Mines of Moria Card Proofs
On or about 2 January, 2002, Decipher submitted final card images for the Mines of Moria expansion to New Line Cinema for approval. New Line approved of the majority of these cards, with only minor adjustments required for some. Some cards ended up having their portraits further adjusted by Decipher artists, and these were also sent in later for late approval.
These faxes were fortunately included within the New Line Fax Proofs dump courtesy of Kreg Miller, and are presented below with commentary.
The opening salvo of the Mines of Moria approval process. | |
Standard Product Approval Form provided to New Line. | |
Another cover letter. Apparently this was faxed to two separate IP owners, in this case Tolkien Enterprises to get the lore itself proofed. | |
Standard Product Approval Form provided to New Line. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
The only notable change here besides a typo in Fror's lore is that the Ring of Power shown in the Dwarven Bracers (2U3) portrait has been photoshopped out. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Flurry of Blows (2C5) , What Are We Waiting For? (2R15) , and Great Works Begun There (2C9) all saw their portraits getting zoomed in slightly. What Are We Waiting For? (2R15) also had an erroneous word in its lore and had the line break in its title removed. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
No changes here except for quote formatting typos. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Jarnsmid saw a rewording (likely to prevent Shadow possessions from also being discounted), and Wielder of the Flame (2U28) has a portrait that was later reworked. A similar (tho not exact) version of this portrait was later used in Glamdring, Foe-hammer (11R35) | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Uruk Scout (2C47) and Too Much Attention (2R45) had their portraits slightly zoomed/panned, and Valley of the Silverlode (2U120) had a completely new portrait applied. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Beyond the Height of Men (2R39) apparently had its lore rejected by one of the IP watchdogs, and it ultimately had its portrait changed. Demands of the Sackville-Bagginses (2C40) had a very minor pan/zoom for the portrait. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Ripples in the Pool had its portrait rejected by New Line for using a shot of the size doubles for the Hobbits rather than the main actors. Rather than selecting a new one, the card was apparently scrapped. Final Cry (2R57) had its wording adjusted for brevity and clarity. The Balrog, Durin's Bane (2C51) does not show here because it was involved in a prior fax conversation when that card was approved for promotional purposes as The Balrog, Durin's Bane (0P10) . See Balrog Promo Proof. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Minor typos were fixed in Goblin Spearman (2C65) and Old Differences (2C69) (and an uncaught space in the strength bonus of Cave Troll's Chain (2R53) ). Goblin Spearman (2C65) , Foul Things (2U59) , Fill With Fear (2U56) , Dark Fire (2U54) , and Cave Troll's Chain (2R53) all had minor adjustments to the framing/zoom of their portrait. | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Goblin Pursuer (2C62) had its text altered, as did Throw Yourself in Next Time (2U71) (although its beta wording was the structure embraced more fully later). Foul Tentacle (2C58) and The Eye of Sauron (2U87) later had different portraits applied, and Goblin Reinforcements (2C63) was panned to make it more about the troop than the central orc. Troubled Mountains (2U72) apparently might have gotten itself rejected | |
Beta versions of the following cards:
Interestingly, Southern Spies (2C91) was apparently originally a fully splashable anti-mill card. However, its usage was eventually recycled into Old Noakes, Purveyor of Wisdoms (3C111) while Spies itself was reworked into a very situational milling card itself. | |