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| donimator |
![]() Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:54 pm |
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--- description ---
The secondary characters of the Gondor culture are varied and useful. Banded together they show the might of Gondor.
--- end description ---
The world of Middle Earth is drenched in a fantastic history created by Prof. Tolkien. The events of the Lord of the Rings novels, the movies, and as portrayed in the LOTR TCG touch on only a small slice of that history. The Kingdom of Gondor figures prominently. Created by the descendents of Numenor and standing as a bastion for good in Middle Earth, its great strength is the will of its people.
The LOTR TCG uses people and names from this storied history of Gondor to form an effective supporting cast the makes the  culture one of the strongest of the Free Peoples. Matching the characters depicted in the game with their deeds or the deeds of their namesakes in Prof. Tolkien’s works brings to view some interesting strategy.
The Two Towers block and Return of the King block introduced these companions while the focus of later blocks seems to have shifted to rangers or more prominent characters. Most come from ROTK and can still be used to good effect in Standard or Expanded decks centered on the glory of Gondor’s past.
First up is Alcarin, Warrior of Lamedon. Named for Tar-Alcarin, the 17th King of Numenor, his name means ’glorious’. Tar-Alcarin ruled in a time of great peace and the present day knight aims to stick around to see the same. By healing in the assignment phase, he can take a knock if necessary from minions bearing a fortification.
Much the same is Turgon, Man of Belfalas, named for the 24th Ruling Steward of Gondor, a leader who saw Barad-dur occupied by Sauron and Saruman claim dominion over Isengard. Like his namesake and Alcarin before him, Turgon strives to hold Gondor together, by using its very fortifications to strike at foes before they have a chance to attack. Direct wounding in the Maneuver phase disrupts Shadow strategies keyed to archery or exertions.
Cirion was the 12th Ruling Steward of Gondor and the son of Boromir I. He allied with the Eotheod, the fruits of which created the Kingdom of Rohan. The Cirion of LOTR TCG shares much in common with the former. The original lived in desperate times and the character in the game is at his strongest when the Free Peoples player is at the brink of losing initiative. Good in a deck with conditions or pumps to play and with good card movement.
Derufin came to defend Minas Tirith with his father Duinhir and brother Duilin with five hundred bowmen from Blackroot Vale. He and his brother were trampled to death by a mumakil when leading bowmen close enough to bring it down. The Derufin of the TCG has but one chance to remove a key engine, machine or possession from either a character or the support area giving Gondor much needed aid. The requirement is to have exactly five card in hand; a good choice in a deck that relies on initiative.
Dervorin was the son of the Lord of Ringlo Vale, bringing three hundred men to battle Sauron at Minas Tirith. He works well in a fellowship that cycles through cards, allowing you to discard key minions in the regroup phase for that push to double move.
Ingold greeted Pippin and Gandalf at the city gates and was the last to return when the gates were closed during the Battle of Pelennor Fields. A devout knight of Gondor, the sight of the city crumbling around him only steels his resolve and desire to fight on. His card ability of healing twice at the cost of discarding a fortification can be a good trade off if you need to absorb a few wounds.
Iorlas’ kin befriended Pippin and taught him the ways of the Citadel Guard. The character in the game shows the same dedication to the city by discarding possessions before they can be used. Iorlas works good if you can control your twilight pool and make the Shadow player count every token carefully. He plays even stronger with the introduction of token reinforcement.
Vorondil (the Hunter) was a Steward of Gondor in the second millennia of the Third Age. Boromir’s horn was an heirloom of his line. Vorondil is equally strong in the game, getting a strength bonus when no site is controlled and allowing possession-free liberation of sites. For a two-cost companion he adds some flexibility to a Knights deck.
Finally, Imrahil, the Twenty-Second Prince of Dol Amroth. He played an important role in the battles outside Minas Tirith, covering Faramir’s retreat from Osgiliath, leading the defence of the City when Gandalf left to deal with Denethor, and finally recognizing Eowyn still lived after her encounter with the Witch-King and returning her to the Houses of Healing. In the TCG, Imrahil works well as a main character in a Knights deck. Causing two exertions for every skirmish win could take the wind out of the sails for many Shadow sides.
Taken together, this ‘supporting cast’ of Gondor could combine in an effective deck. Based around Knights and fortifications, such a fellowship would give healing, direct wounding, minion and possession discarding and site liberation all without the need of any support cards. It has four knights to meet spotting requirements for fortifications and would allow a single culture fellowship for good cycling. Gondor survives by the strength of its people and these companions are proof of that strength.
Edit: Added deck sample as suggested in comments. Thanks!
Ringbearer - any
Starting
Alcarin
Turgon
Companions
Cirion
Derufin
Dervorin
Ingold
Iorlas
Vorondil
Imrahil
Possessions
Gondor Bow x3
Conditions
Rally Point x2
First Level x3
Gondor Still Stands x1
Strong and Old x1
Fourth Level x2
Fifth Level x2
Sixth Level x2
Events
Men of Numenor x3
Take Cover x3
War Must Be x3
Total: (34)
Alcarin and Turgon are fairly standard starting knights and immediately meet most spotting requirements for fortifications. Many fortifications are assigned in the Maneuver phase (First Level and Fifth Level) and allows Turgon to do some pre-archery wounding. Alcarin can actually heal in fierce skirmishes as long as he is not being overwhelmed. Ingold is important to keep as his healing ability in the Fellowship phase will help keep enough knights out to assign fortifications. Derufin and Dervorin usually have no trouble using their text (dependent on cards in hand during regroup) as you should always have cards to play during Fellowship phase or Skirmish. Imrahil, Vorondil and Gondor Still Stands are an effective combo. If Vorondil can keep sites from being controlled, Imrahil can win skirmishes to place two exertions. With no controlled sites, Gondor Still Stands lets you wound a minion at start of regroup. Basically, the companions don’t have to win a lot of skirmishes. They just have to stay alive and cycle fortifications.
Rally Point, Gondor Still Stands and Sixth Level all play to get fortifications back in the Regroup phase. Take Cover allows you to play a discarded fortification in the Fellowship phase.
Men of Numenor wounds a minion bearing a fortification during Skirmish and War Must Be is a +4 pump if battling a minion with a fort. Gondor Bow lets you exert to wound in Skirmish. Finally, Strong and Old lets you play all of your fortifications more cheaply.
The other companions fill their roles as they are played. There is one extra companion overall that could be cut, but all were included to keep with the theme of this deck. This deck is best coupled with a shadow side that cycles well as there are lots of opportunities to replay discarded fortifications. |
| Last edited by donimator on Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:49 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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| Pipsqueak |
![]() Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:32 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jan 2006
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Location: A northerner down south
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| Not bad. But you could have added more strategy for each character, in place of that character’s history. |
Long live the southern bros.  |
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| Guest |
![]() Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:51 pm |
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Wow. That was a neat. Tidy, short and pretty much perfect article. A large history lesson but wasn’t overly imforative in the cards sense. But what the hey.
Good job. Kudos to you! |
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| donimator |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:12 am |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
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Pipsqueak wrote: Not bad. But you could have added more strategy for each character, in place of that character’s history.
True, but the hook of the article was really to show that the history behind these characters (or at least their namesakes) could carry over to their game abilities. I wanted to show a connection between the characters of the books and their in-game stats. More strategy would have been good, but without cutting the history would have made the article overly long.
Thanks for the input. Maybe I’ll do a follow-up. |
| Last edited by donimator on Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:39 pm; edited 1 time in totalA good friend will bail you out of jail. A really good friend will be sitting beside you saying, "Man, we screwed up!" |
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| AnxiousChieftain |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:58 am |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
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| Wow, cool article. It was written very well, and I enjoyed the bits of history. More strategy would have been good though, especially since this article isn’t very long (compared to most articles). |
| MODS RULE. - lem0nhead |
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| donimator |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:26 am |
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Thanks AC. Individually, the strategy of each card is pretty straight forward, so I didn’t delve too deeply into it. Collectively, these cards combine for some pretty good effects. By tying the abilities of each card to a historical reference and to the lasting, combined strength of Gondor, I wanted to show the thought that must have gone into developing these secondary characters.
I’m testing out a fellowship using just these guys with a RB, a spin on Knights. |
| A good friend will bail you out of jail. A really good friend will be sitting beside you saying, "Man, we screwed up!" |
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| Cobra |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:53 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
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Location: Austin, TX, USA
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First off, welcome! New faces in the article contests make me happy... 
I agree with the observations made thus far -- I love the LOTR history and background information, but the article is pretty light on actual strategy ideas.
As others have said, one approach to improving the strategy content would be to provide more in-depth analysis of how the characters work in LOTR TCG. Alcarin and Derufin see a lot of play -- why are they so strong? The others aren’t played so much -- why not? What are some situtations in which these lesser-played characters would really shine?
Another approach would be simply to post that deck you’re working on, and include some of the gameplay tips, matchup analysis, etc. that you’d see in a "deck design" article.
I’m reserving judgment on this one -- right now I’d give it a low 4, but with some more depth it could easily become a 5! |
| http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games. |
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| bobtheorc |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:41 pm |
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Joined: 19 Mar 2006
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| ingold55 |
![]() Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:56 pm |
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pure Awsome!!!!!! love it!  |
There is a power in this world beyond any of us, and Jesus is that power and The Savior.
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Trade list (Want Balrogs and Aragorns) |
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| donimator |
![]() Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:38 am |
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
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| Thanks for the comments. I added a sample Free Peoples side and strategy to highlight these companions. No one companion stands out, so the focus of the deck is playing and replaying fortifications in support. |
| A good friend will bail you out of jail. A really good friend will be sitting beside you saying, "Man, we screwed up!" |
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