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

[FM]

•Amras, Naith Scout
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Response: If Amras bears a ranged weapon and you play an event during the archery phase, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
Response: If Amras bears a hand weapon and you play an event during a skirmish involving him, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
For centuries he had patrolled the borders of Lothlórien. His fair eyes did him well in the gloom of the Deeping-coomb.

Weird, I'm not sure how useful he'd trully be and I'm not sure he needs to bear a HAND weapon to do it, perhaps an weapon would be better? Or even any weapon?

•Githramir, Naith Veteran
Companion • Elf
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Githramir is strength +1 for each of the following that is true: he is at a battleground, he is at a forest site, he is bearing a hand weapon, he is skirmishing an Orc or Uruk-hai.
Githramir had spent many centuries guarding the forests of Lothlórien from goblins and orcs, and his experience was evident in Helm's Deep.

I think he's fine as is.

[sickofpalantirs]

Alright, I tweaked Naith Guardian, adding a spotting requirement and my new keyword from the thread . I left his healing ability intact, but I DID make it a little harder to use by changing it to companions with resistance 5 or more (it was 4+ before). If that, with the spotting requirement in mind, is STILL too much, let me know.

I reluctantly dropped the Naith Warrior's second ability, but tweaked his hunter text so it's more flexible (and potentially more useful), and raised his resistance a touch for a little more incentive.

Little Orolonn is unchanged. w00t.

Here are a couple more. Enjoy!

•Amras, Naith Scout
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Response: If Amras bears a ranged weapon and you play an event during the archery phase, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
Response: If Amras bears a hand weapon and you play an event during a skirmish involving him, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
For centuries he had patrolled the borders of Lothlórien. His fair eyes did him well in the gloom of the Deeping-coomb.
I would cut the ranged weapon ability.

•Githramir, Naith Veteran
Companion • Elf
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Githramir is strength +1 for each of the following that is true: he is at a battleground, he is at a forest site, he is bearing a hand weapon, he is skirmishing an Orc or Uruk-hai.
Githramir had spent many centuries guarding the forests of Lothlórien from goblins and orcs, and his experience was evident in Helm's Deep.

fine.

[menace64]

Githramir should be 5 strength normally but requires "To play, spot an Elf."

[Elf_Lvr]

•Amras, Naith Scout
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Response: If Amras bears a ranged weapon and you play an event during the archery phase, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
Response: If Amras bears a hand weapon and you play an event during a skirmish involving him, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
For centuries he had patrolled the borders of Lothlórien. His fair eyes did him well in the gloom of the Deeping-coomb.

Yeah, one of the two could be dropped.

•Githramir, Naith Veteran
Companion • Elf
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Githramir is strength +1 for each of the following that is true: he is at a battleground, he is at a forest site, he is bearing a hand weapon, he is skirmishing an Orc or Uruk-hai.
Githramir had spent many centuries guarding the forests of Lothlórien from goblins and orcs, and his experience was evident in Helm's Deep.

Ditto Menace.

[lem0nhead]

•Amras, Naith Scout
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Response: If Amras bears a ranged weapon and you play an event during the archery phase, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
Response: If Amras bears a hand weapon and you play an event during a skirmish involving him, exert him to shuffle that event into your draw deck.
For centuries he had patrolled the borders of Lothlórien. His fair eyes did him well in the gloom of the Deeping-coomb.

Fair enough.

•Githramir, Naith Veteran
Companion • Elf
Strength: 4
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Hunter 1.
Githramir is strength +1 for each of the following that is true: he is at a battleground, he is at a forest site, he is bearing a hand weapon, he is skirmishing an Orc or Uruk-hai.
Githramir had spent many centuries guarding the forests of Lothlórien from goblins and orcs, and his experience was evident in Helm's Deep.

Yeah strength 5.

[DáinIronfoot]

People seem mixed on Amras, but since he doesn't seem to be OP, I think I'll leave him alone. Githramir, on the other hand, has been changed as recommended. Thanks, boys! for all!

Time for some boosting cards, including a couple reprints I simply couldn't do without. Enjoy!

Weapons of Lothlórien (reprint)
Event • Archery
Spot an archer and add a threat to wound a minion (or add 3 threats to exert 3 minions).
"‘Leithio i philinn!'"

•Archers of the Wood
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, add an token here for each Elf archer you can spot.
Archery: Remove X tokens from here to make the fellowship archery total +1 (limit +3), where X is the current region number.
"‘We shall need them.'"

Feathered (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -2 for each wound on that minion.
Elven swords found the same targets as their arrows.

Herio!
Event • Skirmish
Exert any number of Elves. Each Elf you exert is strength +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them."

[FM]

Cool enough. I liked them.

[sickofpalantirs]

herio?
is that like an elven cheerio?
or a singing hero?
archers of the wood should cost 3 IMSO>

[Elf_Lvr]

Fair enough batch. I disagree with SoP - Archers of the Wood is fine at . It's funny that there's no way to get rid of it and play another, though. Was that intentional?

[lem0nhead]

•Archers of the Wood
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, add an token here for each Elf archer you can spot.
Archery: Remove 2 tokens from here to make the fellowship archery total +1 (limit +3).
"‘We shall need them.'"

Hmmm id have to play test this to decide how easy tokens are to come by for elves on this card, as to whether it needs to be 3 tokens.

Herio!
Event • Skirmish
Toil 2.
Exert any number of Elves. Each Elf you exert is strength +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them."

The toil exertions dont count so you have to exert three elves to get 1 that is strength +1 and damage +1 for no pool. Could be #$&*@! of a lot better DI.

[Thranduil]

•Archers of the Wood
Condition • Support Area
When you play this condition, add an token here for each Elf archer you can spot.
Archery: Remove 2 tokens from here to make the fellowship archery total +1 (limit +3).
"‘We shall need them.'"

With Hearth and Hall this card is ridiculous. I might make it so that you have to remove X tokens where X is the current region number. This also stops a potential BA9.

Feathered (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -2 for each wound on that minion.
Elven swords found the same targets as their arrows.

I always loved this event. Nice one for a reprint!

Herio!
Event • Skirmish
Toil 2.
Exert any number of Elves. Each Elf you exert is strength +1 and damage +1 until the regroup phase.
"Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them."

I'm with lem0n on this one. Also wouldn't mind knowing what "Herio" means.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Feathered (reprint)
Event • Skirmish
Make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -2 for each wound on that minion.
Elven swords found the same targets as their arrows.

I always loved this event. Nice one for a reprint!

Funny enough, I always loved it too! Hence the reprint.

Also wouldn't mind knowing what "Herio" means.

Quite simply translated as "charge!" You might recognize its utterance (and perhaps better understand the card) if you remember this scene, where Aragorn screams it before leading such a "herio" against the invading Uruks.

Anyway, onward and upward. Been doing some internal reviews of The Way Into Mordor the last couple days (especially the ongoing cultures) and realized I've done practically nil with tokens. This must be remedied!

•I Have Done Better
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is killed or discarded in a skirmish involving an Elf, you may add an token here.
Archery: Exert an Elf, discard this condition, and add to make a Shadow player assign X wounds to minions (limit 4), where X is the number of tokens here.
"‘...I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'"

As with several other cards in this set, this is a sort of cousin to a similiar card...in this case, I Am Content. That one didn't seem to be OP in people's eyes (though it did wounding in the skirmish rather than archery phase), so hopefully this one is alright in terms of balance as well. Not completely sure about that, though....

Your Friends Are With You
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Legolas, an follower, or 2 Elves.
When you play this condition, you may add an token here for each non-Elf companion you can spot.
Skirmish: Discard this condition or remove an token from here to make a minion skirmishing an unbound companion strength -1.
"‘Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?'"

I wanted to harken back to the main token conditions from Towers Block--Agility and Strength of Arms--without just making another "remove an token from here to make a minion skirmishing an Elf strength -1" condition. So I shook things up a little by encouraging mixing Elves with other companions, which you'd be likely to do in this set anyway.

And then there's reinforcement....

Seek Some Arrows
Event • Archery
Spot X Elf archers and make the fellowship archery -X (to a minimum of 0) to reinforce X tokens.
"‘Two? I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone.'"

Too much? Has ol' Uncle Dáin gone off the deep end?

[Elf_Lvr]

BURNING WITH THE FLAME OF YOUTH!

•I Have Done Better
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is killed or discarded in a skirmish involving an Elf, you may add an token here.
Archery: Exert an Elf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of tokens here.
"‘...I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'"

It's really kind of complicated. Maybe a bit too good, really (although it does force archers to skirmish, there's a lot that can, nowadays). I might just go with a Throne of Minas Tirith style text on the first part, and use the second part for something else... like removing 3 or so tokens
from ANY condition to exert guys or draw cards or something.

I just kinda re-wrote the card, but it seems a bit good as is. Like, compare to Ithilien Trap or something.

Your Friends Are With You
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 Elves.
When you play this condition, you may add an token here for each non-Elf companion you can spot.
Skirmish: Discard this condition or remove an token from here to make a minion skirmishing an unbound companion strength -1.
"‘Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?'"

Hmm. It's fine as-is, but to make it work with just Legolas, I might unique it and only spot 1
Elf to play.

Seek Some Arrows
Event • Archery
Spot X Elf archers and make the fellowship archery -X (to a minimum of 0) to reinforce an token X times.
"‘Two? I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone.'"

It's fine. I might make it able to reinforce X tokens, instead. But I guess it works either way.

It's interesting how you can transfer extra archery into strength by adding to stuff like Agility. I really like the idea, but not sure how balanced it would be. Hunter/Archers have enough power already. But I suppose it's fine, you DO have to have extra archery lying around to use it.

Excellent batch, Dain. I'm really liking this whole set of cards.

[lem0nhead]

Quite simply translated as "charge!" You might recognize its utterance (and perhaps better understand the card) if you remember this scene, where Aragorn screams it before leading such a "herio" against the invading Uruks.

You know everytime you link to arwen undomiel.com i cant see it and im sure Thran cant either.

•I Have Done Better
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is killed or discarded in a skirmish involving an Elf, you may add an token here.
Archery: Exert an Elf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of tokens here.
"‘...I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'"

This could get out of hand, cap it at something sensible then depending on the limit you could cost it at 1.

Your Friends Are With You
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot 2 Elves.
When you play this condition, you may add an token here for each non-Elf companion you can spot.
Skirmish: Discard this condition or remove an token from here to make a minion skirmishing an unbound companion strength -1.
"‘Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?'"

First you make a condition that makes each token awesome and valuable, and here not so much!

Seek Some Arrows
Event • Archery
Spot X Elf archers and make the fellowship archery -X (to a minimum of 0) to reinforce an token X times.
"‘Two? I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone.'"

Archery > tokens so no i dont thnik youve gone nuts.

[DáinIronfoot]

Tweaked the two conditions (and went back and did the same with I Am Content, for good measure). I have more cards at the ready, but would prefer another review or two before moving on....