Hey all,

I'm not sure if the BGG forums are very active, so I'll post this here as well as a warning for new players on what to buy.

I am wondering if anyone else has run into the problem that I have regarding Reborn and what your thoughts are. I am new to Ashes. I looked into it when Reborn was announced and I subscribed to the Team Covenant Upgrade Kit to help the developers reach their funding goal.

At this time, no information was available about what card packs would be receiving revisions through the Upgrade Kit. However, Team Covenant suggested purchasing the Ashes core box as well as the Song and Soaksend and Laws of Lions deluxe expansions in anticipation. So I bought those.

Later, I confirmed with PHG that the 2 options for buying into the game were either via the Ashes 1.0 products Upgrade Kit subscription service or the new Reborn core revised Reborn packs (not yet announced) subscription service. Since I already bought in, I was going with the Buy-in Option 1.

Recently, Reborn packs were posted in the store that will be revised versions of Ashes 1.0 products. The Upgrade Kit will contain the revised cards in these packs in case you already own the Ashes 1.0 packs.

This is the issue though: by the time the Reborn packs were posted, the corresponding Ashes 1.0 products were sold out. I emailed PHG and they said they would not be reprinting these products. That's understandable, since Reborn is being developed. However, now if I want to buy into the game I have to buy the Upgrade Kit, for the products I own, and the Reborn packs, for the un-revised cards not included in the Upgrade Kit. I also asked if I could get a refund on my purchases so that I can just go with Buy-in Option 2 and pre-purchase the Reborn products. Since I have already opened my games, they said no.

Now I'm not so sure I want to waste money on duplicate cards in the Reborn packs, when I could not have possibly anticipated this issue. I feel like PHG and TC could have communicated way more effectively about the best purchase options for new players. I know I can probably find the packs I need on the market, but that's a lot of unnecessary work and shipping costs.

On the upside, I suppose this gives me an excuse to cancel my subscription and buy more Lord of the Rings cards!