Next Updates for the Hobbit Draft Game

[Durin's Heir]

And 3x a Sword for the Nazguls.

In respect of those 3x weapons, what weapon are you going to use? There is the Morgul Blade in An Unexpected Journey, and there are those different armaments each Nazgul wielded in the Battle at Dol Guldur: maces, swords, axes, spears, lances... the Witch King indeed uses a staff (he's the one on the right when Elrond arrives, and the one who stands at the middle and front of the Nine when Sauron gathers them). Those weapons may be depicted by means of a generic weapon like the "Iron-Forged Weapon" does in the Dale culture: "Spectral Weapon", "Weapon of Dol Guldur/Minas Morgul", "Weapon of the Undead"...

Well, watching again that scene but at slow pace I started to notice something completely unexpected: the Nazgul swap their weapons. For instance, Saruman defeats some 2 or 3 Nazgul and one of them drops his broadsword, and another Nazgul (apparently The Witch King) takes that broadsword before it touches the floor to fight Saruman... See the attached images.

We might take that idea of a weapon that falls from one's hand to another one's, and turn it into a response ability. "Response: If bearer is killed, transfer this weapon to another Nazgul". That skill would be very useful to protect a smaller Nazgul, or a Nazgul that gives a bonus to the rest ("Each Nazgul is strength +1").

Cw0rk's version of the now defunct Resurrect keyword might work well too with weapons: "Response: If this weapon is about to be discarded, shuffle it into your draw deck instead."

[-Enola-]

Here is the last changes on the new Shadows ^^, especially Nazguls.

http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/New_Shadows/

Tell me what you think about it.

[Cw0rk]

Overall I like what you did with the Nazguls. Here are some suggestions:

For Witch-King, damage +1 until the end of the regroup phase might be better.

I think that Cantea and Enquea should not have the same game text. I also think that Nelya and Nertea's game texts are a bit too similar. I like the idea of playing a Sauron minion though.

[Durin's Heir]

The Nazgul Culture:

I like the graphic design, and although the game mechanics still require some adjustment, they look very good.

The synergy of the Dol Guldur Blade and He Is Summoning His Servants looks very clever. It gives the Goblin Footman a good place in a Nazgul deck. Anyway, you will need to play a Nazgul from hand in order to (play the Dol Guldur Blade and then) replay that condition, which isn't a problem at site 9 but can be troublesome if you run out of Nazzies before that. But each culture must have some weakness.

Another very clever point of He Is Summoning His Servants is the line that allows the Wise to fight them. A great reason for the FP player to not discard it. Bravo!


Nelya looks as the strongest of them all. Retrieving Sauron or the Ring of Thrór to hand is just priceless.

Lemenya is, on the other hand, useless. He can exert only once, and the Orc he'll return to hand will cost often the same or more than those that will be added (I know that Orc can be discarded to play a Nazzie from discard at - , but is still very weak). Try this instead: "Each Nazgul is twilight cost -1" or "Shadow: Exert 2 Nazgul to add " (given their high site and twilight numbers, having 2 on the board won't be so easy). Or raise those to or , he can exert only once...


The response action of Cantea and Enquea is clearily overpowered. I'd change it to "Each time an Orc returns into your hand, you may exert Ulaire XXXXXX to exert a companion (except Bilbo)". Otherwise you will be able to exhaust a fresh Thorin with only Enquea + Nelya/Otsea/Lemenya, in the Shadow phase . Totally support Cw0rk's point here, their skill shouldn't be exactly the same, I think one of them should force the Free Peoples player to choose who gets exerted, or even allow the Shadow player to exert an ally.

- "Each time an Orc returns to your hand, you may exert Ulaire XXXXXX to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion."
- "Each time an Orc returns to your hand, you may exert Ulaire XXXXXX to exert an ally; the Free Peoples player may exert 2 companions instead."

For Witch-King, damage +1 until the end of the regroup phase might be better.

Until the regroup phase would be too much with high strength fierce minions like The Witch King, Attea and Toldea.

I think that Cantea and Enquea should not have the same game text. I also think that Nelya and Nertea's game texts are a bit too similar. I like the idea of playing a Sauron minion though.

There will be only 1 copy of each Nazgul to be drafted, so the same game mechanic must be present in several of them in order to have enough presence. 3x is a good number for that purpose.

[-Enola-]

Thank you Cw0rk and Durin's Heir for your great ideas and suggestions .

I just modify all this here : http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/New_Shadows/

[Cw0rk]

Thank you Cw0rk and Durin's Heir for your great ideas and suggestions .

I just modify all this here : http://hobbitdraftgame.free.fr/New_Shadows/

I love all the changes you made. Perhaps you could make Cantea wound allies instead of exert?

[Durin's Heir]

The Nazgul Culture:

Ulaire Attea: Attea's skill worries me a lot. The FP player should have a way to prevent Orcs from triggering Nazgul skirmish skills, and that should be killing them before they can be returned to hand: assigning strong dwarves (with damage bonuses if needed) against Orcs and resolving those skirmishes first. But if Attea's skill lasts until the regroup phase, he can ditch each Orc in the board before the first skirmish ends in order to pile up enormous strength to 1 or 2 Nazgul, and the only counters to that are Kili and Dawn Take You All. More or less...

Besides, +4 at a forest site might be too much, moreover considering he's strength 12 and with +4 would overwhelm Elrond or any Wizard without much problem. It's a good idea to give the Watchful Orc an use with the Nazgul, but +3 at a forest should be enough.

"Skirmish: Return an Orc to your hand to make a minion strength +2 (or +3 at a forest)". Until the end of that skirmish.


Ulaire Enquea and Ulaire Cantea: Enquea and Cantea are still a bit overpowered in my opinion. The problem happens with the response trigger. With the same trigger you can use the response action as far as you can exert, and that's too much.

With the condition and at site 5 or higher, Enquea and Cantea will cost respectively and from discard, while Nelya, Lemenya and Otsea can return an Orc to hand during Shadow phase and each costs , and from discard. The Orc will cost or . So for a total of twilight or a bit more and 2 Orcs discarded from hand, Enquea will exert the Company 3 times per site (and Lemeya can add , to make the cost even more ridiculous). The same effect as 3x Under the Watching Eye. Same happens with Cantea exerting 2 allies, or 1 ally twice, per site.

If it were an "Each time" action instead of a "Response:", that problem wouldn't occur:

"Each time an Orc returns into your hand, you may exert Ulaire Cantea to exert an ally."
"Each time an Orc returns into your hand, you may exert Ulaire Enquea to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion."


The Smaug Non-Culture:

There's a little misspelling in Twisted Gold of Dragon: it says "Men allies may...", but should say "Man allies..." (the singular form). Everything else seems fine.


The Sauron Culture:

The new version of Sauron allows him to assign himself to a companion (says "exert Sauron to assign a minion..." instead of "another minion"), and that's a bit too powerful in my opinion. He will need the Ring of Thrór to fight so it won't be so easy, but with the Ring he'll discard an artifact (let's say, Glamdring or Orcrist) and exhaust his huge 5 vitality points to overwhelm or kill by wounds 1 or 2 companions... I'd rather add the "another" word and prevent that problem.

Perhaps Jail should be changed a little. "To play, spot a or card". There are too few cards in the Draft to spot (10, -2x Jail, -2x Ring of Thrór = 6 only for 2 or more players).


Anyway, I like the other changes made to Sauron and the Ring of Thrór. Sauron now needs the Last of the Seven to show up and that's a great flavour addition, and gives the Ring of Thrór more importance; besides, now Sauron has a lore text and that's always a nice thing. The Ring of Thrór now can't discard Sting nor bring back 2 Orkish Sneaks and that's a good thing for Bilbo.

Another great point you achieved with the new Ring of Thrór is that it can't recover 2 Nazgul from discard pile, and therefore the only 2 ways to play a Nazgul from discard are site 9 and the condition. That's very important if now Sauron and the Nazgul minions won't have a text to allow Wise allies to fight. Having Sauron (+ Ring) and 2 Nazgul without a condition to allow Elrond and the other Wise fellows to fight them would be a great dissaster to Thorin's Company.

[-Enola-]

You are right about Ulaire Enquea and Ulaire Cantea. I will change this.

We will test the +4 at a forest for Attea first .

[Durin's Heir]

The Archers Pack:

As an overall review, I think you are trying to gather too much things together in this pack: Bolg's Army and Bolg's Hunting Party are very different themes in the movies and I believe they shouldn't mix. In the book, Bolg's Army is assembled from all corners and Goblin strongholds of the Misty Mountains and is gathered at Mount Gundabad, so those Orcs might have the Moria or Gundabad culture.

In the film, we see 2 armies: Bolg's Army of Gundabad and Azog's Army of Dol Guldur. Only Bolg's Army is gathered at Gundabad. The Gundabad forces are Skirmishers, while the Dol Guldur ones are Besiegers (siege Trolls). So it would make sense to give Bolg's Army the Gundabad or Moria culture, and Azog's one the Sauron culture. Good old-fashioned Orcs... that would be cool.

In respect of Orc Archers, we can see a lot of them at Goblin-town and later at the Barrels part there is Bolg's Hunting Party (actually it's Azog's Party after the Wooded Cliff escape, with another leader), but after that there are few Orc archers even at the Battle of the Five Armies. So why should the specialized Archers be the main force in Bolg's Army? I'm not against strong skirmishers that happen to be archers too (that would be great), but the Specialized Archers theme should be portrayed in another Shadow Pack in my opinion.

And the Morgul Arrow doesn't belong at all to the Battle of the Five Armies; the same goes with the Stone Giants in the Assailants Pack, and indeed with the Bats (they belong instead to Bolg's Gundabad Army). They are a waste of card room for the proper Swarm themes.

But if things go on as they are, here's my review in bigger detail:

- 3x • Bolg, Captain of the Goblin Army : Cost (4). [Gundabad] Minion. Orc. Site 5. Strength 9, Vitality 3. Archer. At the start of the archery phase, you may exert an unwounded companion for each other [Gundabad] archer you spot. Archery: Discard an Orc to make the minion archery total +1.

The passive ability is excessively powerful. Most unwounded companions have 3 vitality points, so bringing them all to 2 will leave them only 1 vitality point to confront those huge amounts of arrows. The healing and prevention of wounds is too thin in the Hobbit Draft Game to allow such an imbalance.

And the Archery special ability hammers the last nail to the coffin: any junk Orc (Orkish Sneak, Yazneg, Narzug) will work as a cheap disposable archer, and this ability can trigger Narzug's very dangerous skill . This version of Bolg doesn't require many other cards to destroy the whole fellowship. Just Bolg, some 2 other archers and some other cheap Orcs per site and the game is over. Hatred Rekindled, Host of Thousands and Site 9 will assure that combo will be happening over and over again...

Any dwarf which happens to survive through this arrow madness will have to face strong minions (often more minions than companions) and most likely will be exhausted, and if he manages to have enough strength to win the skirmish there's still that overpowered event Hidden Attack to knock him down. TOO MUCH.


If the passive skill had a limit and was "at the end" of the archery phase instead, it would be far less overpowered. It'd force the FP player to assign arrows to unwounded comps and that ensures that each companion has at least 1 wound after the archery fire distribution, which can pave the road to a skirmish kill (being far more appropiate for the Gundabad Archery theme, and even the Hunting Pack theme). The active skill should have a limit, perhaps a natural limit like "Archery: Exert Bolg and discard an Orc (except Narzug) to..."; still would be very powerful.

I believe the active Archery skill isn't necessary at all, it can be replaced with something more balanced. Something like this version:

•Bolg, Captain of the Goblin Army Hunter Party [Gundabad]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 9  Vitality: 3  Site 5
Archer. Damage +1.
At the end of the archery phase, you may exert an unwounded companion for each other [Gundabad] archer you spot (limit 3).
Shadow: Exert Bolg and remove to play a [Gundabad] archer from your discard pile.

We must remember each Shadow culture here will be based on the Main Deck, which has 2x Hatred Rekindled, 3x Host of Thousands and Site 9 to make any specific Orc of your choice reappear over and over again, so the effect of a minion's text must always be developed with that in mind.

- 4x Orkish Pursuer : Cost (2). [Gundabad] Minion. Orc. Site 5. Strength 7, Vitality 2. Archer. Archery: Exert this minion and another Orc archer to make the minion archery total +1.

This one looks fine, as it can exert only once. Anyway, it depends on the rest of the Pack if this minion adds too much arrows or not, and given the lack of FP archery-counters that will likely be affirmative.

- 3x The Fifth Army : Cost (5). [Gundabad] Minion. Orc. Site 5. Strength 11, Vitality 3. Archer. While you can spot another Orc archer, add 1 to the minion archery total.

Any card titled "Army" in the BotFA environment must be unique in my opinion (Elf Army, Iron Hills Army, Esgaroth Volunteers). If it's called "Legion" instead, it can remain non-unique.

Gandalf: Where is your master? Where is he?!
Azog: He is everywhere. We are legion!

The classic and poweful Moria Archer Troop. But with twilight cost -1 and strength +3, for the little price of roaming 1 site more. So it's clearly overpowered. But actually this is a good example of what might be a good skirmishers-oriented Gundabad Army Pack: a cheap and strong fighter, which is also an archer and can add 1 more arrow.

If its Site Number were a bit higher (6 or 7) it'd be OK for me, AS FAR AS the whole Shadow Archers theme is totally ditched in pro of a skirmishing Gundabad Army. But along with that Bolg and Hidden Attack, this minion is way too powerful (Bolg and the arrows exhaust, and this strong minion OR Hidden Attack finishes the slaughter).

- 4x Orkish Bow : Cost (1). [Gundabad] Possession. Ranged Weapon. Bearer must be a [Gundabad] Orc. Bearer is an archer. Skirmish: Discard this possession to add (3).

Can be replayed with Goblin Footman and that's a good thing. But this bow was designed to allow Hidden Attack to be player anytime you have it in hand, and that event is quite overpowered (see below). If it were a maneuver action instead, it would allow for +1 archery OR selective direct wounding at skirmish. Still very powerful...

- 3x Hidden Attack : Cost (3). [Gundabad] Event - Skirmish. Wound a character skirmishing an archer minion. If the fellowship is at a battleground site, you may remove (3) to wound that character again.

This event is EVIL. This is Whistling Death, a mixture of Whirling Strike and Red Wrath. But in the Extended/Standard LOTR TCG format the FP player has many evil ways to keep the fellowship healed and that is clearily not the case here. Nor does exist here any card like Gimli's Helm or Armor to prevent multiple wounds in skirmishes, or any shield or condition to stop arrows. And there's no Sapling of the White Tree, Intimidate or generic Dwarven Bracers, wound prevention is limited to only Fili and The One Ring (in skirmishes), and the two-fold exclusive Oakenshield...

If it were in my hands, I'd remove this OP card if the Archer theme remains. Otherwise, I'd make some changes to it:

Hidden Attack [Gundabad]
Event • Skirmish
Exert an archer minion to wound a character skirmishing that minion. If the current site is a battleground, you may remove to make the Free Peoples player wound that character again or discard 3 cards from hand.

It requires an exertion to reduce the abuse of powerful skills like Orkish Pursuer's. And gives an option to the FP player to deal with the second wound.

- 3x Morgul Arrow : Cost (1). [Gundabad] Condition • Support area. Response: If a companion takes a wound during the archery phase, transfer this condition to this character. Limit 1 per character. Wound bearer at the start of each fellowship phase.

I'd remove this because doesn't belong to the Gundabad Army. And due to another issue: Bolg exerts everyone and then the arrows fall, so there are little chances of having a non-exhausted Dwarf that will survive the Morgul Arrow at the next turn (if not at a sanctuary). This condition is more powerful than Blade Tip: they have in common that the FP guy takes both a wound AND this deadly condition, except that this condition allows for much wider possibilities to transfer it.

Perhaps some power reduction wouldn't come bad to this one. Instead of a costless transference if an arrow hits a Dwarf, might be "exert a [Gundabad] archer to transfer this condition to that Dwarf". Or "remove to transfer"...


Concluding, it's far too powerful a subculture for the Gundabad Army and totally disagrees with their theme (they should be strong skirmishers instead). And though it fits better with Bolg's Hunting Party, with that theme it's even more overpowered in respect to what they were in the DoS film: a simple bunch of Hunting Orcs, previously decimated by Gandalf's burning cones, the Great Eagles and the Dwarves at the Wooded Cliff.

Hope this helps.

[Not a Zombie]

I love the Smaug cards with the full image! They look spectacular.

[Durin's Heir]

@Enola:

I've been rewatching the movies, and there is a thing I must unsay:

...it would make sense to give Bolg's Army the Gundabad or Moria culture, and Azog's one the Sauron culture. Good old-fashioned Orcs... that would be cool.

That's very wrong. The cultures you chose for the Swarm Packs the actually the correct ones. Sorry .

In the Desolation of Smaug, Beorn explains "there is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the sorcerer in Dol Guldur." So the army led by Azog, though gathered at Dol Guldur, is mostly made out of forces of Moria and the Misty Mountains. Bolg's Army is comprised of forces from the Grey Mountains, and is mustered at their capitol Mount Gundabad.

Still, there are things that don't correspond with the themes:

1. Azog's Pack has the Stone Giants and they don't belong to the assault. They should be part instead of the Goblin-town theme: they forced the Company to deviate from the High Pass. A good replacement may be the Were-worms (you made a very interesting and powerful version). Or perhaps some weapon like a Piked Mace for Orcs and Trolls:

Piked Mace
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +3 +2
Bearer must be an Orc or a Troll.
Skirmishes involving bearer must be resolved before any others.
While at a battleground site, bearer is fierce.

We can see front line fighters like Ogres (the Demolition Troll) using piked maces. I believe there is a lack of pumps for this minions, and this weapon would turn Azog or the Demolition Troll into a strength 12 or 13, fierce, dmg+1 minion.

2. Bolg's Pack has the Morgul Arrow. And the theme is wrongly based on the Hunting Pack of the 2nd film, in both gametext and pictures. They should be skirmishers, or high strength archer minions, but not those Specialized Archers you made.

Again, hope this helps.


@Not A Zombie: Indeed they look awesome! Enola has put much effort in all aspects of this Hobbit Draft Game, and graphical design is one of the best.

[Durin's Heir]

The Assailants Pack:

I must say that I like these cards very much. There are some points I'd change, but they are very well designed and the changes I'd add are relatively just details.

- 3x • Azog, Commander of the Wolves Army : Cost (4). minion. Orc. Site 4. Strength 9, Vitality 3. Damage +1. While you can spot 3 minions, the twilight cost of your minions is -1. Maneuver: If the fellowship's current site is a battleground, exert Azog to play a minion from your discard pile.

This version of Azog is great. The gametext, the subtitle, the picture, the lore... everything exhales destruction.

Nonetheless, there is an idea that may be considered: I believe this Azog should be "the Head of the Snake" that Thorin tries to cut off to scatter the Goblin Army. But the first line "While you can spot... the twilight cost of your minions is -1" doesn't need Azog alive when his Army fights, and cost reduction is also present in the Dark Bats and the Wolves Army (great cards too). I'd change it to "While you can spot 3 minions, each [Gundabad] and minion is strength +2", that way the Horde would be much stronger with his Commander present in the battle, Azog would be a really fearsome foe with strength 11 dmg +1 (being only strength 9 is very easy to beat), and the FP player would have a strong need to kill him as soon as it's possible.

By the way, the Piked Mace I suggested is designed to protect Azog (or any key minion) from being killed in skirmishes by either making Azog stronger, or by forcing the FP player to fight its bearer before Azog can fight (taking profit of Azog's text). I mean this: 3 or more minions + Azog + a Demolition Troll with a Piked Mace. The Troll would be a strength 14, dmg +1 minion and would fight before Azog, and later at Azog's skirmish the Demolition Troll would be able to trigger Azog's text for his own strength gain. Give it a try .

A last point. Gandalf names Azog a "Commander of Legions" when talking to Radagast at the High Fells. That's a good subtitle I think.

Gandalf: "He is summoning his servants. Azog the Defiler is no ordinary hunter. He is a commander. A commander of legions."

- 3x The Wolves Army : Cost (6). minion. Orc. Site 4. Strength 11, Vitality 4. Fierce. When you play this minion, add (1) for each wounded companion (or (2) if the fellowship's current site is a battleground).

Just like the Fifth Army in Bolg's Pack, this one should be either an unique "Army" or a non-unique "Legion".

It honours me that you have taken my "wound tracker" idea to depict Wargs . This Wolves Army shouldn't be an Orc but a Warg. I know Wargs can't bear Orkish possessions and are more limited in interaction (can't use Hatred Rekindled/Host of Thousands), but that can be compensated. Add this: "While at a battleground, this minion is strength +1 for each wounded companion". That way only Azog or Dark Bats would be able to recover them from discard, but against a fellowship of 5 or 6 wounded comps this Warg would be strength 16/17 (or 18/19 with Azog and 3 minions), fierce, costing only or even . That's a good reason to make it unique .

•The Wolves Army
Minion • Warg
Strength 11  Vitality 4  Site 4
Fierce.
When you play this minion, add (1) for each wounded companion (or if the fellowship's current site is a battleground).
While at a battleground, The Wolves Army is strength +1 for each wounded companion.

Perhaps the strength bonus should have a limit. And adding at a battleground, plus Dark Bats' cost reduction, is too much in my opinion.

The picture hasn't a single Warg. There is a good picture with a bunch of Wargs at Dol Guldur Army in the Desolation of Smaug, at 02:10:07 in the Extended Edition.

- 4x Goblin Vanguard : Cost (3). minion. Orc. Site 4. Strength 7, Vitality 2. Assailant. When you play this minion, you may play a condition from your draw deck or discard pile.

The Orkish Smith, but a bit stronger and more expensive. This one will keep the engine of this culture running: Azog replaying minions and Dark Bats making them very cheap. The gametext has my total approval.

But I don't like the picture for that gametext. That Orc of the picture isn't part of the Vanguard or even of the Rear Guard (he's left behind to kill Gandalf). And has a great potential to be a strong "Dimrill Veteran" Orc in a Pack depicting the Battle of Azanulbizar (he was beaten by Dwalin in Azanulbizar but survived), probably an unique chieftain.

Use instead a close up to some few front liners of Azog's marching army. There is a good pic to use around 0:25:42.

-2x Demolition Troll : Cost (5). minion. Troll. Site 4. Strength 10, Vitality 3. Damage +1. When you play this minion, you may spot 2 other minions to discard a possession.

Quite good sir! Strong, cheap, disruptive and simple... this guy impels me to make Dale fortifications in an Extension. There must be a way of making fierce this strong, damage +1 minion (and Azog too), that's why I proposed the Piked Mace.

The lore text of this Troll doesn't fit. It's borrowed from Troll of the Deep, but the Demolition Troll should destroy walls and bridges instead of repairing/replacing them.

- 3x Vicious Warg : Cost (1). Possession • Mount. Strength +1. Vitality +1. Bearer must be a Orc. At the start of each skirmish involving bearer, each character skirmishing bearer must exert.

This one MUST make bearer fierce (the wild nature or wolves), but restraining the exertion to only 1 skirmish to avoid abuse: "Bearer is fierce. At the start of each non-fierce skirmish involving bearer...". And a last point: the limitation to only Orcs is both excessive and unnecessary: the Gundabad version of Azog (and [Gundabad] orcs of the Main Deck) should be able to ride this wolf...

Vicious Warg
Possession • Mount
Strength +1  Vitality +1
Bearer must be an Orc.
Bearer is fierce.
At the start of each non-fierce skirmish involving bearer, each character skirmishing bearer must exert.

With my version of Azog, this mount + 2 minios will make Azog a very hard foe: strength 12, vitality 4, fierce, damage +1. And exerting his opponent at the first skirmish.

- 3x Dark Bats : Cost (1). Condition • Support area. To play, exert a Orc. The twilight cost of your minions is -1. At the start of the regroup phase, you may take into hand a minion from your discard pile.

This condition shares the exact same lore text as Legolas . But the condition itself is pretty neat. The core of the whole culture.

"At the start of your regroup phase" is a bit wrong, use "the regroup phase" instead.

- 2x • Stone Giants : Cost (2). Condition • Support area. Each time the fellowship moves to site 4, the Free Peoples player must exert 3 companions. Maneuver: If the fellowship is at a mountain site, discard this condition and remove to add a doubt.

The Stone Giants must be present in another pack. Replace them here with the Piked Mace, or with another minion to do the swarm (a cheap goblin skirmisher, or a Troll bearing a catapult, or the Goblin Mercenaries).

Although it doesn't belong here, I like the concept. "Each time the fellowship moves to site 4" can be changed to "When the fellowship moves to site 4" (see The Long Dark). Perhaps should need "to play, exert a minion" or "spot 2 minions", to prevent other cultures (like Bolg's Pack) from using it. You may look at this condition by Elf_Lvr (albeit he depicts the Stone Giants as minions):

•Hindering Storm
Condition • Support Area
Toil 1. Weather.
To play, spot an minion.
Each Giant at a mountain is strength +2.
Regroup: Remove 2 burdens to make the move limit for this turn -1. Discard this condition.
The wind was howling and the thunder still growling, and they had a business getting themselves and their ponies along.
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,494.msg11721.html#msg11721

Elf_Lvr's idea there is to make Company stop the journey to take cover and get some relief.

His other 4 cards for the Stone Giants:
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,494.msg11567.html#msg11567

I'd mix your exertion part with his regroup part:
•Stone Giants
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 minions.
When the fellowship moves to site 4, the Free Peoples player must exert 3 companions.
Regroup: Remove 2 doubts to make the move limit this turn -1. Discard this condition.


After all... great Swarm Pack my fellow. Please take into account my ideas, but even if not this Pack rocks anyway.

[-Enola-]

Ok I will answer soon, I have a lot of work right now.
All cards (except the new Shadows) are now printed. I have all the cards for a 8 players draft tournament .

[Durin's Heir]

I know there are still some loose ends in the basic set (Nazgul Pack, the new Swarm Packs), but I wanted to propose an idea for the format of the boosters in a future Extension Set: Thematic Booster Packs.

The idea is to distribute the Boosters in halves (half FP, half Shadow), depicting a subplot or conflict like the Battle of Azanulbizar or the Riddle Game. Let me explain a bit extensively:

1) After each player drafts their normal 3 boosters as usual, each player chooses directly one different Extension Pack of X cards (we need to define that amount).
2) Then, the cards comprising those packs are shuffled and a single 4th booster of X cards gets drafted.

That amount of X cards can be either even or odd; if odd, the remainder 1 card can be used for a Site corresponding with the Theme. Like the time-ago-proposed "Forges of Erebor" in a pack with Thorin's Company vs Smaug...

The point of directly choosing the Booster is to reinforce a strong or a weak point in the cards you drafted. Some cards will be very specific (cards that need to spot, or be played on, ley's say Galadriel) and that makes the choice at random totally unviable: a pack containing the Phial of Galadriel and Nenya won't work in absense of the White Council Pack. So if a player got from drafting a good amount of White Council cards, he/she might want to choose a "Dol Guldur" Pack with toys and tricks for Wise characters. Keep in mind he/she still has to get those cards through the draft procedure. Another player might counter that by focusing his/her draws on getting the Shadow side of that Thematic pack, which will be a natural enemy to them.


These are some ideas for Themes we might use:

- "Quest of Erebor Pack": Thorin's Company vs Smaug. Fortifications, Fire-Breath and other tricks.
- "Azanulbizar Pack": The War of Dwarves and Orcs. vs . The "dead" Thrór ally should be present here. Azog as "King of Moria".
- "Riddles Pack": Bilbo + The One Ring vs Gollum. FP/Shadow Events and conditions using the "Riddle" keyword.
- "Dol Guldur Pack": The White Council vs Sauron & The Nazgul. The Phial of Galadriel, Nenya, Vilya, Saruman's Staff...
- "Rhosgobel Pack": Radagast + his Beasts and Birds vs Spiders and The Necromancer.
- "Goblin Town Pack": Thorin's Company vs Goblins + Stone Giants. The Goblin Archery might make a gleaming debut here. Some followers to turn simple Orcs into an archers. Perhaps the Great Goblin's Sceptre...
- "Rivendell Pack": Rivendell Elves (Lindir, Musical Elves, tricks for Elrond) vs Wargriders and Wargs.
- "Misty Mountains Pack": Eagles, Gandalf and Thorin's Co vs Wargs and Wargriders...


So, what do you guys think?

[-Enola-]

I promised it before, but I had a lot of works. I will answer to all your suggestions soon, sorry for the delay .