoyed the first lots of quests in the start set, our group raced onto the first expansion adventure and began our hunt for Gollum. Almost all of us have read a lot of Tolkien's work, and so we’re familiar with most of the characters that we’ve met so far. It’s always charming to hear a mention of a name, or see a face on a card and think, “Oh, it’s him!”, or shout out an obscure meme.
In Search Of Our Precious
In order to locate the elusive Gollum, you’ll need provisions. Thankfully, the Hunt for Gollum Adventure pack contains the following:
28 x Player Cards
29 x Encounter Cards
3 x Quest Cards
All the cards that are included are made of a strong card stock, and don’t curve after being separated. As always, though, I recommend sleeving the cards as quickly as possible to avoid any damage. I also recommend creating or buying some placeholders or storage so that you can sort the scenario cards once you’ve finished with them. Especially as future adventure cards may require some of these scenario cards.
As is the case with all of the cards in this game so far, the art is absolutely stunning. As we travel to more familiar locations in the Lord of the Rings universe, we are able to put images to names with a sense of discovery while we do it.
Filthy Hobbits
Most importantly, this pack contains a new set of cards that you can use to strengthen your deck, and prepare yourself for what horrors may come. Notable cards include Bilbo Baggins, assorted eagles, and the Rivendell Minstrel.
Duration wise, I found this was a simplistic scenario, and it didn’t take too long to complete. Once you have your hearos geared and accompanied by a strong combo of allies, it becomes much easier to work through the scenario deck and complete the adventure. This is the main reason that I recommend players try this pack on a harder difficulty.
Interestingly, this adventure does include a couple of new mechanics to make things more interesting. 4 Clue cards are inserted into the scenario deck at the beginning of the game, and players are advised to collect as many as possible during the adventure. We also have ‘Reset the scenario deck’, which players may be instructed to do during a particular stage.
If you are new to collecting the Lord of the Rings Living Card game, the new repack releases that contain all of the scenarios in one box are far better value for money. However, Fantasy Flight games have not released a road map for which expansions are being reworked next. So it's down to you if you choose to hold out.
Personally, I was so excited to work through these adventures and learn more about the world beyond the shire that our group bought most of the expansions for this game in one fell swoop. The beauty of this game is that there is so much out there to explore, but you have the choice as to how you’d like to discover, and where you go next.
Fleeting Thoughts
I must admit, due to how short this adventure is, it’s not great value for money. However, to get the most out of this expansion, build your decks carefully so that every player compliments the rest of the group. Once you’ve built the best team, tackle the adventure on one of the harder difficulties. If you don’t make it the first time, learn from the experience, revise your decks and try again. This way, you’ll get everything out of the adventure that it has to offer.
If you’ve watched the films or spent any time on the internet, the jokes, memes and references will come out en masse during this Hunt for Gollum adventure. Therefore to get the most out of this expansion, I recommend that you do the voices at any given opportunity!