DECIPHER ANNOUNCES NEXT STEP IN BOOSTER DRAFT FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRADING CARD GAME
TOWER DRAFT PACKS TO HIT STORES WORLDWIDE IN FEBRUARY
(Norfolk, VA, February 12, 2003) – Booster draft for players of The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is about to catch up with The Two Towers set with the all-new Tower Draft Pack. Following on the success of the Fellowship Draft Pack last October, Decipher will release the Tower Draft Pack in mid February.
The popular booster draft format, where players pick cards from a common pool of cards, brings deck diversity and a level playing field to players of the award-winning TCG. While sharing similarities with sealed deck play, booster draft relies on a participant¹s deck-building skill and play style in order to choose‹and counter-choose‹cards wisely. In this balanced play environment, players will have to utilize different strategies every time they play, creating a new experience with each game.
With booster draft for The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, players select cards from a regular booster pack one card at a time, making a deck from the cards they collect and adding the following: a ³Frodo² companion card; a One Ring card; and an adventure deck of nine site cards, all from the Tower Block. During the draft, each player will receive one Tower draft pack containing 29 cards in addition to three 11-card booster packs in one of the following configurations: three from the Two Towers set; or two Two Towers and one Battle of Helm¹s Deep. When Ents of Fangorn, the next expansion set for The Two Towers, is released in July, the following configurations may also be used: two Two Towers and one Ents of Fangorn; or one Two Towers, one Battle of Helm’s Deep, and one Ents of Fangorn.
The Tower Draft Pack, which will be available in February for a MSRP of US $4.50, contains 29 cards: 1 random Two Towers rare and 28 cards from The Two Towers block. The King Draft Pack will follow in late 2003.
Please folks; stop emailing me how lucky I was to be able to attend Howard Shore’s concert because I wasn’t there. Ryan was however, and you can read what he had to say about the event here!
I visit your fantastic site at least twice daily, hoping to get the latest news and reviews of everything concerning The Lord of the Rings and the vast history of middle earth that surrounds it. But yesterday I did not visit the site. And the reason? Because I, like the three who have already posted their comments, attended the UK premier of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Indeed, it was through theonering.net that I heard of this great bundle of joy when you posted an article about someone who was selling their tickets to the event on eBay. I’d never bid on anything before, and was a little concerned about possible fraud etc. that always looms over these kind of things. But I thought what the hell and bid for the pair of box seats and, surprisingly, won. So, first and foremost, thankyou for posting that article on the site, cause otherwise I would had been totally unaware of the event.
But enough of the complications of how I got there, on to the juicy stuff – how good the event was. On the whole, it was fabulous. The first of the four main events was a Celtic inspired set of pieces from Ireland titled The Lost Music of the Gaels. It was performed by a small band of eight headed by (and written by) Luke Daniels. The music reminded me of that from Titanic when all the Irish folk are dancing below deck. They were all enjoyable, energetic pieces with clever use of the instruments. After a 20-minute interval was a performance by a small group of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. They played The Soldier’s Tale by Igor Stravinski, live to the short animated story by R.O. Blechman. The tale is about why it’s never a good idea to make deals with the devil, here voiced by Max Von Sydow (recently seen in Minority Report). Playing live to a film in front of an audience is never an easy task, but the orchestra played brilliantly with spot on timing from the conductor and excellent sound. After another twenty minute interval was Tannoura, an Egyptian styled series of pieces with a lot of drums. They were performed to the dance of the dervishes, a whirling art which has been practised for many a century. Once again the sound was excellent with energetic rhythms and dancers of whom you wonder how the hell they don’t fall over (they were spinning round on the same spot for a good 30 minutes a-piece).
But the Lord of the Rings specifically, was beyond amazing. Throughout the whole of the hour long performance, I had this huge grin plastered over my face. I was there, in the presence of the great Howard Shore, listening to one of my all time favourite scores being performed live. The excitement was incredible – like that you once felt as a kid. The symphonic arrangement was mostly the same as what can be heard on the soundtrack, with a few bits chopped out here and there to meet the 45-minute odd playing time. But I also noticed the inclusion of small bits of score not featured in the soundtrack, either used from the film or as bridges between the main themes. Talking about main themes, they were mostly all there. From the minor keyed ring theme at the beginning in The Prophecy to the triumphant Fellowship theme shortly after they leave Rivendell. And man did they should good live. I say mostly because I did notice the absence of the minor keyed Fellowship theme when Gandalf rides to Isengard, and the heart-stopping music as Gandalf falls at the Bridge of Khazad Dum. But these are incredibly minor quibbles which can be done without, and were especially forgotten when my personal favourite part was played – The Breaking of the Fellowship. I had shivers of joy going down my back throughout the whole thing, but when that track was played, live, in front of my eyes, that was the climax for me, and what a climax it was. Watching Howard Shore conduct was also a highlight of the evening. With no conductor’s wand, he eloquently and majestically conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who themselves were more than worthy to play the material. The sound in the hall from the orchestra was fantastic, one of the best I’ve heard, and the three choirs (male, female and young boys) each contributed beautifully to the sound of the orchestra. How good the whole thing was, was clearly displayed by the audience (some of whom had paid the full amount of a ticket just to see this one performance) with most standing up, cheering and all clapping for a good quarter of an hour. Unfortunately there wasn’t any mike for the man himself to say a few words, but the audience was so appreciative that he had to return to his conductor’s spot twice to take a bow – only then would the audience start to leave the hall.
And so what was one of the best nights of my life came to an end, but there’s no doubt that I will be going back for the next two instalments of his grand contribution to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, and I’ve already started saving for the World premier of the whole performance.
So the verdict? Absolutely, stunningly, emotionally, audibly and visually amazing. And then some.
A new LotR product has hit the UK and Spain and may be coming to a country near you in the near future. ‘Battle Games in Middle-earth’, is a serialized gaming supplement based on Games Workshop’s The Lord of The Rings tabletop strategy battle game.
Games Workshop and New Line cinema have granted DeAgostini a sub-license to distribute ‘Battle Games in Middle-earth’. The early packs are a great introduction to The Lord of The Rings strategy game with tips on how to paint the miniatures, build terrains and re-enact the battles from Peter Jackson’s trilogy. However there is plenty in it to excite and enthral the experienced hobbyist too with later packs to include details on how to set up and run campaigns, features on detailed modelling projects as well as introducing new painting styles and techniques.
The product will not be sold through Games Workshop stores or mail order but you will be able to find it in most high street newsagents in the UK and Spain.
Make sure you look out for the television adverts that accompany the launch!
To find out more visit the ‘Battle Games in Middle-earth’ website:
Sean Astin, who directs the upcoming “Soulless” episode of The WB’s Angel, told the Zap2it Web site that he loved working with star David Boreanaz. Astin’s episode, which marks his directorial debut in a one-hour network series, deals with Angel’s evil counterpart, Angelus.
“When you’re working with David, and he’s into Angelus, he’s got so many layers and so many different shades and qualities, you want to keep exploring them and mining them and pulling them out,” Astin told the site. “It’s such a rich, meaty character for him to do. He’s good at evil. It’s a little creepy, yeah.”
Astin, who is best known as Sam in the Lord of the Rings films, got the directing gig through his friendship with writer/director Dan Petrie Jr., who is also friends with former Angel executive producer David Greenwalt. “Soulless” aired Feb. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
McKellen: King Rocks
Ian McKellen, star of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, told the Empire Online Web site that the upcoming third installment will not disappoint. Speaking at the Empire Awards, where Two Towers picked up honors, McKellen told the site, “In an e-mail I got just now from Peter Jackson, I asked if he was coming tonight, and he said no, he can’t, but he’s recorded a video message, and then he put a p.s. at the bottom. It said: ‘And Return of the King is looking very, very good!’ So I tell you, if Peter Jackson’s boasting how good the third film is now, then we’d all better watch out.”
McKellen also confessed that the filmmakers worried how the second Rings movie would be received. “We did worry a little bit, even after the success of the first film, that the second film might have a bit of a difficult time,” McKellen said. “Because, after all, it doesn’t have a beginning, and it doesn’t have an ending. The story doesn’t finish until Return of the King in a year’s time. But the public has taken it to its heart, no doubt because they liked the first film so much.” Return of the King opens in December.
The fantasy event of the year has arrived! A journey through the Middle Earth with more than 130 works of art by the most important illustrators of “The Lord of the Rings” from around the world, including Angus McBride, Ted Nasmith, Roger Garland, the Brothers Hildebrandt, Alan Lee, Lode Claes, Donato Giancola, Rob Alexander, Angelo Montanini, Luca Michelucci, Capucine Mazille, April Lee, Stephen Walsh, Randy Asplund, David Wyatt and others. It is the most complete exhibition on the theme of “The Lord of the Rings” ever put together. Throughout the period of the show there will be various related events, as enclosed. All the information is on the exhibition website
Exhibition opening times: Morning: 10:00 -13:00. holidays; weekdays upon reservation Afternoon: 16:00 – 20:00. holidays, weekdays: 16 :00- 19:00. Closed on Mondays Info and reservations: Marche Meeting: tel. 071 7931484; e-mail info@marchemetting.it
The show was launched in Riccione, Italy, in the medieval Agolanti Castle during the month of August and it was proposed again to the Italian public: in Forl?, Palazzo Albertini from 19th December 2002 to 6th January 2003. Visited by over a thousand people during the 15 days. in Rome, Castel S.Angelo from 13th January to 2nd February 2003, under the patronage of the Ministry of Arts and Culture. Visited by over 15.000 people.
Thanks, Best regards, Davide Martini
PS. In order to give the exhibition a social purpose and not just an artistic one, we have also decided to contribute to the setting up of a fund entitled “All children need to dream” (UNICEF manage this fund). Arte20 has created this fund specifically for the occasion and 10% of the entire takings deriving from the sale of tickets to the exhibition will go towards it (www.childrenmustdream.org)
Well the London Festival Hall must have been filled with TORn visitors. Tracey was there on any account, and here’s what she had to say!
After four hours of waiting, the music man (along with his LPO) came on stage! It was far too long to wait…and far too short to be satisfied with, but it left me with the choons in my head and the Lord of the Rings in my heart so you could say that it did its job!
I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire performance and I even found myself smiling at particular points of the score! One in particular moment which I will never ever forget was near the end, at Amon Hen, when – if you, like me, have seen the FOTR countless number of times – can picture Lurtz coming up over the hilltop, ready to fire his arrows at Boromir…the crashing, haunting sounds which the instruments on stage made were amazing!
Why was it amazing?
Because for one thing the beats of the timpani’s were so strong…the clanging of hammers against the steel sheets creating that harsh armour sound…and what’s more is the clinking and clunking of chain mail, being beaten against the top of a wooden piano bringing the sound of the armour even more to life…it was a site that was rather amusing…this petit woman leaning over the lid of the piano, in order to get to the chain mail, whilst always keeping a close eye on Howard Shore’s guidance for the correct beats…it was spectacular!
Many people have said to me that I’m am decidedly Lord of the Rings obsessed, and what’s the point of seeing an orchestra play when you can just listen to the soundtrack? Well, I say to these sad people, that it’s the entire atmosphere…the fact that Howard Shore, not just the conductor, but the composer, the winner of ‘countless awards’ including an Oscar, for flips sake…he was there…controlling his own music…the way he wanted it to be played. The London Philharmonic is THE orchestra, which played…and the choirs are THE voices that will forever remind us of what Lord of the Rings, and what Middle Earth sounded like.
In a few years when, sadly, it will all be over and done with, we Ringers will look back and remember that music, as the bit where the hobbits fall off the hill and find the shortcut to mushrooms; or the bit where they are being chased in Khazad Dum (my fave bit) and have to jump over the broken stairs, shortly followed by the timely fall of Gandalf the Grey. Speaking of which, the solo boy in the Oratory Choir…my friend said that he wasn’t that good, but I’d to like to praise him and say congratulations and think that it was most likely nerves. He wasn’t able to sustain the notes for as long as he could have done, but hey? Who are we to judge and criticise? That goes for all the other soloists, on the whistle, the core ingles, the soloists and, well, the whole frickin orchestra! Congratulations!
It was wonderful, terrific, superb, outstanding, dazzling, marvellous, remarkable, breathtaking,…there aren’t enough words in the English vocabulary to describe how wonderful it was to see Howard Shore live! And bless him, he seemed like a very humble man! Three times he came and bowed to a rapturous crowd with a standing ovation! And each time you get the feeling that he was more and more reluctant to accept his genius! Peter Jackson is the genius of film, but Howard Shore is surely the genius of music!
So I take my imaginary hat off to Shore, the man behind the music of Middle Earth. I long for next year when hopefully he will do the same for The Two Towers, then after that? Maybe an entire 3-hour concert encompassing the music from all three films? As a violinist and a regular orchestra player, myself, I could not think of a greater piece of music I would rather play, nor could I think of a greater conductor to conduct. Not only was the playing spot-on, not only was the music exact, but also the atmosphere was tremendous and truly magical. Yesterday evening was quite possibly the best hour of my life! That is until the next concert! As said before, do go and see it! I was on the balcony, second row, centre stage and the view was spectacular! It really annoys me whenever I am unable to see who is playing what but no matter where you are, you will definitely be touched by the pure and exquisite magic of the music being played.
