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Retake Osgiliath

The Fourth Adventure Pack in the Against the Shadow Cycle Is Now Available

“As the dark drew on I knew that haste was needed, so I rode thence with three others that could also be horsed. The rest of my company I sent south to strengthen the garrison at the fords of Osgiliath.”

    –Faramir, The Return of the King

After rescuing the villagers of Amon Dîn, Middle-earth’s heroes lend their strength and cunning to the Men of Gondor marching to reclaim Gondor’s ancient capital from the forces of Mordor. Come death and come honor, the newest battle for Osgiliath begins…

Assault on Osgiliath, the fourth Adventure Pack in the Against the Shadow cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

As the fourth chapter in the Against the Shadow story arc, Assault on Osgiliath draws upon the events of The Steward’s Fear, The Drúadan Forest, and Encounter at Amon Dîn. Then, it propels the storyline forward with clever tactics, brutal combat, and the opportunity to participate in a scene of epic proportions.

At its heart, Assault on Osgiliath is a battle for the ancient Gondorian city of Osgiliath. Led by Lord Boromir, the forces of Gondor are brave and noble, but they’ll need your help to win the day. Orcs and Southrons in the service of Sauron have entrenched themselves along the city’s avenue and hidden themselves behind its every wall. There can be no victory until every last foe is routed, until every last inch of the city falls once again under the watch of Gondor. The battles will be deadly. Many will fall. Where will you launch your first assault?

Prepare for Battle

The centerpiece of Assault on Osgiliath is one of the most sweeping and epic battles in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. As the Gondorian war host engages the Orcs and Southrons who have garrisoned themselves within Osgiliath’s ruins, players vie with the encounter deck for control of Osgiliath locations, traveling from one to the next.

You’ll face battles and sieges, Orcs and Southrons, unique locations, new enemies, and deadly treachery. Appropriately, as it tasks you to take the lead in a direct confrontation with a city full of Mordor’s minions, Assault on Osgiliath is one of the game’s most challenging standard mode scenarios, particularly in multiplayer. It is also one of the most tactical of all The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game experiences.

There’s only one quest stage in Assault on Osgiliath, and all you have to do to complete it is seize control of every Osgiliath location. If you do, you win. Otherwise, the Orcs and Southrons counter your advances. Their reinforcements arrive. They let you hole up  for a time in the one piece of the city that you secured, and then they surge over the walls. The land you earned with your blood, they retake.

Click on the image above to see quest stage 1B.

In order to avoid meeting your doom in the ruins of Gondor’s ancient capital, you must carefully plan your approach. In the scenario’s setup, each player chooses one enemy and one unique location to put into play. Of course, this means the scenario scales well for multiple player, but it also means the scenario is eminently replayable. Those choices will have long-term repercussions throughout your adventures in the ruined lands between Gondor and Mordor.

Then, after setup, you dive into the quest headlong, and your success depends upon your ability to find the best way to seize control of all the encounter’s Osgiliath locations. These locations are all immune to your player card effects, so you’ll need to travel from one to the other as often as possible. Will you travel first to The King’s Library (Assault on Osgiliath, 97) or West Gate (Assault on Osgiliath, 96)? It will be easier for you to take control of some locations than others, but are those necessarily the first locations you want to liberate? Should you fail to stand your ground, most of these Osgiliath locations return to the staging area, so you’ll have to think carefully about how long you can afford to hold a single location as you seek the means to retake others, like The Old Bridge (Assault on Osgiliath, 99), to which you cannot travel.

Additionally, many of the scenario’s enemies, like Southron Commander (Assault on Osgiliath, 95), redouble their efforts when they lose ground, targeting players who have taken it from them.

All told, the number of tactical decisions you’ll face in Assault on Osgiliath, as the battle continues to escalate and intensify all around you, makes the scenario one of the greatest battlefield experiences any card game has ever brought to the tabletop. The command of this liberation effort may have been given to Lord Boromir, but make no mistake – it’s success hinges upon your efforts!

Gondor Rallies

Fortunately, as you plunge into heated combat with the forces of Mordor, you can benefit from the strength and experience of another of Gondor’s greatest sons. Making his debut as a Ranger hero, Faramir (Assault on Osgiliath, 81) offers an alternative approach to the scenario’s struggles. Instead of rushing headlong into enemy entrenchments, will you lure them into your Traps? Will you draw them into the open, where your Rangers can pick them apart with volleys of arrows?

No matter how you choose to approach the challenges of reclaiming Osgiliath, you’ll find potent new player cards to enhance your deck. Though Faramir may be its most hotly anticipated card, the Adventure Pack also offers synergies with Outlands strategies through the release of the Sword of Morthond (Assault on Osgiliath, 82), and it bolsters the tactical strength of your Gondor war host with the release of Knight of Minas Tirith (Assault on Osgiliath, 84) and Gondorian Fire (Assault on Osgiliath, 85).

Sound Your Battle Cry

When you march to battle, be sure to take advantage of the new player cards from Assault on Osgiliath. You’ll need their strength, and you’ll need all your courage as you meet the forces of Mordor on the field of battle.

With every passing day, the strength of Mordor increases, so don’t delay. Pick up your copy of Assault on Osgiliath at your local retailer, or order it online from our webstore!

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Source: Retake Osgiliath (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4293)