I hope to only see Gandalf in the form of a temporary ally. I can't even imagine him being a playable character that i try to collect xp for. 

I think the passive ability is still active when you use the Guard 3 on "You Cannot Pass"
As a similar example, Legolas 1 - Keen Eyes, allows him to attack from 1 additional space away.  Certainly you can discard the Keen Eyes card itself for Strike 2 while you are making such an attack (it's not like the attack suddenly loses range and misses).

I hope to only see Gandalf in the form of a temporary ally. I can't even imagine him being a playable character that i try to collect xp for. 

We've only just finished the first quest of the campaign and I can't wait to play it more.  We're using Aragorn and Bilbo in a 2player campaign. I really like the scout/prepare/set-the-deck to maximize the likelihood of passing the various checks.  We acquired an item and a title in the first session, which was also fun.
I'm working on painting the figures right now also, which is an added bonus that may increase my rating of the game. If I was un-interested in painting the minis I possibly would be less excited about each session, but it's hard to speculate from a viewpoint that I don't possess.
You must have it, precious.

In one of the live streams the designers said they tried doing this, but it did NOT work well. 

Strange... I have found the game very easy and considering going to hard mode in next play time. Do you use guard? Do you soften up the enemies first by using ranged attacks? Do you use those board elements in the battle map to full extent? Do you really speed up when exploring? Do you read flavor text of encounters before interacting them to get a clue what skill is needed? Do you prepare right cards? Do you give inspiration to right character and activate right characters at right time. The timing is essential in some cases. Do you use your character power to full?
try to end Aragorn near as Many character as possible, for extra scouting. Try to elena do as Many interaction check as possible to give her inspiration other characters, so that They can use the same inspiration again! Use legolas ability to make several usefull interactions. Remember attack with gimli first so that he can put one succes back to the top of the deck before attempting something else with him. Unless ofcourse you have sure setup for some interaction. etc. Try to move burglar first so that he ie not near anybody! And be hided! Don`t buy any non success upgrades untill you have one or two or three success cards bought first (increase your ods). Don`t attack if there Are not Many succes left anymore in the deck. So count your chances before the action! Some tips in there that could help in the Middle Earth.

Hi all! There's no sub-thread here, but maybe the admins will add one for any mini painting!
I first started painting miniatures with FFG's Star Wars Legion, so I've got about a year of experience by this point!
Eyes are still almost a no-go for me. I tried on Aragorn and Legolas, but didn't turn out well and didn't feel like continuing to go over them, so just let them be! Perfectly good table top standard tho.
Aragorn
 
 
 
 
Legolas
 
 
 
Together!
 
 

Star Wars has been my imaginative happy place for more than thirty of its forty-two years now, and I enjoy it all pretty much unreservedly. I love the original trilogy best of all, but I also love the prequels, all three animated series, the standalone movies, and the sequels thus far. I was (and am) a huge fan of the Expanded Universe (‘Legends’) continuity (I’ve read almost all of the novels and comics, and some of them many times over), and now I’m pretty much perpetually delighted by the new Canon continuity, which I’ve kept up with assiduously since day one back in 2015. Both Legends and Canon have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, but I have not the slightest trouble in enjoying it all.
As far as I’m concerned, Disney has been hitting it out of the park with everything they’ve done in the past four years, so the possibility of being in any meaningful way disappointed by this next movie doesn’t even cross my mind. I’ll laugh, I’ll cry, I’ll marvel, and it’ll all be great fun.
Haters may hate, but I’ll just contentedly keep revelling in the wonder, beauty, and magic of my beloved galaxy far, far away—in all its cosmopolitan variety and changefulness.

It's Chewies! he'll finally get it!

You mean like the landspeeder, Bossk, Sabine, the downed AT-ST, Rebel Veterans, Tauntauns, or Dewbacks?   Yeah, shame we'll never see anything like those. 

Part of the appeal (for me) is that there are unpainted miniatures that I get the opportunity to paint. Though I can see hesitation or sadness from people that don't have miniature paints handy.

Also, depending on the hardness of your water you may get weird results.  There are also some paints (typically metallics, from my experience) that tend to separate or just not work well with just water. 

Now, let's talk about whether Balrogs have wings or not...

Now, let's talk about whether Balrogs have wings or not...

I'm re-reading the Trilogy (for the 4th or 5th time) and I just happened to come across this passage about Legolas, in Chapter 9, The Great River:
"Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at.  His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind."
Perhaps his head was dark because it was night?  Or perhaps because his hair was dark? 

That, sir, is an excellent point!  Dark hair FTW it is 😄

I think the biggest clue is from how much effort is put into stating how extremely rare Galadriel's golden/blonde hair color was. The movies portrayal of "All Elves are blondes" wasn't the biggest change from the books, though, so...

Ha ha!   Well, as far as I’m aware his hair colour is never actually specified in the books so you could paint it blue and the purists would have no amunition to use against you!  Having said that, his father’s hair is stated as being golden in colour so there is a case for leaning that way.  
I will probably most likely go with the dark hair as depicted in the fantastic character art however, partly to aesthetically unify the miniature with the hero card, but also to separate this interpretation of the characters from that of the movies. 😀

Given what sounds like a lot of good knowledge about Tolkien's world, can we expect a blonde or the properly dark-haired Legolas? :-D

Thanks a lot Steve!
Those are some interesting questions, and I admire your quest for authenticity!  Firstly, it's worth noting that in Tolkien's published works he actually uses the terms "Orc" and "Goblin" interchangeably; i.e. they are just two different names for the same race of creatures irregardless of size.  Although some are clearly larger than others - take the Uruk-hai for example - they are all just goblins (or orcs).  That should answer your last question, but yes - those enemy figures in the game are called "Goblin Scouts".
Regarding the skin tones, Tolkien doesn't really specify what they should be in the books.  In one of his letters he describes Orcs as being "sallow-skinned" which implies a yellow-ish/brown-ish complexion - or a roughly Caucasian tone but leaning towards yellow and brown, which is why I included such tones in the video.  There is also the occasional mention of certain types of Orcs - such as the smaller tracker Orcs - that are described as being "black-skinned", which is a look I chose not to go for as I really wanted to stick to paler skin tones to help make the figures more "readable".  
In the movies they actually use a nice range of such sallow tones, and often quite dark skin tones too.  For some of the goblins however they also lean more towards using greener tones, showing the influence of the now stereotypical look established in the D&D/Warhammer universes.  I did of course also include some green tones in the video to present a range of options, but was careful to de-saturate the tone when doing so to create a more grey-ish, natural look.
I hope this helps!
 

Hello!
By popular request (and just because I wanted to!) I've begun a new painting series for The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, and I thought I'd share the first video here for anyone who might be interested:
I'm making the series as beginner-friendly as possible, and I really had fun taking a fast and loose approach with the first eighteen figures from the game (the Orcs, Goblins, and Ruffians).  Here's a few pictures of what I've covered so far:



I hope some of you will join me for the painting journey!
Sorastro.

You are an inspiration. Thank you. 

I hope to only see Gandalf in the form of a temporary ally. I can't even imagine him being a playable character that i try to collect xp for. 

Gaslands spins also around that and it's a pretty rad and fun game!

Just watched the video of FFG playing a scenario. I take back some of what I said about the battle tiles. I thought all battles took place there and there would not be barriers.
The only other gripe is how many events there are when moving to a new space. There was almost alawys an event which kind of detracted from actual events that meant something. Like receiving emails today vs a hand written letter. Events are like emails in this game from the looks of it.
Link to video of the FFG session. The music gets turned off early on, but the players try way too hard to show how buddy buddy everyone is and how their character is awesome. That dies down after a while to a bearrable watch.