Fantasy Flight Games

Into the Dungeons

Published 7 December 2017 | The Lord of the Rings LCG

Into the Dungeons

The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat Is Now Available

“I alone of you have ever been in the dungeons of the Dark Lord, and only in his older and lesser dwelling in Dol Guldur.”
–Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

Your journeys across Harad have led you far. From the port city of Umbar, across the sandy wastes of Near Harad, and into the deepest jungles of Far Harad, you and some other of Middle-earth’s greatest heroes have been tasked to your limits. Over the course of the Haradrim cycle, you’ve slowly made your way northwards, crossing the sands with your Haradrim allies. Kahliel and his people have proven their worth time and again—so when they propose a plan to free the prisoners from the citadel of Cirith Gurat, you agree without hesitation…

The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, the fifth Adventure Pack in the Haradrim cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, is now available at your local retailer and online through our website! Here, you’ll find the next chapter of your unfolding adventures as you and your fellow heroes struggle to slip past the Dark Lord’s forces. Though the forces of Mordor are strong in the garrison at Cirith Gurat, you cannot in good faith slip past the tower and leave those imprisoned within to torment and death.

Pick up your copy of The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat today, and read on to find a piece of what you may encounter within!

Rescue the Captives

The dungeons of Cirith Gurat are filled with prisoners, who spend their days in hard labor, enduring the injustices and depravities heaped upon them by the Orcs who hold the tower. With your arrival, the prisoners’ time of suffering has finally come to an end. To successfully escape from Cirith Gurat, you must first overpower the guards in the prison cells, sneak your way past as many defenses as you can, and finally cut your way out past any who still stand in your way. Even with your plan in place, freeing the captives from their prison cells will be no easy task—and the enemies arrayed against you will seek to stop you at every turn.

This encounter is loaded with cards that bring new captives into play: most commonly taking your own allies and holding them as prisoners until you can defeat their guards. The Jailer of Cirith Gurat (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 121) takes one of your allies immediately when he engages with you, while the vast assortment of Dungeon Cells (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 125) are prone to capturing any ally that would be destroyed and imprisoning that ally instead. Of course, as heroes of Middle-earth, you cannot leave your friends to imprisonment. Your valor may be all that carries you through to victory.

Fortunately, as your peril draws near and your threat creeps higher and higher, you’ll find three new player cards within this expansion that drastically increase in power once you pass the Valour threshold at forty threat. We’ve already seen the first of these cards, Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 118), in our announcement article. When your need is truly dire, you can use Open the Armory to find a new Weapon or piece of Armor that can give you the edge in your struggles against Sauron.

There are two other cards in this Adventure Pack that also have Valour effects, becoming more powerful as your quest to free the prisoners of Cirith Gurat grows more dangerous. You may find yourself fighting alongside a Knight of Dale (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 110). Though far from home, this doughty warrior boasts a solid array of stats, but more importantly, you can send him into battle multiple times each round. As a Valour Action, you can simply ready the Knight of Dale, allowing you to quest and defend, or guard against an attack and then counterattack. No matter how you choose to use him, the Knight of Dale is a valiant ally in your journeys through Harad.

Of course, the very nature of Valour triggers is that you’re already close to losing the game. You’ll need every edge you can muster, including mounting a Fierce Defense (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 113) wherever possible. This Tactics-sphere event can deal three damage to any non-unique enemy engaged with you—but when you are truly pushed to the edge of what you can master, Fierce Defense has a Valour Action that lets you simply discard a non-unique enemy engaged with you. Even if you’re hard-pressed by powerful Uruks or Trolls, a Fierce Defense may be all you need to survive.

Escape from Cirith Gurat

The servants of the Dark Lord are many—and many are the prisoners of Cirith Gurat. What kind of hero would you be if you left these men and women to suffer and die alone?

Take up arms and venture into the dungeons! The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat (MEC60) is now available at your local retailer and online through our website.

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The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat

Published 3 January 2017 | The Lord of the Rings LCG

The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat

Announcing the Fifth Adventure Pack in the Haradrim Cycle

"The tower of Cirith Gurat rose higher as the caravan drove towards the gate. Not as tall or mighty as Minas Ithil, it was still of Númenórean design, built after the fall of Sauron when Gondor kept watch on the land of Mordor."
–The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, the fifth Adventure Pack in the Haradrim cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game!

With its sixty cards (including a new Lore hero and three copies of each player card), The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat finds several of Middle-earth's greatest heroes hundreds of miles from home, traveling through the hostile realm of Harad. They have crossed deserts, tamed Mûmakil, fled from Orcs on Wargs, and tunneled through a den of giant spiders. They have ambushed a caravan loaded with tithes meant for the Dark Lord of Mordor. And they have made allies along their way.

For much of their homeward journey, the heroes have been accompanied and assisted by the small band of Haradrim led by Kahliel (The Mûmakil, 1) and his lieutenants. Together, they have survived the perils of Harad's jungles and deserts. They have fought together and bled together, so when Kahliel learns that his tribesmen are being held prisoner in the "Iron Pass" of Cirith Gurat, the heroes don't hesitate to volunteer their swords. Their friends will be freed.

While the scenario from The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat leads your heroes deep into one of the Dark Lord's prisons, its player cards arm you for the battles to come. Once you spring Kahliel's tribesmen from prison, you'll need to fight your way free of Orc jailors and pursuers, and you'll be happy for the assistance of the Adventure Pack's new Weapons, Warriors, and events.

Strength Born of Trials

"Aragorn took leave lovingly of Elrond: and the next day he said farewell to his mother, and to the house of Elrond, and to Arwen, and he went out into the wild. For nearly thirty years he laboured in the cause against Sauron."
–J.R.R. Tolkien, Appendix A

When Gandalf first spoke of Aragorn to Frodo, he called the Dunadan "the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world." Of course, Aragorn wasn't born with all the knowledge and skills that made him the greatest; he developed them over his many years of travel in the wild.

Likewise, the heroes of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game frequently gain strength over the course of your games as you give them attachments that provide them with new abilities or add to their Willpower, Attack Strength, and Defense Strength. And, even among these attachments, you can find some that reflect the strength your heroes can win from their trials. Cards like Blood of Númenor (Heirs of Númenor, 13) and Gondorian Fire (Assault on Osgiliath, 85) increase in power with your accumulation of resources.

You'll find another attachment that to reflect your heroes' growth in The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat. The Legacy Blade (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 117) is a zero-cost, restricted Lore Weapon that attaches to a hero and grants a bonus to that hero's Attack Strength. While that bonus starts at zero, it grows with each side quest you've completed, to a maximum of three.

Accordingly, the Legacy Blade is potentially one of the most powerful Weapons in the game, but it requires you to wander through multiple side quests before you can unlock its maximum potential. This makes it an ideal fit for Thurindir (Race Across Harad, 28), the Dúnedain Ranger who can pull a side quest into your opening hand. But since he also gains a point of Willpower for each side quest you complete, you might prefer to play your Legacy Blade on Aragorn himself (The Lost Realm, 1), who can better put its bonus Attack Strength to good use.

No matter which character wields the blade, you'll find that it plays perfectly into the cycle's focus on side quests and—along with the side quests themselves—should have you looking at what lies over the hill to your left or right nearly as much as you're looking at the next stage of your quest.

Arm Yourselves for a Noble Cause

Even in the alien lands of Harad, the heroes of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game are willing to fight—and, if necessary, sacrifice themselves—in order to see evil defeated. Such is the case, once more, in The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat.

Thus, when Kahliel discovers that his friends are being held prisoner in Cirith Gurat, it's time to detour from your homeward journey. It's time to Open the Armory (The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat, 118). The Dungeons of Cirith Gurat is scheduled to arrive at retailers late in the first quarter of 2017, so grab your Legacy Blade, and launch one of the most daring prison breaks the Third Age has ever known!

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