A fun contract that makes for a fun multiplayer support deck. The restrictions are real though, and for all intents and purposes they lock you out of some heroes (spirit Glorfindel is probably a hard pass without access to Light of Valinor). Not great for solo, as you will go many turns without having locations come out of the encounter deck.

With that aside, here’s an example of what you can do: turn 1 travel to a location and get Glamdring on it. Then, immediately exhaust a spirit character and play Strength of Will to plink 2 progress on it, or a dwarf and 2 to 4 progress with Ancestral Knowledge— in some cases you’ll be able to clear a location immediately on turn 1 before combat despite the added quest points coming from the contract’s effect, and attach that Glamdring before the combat phase. In that case, you can understand your event like Strength of Will to read “add 2 progress to a location and permanently add 2 attack and a card draw ability to a hero for the rest of the game.” (This was my actual turn 1 in a recent 3 player game) Nice way to breathe life into old cards.

The loot deck is not so reliable, having 14 different cards in it (no multiple copies allowed). Rare indeed will be the game when you see all of those loot cards, even with serious shenanigans. If the card pool continues to add strong Guarded attachments, this contract could become very very strong. At the time of this review, the current cycle is set to be the last, and the future of the game is not yet clear, so the card pool advancing enough to really empower this contract seems unlikely. Instead, we have a fun multiplayer contract capable of power but not guaranteeing it.

A great zero cost utility card that can handle those two progress locations that have some meddlesome effect while it's the active location. The perfect target for this card is Aragorn when he has Celebrían's Stone attached.

On the contrary, I would argue this is a semi-strong card and not garbage. The ability for any deck to pay one resource to draw one card during any Player Action window could be valuable. This card, and Ally Galadriel, synergize nicely with Elrond/Vilya decks. Paying 3 resources to play a card during any Player Action window that allows you to draw a card and know what the next two are could be gamble with a possible huge pay off (like placing a Ally Gandalf or Glorfindal in line to be played by Vilya for free...5 cost card for 3 resources, not to mention the card you put in your hand). Ally Galadriel can only be played in the Planning phase unless played with Sneak Attack, Timely Aid, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't actually own The Burglar's Turn. This review is purely theoretical.

Theoretical loot deck: -Banner of Elendil -Sting from The Road Darkens -Glamdring from TRD -Anduril from TRD -Mithril Shirt from TRD -Leaf-wrapped Lembas -Lorien Rope -Three Golden Hairs -Phial of Galadriel -5 other attachments of your choice

Technically, due to the wording of The Burglar's Turn, these are all eligible targets. They're Item or Artifact attachments from your collection. Sadly, the attachment requirement disqualifies my idea of also including the Loot from Ruins of Belegost in your loot deck. Sigh.

Never thought much of Haldan before, and still not 100% on him for normal builds but with the recently released The Burgler's Turn he has become a force to be reckoned with. Every time you travel to a location you will be attaching a card to it which means Haldan will never be exhausting to quest and will be drawing an extr card each round. Make sure you put some allies into play that can help with Location clearing or getting more locations into play, he also pairs well with Idraen who will be benefiting off of the location bonuses.