Lands of Shadow - How Insightful. (12/18)

[sickofpalantirs]

I think footsteps could easily be a condition...and could probably stay non unique. the fellowship has to be moving in the regroup phase, and you have to have minions you can exert...with all the cards that wound/discard minions in the regroup phase, I don't think you get much brokenness out of it.

[menace64]

Since it's a condition, it's also very prone to removal.

Hmm. I actually don't think Descent would work properly if it's worded as seen. I'll flip the spotting requirement to X minions. And, now that I think about it, the Mutilator could work fine at 10 strength, yes?

Speaking of him... today we're going deeper into 's love of the dominate keyword.

Gorgoroth Battalion
Minion • Orc
Strength 12
Vitality 4
Site Number 6
Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert). To play, spot a minion.
"‘…great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered…'"
M1C82

Nice and simple. This reminds me... did someone suggest a while back to change dominate to something like "characters skirmishing this companion/minion may not be exerted by its owner's cards"? I'm starting to like that more, since it leaves an opponent open to exerting that character if he can. If you think this sounds better, let me know and we'll make the change official.

•Durthang Lieutenant
Minion • Orc
Strength 11
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
Each time you play a Orc, you may spot a Man or Elf companion to make Durthang Lieutenant is strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
Skirmish: Exert Durthang Lieutenant to make it strength +1.
"Beside them, running up and down the line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting."
M1R75

Pretty simple, mechanically. His first ability is a taste of the race-hating (dare I call it racism?) that this new native Mordor strategy is capable of, and that second ability is just a "meh, why not" kind of deal. All together, the Lieutenant *can* reach some zany levels of strength. On top of that, he's got dominate, which shuts down the opponent's ability to use some (or all) of a companion's skills.

•Gorgoroth Warlord
Minion • Orc
Strength 13
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
Gorgoroth Warlord may not take wounds during a skirmish.
Response: If a companion loses a skirmish involving Gorgoroth Warlord, exert Gorgoroth Warlord to make the Free Peoples player wound a companion of another race.
"In the red glare Sam, cowering behind the stair-door, caught a glimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as if by rending claws and smeared with blood; slaver dripped from its protruding fangs; the mouth snarled like an animal."
M1R84

"wound/exert a companion of another race" shows up quite a bit on cards in Lands of Shadow, representing Sauron's ability to turn brother against brother. The Warlord is a beast. That's his job. To be a beast.

You know... since that first card was super-simple, I think we'll do one more...

Great Garrison
Minion • Orc
Strength 20
Vitality 4
Site Number 6
Dominate. To play, spot 3 cards.
Free Peoples cards with flanking lose flanking and may not gain flanking.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to this minion, the Free Peoples player must exert a companion.
"‘Hardly had our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms…'"
M1R85

Haha! Destruction! Mayhem! Slaughter!
This sucker is non-unique and has about the highest strength/vitality you can sanely throw onto a minion. The only requirement to play him is that you spot 3 cards, and then it's nothing but benefits. You shut down flanking and get additional wounds for winning skirmishing.

So what's the trade-off? How is this not hands-down the best minion ever? Well, remember. This (in my eyes) is a new block that doesn't mingle with older cards, and this new subculture has absolutely no access to fierce or damage. Naturally the strength will go up, and the Free Peoples player had better not lose skirmishes, because wounds can pile up just as quickly as before.

[lem0nhead]

Gorgoroth Battalion
Minion • Orc
Strength 12
Vitality 4
Site Number 6
Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert). To play, spot a minion.
"‘…great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered…'"
M1C82

Okay.

•Durthang Lieutenant
Minion • Orc
Strength 11
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
Each time you play a Orc, if you can spot a Man or Elf, Durthang Lieutenant is strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
Skirmish: Exert Durthang Lieutenant to make it strength +1.
"Beside them, running up and down the line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting."
M1R75

You should make it to play spot a sauron orc so it cant get its immense bonus so easily.

•Gorgoroth Warlord
Minion • Orc
Strength 13
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
While skirmishing, Gorgoroth Warlord may not take wounds.
Response: If a companion loses a skirmish to Gorgoroth Warlord, exert Gorgoroth Warlord to make the Free Peoples player wound a companion of another race.
"In the red glare Sam, cowering behind the stair-door, caught a glimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as if by rending claws and smeared with blood; slaver dripped from its protruding fangs; the mouth snarled like an animal."
M1R84

Why not just say he cant take wounds during a skirmish? Nice ability though.

Great Garrison
Minion • Orc
Strength 20
Vitality 5
Site Number 6
Dominate. To play, spot 3 cards.
Free Peoples cards with flanking lose flanking and may not gain flanking.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to this minion, the Free Peoples player must exert a companion.
"‘Hardly had our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms…'"
M1R85

Id phrase it all freeps cards lose flanking and cant gain it. and id drop the vitality to 4 and lower cost to 8.

[Thranduil]

Gorgoroth Battalion
Minion • Orc
Strength 12
Vitality 4
Site Number 6
Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert). To play, spot a minion.
"‘…great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered…'"
M1C82

Nice and simple. This reminds me... did someone suggest a while back to change dominate to something like "characters skirmishing this companion/minion may not be exerted by its owner's cards"? I'm starting to like that more, since it leaves an opponent open to exerting that character if he can. If you think this sounds better, let me know and we'll make the change official.

Yes, I suggested that. And I still think it's a good idea!

•Durthang Lieutenant
Minion • Orc
Strength 11
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
Each time you play a Orc, if you can spot a Man or Elf, Durthang Lieutenant is strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
Skirmish: Exert Durthang Lieutenant to make it strength +1.
"Beside them, running up and down the line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting."
M1R75

This guy seems alright.

•Gorgoroth Warlord
Minion • Orc
Strength 13
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
While skirmishing, Gorgoroth Warlord may not take wounds.
Response: If a companion loses a skirmish to Gorgoroth Warlord, exert Gorgoroth Warlord to make the Free Peoples player wound a companion of another race.
"In the red glare Sam, cowering behind the stair-door, caught a glimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as if by rending claws and smeared with blood; slaver dripped from its protruding fangs; the mouth snarled like an animal."
M1R84

A more usual phrasing is: "If a companion loses a skirmish involving..." but otherwise this seems fine.

Great Garrison
Minion • Orc
Strength 20
Vitality 5
Site Number 6
Dominate. To play, spot 3 cards.
Free Peoples cards with flanking lose flanking and may not gain flanking.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to this minion, the Free Peoples player must exert a companion.
"‘Hardly had our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms…'"
M1R85

He yeah doesn't need vitality 5, but other than that looks like a fun card!

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

Gorgoroth Battalion
Minion • Orc
Strength 12
Vitality 4
Site Number 6
Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert). To play, spot a minion.
"‘…great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered…'"
M1C82
make the change. and gp for the helpful italics text. 

•Durthang Lieutenant
Minion • Orc
Strength 11
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
Each time you play a Orc, if you can spot a Man or Elf, Durthang Lieutenant is strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
Skirmish: Exert Durthang Lieutenant to make it strength +1.
"Beside them, running up and down the line, went two of the large fierce uruks, cracking lashes and shouting."
M1R75
shouldn't it be each time you play a sauron orc you may spot a man or elf to make strength +2 until...
I think the second ability is unnecessary, and a tad cluttery.

•Gorgoroth Warlord
Minion • Orc
Strength 13
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
Dominate.
While skirmishing, Gorgoroth Warlord may not take wounds.
Response: If a companion loses a skirmish to Gorgoroth Warlord, exert Gorgoroth Warlord to make the Free Peoples player wound a companion of another race.
"In the red glare Sam, cowering behind the stair-door, caught a glimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as if by rending claws and smeared with blood; slaver dripped from its protruding fangs; the mouth snarled like an animal."
M1R84
fine

Great Garrison
Minion • Orc
Strength 20
Vitality 5
Site Number 6
Dominate. To play, spot 3 cards.
Free Peoples cards with flanking lose flanking and may not gain flanking.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to this minion, the Free Peoples player must exert a companion.
"‘Hardly had our strength sufficed to beat off the first great assault. The next will be greater. This war then is without final hope, as Denethor perceived. Victory cannot be achieved by arms…'"
M1R85

way to put damage on, without putting damage on
works, though again vitality seems excessive.

[menace64]

Ok. I thought about it (but not really since this is obviously better) and dominate has changed:

Dominate (A character skirmishing this companion/minion may not be exerted by that character's owner).

So now you're free to exert an opposing character, which actually makes dominate a *good* keyword to have. to Thranduil!

Today we're going to begin exploring the 'racist' side of the Native Mordor subculture.

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

In other words, Durthang protects your other conditions, making the FP player get rid of it before he can kill your other cards. And then, of course, you can turn around and use excess tokens to give dominate to whichever Orc needs it.

But most of this racist strategy is the reverse of Durthang. While Durthang punishes the FP player for having *few* races in the fellowship, just about every other card hurts the FP player for having too many. This - as you'll see - will be the bane of the new Grey Company subculture I've still got to spoil down the road!

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish involving bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76

A sword designed to bring torment and agony to just about anybody. This card helps pile on wounds for minions with no access to damage bonuses or fierce.

•Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 2
Site Number 6
When you play Durthang Seeker, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

A nasty little guy. Since the majority of fellowships run Frodo as the sole Hobbit, Durthang Seeker will almost always throw out some bonuses. But by that fact alone he'll immediately become a target for pre-skirmish wounding. I'm thinking of adjusting his stats to /8/2 to make him easier to bring into play but also easier to kill.

[Thranduil]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

Seems fair enough. Though it does appear decent even without the mono-race hate.

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76

This is entertaining, though quite often this will say "wound the Ring-bearer' and in other places it will do nothing. Not sure whether it should cost , though.

Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
When you play this minion, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

Rather, I think you should make this minion strength +2. This seems simpler and perhaps more balanced. I think I also prefer him as /8/3.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

Reckon it should cost at least 2 its very powerful.

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76

Involving bearer not 'to'. The ability is so good id lower strength bonus to 1.

Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
When you play this minion, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

Nasty as heck i would make him cost 4 or lower to 7.

[sickofpalantirs]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74
nice simple way to gain dominate...good card

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76
i can see a 2 race Freeps with frodo die quickly to this with a little recursion

Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
When you play this minion, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

hmm...2/8/2 is tempting...I say go for it.

[DáinIronfoot]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

Nifty! A cost of or might be better, though.

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76

I love it with Sauron. Lem0n's got a good point on wording, though.

Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
When you play this minion, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

A nasty little guy. Since the majority of fellowships run Frodo as the sole Hobbit, Durthang Seeker will almost always throw out some bonuses. But by that fact alone he'll immediately become a target for pre-skirmish wounding. I'm thinking of adjusting his stats to /8/2 to make him easier to bring into play but also easier to kill.

I'd go the /8/2 route, and/or go with Thran's idea about limiting that strength boost to this guy.

[Elf_Lvr]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

I really like it. is a culture that really relies on conditions, and it needs some way to protect 'em. Besides Dead Marshes. Which, combined with this card, is pretty evil.

Durthang Long-sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a minion.
Each time a companion loses a skirmish to bearer, the Free Peoples player must wound a companion of another race.
"‘Ho la! You up there, you dunghill rat! Stop your squeaking, or I'll come and deal with you. D'you hear?'"
M1C76

Fair enough. Although I might make it exert instead of wound - this would be a really cheap way to kill a deck that's forced to use Frodo as its Ring-bearer.

Durthang Seeker
Minion • Orc
Strength 8
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
When you play this minion, name a race you can spot in the fellowship. Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion of another race to skirmish a minion, make a minion strength +2 until the start of the regroup phase.
"..it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind."
M1R77

Well, in a swarm this guy is nasty. Dropping the cost to would be okay, but then either make him unique (four of this guy at once would just be sick) or change it so he's the one who gets the bonus.

[DáinIronfoot]

•Durthang
Condition • Support Area
Each time a Orc wins a skirmish, add a token here.
While you can spot more tokens here than races in the fellowship, your other conditions may not be discarded by Free Peoples cards.
Assignment: Remove 3 tokens here to make a Orc gain dominate until the start of the regroup phase.
"A few miles north, high up in the angle where the western spur branched away from the main range, stood the old castle of Durthang, now one of the many orc-holds that clustered about the dale of Udûn."
M1R74

I really like it. is a culture that really relies on conditions, and it needs some way to protect 'em. Besides Dead Marshes. Which, combined with this card, is pretty evil.

A possible solution would be to add "When this condition is discarded, remove it from the game." I think that might be good if you keep it at anyway, come to think of it.

[menace64]

Duthang now costs and the sword costs nothing but only gives +1 strength. I made Durthang Seeker unique and made the stat change to /8/2.

Good reviews, fellas!

Today are three otherwise-unrelated cards. Enjoy.

All Powers Assembled
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: or (You may replace with or anywhere in this card's gametext). To play, spot 3 Orcs.
Shadow: Play a minion to reveal the top card of your draw deck. If that card is a minion, you may play it; it is twilight cost -1.
"…but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet…"
M1C72

The first of two alliance cards in the culture, this is (I think) the only alliance in Lands of Shadow to have three cultures involved. I'm not too excited about the lore I chose so that'll probably change before the set is really finished; the text itself is about as simple as it gets. Once you can spot 3 Orcs (which could theoretically be of any of the three featured cultures - good luck finding Orcs though), bring this card into play and you can start bringing out minion after minion.

It costs because all alliance cards are expensive to bring into play but it's non-unique so it won't clog up your hand too badly.

Durthang Sentry
Minion • Orc
Strength 6
Vitality 2
Site Number 6
While skirmishing a Man, this minion is strength +6.
"But as they went his soldiers blew their horns in signal long arranged; and even before they came to the gate Sauron sprang his trap.'"
M1C78

Simple, simple, simple. More racism. It was costed at up until a second ago; I figure its limited ability might support the change. It could be too powerful as a -cost toady though.

•Grond, Wrought of Malice
Artifact • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Orcs.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert 2 Orcs (or exert a Troll twice) to reveal 3 cards at random from the Free Peoples player's hand. Discard any revealed Free Peoples cards.
Each unbound companion is resistance -1 for each race you spot in the fellowship.
"Grond crawled on."
M1R86

Yup. Ouch!

[DáinIronfoot]

All Powers Assembled
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: or (You may replace with or anywhere in this card's gametext). To play, spot 3 Orcs.
Shadow: Play a minion to reveal the top card of your draw deck. If that card is a minion, you may play it; it is twilight cost -2.
"…but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet…"
M1C72

Looks fine to me.

Durthang Sentry
Minion • Orc
Strength 6
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
While skirmishing a Man, this minion is strength +6.
"But as they went his soldiers blew their horns in signal long arranged; and even before they came to the gate Sauron sprang his trap.'"
M1C78

Yeah, too good at . Reduce his vitality to 1, and THEN we're talking.

•Grond, Wrought of Malice
Artifact • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Orcs.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert 2 Orcs (or exert a Troll twice) to reveal 3 cards at random from the Free Peoples player's hand. Discard any revealed Free Peoples cards.
Each unbound companion is resistance -1 for each race you spot in the fellowship.
"Grond crawled on."
M1R86

Ouch, indeed! But it IS Grond, so probably okay. Barely.

[lem0nhead]

All Powers Assembled
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: or (You may replace with or anywhere in this card's gametext). To play, spot 3 Orcs.
Shadow: Play a minion to reveal the top card of your draw deck. If that card is a minion, you may play it; it is twilight cost -2.
"…but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet…"
M1C72

Yeesh, -1 perhaps, seems way too useful.

Durthang Sentry
Minion • Orc
Strength 6
Vitality 3
Site Number 6
While skirmishing a Man, this minion is strength +6.
"But as they went his soldiers blew their horns in signal long arranged; and even before they came to the gate Sauron sprang his trap.'"
M1C78

For 1 cost i dont think any minion should really have 3 vitality.

•Grond, Wrought of Malice
Artifact • Support Area
To play, spot 3 Orcs.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert 2 Orcs (or exert a Troll twice) to reveal 3 cards at random from the Free Peoples player's hand. Discard any revealed Free Peoples cards.
Each unbound companion is resistance -1 for each race you spot in the fellowship.
"Grond crawled on."
M1R86

Yeesh again. Im not sure about this one, i wanna say only 2 cards but grond has always been insanely hard. See what others say.