Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs #4

[menace64]

Welcome to Fill in the Blank Season 1: Lairs!

Each week I'll post the collector's information for one of the cards in the set's card-list.

Contestants are free to create whatever card they see fit for that slot in the card-list, keeping in mind the surrounding cards. As the contest progresses, the card-list will become more and more defined, guiding the contestants' choices.

The theme of our set is Lairs! You're free to interpret this however you want.

Not every card has to fit the theme, of course, but it's something to keep in mind when coming up with entries.

Each week a poll will go up for the previous week's entries. Simply vote for one you like the most. In the event of a tie, I'll let a random result generator make the decision.


Last week's winner...
Our first tie was decided by a visit to random.org - congrats to Inspire for laying claim to the second card in the set! 


Last week's entries to pick from for Card #2...

Take Back the Lands They Stole From You
(Image: 13S191)
Event • Maneuver
Spot a Man and X sites you control to wound an unbound companion X times. Unless that companion is a Man, the Free Peoples player may discard a card from hand for each site you control to prevent this.
"... unfriendly to the Dúnedain, hating the Rohirrim."

Herd-folk
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Each time the Free Peoples player discards a card from hand, you may spot a condition or possession to make this minion strength +1 until the regroup phase.
"Some fought among themselves, until they were conquered in their weakness by the wild men."

The One Ring, One Ring to Rule Them All 
Strength +3
Vitality +3
Maneuver: Exert bearer to wear The One Ring until the end of the turn.
While wearing The One Ring, each time the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound, add 2 burdens instead.
"One Ring to rule them all."

We Will Die for Saruman
Event • Shadow or Regroup
Spot Saruman and kill any number of Men to take control of a site. The Free Peoples player may allow you to wound a companion (except the Ringbearer) X times to prevent this, where X is the total vitality of the Men discarded.
"'Take back the lands they stole from you.'"

Designer's notes:
I had to say 'kill', or else it's too strong to use with Freca.

Stronghold of the Adorn River
Possession • Support Area
Regroup: Stack a Man from play here.
Skirmish: Spot a Man or discard a Shadow card from hand to play a Man stacked here. That Man is fierce and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"'Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees.'"

•Glittering Caves
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion takes a wound while skirmishing a Dwarf, add a token here.
Fellowship or Regroup: Remove 3 tokens from here to draw a card.

This week's contest is...
Card #5!

Based on our entries from this last week, it seems likely that card #5 should be one of the following:

• A card (after Glittering Caves)
• An card
• A card
• A card
• A card
• An card
• A card
• A card (before Wrested Kingdom)

Closing date: May 23th. Good luck!


Lairs Card List
Number - Name - (Culture • Type) - Contestant - Week it won
1.
2. SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK'S VOTE
3.
4.
5. IN CREATION THIS WEEK
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14. Wrested Kingdom ( • Condition) - menace64 - 1
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. Bag End Hearth ( • Condition) - Inspire - 2
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

[Legion]

Take Back the Lands They Stole From You
(Image: 13S191)
Event • Maneuver
Spot a Man and X sites you control to wound an unbound companion X times. Unless that companion is a Man, the Free Peoples player may discard a card from hand for each site you control to prevent this.
"... unfriendly to the Dúnedain, hating the Rohirrim."

Ties in with two Dunland ideas, but only useful when you've already basically won the game. It also penalises the one culture Dunland excels at anyway, though there is flavor there.

Herd-folk
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Each time the Free Peoples player discards a card from hand, you may spot a condition or possession to make this minion strength +1 until the regroup phase.
"Some fought among themselves, until they were conquered in their weakness by the wild men."

I like this idea a lot, but don't see it working in practice. If they discard 2 cards for Dunlending Rampager, you've had to pay 1 twilight, so you have a strength 11 minion 4 twilight. Probably best in a Constantly Threatening setup, but then all bonus are even more expensive

The One Ring, One Ring to Rule Them All  
Strength +3
Vitality +3
Maneuver: Exert bearer to wear The One Ring until the end of the turn.
While wearing The One Ring, each time the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound, add 2 burdens instead.
"One Ring to rule them all."

Dream card rings are tough to design. They are either significantly weaker than the Great Ring, or totally overpowered like the Great Ring. This one has a huge benefit for high cost. Would be amazing on a Bilbo RB. I think it's slightly too strong (you won't need to wear the ring with all that vitality), but as I say, it's tough designing rings.

We Will Die for Saruman
Event • Shadow or Regroup
Spot Saruman and kill any number of Men to take control of a site. The Free Peoples player may allow you to wound a companion (except the Ringbearer) X times to prevent this, where X is the total vitality of the Men discarded.

I made this as there's nothing worse for Dunland than a heavy archery fellowship that got all its bows out by site 3 before you could get out hides. Then there's nothing you can do. At least this gives you one site (or kill Greenleaf), allowing Freca and Hillman Horde to get you back in the game.

Stronghold of the Adorn River
Possession • Support Area
Regroup: Stack a Man from play here.
Skirmish: Spot a Man or discard a Shadow card from hand to play a Man stacked here. That Man is fierce and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"'Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees.'"

I'd prefer it if it would stack on controlled sites. This feels very strong, especially given how few cultures get possession discard.

•Glittering Caves
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion takes a wound while skirmishing a Dwarf, add a token here.
Fellowship or Regroup: Remove 3 tokens from here to draw a card.

Gloin, Son of Groin is probably too strong with this. Otherwise, I love it! Simple and effective. I'm going to ignore Gloin (Hunters suck) and give it my vote.

[SGollum]

  Smeagol Lied
Event
Response: If an event is about to be used, exert Gollum twice to prevent that.
"Smeagol lied"

[Inspire]

Take Back the Lands They Stole From You

Ties in with two Dunland ideas, but only useful when you've already basically won the game. It also penalises the one culture Dunland excels at anyway, though there is flavor there.
Agreed. I personally shy away from creating cards that target a single race or culture. Although they can add interesting flavor, the game has enough of a ‘rock-paper-scissors' element to begin with that I prefer to avoid codifying it within the cards themselves.

Herd-folk

I like this idea a lot, but don't see it working in practice. If they discard 2 cards for Dunlending Rampager, you've had to pay 1 twilight, so you have a strength 11 minion 4 twilight. Probably best in a Constantly Threatening setup, but then all bonus are even more expensive
The ‘discard Dunlendings' (and Leaping Blaze) always fascinated me as an unfinished strategy and I wanted to build out the subculture. That said, I don't disagree with you that it's on the lower-end of the power spectrum.     

The One Ring, One Ring to Rule Them All 

Dream card rings are tough to design. They are either significantly weaker than the Great Ring, or totally overpowered like the Great Ring. This one has a huge benefit for high cost. Would be amazing on a Bilbo RB. I think it's slightly too strong (you won't need to wear the ring with all that vitality), but as I say, it's tough designing rings.
I don't know any of the cards past set 10 (I don't even consider them when design mine), but agree that this seems strong. Additionally its placement at #2 indicates that there would be another One Ring, which seems unlikely for a 25 card set.

We Will Die for Saruman
I made this as there's nothing worse for Dunland than a heavy archery fellowship that got all its bows out by site 3 before you could get out hides. Then there's nothing you can do. At least this gives you one site (or kill Greenleaf), allowing Freca and Hillman Horde to get you back in the game.
This one got my vote. I think it's very situational given the spotting requirement of Saruman and the amount of twilight needed to pull off (6 for Saruman and this card alone, plus the amount needed for the discarded Dunlending), along the upside being at best 1 controlled side or dead companion (whichever the FP player decides is less costly). That said, it's interesting option both in terms of flavor and mechanics.

Stronghold of the Adorn River

I'd prefer it if it would stack on controlled sites. This feels very strong, especially given how few cultures get possession discard.
Agreed - very strong. It also seems like it could be extremely easy to control sites should Freca get stacked on it.

•Glittering Caves

Gloin, Son of Groin is probably too strong with this. Otherwise, I love it! Simple and effective. I'm going to ignore Gloin (Hunters suck) and give it my vote.
It's strong, but I like this one as well. That said, the mass-healing this could create along with Aragorn DoFP could be problematic (tokens would accrue here much quicker than with Stout and Strong). That said, I still might consider it if not for its placement as card #2 - meaning that we'd be limiting ourselves to either only one card or a (and no ).

[SGollum]

I was afraid that I would be making the ring way too inferior to ATAR if I made the ring weaker because ATAR effectively gives +2 strength and +2 health. By forcing to wear the ring until the end of the turn instead of the regroup phase, it would make it one of the most unique rings behind only The Binding Ring

[Durin's Heir]

It's strong, but I like this one as well. That said, the mass-healing this could create along with Aragorn DoFP could be problematic (tokens would accrue here much quicker than with Stout and Strong).

Yes, Aragorn DoFP already makes tokens extremely powerful, even being limited to only Stout and Strong, My Axe is Notched and Suspended Palaces / Chamber of Records. Man, a Dwarf with a Well-crafted Armor can soak pre or mid-skirmish wounds (like archery or threats) for DoFP to erase each one of them without any effort!

That said, I still might consider it if not for its placement as card #2 - meaning that we'd be limiting ourselves to either only one card or a (and no ).

It also cuts out any card alphabetically previous to "Glittering" (like "Arkenstone", "Balin", "Durin's Axe", "Book of Mazarbul", "Flói" or even "Gimli"). Unless we exclude both and cards, which doesn't feel right.

[menace64]

From Lowest Dungeon to Highest Peak
(Image)
Event • Skirmish
Spell. If Gandalf is skirmishing only 1 minion, make him strength +1 for each of the following that is true: He is at a mountain or underground site; he is wounded; he is exhausted; it is unique; it has at least 15 strength; it has a damage bonus; it is fierce; it bears a weapon.

I wanted to write a skirmish pump relating to his battle in the Balrog's lair, something comprehensive that puts Gandalf in a position to go toe-to-toe with Durin's Bane. Under perfection conditions - Gandalf is exhausted and is skirmishing The Balrog possessing a weapon at a mountain/underground site - this card would grant an obscene +8 strength boost, but under 'normal' conditions you're likely to get +3, +4, or sometimes +5 out of it.
Putting this card into Slot #5 would severely limit the options for and in the set but honestly I'm kind of doing that deliberately as to make more room for Shadow cards - it's quite a bit of fun to write cards with empty slots in mind!
(Also, I checked to see whether or not this would even fit on a card. The answer is yes, barely.)

[SGollum]

Take Back the Lands They Stole From You
(Image: 13S191)
Event • Maneuver
Spot a Man and X sites you control to wound an unbound companion X times. Unless that companion is a Man, the Free Peoples player may discard a card from hand for each site you control to prevent this.
"... unfriendly to the Dúnedain, hating the Rohirrim."

Ties in with two Dunland ideas, but only useful when you've already basically won the game. It also penalises the one culture Dunland excels at anyway, though there is flavor there.
I like this card but I think that the prevention is way too weak because controlling sites is really difficult and discarding say 3 cards from hand is really easy.

Herd-folk
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Each time the Free Peoples player discards a card from hand, you may spot a condition or possession to make this minion strength +1 until the regroup phase.
"Some fought among themselves, until they were conquered in their weakness by the wild men."

I like this idea a lot, but don't see it working in practice. If they discard 2 cards for Dunlending Rampager, you've had to pay 1 twilight, so you have a strength 11 minion 4 twilight. Probably best in a Constantly Threatening setup, but then all bonus are even more expensive
I think that the spot requirement should be removed because this card needs to be a little bit stronger.

The One Ring, One Ring to Rule Them All 
Strength +3
Vitality +3
Maneuver: Exert bearer to wear The One Ring until the end of the turn.
While wearing The One Ring, each time the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound, add 2 burdens instead.
"One Ring to rule them all."

Dream card rings are tough to design. They are either significantly weaker than the Great Ring, or totally overpowered like the Great Ring. This one has a huge benefit for high cost. Would be amazing on a Bilbo RB. I think it's slightly too strong (you won't need to wear the ring with all that vitality), but as I say, it's tough designing rings.
This card is designed to be high benefit with extremely high risk. I think it would be too weak if I only gave +2 vitality because it would be a bad version of ATAR.

We Will Die for Saruman
Event • Shadow or Regroup
Spot Saruman and kill any number of Men to take control of a site. The Free Peoples player may allow you to wound a companion (except the Ringbearer) X times to prevent this, where X is the total vitality of the Men discarded.

I made this as there's nothing worse for Dunland than a heavy archery fellowship that got all its bows out by site 3 before you could get out hides. Then there's nothing you can do. At least this gives you one site (or kill Greenleaf), allowing Freca and Hillman Horde to get you back in the game.
This appears to be too hard to set up. By this point in the game, the shadow player probably wouldn't care about taking sites, especially since the fellowship would move a second time.

Stronghold of the Adorn River
Possession • Support Area
Regroup: Stack a Man from play here.
Skirmish: Spot a Man or discard a Shadow card from hand to play a Man stacked here. That Man is fierce and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"'Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees.'"

I'd prefer it if it would stack on controlled sites. This feels very strong, especially given how few cultures get possession discard.
If this didn't let you to discard a card, I think this would be fine. Discarding a card from hand might just come as a good deck cycler instead of a higher cost.

•Glittering Caves
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion takes a wound while skirmishing a Dwarf, add a token here.
Fellowship or Regroup: Remove 3 tokens from here to draw a card.

Gloin, Son of Groin is probably too strong with this. Otherwise, I love it! Simple and effective. I'm going to ignore Gloin (Hunters suck) and give it my vote.
I would hate nothing more than a 17 strength Durin III who is damage +4 killing my minions, discarding cards from the top of my draw deck, and drawing free cards for cheap.

[Inspire]

Fastness of Mirkwood
Event • Skirmish
Tale. Choose an opponent who may discard any number of cards from his or her support area. Make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -X, where X is the number of cards remaining in the chosen opponent's support area.
"‘The Wood-elves tracked him first, an easy task for them.'"

Hopefully the wording is clear: the intent is that the Shadow player has the option to discard any number of cards from their own support area (including zero) - the strength penalty is then computed based on the number of cards remaining. It would be weak early in the game before the Shadow player is able to set up, and inconsistent late (as the Shadow player may be willing to toss away their support area to win key skirmishes at sites 8 or 9 with the game coming to a close) - however, it has a chance to be an unusually large skirmish pump in the right situation (similar to Forearmed in that regard). It also doesn't play well with Galadriel, LR (I consider this a feature) given her propensity to easily eliminate the Shadow support area.     

[Inspire]

Herd-folk

I like this idea a lot, but don't see it working in practice. If they discard 2 cards for Dunlending Rampager, you've had to pay 1 twilight, so you have a strength 11 minion 4 twilight. Probably best in a Constantly Threatening setup, but then all bonus are even more expensive
I think that the spot requirement should be removed because this card needs to be a little bit stronger.

If not for the spot requirement, I'd be concerned the interaction with discard.

[Durin's Heir]

•Durin's Axe, Omen of Fortune
Artifact • Hand Weapon
Strength +3  Vitality +1
Bearer must be Balin. He is damage +2.
While Balin is skirmishing, wounds may not be limited, negated or prevented.
Regroup: If you cannot spot a minion, add 3 threats to liberate a site.
"'He stooped and looked in Mirrormere, / And saw a crown of stars appear...'"

A formidable ancient Axe lately associated with tragedy. As other ancient Dwarvish smithcrafts (like Narsil and Angrist) it cuts through anything it's set against, taking no heed of protective texts (Deceived Wizards, Easterling Polearm, Hides...) but being "cursed" it gives the same treatment to bearer (so Balin won't be saved by From the Armory, Dwarven Bracers or Armor of Khazad). The Regroup skill finally gives Dwarves the potential to liberate sites from the Shadow's domain, by increasing the stakes in a perilous adventure that can suddenly turn very ill.

As the 5th card of the set I'd make it the last card, along with Balin at least (#3) and perhaps a new Book of Mazarbul (#4). (Btw, Orcs should be jumping on the site-control bandwagon )

[menace64]

Tomorrow's the last night to vote and enter! Great turnout this week, everybody!

[Legion]

•Forests of Mirkwood
Condition • Support Area
While the fellowship is at a forest site, each Unbound Elf archer is strength +2.