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June 13, 2002 - June 20, 2002

6-20-02 Latest News

LOTR Gaming for June and July!
Flinch @ 9:28 pm EST

Join TheOneRing.net this summer for some great LOTR Gaming Opportunities!

Saturday June 29th @ 11:00am

Join the Camp Flinch crew at Mile High Comics in Garden Grove, CA for "Free Donut Day". There will be one of the artists from the Simpsons on hand as well as plenty of Lord of the Rings Trading Card Gaming and Table Top Gaming, not to mention oodles of Lord of the Rings Prizes!

Mile High Comics
12591 Harbor Blvd.
Garden Grove CA, 92840
714-741-2096

Saturday July 6th @ 11:00am

Join Camp Flinch for a Sealed Deck Tournament run by our very own Lao of Gondor at Mile High Comics in Garden Grove, CA. Sealed Deck Games allow players from all experience levels to have an equal chance at winning some great LOTR Prizes!

Each player receives a Starter Deck and Three Packs from the new Decipher release Realms of the Elf Lords, and the top placing players will walk away with some extra prizes! The entry fee is twenty five dollars and includes your cards and one raffle ticket to win other prizes from the exciting Lord of the Rings Games!

Sealed Deck: $25
Includes Entry Fee, 1 Sealed Deck Box, 2 Booster Packs, 1 Raffle Ticket, 2 Booster Pack Prizes
awarded after the tournament and prizes and giveaways galore!

Mile High Comics
12591 Harbor Blvd.
Garden Grove CA, 92840
714-741-2096

Please RSVP with Flinch to be sure to reserve your spot. Gaming Space is limited.

Hope to see you there!

News from the UK
Tehanu @ 1:13 pm EST

News from Richard: Like numerous magazines, this month's edition of UK magazine Total DVD previews the FOTR DVD. But more importantly the magazine is boasting a free DVD next month which features our favourite movie. No details, but expect it to tie in with the release of FOTR DVD and hence it should include at least a trailer and maybe a small preview. The magazine issue in question will appear in shops on 11th July.

Meanwhile, 17th June was a good day for UK Ringers. Harper Collins have apparently released the Art Of The Fellowship Of The Ring (brought forward from July) and the 2003 Tolkien Calendar by Ted Nasmith (The Two Towers).
Woohoo!

Total Magazine Talks LOTR
Xoanon @ 12:44 pm EST

From: Richard

Like numerous magazines, this month's edition of UK magazine Total DVD previews the FOTR DVD. But more importantly the magazine is boasting a free DVD next month which features our favourite movie. No details, but expect it to tie in with the release of FOTR DVD and hence it should include at least a trailer and maybe a small preview. The magazine issue in question will appear in shops on 11th July.

Meanwhile, 17th June was a good day for UK Ringers. Harper Collins have apparently released the Art Of The Fellowship Of The Ring (brought forward from July) and the 2003 Tolkien Calendar by Ted Nasmith (The Two Towers). Woohoo!

6-19-02 Latest News

IEG steps in on 'Borgia' budgeting
Xoanon @ 10:44 am EST

IEG steps in on 'Borgia' budgeting
June 19, 2002

By Stuart Kemp

LONDON -- Graham King's Los Angeles-based financing and production company, Initial Entertainment Group, has boarded Neil Jordan's "Borgia," completing the picture's financing structure, the producers said Tuesday.

King's company has worldwide sales rights outside North America to the $55 million production, with 20th Century Fox retaining North American rights, the result of a deal struck during the Festival de Cannes.

IEG sealed the deal this week after Myriad Pictures -- the Los Angeles- and London-based indie sales, financing and production company -- pulled out last week after failing to agree on a budget with the movie's producers.

Also, according to a statement, Ian McKellen will be added to a cast that already includes Ewan McGregor, Christina Ricci (as Lucretia, the illegitimate daughter of Roderigo), Jean Reno, Antonio Banderas and John Malkovich.

British producer Stephen Woolley is co-producing the project with Imagemovers' Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey.

"Borgia," a historical drama set during the 15th century, follows the corrupt Borgia family, which includes siblings Lucretia and Cesare and their father, Roderigo, who went on to become Pope Alexander VI and ran the 16th century Vatican as a crime syndicate.

Woolley, who runs London-based production outfit Company of Wolves with writer-director Jordan, said the movie is scheduled to begin shooting in October in Umbria, Italy, and at Babelsberg Studios in Germany. Filming is expected to last through February.

Rapke and Woolley hailed Jeff Berg at ICM as being central to the refinancing of the movie.

"Jeff has done a heroic job of shoring up last-minute financing after we agreed to part ways with Myriad," Rapke said.

"It's been something of a miracle putting together a new financing package at such speed," Woolley said. " 'Borgia' promises to be a truly spectacular European production, a U.K.-Irish-Italian-German co-production that will highlight the best of European talent in front of and behind the camera."

Part 1: Introduction to Discarding
Flinch @ 2:24 am EST

One of the prevailing strategies in tournament decks today is the Run N Gun - or what is sometimes called the Super Fellowship. High powered characters, lots of Archery, and huge pools of twilight being generated. If you want to build a deck like that, move on. Stop reading this article. This article is about having fun and destroying your opponent's hand so that he can do nothing.

To those of you who have stayed, welcome. Discarding is a fun strategy you can work into decks and in fact build into a deck on its own (I currently have two that I run).

First, discarding has been around since the beginning of the game and was, at first, the most abused strategy in the game. The first two major erratta's to the game came to cards that forced discards - Far Seeing Eyes and Mirror of Galadriel. Both cards could cause your opponent to discard his hand before he could do anything about it. Does this sound like a strategy you would like to use?

Well, the first thing you might ask is whether the discard strategy is a viable strategy. The answer is a tough one - yes and no.

Discarding cards from your opponent’s hand is a great strategy for both fellowship and shadow (although Fellowship has a slight advantage here). By eliminating cards in the opponent’s hand, you are reducing the danger factor and the randomization that is caused by not knowing what is your opponent’s hand. As the shadow player, if they have no hand, you know they have no pumps. As the fellowship player, if they have no hand, you know they have no minions. This is incredibly important in making the deploy and move decisions in the game.

Discarding cards from your opponents draw deck is a great strategy for both fellowship and shadow as well (although shadow has a slight advantage here). Decking (the action of causing your opponent to discard his draw deck) your opponent of all his cards can have major ramifications to the game. A lack of a draw deck means a lack of hand and a lack of the unknown in the game. For Shadow it can have other implications as well - specifically a game winning condition if the right card is out.

So what cultures have obvious Hand and Draw Deck discard functions? Well, at the moment just 4 – Elves, Dwarves, Sauran, and Isengard.

6-18-02 Latest News

Corruption...Terrible As The Dawn
Flinch @ 1:27 pm EST

written by: Ulaire Cantea "The Sword Breaker"

        Greetings, once again! Today, I will be going over the impacts of the Realms of the Elf Lords (RotEL) expansion will have on the Nine. I will go into both the cards that help and hurt the Nazgul.

        First, let’s look at the cards which can aid the Ringwraiths:

1.        Gates Of The Dead City – This condition comes into play for the low cost of 1 twilight and forces your opponent to exert a companion whenever your Nazgul culture card adds a burden. This card can be a somewhat useful tool. With four copies of this card in play, you can cause the Free People’s player to exert up to four times. Bear in mind though, that this requires that the Nazgul card add the burden, so it will not work if the Witch-King, Lord of the Nazgul wounds the ring-bearer, and he puts on the ring to convert the wounds to burdens, since the WK, LotN is not adding a burden, the ring is. So, this really is only viable if you can hit them with It Wants To Be Found and have this in play. Not an ideal card in my opinion.

2.        News of Mordor – Realms of the Elf Lords introduces a bunch of cards that give benefits for mixing Shadow cultures. This is the Ringwraith one, where a Nazgul becomes damage +1 if you can spot an Isengard minion. This, to me, is far too gimmicky; it requires you to have both an Isengard minion and one of the Nine in play in order for this skirmish event to work. Even if you get an Isengard minion into play, if he dies during the Archery phase, this card does you no good. This is a card that I would advise the would-be corrupter to take a pass on.

3.        The Ring Draws Them – This condition adds 1 twilight for each burden you can spot when the fellowship moves. It does come with a price: each Shadow phase, one of the Black Riders must exert, or TRDT is discarded. With the Nazgul, most of them exert to do an action, and with TRDT, you are decreasing your ability for them to perform those actions. Remember: Exerting is not wounding, so His Terrible Servants will not prevent this exertion. As discussed in my previous article, Not Easily Destroyed will heal the Nine, but at 3 twilight per heal, you need at least to be gaining 3 twilight each turn in order to break even with TRDT.

4.        They Will Never Stop Hunting You – This Maneuver event, which costs 2 twilight, lets you take a card at random from opponent’s hand and exert a companion with a ranged weapon a number of times equal to the twilight cost of the card you took, if you can spot one of the Nine. TWNSHY only works if you can spot someone with a ranged weapon. Being an archer does not automatically mean he has a ranged weapon, so unless you are going against a dedicated archery deck, this card will do you little good, except to perhaps exhaust Aragorn if he is armed with his bow, but you also must pull a high twilight cost card out of his hand to do this. If you pull out that Goblin Runner, you have pretty much used up 2 twilight that could have been used elsewhere. Bear in mind also that this exerts only; it does not wound! It is impossible to kill with this card by itself. Let’s compare this to Relentless Charge. Relentless Charge lets you deal wounds to all archers, whether or not they bear a weapon, plus has a twilight cost of zero; it only requires you to exert a Nazgul. Thus, I would advise Relentless Charge over TWNSHY.

5.        Too Great and Terrible – We now come to THE card of the set that players of the Nine will truly relish! This maneuver event costs zero twilight and just requires you to spot a Nazgul to do 2 wounds to Gandalf! The Istari has been a thorn in our sides for far too long! With his staff, he has cancelled skirmishes, so we couldn’t wield our greatest powers that require the Nine to win skirmishes. With his Servant of the Secret Fires, he has weakened the Nazgul so that mere mortals could vanquish them. With his Sleep, Caradhras, he has discarded our conditions! Now, we can get back at him! The only way to prevent these wounds is by discarding two Gandalf culture cards. This is a win-win scenario for us! Gandalf takes 2 wounds or he gets rid of those SotSF (or Sleeps or some other cards that would harm our plans) that he was holding in his hand. Bear in mind, though, to kill him requires multiples of this card. Unaided, with opponent having no Gandalf culture cards in hand, would require 2 TGTs to kill the Istari. I would advise 3 or 4 copies of this card, because Gandalf can be more of a pain than Aragorn can at times, so make sure he falls into darkness!

6.        Ulaire Otsea, Ringwraith in Twilight – Another of the Nine gets a Twilight version. This minion, when he wins a skirmish, can exert to transfer Blade Tip from the support area to the Ring-bearer. While you may feel this is useful, I would advise keeping with the Fellowship version of Otsea, since that version can exert to make a Ringwraith culture card fierce. Bear in mind that no Twilight Nazgul is naturally fierce, so the Fellowship version can be a strong boon to a corruption deck.

7.        Eregion Hills – This site at location #4 adds 2 twilight and the Ring-bearer gains a burden. No ifs, ands, or butts about it. For myself, I will definitely being using this location over the Moria Lake I had been previously using. True, I lose the exerting of Frodo or 2 companions and 1 twilight, but I gain a definite certainty that the Ring-bearer gets another burden. (This site would have come in handy in my game against a certain 2100+ rated player when Frodo had 9 burdens on him at site 4. It would have been game over right then and there.)

8.        The Gates of Argonath – I can hear the question now “Why this location?”. Here’s why: for 1 less twilight than the Shores of Nen-Hithoel, I lose the penalty if my opponent is playing orcs, but far more important, maneuver events can not be played. I have seen far too many A Ranger’s Versatility rain on my parade. With the fellowship is at this site, I can not have my Witch-King exhausted before he has even had a chance to wield his might. This game text works both ways though; so his fellowship is safe from my Maneuver events as well, but that is a price I will gladly pay for this boon.

Now, let us move on to the cards that hamper our efforts to corrupt the Ring-bearer.

1.        Narya – This Artifact costs zero twilight and plays on Gandalf. At the start of each turn, the Free Peoples player may add 3 twilight to remove a burden. As the goal of corrupting is to add burdens, anything that removes those burdens is a bane to our strategy. This is another reason to pack multiple copies of Too Great and Terrible. Bear in mind that this ring is an Artifact so it can not be discarded with Beauty Is Fading, plus this ring adds 1 to the Istari’s vitality. With this ring, Gandalf can undo all your hard work, so it is imperative that the Istari be put out of play as soon as possible!

2.        Arwen, Elven Rider – This new version of Arwen loses her ability to fight better against the Nine, but gains the ability to prevent wounds to the Ring-bearer by discarding 3 cards. This version can be even more of a hindrance than her Fellowship version, since with the Witch-King, Lord of the Nazgul and Twilight Enquea, it is important to harm the Ring-bearer. Granted, the Free Peoples player will only be able to do this a maximum of 2 times in a turn, but can you afford to lose that time? Keep in mind, the Twilight Nazgul are not naturally fierce and the Free Peoples player will always hold on to 6 cards to keep the Ring-bearer healthy, so it is possible for the Free Peoples player to grind your strategy to a slow trickle rather than a vast flow of corruption. Her protection will delay your efforts and I hate it when my plans are interfered with, so run this Elf down!

3.        Phial of Galadriel – This possession costs zero twilight and requires an Elf to exert, but it adds 2 to the Ring-bearer’s Resistance. This possession, by increasing the Resistance value, will delay the corruption process, nothing more, but it can give time for burden removal cards, such as Narya and Sam, to bring the number of burdens to a lower value.

4.        Vilya – Elrond’s ring can be used to put conditions back in our hand, so this is merely a delaying tactic, but it can be used at a critical time to harm us. For example, if Vilya is used to return His Terrible Servants to our hand, so that the Nine can be gunned down in the Archery phase. Along with the new Elrond’s ability to heal companions, this is another reason to make sure that Elrond knows the power of Fear (exert a Nazgul to discard an ally) or that our Power Is In Terror (exert a Nazgul to wound every ally).

5.        Unknown Perils – This condition plays to the support area and lets the Free Peoples player prevent wounds to companions by spotting 4 twilight and exerting Gandalf. This card is easily bypassed; just make sure that there is not 4 twilight in the pool. If they can’t spot 4 twilight, this condition is useless with them. Better yet, if they can’t spot Gandalf (because he has felt the power of Too Great and Terrible), they will never be able to use this card!

6.        Horn of Boromir – This card should also not concern the would-be corrupter. The card will probably be used to bring in archers to support the fellowship. His Terrible Servants (or even Wreathed in Shadow) should prevent any extra wounds that may occur. If he does choose to bring in powerful allies (ex. Elrond, who becomes an 11), this may cause some concern, as these allies may be able to win skirmishes against some of the Nine. Use Fear or Their Power Is In Terror to take care of any allies, if you are concerned.

7.        Melilot Brandybuck – This hobbit ally can exert to prevent burdens, but she has the same limitation as Gates of the Dead City does: that being the Shadow card itself must directly add the burdens. Still, anything that can delay our strategy should be squelched, so use Fear or Their Power Is In Terror to deal with her.

8.        The Shire Countryside – This condition allows healing of a companion whenever a burden is removed via a non-hobbit method. Since I foresee Narya being very popular, this is yet another reason to see that Gandalf has a terrible accident.

9.        House of Elrond – This site at location 3 removes a burden if the Free Peoples player can spot 2 Elves. As Elves are already popular and will become more so, this card can possibly hurt you. The likelihood of it affecting your strategy, though, is quite remote, as you should be using the Ford of Bruinen as your site #3, thus you will only see this location through means such as Pathfinder and Thror’s Map.


There are other cards that can adversely affect the corruption strategy indirectly; I have focused on the main cards, which directly can impact our efforts to corrupt the Ring-bearer.

        Since my past lecture, I have received messengers bearing queries about dealing with A Ranger’s Versatility through means other than Not Easily Destroyed. With Realms of the Elf Lords encouraging interactions between the shadow cultures, I feel this is a perfect time to look at two cultures which can aid the Nine: Isengard and Sauron. (Bear in mind, with a corruption strategy, you want 95+% of your cards to be Ringwraith culture, so be careful what you add in. Be certain that a card will work most of the time for you and be enough benefit for inclusion before you add it in to your deck, if it be not a Nazgul culture card.) The two cards that cancel A Ranger’s Versatility from those two cultures are:

1.        Orc Scout (Sauron) – This 6 strength minion costs 2 twilight with a home site of 6.

2.        Uruk Scout (Isengard) – This 7 strength, damage +1 minion costs 3 twilight with a home site of 5.

        Both of these minions can exert to cancel A Ranger’s Versatility (or other Ranger-specific card) and both have 2 vitality. I prefer Uruk Scout myself, because he is stronger, damage +1, and loses roaming penalties sooner. Both cultures have cards that can be of benefit, so let’s take a look at some of them:

1.        Get Off The Road – This Sauron culture event can discard a card from the Free Peoples deck for each burden that you can spot if you can spot a Nazgul and a Sauron minion. I feel that this card, like News From Mordor, is too gimmicky. While it doesn’t require the minion to survive to the skirmish phase, it does require all 3 components in hand, all at the same time (Nazgul, Sauron minion, and GOTR).

2.        Terrible As The Dawn – This Sauron culture card can wound Galadriel 3 times unless the Free Peoples player discards 2 Elves. Galadriel’s new ability to heal Elves may be bothersome, but I don’t foresee her as being a pain enough (or wide-spread enough) to deserve inclusion of this card.

3.        Why Shouldn’t I Keep It – This Sauron culture card discards Bilbo, and like Terrible As The Dawn, I can’t justify inclusion of this card; Bilbo just is not enough of a threat to my strategy.

4.        The Palantir of Orthanc – This Artifact plays to your support area for zero twilight, but you must be able to spot an Isengard minion. Also, to use it, you must also spot an Isengard minion, so assuming you are using 4 Uruk Scouts (I would suggest using a max of 2 or 3), you could use this artifact a maximum of 4 times. It just does not seem worthwhile with a corruption strategy. I feel the card slot would be better used by something else.

5.        The Tower of Orthanc – This condition requires you to spot an Isengard minion to play, but works after that whether or not you can spot any minion. Each time the fellowship moves and you can spot an exhausted companion, you can add 3 twilight. At last, we come across a card that I feel that I could justify using in my deck. True, I do need the Isengard minion in play to bring the Tower into play, but the benefit I feel is worth it. Often against the Nine, the Free Peoples player is moving with at least 1 exhausted companion. Note: The Tower of Orthanc will only add 3 twilight per copy, no matter how many exhausted companions you can spot. This is far better than The Ring Draws Them; you get a flat 3 twilight, but you don’t have to exert a Nazgul and you only lose out if the opponent has more than 3 burdens.


        In selecting cards from the two cultures, I skipped past any cards that require exertion on the part of the non-Nazgul minion. As each only has two vitality, they lose their usefulness if they exert without canceling a Ranger-related card. Always bear in mind: Their sole purpose in the deck is strictly to cancel A Ranger’s Versatility, so that the Black Riders can do their work!

        Well, we have come to an end of another of my lectures on corruption. I hope that this lesson has taught you many things of which you will find of value. Until next time, fare well from the halls of Minas Morgul!

'Enterprise' Director Talks FOTR DVD
Xoanon @ 1:26 pm EST

Trey Y writes:

I found a mention of how great the upcoming 4-disc set is in an article written by a producer of the 'added value material' for that edition.

Robert Meyer Burnett is the director, etc., of the cult hit "Free Enterprise," (love that movie -Xo) and these days his paying gig is producing the aforementioned 'added value materials.' He's also worked on the "Snow White," "Usual Suspects" and "Tron" DVDs.

Here's the link, followed by a warning:

Warning: the site Burnett's column appears on is called "Movie Poop Shoot." It's a new entertainment news/rumor site (similar to Ain't It Cool News) founded by director Kevin Smith. So be aware that there is adult language on the site.

Now, so you don't have to read the whole article, I'll paste the part we really care about.

"Incidentally, for those of you few poor souls actually following the DVD producer road rally, let me state for the record that my boss, Michael Pellerin, the producer behind New Line Cinema's monster DVD of Peter Jackson's masterstroke, has conjured up, Istari-style, the single greatest DVD ever created. Or will ever be created, with the possible exception of the other two films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A bold statement, I know, but after you buy the f***er in November (and you will), tell me if I'm wrong."

NZ Viggo Book Signing Event News
Xoanon @ 8:30 am EST

An article appeared in today's NZ press stating that Viggo Mortensen's Sunday (23 June) appearance at the Green Parrot restaurant is a "private" booksigning. This is not correct and the booksigning is most definitely a public event and ALL are welcome! The details again are:

Green Parrot Restaurant - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
16 Taranaki Street
Wellington City
New Zealand
(04) 384 6080

Viggo will be signing his books: Coincidence of Memory, Hole in the Sun, Signlanguage, and Recent Forgeries.

6-17-02 Latest News

'The Two Towers' : A Literary Event
leo @ 7:34 pm EST

Algamesh sends in some very cool info about an upcoming event regarding The Two Towers books and a literary discussion about them, check it out!

My name is James Edwards (aka Algamesh) and I am the administrator of a web community known as "Tolkien's Ring". Tolkien's Ring (TR) is a discussion community comprised of nearly 200 members and growing. We have been and are currently the most active Book Community on MSN Groups, according to their ranked listing, since March. Our focus is on the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien and bits of the miscellany that accompanies it. We have just recently finished a very successful analysis of the Silmarillion - part of a Mock Middle-earth History syllabus that we have compiled. Our goal is to complete a group study of all published Tolkien literature (J.R.R. & Christopher) while posting our comments, questions, observations, and reflections concurrently.

Starting October 14th, we will begin a study of "The Two Towers" in tribute to the upcoming cinema event, conducted at Tolkiens Ring.

Cast Watch: Ian Holm; Viggo Mortensen.
Tehanu @ 3:12 pm EST

Ian Holm to play Napoleon Bonaparte. Again.

FrodoFan1 sent a pack of news out of this month's Empire magazine. "After scaring the living sh*t out of audiences for that split second during LOTR, revered British actor Ian Holm is set to return to familiar ground for "The Emporor's New Clothes."

Holm, who previously played the "Little General" in Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits and the British min-series Napoleon And Love, goes for the trifecta in a picture that asks that old chestnut "what if?"-in this case,"what if Bonaparte hadn't died in exile and had to return to power.

"Directed by West Wing helmer Alan Taylor, and co-starring Blackadders Tim McInnerny, this promosises to be a classy contingency affair all round. "

In other cast news, Viggo Mortensn has pulled out of the role of corrupt preist Cesare, brother of Lucretia, in Neil Jordan's film of the Borgia family. He is replaced by Ewan McGregor.

Weekend Round Up
Xoanon @ 12:05 am EST

Get TheOneRing.net Newsletter Today!

Filming At Ruapehu

TV Hits Magazine: Mandy Moore on Elijah Wood

Great Pics From The Potluck & Lembas Bake-Off

GAMING: Todd Clineschmidt Talks LOTR Games

A Hunger for Fantasy, an Empire to Feed It

Sean Astin Reads To Children

Saving the Best for Last

Well, it's finally happened.....

Bored? Go Outside and Play!

Lord of the DVD Extras!

Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary

Hall Of Fire Chats For June 15th & 16th

6-15-02 Latest News

Bored? Go Outside and Play!
Tehanu @ 11:18 pm EST

A warm day in a green glade among the redwoods, tables loaded with good food, the fellowship of other Tolkien fans....What could be nicer?

Today was the pot-luck picnic and lembas bake-off in San Francisco's Stern Grove, and it was a lot of fun - the most LOTR fun we've had in ages. It was great to finally put real faces to screen nicknames for the first time, in a friendly atmosphere where it snowed food and rained drink, as they say.

The local members of Cloondara Shire from the Society for Creative Anachronism were a big help (as well as being nice folks), as they had a medieval-looking shade tent and they also were generous in the loaning out of armour and padded weapons. The kids had endless fun issuing heroic challenges and whopping each other with battleaxes, which left the adults free to party as they pleased.

The lembas bake-off was won by a shortbread type of confection, slightly crunchy and not too sweet. Apologies because I forget the name of the winner!

Actually a lot of us didn't know each other well because this was a LOTR gathering that attracted people from many different websites - TORN, TORC, Imladris and even people who don't go online at all - and that made it all the more fun, since of course we had more in common than not.
We're planning to meet for other events in the near future - another LOTR showing in a classic cinema with couches, and a DVD release party were both ideas that were thrown around. The fact is that by now, six months after the release of the first film, we are getting slightly bored and antsy with the lack of real news. Everyone who's bought toys has played with them, we've read all the books we can get our hands on, and now seems a good time to build on the relationships we've built up on the various messageboards and chatrooms we inhabit.

TORN didn't organise this picnic - it was thought up by members of the messageboards on TORN and the White Council, if I remember rightly, and the idea became popular there before TORN got involved by mentioning it on the front page. The Cloondara Shire people were great to have there too as they are Tolkien fans almost by definition and their SCA hobbies give them lots of practice at organising outdoor events.

A number of people have written from all over the place asking why TORN doesn't organise a LOTR picnic in their area, and my answer is, we didn't organise this one. It 'just happened,' though of course Yarrow and others worked to make it happen. The thing you need to have to make it 'just happen' is a network of local LOTR fans built up through chatroom and messageboard connections. A party invite for your local LOTR fans will have more success if you're somebody who's participated in discussions and is therefore known to the others - I doubt people will flock to the banner of somebody they've never seen before announcing a LOTR picnic on their messageboard. Another great resource is the Society for Creative Anachronism since they have branches or 'Shires' all over the world and are quite likely to be interested in helping with and enjoying your LOTR event.

So, get out and play. Don't sit at home staring at the screen! Make the Net work for you and organise your own LOTR event.


Lao of Gondor's Card of the Week!
Flinch @ 2:07 am EST

Realms of the Elf Lords is upon us! Therefore, I shall begin the CARD OF THE WEEK segment with THE appropriate opening choice:

Card Title: LEGOLAS: Son of Thranduil
Type: Companion/Elf
Class: ARCHER
Statistics: Strength 6/Vitality 3
Twilight Cost: 2

Text: While LEGOLAS is at a river or forest, add 1 to the fellowship archery total.

This is the third installment of the great and powerful elven archer, LEGOLAS. Until now, we have basically had the option of two different strategies revolving around Legolas: Directed archery fire in Legolas GREENLEAF and increased defensive capabilites against the strongest minion class - THE NAZGUL - as seen in Legolas PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD.

Legolas GREENLEAF: combined with ARWEN, Daughter of Elrond; the Fellowship holds a tremendous opening advantage using archery fire in conjunction with Ranger special event cards such as "A Ranger's Versatility" and ARWEN'S NAZGUL-fighting ability. Since twilight generation is lower in the first 3 sites, there is very little minion oppostion and the directed archery can generally eliminate the current threat before moving along the adventure path from Site 2 to 3. This version of LEGOLAS is the strongest choice so far as either a starting or support companion.

Legolas PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD: the Fellowship also has the advantage of adding 1 to the archery total as well as a companion who becomes a 9 strength, like ARWEN, DoE, against a Nazgul attack. Combined with The Bow of The Galadhrim, Defiance, Double Shot and The Splendor of Their Banners - Legolas P.O.M is just as effective as his original alternate version if you maintained the strategy behind his use. I believe this LEGOLAS is grossly overlooked. With the rise of the Twilight NAZGUL - he is a tremendous asset both as a starting companion or support player.

So, why this third version of LEGOLAS? Is his special ability worth basing an entire new form of strategy behind him? Step back for a moment to look at the even bigger picture behind this version of LEGOLAS: His effectiveness is centered around the very core of any strategy - THE ADVENTURE PATH! Key in winning the game, the ability to maintain and manipulate your opponent at YOUR sites is the greatest advantage in the game - and this is where Legolas SON OF THRANDUIL - I believe will become most effective.

If you look carefully at all of the current sites, 2, 3 and 6-9 all have rivers and forests (and in some cases river/forests). The new Legolas' ability is basically active 6 out of nine sites when you control your adventure path and therefore adds a natural 2 archery total on those particular sites.

"But it's not DIRECTED ARCHERY you say."

When you use Legolas GREENLEAF'S ability to the maximum, it creates a severe vulnerability towards 1) Exhaustion 2) Hate (Sauron's most effective direct damage card) 3) Relentless Charge (NAZGUL's archer-only version of HATE) and 4) Bitter Hatred (Moria's version of HATE against Elves). Anticipating any of these situations will force you to think about exerting a second time which basically reduces your directed archery fire to a total of 1 for the rest of the adventure path.

The ability to ADD 1 to the archery total at 6 out of your 9 sites, without the effects of exhaustion or hinderance, is incredibly powerful - especially when combined with the RANGER event cards like A Ranger's Versatility, Elven cards such as Release The Angry Flood, or in conjunction with direct damage effects such as Orc-Bane, Hobbit Sword-Play, Bow of the Galadhrim, Blade of Gondor and Power According To His Stature.

I believe his "latent" effectiveness will be during the REGROUP phase. Using his ability as a barometer to determine whether or not to move forward and eliminate "trailing" exhausted minions with a hail of arrows is easier to consider, especially when you are not in fear of succumbing to a direct damage attack which would remove Legolas as both a fighting/defending companion and 1-2 archery points.

Combined with Elven Archer ALLIES Orophin, Rumil and the new Calaglin (who during regroup, you can exert to wound ANY minion) the choice of using Legolas SON OF THRANDUIL over GREENLEAF or PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD is still not an easy decision. Do I want to give up my directed archery? Do I want to give up my +3 strength bonus against a NAZGUL? Or do I have the control I need over the adventure path in order to maintain 2 points of archery at rivers and forests?

These are all strong choices as far as the variety is concerned. I however would rank this new Legolas second in overall performance - right on the heels of directed archery and slightly above the +3 strength bonus against NAZGULS.

As for the rest of you - how do you feel about Legolas, SON OF THRANDUIL?

Lao of Gondor's Card of the Week!
Flinch @ 2:06 am EST

Realms of the Elf Lords is upon us! Therefore, I shall begin the CARD OF THE WEEK segment with THE appropriate opening choice:

Card Title: LEGOLAS: Son of Thranduil
Type: Companion/Elf
Class: ARCHER
Statistics: Strength 6/Vitality 3
Twilight Cost: 2

Text: While LEGOLAS is at a river or forest, add 1 to the fellowship archery total.

This is the third installment of the great and powerful elven archer, LEGOLAS. Until now, we have basically had the option of two different strategies revolving around Legolas: Directed archery fire in Legolas GREENLEAF and increased defensive capabilites against the strongest minion class - THE NAZGUL - as seen in Legolas PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD.

Legolas GREENLEAF: combined with ARWEN, Daughter of Elrond; the Fellowship holds a tremendous opening advantage using archery fire in conjunction with Ranger special event cards such as "A Ranger's Versatility" and ARWEN'S NAZGUL-fighting ability. Since twilight generation is lower in the first 3 sites, there is very little minion oppostion and the directed archery can generally eliminate the current threat before moving along the adventure path from Site 2 to 3. This version of LEGOLAS is the strongest choice so far as either a starting or support companion.

Legolas PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD: the Fellowship also has the advantage of adding 1 to the archery total as well as a companion who becomes a 9 strength, like ARWEN, DoE, against a Nazgul attack. Combined with The Bow of The Galadhrim, Defiance, Double Shot and The Splendor of Their Banners - Legolas P.O.M is just as effective as his original alternate version if you maintained the strategy behind his use. I believe this LEGOLAS is grossly overlooked. With the rise of the Twilight NAZGUL - he is a tremendous asset both as a starting companion or support player.

So, why this third version of LEGOLAS? Is his special ability worth basing an entire new form of strategy behind him? Step back for a moment to look at the even bigger picture behind this version of LEGOLAS: His effectiveness is centered around the very core of any strategy - THE ADVENTURE PATH! Key in winning the game, the ability to maintain and manipulate your opponent at YOUR sites is the greatest advantage in the game - and this is where Legolas SON OF THRANDUIL - I believe will become most effective.

If you look carefully at all of the current sites, 2, 3 and 6-9 all have rivers and forests (and in some cases river/forests). The new Legolas' ability is basically active 6 out of nine sites when you control your adventure path and therefore adds a natural 2 archery total on those particular sites.

"But it's not DIRECTED ARCHERY you say."

When you use Legolas GREENLEAF'S ability to the maximum, it creates a severe vulnerability towards 1) Exhaustion 2) Hate (Sauron's most effective direct damage card) 3) Relentless Charge (NAZGUL's archer-only version of HATE) and 4) Bitter Hatred (Moria's version of HATE against Elves). Anticipating any of these situations will force you to think about exerting a second time which basically reduces your directed archery fire to a total of 1 for the rest of the adventure path.

The ability to ADD 1 to the archery total at 6 out of your 9 sites, without the effects of exhaustion or hinderance, is incredibly powerful - especially when combined with the RANGER event cards like A Ranger's Versatility, Elven cards such as Release The Angry Flood, or in conjunction with direct damage effects such as Orc-Bane, Hobbit Sword-Play, Bow of the Galadhrim, Blade of Gondor and Power According To His Stature.

I believe his "latent" effectiveness will be during the REGROUP phase. Using his ability as a barometer to determine whether or not to move forward and eliminate "trailing" exhausted minions with a hail of arrows is easier to consider, especially when you are not in fear of succumbing to a direct damage attack which would remove Legolas as both a fighting/defending companion and 1-2 archery points.

Combined with Elven Archer ALLIES Orophin, Rumil and the new Calaglin (who during regroup, you can exert to wound ANY minion) the choice of using Legolas SON OF THRANDUIL over GREENLEAF or PRINCE OF MIRKWOOD is still not an easy decision. Do I want to give up my directed archery? Do I want to give up my +3 strength bonus against a NAZGUL? Or do I have the control I need over the adventure path in order to maintain 2 points of archery at rivers and forests?

These are all strong choices as far as the variety is concerned. I however would rank this new Legolas second in overall performance - right on the heels of directed archery and slightly above the +3 strength bonus against NAZGULS.

As for the rest of you - how do you feel about Legolas, SON OF THRANDUIL?

6-14-02 Latest News

Reviews Reviews everywhere, and what a lot to think....
Tehanu @ 10:58 pm EST

Ever wonder what happened to our Reviews page? You know, the one where you could go and write your own review of the film and submit it TORN? And then we had to read it through, check it was a real review [i.e you'd spent more than 3 seconds thinking about it and didn't just rate everything five stars automatically] and OK to post up [i.e. no $@#^*%& words] in which case we posted it.

Well it was more than a nine-day wonder. Six months after the movie came out, we've reviewed over 15,000 reviews and posted over 13,000 of them. Despite the limit of 5000 characters, the record so far is 30,000 characters - which is not always a bad thing. We're running a contest for the best review (and this comment is in no way intended to encourage you to turn out in force to write us some more!) and if there is such a category as "longest review" (no there isn't, don't try) the winner is Talimon, whose review you can see here He stands a good chance in the overall-winner stakes according to Arathorn, who's approved 1000 reviews today and a further 4000 over the past 6 months and who is therefore the Reviews King.

6-13-02 Latest News

Sir Ian McKellen on US TV again.
Tehanu @ 6:34 pm EST

Ian McKellen's episode of "Saturday Night Live" is scheduled to air again on NBC next Saturday 6/22.
Thanks to RobinK for the link.

San Francisco Lembas Cook-off and Potluck Picnic
Tehanu @ 6:01 pm EST

Hullo, Middle Earthlings!

Three things:

First, Middle Earth (Stern Grove) may be cold this weekend...really cold and foggy; don't forget to bring warm cloaks and leggings.

Second, as this is a potluck, if folks do not bring good food, hobbits shall go hungry. And hungry hobbits are not a pretty sight. So far, we have a strawberry salad made by an elf; peanut butter cookies donated by a Nazgul; and bread pudding, some sausages (more would be better) and a mushroom/vegetable dish cooked by a hobbit. But, at least 35 people are expected, so this food will be stretched VERY thin. If you can't cook, or don't have time, please bring store-bought food or drinks.

And third,hereis the URL to our picnic web site, which has a food sign-up and directions/more information

Parking will be a bear: if you can use public transportaion, it would be best. Of course, public transportation makes lugging things difficult. Carrying things down into the grove itself may prove to be difficult, so perhaps hefty people at the picnic will be willing to volunteer to help the newly arrived with loads?:)

Embarrassing admission: I'm having trouble accessing our web site due to my own proxy server; if you're having trouble, too, you can also try the URL for Stern Grove and its lovely summer long FREE music festival:
Directions & Map & Parking (or lack thereof)
To recap: we will be in the East Meadow of Stern Grove from 11am to 4pm this Saturday, June 15th; there will be a Lembas cook-off, and the judging will take place at 1pm (all entries should be submitted by 12:30pm), and prizes will be awarded to the best elf-chef; there may be a swordfight demonstration, courtesy of the Cloondara Shire; and costumes are encouraged, but not required.

This will be a day to remember!

Regards,

Yarrow (platypus94121@yahoo.com)

P.S. Someone, please bring a camera! Perhaps we can post pictures on the Web.


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