I. J. Thompson said:

I totally agree. I feel like moving its status on the "Upcoming" page, although not exactly the kind of news I was hoping for, makes me reassured that at least they haven't forgotten about this game completely.

In fact, this development feels a lot safer for my pocket book after the holiday rush. I can wait for a good product. And the wait means I'll actually be able to buy it when it comes out!

Maybe the card game was at the printers so they could put the game back in development to play test? ;-)

maybe they want to time it with teh 3D cinima release of the original trillogy at the end of the year?

 We're only getting The Phantom Menace in 3D this year. If it does well at the box office, we'll see one per year (in order) over the next six years (per Rick McCallum).

 Its on the calendar on boardgamegeek as Q2 2012 so I guess we're looking at June at the earliest :(

Wheelz said:

Weird. Maybe they should have waited to announce the game.

Wheelz said:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Breaking the year into quarters is far less ambiguous than saying "early" and the second quarter of the year is the second 3-month period of the year: April-May-June. My understanding then is that the earliest release would be April, 2012. When you said earliest would be June, were you being sarcastic, referring to the fact that FFG is consistently late on their products. If you were being sarcastic, I totally agree: we shouldn't expect it before June.

But I also want to point out that boardgamegeek is not unique in saying that 2nd quarter 2012 is the new release date. That is the expected release date that FFG posted in the "Upcoming" section of their website when they moved the game back into development earlier this month.

In response to Wheelz, I think they had to announce it when they did so that they could do play testing at GenCon. I'm sure that was a valuable learning experience for them that probably influenced this delay in the product release and will result in a much better product (i.e. they found problems that needed fixing). They couldn't play test and not announce it because word would have got out anyway. So while it is strange that we may end up waiting a full year between announcement and release, I think it kinda makes sense in this case.

On a side note, I've noticed how much people complain about the solo aspect of Lord of the Rings and I can't help wondering if they are altering the rules to make this game more solo-friendly. Just a thought.

 Yeah I was refering to, especially it seems in the UK, how things turn up late from FF. 

It may only be economical desision!

Big LOTR lcg expansion was just released, so it may be wise to wait one month or so. I  would put it out between Redhorn gate and Road to Rivendel. One reason could be that they want to have full first cycle of cards ready, before they release base game. Hard to say...

Yes, I'm glad they're taking their time, too.  This could be a fabulous game, but not if it's buggy.  Take time, and may the Force be with them!

Hannibal_pjv said:

jhaelen said:

I don't think so. Christian Petersen responded on BGG a while ago to say they stand behind "early 2012" (but to them that means "first half of 2012").  So, probably June 30 release. :o)

Also, every comment I've read here and on BGG from people playing the demos at Gencon and Essen has been extremely positive, with many saying it's better than the LOTR LCG (which is great, IMO).

Ah, then again, I didn't notice before that the status had changed from "at the printer" to "in development," and I think Christian Petersen's comment was made before that status change, so who knows... maybe it is being held up for retooling.

Budgernaut said:

solo in lotr is awesome... one of the best things about that game

Grudunza said:

yea, i havn't read any comments on bbg that are not super positive.