• The Daily Five • Wild men of the Dunland fells

[Thranduil]

•William, Troll Leader
Minion • Troll
Strength: 12
Vitality: 4
Site: 2
Damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert William and spot a companion.
That companion may not participate in skirmishes or archery fire until the next turn.
Skirmish: Exert William to make him strength +1 or damage +1.
Regroup: If the fellowship moves again you may exert William twice to add .
"William choked. "Shut yer mouth!" he said as soon as he could."

I understand the reasons for being site 2 minions, but I would suggest that site 2 is too low for huge evil Trolls. I think they should be site 3 (when I made Hobbit cards, all my reviewers at the time made me change the site numbers to 3). This guy really does not need all those abilities. I would remove either the second or the third (the first is the most interesting but should definitely exert him twice). You're using the symbol to mean "Mountain-type people" right? If not, these guys make the most sense in (of pre-existing cultures, that is).

•Bert, Argumentative Troll
Minion • Troll
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 2
Damage +1.
Skirmish: Exert an unique troll to heal Bert or to add .
Unique trolls may not be overwhelmed unless their strength is tripled.
""Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey if it doesn't look like mutton
tomorrer" said one of the trolls."

Again site 3 and you would not have to raise the twilight costs. The overwhelming ability doesn't seem to have much impact on the game - the only FP side that is going to overwhelm Trolls is telepathy stuff in which case the likelihood is the Troll will have strength 0, or something very close! Also the adding is too much (consider the case of William when he can pay for himself by using this ability to exert). I want something that helps you use William's ability more often like "Exert Bert twice to heal another unique Troll" in which case I would remove the second ability from William and have only abilities that exert him twice. Then you could have another minor twilight adding ability like "Each time an unique Troll wins a skirmish, you may add ."

•Tom, Complaining Troll
Minion • Troll
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Site: 2
Damage +1.
Skirmish: Heal a companion X times to make Tom strength +X and damage +X.
If you can spot at least three unique trolls, skip the archery phase.
""Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough," said the second one"

I agree with DI on the original damage bonus. With site 3, I reckon he could stay at . In fact, I think his skirmish ability should not be repeatable, so "At the start of each skirmish involving Tom, you may heal a companion X times to make..." seems to sit much better.

Troll Purse
Possession • Support Area
Regroup: Exert a Troll and spot to play X tokens on this card.
Shadow: Remove X tokens from this card to add
"" 'Ere, 'oo are you?" it squeaked as it left the pocket..."

I agree with DI on this one (but you "place" tokens, you don't "play" them). Also, I would change the Shadow ability to the more usual "Shadow: Spot an unique Troll and remove a token from here to add ." It does the same thing, but without X's.

•Troll Larder
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a troll.
Response: Each time a free peoples artifact or possession is discarded you
may remove to stack it here. Each troll is strength +1 for each card
stacked here (limit 5). If there are more than 5 cards stacked here each troll is
damage +1 for each card here over 5. Each time a unique troll is killed you
must remove two cards stacked here and shuffle them into their owner's draw deck.
""Don't you realize that the trolls must have a cave or hole dug somewhere to hide from the sun in?""

Again I agree with DI, but this one is a fun and original card! Too much text to fit on a physical card, but never mind!

Thranduil

[Gate Troll]

Next up: the culture. I wanted to do something different with these Dunlendings, so here we have a very nasty horde of Dunlendings with all sort of culture hate and other goodies. We start out with a few minions:

This guy is a good example of the new Dunlendings. They like to blitz, but they don't like archery.

Dunlending Stormer
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Ambusher. (Skirmishes involving ambusher
minions must be resolved before any others.)
This minion cannot take archery wounds.
"‘Yet there are many that cry in the Dunland tongue..."'

Here's another Dunlending, with some nasty tricks of his own: 

Dunlending Skirmisher
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Maneuver: Discard this minion to skip the archery phase.
Skirmish: Discard this minion to wound a companion
(or wound that companion twice if that companion is a Man).
Elite Dunlendings were assigned the task of drawing the fire
of the Rohirrim archers, and mounting special assaults.

The new Dunlendings will often disrupt the assignment phase by assigning themselves to the
companion with the highest strength, leaving the rest to swarm the Ring-bearer. This minion
also has some culture hate too.

•Dunlending Captain
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 2
Site: 3
Damage +1.
Assignment: Exert this minion to assign it to an
unassigned companion with the highest strength.
"'…rather tall and dark-haired…'"

Dunlending Blitz is quite different from all the other events in existence.
Do you think is too much, or too little?

Dunlending Blitz
Event • Manuever
Make a Dunland Man fierce until the regroup phase.
"Again the trumpets rang, and a press
of roaring men leaped forth."

Dunlending Pike is slightly more orthodox, it discards possessions
and has a slight advantage against mounts.

Dunlending Pike
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be a man.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to discard
a possession borne by a companion
skirmishing bearer (and exert that companion
if that possession was a mount).
Saruman's orcs forged armor and weapons of war
 for the wild men of Dunland.

Reviews welcome.

[Thranduil]

Dunlending Stormer
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Ambusher. (Skirmishes involving ambusher
minions must be resolved before any others.)
This minion cannot take archery wounds.
"‘Yet there are many that cry in the Dunland tongue..."'

As long as there are not too many guys with that archery negation, it's fine because although he's safe, this means you'll have to kill all your other guys. Be very wary that there not many of these, or 's main weakness will be non-existent.

Dunlending Skirmisher
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Maneuver: Discard this minion to skip the archery phase.
Skirmish: Discard this minion to wound a companion
(or wound that companion twice if that companion is a Man).
Elite Dunlendings were assigned the task of drawing the fire
of the Rohirrim archers, and mounting special assaults.

It does not need both abilities. I would keep only the maneuver ability and make it much higher cost like "Spot 3 Men and discard this condition to skip the archery phase."

•Dunlending Captain
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 2
Site: 3
Damage +1.
Assignment: Exert this minion to assign it to the
companion with the highest strength.
"'…rather tall and dark-haired…'"

If you have this as a theme with lots of people doing it, you should rephrase it: "Exert this minion to assign it to the unassigned companion with the highest strength." That way once 1 is assigned to the highest strength guy, you can assign the next to the next highest strength guy etc.

Dunlending Blitz
Event • Manuever
Spot a man. That minion is
Fierce until the Regroup phase.
"Again the trumpets rang, and a press
of roaring men leaped forth."

Considering the culture, I think would be fine.

Dunlending Pike
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be a man.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to discard
a possession being borne by a companion
skirmishing bearer (and wound that companion
if that possession was a mount).
Saruman's orcs forged armor and weapons of war
 for the wild men of Dunland.

I think wounding is too much, exerting would be fine.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Dunlending Stormer
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Ambusher. (Skirmishes involving ambusher
minions must be resolved before any others.)
This minion cannot take archery wounds.
"‘Yet there are many that cry in the Dunland tongue..."'

Thran's comments are my own as well.

Dunlending Skirmisher
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 1
Site: 3
Maneuver: Discard this minion to skip the archery phase.
Skirmish: Discard this minion to wound a companion
(or wound that companion twice if that companion is a Man).
Elite Dunlendings were assigned the task of drawing the fire
of the Rohirrim archers, and mounting special assaults.

I'd drop the maneuver ability and have the skirmish ability target only UNBOUND companions. Otherwise this is a lethal splash with Nazzies and others that go after the Ring-bearer.

•Dunlending Captain
Minion • Man
Strength: 9
Vitality: 2
Site: 3
Damage +1.
Assignment: Exert this minion to assign it to the
companion with the highest strength.
"'…rather tall and dark-haired…'"

Agree with Thran once more. Seems balanced enough with his comments in mind.

Dunlending Blitz
Event • Manuever
Spot a man. That minion is
Fierce until the Regroup phase.
"Again the trumpets rang, and a press
of roaring men leaped forth."

Should be rephrased "Make a Man fierce until the regroup phase." MIGHT be okay, though not sure with cards like Anger and Wake of Destruction out there.

Dunlending Pike
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +1
Bearer must be a man.
Skirmish: Discard this possession to discard
a possession being borne by a companion
skirmishing bearer (and wound that companion
if that possession was a mount).
Saruman's orcs forged armor and weapons of war
 for the wild men of Dunland.

Agree with Thran yet again. No need for the "being" in there. Considering War Club, this may be alright at .