Sorry, I wasn't there the last week-end.
Take the time you need, my friend
.
Resurrect - X : Ok for the discard X cards in hand. Maybe even, discard X minions from hand (otherwise it will be too easy to play back Nazguls), the Shadow player can replace an Orc card by a Nazgul card.
I totally agree with you, with the small number of Nazgul cards, they must have an ability allowing them to be play back from the discard pile .
I believe the twilight cost reduction in the Resurrect keyword might be removed
to gain text room, if the base cost of each Nazgul is reduced by 1 to counter the site number increase. So
less and an abilty to be played from discard might be a proper advantage to counter the disadvantage of stopping to roam at
Site 5 instead of Site 3.
The Witch King.
Ulaire Attea, Ulaire Toldea, Ulaire Enquea.
Ulaire Cantea, Ulaire Nelya.
Ulaire Otsea, Ulaire Lemenya, Ulaire Nertea.
Resurrect - X. (At the Shadow phase, you may discard X cards from hand to play this minion from your discard pile.) at twilight cost -X.)That way, the italicized explanation will be a bit shorter, and as our friend Cw0rk points out, the mechanics will be much simpler. 1 or 2 Nazgul might invest part of their free card room in a short line like "Each Nazgul is twilight cost -1" or "Shadow: Exert 2 Nazgul to add
" (which use 1 line in the graphic card), to make them more viable.
Don't forget the addition of a text line to allow The White Council to fight. The Witch King and 2 or 3 more should have it.
- "Wise allies can be assigned to Nazgûl."
- "Wise allies can be assigned to
minions."
"Discard X minions" isn't a bad idea (prevents Swarms), as far as X is never bigger than 2, otherwise that Nazgul won't be played too much. A possible problem might be clogging, as a player trying to work with the Nazgul culture will have to pack a very high ratio of minions to be able to pay often the Resurrect cost.
Strong Nazgul like Enquea, Toldea and The Witch King (and anyone with a powerful, unbalancing text like
Cantea, LoDG) should cost 2 minions, while the rest might get along well with only 1. Smaller Nazgul would cost the same or a bit more than Main Deck Orcs, roaming 2 more sites. And the risk of a Swarm would be almost completely removed, as should be. It has my vote!
Resurrect - X. (At the Shadow phase, you may discard X minions from hand to play this minion from your discard pile.)"Shadow: Exert 2 Nazgul to draw 2 cards" might be a nice ability to add.
If we could get rid of the "During/At the Shadow phase" part, much text room would be freed, but new players will need some guidance...
I wasn't sure about the Balin "FP card", I talk about it with the playtesters, they found this not very thematic with Balin. Only FP event makes Balin still really good. We can reduce the discarding power of the new Shadows.
I prefer to change only the cost of an ability for the "discard of a follower". The Thorin's ability you propose is too powerful.
A verily thematic ability for Balin would be to take an event
into hand like
Barliman Butterbur PPP does, but that would be too much. My point is, the card goes back to the draw deck and might never be drawn again.
Thorin's healing skill is powerful. But not extremely powerful, as you will have only 6
follower cards in the Main Deck to discard (plus perhaps Thráin and/or
Roäc), you must discard them from play and then pay the associated twilight cost (Bombur is pretty expensive), and you must keep some of them in your power to survive. So 3 or 4 wounds healed per game will be the average I guess, and unlike
King In Exile won't be constant nor costless. Still powerful, but not OP. Can help to counter Archery and Beatdown.
Perhaps it should be changed to "Fellowship: Exert Thorin (or discard a
follower in play) to shuffle a non-event Free Peoples card from your discard pile into your draw deck". He was the most interested in possessions/artifacts and followers, so I believe it's thematic; along with Balin you would recycle any FP card. A bit too long maybe...
About the Orkish Marauder, maybe his vitality could be only 2 (instead of 3), a Battle of Azanulbizar could then control this minion (or not with a Warg or conditions), like Terrible & Evil and Enquea, LoM.
The problem with the Marauder is it triggers during the Shadow phase, so a Maneuver event won't be able to stop it. Then the Marauder can be changed from "
When you play this minion, spot 4
followers..." to "
Maneuver: Exert this minion and spot 4
followers...". Just a bit longer, "Dwarf companion" can be changed to "
companion" to gain some room. And YES, reduce the vitality from 3 to 2.