Preliminary Discussion: Canceling the Ring-bearer's skirmish

[Tbiesty]

There is a bit of confusion as to when exactly the Ring-bearer's skirmish may be canceled.

Early in LOTR, it could be canceled.  As the years went by, there became less and less ways to do it (cards being banned, etc.).
Finally, it was ruled that it cannot be canceled.  Now, sometimes on GCCG players allow it (especially when playing FOTR), because that was the rule at the time that block was formed, even though the Official Rules say that it cannot be canceled.  


With "House Rules", we can decide how we want it to work.  Here are a few different options that come to mind:

1) No  (The Ring-bearer's skirmish may not be canceled.)
2) Yes  (The Ring-bearer's skirmish may be canceled, including Alternate Ring-bearers)      <----BTW, I don't have high hopes for this one.
3) Race-dependent (The Ring-bearer's skirmish may only be canceled if the Ring-bearer is Frodo or Sam)
4) Format-dependent (For example: The Ring-bearer's skirmish may only be canceled in FOTR and TS, but not in Movie, etc.)

Let's hear your thoughts...

[Thranduil]

3 and 4 I think are confusing and unhelpful: having different rulings for different cards and/or formats doesn't seem worth it to me.

And given that I disagree with 2, I will obviously, by elimination, say 1! It is just an incredibly clean rule that adds fun movie-like tension to the game (you can just imagine those moments in the films when Frodo is caught fighting a Troll/Nazgûl/whatever and there's nothing that anyone can do about it) while solving some annoying moments for Shadow players, and allowing more cards to be played (like O! Elbereth Gilthoniel which would otherwise be on the X-list).

Thran

[Kralik]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

[hrcho]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

+1

[Tbiesty]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

+1

This would be my preference as well.

[Abbott465]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

+1

This would be my preference as well.

+1 I vote for 4 also

[CoS]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

+1

This would be my preference as well.

+1 I vote for 4 also

+1 I vote for 4 too.

[ramolnar]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

I agree (even though I don't play gccg). Frodo could cancel skirmishes in the first 2 blocks. It made hobbits much more playable.

[macheteman]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

+1

This would be my preference as well.

+1 I vote for 4 also

+1 I vote for 4 too.

+1 i vote for pedro! i mean, for 4... i vote for #4.

[Tbiesty]

Looks like there may not be a lot of debate on this topic.  Therefore, I've opened a poll to track/document the decision.

Feel free to continue this discussion as needed.

[jahataku]

I would agree on option no.4 and voted

[jdizzy001]

I think canceling the RB skirmish should be allowed only if the card says, "cancel a skirmish involving the RB". I think O elbereth githoniel should be the ONLY card which cancels skirmishes involving the RB (the only exception being those mentioned before in their respective blocks.) So to sum up, I'm proposing something completely different for house rules, let O elbereth githoniel allow you to cancel RB skirmishes always.

[Cw0rk]

I vote for 4, because I believe it's best to play FotR, TTT, and TS the way they were originally designed to be played. Hobbit Stealth, Hobbit Intuition, Severed His Bonds, Swiftly and Softly, FRODO'S CLOAK, O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!, Filibert Bolger... obviously RB skirmishes were designed to be cancelable at early sites. Furthermore I've never seen any confusion between players on GCCG regarding which formats are acceptable.

I have never played with anyone who had a different point of view as this one.

[Willem]

Also voting for option 4.

[TheJord]

I know all the FotR and TTT League players opted with #4