Greetings, heroes of Middle-earth!

You have recently undertaken many harrowing journeys through the cursed lands of Angmar. The Angmar Awakened cycle of Adventure Packs for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game has tracked your pursuit of the captive Iârion through the wastes of Eriador, into the halls of Mount Gram, across the Ettenmoors, and through the haunted chambers of a ruined estate in Rhudaur. Still, Iârion remains captive, so you have more journeys and trials ahead of you.

All of this activity is enough to make a Hobbit hungry, and the game's developers have, accordingly, invited you to join them for a Second Breakfast. It's rumored that Elrond, himself, may fill his belly as he weighs the information you've presented about the region's growing threat. After all, if it's true that the Rangers and the Elves may soon join you for a march on Carn Dûm, it's best not to head to battle on an empty stomach…

Lead Developer Matthew Newman on The Battle of Carn Dûm

Carn Dûm is a fascinating part of Middle-earth. As the capital of Angmar and the Witch-king’s fortress north of the realms of men, it is a terrifying and imposing place. As with many of the locations in the Angmar Awakened cycle, because the characters of The Lord of the Rings never travel to Carn Dûm during their journey, our artists were able to draw from their own inspiration when depicting the fortress.

Among the little that we do know of Carn Dûm is that it is set into the Mountains of Angmar far to the north, a harsh and cold mountain range where only the hosts of Angmar dwelled, until they were driven out by an army from Gondor during the second age. In The Battle of Carn Dûm, our heroes learn that the forces of Angmar have rallied once more, and it is up to them to put an end to this evil.

Since most of the art in this scenario depicts the fortress of Carn Dûm, we wanted to make sure it felt cold and threatening. This is not some sorrow-filled ruin from another age, but a bastion of evil that was once the home of the Witch-king, and the work done by our artists really delivers on this mood. Additionally, since our story involves the near-completion of a terrible ritual, we had our artists incorporate this event into several pieces of art. The swirling, darkened clouds and unnatural shadows really add to the atmosphere of the quest and tie the story and cards together.

Begin Your Assault

The Battle of Carn Dûm is a departure from the rest of the Angmar Awakened cycle in a number of ways. We really wanted this scenario to feel like an epic battle, the build-up before the climactic conclusion. This moves it away from the preceding chapters of the cycle, which follow the different legs of the company’s journey in their quest to rescue Iârion. Because of this, the scenario shifts its focus away from progress and side quests, and towards enemies, engagements, and shadow cards.

In this scenario, the players are assaulting the forces of Angmar in their stronghold, so we added an effect to the first quest stage that causes enemies to keep unresolved shadow cards, instead of discarding them. This means that any enemy you keep in the staging area (or stop from attacking) will continue to gather strength until they eventually attack you. Additionally, this allowed us to design some very interesting enemy cards, such as the Carn Dûm Garrison (The Battle of Carn Dûm, 129) and Werewolf of Angmar (The Battle of Carn Dûm, 131), both of which feature high engagement costs but grow more powerful with each shadow card dealt to them.

“But… enemies in the staging area don’t get shadow cards!” You might be saying. And you’d be right—if it weren’t for the Forced effect on your old nemesis, Thaurdir (The Battle of Carn Dûm, 127 Thaurdir ). At this point in the cycle’s story, you will have faced Thaurdir a number of times, but The Battle of Carn Dûm is where you’re finally able to battle this evil Wraith to the death. We wanted this final showdown with Thaurdir to be a memorable experience, so this boss is really the centerpiece for the entire scenario—he is the Captain of Daechanar’s army and the sorcerer’s greatest Champion, so he has two sides.

You primarily fight his Captain side during Stage 1 of the battle, where he is commanding the host of Angmar, spreading shadow cards to his troops and staying at a distance. During Stage 2 , he takes the fight straight to you as Daechanar’s Champion, with a Forced effect that veterans of the Angmar Awakened cycle will recognize. However, during both of these stages certain card effects will cause the Wraith to flip back and forth between his two sides, triggering his Forced effects and making the flow of the battle chaotic and unpredictable.

We hope that players will find this difficult fight to be climactic and memorable. Defeating Thaurdir and fighting your way into the fortress of Carn Dûm won’t be easy, but that will make victory all the sweeter. Good luck!

Gather Your Strength

Now that you know the task that lies before you and you've finished your repast, the time has come to march to battle. The Battle of Carn Dûm is due to arrive at retailers early next month!