I'm sorry for this long absence
. I just answered your PM in detail. Hope it's not too late...
- He Is Summoning His Servants: I don't like the idea of not including Wise allies in the fight. Sauron & the Nazgûl never met the Company in the book and films, and that was Gandalf's plan precisely:
"Time was getting short. I had to be with the White Council in August at the latest, or Saruman would have his way and nothing would be done... that might prove fatal to the quest: the power in Dol Guldur would not leave any attempt on Erebor unhindered, unless he had something else to deal with."As you say, it's problematic that the skill is in the Shadow player's support area. But that's worsened by being "
a passive skill of one player that provides
an active skill to the other". Too complex to remember well. So perhaps it'll be better as a
direct passive skill and nothing more: the old "Wise allies may be assigned to skirmish
or
minions".
In absence of a cost to assign Wise allies, there should be a punishment, like "Each time a Wise ally loses a skirmish, you may exert a companion". That new version I propose would look like this (changes are
underlined):
He Is Summoning His Servants
Condition • Support Area
Wise allies may be assigned to skirmish or minions.
Each time a Wise ally loses a skirmish, you may exert a companion. Shadow: Discard an Orc from hand to play a
minion from your discard pile.
"...Who, above all else, desire power."The effect of multiple copies stacks. The cost of
balances that.
I insist: the Wise must be present in the struggle against the Nazgûl.
- Balin: To change Balin means changing 8 cards (per 8 players), NOT 16. It's true that Balin is important for the Wizard and White Council packs, but those aren't
packs. He should be even more important for his own people. With that new skill, Balin would have important synergies with the Thorin, Thráin and Dain packs:
- In Thorin's, Dwarven Song discards a
follower at regroup, which would be recovered by "Balin + To Me! O My Kinsfolk!" in that same phase. Lower cost.
- In Thráin's,
Du Bekâr often discards
followers. So "Balin + To Me! O My Kinsfolk!" can make
Du Bekâr much easier to play.
- In Dáin's, Ironfoot can discard a
follower to remove a minion, and again "Balin + To Me! O My Kinsfolk!" (or in this case, "Balin +
King Under the Mountain" too) can recover that (or another)
follower.
Regardless of FP packs, that new skill makes double moves more attractive and promotes cycling. Besides, in respect of lore, I believe such a change is important for Balin as he was a close friend of those 3. He was companion of Thráin (1st Quest of Erebor) and Thorin (the 2nd), and a close counsellor of them both and Dáin. Balin should interact strongly with them.
Such skill helps Ori too. Ori draws cards, and this change allows more cards to be played post-fellowship phase.