Hobbit Draft Game

[Durin's Heir]

Thank you, my fellow Cw0rk! It's original but a bit dangerous, as there aren't ways for the Shadow player to remove them from there, so they end up being as immovable as Bilbo. Therefore they must be relatively low-powered, and also there might be some cards that benefit from a swollen dead pile. Here are some possibilities:

Here Ends Your Filthy Bloodline! [Gundabad]
Event - Skirmish
Exert Azog to make him strength +3 and damage +1. If he wins this skirmish, you may spot X Dwarves in the dead pile to add X doubts; the Free Peoples player may exert X Dwarves to prevent that.


You Sit Here In These Vast Halls [Smaug Non-culture]
Event - Shadow
Spot Thorin at site 7 or higher to draw a card and add for each ally you spot, each doubt you spot and each character in the dead pile. The Free Peoples player may exhaust Thorin instead.


The "dead allies" idea came to substitute the use of FP conditions to represent subplots and elements that cannot be portrayed as artifacts/possessions. As there aren't FP conditions, the Shadow side hasn't any condition removal (except Smaug, which can discard almost everything), so adding FP conditions would need to be equilibrated with Shadow condition removal, and that's quite difficult if we aim to create small Extension Sets...


The Old Took might bridge the and cultures...

Gerontius Took, The Old Took
Ally • Hobbit • Site 1
Strength: 2  Vitality: 4
Plays to your dead pile. While in your dead pile, Gerontius Took's text remains active.
At the start of the fellowship phase, you may exert Gandalf to take a event from your discard pile into hand, or exert Bilbo to take a event from your discard pile into hand.

[-Enola-]

This new pack based on the dead pile is a good idea, but I will not developped it now.
I have to finish all the other packs before .

Tell me what you think about these templates: I change the Decipher logo at the bottom of the card and
- Deck X for the deck number X
- Pack fwith a letter for the packs FP
- Swa (or Bea) for the packs swarm or beatdown
- a sword for Gandalf ot Bilbo
- I will make "Sites" and "Events" then.

http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Test/Dale_character.png
http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Test/Elf_character.png
http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Test/Gandalf_character.png
http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Test/Moria_event.png

Tell me if the number X for Deck X is large enough to be read when players have to sort the cards .

[Cw0rk]

I think than S1 would be better than Swa A, and you can have B1 for beatdown.

[-Enola-]

Ok, I will also change the "Event" and "Site" for "FP 2+" : Free Peoples for 2 players and more.

[-Enola-]

After a lot of work, you can finally print all the cards in high quality for 4 players and more here:

http://www.printerstudio.com/sell/sell product shop.aspx?designer=A28636B8378343BEFA27F6E3D451C7A59784744CF9FD7D13

Main decks 1 & 2

Main decks 3 & 4

All FP packs + FP events/sites for 4 players

Shadow cards for 4 players + Bilbo & Gandalf


It's a bit expensive but you have a 40% reduction with this coupon until the 31st March : LUCKY40%.

[Cw0rk]

So in order to have the full game I would have to purchase all 4 items here only once?

http://www.printerstudio.com/sell/sell_product_shop.aspx?designer=A28636B8378343BEFA27F6E3D451C7A59784744CF9FD7D13

[-Enola-]

Exactly, you have to purchase all 4 items only once.

You will have 4 decks for 4 players.
You will shuffle the Booster deck with
80 Shadow cards + 56 FP events/sites + 2*10 FP cards from 2 random FP packs
So a total of 156 cards=4*3*13 cards

For 4 players, each player will receive during the draft 3 successive boosters of 13 cards. You can then start the classic draft and then a tournament .

[Durin's Heir]

Perhaps it will require a rulebook (mostly due to the Draft format, and followers). Seems great my fellow! Cheers!

As far as I know, The Battle of the Five Armies will be releases as DVD/Blue Ray in 3 days. Some card images like Ravenhill might benefit from that.

I should have said this before , but each card might have its unique card number. That would make easier the addition of this Set to Gemp.

Thank you again Enola for the honour of working with you in this .

[-Enola-]

I forgot to put all the updates here. These images are now printed.

Update 16/03/2015 http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Updates.html

Ravenhill
New image.

• Black Arrow   
Strength +1.
Archery: Exert Bard and discard this possession to wound a minion twice. If that minion is Smaug, wound it again.

• Thrór's Map
Fellowship or Regroup: Exert bearer or discard this possession to play the fellowship's next site (replacing opponent's site if necessary).
Heal a companion if you play a mountain site.

• Gandalf, Friend of Thorin   
Skirmish: Discard Gandalf to wound each minion skirmishing him.

He gives me courage
Spot Gandalf to remove a doubt (or 2 doubts, if you exert Gandalf and a Wise ally).

A Wizard Is Never Late
New image
Play Gandalf or an ally (except a Dwarf) from your draw deck or discard pile.

The One Ring
Resistance +1.

Goblin Footman
When you play this minion, you may play a possession from your discard pile on your minion.

Orkish Aggressor   
New name : Orkish Sneak -> Orkish Aggressor

[Durin's Heir]

I'm sorry for the long absence, I've been both busy and a bit sick. Those changes look great sir!

- Ravenhill: The new picture is much better, not only in resolution but also in the overall view of the location.

Röac and Dain also need to change their images, and perhaps the Emeralds of Girion and the Iron-forged Weapon might benefit from that. Not necessarily change the film frame but the resolution quality, with the newly released Blue Ray/DVD. And if you want to totally change Röac's image there are great pictures of him in flight at 45:12 (flying to Iron Hills) and from 1:07:02 to 1:07:08 (arriving Erebor).

- Black Arrow: Good change, Bard with a little help from Kili or Dawn Take You All can get rid of Smaug... for a while only.

- The One Ring: This is my favourite change my friend. Your version of The One can now be plentifully differentiated from ATAR. And Bilbo can reach Frodo's normal resistance with The One and Burglar's Contract. Great! 

- He gives me courage: Another good change here. The stronger effect is both more versatile and higher in cost.

- A Wizard Is Never Late: Now is more versatile, that's a good thing. But reduces the emphasis on Wizards... Works even if your only wizard is dead, and that's a good thing from a gameplay point of view.

- Goblin Footman: Makes much more sense to not give a simple Goblin the skill to replay artifacts (and the Shadow Arkenstone is quite strong -and too expensive to discard- to be so easily replayed). But that makes the Ring of Thrór can't be replayed from discard (an "one-shot only" card), except you have in play 2 or more copies of Darkness Wrapped in Shadows (very unstable & unlikely) AND Gandalf cannot be spotted (even more unlikely) to retrieve both Sauron and the Ring...

The problem with that "use once and destroy" Ring of Thrór is that both cards are needed to make Sauron fight. And that's a sad thing, 'cause making him fight is a good thing to the Shadow player and sometimes to the FP player too (he/she has the chance to kill/exhaust him with Thorin or another tank fighter)...

All in all, I support the change in the Goblin Footman. But I also believe we must find a way to make Sauron fight more often. It would be a shame if he didn't show his "nameless, faceless, formless" face more often to the Company...


As said above, the changes look great.

[-Enola-]

Ok it's great you like all the changes on the tested and now printed cards .

Do you have a link for the HD movie ?

We have not tested the new Shadows yet. It will come soon.
The cards of the new Shadows can be still changed.

[Cw0rk]

I was thinking about something. If you want more people to play the game, you should try to make two balanced "tutorial decks" that could be use to teach new players. Otherwise, it may be quite hard for new players who have never played LOTR TCG to come in, know which card to draft and build a deck to play your Hobbit Draft Game.

You could also make the main deck card list 30-30, or suggest new players to use the main deck card list and remove 5 FP cards of their choice to make it 25-25 for a first game.

[Durin's Heir]

Cw0rk's suggestion: Quite clever! I'd add to that simpler "tutorial" deck a small rulebook, just like Decipher's starter decks had one. That will be much needed if a new player doesn't have the guidance of a knowledgable LOTR TCG player to learn.

I believe the second version of your idea -leveling the FP/Shadow to 1:1- is much simpler than creating a whole new deck or two, and that allows the players who bought the current Main Deck and Booster Packs to use what they got. And also I believe it's much easier to add 5 Shadow cards than removing 5 to the FP.

So if we are going to add 5 cards to the Shadow in order to make a "tutorial deck", balance is the goal here. And second to that, there is representativity of functions.

1. Without any reinforcement from drafted Shadow cards, minions are too weak for a Beatdown shadow (except only for Smaug), while they aren't enough in numbers for an efficient Swarm. Corruption and grind aren't options. So those 5 cards must point towards one or another of those goals.

2. All card mechanisms can be used with those 30 FP and 25 Shadow cards comprising the Main Deck, EXCEPT for possession playing (Goblin Footman) and possession discarding (Nori). So those 5 additional Shadow cards should provide some possessions.

Connecting those dots, Shadow possessions can help to lead that Shadow to either a Beatdown or a Swarm orientation.

We might create some new cards to fill those 5 slots and I'd love to help in that task (I'd bow towards something like the Orc Scimitar to exchange twilight for strength), but then those new cards wouldn't have any use in non-tutorial games. So we must use what's available in the current Swarm and Beatdown Booster packs. Therefore, we have several Wargs and the Goblin Scimitar to choose. In my opinion, 3x possessions at least to match those 4x Goblin Footman.

Hope this helps.


@ Enola: There are some points to correct in the new Shadows, mostly in the Swarm packs but some details too in the Nazgul pack. So I'm glad they can still be changed.

[-Enola-]

The 30 FP-25 Shadow cards in the main deck are due to the ratio FP/Shadow cards in all the boosters during the draft.

But we can simply fill these 5 cards by copies of other cards in the main deck (Yazneg+Narzug+Host of Thousands+Orkish Marauder+Hatred Rekindled). Possessions have to be drafted in order to not have an auto-include Goblin Footman.

Ok for a small rulebook .

[Durin's Heir]

Ok for a small rulebook .

I'm glad you liked the idea of a rulebook. I hope can help you in that task.

The 30 FP-25 Shadow cards in the main deck are due to the ratio FP/Shadow cards in all the boosters during the draft.

But we can simply fill these 5 cards by copies of other cards in the main deck (Yazneg+Narzug+Host of Thousands+Orkish Marauder+Hatred Rekindled). Possessions have to be drafted in order to not have an auto-include Goblin Footman.

Hmmm, that might be a possibility. But if a new player purchased ONLY 2 main decks and the Booster deck needed for a 2-players match, where would those 5 additional cards come?

I believe those 5 cards added to make 2 "tutorial decks" should come instead from the Booster deck (which won't be drafted during tutorial matches), otherwise players will lack those additional copies of main deck cards and will have to purchase an additional main deck to have them.

And the lack of Shadow possessions makes the text in both Nori and Goblin Footman useless, so adding some possessions might help in that learning phase.

The Booster deck contains 4x Goblin Scimitar but those must be distributed amongst 2 players, so no more than 2x may be added to that tutorial deck. Same with 4x Warg. 3x Threatening Warg and 3x War Warg can be distributed as only 1x to each player. So a Booster deck for 2 tutorial decks will have a maximum of 6 copies of possessions to choose: 2x Scimitar, 2x Warg, 1x War Warg and 1x Threatening Warg.

Nonetheless, any other Shadow card from the Boosters may be part of those 5 additions for the tutorial deck: minions, conditions, events. But must be cards that accomplish the teaching goal of the tutorial.