Dáin’s DC Duos #49

Moving right along. Here’s a couple of Bilbo’s most famous possessions. Uh...yeah, that’s all I have to say. Enjoy!

•Mithril-coat, Elven-mail
Artifact • Armor
To play, spot a Dwarf or Elf. Bearer must be a Ring-bound Hobbit.
The minion archery total is -2.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to make each minion he is skirmishing lose fierce and all damage bonuses until the regroup phase.
“...a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril....”

Okay, you can make good cards but there has to be some instance where someone who think of possibly using the old version. Don’t dwarf the old version. Actually, I guess its Mithril-Coat, Dwarf-Mail that I’m thinking of.

Very similar to the original Mithril-coat, but a little better in one way (archery) and a little worse in another (an exertion to trigger the minions-losing-keywords text). On the plus side, this can be worn by any Ring-bound Hobbit (the original was just Frodo) and fierce is thrown in, whereas it wasn’t on the original. So, the end result is a card that may not exactly be anything NEW, but is certainly useful nonetheless.

•Sting, Elven-knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Bilbo.
If skirimishing an Orc or Spider, Bilbo is damage +1.
Each time Bilbo wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal him.
“‘I will give you a name, and I shall call you Sting.’”

Nice

This, however, is quite different from your typical Sting. The original Sting reveals cards and removes twilight (and got itself X-listed, I believe), Sting, Baggins Heirloom gives a strength pump to Sméagol (or reduction to Gollum), the powerful Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs discards minions, and Sting, Weapon of Heritage helps with resistance (and burdens).

Sting, Elven-knife, however, doesn’t have that kind of finesse; it’s a pure, holds-nothing-back beat-stick.

Damage bonuses are exceedingly rare for Hobbits (I believe the only existing one is Long Slow Wrath), so the easy damage +1 here is very nice. I did that in honor of Sting’s close relative, Glamdring, which often comes with a similar bonus built in. But on top of that, Elven-knife also heals when you win fierce skirmishes...a nod to Bane of the Eight Legs, since Lasting Alliances is full of spiders.

Okay, folks. I’m willing to post up to three Duos today and get through the possessions, but only if I get a couple reviews of each new Duo first. Remember, s are still to be had for each member’s first review in this new thread, so don’t miss out!

•Bilbo, Excitable Little Fellow
Companion • Hobbit
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Thorin
Ring-bound.
At the end of each fellowship phase, you may exert Bilbo and add to stack a pipeweed possession or a , , or tale from your discard pile on top of your draw deck.
“‘We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!’”

•Bilbo, Expert Burglar
Companion • Hobbit
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Signet: Gandalf
Ring-bearer (resistance 8 ). Ring-bound.
At the start of each fellowship, maneuver, and regroup phase, you may exert Bilbo to take a event or condition into hand from your discard pile. If it is a stealth card and you play it this turn, its twilight cost is -1.
“He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking: certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.”

•Mithril-coat, Elven-mail
Artifact • Armor
To play, spot a Dwarf or Elf. Bearer must be a Ring-bound Hobbit.
The minion archery total is -2.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to make each minion he is skirmishing lose fierce and all damage bonuses until the regroup phase.
“...a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril....”

•Sting, Elven-knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Bilbo.
If skirimishing an Orc or Spider, Bilbo is damage +1.
Each time Bilbo wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal him.
“‘I will give you a name, and I shall call you Sting.’”

Dáin’s DC Duos #49
•Mithril-coat, Elven-mail
Artifact • Armor
To play, spot a Dwarf or Elf. Bearer must be a Ring-bound Hobbit.
The minion archery total is -2.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to make each minion he is skirmishing lose fierce and all damage bonuses until the regroup phase.
“...a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril....”
hum. works for me. maybe make the second ability only work if bearer is bilbo?

•Sting, Elven-knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Bilbo.
If skirimishing an Orc or Spider, Bilbo is damage +1.
Each time Bilbo wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal him.
“‘I will give you a name, and I shall call you Sting.’”

•Bilbo’s Pipe, Long-Stemmed Pipe
Possession • Pipe
Bearer must be Bilbo.
When you play Bilbo’s Pipe, you may play a pipeweed from your draw deck.
Fellowship: Discard a pipeweed possession to heal Bilbo or remove a burden.
“Then Bilbo sat down on a seat by his door, crossed his legs, and blew out a beautiful grey ring of smoke that sailed up into the air without breaking and floated away over The Hill.”
interesting. again I like it, though hasn’t the sub-title been used before?

Smooth Stone
Possession
Bearer must be a Hobbit. Limit 2 per bearer.
You may add to play this possession any time you could play an archery event.
Archery: Exert bearer and discard this possession to add 1 to the fellowship archery total.
“...he had nothing to shoot with; but looking about he saw that in this place there were many stones lying....”

interesting. again I like it, though hasn’t the sub-title been used before?

shouldn’t it be possession stone or something? anyway finally I have been waiting for D to make a card like this for years, but they still haven’t. at least you did.

interesting. again I like it, though hasn’t the sub-title been used before?
The title has recently been used for one of those pipeweed conditions, yes. But I couldn’t think of anything better. Any suggestions?
maybe maker of smoke rings?
The only problem is that, if I do that, the Hobbit could only bear one. The rules specify you can only bear one possession of each class (unless the card specifically says otherwise), so if I created a class of "Rock", I would have to have some clumsy text like "This rock may be borne in addition to 1 other rock." In my opinion, it’s cleaner and easier to just leave the class off for this.

Thanks for the review, and the GP! I’m still waiting for the 15-minute time limit to end so I can give you one.

•Mithril-coat, Elven-mail
Artifact • Armor
To play, spot a Dwarf or Elf. Bearer must be a Ring-bound Hobbit.
The minion archery total is -1.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to make each minion he is skirmishing lose fierce (and be unable to gain fierce) and all damage bonuses until the regroup phase.
“...a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril....”

Thanks for the reviews, guys. I’m still in the process of awarding GPs.

I changed the Mithril-coat a bit. Now it’s more like a mix of both existing versions, and I actually like this a little better. What do you think?

Dáin’s DC Duos #50

Wow. Fifty Duos already. This has been much, MUCH faster than the old days. Posting multiple Duos on several days has certainly helped!

50? Whoa!
•Bilbo’s Pipe, Long-Stemmed Pipe
Possession • Pipe
Bearer must be Bilbo.
When you play Bilbo’s Pipe, you may play a pipeweed from your draw deck.
Fellowship: Discard a pipeweed possession to heal Bilbo or remove a burden.
“Then Bilbo sat down on a seat by his door, crossed his legs, and blew out a beautiful grey ring of smoke that sailed up into the air without breaking and floated away over The Hill.”

I miss the typical pipes...Maybe heal Bilbo X times or remove X burdens where X is the number of pipes....I LIKE THE OLD PIPES!!!!.

The original Bilbo’s Pipe was typical of Fellowship block pipes: it discarded a pipeweed possession and spotted X pipes to do something (in this case, shuffle X tales back into your deck). This one is a little more unusual in that it only does one thing at a time. But considering how important Bilbo is Lasting Alliances, this seemingly less-powerful version can be a lifesaver. It’s not very often a potential Ring-bearer has such an easy way to remove burdens and heal himself! Put this with Bilbo, Excitable Little Fellow and you have an easy way to get those pipeweeds back, too!

Smooth Stone
Possession
Bearer must be a Hobbit. Limit 2 per bearer.
You may add to play this possession any time you could play an archery event.
Archery: Exert bearer and discard this possession to add 1 to the fellowship archery total.
“...he had nothing to shoot with; but looking about he saw that in this place there were many stones lying....”

Nice. Maybe wound a minion? Or just discard it.

Not much to say about this one. It’s a one-time ranged weapon, which gives Hobbits a little archery to play with. You can keep a couple in your deck and pay for each to surprise your opponent during the archery phase, if you wish.