I'm sorry for this very long absence
. I've been struggling lately with too many tasks and problems for my scarce vitality to cope with. But I'm alive and well after all, so here it goes...
* Sauron Swarm shadowI noticed this Shadow may have a hard time against Dale allies, they'll be both fighting and shooting so you'll need to preserve vitality against arrows at the same time you'll need more minions on the board to overwhelm key companions. That will punish the skills that need exertions, which are key to get a swarmng force.
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Orc Ambusher: Seems right! You point right when including allies as the foes of
Dol Guldur. Might be "Wise characters" instead, but "allies" provides a more stable effect (and is thus also easier to playtest).
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Malevolent Orc: Great idea! The Orc replaying engine will make this Orc a dangerous tool to retrieve pumps and other tricks.
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Orc Sentinel: Seems ok. But since he costs twice the Ambusher, I'd raise his strength to 7.
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Hidden: I don't think it should refer to
followers. The
Dol Guldur plot was about Sauron unfurling a mighty army to sweep the northern Middle-earth, so this Pack should be against allies (and that White Council which disrupted his plans), not against a band of vengeful travellers moving in search of glory.
So I'd change the "attached
follower" to "a Wise character
which may participate in skirmishes." Then discarding Gandalf at site 5 will be far more important,
Radagast's home site will give him some advantage and cards like Former
Herald and Skillful Negociator will weaken Sauron's plans.
The focus will then move to discard/kill/stack Gandalf, while Narzug will deal with fighting Wise allies. The link with
followers and To Me! O My Kinsfolk! will remain with 2 versions of Gandalf (Leader of Dwarves and Friend of Thorin;
LoD will give twilight to play more or bigger Orcs with Hidden). That's much more consistent with the books and films (and pairs better with the
and
Beatdown packs, and with Jail in the
Dol Guldur pack).
Hidden
Event • Assignment
Spot a
minion to play an Orc (or 2 Orcs if you cannot spot
a Wise character which may participate in skirmishes) from your discard pile.
"Wait, Gandalf! What if it's a trap?!"-
Rise of the Necromancer: The second effect seems very good, but the first worries me a bit. About events, getting Hidden into hand is good, but Dark Sorcery is just too powerful (with its current low cost). On the other hand, non-event cards will be pretty useless until the next shadow phase, 'cause you cannot play them immediatly. At site 9 that'll become more problematic, as you won't have a next site to play minions/conditions, and also your deck will have less Shadow cards to search for.
So I'd give a mecanism to play that non-event card you just got from deck: "You may
play that card, or place up to 2 Orcs from your discard pile into your draw deck." That way this "Rise of the Necromancer" will be able to play the Necromancer himself, or a servant like an Orc or Nazgul. Being at the maneuver phase limits some otherwise dangerous combos, like using Danger Wrapped in Shadow's shadow skill immediatly.
Rise of the Necromancer
Event • Maneuver
Spot a
minion to take a Shadow card from your draw deck into hand. You may
play that card, or place up to 2 Orcs from your discard pile beneath your draw deck.
"The East will fall... The time of the Elves is over. The Age of the Orc has come."Also, I strongly recommend increasing the cost of Dark Sorcery, or limit its mighty effect.
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Dark Sorcery: I like the skill a lot, has a really great flavor. But is simply too powerful for such a low cost, moreover with other
cards retrieving it over and over again to peel the whole Company.
followers and
artifacts have ways to cope with that (TM! OMK! & Thorin respectively), but there's nothing to return
possessions and
or
things like
Sting,
Glamdring or Burglar's Contract. So the effect will be permanent with those cards,
and there's no way to prevent it. That's especially worrisome with
Sting!
So I'd raise the twilight cost to
, to prevent using freely many copies provided by Malevolent Orc / Rise of the Necromancer. It should also have an alternative cost, like "The Free Peoples player may
exert THAT companion twice to prevent this." That can provide some beatdown power to remove defenders (moreover if you play a surprise pump). May be very important to erase Gandalf sooner. And gives a good flavor of two forces struggling each other
.
Dark Sorcery
Event • Skirmish
Spot a
minion to discard a card (except a Ring) borne by a companion it is skirmishing.
The Free Peoples player may exert that companion twice to prevent this."
"These are dark spells... old and full of hate."Hope this helps.
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On other subject, I've been working on a different version of Flash-flames. "Wound a minion X times" is totally obscene
(reveal a card of
or more = Smaug is dead), that needs to be changed...
Flash-flames
Possession
Bearer must be Balin.
Skirmish: Discard this possession and spot a minion to
discard the top card of any draw deck. If that card's twilight cost is lower than that minion's, make it strength -3; otherwise, wound it twice.
"Where is the sulfur?" Now does
some discard on any deck. "Reveal a random card" from opponent's hand is useless if he/she has no hand at all (quite easy with Hatred Rekindled!), and "reveal the top card of a deck" will get you the same value if 2 or more bombs are used in a row. But "discard the top card of any draw deck" is strongly random and extremely hard to block.
Obviously, the ditched card is to get a random value. I changed it to wound a minion twice (if the bomb hits the mark) or make it strength -3 (if fails, the bomb should still provide a distraction). No matter what value you get, you'll still get benefits. The criterion is the minion's twilight cost, so will be much easier to hit a
Goblin Runner than a champion like a Nazgul or Azog; Smaug will be almost impossible to wound, but you'll still reap some advantage.
What do you think?