The Last Homely House
Middle-Earth => Chamber of Mazarbul => Topic started by: Thranduil on November 05, 2010, 02:28:12 AM
-
So I know I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I've been idle! I've been working sporadically on the next block: Paths.
And the first set is this one: The Road Ahead (coded A).
This block is a sites-block. This has been my plan for a while as part of my battle for exploring more of the game's design space. So the last block Light & Shadow was the resistance block, and this block is the sites block. You can see how the theme of sites comes across in many facets and many cards. This set cares about the adventure path, the adventure decks as well as the sites themselves, including Shadow numbers with simple terrain keywords. (There's also a secondary theme of the discard/dead pile, but we'll come back to that another time! ;) ).
I'm not particularly expecting any comments. I know there are a lot of cards here. But if you have a moment, then just drop in with some thoughts or ideas or praise or suggestions.
I'll hopefully update this thread with some more cards in the future.
RINGS:
*RS01
•The One Ring, Borne with Great Haste [Ring]
Strength: +2
At the end of your turn, if the fellowship did not move more than once that turn, add 2 burdens.
Response: If the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound in a skirmish, make him or her wear The One Ring until the regroup phase.
While the Ring-bearer is wearing The One Ring, each time he or she is about to take a wound, add a burden instead.
A S 1
THIS SET HAS BEEN REBOOTED!
MORE COMING!
-
Ok this is a lot to digest. Let me take a rain check on it for now, though for startes, I'd make the first Ring better, probably giving it a strength bonus, since the RB needs to run (or a vitality one).
-
What's the deal with "your" Dwarf card/companion? Will you be able to interact with the opposing Freeps cards when playing the Freeps yourself?
-
What's the deal with "your" Dwarf card/companion? Will you be able to interact with the opposing Freeps cards when playing the Freeps yourself?
You will not! I wanted to use the wordings on Shadow cards and felt it was nicer to use it for FP as well. Also, in a set introducing cards that are indeed active during both turns, I thought it would be a useful clarification.
Quick point:
A lot of this stuff on this thread is now outdated. I've had a further think and quite a lot will be changing (one of those being the tribal theme, another being the discard/dead pile theme). I've been working on more site-related mechanics. Will update when I have some more cards and some more time!
Thran
-
What tribal theme?
-
What tribal theme?
Many above cards reference by race. I will be referencing by culture (or unloaded keyword) in future.
-
Okay, just wondering because I was doing sommat similar. And honestly, I hadn't looked at the actual cards yet, because of the length.
-
So I've rethought this set and a few changes will be happening, at some point when I have the time to think about them. But for now, I will post a couple of cards to try and showcase what I'm thinking.
Straight site mechanics:
[2] •Gimli, Cousin of Balin [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at an underground site, exert Gimli to search your draw deck for a [Dwarven] card; reveal it, and put it into your hand; shuffle your draw deck. (Limit once per turn).
A R 11
[2] •Arwen, Wraithsbane [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Each minion skirmishing Arwen is strength -X, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
While the fellowship is at a river site, each minion skirmishing Arwen loses fierce and cannot gain fierce until the regrou phase.
A R 17
Moving mechanics (do note that "sitestorm" is a pseudo-MTG keyword that I haven't worked out a good name for yet!):
(0) Lost Treasures [Dwarven]
Event • Maneuver
Tale.
Sitestorm – Exert your [Dwarven] companion to play a Free Peoples condition or Free Peoples possession from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 14
[2] •Legolas, Swift-footed [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Legolas is strength and resistance +1.
A C 28
[2] Woodland Ambush [Elven]
Event • Archery
Stealth.
Sitestorm – Exert your [Elven] archer character to make the fellowship archery total +1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 35
Site-like mechanics:
[1] •Borders of Elvenhome [Elven]
Condition • Site
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active).
To play, exert 2 of your [Elven] companions.
This site is a sanctuary.
A R 18
Lookout:
[2] Warrior of Erebor [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may make a valiant companion strength +3 until the regroup phase.
A C 15
[2] Lórien Ranger [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Ranger. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may spot another [Elven] card to discard a Shadow condition from play.
A U 30
-
[2] •Gimli, Cousin of Balin [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at an underground site, exert Gimli to search your draw deck for a [Dwarven] card; reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your draw deck. (Limit once per turn).
A R 11
Any time you play something from draw deck you are supposed to shuffle your deck.
[2] •Arwen, [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Each minion skirmishing Arwen is strength -X, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
While the fellowship is at a sanctuary, each minion skirmishing Arwen loses all gametext keywords until the regroup phase.
A R 17
Is "Gondor's Queen" being used as a subtitle? I think this is easily the strongest Arwen in the game...
[2] •Legolas, Swift-footed [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Legolas is strength and resistance +1.
A C 28
Lame common. But that's the way it goes.
[2] Woodland Ambush [Elven]
Event • Archery
Stealth.
Sitestorm – Exert your [Elven] archer character to make the fellowship archery total +1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 35
Well balanced. It kind of has a rare ability as opposed to an uncommon...
[1] •Borders of Elvenhome [Elven]
Condition • Site
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active).
To play, exert 2 of your [Elven] companions.
This site is a sanctuary.
A R 18
So...every site is a sanctuary?
[2] Warrior of Erebor [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may make a valiant companion strength +3 until the regroup phase.
A C 15
I don't really like the lookout mechanic.
[2] Lórien Ranger [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Ranger. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion during a skirmish involving an [Elven] companion, you may exert that companion cancel that skirmish.
A U 30
Again, not fond of the mechanic.
-wtk
-
I would cut the 'If you do' from Gimli's text. As you have to shuffle.
Your Arwen would be with the post-MD sites right?
Yeah, Borders makes every site a sanctuary? That's probably not what you wanted but that's what I think when I read it.
I think that Lookout is fine.
-
Your Arwen would be with the post-MD sites right?
Yes that's right. Shadows sites.
Yeah, Borders makes every site a sanctuary? That's probably not what you wanted but that's what I think when I read it.
Well, it's unique. So it makes 1 site a sanctuary (so 3 sites in total).
I can also tell you why, as a designer, the lookout mechanic is good. What it does is allows you to design conditions or characters as if they were events. This cuts down on the amount of design space you have to spend on actual events, which also makes the limited environment (for draft, as ideally I want all my sets to be draftable) easier to cater for. This is because conditions and characters tend to be better in limited than events, and now you can pack your draft decks with characters that are also events.
As a player, I think I would be interested because of the flexibility. Essentially, lookout is saying that this card has a dual purpose: you can either let it sit around or get a one-shot. This would appeal to some players.
Thran
-
So I've rethought this set and a few changes will be happening, at some point when I have the time to think about them. But for now, I will post a couple of cards to try and showcase what I'm thinking.
Straight site mechanics:
[2] •Gimli, Cousin of Balin [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at an underground site, exert Gimli to search your draw deck for a [Dwarven] card; reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your draw deck. (Limit once per turn).
A R 11
I don't think you need the "If you do," clause. Presumably, if you get to that, it's because you've exerted Gimli to do this. As it is, though, the wording would allow you to exert Gimli after drawing 4 cards. Then you perform this action to search your deck. You then reveal the card... but you can't take it into hand (rule of 4). Since you didn't take it into hand, this wording suggests that you don't reshuffle the deck. Which means that you can exert Gimli to look at your entire deck, then put it back just how it was. I'd make it just "...and put it into your hand. Shuffle your draw deck."
Love the concept, though.
[2] •Arwen, [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Each minion skirmishing Arwen is strength -X, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
While the fellowship is at a sanctuary, each minion skirmishing Arwen loses all gametext keywords until the regroup phase.
A R 17
Nice. Does she have a subtitle, though? ;)
Moving mechanics (do note that "sitestorm" is a pseudo-MTG keyword that I haven't worked out a good name for yet!):
(0) Lost Treasures [Dwarven]
Event • Maneuver
Tale.
Sitestorm – Exert your [Dwarven] companion to play a Free Peoples condition or Free Peoples possession from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 14
Erm. Can't think of a better keyword. "Flight" or "Persuit" maybe, for Fellowship or Shadow cards respectively?
[2] •Legolas, Swift-footed [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Legolas is strength and resistance +1.
A C 28
Good, although he seems familiar. Not sure why.
[2] Woodland Ambush [Elven]
Event • Archery
Stealth.
Sitestorm – Exert your [Elven] archer character to make the fellowship archery total +1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 35
Nice.
Site-like mechanics:
[1] •Borders of Elvenhome [Elven]
Condition • Site
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active).
To play, exert 2 of your [Elven] companions.
This site is a sanctuary.
A R 18
As I understand it, this would have to come into play during the Fellowship phase -- after healing has occurred, and before movement. Probably more useful in context of other cards, but I'm missing how this could be useful, unless there's some way to play it in the regroup phase.
Lookout:
[2] Warrior of Erebor [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may make a valiant companion strength +3 until the regroup phase.
A C 15
[2] Lórien Ranger [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Ranger. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion during a skirmish involving an [Elven] companion, you may exert that companion cancel that skirmish.
A U 30
Both nice.
:up: I forgot how much fun your DCs are. Keep up the good work!
-
I don't think you need the "If you do," clause. Presumably, if you get to that, it's because you've exerted Gimli to do this. As it is, though, the wording would allow you to exert Gimli after drawing 4 cards. Then you perform this action to search your deck. You then reveal the card... but you can't take it into hand (rule of 4). Since you didn't take it into hand, this wording suggests that you don't reshuffle the deck. Which means that you can exert Gimli to look at your entire deck, then put it back just how it was. I'd make it just "...and put it into your hand. Shuffle your draw deck."
Love the concept, though.
Quite right! That wording was a holdover from some optional actions.
Nice. Does she have a subtitle, though? ;)
Not at the time, but she is probably called Wraithsbane (or something similar) and the last ability has been changed to work on river sites and also only remove fierce.
Erm. Can't think of a better keyword. "Flight" or "Persuit" maybe, for Fellowship or Shadow cards respectively?
Yeah—flight, pursuit, chase, etc.
As I understand it, this would have to come into play during the Fellowship phase -- after healing has occurred, and before movement. Probably more useful in context of other cards, but I'm missing how this could be useful, unless there's some way to play it in the regroup phase.
You can play it on any site. So it would be most useful for a player going second or for someone with lots of ways to play sites.
:up: I forgot how much fun your DCs are. Keep up the good work!
Thanks! In that case, I'll give you another one!
[4] •Gandalf, Master Strategist [Gandalf]
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Valiant.
Each time you play a companion, you may add a burden to wound a minion (or wound that minion twice if the fellowship is at a battleground site).
A R 41
-
This looks like a lot of fun, but it seems to me that this Lookout mechanic might be too powerful. Companions are too splashable. You can throw them in so many decks and use them as companions should the need arise, but they don't take up the precious slot because you can use them as events too. I'd add some more spotting requirements for their playing.
-
Let me check these interesting old ones:
[2] •Gimli, Cousin of Balin [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at an underground site, exert Gimli to search your draw deck for a [Dwarven] card; reveal it, and put it into your hand; shuffle your draw deck. (Limit once per turn).
A R 11
I see potential in it. A bit powerful indeed, it let you take key card directly from the deck with one single exertion. Dwarves can set up even more readily than ever before.
[2] •Arwen, Wraithsbane [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Each minion skirmishing Arwen is strength -X, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
While the fellowship is at a river site, each minion skirmishing Arwen loses fierce and cannot gain fierce until the regrou phase.
A R 17
Is shadow number mean site number? so at site 9, the minion would be strength -9? If so, this is too powerful. Maybe let it only effect wraiths, as the title refers Arwen to wraithsbane.
[2] •Legolas, Swift-footed [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Legolas is strength and resistance +1.
A C 28
Title fits the ability, nice.
I very much appreciate your effort in it. :gp: is for you. :P
-
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything in this thread (or any other Chamber thread, to be honest!), but I hadn't forgotten this, and I'm now getting somewhere interesting with this set.
As I have mentioned above, this set is the first in a "site block"—ie. three sets about new ways to use the sites, adventure path and adventure decks. It is a block that is trying to find uses for the untouched design space of sites.
I have a few ways of doing this, and this installment includes a fairly even spread. There will be cards that care about who's ahead on the adventure path (eg. Aragorn), cards that interact with sites in new ways (eg. Barricades), and cards that interact with the adventure decks in new ways (eg. Alcarin and Kings' Memorial). There will be some other ideas too, as we will see.
Some comments as we go through the cards:
GOC03
[4] •Aragorn, Of the Three Hunters [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Ranger.
At the start of the regroup phase, if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, you may discard a minion from play.
A C 74
Aragorn is part of a cycle of Three Hunters. I think I may have posted them several times earlier, but they're still some of my favourite cards in the set!
GOU02
[3] •Alcarin, Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Alcarin is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal a site at random from an opponent’s adventure deck. If you do, heal X companions, where X is the Shadow number of the revealed site.
A U 72
Lookout is one of the major mechanics for the block. It is always Lookout – Phase. Previously I had used a lookout cost as well, but I removed this in the last step of design—now lookout cards get played for their cost only. Lookout goes on companions mostly, but sometimes possessions and conditions. They usually come in one of 2 varieties: comes into play abilities, or death triggers.
GOC06
[1] Barricade [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
Fortification.
Maneuver: Spot your knight or ranger card to transfer this condition from your support area to the fellowship’s current site.
This site is a battleground.
A C 75
Knights/rangers and besiegers/trackers is a side issue for this set. Sometimes it's important, but not normally. I am being super-specific with my new card designs (as a MTG card would be) so if they read a little bit out of the ordinary, that's why. Nevertheless, these sorts of wordings (like "ranger card") will be standard for the cards that I make.
GOR+1
[3] •White Tree of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it's in play).
To play, exert 2 [Gondor] companions.
If you have no cards in your adventure deck, you win the game.
A R+ 83
I was looking for a way to represent sites on non-site cards and came up with a few words that could be applied to sites. Monuments was one of them. I then also thought about what made sites different to SH/FP cards, and one of those things is that a site's game text is always active. So I thought: why not make cards that were always active? Why does it matter for this card? For other alternate win conditions, you can only win in your turn. Now you can win whenever. There will, however, be more obvious uses for monuments (like messing with your hand, which is one of the shared resources of FP and SH). Monument is a set keyword (I don't suspect it will repeat in future sets of this block) and appears only on R and R+. My flavour idea was that the kings once ruled most of western middle-earth, so you win for restoring their kingdom, or something like that.
Let me hear your comments!
Thran
-
I like all 4 cards. Especially the last one which is very original.
For barricade, I guess that you plan to come up with [gondor] cards that benefits from battlegrounds?
-
For barricade, I guess that you plan to come up with [gondor] cards that benefits from battlegrounds?
There are some, but my goal in creating these cards is not to create strategies per se, but to make cards that make flavour sense. So there are cards in each culture that care about a range of different terrains. [Gondor] has forests and battlegrounds mainly.
Also remember there will be other cards in other cultures that care about battlegrounds, and that [Gondor] is not the only culture with knights and rangers.
For example:
ROC03
[2] Young Conscript [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Villager.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this companion is strength +1 and a knight.
A C 162
-
Good work, Thran! very nice!
-
Let's look at some Shadow cards then, given that was so uncontroversial!
Couple of things worth mentioning:
• Yes there are [Orc] archers in this set. Yes this means that Frenzy of Arrows is either banned or errata'd (sensibly!).
• There is a minor discard/mill theme going through the set. Why? Why indeed! Only time will tell... ;)
• Pursuit is not a loaded keyword, and it's not quite an unloaded keyword either (no card will look for "pursuit" cards). It's what in MTG is called a "callout keyword" (like metalcraft). It's an indicator that the ability that follows it cares about how many times the fellowship has moved. I know LotR has never done something like that before, but I'm trying it out.
ORU04
[5] Mordor Sentry [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Archer. Besieger.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site from his or her adventure deck, he or she must discard 1 card from his or her hand.
A U 133
ORC05
[5] Mordor Thug [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A C 134
ORR03
[7] Grishnákh’s Trappers [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 15
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce. Tracker. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Orc] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may play a tracker minion from your discard pile; its twilight cost is -7.
A R 130
ORU08
[2] Excavate [Orc]
Event • Shadow
Search.
Pursuit – This event’s twilight cost is -1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
Spot your [Orc] minion to play the fellowship’s next site if it’s an underground site.
A U 126
ORR07
(0) Gathering Forces [Orc]
Event • Shadow
Search.
Pursuit – Spot your [Orc] minion to play a minion from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A R 123
-
[3] •Alcarin, Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Alcarin is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal an opponent’s adventure deck. If you do, heal a companion for each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed.
A U 72
I kind of think it should be "Reveal a card at random from your opponent's adventure deck." I don't like the idea that you can reveal the whole thing. Not knowing if you can move or if it is safe to go ahead is one of the best parts of the game. And since at least three sites in the deck have to have a cost of two or more, you are potentially adding the ability to heal three times in the regroup phase for [3]. I would take that on a double move...reloading Merry, Friend to Sam or something like that...
Not only that, but when he is killed he can heal up to three [sometimes more] companions? Nice way to get around threats. What about getting killed makes him a lookout?
-wtk
-
[5] Mordor Thug [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 13
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A C 134
I bid high, choose to go second. Mulligan until I get this guy in hand. You move to my site two; I play a battleground. Almost guaranteed two dead companions. Maybe limit it to regions two and three or something like that? I can't imagine a scenario where Gandalf and Faramir/Boromir were both killed at site two because I happened to play one companion.
-wtk
-
Both good shouts ket! I'll bring the power level down. I'll also watch out for cards that too easily reveal whole adventure decks. There's just a balance between the hidden information and the ability for the cards to actually do something! In Alcarin's case, the balance is slightly off. But what do you think of my change?
I've been including the "killed" clause in death trigger lookouts for ease of reading and understanding (it's not immediately obvious that being killed and being discarded are two different things, and specifying both avoids confusion). Of course, it doesn't make as much sense as appearing and disappearing as might be the lookout flavour. But, I think my most convincing argument for keeping it is that I think it's more intuitive that way—there's very little chance someone would play it wrong as written, and much more without it.
I'm not adverse to changing it or anything, just my thoughts.
Thran
-
A twelve strength, fierce minion could still knock out a Legolas/Gimli starting Fellowship. Maybe keep it at strength 14 but make it vitality 1? Otherwise you'd have to lower the strength or make the fierce bit specific to another region.
As a [3] cost, regroup phase version of Might of Numenor it's a little better. Still not sure about the being killed as discarded thing as being killed and being discarded are two very different things. Of course, you and I have a different understanding of the level of competency the average player has (rather, should have). I guess there are some examples in the Archives of me dealing with someone who might prefer your ultra-specific wordings as opposed to my simpler phrasing.
-wtk
-
I'd suggest making Alcarin reveal 1 or 2 random sites and heal the combined shadow numbers or something like that.
-
I think you are missing my point that regroup healing is not a good thing.
-wtk
-
I'm going to start posting in a more logical way. As I might have said above, this set is very much about [Gondor] - [Rohan] vs [Orc] [Uruk], so I'm going to start in a fairly random place: [Uruk]! First some minions of Cirith Ungol.
UHC05
[4] Cirith Ungol Outlander [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1.
While the fellowship is at a mountain site, this minion’s site number is -2.
While you can spot 6 companions, each of your other [Uruk] minions are site number -2.
A C 182
(this is a riff off Frenzied Orc – they'll be more where this came from!)
UHC04
[3] Cirith Ungol Lookout [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1. Lookout – Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may exert your [Uruk] minion to make a companion it is skirmishing strength -3.
A C 180
UHU03
[2] Cirith Ungol Footman [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1.
When you play this minion, if the fellowship is at a mountain site, you may heal a minion (or 2 minions if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path).
A U 179
There will be quite a few "When you play..." triggers, even on guys without lookout.
UHU04
[4] Cirith Ungol Mountaineer [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1. Tracker.
To play, spot your [Uruk] card.
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a mountain site, discard this minion and 2 of your other minions to make the move limit for this turn -1.
A U 181
-
If there are no comments on those Cirith Ungol minions, I will move onto some of the hordes of Isengard.
UHU02
[4] Isengard Archer [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 5
Archer. Tracker. Lookout – Archery. (You may play this minion any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion during the archery phase, you may make the fellowship archery total -6.
A U 185
UHR02
[6] Isengard Commander [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Besieger. Damage +1. Fierce.
Assignment: If the fellowship is ahead of you on the adventure path, exert this minion twice to assign it to an unbound companion. The Free Peoples player may kill this minion and a companion to prevent this.
A R 186
UHC02
[5] Isengard Harrier [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Damage +1. Tracker.
When you play this minion, if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, you may discard a condition from play.
A C 187
UHU01
[3] Isengard Sentry [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Damage +1.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site from his or her adventure deck, you may draw a card.
A U 188
-
The second one makes no sense, I believe something is amiss on his text. The others look fine.
-
The second one makes no sense, I believe something is amiss on his text. The others look fine.
You're quite right! :gp: There's a "may" missing. Now changed.
-
UHR02
[6] Isengard Commander [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Besieger. Damage +1. Fierce.
Assignment: If the fellowship is ahead of you on the adventure path, exert this minion to assign it to an unbound companion. The Free Peoples player may kill this minion and a companion to prevent this.
A R 186
This might be a bit harsh. You get a huge minion, unless the Free People has MASSIVE archery or wounding abilities he's gonna make it unscathed enough to pull his ability off and if they DON'T have it, you ALSO get to abuse his vitality a bit first. I'd either make him 1 vitality and simply vie him an assign action at no exertion cost (don't like it) or make you exert him twice (a single wound stops the ability, although you still get a large minion with enough spare vitality to use for other purposes).
-
It's a fair point. He might be okay as he only punishes players who are doing better than you, but I could see it either way.
Thran
-
Discard this minion and place a companion on the dead pile seems more correct.
-wtk
-
If there are no comments on those Cirith Ungol minions, I will move onto some of the hordes of Isengard.
UHU02
[4] Isengard Archer [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 5
Archer. Tracker. Lookout – Archery. (You may play this minion any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion during the archery phase, you may make the fellowship archery total -6.
Needs some cultural enforcement I think.
-
I don't know. I actually like the idea of raining #$&*@! out of the blue to punish heavy archery decks with, say, Moria shadow sides.
-
Then I would make him cost 5, ala Goblin Archer.
-
Good discussion. Of course, Isengard Archer is also site 5 as opposed to Goblin Archer's site 4, but I can see the case for [5] and/or cultural enforcement.
@ket: I'd rather keep Isengard Commander as "kill" for reasons that might become apparent a (long time) later. Also a good point, though.
I have made no changes so far. I will probably come back tomorrow or Sunday and change what I'm going to change and post the next batch.
I'm glad we can keep this board going, even a little! And I appreciate everyone who comments. :gp: all round!
Thran
-
One of the things this set is doing is making followers more a core part of the game, which includes more Shadow followers. Some of them are below (followers having races was something I added in Reflections II).
But first, we'll have a sort-of-reprint:
UHU07
(0) Saruman’s Craft [Uruk]
Condition • Support Area
Engine.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, each [Uruk] or spell event you play is twilight cost -1.
Shadow: Discard this condition to make the fellowship’s current site a battleground until the regroup phase.
A U 199
UHC06
[2] Orthanc Worker [Uruk]
Follower • Orc
Strength: +1
Aid – exert your minion.
When you transfer this follower to an [Uruk] minion, you may discard up to 2 cards from your hand to draw the same number of cards.
A C 197
UHR04
[3] Orthanc Mechanic [Uruk]
Follower • Orc
Aid – exert your minion.
Bearer is strength +1 for each engine you can spot.
When this follower is transferred from your support area to your [Uruk] minion, you may play an engine condition or engine possession from your draw deck. If you do, shuffle your draw deck.
A R 196
-
One of the things this set is doing is making followers more a core part of the game, which includes more Shadow followers. Some of them are below (followers having races was something I added in Reflections II).
But first, we'll have a sort-of-reprint:
UHU07
(0) Saruman’s Craft [Uruk]
Condition • Support Area
Engine. Spell.
Each [Uruk] or spell event that you play while the fellowship is at a battleground site is twilight cost -1.
Shadow: Discard this condition to make the fellowship’s current site a battleground until the regroup phase.
A U 199
Nice, but how is something both an engine and a spell?
UHC06
[3] Orthanc Worker [Uruk]
Follower • Orc
Vitality: +1
Aid – exert your minion.
When you transfer this follower to an [Uruk] minion, you may discard up to 2 cards from your hand to draw the same number of cards.
A C 197
The only problem i have is now those nasty warg riders have yet another vitality (or 4) to work with. I'd say exert your [Uruk] minion. I know you don't like cultural support, but I think its needed. Heck, even [uruk] could abuse the extra vitality without much trouble
UHR04
[4] Orthanc Mechanic [Uruk]
Follower • Orc
Aid – exert your minion.
To play, spot an [Uruk] card.
Bearer is strength +2 for each possession it bears.
Shadow: Exert bearer twice to search your draw deck for an engine card; reveal it and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your draw deck.
A R 196
The only way he gets to use his second ability is on a double move, which is probably fine.
Not quite as thrilled with these, but maybe that's cause I'm not a huge fan of followers :P
-
I don't know too much about the post-Shadows mechanics (i.e., followers), but for Orthanc Mechanic, wouldn't he only be able to be used if the fellowship moved twice (and you happened to use his aid the previous site)? How many characters will be able to exert twice at that point?
-wtk
-
Yes, the Mechanic seems terrible, I agree. He costs a lot to come down, costs a lot to have close to no impact on the board a lot of times, and costs a lot for a search ability which might never be used or be underwhelming. And he's a rare! I'd simply let him fetch an engine when he comes down, at that cost, and maybe allow you to exert a minion twice during the regroup to return it to your hand. Sure, it still costs an awful lot, but now, you can get mileage out of it (and even consider building around it), and if you DO have a minion with vitality to spare and needs an engine, you can return it to your hand to get a new one next turn.
-
(0) Saruman’s Craft [Uruk]
Condition • Support Area
Engine. Spell.
Each [Uruk] or spell event that you play while the fellowship is at a battleground site is twilight cost -1.
Shadow: Discard this condition to make the fellowship’s current site a battleground until the regroup phase.
A U 199
Come to think of it, I rather like the veiled lack of cultural enforcement on this one, might be useful to push up other strategies that lack Battlegrounds, or even to allow some weird splashes! Uruk Vanguard as Balrogs 5-8, for Moria Balrog decks? Might be worth taking a look at.
-
Made a couple of key changes, especially to the Mechanics. Let me know what you think, and thanks for the comments!
A couple of possessions for now:
UHU05
[1] Isengard Siege Bow [Uruk] (reprint)
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be an [Uruk] minion.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, bearer is an archer.
A U 189
UHC07
[3] Shield of Isengard [Uruk]
Possession • Shield
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be an [Uruk] or besieger minion.
This possession’s twilight cost is -1 for each battleground site on the adventure path.
Response: If bearer is about to take a wound, remove [3] to prevent that wound.
A C 200
UHR05
(0) Piercing Phalanx [Uruk]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be an [Uruk] or besieger minion.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer is damage +1.
Mounts borne by companions assigned to bearer lose their game text.
A R 198
-
All the changes are great :up:
Made a couple of key changes, especially to the Mechanics. Let me know what you think, and thanks for the comments!
A couple of possessions for now:
UHU05
[1] Isengard Siege Bow [Uruk] (reprint)
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be an [Uruk] minion.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, bearer is an archer.
A U 189
UHC07
[3] Shield of Isengard [Uruk]
Possession • Shield
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be an [Uruk] minion.
This possession’s twilight cost is -1 for each battleground site on the adventure path.
Response: If bearer is a besieger minion and is about to take a wound, remove [3] to prevent that wound.
A C 200
Good, but [3] seems a little steep for his ability.
UHR05
(0) Piercing Phalanx [Uruk]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be an [Uruk] or besieger minion.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer is damage +1.
Each mount borne by a companion assigned to bearer loses its game text.
A R 198
Very powerful, I'd make it cost [1]. Otherwise nice :)
-
UHC06
[2] Orthanc Worker [Uruk]
Follower • Orc
Aid – exert your minion.
When you transfer this follower to an [Uruk] minion, you may discard up to 2 cards from your hand to draw the same number of cards.
A C 197
UHR04
I still don't get this one. Is he supposed to do only that? Cycle? I do believe it's useful, but it just sound so... meh... even for a common. It could give a strength boost and have the cycling as an aid cost, I think. Encourgaes thinking. Some might look at it and go "discarding stuff for strength? bleh!", whicle other might realize it can be used for cycling. This makes it too straightforward ofr a part of the game that is not THAT straightforward anyway.
-
UHR05
(0) Piercing Phalanx [Uruk]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be an [Uruk] or besieger minion.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer is damage +1.
Each mount borne by a companion assigned to bearer loses its game text.
A R 198
I don't think you need to word it that way, companions can only bear 1 mount and only 1 companion can skirmish a minion (X minions can skirmish a companion, not the other way around). Other than that, they're most fine, though I'd add "besieger" to the ones able to bear the shield, make it a splash card off culture for [Sauron] Orcs as well. Fun times.
-
Made some further changes. Comments welcome! Some tricks for the moment. First, a straightforward pump, the sort of which you would expect in a set all about sites!
UHC09
(0) Battle-lust [Uruk]
Event • Skirmish
Exert your [Uruk] minion to make it strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at a battleground site).
A C 178
Now is one of the mechanics for the set. I can't remember whether we've seen this mechanic before, but here it is anyway! Pursuit is not a loaded or unloaded keyword, and is what might be known as a "callout keyword". MTG uses these fairly often, eg. Metalcraft and Domain. A callout keyword indicates some common theme which could be used in different ways for different effects, but has no rules meaning in itself. For example, Metalcraft just indicates that this ability requires you to control 3 or more artifacts—the effect that you get for doing so could widely differ.
So, Pursuit indicates that the ability is going to care about how many times the fellowship has moved this turn. There are two examples of this below. I'm not convinced that we need callout keywords in LotR, but I am trying this one out, so let me know your thoughts.
UHU08
[2] No Hope of Victory [Uruk]
Event • Response
Spell.
Pursuit – This event’s twilight cost is -1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
If a Free Peoples event is played, exert your [Uruk] or [Isengard] minion to cancel its effects.
A U 195
UHR07
[3] Loot of the !Westfold [Uruk]
Event • Shadow
Pursuit – Spot your [Uruk] minion to discard up to X conditions from play, where X is the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn. You draw a card for each condition discarded in this way.
A R 192
-
[3] Loot of the !Westfold [Uruk]
Event • Shadow
Pursuit – Spot your [Uruk] minion to discard a condition from play for each time the fellowship has moved this turn. You draw a card for each condition discarded in this way.
A R 192
You probably intend for this, but you do realize that you can discard Freeps conditions as well as Shadow, right? I didn't know if this was supposed to just be a card-drawing engine.
-wtk
-
It's supposed to be a removal spell with extra upside, so it's designed to mainly discard FP conditions. It could be that this should be more explicit, in which case I will specify "discard a FP condition".
Thran
-
I'd make it UP TO X conditions, so the Shadow player CAN target his OWN conditions if there are no more legal targets but he wants extra cards (say, he has drawn into 2 more Worries and can only discard one? Might work... Also, it can lure the FP player to think, if played on the first regroup, that he ASSUMED they are going to stop, and bait them into walking into yet another Worry and more minions). I like the idea of callout keywords, as they open up design space, like, "when you play X, you may return a card with pursuit from the discard pile to your hand". Sure, it's wide. But it's also narrow. You either get lucky, or build around it, or factor in the mathematics involved, all of which are fine choices for card games.
Loved the "response" love, as well, this game needs more direct interaction, rather than "I play my cards, you watch. You play your cards, I watch. I do this, you watch it happen. You do that, I watch it happen. One of us get screwed and is pissed, blabbing about NPE in the Forums because they can't do squat about me doing my stuff".
-
Thanks for the comments. Changed Loot of the !Westfold. And I totally agree with you FM: I have been making a conscious decision to include more interaction in my cards.
Some conditions for now. You'll have to tell me how well lookout seems to work on the second condition Close Pursuit (which incidentally probably needs a new title as it was named before the callout keyword was called "pursuit"). The third of these conditions is another one of my kind of reprints where I riff off an early card. I think you might know which one!
UHC08
[1] Hunted [Uruk]
Condition • Unbound companion
Resistance: -1
Search.
To play, exert your [Uruk] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, bearer is strength -2.
A C 184
UHU06
[2] Close Pursuit [Uruk]
Condition • Companion
Search. Lookout – Assignment. (You may play this condition any time you could play an assignment event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Uruk] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
In order for the Free Peoples player to assign bearer to a skirmish, he or she must exert.
When this condition is discarded from play, exert bearer.
A U 183
UHR06
[2] •Venemous Words [Uruk]
Condition • Support Area
At the start of the first regroup phase each turn, you may spot your [Uruk] or [Isengard] minion, 5 companions and 5 of your sites on the adventure path to make the move limit for this turn -1.
A R 201
-
With all the site manipulation I find Venemous Words a bit on the strong side.
-
Yes, that title needs a revamp. I liked the idea of combo'ing assignment actions, like picking off a weaker companion with Saruman, Servant of the Eye, since they didn't have enough vitality, but I also think it desperately needs a cap, like (limit 1 per bearer) or something, otherwise, you roll over a lot of strategies too easily (not to mention it might get ugly with [Raider] auto-wounding them and some form of discard pile recursion (if such a thing is possible).
-
UHC01
[4] Isengard Marksmen [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitaltiy: 3
Site: 5
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is an archer.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is damage +1.
A C 190
UHC03
[2] Isengard Watchman [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 5
Damage +1. Tracker. Lookout – Shadow. (You may play this card any time you could play a Shadow event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may draw 2 cards.
A C 191
UHR01
[7] •Lurtz, Master Tracker [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Damage +1. Tracker.
When you play Lurtz and each time you play another tracker card, you may reveal a card at random from the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck. If it has Shadow number 2 or more, you may exert a companion.
A R 193
UHR03
[3] •!Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Damage +1. Traitor. Lookout – Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play !Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol, you may heal X wounds from minions, where X is the number of mountain or battleground sites on the adventure path.
A R 194
-
I don't know, I kinda associate the first one's title with Uruk Vanguard, and it just don't measure up. 'd change the title and save it for a stronger minion. Liked the other ones, though.
-
Good point about the vanguard. I had not remembered that card title (I hardly even remember my own card titles!). I will work on something else.
-
You could leave him as is and add toil1. Give some tie in with the Lieutenant of Cirith Ungol.
The other option would be to make him gain fierce rather than damage +1.
-
I'm not going to use toil in this set, but he could indeed be fierce instead. I will consider the best title/mechanics link for that card a bit more...
But that was the last of the [Uruk] culture, so now we'll move into something else. While we're on a similar subject, we may as well have [Isengard]. You'll notice that some of the [Uruk] cards mention [Isengard] as well. That's not particularly because there are a good number of [Isengard] cards in the set (though there were a fair number in the previous block) but because it made flavour sense. In fact, there are 2. And here they are.
ISC01
[4] •Saruman, Master of Orthanc [Isengard]
Minion • Wizard
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Site: 4
Traitor.
Saruman may not take archery wounds or be assigned to skirmishes.
Shadow: Replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck with Shadow number 1 or less; that site cannot be replaced until the regroup phase. (Limit once per phase).
A C 93
Traitor is a tribal keyword (similar to tracker, besieger etc.) which I introduced in the last block. Occasionally it will matter. This Saruman is part of my goal to get cooler characters more often at lower rarities so that they show up more in packs, and specifically in draft (which my sets are designed to hopefully be able to do).
ISR+1
[2] •Library of Orthanc, Ancient Repository [Isengard]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot Saruman (or exert 2 of your minions).
You may hold a maximum of 10 cards in your hand when you reconcile.
A R+ 92
This is one of my favourite versions of the monument mechanic, and in fact was probably its inspiration. With monument, I was trying to capture the flavour and mechanics of a site on a non-site card. Sites are always active, so I thought why couldn't other cards do that? In general, they will make a change to you as a player or to the whole board state.
This is also the first R+ I've posted. As in many other card games, I have decided to put R+ rarities into a normal set. They would obviously be rarer than R in packs.
Thran
-
Would a Shadow card from an opponent be able to discard it? It seems like it would, but I'm curious.
-
Would a Shadow card from an opponent be able to discard it? It seems like it would, but I'm curious.
Yes, I believe so. Active shadow players would be able to interact with monuments.
-
That library would be splashed into every deck in the game. I personally think its too powerful, but maybe I'm wrong.
-
Just to clarify something, the hand size is not increasing to 10 but you can hold 10 cards if possible in your hand after regroup.
-
Yes, that's true, I also didn't realize that. Kinda sucks now (not really, but compared to what I thought it did...), could be a straight up R. :)
-
Indeed: it doesn't allow you to draw up to 10 cards, only to discard down to it. I defend my choice as an R+ because it is a rule-changing card that is not immediately obvious.
Thran
-
Okay. I'm going to move onto the [Gandalf] culture (for no particular reason). We'll start off with a couple of Gandalfs.
GAC01
[4] •Gandalf, Excellent Guide [Gandalf]
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
When you play Gandalf, you may play the fellowship’s next site.
A C 41
GAR01
[4] •Gandalf, Master Strategist [Gandalf]
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Valiant.
Each time you play a companion, you may add a burden to wound a minion (or wound that minion twice if the fellowship is at a battleground site).
A R 42
This rare Gandalf is a little bit of a "lookout lord", which I hope you can tell. I guess the problem with it is that it's not immediately obvious that the card does anything—if you saw it in a vacuum without knowing that lookout was one of the set keywords, it might be a bit strange to see.
GAR03
(0) •Seeing Stone of Orthanc, Lost Palantír [Gandalf]
Artifact • Palantír
Resistance: -2
Bearer must be Gandalf.
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may add a threat to reveal 3 cards at random from a Shadow player’s adventure deck. For each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed, you may add or remove [2].
A R 47
For a site block, the obvious way to make these sorts of cards different in this block is to make them reveal sites rather than cards from hand or on the top of draw decks. The "add or remove" clause is partly to do with stuff like The White Wizard and that subset of Towers cards, but it may be that it's not worth it.
GAC06
[1] Speak “Friend” and Enter [Gandalf] (reprint)
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Spot Gandalf to play the fellowship’s next site; if that site is an underground site, draw a card.
A C 49
An obvious reprint, I thought.
Let me know your thoughts!
Thran
-
I think the lookout Gandalf could do with Uncommon. Also, he could be used with [Rohan] as well, which was my first thought beofre being reminded about lookout, so he's not completely devoid of use without lookout.
-
I think he qualifies nicely as a rare. I'm not a huge fan of their subtitles, and the first gandalf needs to say except in your starting fellowship. I don't think he'd ever see play though.
-
I'd actually leave him at that. Why shouldn't you be able to play site 2?
-
I'd actually leave him at that. Why shouldn't you be able to play site 2?
The reason I didn't exempt the starting fellowship was because it felt weak, and also I wasn't sure why Gandalf should be worse than a random Ranger of Westernesse. But I can see arguments both ways.
Yes the subtitles aren't great, especially the second one. The titles I make for my sets are only final because I'm too lazy/busy to scour Lord of the Rings for good card names!
Thran
-
Now that I think about it, Excellent Guide DOES suck a lot. I mean, wth? Can you say that outloud without AT LEAST smirking? It'd be almost like naming him "Gandalf, Finds the Path".
-
So if no one has any fantastic ideas for new subtitles, I will post some more cards. Some miscellaneous companions (mainly to fill out the companion slots for the [Gandalf] culture). And a follower. The next post will be more followers.
GAU01
[2] Watcher of Dale [Gandalf]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this companion is discarded from play or killed, discard a Shadow follower from play.
A U 52
GAU02
[2] !Radagast’s Friend [Gandalf]
Companion • Beast
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 4
Valiant.
For each time the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, this companion is strength +2 and resistance +2.
A U 48
GAC02
[2] Friendly Breelander [Gandalf]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot a [Gandalf] card.
When you play this companion, if the fellowship is at a dwelling site, you may remove a burden.
A C 40
GAC03
[4] Great Eagle [Gandalf]
Follower • Eagle
Strength: +2
Vitality: +1
Aid – add a burden.
To play, spot a [Gandalf] card.
A C 43
-
I'd change Radagast's Friend to a clunkier version of his test, but that allowed him to gain an extra +2 strength and resistance for each time they moved beyong once, to tie in better with Radagast's game text.
-
I like that idea. Nice.
Thran
-
As promised, some [Gandalf] followers for today.
GAC04
(0) •Barliman Butterbur, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Resistance: +1
Villager. Aid – [2].
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a dwelling site and bearer is a [Gandalf] Wizard, exert him to take a [Gandalf] event into hand from your discard pile.
A C 37
GAU03
[1] •Járnsmid, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Villager. Aid – [3] (or spot your [Gandalf] companion and add [1]).
While you can spot a mountain site on the adventure path, bearer may not take more than 1 wound during each skirmish.
A U 45
GAR02
[2] •Erland, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Villager. Aid – [2].
To play, spot your [Gandalf] card.
While there is a mountain site on the adventure path, bearer is strength +2.
When Erland is transferred from your support area to a companion, you may discard up to 3 cards from your hand to draw that many cards.
A R 39
-
I like them all, but maybe make the great eagle unique? Barliman is awesome with out of the high airs.
-
GAC04
(0) •Barliman Butterbur, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Resistance: +1
Villager. Aid – [2].
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a dwelling site and bearer is a [Gandalf] Wizard, exert him to take a [Gandalf] event into hand from your discard pile.
A C 37
Are there wizards from other free peoples cultures? Otherwise the text seens needlessly clunky. I like it, though. And if the text does mean that wizards can exist in other cultures, I like the foreshadowing, as well.
GAU03
[1] •Járnsmid, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Villager. Aid – [3].
While you can spot a mountain site on the adventure path and another [Gandalf] card, bearer may not take more than 1 wound during each skirmish.
A U 45
Why another [Gandalf] card? That's so loose of a requirement, I think you could remove it altogether to allow splashing and simply let him aid for less (or for free) when played in a [Gandalf] deck.
GAR02
[2] •Erland, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Villager. Aid – spot your [Gandalf] companion and add a burden.
While there is a mountain site on the adventure path, bearer is strength +2.
When Erland is transferred from your support area to a companion, you may discard up to 3 cards from your hand to draw that many cards.
A R 39
Seems meh. Not sure I'd play this for the cycling, and the strength bonus is negligible.
-
Are there wizards from other free peoples cultures? Otherwise the text seens needlessly clunky. I like it, though. And if the text does mean that wizards can exist in other cultures, I like the foreshadowing, as well.
Well, not foreshadowing. More like "postshadowing (http://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/index.php?topic=2851.msg40873#msg40873)"!
Why another [Gandalf] card? That's so loose of a requirement, I think you could remove it altogether to allow splashing and simply let him aid for less (or for free) when played in a [Gandalf] deck.
Okay, I see that.
Seems meh. Not sure I'd play this for the cycling, and the strength bonus is negligible.
Hmm... I think it might be quite good (Ottar was excellent). It might be a slightly disappointing rare to open, but I guess that's okay too. It could be that his aid should be twilight instead of a burden.
Uniqueness of followers is an interesting thing. There have so far been only 2 non-unique followers, as far as I can tell (both [Rohan]). I want to try them out more widespread, and thanks to the Eagle's burden aid cost, I don't think having too many of them out at once will be a problem.
Thran
-
Not to mention the twilight cost. It costs a strong companion to get a herugrim (without the damage bonus) that adds burdens out. Not seeing it beng abused, except with The Shire Countryside, but then again, EVERYTHING that deals with burdens can - and will - be abused with The Shire Countryside.
-
Some support cards will finish off the [Gandalf] culture, from the standard and expected to the weird and bizarre! Let me know your thoughts.
Next post will probably be another culture, perhaps [Men].
GAC06
[2] Courage In the Face of Darkness [Gandalf]
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
Spot your [Gandalf] Wizard to make a companion strength +2 (or +4 if the current site has Shadow number 1 or less).
A C 38
GAU06
[2] Long-Term Plans [Gandalf]
Event • Regroup
Search.
Pursuit – Spot your [Gandalf] Wizard to look at the top 5 cards of your draw deck; replace those cards in any order. Then draw a card for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 46
GAU05
[2] Inspired Bravery [Gandalf]
Condition • Companion
Resistance: +1
Spell.
To play, spot your [Gandalf] Wizard. Limit 1 per bearer.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a battleground site, discard this condition to transfer a follower from your support area or another companion to bearer (without paying its aid costs).
A U 44
GAU04
[2] Ancient Staff [Gandalf]
Possession • Staff
Strength: +1
Bearer must be a [Gandalf] Wizard.
Response: If the fellowship is at a battleground site and you play a spell event, exert bearer twice and discard this possession to return that event to your hand after it resolves.
A U 36
GAR+1
[3] Thick Fog [Gandalf]
Event • Regroup
Spell. Weather.
Exert your [Gandalf] Wizard twice to shuffle all the sites on the adventure path and deal them again in a random order.
A R+ 50
-
GAC06
[2] Courage In the Face of Darkness [Gandalf]
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
Spot your [Gandalf] Wizard to make a companion strength +2 (or +4 if the current site has Shadow number 1 or less).
A C 38
This is pretty cool, but I think would be so much cooler if it was shadow number 3, after all, makes more sense since the name is "in face of darkness". Either way I like this concept.
Also something like an added bonus if you didn't play the site on which ur in... that would be very interesting.
-
This is pretty cool, but I think would be so much cooler if it was shadow number 3, after all, makes more sense since the name is "in face of darkness". Either way I like this concept.
Yes and no. Sites with Shadow number 1 and 0 tend to be good for Shadow players, whereas sites with Shadow number 2 or 3 tend to be good for Free Peoples players, which was the thinking behind the card the way it is. But it's a good point to raise and you could probably argue it either way.
I think there is at least 1 card in the set which cares whether they're your sites or your opponents'. It might be a theme that I increase in volume for the second set.
Thran
-
I liked those. Agree with leokula on the event, and let me add that Thick Fog is awesome.
-
I always thought that wizard staffs are somehow to weak (except radagast's staff or gandalf's staff from fellow block).
concerning thick fog: i like that!
-
How does thick fog deal with the text for Mount Doom? I assume that any region with Mount Doom in it would be exempt from the shuffle and re-deal.
-
in all fairness, the sites wouldn't be replaced, only rearranged.
-
Well, I'm fairly sure a clarification would have to say that the sites are all indeed being replaced, because they are being removed and then put back. So I would probably think that Mount Doom would work as suggested, that it and any sites in its region would be exempt from Thick Fog.
I will think more on the Courage in the Face of Darkness problem. I'm still leaning more towards the flavour of the site rather than the flavour of the twilight tokens (because sites with (0) or [1] tend to be nasty, Shadow-y places while sites with [2] or [3] tend to be nice, Free Peoples-y places), but we'll see what else other cards might suggest on this as it isn't an isolated theme.
I said this post might be [Men]. Obviously, it will be, and I think it will be some corsairs, which are fairly self-contained for one post:
MEC01
[2] Corsair Crossbowman [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 1
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a river site and you can spot your [Men] possession, this minion is an archer.
A C 99
MEU02
[3] Corsair Blademaster [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play),
When you play this minion, if you can spot a river site on the adventure path, you may add 2 threats.
A U 97
MER01
[6] •Corsair Captain [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce.
Each time you play another [Men] minion, you may remove [2] to exert a companion.
Each time your other [Men] minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may add [2].
A R 98
-
Just one other quick point. There wasn't a no.51 in the Gandalf culture. Is this a mis-numbering of the listings or did we miss out on a card?
-
Just one other quick point. There wasn't a no.51 in the Gandalf culture. Is this a mis-numbering of the listings or did we miss out on a card?
Well-spotted! You're obviously paying very close attention! ;)
We're not missing a card, it appears to be a mistake. I think Watcher of Dale ought to have the collector's info "A U 51", because the [Gollum] culture begins on 52.
Thanks for that! :gp:
Thran
-
Some various utility [Men] cards, including one reprint. Comments on these and the cards from the last post welcome!
MEC09
[1] Overrun (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a [Men] minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at a battleground or plains site).
A C 109
MEC08
[2] Burden of Memories [Men]
Condition • Unbound Companion
Resistance: -2
Limit 1 per bearer.
To play, spot your [Men] or tracker minion.
When bearer is a assigned to a skirmish, add [1] (or [2] if there is a dwelling site on the adventure path).
A C 96
MEU07
[1] Far Lands [Men]
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, you may spot your other [Men] card to replace the fellowship’s current site with a plains site from your adventure deck.
Response: If your [Men] or besieger minion is about to take a wound in a skirmish, spot 3 plains sites on the adventure path and discard this condition to prevent that wound.
A U 107
MEU08
[3] Disarming Strike [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Pursuit – Exert your [Man] minion to return a Free Peoples possession to the Free Peoples player’s hand for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A U 102
MER05
[2] •Desert Arrows [Men]
Condition • Plains site
While the fellowship is at this site and you can spot a [Men] minion, the minion archery total is +3.
A R 101
-
Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
This text really should be worded differently as to prevent it being too much of an event. As is what would seem to happen is card comes into play and is immediately discarded. Is that what you had in mind or did you want it to stay through the phase?
-
Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
This text really should be worded differently as to prevent it being too much of an event. As is what would seem to happen is card comes into play and is immediately discarded. Is that what you had in mind or did you want it to stay through the phase?
You've hit exactly the nail on the head! The card comes into play and is immediately discarded, and so, when you play a card using its lookout ability, it essentially works like an event.
Thran
-
If there are no comments on the previous cards, then I'll continue. Some traitors here (traitor is an unloaded keyword) and some followers, as well as a riff off Strange-Looking Men which probably isn't ban-worthy!
MEU01
[3] Breeland Slanderer [Men]
Minion • Man
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Sit: 2
Traitor. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Men] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may discard a follower from play.
A U 95
MEC06
[1] Breeland Informer [Men]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Traitor. Aid — [2].
To play, spot your [Men] card.
While the fellowship is at a dwelling site, each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish, you may look at 2 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s hand.
A C 94
MEU05
[2] Rohirrim Turncoat [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — [2].
When this follower is transferred from your support area to a [Men] minion, you may look at the top card of the Free Peoples player's draw deck; replace it or discard it.
A U 110
MER04
[2] •Unferth, Traitor to Rohan [Men]
Follower • Man
Site: -3
Traitor. Aid — (0).
To play, spot your [Men] or [Isengard] card.
When Unferth is transferred from your support area to your minion, you may reveal up to 3 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck; add [1] for each site revealed with Shadow number 2 or more.
A R 117
MER06
(0) Sleight of Hand [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Exert your [Men] or traitor minion to transfer a possession or condition borne by a companion to another eligible bearer.
A R 112
-
I like them mostly, the only thing is why would anyone use breeland informer when there is rohirrim turncoat?
-
Funny that I never made any sort of connection in my head between those two cards' abilities! Quite right. Rohirrim Turncoat is now changed. :gp:
Thran
-
If there are no comments on the previous cards, then I'll continue. Some traitors here (traitor is an unloaded keyword) and some followers, as well as a riff off Strange-Looking Men which probably isn't ban-worthy!
MEU01
[3] Breeland Slanderer [Men]
Minion • Man
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Sit: 2
Traitor. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Men] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may discard a follower from play.
A U 95
Finally some good follower hate, looks good!
MEC06
[1] Breeland Informer [Men]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Traitor. Aid — [2].
To play, spot your [Men] card.
While the fellowship is at a dwelling site, each time bearer is assigned to a, you may look at 2 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s hand.
A C 94
Typo, you forgot the word skirmish, otherwise great.
MEU05
[2] Rohirrim Turncoat [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — [2].
When this follower is transferred from your support area to a [Men] minion, you may look at the top card of the Free Peoples player's draw deck; replace it or discard it.
A U 110
I like these changes :up:
MER04
[2] •Unferth, Traitor to Rohan [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — (0).
To play, spot your [Men] or [Isengard] card.
When Unferth is transferred from your support area to your minion, you may reveal up to 3 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck; add [1] for each site revealed with Shadow number 2 or more.
A R 117
I don't think it would hurt to give him some stats, and it might fit flavor a bit to reduce site number of the bearer? Just a thought. Cool card tho!
MER06
(0) Sleight of Hand [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Exert your [Men] or traitor minion to transfer a possession or condition borne by a companion to another eligible bearer.
A R 112
Cool.
-
Some Easterlings now, and probably the last cards I will be posting for a while. I understand these might not be the most mind-blowing of cards, but comments are greatly appreciated. (I'm experimenting with Easterlings at site 6, which makes flavour sense to me—after all, there coming from at least as far afield as Mordor which gets site 6 minions).
MEC02
[1] Easterling Vanguard [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Tracker. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event).
When this minion is discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may spot your other [Men] card to add [X], where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
A C 106
These two following are part of Shadow minion cycles.
MEU03
[3] Easterling Sentinel [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
To play, spot your [Men] card.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site, you may add a threat.
A U 104
MEC03
[4] Easterling Tactician [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While you can spot 6 companions, each of your [Men] minions is fierce,
A C 105
You may recognise the influence of an older Easterling with this one...
MER02
[5] •Easterling Commander [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Besieger. Fierce.
Skirmish: Spot 2 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +2.
Skirmish: Spot 4 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +4.
A R 103
-
They are all pretty straightforward to me. Like the Combo of Easterling Vanguard with Elevated Fire.
-
Huh... Apparently I've been away for quite a while!...
Well, I hate leaving projects like this set unfinished, so I dug up my old files and started updating the cards and adding lore texts. I will probably go through all the cultures here over the course of a few weeks, and any comments would be greatly appreciated.
In case you've forgotten (which I'm certain you haven't!), this is the start of the next block in my series of Dream Card blocks. These are supposed to be moving the game forward after Hunters block, and it is assuming that the ridiculousness from that block has been fixed. So, in chronological order, my additions to the LotR TCG card pool are:
20) Light & Shadow (http://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/index.php/topic,1516.msg32838.html#msg32838)
21) !The Twilight World (http://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/index.php/topic,2851.msg40868.html#msg40868)
22) !Back to the Light (http://lotrtcgdb.com/forums/index.php/topic,3351.0.html).
23) Reflections II (http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php?topic=4118.msg54215#msg54215)
24) The Road Ahead
The sort of innovations we've had in previous sets:
• Lots of resistance/burdens matters cards
• Corrupted as a means of talking about any companion with resistance 0
• Getting more cool (i.e. unique) characters at lower rarities
• All the sets I have produced (except for Reflections II) in this cycle are designed to be playable in booster draft/sealed events
• Culture-shifting characters (e.g. [Gondor] Éowyn, [Rohan] Merry etc.)
• Adding races to followers, because why not?!
• Followers in new cultures and expanding Shadow followers
• Allowing flavour to guide the cards as much as possible—e.g. if a card makes sense for it to be a search card, or a weather card, or a ranger and so on, then it will have it!
Anyway, do browse some of the links above if you're interested in any of that.
So what's new this time round? Well, again, you could browse the previous discussions in this thread, as many of the cards will be repeated now. Basically, The Road Ahead is a set built around sites and the site path. It's also exploring other such shared space between your FP and SH sides, such as discard piles, hands. It's trying to use game resources, like the adventure deck, in new ways never-before-seen in LotR TCG. Further, it introduces the extra rarity R+ into a non-Reflections set; all other games do it, LotR would have done it eventually, had it survived the journey. It is also in theory draft-worthy.
I shall post some cards now. Mostly, what happens is people go through the cultures in alphabetical order. Controversially, because the sites are so key in this set, I'm going to start with the sites! Quite a few of them are reprints from War of the Ring block (which by this point would have rotated out). More of them are reworked and updated versions of old Movie Block sites. Some are old titles with entirely new text. And then, given that a lot of the sites are also part of the starter decks, I'll put the two starter deck characters below as well.
(W) •Anduin Banks (0) (reprint)
River.
The minion archery total is +2 for each companion you can spot over 4.
A S 224
(W) •Bag End [3]
Dwelling.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert a [Shire] companion to play a Free Peoples follower from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A C 225
(W) •Crashed Gate (0)
Battleground.
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may exert your besieger minion to discard a Free Peoples possession from play.
A S 226
(W) •Dammed Gate-stream [3] (reprint)
Marsh.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may play a [Gollum] Free Peoples card from your draw deck (except an event); shuffle your draw deck.
A S 227
(W) •Deeping Wall [1]
Battleground. Plains.
Engine cards cannot be discarded from play (except by its owner’s Shadow cards).
A S 228
(W) •The Dimholt [1]
Ruins. Underground.
When the fellowship moves from this site in region 2, each character must exert.
A U 229
(W) •Dimrill Dale (0)
Plains.
Shadow: Exert your [Orc] minion to play a Shadow condition from your discard pile. Limit once per player per turn.
A S 230
(W) •Dwarrowdelf Chamber [3]
Ruins. Underground.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert a [Dwarven] companion to play a Free Peoples tale condition from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A C 231
(W) •East Road (0) (reprint)
Forest.
Each companion is twilight cost +2.
A S 232
(W) •Eregion Hills [2]
Ruins.
Cards may not be played or stacked on this site.
A R 233
(W) •Gates of Argonath [2]
River.
Maneuver events may not be played.
A S 234
(W) •Golden Hall [1]
Dwelling.
When the fellowship moves to this site in region 1 or 2, discard all weapon cards from play.
A S 235
(W) •The Great River [1]
River.
Cards may not be played from draw decks or discard pile.
A S 236
(W) •Hall of the Kings [1]
When the fellowship moves to this site, each player may return a card in his or her discard pile to his or her hand.
A R 237
(W) •Haunted Pass [1]
When the fellowship moves to this site, each Shadow player may search his or her draw deck for a [Men] minion and take it into his or her hand; if you do, shuffle your draw deck.
A U 238
(W) •Heights of Isengard [3] (reprint)
Battleground.
Each time your [Gandalf] companion wins a skirmish, you may discard a condition from play.
A S 239
(W) •House of Elrond [2]
Dwelling.
When the fellowship moves from this site in region 1, spot your [Elven] companion to remove a burden.
A U 240
(W) •Meduseld [3]
Dwelling.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is in region 1, spot 2 of your [Rohan] companions to make the move limit +1 until end of turn. Limit once per turn.
A S 241
(W) •Moria Stairway [2] (reprint)
Underground.
Each character bearing a hand weapon is damage +1.
A S 242
(W) •Northern Ithilien [1]
Forest.
Shadow: Remove a threat to play Gollum from your discard pile.
A C 243
(W) •Osgiliath Crossing [3]
Battleground. River.
Each knight character is strength +1.
A S 244
(W) •The Prancing Pony [3] (reprint)
Dwelling.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may add a burden to play a ranger card from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A S 245
(W) •The Riddermark [2]
Plains.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert your companion to play a Free Peoples mount card from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A S 246
(W) •Saruman’s Laboratory (0)
Shadow spell cards are twilight cost -1.
A S 247
(W) •Tol Brandir (0)
River.
Shadow: Play a tracker card from your discard pile. Limit once per player per turn.
A S 248
(W) •Tower of Ecthelion [2]
Mountain.
[Gondor] cards may not be discarded from play (except by Free Peoples cards).
A S 249
(W) •Weathertop (0)
Ruins.
Assignment: Spot 3 burdens and discard 3 cards from your hand to assign your [Wraith] minion to skirmish a companion. That companion may exert to prevent this.
A U 250
[3] •Faramir, !Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
While you can spot a ranger card, Faramir’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, each Shadow event played in a skirmish involving Faramir is twilight cost +1.
“War will make corpses of us all.”
A S 81
[3] •Éomer, Knight of !the Riddermark [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While you can spot a knight card, Éomer’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, Éomer is strength +1 and an archer.
"Death! Death!"
A S 148
-
(W) •Bag End [3]
Dwelling.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert a [Shire] companion to play a Free Peoples follower from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A C 225
Isn't it a rule that you automatically shuffle the deck when you go through it?
(W) •Dammed Gate-stream [3] (reprint)
Marsh.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may play a [Gollum] non-event Free Peoples card from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A S 227
Seems pretty clunky. First, since during your fellowship phase all Shadow cards in your deck are inactive, you couldn't pull one if you wanted to. And if the card you can pull is that specific, I'd suggest just outright saying it.
(W) •Deeping Wall [1]
Battleground. Plains.
Engine cards cannot be discarded from play (except by its owner’s Shadow cards).
A S 228
Shouldn't it be machine? ;) Just kidding I also think it's dumb that Decipher made both machine AND engine keywords.
(W) •Dimrill Dale (0)
Plains.
Shadow: Exert your [Orc] minion to play a Shadow condition from your discard pile. Limit once per player per turn.
A S 230
Possible alternate: "...from your discard pile. End your shadow phase."
(W) •Dwarrowdelf Chamber [3]
Underground.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert a [Dwarven] companion to play a Free Peoples tale condition from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A C 231
Are there any [Dwarven] tales that aren't conditions?
(W) •East Road (0) (reprint)
Forest.
Each companion is twilight cost +2.
A S 232
Horribly, hilariously unbalanced. You should be ashamed of yourself.
(W) •Eregion Hills [2]
Cards may not be played or stacked on this site.
A R 233
Fairly useless, but it occurs to me that it would be neat to have a Ruins site keyword!
(W) •The Great River [1]
River.
Cards may not be played from draw decks or discard pile.
A S 236
Really like the flavor on this one. You could also make this a Battleground because of that short archery exchange in the first book.
(W) •Osgiliath Crossing [3]
Battleground. River.
Each knight character is strength +1.
A S 244
Knights could always use more love. I approve.
(W) •Saruman’s Laboratory (0)
Shadow spell cards are twilight cost -1.
A S 247
If only Decipher had retained this level of flavor! Their disregard for the little things like unloaded keywords is one of the major issues in post-!Mount Doom sets, I think.
[3] •Faramir, !Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
While you can spot a ranger card, Faramir’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, each Shadow event is twilight cost +1.
“War will make corpses of us all.”
A S 81
There's nothing seriously wrong with this card, and without remembering the rest of the [Gondor] cards in your set I'd recommend keeping this cost-boosting mechanic to Faramir alone. There's a reason Dauntless Hunter was banned for so long.
[3] •Éomer, Knight of !the Riddermark [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight.
While you can spot a knight card, Éomer’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, Éomer is strength +1 and an archer.
"Death! Death!"
A S 148
Do you have a knight Ring-bearer? (That would be neat.) Also, I'd say drop his resistance to 6 for two reasons: First, archery doesn't come standard with [Rohan]; and Second, since this is obviously a capture of his suicidal/maniacal actions on the Pelennor, he should be more susceptible to corruption.
I also read through your last most-recent post. I suggest renaming Easterling Vanguard. Vanguard is used in-game for big bad minion hordes, not puny little Rosie Cotton-bate.
-
(W) •Bag End [3]
Dwelling.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert a [Shire] companion to play a Free Peoples follower from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A C 225
Isn't it a rule that you automatically shuffle the deck when you go through it?
Aye. When you finish looking through it, reshuffle it and give the player to your right the opportunity to cut it. There is no penalty if you don’t find (or choose not to play) a card you are looking for in your draw deck.
(W) •Dammed Gate-stream [3] (reprint)
Marsh.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may play a [Gollum] non-event Free Peoples card from your draw deck; shuffle your draw deck.
A S 227
Seems pretty clunky. First, since during your fellowship phase all Shadow cards in your deck are inactive, you couldn't pull one if you wanted to. And if the card you can pull is that specific, I'd suggest just outright saying it.
I agree with the clunkiness. Should say "...you may play a [Gollum] card from your draw deck (except events)."
-
Thanks for the reviews! :gp: Really glad that there are still people on this forum paying attention!
So one of the things I've been going for in these new sets is clarity and consistency of wording for abilities. So some of the ways of expressing things might feel clunky at first, but it's for clarity's sake. That's why I'm doing things like specifying that you should shuffle your draw deck when you look through it. That said, "non-event Free Peoples card" is particularly unappealing. I guess the fact that I play mostly Magic: The Gathering now comes out occasionally! ;)
But great comments. I will make some changes, as suggested.
Thran
-
Fairly useless, but it occurs to me that it would be neat to have a Ruins site keyword!
Useless only as long, as no other cards refer to it. Which is easy to fix when making a DC set ;) And starting a new block is a great place to introduce new unloaded keywords.
Eregion Hills could be both Ruins and Hills (which is also a terrain type that could be good for the game but we don't have it currently). My idea for ruins: those places are often haunted. So they help wraith characters (both shadow and FP), they lower resistance, work with burdens and so on. Possible other ruins: Weathertop, City of the Dead. Ruins could become a new best location for Nazgul (with most forest-related cards rotating out). No idea for hills so far, but I guess someone will come up with a good one :)
-
I'm loving the ruins idea. In fact, I've updated a few more of the sites to be ruins and will make it a focus of later cards in the block. In fact, it fits incredibly nicely with where I know that the block would be headed, assuming I get round to actually finishing it.
In the meantime, here are some cards for which I have done the lore text. In no particular order, here are some [Gondor] cards!
I will now briefly introduce the set mechanics:
Lookout — Phase. (You may play this card any time you could play a Phase event; if you do, discard it from play).
Basically this allows you to use characters/conditions/possessions as events, or you could play them as normal.
Monument. (A monument card is always active).
This idea came from thinking about sites, and one thing about sites is that they are always active. So I thought that maybe that was a good way of making site-like cards. So there are a series of monuments, which in general have something to do with the shared space/interaction between your Shadow and FP side, to make the fact that they're always active relevant. It is generally on R or R+ cards only.
Pursuit.
This has no rules in itself, but it is a 'callout keyword'. This is just to indicate that the following line of text has something in common with other Pursuit text, that it counts the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
Adventure paths.
You'll notice several of these cards use the adventure path and the adventure decks in new ways. This is a key feature of the sites matter theme running through the set.
[3] •Alcarin, Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Alcarin is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal an opponent’s adventure deck. If you do, heal a companion for each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed.
A U 72
[4] •Aragorn, Hope of Gondor [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Knight.
Companions in your hand get Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play that companion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
Each time you you play a companion, you may choose one: make a companion strength +2; or make a minion's site number +2.
‘“A great doom awaits you, either to rise above the height of all your fathers since the days of Elendil, or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin.”’
A R 73
[4] •Aragorn, Of the Three Hunters [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Ranger.
At the start of the regroup phase, if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, you may discard a minion from play.
“We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left.”
A C 74
[1] Barricade [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
Fortification.
Maneuver: Spot your knight or ranger card to transfer this condition from your support area to the fellowship’s current site.
This site is a battleground.
‘... there stood up from the rear of the wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing east.’
A C 75
[3] •Boromir, Marked by Destiny [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Valiant. Defender +1.
When Boromir is killed during a skirmish, kill all minions he was skirmishing.
“They will look for his coming from the White Tower. But he will not return.”
A R 76
[2] •Brego, Aragorn’s Steed [Gondor]
Possession • Mount
Bearer must be a valiant Man or Aragorn.
Each time the fellowship moves from a battleground site, you may heal bearer.
Response: If a Shadow card is about to make you discard 1 or more cards from your hand or from the top of your draw deck, exert bearer to prevent that.
A R 77
[2] •Defensive Fire [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, the fellowship archery total is +1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, the minion archery total is -1.
‘Shot and dart fell thick; siege-towers crashed or blazed suddenly like torches.’
A U 78
[1] Deliberate Retreat [Gondor]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Pursuit – Spot your [Gondor] companion to make each minion site number +1 until the regroup phase for each time the fellowship has moved this turn. Then, you may return a roaming minion to its owner’s hand.
“Pull back! Pull back to Minas Tirith!”
A U 79
[3] •Faramir, !Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight.
At the start of each skirmish involving Faramir, if the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, each minion skirmishing him must exert.
“Sauron will strike us soon. And he will strike hard.”
A C 80
[3] •Gondor Craftsmanship [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 [Gondor] cards.
While the fellowship is in region 1, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -2.
While the fellowship is in region 2, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -1.
Regroup: If the fellowship is in region 3, discard 2 Free peoples conditions from play to wound a minion.
A R 82
[1] Gondorian Blade [Gondor] (reprint)
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be a [Gondor] Man.
While the fellowship is at a forest site or bearer is a ranger, bearer is damage +1.
‘And about each hill a ring was made facing all ways, bristling with spear and sword.’
A C 83
[2] •Madril, Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor] (reprint)
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at a forest site, exert Madril to play the fellowship’s next site.
“... we must look to our own borders, Faramir. Orcs are on the move. Sauron is marshalling an army.”
A C 84
[2] Ranger of Eriador [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion (except in your starting fellowship), you may play the fellowship’s next site.
‘“Lonely men we are, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the enemy.”
A C 85
[1] Throwing Knife [Gondor]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Lookout – Archery. (You may play this possession any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
Bearer must be a [Gondor] companion.
When this possession is discarded from play, you may wound a minion.
A U 86
(0) Tracking the Enemy [Gondor]
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Make a ranger character strength +2 (or +4 if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path).
‘“At last!” said Aragorn. “Here are the tracks that we seek! Up this water-channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate.”’
A C 87
[2] •Turgon, !Knight of Gondor [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Knight. Aid – [1].
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, each minion skirmishing bearer is site number +2.
‘“By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay...”’
A C 88
[2] !Guardian of the Citadel [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight.
When you play this companion, if the fellowship is at a sanctuary, you may play a [Gondor] condition from your discard pile.
‘The Guards of the gate were robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned... and above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds...
A U 89
[2] •Vorondil, !Defender of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Knight. Aid – [2].
To play, spot a [Gondor] companion.
Skirmish: Exert bearer twice to make him or her strength +1 for each dwelling site on the adventure path. If bearer wins that skirmish, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a dwelling site from your adventure deck.
A R 90
[3] •White Tree of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, exert 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
If you have no cards in your adventure deck, you win the game.
‘... in the midst, drooping over the pool, stood a dead tree...’
A R+ 91
-
[3] •Alcarin, Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Alcarin is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal an opponent’s adventure deck. If you do, heal a companion for each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed.
A U 72
Seems powerful to be able to see an entire adventure deck, but it may be fine. I'd maybe make it reveal 3 at random and heal for one or more.
[4] •Aragorn, Hope of Gondor [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Knight.
Companions in your hand get Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play that companion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
Each time you you play a companion, you may choose one: make a companion strength +2; or make a minion's site number +2.
‘“A great doom awaits you, either to rise above the height of all your fathers since the days of Elendil, or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin.”’
A R 73
Seems good, goes with any culture and if they have a discard type lookout ability it could get very interesting. I'd make it "...make an unbound companion...". Since most rangers aren't ringbound after TTT, I think it would work.
[4] •Aragorn, Of the Three Hunters [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Ranger.
At the start of the regroup phase, if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, you may discard a minion from play.
“We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left.”
A C 74
Seems fine. Nice lore.
[1] Barricade [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
Fortification.
Maneuver: Spot your knight or ranger card to transfer this condition from your support area to the fellowship’s current site.
This site is a battleground.
‘... there stood up from the rear of the wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing east.’
A C 75
I'd maybe add an ability, like the minion archery total is -1 at this site or something, it seems like a baricade would do more than make a battleground to me.
[3] •Boromir, Marked by Destiny [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Valiant.
When Boromir is killed, discard each Shadow possession, Shadow follower and Shadow character from play.
“They will look for his coming from the White Tower. But he will not return.”
A R 76
Wow, crazy powerful. A really big swarm or sauron, just kill him and poof, problem solved plus some. I'd have him splashed in every deck I own. I'd make it "...discard a Shadow follower, Shadow possession, or Shadow minion...". Or maybe one of each.
[2] •Brego, Aragorn’s Steed [Gondor]
Possession • Mount
Bearer must be a valiant Man or Aragorn.
Each time the fellowship moves from a battleground site, you may heal bearer.
Response: If a Shadow card is about to make you discard 1 or more cards from your hand or from the top of your draw deck, exert bearer to prevent that.
A R 77
I don't see the flavor to the response, but it's a fine ability.
[2] Defensive Fire [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, the fellowship archery total is +1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, the minion archery total is -1.
‘Shot and dart fell thick; siege-towers crashed or blazed suddenly like torches.’
A U 78
Super powerful as well, many multi cultural wounding decks already have farimir RB and Aragorn, so it would be more fuel on the fire. I'd maybe make it unique and change the 1's to 2's, but tough to say.
[1] Deliberate Retreat [Gondor]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Pursuit – Spot your [Gondor] companion to make each minion site number +1 until the regroup phase for each time the fellowship has moved this turn. Then, you may return a roaming minion to its owner’s hand.
“Pull back! Pull back to Minas Tirith!”
A U 79
I like it. Lots of flavor.
[3] •Faramir, !Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight.
At the start of each skirmish involving Faramir, if the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, each minion skirmishing him must exert.
“Sauron will strike us soon. And he will strike hard.”
A C 80
Fine, maybe a little over priced (see Theodred, Second Marshal of the Mark). I'd give him a similar twilight reduction ability.
[3] •Gondor Craftsmanship [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 [Gondor] cards.
While the fellowship is in region 1, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -2.
While the fellowship is in region 2, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -1.
Regroup: If the fellowship is in region 3, discard 2 Free peoples conditions from play to wound a minion.
A R 82
I'm not a fan of choke of any kind, but it seems fine.
[1] Gondorian Blade [Gondor] (reprint)
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be a [Gondor] Man.
While the fellowship is at a forest site or bearer is a ranger, bearer is damage +1.
‘And about each hill a ring was made facing all ways, bristling with spear and sword.’
A C 83
[2] •Madril, Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor] (reprint)
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at a forest site, exert Madril to play the fellowship’s next site.
“... we must look to our own borders, Faramir. Orcs are on the move. Sauron is marshalling an army.”
A C 84
[2] Ranger of Eriador [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion (except in your starting fellowship), you may play the fellowship’s next site.
‘“Lonely men we are, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the enemy.”
A C 85
[1] Throwing Knife [Gondor]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Lookout – Archery. (You may play this possession any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
Bearer must be a [Gondor] companion.
When this possession is discarded from play, you may wound a minion.
A U 86
Seems fine, sorta like a [gondor] double shot.
(0) Tracking the Enemy [Gondor]
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Make a ranger character strength +2 (or +3 if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path).
‘“At last!” said Aragorn. “Here are the tracks that we seek! Up this water-channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate.”’
A C 87
I'd go for +4 if opponent is ahead, see SotNK
[2] •Turgon, !Knight of Gondor [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Knight. Aid – [1].
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, each minion skirmishing bearer is site number +2.
‘“By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay...”’
A C 88
Seems fine, maybe can cost [1]
[2] !Guardian of the Citadel [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight.
When you play this companion, if the fellowship is at a sanctuary, you may play a [Gondor] condition from your discard pile.
‘The Guards of the gate were robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned... and above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds...
A U 89
Fine.
[2] •Vorondil, !Defender of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Knight. Aid – [2].
To play, spot a [Gondor] companion.
Skirmish: Exert bearer twice to make him or her strength +1 for each dwelling site on the adventure path. If bearer wins that skirmish, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a dwelling site from your adventure deck.
A R 90
Seems good.
[3] •White Tree of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, exert 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
If you have no cards in your adventure deck, you win the game.
‘... in the midst, drooping over the pool, stood a dead tree...’
A R+ 91
I always like alternate win conditions, so this definitely floats my boat.
-
Seems powerful to be able to see an entire adventure deck, but it may be fine. I'd maybe make it reveal 3 at random and heal for one or more.
Yes I've tried to keep effects that reveal whole adventure decks down to a minimum. It may be that in general it's too annoying...
I'd maybe add an ability, like the minion archery total is -1 at this site or something, it seems like a baricade would do more than make a battleground to me.
I see your point, but there's already the card below that reduces the archery total so I'd prefer something else.
Wow, crazy powerful. A really big swarm or sauron, just kill him and poof, problem solved plus some. I'd have him splashed in every deck I own. I'd make it "...discard a Shadow follower, Shadow possession, or Shadow minion...". Or maybe one of each.
Yes, you're probably right. In fact, it might be fine with discarding all followers and possessions and forgetting about minions. EDIT: I've had a better idea! Updated.
Super powerful as well, many multi cultural wounding decks already have farimir RB and Aragorn, so it would be more fuel on the fire. I'd maybe make it unique and change the 1's to 2's, but tough to say.
Hmmm... Definitely can see your point on uniqueness...
Fine, maybe a little over priced (see Theodred, Second Marshal of the Mark). I'd give him a similar twilight reduction ability.
Well, it's a [Rohan] ability—it's not a [Gondor] ability. And I never said that this version of Faramir was going to be that good!
Thanks for the comments. Very helpful. Will make some changes. :gp:
Thran
-
Short post this time. This monument is what I'm really talking about when I say this set is in part about the shared resources of Shadow and Free Peoples. The Saruman is part of my quest to get cool characters at lower rarities (because playing Saruman is unimaginably cooler than playing "random Uruk", especially in a draft). Traitor as a keyword was introduced in Light & Shadow. It's unloaded, but useful for people like Saruman, Breelanders, Gollum etc.
[2] •Library of Orthanc, Ancient Repository [Isengard]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot Saruman (or exert 2 of your minions).
You may hold a maximum of 10 cards in your hand when you reconcile.
At the end of each turn, remove an [Isengard] card in your discard pile from the game or discard this artifact.
‘“... Saruman has long studied the arts of the Enemy himself...”’
A R+ 92
[4] •Saruman, Master of Orthanc [Isengard]
Minion • Wizard
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Site: 4
Traitor.
Saruman may not take archery wounds or be assigned to skirmishes.
Shadow: Replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck with Shadow number 1 or less; that site cannot be replaced until the regroup phase. (Limit once per phase).
“Cut them all down!”
A C 93
-
[2] •Library of Orthanc, Ancient Repository [Isengard]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot Saruman (or exert 2 of your minions).
You may hold a maximum of 10 cards in your hand when you reconcile.
‘“... Saruman has long studied the arts of the Enemy himself...”’
A R+ 92
I would say that strong cultural enforcement is essential on a card like this. 2 extra cards per turn into your hand vastly alters the flow of your drawing - I'd even go so far as you drop it to 9 and/or put some kind of ongoing cost onto it, with some kind of optional discard text. I dunno though.
[4] •Saruman, Master of Orthanc [Isengard]
Minion • Wizard
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Site: 4
Traitor.
Saruman may not take archery wounds or be assigned to skirmishes.
Shadow: Replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck with Shadow number 1 or less; that site cannot be replaced until the regroup phase. (Limit once per phase).
“Cut them all down!”
A C 93
I get a kick out of imagining what shorthand names cards would adopt. This would either be Sarumoo or just Moo (referring to the subtitle, of course).
I recall earlier that there's an alt-win card if you deck your site path. I'd say that since Sarumoo costs [4] and then can do absolutely nothing besides replace a single site that this is pretty balanced. A solid common card. Also, I dig the traitor keyword. How much inter-culture play goes on in a traitor deck?
-
I would say that strong cultural enforcement is essential on a card like this. 2 extra cards per turn into your hand vastly alters the flow of your drawing - I'd even go so far as you drop it to 9 and/or put some kind of ongoing cost onto it, with some kind of optional discard text. I dunno though.
One of my missions is to reduce the amount of cultural enforcement in the game—certainly since War of the Ring block, I think there has been too much cultural enforcement and it has been reducing deckbuilding originality. So I tend to avoid cultural enforcement when I can.
I do take your point about some kind of upkeep cost for this. Though it's certainly not clear to me how powerful this card is, because I have broken the main rule for designing cards: playtest them!
Also, I dig the traitor keyword. How much inter-culture play goes on in a traitor deck?
Another thing I've been trying to change is how these unloaded keywords only sit within one culture, thereby, in my mind, ruining the point of them in the first place! For example, ranger is, up until my sets, an entirely [Gondor] keyword—except for 1 or 2 [Elven] cards. It just seems like a waste of design resources. So yes, there have been some cards that just talk about traitors (and trackers and knights etc.) some of which will be in this set. But I haven't gone through and actually checked what a traitor deck would look like! So I can't quite answer your question, sorry. About as good an answer as I can give: "Some"! ;)
Thran
-
Some traitors and some Shadow followers this time. More [Men] cards will follow.
[1] Breeland Informer [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — [2].
To play, spot your [Men] card.
Each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish at a dwelling site, you may look at 2 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s hand.
‘“Well, I saw what I saw, and I saw what I didn’t.”’
A C 94
[3] Breeland Slanderer [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Site: 2
Traitor. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Men] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may discard a follower from play.
A U 95
[2] Rohirrim Turncoat [Men]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Traitor. Aid — [2].
When this follower is transferred from your support area to a [Men] minion, you may look at 2 random cards from a player's adventure deck.
‘“How long has it been since Saruman bought you?”’
A U 109
(0) Sleight of Hand [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Exert your [Men] or traitor minion to transfer a possession or condition borne by a companion to another eligible bearer.
A R 111
[2] •Unferth, Traitor to Rohan [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — (0).
To play, spot your [Men] or [Isengard] card.
When Unferth is transferred from your support area to your minion, you may reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck; add [1] for each site revealed with Shadow number 2 or more.
A R 117
-
[3] Corsair Blademaster [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play),
When you play this minion, if you can spot a river site on the adventure path, you may add 2 threats.
‘“... they laughed when they looked on us, for they were a great army still.”’
A U 96
[6] •Corsair Captain [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce.
Each time you play another [Men] minion, you may remove [2] to exert a companion.
Each time your other [Men] minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may add [2].
A R 97
[2] Corsair Crossbowman [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 1
Site: 6
While the fellowship is at a river site and you can spot your [Men] possession, this minion is an archer.
‘“There at Pelargir lay the main fleet of Umbar, fifty great ships and smaller vessels beyond count.”’
A C 98
[1] Curved Blade [Men]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be your [Men] minion.
While you can spot a card in the Free Peoples player’s dead pile, bearer is damage +1.
‘... the drawing of the scimitars of the Southrons was like a glitter of stars.’
A C 99
[3] Cut Supplies [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Pursuit – Exert your [Man] minion to return a Free Peoples possession to the Free Peoples player’s hand for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘Umbar remained at war with Gondor for many lives of men, a threat to its coastlands and to all traffic on the sea.’
A U 100
-
[3] Southron Hunter [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, this minion is strength +2.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is an archer.
A C 112
[2] Southron Nomad [Men]
Minion • Man
?Strength: 6
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this card any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may play the fellowship’s next site if it’s a plains site.
“You wonder what his name is, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart.”
A U 113
[3] Southron Stalker [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may wound a companion skirmishing your [Men] minion.
‘For a moment he caught a glimpse of swarthy men in red running down the slope...’
A C 114
[2] Southron Strategist [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Shadow.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may search your draw deck for a [Men] possession or a [Men] condition; reveal that card, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your draw deck.
‘Three great fleets, long prepared, came up from Umbar and the Harad...’
A R 115
[2] Mighty Longbow [Men]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Bearer must be a [Men] minion.
Bearer is an archer.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer is strength +1.
A U 107
[2] •Thick in the Air [Men]
Condition • Plains site
While the fellowship is at this site and you can spot a [Men] minion, the minion archery total is +3.
‘There was a great battle in Lebennin at the Crossings of Erui, in which much of the best blood in Gondor was shed.’
A R 116
-
Last [Men] before I move onto something more interesting. But you know, they do their job. This time is focussed on Easterlings (we've already had Breelanders, Corsairs and Southrons).
Also note the sneaky cards that feel like they're extending a previous cycle of Shadow cards. I'm not going to tell you which they are, but I'll let you work them out (there are 2-3, I think, depending on your definition)! 8-)
Any specific comments on these cards or overall comments on the [Men] culture would be greatly appreciated.
[5] •Easterling Commander [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Besieger. Fierce.
Skirmish: Spot 2 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +2.
Skirmish: Spot 4 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +4.
A R 101
[3] Easterling Sentinel [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
To play, spot your [Men] card.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site, you may add a threat.
A U 102
[1] Easterling Tactician [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Tracker. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event).
When this minion is discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may spot your other [Men] card to add [X], where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
A C 103
[4] Easterling Vanguard [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While you can spot 6 companions, each of your [Men] minions is fierce.
‘... out of the East Men were moving endlessly: swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses...’
A C 104
[1] Far Lands [Men]
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, you may spot your [Men] card to replace the fellowship’s current site with a plains site from your adventure deck.
Response: If your [Men] or besieger minion is about to take a wound in a skirmish, spot 3 plains sites on the adventure path and discard this condition to prevent that wound.
A U 105
[2] Longing for Home [Men]
Condition • Unbound Companion
Resistance: -2
Limit 1 per bearer.
To play, spot your [Men] or tracker minion.
When bearer is a assigned to a skirmish, add [1] (or [2] if there is a dwelling site on the adventure path).
‘“... I tried to remember the Brandywine, and Woody End, and The Water running through the mill at Hobbiton.”’
A C 106
[1] Overrun (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a [Men] minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at a battleground or plains site).
‘... Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues.’
A C 108
[4] Run No More [Men]
Event • Skirmish
Pursuit – Place a companion (except the Ring-bearer) skirmishing your [Men] minion in the dead pile, as long as that companion’s twilight cost is equal to or less than the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“I can’t manage it, Sam,” he said. “It is !such a weight to carry, such a weight.”’
A R 110
-
Time for Sméagol!
(0) Day Is Near [Gollum] (F)
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Pursuit – Spot Sméagol or Gollum to reveal X cards at random from a Shadow player’s hand, where X is the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“You are not wise to be glad of the Yellow Face,” said Gollum. “It shows you up.”’
A U 53
(0) •Déagol, Friend to Sméagol [Gollum] (F)
Follower
Resistance: +1
Aid — spot Sméagol and add a burden.
Response: If the fellowship is at a river site and bearer is about to take a wound in a skirmish, add a burden to prevent that wound.
‘“... sharper-eyed but not so quick and strong.”’
A U 54
[1] Helpful Guide [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Companion
Resistance: +1
Stealth. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this card any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot Sméagol or Gollum.
Limit 1 per bearer.
When this condition is discarded from play, you may remove a burden.
‘... if they fell behind, he would turn and wait for them.’
A C 59
[2] Out of the Way [Gollum] (F)
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol to remove X threats or X burdens, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
‘“But Sméagol had been watching him from behind a tree...”’
A R 65
[4] •Pressing Ahead [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert Sméagol.
The move limit is +1.
‘“The Wood-elves tracked him first, an easy task for them, for his trail was still fresh then. Through Mirkwood and back again it led, though they never caught him.”’
A R 66
[1] Slip Away [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
Strength: -2
Skirmish: Transfer this condition to a minion skirmishing Sméagol.
When this condition is discarded from play, bearer’s owner must return one of his or her sites from the adventure path to his or her adventure deck; if he or she does, replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
A U 67
(0) •Sméagol, Absent Guide [Gollum] (F)
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 5
Ring-bound. Tracker. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play Sméagol any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, add a burden.
When you play Sméagol, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck.
A C 68
(0) •Sméagol, Inquisitive Creature [Gollum] (F)?
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 5
Ring-bound. Traitor.
While the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Sméagol cannot be overwhelmed.
At the start of the regroup phase, you may draw a card.
‘“He was interested in roots and beginnings; he dived into deep pools; he burrowed under trees and growing plants...”’
A R 69
[2] Stream and Pool [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
While the fellowship is at a marsh site, each [Gollum] event you play is twilight cost is -1.
While an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, Sméagol is strength +1.
‘The cold hard lands // they bites our hands, // they gnaws our feet.’
A C 70
(0) Wander Far and Wide [Gollum] (F)
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Make Sméagol strength +1 for each site on the adventure path with Shadow number 2 or more.
‘“He grew stronger and bolder with new food and new air.”’
A C 71
-
The rest of the [Gollum] culture for now. Please do let me know what you think.
[1] Close Behind [Gollum] (SH)
Event • Maneuver
Search.
Exert Gollum or Sméagol to add a burden (or 2 burdens if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path).
‘Yet Frodo began to hear, or to imagine that he heard, something else: like the faint fall of soft bare feet.’
A C 52
(0) Easy Victim [Gollum] (SH)
Event • Skirmish
Search.
Make Gollum strength +1 for each site on the adventure path with Shadow number 1 or less.
‘He ate any living thing, even orc, if he could catch it and strangle it without a struggle.’
A C 55
(0) Evil Agenda (SH)
Event • Regroup
Spot Gollum to make the move limit for this turn +1 and make the Free Peoples player move again. The Free Peoples player may add 2 burdens to prevent this.
‘... after ages alone in the dark, Gollum’s heart was black, and treachery was in it.’
A R 56
[2] •Gollum, Dark Stalker [Gollum] (SH)
Minion
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Site: 3
Tracker. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play Gollum any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Gollum is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may exert a companion.
‘“... he put his knowledge to crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful.”’
A C 57
[2] •Gollum, Old and Wretched [Gollum] (SH)
Minion
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Site: 3
Traitor.
Skirmish: Exert Gollum twice to kill a companion he is skirmishing (except the Ring-bearer). Unless the fellowship is in region 3, the Free Peoples player may discard 3 Free Peoples cards from play to prevent this.
A R 58
[2] Long-Awaited Betrayal [Gollum] (SH)
Event • Regroup
Spot Gollum or Sméagol to wound a companion (except the Ring-bearer) with strength less than the number of sites on the adventure path.
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both. And then we take the Precious and we be the Master.”
A U 60
(0) Longing for the Ring [Gollum] (SH)
Event • Shadow
Search.
Spot Gollum or Sméagol to reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck. Add [1] for each dwelling site revealed.
‘“He was not daunted by the distance, I am sure. No, something else drew him away.”’
A U 61
[2] Master Tracker [Gollum] (SH)
Condition • Support Area
Search.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, exert Gollum to make a minion fierce until the regroup phase.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, exert Gollum to make a minion strength +2.
‘“Gollum’s sharp ears would soon learn what he wanted.”’
A U 62
(0) •Memory of Déagol [Gollum] (SH)
Follower
Aid — remove a burden.
To play, spot Gollum or Sméagol.
Each companion skirmishing bearer is strength -1 for each card in the Free Peoples player’s dead pile.
‘“It was his birthday. Déagol ought to have given the ring to him.”’
A R 63
[1] Misled [Gollum] (SH)
Condition • Marsh or mountain site
Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this condition any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot Gollum or Sméagol.
When the fellowship moves from this site, discard this condition.
When this condition is discarded from play, add 2 threats.
“Long ways to go yet. Sméagol will show you the way. Follow me.”
A C 64
-
Close behind is a little bit too strong I think because its too easy to add 2 burdens. I would put it in a deck like this http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,1201.0.html and win easily. I would rather say "add a burden and a threat if..." but not 2 burdens. Or maybe you could increase the card's twilight cost or make it a regroup event.
The other cards from your last post are all fine.
-
It occurred to me recently that I never finished posting this. This might become the most drawn out dream set of all time, but I still have all the cards on my computer so I guess I could continue posting these for years!...
A quick reminder: this was the second in my post-Treachery & Deceit dream blocks. The first, Light & Shadow, was all about resistance and the One Ring. This second (of which this set is the 1st and large set) was all about sites. My goals in these sets was several-fold:
• To make clean, simple and flavourful designs.
• To make a set that would work in a limited environment (like MTG)—this particularly has an impact on things like the number of characters at common and the simplicity of common designs.
• To utilise under-used design space. Light & Shadow played with resistance and cultures in new ways. The goal of the Road Ahead block is to use sites in new and innovative ways, as well as the classic ways.
• Continue Decipher's sets, with the new cultures and new rules updates (followers, resistance, Shadows sites etc.) and with rotation, but to build much more balanced standard environments.
• To bring lessons from the hugely successful designs of MTG into LotR.
With that said and done, I appear to be onto the [Moria] culture. Do let me know what you think, I always love getting feedback!
(0) •Endless Stairs of Moria [Moria]
Condition • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot an underground site on the adventure path.
After all fierce skirmishes have resolved, you may choose a minion. If you do, there is an additional assignment and skirmish phase this turn during which other minions may not participate.
‘“We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted.”’
A R+ 118
[1] Trapped in the Dark [Moria]
Event • Shadow or Regroup
Spot your [Orc] or [Moria] card to replace the current site with an underground site from your adventure deck. If the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, you may replace each site in the fellowship’s current region with an underground site from your adventure deck instead.
A U 119
-
I like both designs, but the cards leave me with a couple of questions. Does one player playing an Endless Stairs prevent everyone else from playing their own? When does this extra skirmish phase happen? And for Trapped in the Dark, what if I have two underground sites in my adventure deck, or the current region of the adventure path only has two sites in it currently? Can I still play two, or is the card meant to be only one or three?
-
Does one player playing an Endless Stairs prevent everyone else from playing their own?
I do believe that this is how it would work, yes. The purpose of the monument mechanic is to make non-site cards that act like sites. The way it is currently worded this would be true even during your Free Peoples turn when your Shadow cards are normally inactive.
When does this extra skirmish phase happen?
I don't remember if I realised this when I designed this card, but the extra skirmish phase happens after all fierce skirmish phases have been resolved, which would currently mean that if there were no fierce skirmishes, then this ability wouldn't trigger and you wouldn't get the third skirmish phase. Thinking about it, I don't think this is a problem per sé, but it might be a little unintuitive.
And for Trapped in the Dark, what if I have two underground sites in my adventure deck, or the current region of the adventure path only has two sites in it currently? Can I still play two, or is the card meant to be only one or three?
It should work with 1, 2 or 3 sites. In both of your examples, 2 sites would be played, not 3.
Thanks for the comments!
Thran
-
Some [Orc] cards now, I should think. Note there are a few reprints and functional reprints from old [Sauron] cards that I thought would fit in the [Orc] culture.
[4] •Archer Commander, !Denizen of Moria [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Archer. Tracker.
While the fellowship is at an underground site, the minion archery total is +2.
Archery: Exert Archer Commander to add a threat for each [Orc] minion you can spot.
A R 120
[3] Black Gate Troll [Orc]
Follower • Troll
Strength: +3
Vitality: +1
Aid – discard your minion from play.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, bearer is fierce.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, the Free Peoples player must reveal a Free Peoples event from his or her hand or add a burden.
A U 121
(0) Corrupted Halls [Orc]
Event • Skirmish
Make an [Orc] minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at an underground site).
A C 122
[1] Disunity [Orc]
Condition • Companion
Search.
To play, exert your [Orc] or tracker minion.
Each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish by the Free Peoples player, he or she must choose either to discard 3 cards from his or her hand or add a burden.
A U 124
[2] •Evil Swarms [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Each time you play an [Orc] minion, you may remove [3] to discard a Free Peoples condition or possession from play.
A R 125
[2] Excavate [Orc]
Event • Regroup
Search.
Pursuit – This event’s twilight cost is -1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
Spot your [Orc] minion to play the fellowship’s next site if it’s an underground site.
‘“Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things.”’
A U 126
[4] Frenzied Orc [Orc] (reprint)
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
While the fellowship is at an underground site, each character skirmishing this minion is strength -2.
While you can spot 6 companions, each character skirmishing an [Orc] minion is strength -2.
A C 127
(0) Gathering Forces [Orc]
Event • Shadow
Search.
Pursuit – Spot your [Orc] minion to play a minion from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A R 123
[1] •Great Beasts of Mordor [Orc]
Possession • Support Area
Engine.
To play, exert your [Orc] or besieger minion.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground site, you may remove [3] to take an engine card into hand from your discard pile.
A R 128
[4] •Grishnákh, !Mordor Captain [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Tracker.
The site number of each of your [Orc] or tracker minions is -3.
Shadow: Exert Grishnákh twice and spot another [Orc] or tracker minion to draw 3 cards. The Free Peoples player may add 2 burdens to prevent this.
A R 129
[7] Grishnákh’s Trappers [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 15
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce. Tracker. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Orc] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may play a tracker minion from your discard pile; its twilight cost is -7.
A R 130
[1] Hard Cover [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Engine.
While the fellowship is at an underground site and you can spot your [Orc] minion, the fellowship archery total is -1.
A C 131
[4] Mordor Disruptor [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Besieger. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), the Free Peoples player must discard 2 cards from his or her hand.
A C 132
[5] Mordor Sentry [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Archer. Besieger.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site from his or her adventure deck, he or she must discard 1 card from his or her hand.
A U 133
[5] Mordor Thug [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 13
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A C 134
[2] Mordor Watchman [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Tracker.
While the fellowship is at a river site, this minion’s site number is -3.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A U 135
[3] Moria Ambusher [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout – Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion during the skirmish phase, you may spot another [Orc] minion to add [1] for each companion assigned to a skirmish.
A U 136
[3] Moria Archer [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
While the fellowship is at an underground site, this minion is an archer.
A C 137
[2] Moria Pursuer [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this minion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may heal a tracker minion twice.
A C 138
[1] •No Course But !Despair [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Spell.
Each time your [Orc] minion wins a skirmish, you may make the Free Peoples player discard 1 card from his or her hand.
While the Free Peoples player has no cards in his or her hand, each of your [Orc] minions is fierce.
A R 139
(0) Orkish Scimitar [Orc]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be an [Orc] minion.
When you play this possession on a tracker minion, you may add [1].
A C 140
[1] Scurrying Goblin [Orc] (reprint)
Minion • Orc
Strength: 5
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
When you play this minion at an underground site, you may spot another [Orc] minion to add [2].
A U 141
[2] Standard of Mordor [Orc]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Bearer must be an [Orc] minion. May be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck. If you reveal a battleground site in this way, you may discard Free Peoples condition or Free Peoples follower from play.
A U 142
(0) Watchers of Mordor [Orc]
Condition • Unbound Companion
Resistance: -2
To play, exert your [Orc] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
Each time the fellowship moves to a site in region 3, the Free Peoples player must reveal a Free Peoples event from his or her hand or add a burden.
A C 143
-
Some [Sauron] cards for today. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
I tend to use the old cultures like [Sauron], [Isengard] and [Moria] for some interesting off-beat cards that don't fit into a Shadow culture's strategies particularly. These are 2. In this set, I have been bringing back followers having not touched on them on the previous block, Light & Shadow. There are a string of both Free Peoples and Shadow followers throughout the set.
[3] •Sauron’s Taskmaster [Sauron]
Follower • Man
Strength: +3
Aid — discard 2 cards from your hand.
When Sauron’s Taskmaster is transferred from your support area to a minion, reveal 3 sites at random from a player’s adventure deck; discard the top X cards of that player’s draw deck, where X is the total Shadow numbers of the revealed sites.
A R 164
[3] •The Teeth of Mordor [Sauron]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card is always active while its in play).
To play, spot your unique minion.
Each time a fellowship moves, you may stack a card from your discard pile here.
Each time you are about to draw a card, instead take a card stacked here into hand.
A R+ 165
-
I know you're for less cultural enforcement, but the current incarnation of the Taskmaster is crazy-overpowered. I'd suggest limiting it to revealing, at most, like 3 sites.
Also, Taskmaster is misspelled in the gametext ;-)
-
I know you're for less cultural enforcement, but the current incarnation of the Taskmaster is crazy-overpowered. I'd suggest limiting it to revealing, at most, like 3 sites.
Also, Taskmaster is misspelled in the gametext ;-)
Agreed! I am indeed for less cultural reinforcement as I think the game had a ludicrous amount. I'm okay especially with a card like the Taskmaster being completely unenforced as it is a very marginal ability, awesome in some decks (running cards like The Irresistible Shadow) and it should be pretty useless in others. To this end, I have changed the card as you suggested—I was similarly worried about how powerful it might be. Also, the thought occurs to me about using it with Movie sites...
Half of the [Uruk] culture today. The other half probably next week.
(0) Battle-lust [Uruk]
Event • Skirmish
Exert your [Uruk] minion to make that minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at a battleground site).
A C 178
[2] Cirith Ungol Footman [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1.
When you play this minion, if the fellowship is at a mountain site, you may heal a minion (or 2 minions if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path).
A U 179
[3] Cirith Ungol Lookout [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1. Lookout – Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may exert your [Uruk] minion to make a companion it is skirmishing strength -3.
A C 180
[4] Cirith Ungol Mountaineer [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1. Tracker.
To play, spot your [Uruk] card.
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a mountain site, discard this minion and 2 of your other minions to make the move limit for this turn -1.
A U 181
[4] Cirith Ungol Outlander [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Traitor. Damage +1.
While the fellowship is at a mountain site, this minion’s site number is -2.
While you can spot 6 companions, each of your other [Uruk] minions are site number -2.
A C 182
[2] Close Pursuit [Uruk]
Condition • Companion
Search. Lookout – Assignment. (You may play this condition any time you could play an assignment event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Uruk] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
In order for the Free Peoples player to assign bearer to a skirmish, bearer must exert.
When this condition is discarded from play, exert bearer.
A U 183
[1] Hunted [Uruk]
Condition • Unbound companion
Resistance: -1
Search.
To play, exert your [Uruk] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, bearer is strength -2.
A C 184
[4] Isengard Advance Troop [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitaltiy: 3
Site: 5
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is damage +1.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is an archer.
A C 185
[4] Isengard Archer [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 5
Archer. Tracker. Lookout – Archery. (You may play this minion any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion during the archery phase, you may make the fellowship archery total -6.
A U 186
[6] Isengard Commander [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 13
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Besieger. Damage +1. Fierce.
Assignment: If the fellowship is ahead of you on the adventure path, exert this minion twice to assign it to an unbound companion. The Free Peoples player kill this minion and a companion to prevent this.
A R 187
[5] Isengard Harrier [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Damage +1. Tracker.
When you play this minion, if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, you may discard a condition from play.
A C 188
[3] Isengard Sentry [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Damage +1.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site from his or her adventure deck, you may draw a card.
A U 189
[1] Isengard Siege Bow [Uruk] (reprint)
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Vitality: +1
Bearer must be an [Uruk] minion.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, it is an archer.
A U 190
[2] Isengard Watchman [Uruk]
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 5
Damage +1. Tracker. Lookout – Shadow. (You may play this card any time you could play a Shadow event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may draw 2 cards.
A C 191
-
Full set for reference:
RINGS:
•The One Ring, Borne with Great Haste [Ring]
Resistance: +2
Response: If the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound in a skirmish, make him or her wear The One Ring until the regroup phase.
While the Ring-bearer is wearing The One Ring, each time he or she is about to take a wound, add a burden instead (or 2 burdens if the fellowship has not moved more than once this turn).
‘“We must send the Ring into the Fire.”’
A S 1
•The One Ring, The Ruling Ring [Ring]
Strength: +1
Response: If the Ring-bearer is about to take a wound in a skirmish, make him or her wear The One Ring until the regroup phase.
While the Ring-bearer is wearing The One Ring, each time he or she is about to take a wound, add a burden instead.
“One Ring to rule them all...”
A C 2
•The One Ring, Weapon of the Enemy [Ring]
Strength: +2
Vitality: +1
Each site’s Shadow number is +1.
Maneuver: Add [2] to make the Ring-bearer wear The One Ring until the regroup phase.
While your Ring-bearer is bearing The One Ring, each time he or she is about to take a wound, add a burden instead.
‘He only had to put on the Ring and claim it for his own...’
A R+ 3
DWARVEN – 12 (5/4/3)
[1] Attrition [Dwarven]
Condition • [Dwarven] Companion
Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
Limit 1 per bearer.
When bearer wins a skirmish involving a minion, that minion’s owner discards the top 3 cards of his or her draw deck.
When this condition is discarded from play, each opponent discards the top 3 cards of his or her draw deck.
A U 4
[1] Axe of Khazad-Dûm [Dwarven] (reprint)
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be your Dwarf character.
While the fellowship is at a mountain site, bearer is damage +1.
‘... the halls of Khazad-Dûm were too deep and strong and filled with a people too numerous and valiant for Sauron to conquer from without.’
A C 5
[3] •Dáin Ironfoot, Steadfast King [Dwarven]
Follower • Dwarf
Resistance: +2
Aid – discard the top 3 cards of your draw deck.
Bearer is valiant.
If bearer is a [Dwarven] companion, he or she is strength +1 for each mountain site on the adventure path.
‘“... in his great age he could still wield his axe as mightily as they say that he did, standing over the body of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor until the darkness fell.”’
A R 6
[4] •Durin’s Legacy [Dwarven]
Condition • Support Area
Monument. Tale. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, exert 2 of your [Dwarven] characters.
Each time your card is about to go to the discard pile, put it on the bottom of your draw deck instead.
‘[In Moria] he lived so long that he was known far and wide as Durin the Deathless... ’
A R 7
(0) Dwarf Halls [Dwarven]
Condition • Support Area
Skirmish: Discard this condition to make your [Dwarven] character strength +2 (or +3 and damage +1 if the fellowship is at an underground site).
‘After the end of the First Age the power and wealth of Khazad-Dûm was much increased; for it was enriched by many people and much lore and craft...’
A C 8
[2] •Farin, Dwarf of the Mountain Race [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Valiant.
Fellowship or Regroup: Exert Farin and discard the top 3 cards of your draw deck to play the fellowship’s next site if it’s an underground site.
‘“Some spoke of Moria: the mighty works of our fathers that are called in our own tongue Khazad-Dûm, and they declared that now at last we had the power and numbers to return.”’
A U 9
[2] •Frór, Dwarf of the Mountain Race [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Valiant.
While you have at least 3 sites on the adventure path, each underground site is Shadow number -1.
‘“For a while we had news and it seemed good: messages reported that Moria had been entered and a great work begun there.”’
A U 10
[2] •Gimli, Cousin of Balin [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at an underground site, exert Gimli to search your draw deck for a Free Peoples tale card; reveal it, and put it into your hand. Shuffle your draw deck. (Limit once per turn).
‘“I need no map.”’
A R 11
[2] •Gimli, Of the Three Hunters [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Damage +1. Valiant.
At the start of your fellowship phase, if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, you may take a Free Peoples condition into your hand from your discard pile.
‘“Dwarves too can go swiftly, and they do not tire sooner than Orcs.”’
A C 12
[2] •Glóin, Ambassador of Erebor [Dwarven]
Follower • Dwarf
Strength: +1
Resistance: +1
Aid — discard the top card of your draw deck.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may spot another [Dwarven] card to draw a card (or 2 cards if the fellowship is at a mountain site).
‘“There is much to tell,” said Glóin; “yet it is mostly good: we have so far been fortunate, though we do not escape the shadow of these times.”’
A C 13
(0) Lost Treasures [Dwarven]
Event • Maneuver
Tale.
Pursuit – Exert your [Dwarven] companion to play a Free Peoples condition or Free Peoples possession from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘He was a little crazed perhaps with age and misfortune and long brooding on the splendour of Moria in his forefathers’ days... he went north with Nár, and they crossed the Redhorn Pass and came down into Azanulbizar.’
A U 14
[2] Warrior of Erebor [Dwarven]
Companion • Dwarf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may make an unbound companion strength +3 until the regroup phase.
‘“When you think of the great Battle of the Pelennor, do not forget the battles in Dale and the valour of Durin’s folk.”’
A C 15
ELVEN – 20 (7/7/5/1)
[2] •Arwen, Enemy of Shadow [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Each minion skirmishing Arwen is strength -X, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
While the fellowship is at a river site, each minion skirmishing Arwen loses fierce and cannot gain fierce until the regroup phase.
‘“I do not fear them.”’
A R 16
[2] •Arwen, Ranger of Rivendell [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger.
Response: If the fellowship is at a sanctuary and another companion is about to take a wound in a skirmish, discard 3 cards from hand to prevent that wound.
‘“Frodo... Im Arwen. Telin le thaed. Lasto beth nîn. Tolo dan na ngalad.’”
A C 17
[1] •Borders of Elvenhome [Elven]
Condition • Site
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, exert 2 of your [Elven] companions.
This site is a sanctuary.
‘“There lie the woods of Lothlórien!” said Legolas. “That is the fairest of all the dwellings of my people.”’
A R 18
[1] Bow of Lórien [Elven]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Bearer must be an [Elven] companion.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, bearer is an archer.
While the fellowship is at a river site, each minion skirmishing bearer is strength -1.
‘... longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with a string of elf-hair.’
A C 19
[4] •Elrond, Lord of the Last Homely House [Elven]
Follower • Elf
Vitality: +1
Resistance: +2
Aid – spot your [Elven] card and discard 2 cards from hand.
Maneuver: Exert bearer twice to return a Shadow condition to its owner’s hand.
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a sanctuary, transfer Elrond from bearer to your support area to heal bearer and remove a burden.
‘... all the house was filled with light and song for joy at Elrond’s homecoming.’
A R+ 20
[1] Enchanted Borders [Elven]
Event • Maneuver
Spell.
Pursuit – Spot your [Elven] companion to return a minion or follower with twilight cost X or less to its owner’s hand, where X is the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“None of the Orcs will ever return out of Lórien.”’
A R 21
[2] •Golradir, Elven Ambassador [Elven]
Follower • Elf
Resistance: +1
Aid – discard 1 card from your hand.
To play, spot your [Elven] card.
When you transfer Golradir from your support area to a companion, you may reveal a Shadow player’s adventure deck. If you reveal a dwelling site in this way, that player must discard 2 cards from hand.
A U 22
[2] •Hadhafang, Arwen’s Blade [Elven]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be Arwen. She is damage +1.
Fellowship or Regroup: Spot your [Elven] follower and discard 2 cards from hand to play the fellowship’s next site if it’s a sanctuary.?‘“Ae athradon i hir, tur gwaith nin beriatha hon.”’
A R 23
[2] •Haldir, Guardian of Lórien [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, minions skirmishing Haldir lose strength bonuses from possessions and followers.
‘“The three of us could not challenge a hundred, so we went ahead and spoke with feigned voices, leading them on into the wood.”’
A U 24
[1] Hidden Realms [Elven]
Condition • Support Area
Tale.
Maneuver: Spot your [Elven] companion or follower and discard this condition to replace the current site with a forest or dwelling site from your adventure deck.
“‘There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold.’”
A C 25
[1] The Lady’s Blessing [Elven] (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make an Elf character strength +2 (or 3 if the fellowship is at a river site).
‘Three small grey boats had been made ready for the travellers, and in these the Elves stowed their goods.’
A C 26
[2] •Legolas, Of the Three Hunters [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer. Valiant.
Archery: If an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, exert Legolas to wound a minion.
‘“Come! Let us go on! The thought of those merry young folk driven like cattle burns my heart.”’
A R 27
[2] •Legolas, Swift-footed [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Archer.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, each minion skirmishing Legolas is strength -2.
‘“We have already overtaken some of those that we are hunting.”’
A C 28
[2] Lindon Reinforcements [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight. Lookout — Archery. (You may play this companion any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, if the fellowship is at a battleground or forest site, you may heal a companion.
‘... the hosts of Gil-galad and Elendil were mustered in Arnor.’
A C 29
[2] Lórien Ranger [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Ranger. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this companion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion, you may spot another [Elven] card to discard a Shadow condition from play.
A U 30
[1] Revealed Plans [Elven]
Condition • Support Area
Maneuver: Spot your [Elven] or ranger companion to transfer this condition to a minion.
When bearer is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal its owner’s hand. If you do, you may discard a revealed Shadow card.
‘“I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind...”’
A U 31
[2] •Silinde, Elven Ambassador [Elven]
Follower • Elf
Resistance: +1
Aid – discard 1 card from hand.
When you transfer this follower from your support area to a companion, if the fellowship is at a sanctuary or a dwelling site, you may look at the top card of your draw deck; replace it or discard it.
A C 32
[2] Solitude [Elven]
Event • Maneuver
Spell.
Spot your [Elven] companion to make each opponent discard a card from his or her hand. You draw cards equal to the number of cards discarded in this way.
“‘To bear a Ring of Power is to be alone.”’
A U 33
[2] •Thónnas, Warrior of Lórien [Elven]
Companion • Elf
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight.
At the start of each skirmish phase involving Thónnas and a Shadow player’s minion, you may reveal that player’s adventure deck. If you reveal a battleground site in this way, make that minion strength -3.
A U 34
[2] Woodland Ambush [Elven]
Event • Archery
Stealth.
Pursuit – Exert your [Elven] archer character to make the fellowship archery total +1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“... there will be many Elves hidden on the northern border before another night falls.”’
A U 35
GANDALF – 16 (6/6/3/1)
[2] Ancient Staff [Gandalf]
Possession • Staff
Strength: +1
Bearer must be a [Gandalf] Wizard.
Response: If the fellowship is at a battleground site and you play a spell event, exert bearer twice and discard this possession to return that event to your hand after it resolves.
‘“The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age.”’
A U 36
(0) •Barliman Butterbur, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Resistance: +1
Villager. Aid – [2].
Regroup: If the fellowship is at a dwelling site, exert him or her to take a [Gandalf] event into hand from your discard pile.
‘“Oh yes, I remember. Elderly chap, big grey beard, pointy hat.”’
A C 37
[2] Courage In the Face of Darkness [Gandalf]
Event • Skirmish
Spell.
Spot your [Gandalf] Wizard to make a companion strength +2 (or +4 if the current site has Shadow number 1 or less).
‘At that moment, he caught a flash of white and silver coming from the North, like a small star on the dusky fields... a pale light was spread about it and the heavy shadows gave way before it...’
A C 38
[2] •Erland, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Villager. Aid – spot your [Gandalf] companion and add a burden.
While there is a mountain site on the adventure path, bearer is strength +2.
When Erland is transferred from your support area to a companion, you may discard up to 3 cards from your hand to draw that many cards.
A R 39
[2] Friendly Breelander [Gandalf]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot a [Gandalf] card.
When you play this companion, if the fellowship is at a dwelling site, you may remove a burden.
A C 40
[4] •Gandalf, Excellent Guide [Gandalf]
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
When you play Gandalf, you may play the fellowship’s next site.
“We must hold this course west of the Misty Mountains for forty days. If our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us. From there our road turns east to Mordor.”
A C 41
[4] •Gandalf, Master Strategist [Gandalf]
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Valiant.
Each time you play a companion, you may add a burden to wound a minion (or wound that minion twice if the fellowship is at a battleground site).
‘“... for he has been the mover of all that has been accomplished, and this is his victory.”’
A R 42
[4] Great Eagle [Gandalf]
Follower • Eagle
Strength: +2
Vitality: +1
Aid – add a burden.
To play, spot a [Gandalf] card.
‘As if to his eyes some sudden vision had been given, Gandalf stirred; and he turned, looking back north where the skies were pale and clear. Then he lifted up his hands and cried in a loud voice ringing above the din: The Eagles are coming!’
A C 43
[1] •Járnsmid, Friend to Gandalf [Gandalf]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Villager. Aid – [3].
While you can spot a mountain site on the adventure path and another [Gandalf] card, bearer may not take more than 1 wound during each skirmish.
‘“Nowhere are there any men so friendly to us as the Men of Dale.”’
A U 44
[2] Long-Term Plans [Gandalf]
Event • Regroup
Search.
Pursuit – Spot your [Gandalf] Wizard to look at the top 5 cards of your draw deck; replace those cards in any order. Then draw a card for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“Some here will remember that many years ago I myself dared to pass the doors of the Necromancer in Dol Guldur...”’
A U 45
(0) •Seeing-Stone of Orthanc, Lost Palantír [Gandalf]
Artifact • Palantír
Resistance: -2
Bearer must be Gandalf.
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may add a threat to reveal 3 cards at random from a Shadow player’s adventure deck. For each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed, you may add or remove [2].
“‘Seven stars and seven stones and one White Tree.”’
A R 46
[2] !Radagast’s Friend [Gandalf]
Companion • Beast
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 4
Valiant.
For each time the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, this companion is strength +2 and resistance +2.
‘“Radagast is, of course, a worthy Wizard... and he has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends.”’
A U 47
[1] Speak “Friend” and Enter [Gandalf] (reprint)
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Spot Gandalf to play the fellowship’s next site; if that site is an underground site, draw a card.
‘No sign of gate or entrance, not a fissure or crack could Frodo see in the frowning stone.’
A C 48
[3] Thick Fog [Gandalf]
Event • Regroup
Spell. Weather.
Exert your [Gandalf] Wizard twice to shuffle all the sites on the adventure path and deal them again in a random order. (Fellowship markers should remain on the same site number).
A R+ 49
[2] Unlikely Allies [Gandalf]
Condition • Companion
Resistance: +1
Spell.
To play, spot your [Gandalf] Wizard. Limit 1 per bearer.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a battleground site, discard this condition to transfer a follower from your support area or another companion to bearer (without paying its aid costs).
A U 50
[2] Watcher of Dale [Gandalf]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this card any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this companion is discarded from play or killed, discard a Shadow follower from play.
‘“We discover that messages have come also to King Brand in Dale...”’
A U 51
GOLLUM – 20 (8/6/6)
[1] Close Behind [Gollum] (S)
Event • Maneuver
Search.
Exert Gollum or Sméagol to add a burden (or 2 burdens if the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path).
‘Yet Frodo began to hear, or to imagine that he heard, something else: like the faint fall of soft bare feet.’
A C 52
(0) Day Is Near [Gollum] (F)
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Pursuit – Spot Sméagol or Gollum to reveal X cards at random from a Shadow player’s hand, where X is the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“You are not wise to be glad of the Yellow Face,” said Gollum. “It shows you up.”’
A U 53
(0) •Déagol, Friend to Sméagol [Gollum] (F)
Follower
Resistance: +1
Aid — spot Sméagol and add a burden.
Response: If the fellowship is at a river site and bearer is about to take a wound in a skirmish, add a burden to prevent that wound.
‘“... sharper-eyed but not so quick and strong.”’
A U 54
(0) Easy Victim [Gollum] (S)
Event • Skirmish
Search.
Make Gollum strength +1 for each site on the adventure path with Shadow number 1 or less.
‘He ate any living thing, even orc, if he could catch it and strangle it without a struggle.’
A C 55
(0) Evil Agenda (S)
Event • Regroup
Spot Gollum to make the move limit for this turn +1 and make the Free Peoples player move again. The Free Peoples player may add 2 burdens to prevent this.
‘... after ages alone in the dark, Gollum’s heart was black, and treachery was in it.’
A R 56
[2] •Gollum, Dark Stalker [Gollum] (S)
Minion
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Site: 3
Tracker. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play Gollum any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Gollum is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may exert a companion.
‘“... he put his knowledge to crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful.”’
A C 57
[2] •Gollum, Old and Wretched [Gollum] (S)
Minion
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Site: 3
Traitor.
Skirmish: Exert Gollum twice to kill a companion he is skirmishing (except the Ring-bearer). Unless the fellowship is in region 3, the Free Peoples player may discard 3 Free Peoples cards from play to prevent this.
A R 58
[1] Helpful Guide [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Companion
Resistance: +1
Stealth. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this card any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot Sméagol or Gollum.
Limit 1 per bearer.
When this condition is discarded from play, you may remove a burden.
‘... if they fell behind, he would turn and wait for them.’
A C 59
[2] Long-Awaited Betrayal [Gollum] (S)
Event • Regroup
Spot Gollum or Sméagol to wound a companion (except the Ring-bearer) with strength less than the number of sites on the adventure path.
Kill him! Kill him! Kill them both. And then we take the Precious and we be the Master.”
A U 60
(0) Longing for the Ring [Gollum] (S)
Event • Shadow
Search.
Spot Gollum or Sméagol to reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck. Add [1] for each dwelling site revealed.
‘“He was not daunted by the distance, I am sure. No, something else drew him away.”’
A U 61
[2] Master Tracker [Gollum] (S)
Condition • Support Area
Search.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is at a marsh site, exert Gollum to make a minion fierce until the regroup phase.
Skirmish: If the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, exert Gollum to make a minion strength +2.
‘“Gollum’s sharp ears would soon learn what he wanted.”’
A U 62
(0) •Memory of Déagol [Gollum] (S)
Follower
Aid — remove a burden.
To play, spot Gollum or Sméagol.
Each companion skirmishing bearer is strength -1 for each card in the Free Peoples player’s dead pile.
‘“It was his birthday. Déagol ought to have given the ring to him.”’
A R 63
[1] Misled [Gollum] (S)
Condition • Marsh or mountain site
Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this condition any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot Gollum or Sméagol.
When the fellowship moves from this site, discard this condition.
When this condition is discarded from play, add 2 threats.
“Long ways to go yet. Sméagol will show you the way. Follow me.”
A C 64
[2] Out of the Way [Gollum] (F)
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Spot Sméagol to remove X threats or X burdens, where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
‘“But Sméagol had been watching him from behind a tree...”’
A R 65
[4] •Pressing Ahead [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert Sméagol.
The move limit is +1.
‘“The Wood-elves tracked him first, an easy task for them, for his trail was still fresh then. Through Mirkwood and back again it led, though they never caught him.”’
A R 66
[1] Slip Away [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
Strength: -2
Skirmish: Transfer this condition to a minion skirmishing Sméagol.
When this condition is discarded from play, bearer’s owner must return one of his or her sites from the adventure path to his or her adventure deck; if he or she does, replace that site with a site from your adventure deck.
A U 67
(0) •Sméagol, Absent Guide [Gollum] (F)
Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 5
Ring-bound. Tracker. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play Sméagol any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, add a burden.
When you play Sméagol, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck.
A C 68
(0) •Sméagol, Inquisitive Creature [Gollum] (F)?Companion
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 5
Ring-bound. Traitor.
While the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Sméagol cannot be overwhelmed.
At the start of the regroup phase, you may draw a card.
‘“He was interested in roots and beginnings; he dived into deep pools; he burrowed under trees and growing plants...”’
A R 69
[2] Stream and Pool [Gollum] (F)
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
While the fellowship is at a marsh site, each [Gollum] event you play is twilight cost is -1.
While an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, Sméagol is strength +1.
‘The cold hard lands // they bites our hands, // they gnaws our feet.’
A C 70
(0) Wander Far and Wide [Gollum] (F)
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Make Sméagol strength +1 for each site on the adventure path with Shadow number 2 or more.
‘“He grew stronger and bolder with new food and new air.”’
A C 71
GONDOR – 20 (7/6/5/1/1)
[3] •Alcarin, Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When Alcarin is killed or discarded from play, you may reveal an opponent’s adventure deck. If you do, heal a companion for each site with Shadow number 2 or more revealed.
A U 72
[4] •Aragorn, Hope of Gondor [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Knight.
Companions in your hand get Lookout — Skirmish.
Each time you you play a companion, you may choose one: make a companion strength +2; or make a minion site number +2.
‘“A great doom awaits you, either to rise above the height of all your fathers since the days of Elendil, or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin.”’
A R 73
[4] •Aragorn, Of the Three Hunters [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Ranger.
At the start of the regroup phase, if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path, you may discard a minion from play.
“We will not abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Not while we have strength left.”
A C 74
[1] Barricade [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
Fortification.
Maneuver: Spot your knight or ranger card to transfer this condition from your support area to the fellowship’s current site.
This site is a battleground.
‘... there stood up from the rear of the wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing east.’
A C 75
[3] •Boromir, Marked by Destiny [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Defender +1. Valiant.
When Boromir is killed during a skirmish, discard each minion he was skirmishing.
“They will look for his coming from the White Tower. But he will not return.”
A R 76
[2] •Brego, Aragorn’s Steed [Gondor]
Possession • Mount
Bearer must be a valiant Man or Aragorn.
Each time the fellowship moves from a battleground site, you may heal bearer.
Response: If a Shadow card is about to make you discard 1 or more cards from your hand or from the top of your draw deck, exert bearer to prevent that.
A R 77
[2] •Defensive Fire [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, the fellowship archery total is +1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, the minion archery total is -1.
‘Shot and dart fell thick; siege-towers crashed or blazed suddenly like torches.’
A U 78
[1] Deliberate Retreat [Gondor]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Pursuit – Spot your [Gondor] companion to make each minion site number +1 until the regroup phase for each time the fellowship has moved this turn. Then, you may return a roaming minion to its owner’s hand.
“Pull back! Pull back to Minas Tirith!”
A U 79
[3] •Faramir, !Knight of Osgiliath [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight.
At the start of each skirmish involving Faramir, if the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, each minion skirmishing him must exert.
“Sauron will strike us soon. And he will strike hard.”
A C 80
[3] •Faramir, !Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
While you can spot a ranger card, Faramir’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a forest site, each Shadow event played in a skirmish involving Faramir is twilight cost +1.
“War will make corpses of us all.”
A S 81
[3] •Gondor Craftsmanship [Gondor]
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 [Gondor] cards.
While the fellowship is in region 1, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -2.
While the fellowship is in region 2, each Free Peoples condition you play is twilight cost -1.
Regroup: If the fellowship is in region 3, discard 2 Free peoples conditions from play to wound a minion.
A R 82
[1] Gondorian Blade [Gondor] (reprint)
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be a [Gondor] Man.
While the fellowship is at a forest site or bearer is a ranger, bearer is damage +1.
‘And about each hill a ring was made facing all ways, bristling with spear and sword.’
A C 83
[2] •Madril, Ranger of Ithilien [Gondor] (reprint)
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
Fellowship: If the fellowship is at a forest site, exert Madril to play the fellowship’s next site.
“... we must look to our own borders, Faramir. Orcs are on the move. Sauron is marshalling an army.”
A C 84
[2] Ranger of Eriador [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this companion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this companion (except in your starting fellowship), you may play the fellowship’s next site.
‘“Lonely men we are, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the enemy.”
A C 85
[1] Throwing Knife [Gondor]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Lookout – Archery. (You may play this possession any time you could play an archery event; if you do, discard it from play).
Bearer must be a [Gondor] companion.
When this possession is discarded from play, you may wound a minion.
A U 86
(0) Tracking the Enemy [Gondor]
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Make a ranger character strength +2 (or +4 if an opponent is ahead of you on the adventure path).
‘“At last!” said Aragorn. “Here are the tracks that we seek! Up this water-channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate.”’
A C 87
[2] •Turgon, Knight of Gondor [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Knight. Aid – [1].
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, each minion skirmishing bearer is site number +2.
‘“By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay...”’
A C 88
[2] Guardian of the Citadel [Gondor]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight.
When you play this companion, if the fellowship’s current site is a sanctuary, you may play a [Gondor] condition from your discard pile.
‘The Guards of the gate were robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned... and above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds...
A U 89
[2] •Vorondil, Defender of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Follower • Man
Knight. Aid – [2].
To play, spot a [Gondor] companion.
Skirmish: Exert bearer twice to make him or her strength +1 for each dwelling site on the adventure path. If bearer wins that skirmish, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a dwelling site from your adventure deck.
A R 90
[3] •White Tree of Minas Tirith [Gondor]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, exert 2 of your [Gondor] companions.
If you have no cards in your adventure deck, you win the game.
‘... in the midst, drooping over the pool, stood a dead tree...’
A R+ 91
ISENGARD – 2 (1/0/0/1)
[2] •Library of Orthanc, Ancient Repository [Isengard]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot Saruman (or exert 2 of your minions).
You may hold a maximum of 10 cards in your hand when you reconcile.
‘“... Saruman has long studied the arts of the Enemy himself...”’
A R+ 92
[4] •Saruman, Master of Orthanc [Isengard]
Minion • Wizard
Strength: 8
Vitality: 4
Site: 4
Traitor.
Saruman may not take archery wounds or be assigned to skirmishes.
Shadow: Replace the fellowship’s current site with a site from your adventure deck with Shadow number 1 or less; that site cannot be replaced until the regroup phase. (Limit once per phase).
“Cut them all down!”
A C 93
MEN – 24 (9/8/7)
[1] Breeland Informer [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — [2].
To play, spot your [Men] card.
Each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish at a dwelling site, you may look at 2 cards at random from the Free Peoples player’s hand.
‘“Well, I saw what I saw, and I saw what I didn’t.”’
A C 94
[3] Breeland Slanderer [Men]
Minion • Man
Str: 6
Vit: 3
Sit: 2
Traitor. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Men] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may discard a follower from play.
A U 95
[3] Corsair Blademaster [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play),
When you play this minion, if you can spot a river site on the adventure path, you may add 2 threats.
‘“... they laughed when they looked on us, for they were a great army still.”’
A U 96
[6] •Corsair Captain [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce.
Each time you play another [Men] minion, you may remove [2] to exert a companion.
Each time your other [Men] minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may add [2].
A R 97
[2] Corsair Crossbowman [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 1
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a river site and you can spot your [Men] possession, this minion is an archer.
‘“There at Pelargir lay the main fleet of Umbar, fifty great ships and smaller vessels beyond count.”’
A C 98
[1] Curved Blade [Men]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be your [Men] minion.
While you can spot a card in the Free Peoples player’s dead pile, bearer is damage +1.
‘... the drawing of the scimitars of the Southrons was like a glitter of stars.’
A C 99
[3] Cut Supplies [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Pursuit – Exert your [Man] minion to return a Free Peoples possession to the Free Peoples player’s hand for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘Umbar remained at war with Gondor for many lives of men, a threat to its coastlands and to all traffic on the sea.’
A U 100
[5] •Easterling Commander [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Besieger. Fierce.
Skirmish: Spot 2 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +2.
Skirmish: Spot 4 battleground sites on the adventure path and remove [2] to make your [Men] or besieger minion strength +4.
A R 101
[3] Easterling Sentinel [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
To play, spot your [Men] card.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site, you may add a threat.
A U 102
[1] Easterling Tactician [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 4
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Tracker. Lookout — Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event).
When this minion is discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may spot your other [Men] card to add [X], where X is the Shadow number of the current site.
A C 103
[4] Easterling Vanguard [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 10
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While you can spot 6 companions, each of your [Men] minions is fierce.
‘... out of the East Men were moving endlessly: swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses...’[/i]
A C 104
[1] Far Lands [Men]
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, you may spot your [Men] card to replace the fellowship’s current site with a plains site from your adventure deck.
Response: If your [Men] or besieger minion is about to take a wound in a skirmish, spot 3 plains sites on the adventure path and discard this condition to prevent that wound.
A U 105
[2] Longing for Home [Men]
Condition • Unbound Companion
Resistance: -2
Limit 1 per bearer.
To play, spot your [Men] or tracker minion.
When bearer is a assigned to a skirmish, add [1] (or [2] if there is a dwelling site on the adventure path).
‘“... I tried to remember the Brandywine, and Woody End, and The Water running through the mill at Hobbiton.”’
A C 106
[2] Mighty Longbow [Men]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Bearer must be a [Men] minion.
Bearer is an archer.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer is strength +1.
A U 107
[1] Overrun (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a [Men] minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at a battleground or plains site).
‘... Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues.’
A C 108
[2] Rohirrim Turncoat [Men]
Follower • Man
Strength: +1
Traitor. Aid — [2].
When this follower is transferred from your support area to a [Men] minion, you may look at a player’s adventure deck.
‘“How long has it been since Saruman bought you?”’
A U 109
[4] Run No More [Men]
Event • Skirmish
Pursuit – Place a companion skirmishing your [Men] minion in the dead pile, as long as that companion’s twilight cost is equal to or less than the number of times the fellowship has moved this turn.
‘“I can’t manage it, Sam,” he said. “It is !such a weight to carry, such a weight.”’
A R 110
(0) Sleight of Hand [Men]
Event • Maneuver
Stealth.
Exert your [Men] or traitor minion to transfer a possession or condition borne by a companion to another eligible bearer.
A R 111
[3] Southron Hunter [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, this minion is strength +2.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is an archer.
A C 112
[2] Southron Nomad [Men]
Minion • Man?Strength: 6
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Regroup. (You may play this card any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may play the fellowship’s next site if it’s a plains site.
“You wonder what his name is, where he came from. And if he was really evil at heart.”
A U 113
[3] Southron Stalker [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Skirmish. (You may play this card any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may wound a companion skirmishing your [Men] minion.
‘For a moment he caught a glimpse of swarthy men in red running down the slope...’
A C 114
[2] Southron Strategist [Men]
Minion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout — Shadow.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may search your draw deck for a [Men] possession or a [Men] condition; reveal that card, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your draw deck.
‘Three great fleets, long prepared, came up from Umbar and the Harad...’
A R 115
[2] •Thick in the Air [Men]
Condition • Plains site
While the fellowship is at this site and you can spot a [Men] minion, the minion archery total is +3.
‘There was a great battle in Lebennin at the Crossings of Erui, in which much of the best blood in Gondor was shed.’
A R 116
[2] •Unferth, Traitor to Rohan [Men]
Follower • Man
Traitor. Aid — (0).
To play, spot your [Men] or [Isengard] card.
When Unferth is transferred from your support area to your minion, you may reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck; add [1] for each site revealed with Shadow number 2 or more.
A R 117
MORIA – 2 (0/1/0/1)
(0) •Endless Stairs of Moria [Moria]
Condition • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot an underground site on the adventure path.
After all fierce skirmishes have resolved, you may choose a minion. If you do, there is an additional assignment and skirmish phase this turn during which other minions may not participate.
‘“We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted.”’
A R+ 118
[1] Trapped in the Dark [Moria]
Event • Shadow or Regroup
Spot your [Orc] or [Moria] card to replace the current site with an underground site from your adventure deck. If the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, you may replace each site in the fellowship’s current region with an underground site from your adventure deck instead.
A U 119
ORC – 24 (9/8/7)
[4] •Archer Commander, Denizen of Moria [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Archer. Tracker.
While the fellowship is at an underground site, the minion archery total is +2.
Archery: Exert Archer Commander to add a threat for each [Orc] minion you can spot.
A R 120
[3] Black Gate Troll [Orc]
Follower • Troll
Strength: +3
Vitality: +1
Aid – discard your minion from play.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, bearer is fierce.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, the Free Peoples player must reveal a Free Peoples event from his or her hand or add a burden.
A U 121
(0) Corrupted Halls [Orc]
Event • Skirmish
Make an [Orc] minion strength +2 (or +4 if the fellowship is at an underground site).
A C 122
[1] Disunity [Orc]
Condition • Companion
Search.
To play, exert your [Orc] or tracker minion.
Each time bearer is assigned to a skirmish by the Free Peoples player, he or she must choose either to discard 3 cards from his or her hand or add a burden.
A U 124
[2] •Evil Swarms [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Each time you play an [Orc] minion, you may remove [2] to discard a Free Peoples condition or possession from play.
A R 125
[2] Excavate [Orc]
Event • Regroup
Search.
Pursuit – This event’s twilight cost is -1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
Spot your [Orc] minion to play the fellowship’s next site if it’s an underground site.
‘“Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things.”’
A U 126
[4] Frenzied Orc [Orc] (reprint)
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
While the fellowship is at an underground site, each character skirmishing this minion is strength -2.
While you can spot 6 companions, each character skirmishing an [Orc] minion is strength -2.
A C 127
(0) Gathering Forces [Orc]
Event • Shadow
Search.
Pursuit – Spot your [Orc] minion to play a minion from your discard pile for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A R 123
[1] •Great Beasts of Mordor [Orc]
Possession • Support Area
Engine.
To play, exert your [Orc] or besieger minion.
Each time the fellowship moves to a battleground site, you may remove [3] to take an engine card into hand from your discard pile.
A R 128
[4] •Grishnákh, !Mordor Captain [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Tracker.
The site number of each of your [Orc] or tracker minions is -3.
Shadow: Exert Grishnákh twice and spot another [Orc] or tracker minion to draw 3 cards. The Free Peoples player may add 2 burdens to prevent this.
A R 129
[7] Grishnákh’s Trappers [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 15
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Fierce. Tracker. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Orc] card.
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), you may play a tracker minion from your discard pile; its twilight cost is -7.
A R 130
[1] Hard Cover [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Engine.
While the fellowship is at an underground site and you can spot your [Orc] minion, the fellowship archery total is -1.
A C 131
[4] Mordor Disruptor [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Besieger. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this minion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When this minion is killed or discarded from play (except during the regroup phase), the Free Peoples player must discard 2 cards from his or her hand.
A C 132
[5] Mordor Sentry [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 6
Archer. Besieger.
Each time the Free Peoples player plays a site from his or her adventure deck, he or she must discard 1 card from his or her hand.
A U 133
[5] Mordor Thug [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 13
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Besieger.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this minion is fierce.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A C 134
[2] Mordor Watchman [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 7
Vitality: 2
Site: 6
Tracker.
While the fellowship is at a river site, this minion’s site number is -3.
While the fellowship is ahead on the adventure path, this minion is strength +2.
A U 135
[3] Moria Ambusher [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout – Skirmish. (You may play this minion any time you could play a skirmish event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion during the skirmish phase, you may spot another [Orc] minion to add [1] for each companion assigned to a skirmish.
A U 136
[3] Moria Archer [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 8
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
While the fellowship is at an underground site, this minion is an archer.
A C 137
[2] Moria Pursuer [Orc]
Minion • Orc
Strength: 6
Vitality: 2
Site: 4
Tracker. Lookout – Regroup. (You may play this minion any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play this minion, you may heal a tracker minion twice.
A C 138
[1] •No Course But Despair [Orc]
Condition • Support Area
Spell.
Each time your [Orc] minion wins a skirmish, you may make the Free Peoples player discard 1 card from his or her hand.
While the Free Peoples player has no cards in his or her hand, each of your [Orc] minions is fierce.
A R 139
(0) Orkish Scimitar [Orc]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be an [Orc] minion.
When you play this possession on a tracker minion, you may add [1].
A C 140
[1] Scurrying Goblin [Orc] (reprint)
Minion • Orc
Strength: 5
Vitality: 1
Site: 4
When you play this minion at an underground site, you may spot another [Orc] minion to add [2].
A U 141
[2] Standard of Mordor [Orc]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Bearer must be an [Orc] minion. May be borne in addition to 1 other hand weapon.
Each time bearer wins a skirmish, you may reveal the Free Peoples player’s adventure deck. If you reveal a battleground site in this way, you may discard Free Peoples condition or Free Peoples follower from play.
A U 142
(0) Watchers of Mordor [Orc]
Condition • Unbound Companion
Resistance: -2
To play, exert your [Orc] or tracker minion.
Limit 1 per bearer.
Each time the fellowship moves to a site in region 3, the Free Peoples player must reveal a Free Peoples event from his or her hand or add a burden.
A C 143
ROHAN – 20 (7/6/5/1/1)
[1] •Aldor, Brave Defender [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 3
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Villager.
While the fellowship is at a dwelling site and you can spot of your 2 knight cards, Aldor is an archer.
A U 144
[2] •Ceorl, Rohirrim Vanguard [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Ranger.
Response: If the fellowship is at a site with Shadow number 2 or more and a Shadow player plays a minion, exert Ceorl and add [1] to exert that minion.
A U 145
[2] Courageous Charge [Rohan]
Event • Skirmish
Tale.
Make your knight companion strength +3 (or +5 if the fellowship’s current site is a plains site).
A C 146
[1] Déor, Courageous Villager [Rohan]
Follower • Man
Villager. Aid – exert your companion.
To play, spot your [Rohan] card.
Each time the fellowship moves and Déor is borne by a companion, you may exert a minion (or wound a minion if the fellowship is moving from a battleground site).
A C 147
[3] •Éomer, Knight of !the Riddermark [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While you can spot a knight card, Éomer’s twilight cost is -1.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, Éomer is strength +1 and an archer.
A S 148
[3] •Éomer, Rohirrim Outcast [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Ranger.
If the fellowship has moved more than once this turn, Éomer is defender +1.
A C 149
[2] •Éowyn, Guardian of Edoras [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Valiant.
While Éowyn bears a follower, each other companion is strength +1.
While the fellowship is at a dwelling site, each other companion is resistance +1.
A R 150
[2] •Éowyn, Eager Warrior [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight. Lookout – Maneuver. (You may play this companion any time you could play a maneuver event; if you do, discard it from play).
When you play Éowyn, you may replace the fellowship’s current site with a plains site from your adventure deck.
A C 151
[2] •Firefoot, !Great Steed [Rohan]
Possession • Mount
Bearer must be a [Rohan] Man.
If bearer is Éomer, the move limit is +1.
At the start of each skirmish involving bearer you may reveal a site at random from each player’s adventure deck; for each plains or battleground site revealed, you may wound a minion skirmishing bearer.
A R+ 152
[3] Glory of Rohan [Rohan]
Event • Maneuver
To play, exert your [Rohan] or valiant companion.
Pursuit – Make your companion strength +3 and damage +1 for each time the fellowship has moved this turn.
A R 153
[1] Hard Pressed [Rohan]
Event • Regroup
Exert 2 of your [Rohan] companions to make the move limit for this turn +1. You may not play events until the end of the turn.
A U 154
[1] •Hlafwine, Citizen of Edoras [Rohan]
Follower • Man
Resistance: +1
Villager. Aid – [2].
To play, spot a dwelling site on the adventure path.
Pursuit – When Hlafwine is transferred to a [Rohan] companion, heal that companion for each time the fellowship has moved that turn.
A U 155
(0) •Indomitable Courage [Rohan]
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert your [Rohan] companion.
Each time your valiant companion is about to take a wound, prevent that wound.
At the start of the regroup phase, place a companion in the dead pile and discard this condition.
A R 156
[2] Ride To Ruin! [Rohan]
Condition • Site
Tale. Lookout – Regroup: (You may play this condition any time you could play a regroup event; if you do, discard it from play).
To play, spot your [Rohan] companion.
When the fellowship moves from this site, discard this condition.
When this condition is discarded from play, each player must place 2 cards from his or her hand beneath his or her draw deck.
A U 157
[1] Rohirrim Spear [Rohan]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +2
Bearer must be a [Rohan] Man.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site or bearer is a knight, bearer is damage +1.
A C 158
[2] Swift Steed [Rohan] (reprint)
Possession • Mount
Bearer must be a [Rohan] Man.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, bearer takes no more than 1 wound during each skirmish.
At the start of each skirmish involving bearer, each minion skirmishing bearer must exert.
A C 159
[3] •Théoden, Feared King [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Knight. Valiant.
To play, spot a [Rohan] card.
Each time Théoden wins a skirmish, you may choose a Shadow player who must place 1 card at random from his or her hand beneath his or her draw deck.
While a Shadow player has no cards in hand, that player may not assign his or her minions to skirmishes.
‘“A king will have his way in his own hall...”’
A R 160
[1] •Weland, Master Smith [Rohan]
Follower • Man
Villager. Aid – exert your companion.
Each time Weland is transferred to a valiant companion, you may play a possession (that companion could bear) from your draw deck on that companion. If you do, shuffle your draw deck.
A R 161
[2] Young Conscript [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Villager.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, this companion is strength +1 and a knight.
A C 162
[3] Young Rider [Rohan]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 5
Knight.
While the fellowship is at a plains site, this companion’s twilight cost is -1.
When you play this companion, you may choose a Shadow player who must place 2 cards at random from his or her hand beneath his or her draw deck.
A U 163
SAURON – 2 (0/0/1/1)
[3] •Sauron’s Taskmaster [Sauron]
Follower • Man
Strength: +3
Aid — discard 2 cards from your hand.
When Sauron’s Tasktmaster is transferred from your support area to a minion, reveal 3 sites at random from a player's adventure deck; discard the top X cards of that player's draw deck, where X is the total Shadow numbers of the revealed sites.
A R 164
[3] •The Teeth of Mordor [Sauron]
Artifact • Support Area
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while its in play).
To play, spot your unique minion.
Each time a fellowship moves, you may stack a card from your discard pile here.
Each time you are about to draw a card, instead take a card stacked here into hand.
A R+ 165
SHIRE – 12 (5/4/3)
[2] •Bilbo, Old Adventurer [Shire]
Companion • Hobbit
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 8
Ring-bound. Valiant.
While there is a mountain site on the adventure path, Bilbo cannot take wounds (except during the archery phase).
Regroup: Add [X] and exert Bilbo X times to play the fellowship’s next site, where X is the fellowship’s current region number.
A R 166
[2] •Bilbo’s Party Tree [Shire]
Condition • Any site 1
Monument. (This card’s game text is always active while it’s in play).
To play, spot 2 [Shire] companions (or Bilbo).
This condition has the game text of this site.
A R 167
[1] Familiar Paths [Shire]
Event • Skirmish
Stealth.
Choose one: make a [Shire] companion strength +2; or, if the fellowship is at a dwelling site, cancel a skirmish involving a [Shire] companion.
A C 168
[2] •Frodo, Hobbit of the Shire [Shire]
Companion • Hobbit
Strength: 3
Vitality: 4
(Resistance): 10
Ring-bound.
Each time the fellowship moves to a dwelling site, you may add a burden to remove [1].
A U 169
[1] •The Gaffer, Wise Hobbit [Shire]
Follower • Hobbit
Villager. Aid — Add a burden.
Each time the fellowship moves, if bearer is a [Shire] companion, you may reveal a player’s adventure deck; heal a companion for each dwelling site revealed.
A R 170
(0) Hobbit Ingenuity [Shire]
Condition • Support Area
Stealth.
Response: If a Shadow card is about to make you discard 1 or more cards from your hand or from the top of your draw deck, exert your [Shire] companion to prevent that and discard that Shadow card. Discard this condition
A U 171
(0) Improvised Weapon [Shire]
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength: +1
Bearer must be a [Shire] companion.
While the fellowship is at a battleground site, at the start of each skirmish involving bearer, y