The Way Into Mordor - Elves (1/16: "Fæste, stille nú." / "A red sun rises....")

[sickofpalantirs]

I still think haldir's sword should be base strength one

Naith Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf.
Skirmish: Exert bearer or add a threat to make a minion skirmishing bearer strength -1.
Their long, curved blades gave the Galadhrim warriors a devestating advantage in close combat.
devastating. not devestating. fine.

Fighting Knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf. This weapon may be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Each wounded minion skirmishing bearer is strength -1 (or -2 if exhausted).
"Then Legolas gave into his hand his silver-hafted knife...."
yeah too good for 0. make it 1.


Bow of Lórien
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an unbound Elf.
At the end of each archery phase, if bearer has resistance 4 or more, you may exert bearer to exert an unwounded minion (or exert any minion if bearer is an archer).
"‘Hado ribed!'"

hado ribed? meaning? aim target? or just aim fire? fine.

[DáinIronfoot]

I still think haldir's sword should be base strength one

LOL. for making me chuckle. I hear you, but I still respectfully disagree. I think the and other cost (exertion or a threat) makes it balanced, and I personally like having one more rare 2-strength sword. I think unique ones like this SHOULD be +2 in many cases, as with Hadafang and Gwemegil. After all, you don't get any other benefits unless the bearer is close to death, so there's definate risk involved.

Good catch on the lore (someone actually reads the lore?!...you've made my day! ). I'll fix that up and raise the cost of the knife to .

[sickofpalantirs]

wait...what catch on the lore? I was just wondering what it meant?...

no one seemed to be paying attention so I had to resort to drastic measures.

I actually like dit at 1 cost, +1 strength...but I get what your saying.

[Elf_Lvr]

Naith Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf.
Skirmish: Exert bearer or add a threat to make a minion skirmishing bearer strength -1.
Their long, curved blades gave the Galadhrim warriors a devastating advantage in close combat.

I'd make a knight's spear-esque change and perhaps limit the number of threats you can add. Or at least how many threats you can add per skirmish.

Fighting Knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf. This weapon may be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Each wounded minion skirmishing bearer is strength -1 (or -2 if exhausted).
"Then Legolas gave into his hand his silver-hafted knife...."

With sword of the fallen this gets wicked insane. Along with elven hunters, which are like base strength 10 against wounded guys.

Elven Bow (reprint)
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Bearer must be an Elf.
Bearer is an archer.
"‘Hado i philinn!'"

My lord. Unconditional archer for ? What ya thinkin, boy?

 

Bow of Lórien
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an unbound Elf.
At the end of each archery phase, if bearer has resistance 4 or more, you may exert bearer to exert an unwounded minion (or exert any minion if bearer is an archer).
"‘Hado ribed!'"

Well, it can't kill minions, but it can wound 'em. It's fine.

[sickofpalantirs]

oh I see...the spelling error. makes sense...and yeah, I always read lore. I luv good lore. wove good wore.  wove good lore.  love good wore. meh.

[Thranduil]

Naith Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf.
Skirmish: Exert bearer or add a threat to make a minion skirmishing bearer strength -1.
Their long, curved blades gave the Galadhrim warriors a devastating advantage in close combat.

Yeah it's alright. A fine revamped Elven Sword.

Fighting Knife
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an Elf. This weapon may be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Each wounded minion skirmishing bearer is strength -1 (or -2 if exhausted).
"Then Legolas gave into his hand his silver-hafted knife...."

This seems better than the card above. I don't think it needs the original bonus (and could still cost ).

Bow of Lórien
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be an unbound Elf.
At the end of each archery phase, if bearer has resistance 4 or more, you may exert bearer to exert an unwounded minion (or exert any minion if bearer is an archer).
"‘Hado ribed!'"

Far too complicated, and I don't think it should be limited to unbound Elves. I would make it "At the end of the archery phase, if bearer has resistance 4 or more, you may exert him or her to exert a minion". That is really really fine and much simpler. And it doesn't bother me that Galadriel gets it easily.

Following from Elven Armaments, you should make a Hand/Ranged Weapon for your Naith!

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Alright, I tweaked the Knife, but left the Bow alone since the majority seemed to think it was fine.

And now, to make the most use out of that knife....

•Tathar, Naith Swordsman
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Tathar is strength +1 for each weapon he bears.
A weaponsmith in the Golden Wood, Tathar was partially responsible for arming his fellow warriors before their march to faraway Helm's Deep.

Would strength 5 be better?

Knife-work
Event • Skirmish
Make an Elf bearing a hand weapon strength +3 (or +5 if bearing 2 hand weapons).
"The elf was whetting his long knife....the attempt to break in through the culvert had been foiled."

I figured such a rare occurance should merit a rare reward.

[Thranduil]

•Tathar, Naith Swordsman
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Tathar is strength +1 for each weapon he bears.
A weaponsmith in the Golden Wood, Tathar was partially responsible for arming his fellow warriors before their march to faraway Helm's Deep.

Knife-work
Event • Skirmish
Make an Elf bearing a hand weapon strength +3 (or +5 if bearing 2 hand weapons).
"The elf was whetting his long knife....the attempt to break in through the culvert had been foiled."

They seem fine. It's a shame that Knife-work doesn't work with the Long Knives of Legolas.

Thranduil

[sickofpalantirs]

I would prefer +2 or +2 if 2 hand weapons.

[lem0nhead]

•Tathar, Naith Swordsman
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Tathar is strength +1 for each weapon he bears.
A weaponsmith in the Golden Wood, Tathar was partially responsible for arming his fellow warriors before their march to faraway Helm's Deep.

Coolio.

Would strength 5 be better?

No cos then he would be poo.

Knife-work
Event • Skirmish
Make an Elf bearing a hand weapon strength +3 (or +5 if bearing 2 hand weapons).
"The elf was whetting his long knife....the attempt to break in through the culvert had been foiled."

Wow what a crazy #$&*@! card for elves. Not sure it shouldnt just be +2 to start with.....

[DáinIronfoot]

I thought about making Knife-work +2/+4, but then it seemed very weak compared to other events like Point Blank Range and the bevy of events that boost by +2 initially since all THOSE events don't require any kind of condition to be met for the initial +2. In this case, of course, there IS a condition that has to be met for even that initial bonus: a hand weapon. I figured that at least merited a +3, and then there didn't seem to be much incentive for the additional weapon if only another +1 was provided as a step up, so I tossed out +3/+4 as well and settled for +3/+5. I comforted myself in the knowledge that Final Shot is able to get away with this without too much trouble or controvery. Yes, I realize they're quite different, but still.

So, I'd rather leave it at +3/+5, personally. It really requires some work to get there since you have to combo three cards (two weapons and this event) to get that +5 boost, and again, I really think the +3 is warranted considering it has to be combined with at least one weapon.

If there is still strong disagreement, I'll certainly reconsider. But I have internally debated this one quite a bit myself already, so unless someone really DOES feel strongly about it, I'd prefer to leave it alone.

A couple more possessions before we dive into more Elves....

Naith Armor
Possession • Armor
Each minion skirmishing bearer loses all strength and damage bonuses from possessions and artifacts.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to discard a Shadow card borne by a character in bearer's skirmish.
The elegant design was made more for agility and deflection of weapons than beauty, perfected over many centuries of warfare with Sauron's forces.

Pop quiz: Elves got their first shield with Elven Armaments, but do they have any armor possessions or artifacts yet? The answer, sadly, is no. In fact, other than the cultures that armor obviously doesn't really belong in ( and ), is the ONLY FP culture that lacks armor. This despite the fact that the two times we see Elven armies in combat during the films--the Siege of Barad-dûr during the final days of the Last Alliance and during the Battle of the Hornburg--they are ALL wearing armor. What gives, Decipher?

I figured it was about time to remedy this injustice. The strength/damage-cancelling is pretty standard armor fare, but I wanted to give this a really flair, so I cooked up the rather unique skirmish ability. Note that it works on either minions OR companions, so you can discard possessions, conditions, or even artifacts borne by minions or even a pesky Shadow condition that has been slapped on your Elf.

Brooch of Lórien
Possession • Brooch
Resistance +1
To play, spot an Elf. Bearer must be a companion.
Response: If another possession or artifact borne by bearer is about to be discarded, add and discard this possession to prevent that.
"It looked like the new-opened leaf of a beech-tree, fair and strange...."

Much simpler here. I didn't want to just reprint Elven Brooch, so I went with something that gives a little resistance boost and protects your possessions AND artifacts...at the cost of additional twilight. I think it's a fair tradeoff, and the resistance hopefully gives a little more incentive for using this (even if it's only with Galadriel BoW) than the original.

[FM]

General comments:

I do believe Elves have artifatcs, since they have Rings and Galadriel's Silver Ewer, they're all artifacts, aren't they? Also, I believe the game's rules won't allow artifacts to be discarded (except maybe for cards that specifically say so) so unless you state that on the card's ability, it wouldn't work. The design, though, is pretty neat, although that armor could possibly cost 2, at 1 and being non-unique I think it might be too powerful.

[DáinIronfoot]

I do believe Elves have artifatcs, since they have Rings and Galadriel's Silver Ewer, they're all artifacts, aren't they?

I meant armor artifacts.

Also, I believe the game's rules won't allow artifacts to be discarded (except maybe for cards that specifically say so) so unless you state that on the card's ability, it wouldn't work.

I'm not sure that's true. Grond HotU allows discarding artifacts--it's one of the more powerful cards in the game for that very reason, actually--and it too says simply "card" in the text: "Remove X tokens here to discard a Free Peoples card (except a companion) with a twilight cost of X." I see no reason why Naith Armor couldn't do the same, unless there's something I'm missing....

I'll consider raising the cost to , but then I might be tempted to slap on a small strength bonus or something. I'll wait on another review or two for now.

Thanks, FM! It's nice to have your reviews when you have the time for them.

[sickofpalantirs]

So, I'd rather leave it at +3/+5, personally. It really requires some work to get there since you have to combo three cards (two weapons and this event) to get that +5 boost, and again, I really think the +3 is warranted considering it has to be combined with at least one weapon.
almost all elves are gonna have a weapon...I still think +2/+5 would be better. .

Naith Armor
Possession • Armor
Each minion skirmishing bearer loses all strength and damage bonuses from possessions and artifacts.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to discard a Shadow card borne by a character in bearer's skirmish.
The elegant design was made more for agility and deflection of weapons than beauty, perfected over many centuries of warfare with Sauron's forces.
works

Brooch of Lórien
Possession • Brooch
Resistance +1
To play, spot an Elf. Bearer must be a companion.
Response: If another possession or artifact borne by bearer is about to be discarded, add and discard this possession to prevent that.
"It looked like the new-opened leaf of a beech-tree, fair and strange...."

fine.

[Thranduil]

I think I might agree with SoP on Knife-work. If you're putting this card into a deck, that already means you expect to have all your Elves with a hand weapon so +2 seems fine. On the other hand, events tend to be powerful... Perhaps you should keep it at +3/+5 and increase the cost to ? After all, Elves never mind paying extra twilight for extra power.

I like the armor, definitely a lot better than some others. And FM, DI is definitely right on this one: artifacts are only harder to discard because fewer cards specifically mention them (generally they'll just discard possessions), but if something can discard any card, then artifacts are definitely included in that. I think it would be more flavoursome however to change its first line to "Each minion skirmishing bearer loses all strength and damage bonuses from cards they bear." This wording then ties in very closely with the skirmish action having a lot of synergy and it doesn't make a huge difference to gameplay (though perhaps preventing something like Lying in Wait, Seasoned Leader, Saruman, SoS would warrant a cost of instead, but as I said above higher twilight is never a problem for Elves).

Brooch is a bit boring, but fair enough.

Thranduil