The format lacks good and reliable Shadow condition discard, to counter the poweful FP conditions released in the format.
has nothing (except Scrabbler and Warrior against
and
), Nazgûl have the extremely expensive
Beauty is Fading (and the likewise expensive
Stricken Dumb against tales),
has only
Orc Guard and
Shadow's Reach (which are seldom used), while
has
Saruman's Power only (to blow your own conditions). All are limited in effect and very expensive for such effect, except for
Saruman's Power that destroys your own conditions, and has no alternative in the
culture.
NSttS should be R-listed, and
Forces of Mordor should be removed from the R-list.
Armor is too powerful, it should be either costing
or adding
each time the fellowship moves (it's heavy, and also shines in the distance!).
Pipes are even worse. Most of those possessions should add twilight (except
The Gaffer's Pipe, and perhaps
Gimli's Pipe too) as the fellowship takes time to smoke and relax, time the evil guys would be using to amass forces and forge new weapons.
Have Patience represents the same pause and
relaxation process, and costs a good bunch of
(besides being an event).
So Frodo/Gandalf/Aragorn/Bilbo's pipes should say "Discard a pipeweed possession,
add and spot X pipes to...", therefore Aragorn/Boromir would be adding
to heal the whole fellowship. I think that'd be balanced for a "portable sanctuary".
The Gaffer's Pipe might then remove that twilight, but that uses a specific pipe AND another pipeweed card.
Btw,
Gimli's Pipe should be doing something by itself. I'd add it another fellowship skill: "
Fellowship: Discard a pipeweed possession,
(add ) and spot X pipes to draw X cards". A portable
Delving.
Dwarves should have better healing and condition discard.
Still Draws Breath might "heal that Dwarf,
discard a Shadow condition borne by that Dwarf, or exert a minion" to fix that perilous absense. That'd counter cards like
Black Breath,
Desperate Defense of the Ring and
You Bring Great Evil, with the cost of having to win a skirmish first. And might exert guys like
Cantea LoDG and
Isengard Smith before they do their tricks. The card is an event, which limits its abuse.
By last, I'd add a site 1 to play Gandalf, and a site 3 to draw cards by playing Dwarves.