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 deckFP: 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 PonySite 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 RoadSite 2 Shadow Number: 2
Forest. Maneuver: Play Burglar's Contract from your draw deck.
Front PorchSite 4 Shadow Number: 3
Mountain. Underground. Shadow: Play an Orc to draw a card.
Enchanted RiverSite 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...