So what is KNOWN about the collectors edition??

Regarding the board, cards and so on, as I said EVERY component we'll be upgraded, and I will follow up with more questions on the other items shortly.
We'll definitely have a revised version of the rulebook and the card wordings, which hopefully will have a much shorter FAQ (I can't promise there will be NO need of a FAQ!). And we'll make the revised rulebook available on the web, of course, for people who already own the game.
Most likely this rulebook will become also the reference for future reprints of the game - but of course the way it will be printed will also be special to the Collector's Edition.

Regarding the cost, we don't plan to cost the same as 3D-Catan, but I can't say for sure yet as lot of things have still to be calculated. But I can promise that, whatever the cost, there will be a good ratio between production value and cost, as it was the case with the "regular" edition of the game

There are few things we are sure of regarding the Collector's Edition, but it will DEFINITELY include painted figures.

Most of the other suggestions are in the line of what we want to do - I'll open another thread on the board on monday, because it WILL be larger (we are thinking about 20 to 25% larger - more is impossible or it won't fit any table!) and of course tweaking borders and trying to optimize the playable area - possibly to get rid COMPLETELY of the alternative army tokens (which very few people use anyway).
There will also be additional "touches" to make the board special but I'll not tell for the moment!
We thought about cloth, but we think that the relationship between light-weight plastic figures and cloth would be problematic.

We are also thinking of larger cards, in a size similar to what is used normally for tarots, with increased font size (we will post some of the preliminary layouts as soon as possible).

Of course we'll also need the dice to be special, something will be there for the counters, and the RULEBOOK of course we should not forget...

1) Yes, we are planning to do the figures "fully" painted, not just with a spray or something like that.
2) Yes, in the same line as we are planning to include the relevant BottA figures we are also thinking to include Gollum
3) At the moment we are considering to do only the basic game, or the basic+twilight, in this edition, not the "Battles" game
4) Yes, we plan to have a very nice serigraphed or hot-stamped wooden box, this will be one of the things we are quite sure are included
5) Timetable, we are trying to do this as a fall 2007 release, so between september and december. Price, our guess is this edition should be somewhere between € 150 to € 190, but this is not final until all the decisions about production are chosen and quoted properly, of course.

Regarding other questions:

- It is quite possible that SOME - not all - of the components which are part of the collector's edition will be made available separately for the people who already have the game. The cards and boards, which got the most criticism from a functional point of view, come to mind first of course.

- We don't plan we'll go into extensive re-sculpting of existing figures, because in a limited print run like the Collector's Edition this will have a huge impact on the cost without much added value, I think.

- Regarding how the Collector's Edition relates to "Expansions": the Collector's Edition does not mean an end to expanding WotR, just like the Collector's Edition of Catan does not mean Catan is not expanded anymore. This is in fact the only reason why I am doubtful to incorporate Twilight of the 3rd Age (the BotTA "Strategy" component), because it will then become somehow different from other future expansions which are not a part of the Collector's Edition.

- However, we will NOT include any new Expansion-type material in the Collector's Edition. We don't want anybody to feel they MUST buy the Collector's Edition to have new stuff in the form of a few characters and new cards or rules. This type of additions below to the next Expansion (which we hope to release in 2008), rather than to the Collector's Edition, which is made for people who have not bought the game yet and want a deluxe version, for people willing to trade away their current "normal" edition for an improved one, and of course for collectors and fans who want to treat themselves to a nice gift. We don't want to force people who "just" want to play a good WotR game to buy this one.

The Collector's Edition will be available worldwide, from the various companies who licensed the game from us (which include FFG for English, Asmodee for French, Phalanx for German/Dutch, Fantasy Shop for Greek, Devir for Spanish/Portoguese).

Not all of them are committed yet to release the product (very logically, as you can see we are still working on its specifications and price!) but we are quite sure that at least five of the languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian)should be represented in this edition, and the Collector's Edition will be available in these languages from the appropriate companies.

Here I am again to discuss the components of the Collector's Edition. The previous thread shifted from miniature paintings to wishlists in general and much discussion is on the board, so I think it's proper to focus on the board - also because today I have an official announcement to do.

Something which people did not ask, but I thought of doing (maybe because I have long been a fan of Decipher's Lord of the Rings TCG, which introduced Tengwar cards as promos) is that when we did a Collector's Edition, I wanted more Elvish in it.

I liked the small touch of the Mordor Track done with Elvish numerals and Elvish has a special graphic quality which is very pleasing.

So, I can officially announce that DAVID SALO, the "man who speak Elvish", translator and creator of the Elvish dialogues in the Lord of the Rings movies, has delivered to us a full elvish translation (or transliteration in some cases) of all the names on the game board. And DANIEL REEVE, the mast