The world’s biggest fantasy franchise has teamed up with the most played card game in the world to bring us a Lord of the Rings-themed Magic the Gathering set. Does this mean that Gandalf is going to team up with Chandra Nalaar to defeat the Phyrexians? Will Ulamog and Gothamog get together? Probably not, but it does look like an amazing card set.

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ card set will launch on June 23rd and will be a full range of cards, including Starter Kits, Commander Decks, Booster Bundles and so on. The folk at Wizards of the Coast have had a lot of fun with this set and have done some amazing things with it.

Does this mean that you’ll get to play Tom Bombadill or Gandalf as legendary creatures? Of course, it does. And, of course, there will be a card called You Cannot Pass. And, of course, there will be a card for The One Ring, which makes you indestructible whilst slowly destroying you.

The ‘true’ One Ring will be out there. A single English-language The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Collector Booster pack will contain a one-of-a-kind printing of The One Ring, called The Precious. They’re printing exactly one. Given the thousands of cards and packs produced, this card may never be found. Or maybe found years later as part of a dragon’s hoard. The card’s picture has not been released, but we know it is a traditional foil card printed in the Black Speech of Sauron using Tengwar.

Of course, Magic the Gathering already has its own magic rings, of course. For this set, they’ve been re-imagined. The Sol Ring is an uncommon card that gives the player two mana when tapped; it’s a pretty standard addition for most decks. In The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ card, they’ve reworked the card into one of the rings of power, with the text being changed to Tengwar writing and language Quenya (the language of the High Elves).

The art for this set is incredible, and the full range of cards seems comprehensive and full. The Borderless art cards also combine to show full scenes, just to increase collectability and to make games of Magic look really, really pretty.

Land cards will be snap-shorts of the classic map of Middle-earth. Why have a normal-looking plain card when you can have a map of Rohan? The mountain cards are The Misty Mountains, and so on. Gorgeous stuff.

The Starter Set will pitch Sauron (of the lidless eye) vs Aragorn and Arwen, who apparently, when married, count as a single legendary creature, which just goes to show what the power of love can do.

This is an astonishing set with artwork that sits up there with some of the Tolkien classics. You can find out more here.






 

A new edition of Warhammer 40,000 will be available this summer. The news was announced at Adepticon, Chicago, USA as part of that massive Warhammer 40,000 convention.  

The game has been streamlined so the rules of the game will fit on a single page, with the data sheets for each unit fitting on a single card.  All the army rules and data sheets will be available for free online, which is a new thing for Warhammer but pretty much standard for wargames in general. Rules for building a playable army have also been simplified.

The new edition will still produce Codexes (books that focus on the rules for one faction) and, over time, replace the free rules, though the main appeal of these books has always been the hobby advice and world-building.

The game designers state that the game will keep its tactical depth without the overly-complicated rules that have slowed down previous editions.

The tenth edition is set during a conflict called the Fourth Tyrannic War, and the box set will feature Terminator Space Marines (that’s genetically enhanced dudes in massive armoured suits) and Tyranids (space-faring insect/dinosaur monsters). Models for both Tyranid Termagants and Terminators will be in the Tenth Edition starter set.

Warhammer 40,000 has been around since 1987, starting life as a book called Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, with fairly complicated and anarchic rules that detailed a sort of ‘generic fantasy world, but in space’ setting that drew from pretty much every single popular science fiction thing out there at the time. Over the last thirty-six years, the game has evolved into a unique and highly marketable franchise.

Fan reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, despite it being only being three years since the Ninth edition was launched. Teaser information for the box did lead some to believe that a new edition of the classic strategy game Space Hulk would be announced; alas, this is not the case, and the game is still out of print.

Also announced at Adepticon was the game Kill Team: Gallow Fall, which will see The Leagues of Votann (Space Dwarves) fight chainsaw-wielding Beastmen in a beautifully detailed collapsing space-ship. The Horus Heresy game will get a new campaign book, and a forthcoming Arks of Omen campaign book will be about Lion El’Johnson, one of the demi-god-like ‘heroes’ of the Warhammer 40,000 setting. A model for Mr El’Johnson has also been announced. Fantasy fans can look forward to Warhammer Underworlds; Wyrdhollow, described as weird wizards vs neurotic knights in a carnivorous forest. Sigmar fans can also expect more models for Human, Undead and Dinosaur-inspired armies.

More information on all of this can be found on the Warhammer Community site.