DECIPHER.com > The Lord of the Rings > Expansions > Siege of Gondor

Crashing the Gate

by Tom Lischke
Senior Game Designer

OK, time for one last little peek at Siege of Gondor before it is in everyone's hands. Of course, you could be playing it already in the online game. (I know I keep pushing this, but I think the guys over at Worlds Apart have done a bang-up job.) Also, the online game connects to the work that was done on the besiegers, the subject of this article.

But that is getting ahead of myself a little bit. Siege is the second set for this subculture. We launched them in The Return of the King. For some background, check out the article I did at that time here. I've been keeping an eye on the reaction to the besiegers since that time, with the intention of giving them a little nudge if they needed it.

During Siege design and development I also had one other major responsibility. I'm Worlds Apart's connection to the TCG studio. Generally this means chasing down resources for them and making sure they are getting everything they need to make the online game fun. But during Siege, I was doing a bunch of beta testing.

Being an engineer at heart, I had to optimize the situation. So the deck that got most of my attention in those online games was a besieger deck. I ended up playing more games with that deck than I have with any other LotR deck. You guys know how it goes. Cards went in, cards came out, people suggested tweaks. At the end of it, I felt I had a pretty good grip on some additions for the besiegers. Thanks to anyone who gave me a game during that time.

Time for a slight detour. What actually reminded me that I had an article due (OK, past due) was Kendrick Summers, one of our developers, ripping Siege packs to do QA on distribution. He handed me the stack of rares to look through, and I tripped on Grond. Love that card. We didn't get any preliminary shots of Grond, so I was worried about it up until I saw the movie. It turned into one of those occasions when I was glad I didn't get to see something until the theater. I don't think that a low resolution thumbnail plugged into the card would have done it justice.

So anyways, back to the besiegers. A couple of them actually got created once Siege was in development as a result of those online games. Crashed Gate (you can see this card on the online game site under February 4th news) was one of those. They also got a little bit of anti-arrow tech with the Breaker and the Gorgoroth Servitor.

The developers deserve all of the credit for the besieger trolls though. From the beginning of the process, we gave them the trolls to see what they would come up with. I think the final products, such as the Olog-hai of Mordor, are some interesting and fun cards.

So, have fun with the new Sauron cards, and I hope to catch you for a game online!

March 1, 2004