Hobbit Draft Game

[Durin's Heir]

Gwaihir can wait at the exit of the underground and then take the dwarves .

Hahaha! That's right!

Your idea of allowing Wizard and Elf allies participate to skirmish is great. I don't know if the cards are balanced now, I need to see all the Shadow. How many copies of each card would you like to put in the extension booster deck ?

I'm not sure yet... As the set will be relatively small, there will be little card titles per culture and most cards will have to work well without dependance (like your Shadow skirmish events, which are universal). So there shouldn't be much more Wraith cards, and we need to consider those 2 are the only official minions for the culture before the last movie/set arrives. Some concurrence cards like "Event - Shadow: play any minion (except Smaug) from your draw deck" will come in handy...

The set should be divided into Gundabad (with Moria), Wraith (with Spider), Elven and Smaug for the Shadow side. And there will be an Extension Main deck with fixed cards (see below) to relieve weight from the Booster deck and Booster drafting.

It's still an extension booster deck with 48 cards ?

The Extension Booster deck should have a total of cards multiple of 12, then 48 or 60 should be the options. There would be only 1 Booster drafted for each extension, or the drafting procedure will last forever.

Each extension will have an Extension Main deck of 20 or 24 fixed cards, in order to provide stability to booster pulls and reduce the need of big numbers (card copies & time) while drafting.

The Desolation of Smaug Main deck
FP:              10
Shadow:      10
Sites:             4

Free Peoples: 10

            1x •The Key to Erebor ?
            1x •Thorin. Random from 2 different versions:
                  1x •Thorin, Lord of the Blue Mountains
                  1x •Thorin, Son of Thráin Son of Thrór

            1x An Unexpected Party
            1x Careful With These
            1x Intimidate
            1x Strength of Spirit
            1x Take Back Erebor

            1x •Burglar's Contract
            2x Iron-Forged Weapon
            1x Wizard Staff

Sites: 4

            1x The Prancing Pony
            1x Great East Road
            1x Front Porch
            1x Enchanted River

Shadow: 10

            I still haven't figured what to add here... Likely will have to be something of general usefulness, like Orcs, Gollum, big monsters (Smaug or Sauron), events/conditions to play any minion (or almost any) from deck/discard...


The Key. I think it will turn the sitepath pretty important at a very high cost. With non-mountain sites, the response ability may save it with a total cost of 3 exertions to play/change only 1 site...
This card should be treated graphically as The One Ring in LOTR TCG, using most of the card space with the picture instead of the culture template. Here's a great example from http://lotrtcg.4gxg.com:




•The Key to Erebor, Heirloom of Durin's House
Possession
Tale. May be played during the starting fellowship. Bearer must be a Dwarf companion or Gandalf.
Response: If this card is about to be discarded, exert a companion to transfer it to another elegible bearer instead.
Fellowship or Regroup: Exert 2 Dwarves to play the fellowship's next site (replacing opponent's site if needed); discard this card if it's not a mountain.
"It was given to me by your father Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now."


Thorin. Each of those 2 versions of Thorin is a strong protector and a heavy fighter and thus has a twilight cost of no less than 3. The first one may be played along with Leader of Dwarves, the only version of Gandalf which won't be able to play Thorin from draw deck.

•Thorin, Lord of the Blue Mountains
Companion - Dwarf
Strength: 7  Vitality: 4
Damage +1. For each wounded Dwarf you can spot, Thorin is strength +1.
Response: If another Dwarf is about to take a wound, exert Thorin and discard a card from hand to prevent that.
"Loyalty, honor, a willing heart, I can ask no more than that."

•Thorin, Son of Thráin Son of Thrór
Companion - Dwarf
Strength: 7  Vitality: 4
Damage +1. For each tale and each wound on Thorin you can spot, Thorin is strength +1.
Assignment: Assign Thorin to an Orc, a Warg or Smaug to make him defender +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase (limit once per phase).
"We few had survived and I thought to myself then 'There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King'."


Events.

An Unexpected Party
Event - Fellowship
Exert Bilbo or Gandalf to play a companion or follower from your draw deck or discard pile.
"The thing is, I don't... I don't know either of you, not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt, but I... but I had to speak my mind."

Careful with These!
Event - Fellowship
Add (or spot Fili and Kili) to play a weapon from your draw deck on a Dwarf companion.
"No! You can't come in, you've come to the wrong house."

Intimidate
Event - Response
Spell. If a companion or ally is about to take a wound, spot a Wizard to prevent that wound.

Strength of Spirit
Event - Response
Spell. If a companion or Wizard is about to exert, spot a Wizard to put no token for that exertion.

Take Back Erebor
Event - Fellowship
Exert up to 2 Dwarf companions to remove the same number of doubts.


Possessions. Those will give some balance to stronger minions and excessive exertions/wounds and doubts. No more boxing dwarves. Burglar's Contract should allow Bilbo for more skirmishes and doubt tolerance...

•Burglar's Contract
Strength +1  Resistance +2
Possession
Bearer must be Bilbo. To play, exert him.
Skirmish: Exert Balin (or 2 Dwarf companions) to make Bilbo may not be overwhelmed unless his strength is tripled.
"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, master Baggins, to the Company of Thorin Oakenshield"

Iron-Forged Weapon
Possession - Hand Weapon
Strength +2
To play, exert a Dwarf (or spot The Master). Bearer must be a Man or a Dwarf.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may place a Free Peoples card from your discard pile beneath your draw deck.

Wizard Staff
Strength +1
Possession - Staff
Bearer must be a Wizard.
Skirmish: Exert bearer twice (or once and discard a card from hand) to make a minion strength -2 (or -3 if bearer is assigned to a skirmish).
"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. And then there are the two Blue Wizards..."


Sites.

The Prancing Pony
Site 1
When the felloship moves to site 2, each player may play a Dwarf follower or Man follower from his or her draw deck.

Great East Road
Site 2  Shadow Number: 2
Forest. Maneuver: Play Burglar's Contract from your draw deck.

Front Porch
Site 4  Shadow Number: 3
Mountain. Underground. Shadow: Play an Orc to draw a card.

Enchanted River
Site 5  Shadow Number 6
Forest. River. When the fellowship moves to Enchanted River, the Free Peoples player must discard each follower or exert 3 companions.


EDIT: Removed "Take Back Erebor" from the Extension Main Deck. Replaced it with "Careful With These!", in order to get weapons earlier for more. Those sites might be changed too...

[Nowhereman]

Will there ever be a format on Gemp for this game? Once its been tested and all?

[Danny]

Great work Enola!! These look amazing and capture the feel of the new movies. I can't believe all the hard work that's gone into them and the continued refinements. Looking forward to playtesting

[Danny]

I hope this will find its way to gemp! I miss second edition.

[-Enola-]

Will there ever be a format on Gemp for this game? Once its been tested and all?

Great work Enola!! These look amazing and capture the feel of the new movies. I can't believe all the hard work that's gone into them and the continued refinements. Looking forward to playtesting

Thank you for your support. The game has been playtested three times by a group of 4 players. The next playtest will be next wednesday. I will send an e-mail to MarcinS soon, I don't know if he would have time to put the Hobbit Draft Game on gemp.

[Durin's Heir]

About the inclusion in GEMP.... I'm sorry to say it's very unlikely it will happen soon. My friend Valtor told me MarcinS is relocating from Europe to USA, so probably issues like this will be in the deep background of his priorities for a time.

Anyway, that would allow more time to playtest the game, and therefore to enhance and fix some details.... You have to look always at the good side of everything.

[Durin's Heir]

About those 2 versions of Thorin proposed for the Extension:

I was thinking about and found both should have as cost, in order to allow him to be played along with Gandalf, Leader of Dwarves (the only Gandy who won't play a desired dwarf from deck). And Son of Thráin Son of Thrór must be modified as the current is heavily overpowered: he might easily end up being strength 15 or more with wounds and tales, so that bonus must be limited. This is what I mean:


•Thorin, Son of Thráin Son of Thrór
Companion - Dwarf
Strength: 7  Vitality: 4
Damage +1. Thorin is strength +1 for each wound on a character in his skirmish.
Assignment: Assign Thorin to an Orc, a Warg or Smaug to make him defender +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase (limit once per phase).
"We few had survived and I thought to myself then 'There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King'."

No strength bonus from tales. The new strength bonus text is borrowed from Uruk Berserkers, surviviors and slayers par excellence. Also its a great skill to mix with the assignment ability: if he fights 2 minions, potentially there will be more wounds to spot (and a greater need of spotting them).

Keep in mind that strength bonus is quite dangerous, as a simple unexpected skirmish event may send an exhausted Thorin to the dead pile if it catches you unguarded. Nevertheless, it a very powerful version of the Exiled King: a bold hearted warrior who doesn't fear death but offers it to anyone in his path.


I've been working on Warg minions and their mechanics... soon will be posted.

There is a new thread to post ideas and work about the First Extension Set:

http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,9099.0.html

This will be posted in that thread too.

[-Enola-]

About the inclusion in GEMP.... I'm sorry to say it's very unlikely it will happen soon. My friend Valtor told me MarcinS is relocating from Europe to USA, so probably issues like this will be in the deep background of his priorities for a time.

Ok . I will see with him soon for the Hobbit Draft Game on gemp.


The next playtest of the Hobbit Draft Game will be done tomorrow.

We have some new ideas to improve the current game . Probably add 6 new cards to the Booster Deck, probably Thranduil, the Mithril Coat, the Key of Erebor and 3 sites (a site 2, a site 8 and a site 9).

[Durin's Heir]

We have some new ideas to improve the current game . Probably add 6 new cards to the Booster Deck, probably Thranduil, the Mithril Coat, the Key of Erebor and 3 sites (a site 2, a site 8 and a site 9).

What version of Thranduil do you mean? If it's the one I proposed, in my opinion it should be in the Spider Pack for flavor reasons (but remain as an Shadow card).

About the Mithril Coat, here's an idea. In the current cards, Bilbo doesn't have any overwhelming protection and the Ring gives him no base strength...

•Mithril-Coat, Kingly Gift or
Possession - Armor
Bearer must be Bilbo.
Bilbo may not be overwhelmed unless his strength is tripled and each minion skirmishing him loses all damage bonuses.
"'Mr. Baggins! Here is the first payment of your reward! Cast off your old coat and put on this!'"



Take a look at these ideas, maybe one of them fits with what you are looking for. Anyway, those were designed for the Extension sets so most of them won't fit, but might anyway inspire you...


Thrór's Throne
Site 9  Shadow number 9
Mountain. Underground. Battleground. When the fellowship moves to Thrór's Throne, the Free Peoples player must either add for each doubt or exert each Dwarf companion.

Ravenhill
Site 9  Shadow number 9
Mountain. Battleground. Each time a Free Peoples character gets killed at Ravenhill, add a doubt.



Dissension or [Gundabad]
Event - Skirmish
Spot X doubts to make a Dwarf companion strength -X. While you can spot The Arkenstone, this event's twilight cost is -2.
If a Free Peoples skirmish event was played this turn, you may exert Smaug twice to play this event from your discard pile.
"I am almost tempted to let you take it, if only to see Oakenshield suffer... watch it corrupt his heart and drive him mad."
Picture: Thorin blocking Bilbo's escape with his sword.

•Goblin Scribe
Follower - Orc
Strength +1  Vitality +1
Aid - Discard 2 cards from hand. Bearer must be an Orc.
Maneuver: If bearer is a Orc, exert it twice or discard this follower to discard a condition or to play an Orc from your draw deck.

•Bill Ferny Sr., Mercenary of Azog [Gundabad]
Follower - Man
Aid - . Bearer must be a Dwarf.
During skirmishes involving bearer, special abilities of cards may not be used.
If you can spot Smaug or bearer wins a skirmish, discard this minion.

•Squint, Outlaw [Gundabad]
Follower - Man
Aid - . Bearer must be a Dwarf.
During skirmishes involving bearer, events may not be played.
If you can spot Smaug or bearer wins a skirmish, discard this minion.

•The Wrongs of His House [Gundabad]
Condition
To play, exert a minion. Plays on Thorin.
Each time a tale is played or another Dwarf losses a skirmish, the Free Peoples player must discard a random card from hand.
"The embers in the heart of Thorin grew hot again, as he brooded on the wrongs of his House and the vengeance upon the Dragon that he had inherited..."
   - What The Weight of a Legacy should have always been, for Thorin this time.

•Lust for Gold (Shadow card)
Condition
Plays on Thorin. At the end of each assignment phase, if Thorin was not assinged to a skirmish and the Free Peoples player assigned another companion, add a doubt.
While a Dwarf companion's vitality is lower than the total doubts you can spot, that dwarf is strength -1 and damage +1.
Picture: Thrór's hand with the Ring. Or Thrór surrounded by gold.



•Saruman, Head of the White Council
Ally - Wizard - Home 3
Strength: 9  Vitality: 4
To play, add 2 doubts or exert Gandalf.
Each time a Free Peoples card adds or removes a doubt, add .
Response: If you play a event, exert a Wizard twice to place that event in your hand instead of your discard pile.
   - Almost a copy-paste of Into Dark Tunnels, but being a support card instead of an event, and allowing Saruman or Radagast to pay the cost.

I Command It Reveal Itself!
Event - Fellowship
Spell. Exert a Wizard twice to reveal a Shadow player's hand. Until the regroup phase that Wizard is damage +1, may participate in skirmishes and is strength +1 for each revealed minion (limit +4).


•Glóin, Eager Fighter
Companion - Dwarf
Strength: 6  Vitality: 3
Each time Glóin wins a skirmish, before wound assignment, he gains strength +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
Skirmish: If Glóin is not assigned to a skirmish, exert Glóin to have him replace a Dwarf or a Man in a skirmish.

•One I Could Call King
Condition
Tale. Plays on Thorin.
Each time Thorin kills an unique minion, you may remove a doubt or heal a Dwarf.
Assignment: Exert Thorin and assign him to a minion with the highest strength. If he wins that skirmish, heal Thorin and make each Dwarf strength +1 until the regroup phase.
Picture: Thorin slicing off Azog's arm.

•Oakenshield
Strength +1
Possession - Shield
Bearer must be Thorin.
Each minion skirmishing Thorin does not gain strength or damage bonuses from weapons.
Response: If a minion skirmishing Thorin uses a special ability, exert Thorin to prevent that.
"...he hewed off with his axe a branch of an oak and held it in his left hand to ward off the strokes of his foes, or to wield as a club."


Goblin Scribe is my favourite here. And I think any of those Sites 9 may fit well with the theme of the original Hobbit Draft Game.

[-Enola-]

About the Mithril Coat, here's an idea. In the current cards, Bilbo doesn't have any overwhelming protection and the Ring gives him no base strength...

Dori prevent Bilbo from being overwhelmed unless his strength is tripled.

I don't know if in which pack these cards are made for ? By replacing which cards ? How many quantities ? Because I think most of the packs are full now.

But you can create a balanced Free Peoples pack of 10 cards. We have to make one for the Elves and one for the Esgaroth Men.

[-Enola-]

Update 18/12/2014 http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/Updates.html

Smaug's Den   
New picture

• Bolg, Son of Azog
New picture

Orkish Marauder   
New picture

Fat Spider
+1 copy

Better Than Nothing
+1 copy

If He Loses
+1 copy

4x Goblin Footman   
Moria culture

2x Spider Nest
Cost 2
To play, spot a Spider. Skirmish: Discard an Orc from play to play a Spider from your draw deck.

3x Watchful Orc   
Cost 4 Strength 8 Vitality 3 Site Number 3
When you play this minion, you may replace the fellowship's current site with a site from your adventure deck.

2x • Narzug,   Orkish Assassin   
Cost 2 Strength 6 Vitality 2 Site Number 3
When Narzug is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may remove (3) to wound an ally twice.

• Fili, Brother of Kili   
While Kili is exhausted, Fili is strength +3.

• The Arkenstone   
Cost 2
You may play a card stacked here as if played from hand.
Fellowship: Add (1) to stack a card from hand on the Arkenstone.

[Durin's Heir]

Dori prevent Bilbo from being overwhelmed unless his strength is tripled.

Totally forgot about followers. Sorry.
Such version I proposed of the Mithril Coat is shamefully overpowered anyway.

I don't know if in which pack these cards are made for ? By replacing which cards ? How many quantities ? Because I think most of the packs are full now.

Hmmm, I still don't know. But I was thinking about a similar idea to yours: small thematic packs, and each player choosing one of each Shadow and FP to include in the draft...
No random-chosen packs, but player-chosen...

Those are only a little part of the cards I've been creating, but have to admit many will end up in the garbage can. Many were built as a TCG instead of a Board Game, and that's not the goal here.

But you can create a balanced Free Peoples pack of 10 cards. We have to make one for the Elves and one for the Esgaroth Men.

What about a Shadow 10-cards pack for Dol Guldur? To counter the White Council pack I mean...
What do you think about Ravenhill? You asked for a site 2, a site 8 and a site 9. The fixed site 9 is meant to facilitate a beatdown or swarm victory, while the text of Ravenhill is meant to corrupt.

[-Enola-]

I'm working on new packs right now. Not sure if I will bring new sites now.

I think the random player choice is necessary, otherwise players will always chosen the same packs (and how these choices will be done ?).

You can think about new Swarm packs (2 Shadow of 20 cards each) and new Beatdown packs (2 Shadows of 15 cards and 1 Shadow of 10 cards).

Proposition for other shadow packs :
- "Siege of Dale" Pack (Swarm pack)
   - Archers driven by Bolg (Gundabad culture) : 20 cards
   - Siege driven by Azog (Moria culture?) : 20 cards
- "Rise of the Necromancer" Pack (Beatdown pack)   
   - Necromancien (Sauron culture) : 15 cards
   - Nazguls (Ringwraith culture) : 15 cards
   - Smaug (without culture) : 10 cards

[Durin's Heir]

Not sure if I will bring new sites now.

Current sites 5 seem too similar in my opinion. I propose The Carrock as a differentiation (replacing either Mirkwood or Old Forest Road):

The Carrock
Site 5  Shadow Number 8
Mountain. River. When the fellowship moves to The Carrock, wound each minion twice and discard Gandalf.

Proposition for other shadow packs :
- "Siege of Dale" Pack (Swarm pack)
   - Archers driven by Bolg (Gundabad culture) : 20 cards
   - Siege driven by Azog (Moria culture?) : 20 cards

In respect of Azog's Besiegers: Siege minions shouldn't be but [Gundabad], except for those "Goblin Mercenaries". But there was plenty of Trolls in the Battle of the Five Armies: some big Cave Trolls and many small Hill Trolls... Those generic small trolls should be non-unique, have high site number, low twilight cost and strength 8 or 9 but fierce and/or damage +1. And thus might be considered a middle ground between swarm and beatdown. And take into account cheap, fierce minions may play as both beatdown and swarm: if they kill some defenders in the first skirmish, chances are they can swarm in the fierce one.

[Troll] culture or [Gundabad] Trolls? Given their race, being [Gundabad] wouldn't make any difference with previous [Troll] cards made for Tom, Bert and Will like the Troll Knife; but would allow them use benefits for [Gundabad] minions. Also, the text "the twilight cost of each Troll is -2" of those 3 stone ones looks VERY appealing to make Trolls participate in a swarm.

Here's a sample of what small Trolls may look like:

Troll Soldier [Gundabad]
Minion • Troll
Strength: 8  Vitality: 2  Site: 6
Fierce.
When you play this minion, you may play a possession from your discard pile on a Troll.

To therefore play Troll Knife on it and pump it to strength 11, dmg+1, fierce. Or any other weapon/armor/tool for Trolls...

Troll Plate Armor [Gundabad]
Possession • Armor
Strength +2  Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Troll. Skirmishes involving bearer must be resolved before any others.


And to assemble swarms...

Gundabad Giant Bats [Gundabad]
Minion • Bat
Strenght: 4  Vitality: 2  Site: 5
This minion may not be assigned to a skirmish and is discarded if roaming.
The twilight cost of each [Gundabad] or [Spider] minion is -1, and each time you play one you may draw a card.

Giant Bat Band [Gundabad]
Minion • Bat
Strenght: 3  Vitality: 1  Site: 5
This minion may not be assigned to a skirmish. The site number of each [Gundabad] minion is -2.
Shadow: Discard a Bat minion to play an Orc or a Spider from your discard pile.

Play several of those bats from discard with Troll Campfire or equal conditions (there will be need of more), and watch your host grow wide and your opponent's face grow pale...


In respect of Archers: I didn't see too much evil archery in the movies: except for Goblin Town archers there was just Bolg's troop in DoS. But I've been working on some ideas:

Goblin Bow
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
To play, spot a card. Bearer must be an Orc. Bearer is an archer.
Regroup: Transfer this weapon to your support area.
Shadow: Remove (or spot a Orc) to transfer this weapon from your support area to an Orc.

A sort of replayable bow, in absense of Relics of Moria. But bearer must survive in order to be transferred to support area. Playable by Goblin Footman, and on Goblin Footman.

Goblin Archer Troop
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8  Vitality: 3  Site: 4
Archer. While you can spot another Orc archer, add 1 to the minion archery total.

Goblin Bowman
Minion • Orc
Strength: 4  Vitality: 1  Site: 4
Archer.

Gundabad Bowman [Gundabad]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 6  Vitality: 2  Site: 3
Archer. Shadow: Exert this minion and discard a card from hand to play Bolg or an archer from your discard pile.

Orkish Longbow [Gundabad]
Strength +1
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Bearer must be an Orc. Bearer is an archer.
If bearer is a [Gundabad] Orc, he is fierce.

Morgul Shaft [Gundabad]
Condition • Support Area
Strength -1
Response: After the Free Peoples player assigns archery wounds, spot a [Gundabad] Orc to transfer this condition to a companion wounded that way (except Bilbo). Limit 1 per character. Wound bearer at the start of each fellowship phase.

An archery version of Blade Tip.


It's just a mere try, and it's uncomplete. And lacks Bolg himself.

[Durin's Heir]

Proposition for other shadow packs :
- "Rise of the Necromancer" Pack (Beatdown pack)   
   - Smaug (without culture) : 10 cards

Regarding the Smaug Non-Culture... What template do you want to use? A black, or a dark-grey one? I suggest you to use none: just as Smaug (or The One Ring in LOTR), use the whole card space for the picture... The Shadow event I proposed, Dissension, should be a No-Culture card instead of a Sauron one. Even better, more card space for that dramatic scene!

Smaug Non-Culture should rely on doubts. Plant them and harvest them. Maybe a Shadow Arkenstone is a good idea, bearable by Thorin, Bilbo or Bard, and giving both benefits to bearer and doubt addition or harvesting...

Something like this:

The Arkenstone, King's Jewel (Shadow card) [No Culture]
Possession
Strength +2  Vitality +2
Plays on Bilbo. Each companion and ally of a different culture than bearer's is strength -2.
Each time the fellowship moves, add for each doubt.
Bilbo, Bard and Thorin gain this ability: "Maneuver: Add 2 doubts to transfer the Arkenstone to this character."
"That Stone of all the treasure I name unto myself, and I will be avenged on anyone who finds it and withholds it."

With an awesome picture like this one:
http://40.media.tumblr.com/e0e2a7208ed74f3c3c154d5137aecd2d/tumblr_n7dp8jegq31rx6pfdo1_500.png

Just like the FP Arkenstone gives some benefit to the Shadow (Smaug's twilight cost is -4), the shadow version gives strong benefits to bearer (strength +2 and vitality +2). There should be a Smaug card to play this from the draw deck, maybe Smaug himself, and a mechanism to discard the Free Peoples version... Divide and Rule!


I don't see any Corruption Pack, and might be a good idea to have one. Gollum Pack in the Beatdown one is a corruption shadow, but as a beatdown is useful only against Bilbo. Besides Bolg, Fat Spider and Orkish Sneak, there's no other doubt adding mechanism than Gollum culture...

Stinker, Fat Spider and Threatening Warg (and site 9) harvest doubts, but that's all regarding it.