Thank you for your comments.
I will answer soon. But do you have other comments on the other packs ? Because I will print (on paper) these cards soon (during next week) and if there are any changes I will re-create all cards which need to be changed in one time .
I have comments on all the new cards, but have to refine them before posting. And here I post about 4 more Add-ons, so only 2 Thematic packs and 2 Shadow Packs (Smaug and Azog) remain. And I think I'll post them during the next 1 or 2 days
at most.As a side note, just noticed there is
not a single Troll culture card in these Add-ons. The War Axe may be borne by a Troll, but anyway can't be a match for the Troll Knife. On the opposite end, Sauron is represented by 4 cards, though that's not a bad thing considering cards like Jail...
Troll: 0Wraith: 1
Gollum: 1
Spider: 2
Smaug: 2
Moria: 3
Gundabad: 3
Sauron: 4Gandalf and Bilbo are those who play tricks to the Trolls, so if we were going to create a [Troll] trick or minion then it would be natural to include it in Bilbo's or the Wizard Pack in my opinion.
...
Dain Pack:-
Boar Mount: This card rocks. And rocks even more if we consider that, after the additional cards, Dain's Pack is loaded with warfare tools for both Light and Evil sides in the struggle.
I think that the title and picture in this card might perhaps be changed from "Boar Mount" to "Battle Ram", considering there is only 1 Boar and lots of... er... there's 4 Rams in the (theatrical version of the) film. In the Extended version will appear those lots of rams that we saw in the movie trailers and we see in your magnificent Iron Hills Army card. Though that's a minor detail.
Perhaps a damage bonus mechanism would be a good addition. Something like "Skirmish: Exert bearer to make him damage +1". To depict the path they clear from Orcs when riding towards Ravenhill.
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War Axe: The restriction to only
Orcs doesn't make much sense to me, moreover if it's Conan Stevens' Bolg's hybrid axe-mace and there isn't yet any
version of that
Orkish Veteran. I'd make it a
weapon instead with no cultural restriction, that way you'd also be able to spot it to play Jail. Nonetheless, I like the gametext. Though to wound Bilbo directly might be too powerful. So I'd change it to "you may wound a companion
(except Bilbo)" or "you may exert Bilbo or wound another companion".
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Savage Warg: Seems well equilibrated. And fierce, damage +1 (or +2) minions are always great to see in action.
White Council Pack:-
Lindir: Very powerful my friend. Both skills are too strong, so I'd increase his cost to
. The healing skill is overpowered if lacks any cost, so I'd change it to "At the start of
each of your turn
s, you may
exert a Dwarf or an Elf to heal an ally.", that way he can still support any ally-heavy strategy but now reflecting the ancient mistrust between Dwarves and Elves (Thorin:
"Close ranks!"), and recalling the good-old
Shoulder to Shoulder mechanism in the meanwhile. That way at the start of your turn you can exert Elrond to heal Lindir (or any other ally), and then heal Elrond up to 2 times...
The skirmish skill is too strong, even if he wasn't able to heal himself. You can exert an unwounded Lindir twice and spot 5 Wise allies to make Bilbo strength +10, or spot 4 Wise allies for +8... So it needs a limit. And needs also to support White Council allies too, therefore I'd change it to "Skirmish: Exert Lindir to make a
Free Peoples character strength +1 for each Wise character you spot
(limit +3 if that character is not Wise)."
•
Lindir, Elven Minstrel Ally • Home 3 • Elf
Strength 5 Vitality 3
At the start of your turn, you may exert a Dwarf or an Elf to heal an ally.
Skirmish: Exert Lindir to make a Free Peoples character strength +1 for each Wise character you spot (limit +3 if that character is not Wise).
Still very powerful, but more equilibrated I believe.
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The Great Enemy: What can I say? Excellent! It has a little text error: it says "take in hand" while should say "take
into hand". But besides that,
. If you want to make it more versatile, "Spot X Wise characters
or remove X doubts to..." may broaden the possibilities if there are too few Wise characters to spot (or none at all); Sauron was the Great Enemy of all the Free Peoples after all.
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Stealth Sorcery: Another brilliant card here. I'd change a bit the wording of the first line: "Wise allies
may participate in skirmishes". And also needs to specify an exception: "Assign a minion
(except Smaug) to a companion or...". Besides that, great! I love the synergy this card will have with the
Dol Guldur Blade.
Wizard Pack:-
Burning Fire Cones: I like this event very much. Maneuver is the right time for massive wounding to Orcs, in addition to Battle of Azanulbizar and exertion mechanisms in the Shadow player's hands like the Great Goblin or Azog. Though there are some details that I'd change:
1. In the title the correct word is "fir" instead of "fire" (a fir is a tree, I think "sapin" is the translation to french).
2. The twilight cost is too high if we consider that 3 is the cost of loud and spectacular things like Eagles Are Coming, Gathering of the Three Rings or Thrór's Heirlooms;
or
would be better in my opinion given the other costs of exerting Gandy and discarding a follower.
3. If we add Wargs as minions in another Extension (or in this Extension, I firmly believe that The Wolves Army MUST be a
Warg) this event should wound them too; in that case it should say "to wound X
Orc or Warg minions".
4. This event
MUST have some interaction with forest sites. Some ideas that come to mind are "to wound X Orc or
Warg minions
(twice at a forest site)", or "Exert Gandalf
(or spot him at a forest)", or "Then,
if not at a forest site, discard a
follower"; or any better thing we might invent. I'd vote for the first one
.
5. Do you mean "
follower" or "Dwarf follower"? There's a subtle difference, because "
follower" includes
Roäc. But this one is not an important thing after all.
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Hunting Pack: Hmmm, this is evil
.
Goblin Scimitar, Troll Knife,
Dol Guldur Blade exerting a companion each time they get played.... I'd reduce it's power a bit. "Each time you play a possession on your Orc, you may exert that Orc to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion (or 2 companions if that Orcs is Yazneg)". The exertion requirement would set a natural limit and fit well with
Warg mounts giving vitality to Orcs.
-
Crawling Evil: "Maneuver:
Exert 2 Spiders or discard this condition...", this card is great but must have some way of sustaining it on the board if you are playing with Spiders.
Esgaroth Pack:-
Alfrid, Lickspittle: Hmmm, I dislike this one. Alfrid has great potential for a Shadow follower, but to the Good Guys side he does absolutely nothing in the films. He helps
The Master, but he isn't a good guy in PJ's interpretation. He just annoys and mocks and hinders the steps and movements of everyone in his path. For the Free Peoples card slot here, I'd rather have
the Windlance instead.
However, this is what I mean with a Shadow version of Alfrid. It uses a new mechanic I've been developing for Man followers (both evil and good): "You may attach this follower at the start of the turn." It won't fit very well in this Extension, but in a future one, who knows.
•
Alfrid, Counselor to the Master of Lake-town [Dale] (Shadow card)
Follower • Man
Strength +1
Aid - Make each player draw a card.
Bearer must be a companion or a [Dale] Man.
You may attach this follower at the start of the turn.Special abilities in cards of bearer's culture gain this cost: "Discard 3 cards from hand or exert a companion".
He's meant to make special abilities too expensive, thus nullifying them or making them backfire. Which includes Fellowship phase abilities, that's the point of transferring him at the start of the turn. But here I'd add the Windlance.
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Power Struggle: Another good card. But with the same problem as
Goblin Reinforcements: needs to set a limit or cost, given the strength of the swarming methods created in this game. Anyway, here the cost should be lesser given the difference between ally defenders and mere followers. "Each time the Free Peoples player assigns an ally to a skirmish, you may
remove or discard a Shadow card from hand to play an Orc from your discard pile".
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Terrifying Legend: .