War of the Ring: The Card Game - Against the Shadow

Finally a great expansion with solo mode.

I gave the core game 5 stars. But this expansion disappointed me. First of all, be aware there is no new content here. But I knew that. That's not the reason I removed stars. I only mention it for the benefit of others reading who may not be aware. This expansion contains just a pair of altered Shadow decks, and a few altered battlegrounds and paths. The cards are largely the same as those from the core set - identical names, art, and card types - with just slightly adjusted text so they can work more clearly as 'bot Saruman and Witch-King opponents. You must play as the Free Peoples. While it's a bit disappointing to not have the option to play as the Shadow, the expansion would have been perhaps the same price as the core game to include both options. But I'm left wondering if they really needed to replace ALL of the Shadow cards. They probably could have just created a couple handfuls of alternate cards to swap out of the core set decks, like they did for battlegrounds and paths. Yeah, realistically that would have been a big pain as a player; it's very convenient to have whole dedicated decks for solo/co-op kept separate. But it does make me feel like I'm paying for stuff I don't need. It makes the expansion feel rather low-effort, and even a bit predatory. This is partly because games against the 'bot have, for me, always wound up in a death-spiral for the 'bot at the end of the game. I've played 3 times, and in the beginning and mid-game things go well. The 'bot doesn't play like a human would, but it presents interesting situations and some tough challenges. However, in all 3 games the latter game found the 'bot spiraling into a tired pattern, with all its good cards eliminated and just rotating through some armies until chance finally gives me an opportunity to land killing blows. Very tedious and disappointing. I suppose I might have been doing something wrong, but between each play I'd take a week or so of a break, re-read both rulebooks, and chat on BGG forums to make sure I was doing it correctly. I had missed a few things on my first play, but adjusting to correct gameplay for the second and third games (again with a break and reviewing of rules between) didn't change the ending. I greatly appreciate that they made this expansion. And, even though my solo games have all ended flat, I did have a fair bit of fun during the start and middle of those games. But I can't help be disappointed. Incidentally, one of my alternate battleground cards for this expansion came with a printing error. I contacted the company in an effort get a replacement, and they rather bluntly refused. I then offered to basically pay for an entire new copy of the expansion - plus shipping from Europe to the USA - just to be sure the replacement they sent didn't also have the error, but again got a reply that felt rather rude. Maybe there was a language/cultural mismatch though. Anyway, hopefully the Fire & Swords expansion won't disappoint. That one, at least, will have a lot of new content. Unless you adore the core game and are eager to play solo/co-op, I'd think twice about getting this expansion.

Great expansion - box got smooshed during shipping.