To play, spot 3 companions, each of a different culture.
I believe this can be done in the opposite direction: instead of forcing a high number of FP cultures to play Gandalf, why not make him reduce them instead? Gandalf gathered together peoples of very different
habits races and made them act as one, so his presence should reduce the Shadow's potential of exploiting those differences and crack them apart.
•Gandalf, Mithrandir Companion • Wizard
Strength 7 Vitality 4 Aragorn Signet
The total number of Free Peoples cultures the Shadow players may spot is -1 (or -2 if Gandalf bears an artifact), to a minimum of 1.
Skirmish: Play a
spell to make Gandalf
enduring."'Just gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme / Fried chicken!'"So your many-cultured company acts with more subtlety and at a swifter pace, which allows you to pass under
Chief Counselor and
Agents of Orthanc's radars more easily. They can still spot Aragorn and his
culture if you have him around, and Legolas'
, and Gimli's
... they can be spotted well when measured by separate, but as a whole the total number is trimmed. Decipher made very few multi-culture hate cards sadly (and the Voice of Saruman chapter was totally abandoned, which might have provided a good bunch), but those that already exist are a nightmare for the decks that trigger them.
TMAYOD decks, for instance.
He's strength 7 solely, but can reveal his Ainur power by playing skirmish spells. (The enduring keyword appeared 2 sets after, I know, but saves me a lot of intricate wording.) IMO, if there's a single character that should have received the enduring treatment, that one is Gandalf (but temporarily, of course!).
Just my two cents.