Alternate Rings

[chompers]

Hi - my friends and I play exclusively three-four player multipayer LOTR games and we have been frustrated lately that many ring-bearers are 'unplayable'. We came up with the idea of alternative rings that make companions ring-bearers opening up some interesting strategies.

The One Ring Such a Weight to Carry becomes:

•The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Strength: +2
Boromir is the Ring-Bearer.
Each time Boromir wins a skirmish you may reinforce a token.
At the end of each turn that Boromir was not assigned to a skirmish and another companion was, add 2 threats or 2 burdens.

Any thoughts - how broken is this idea?

[chompers]

Sorry don't know how to insert the symbols - the second image should be Gondor culture.

[FM]

Fixed it for ya. You can simply type in the culture name between brackets [Culture], or chose it from the "more" link in the smiley section. The unique symbol varies from one computer to another, but on mine it's alt+7.

[sickofpalantirs]

now its certainly interesting, but something like, each time he wins a skirmish you may heal him or remove a burden would really make playing him interesting...

[Thranduil]

It's an interesting idea to have rings for specific Ring-bearers (which is similar to something I did in my Second Age themed DC set where you could have Galadriel bearing Nenya as the Ring-bearer ). Obviously you'd have to playtest them.

Also, it's a bit strange that Boromir can't wear this One Ring. Surely there has to be some way of taking burdens instead of wounds?

Thranduil

[chompers]

I thought that would be the trade-off. Using rings specific to the bearer loses the opportunity to wear the ring to soak up archery (or whatever). This is probably not a problem however because at best Boromir can have resistance six without using other cards to boost it.

However - seeings he cannot wear the one-ring this impacts certain shadow decks .....

The One Ring Such a Weight to Carry becomes:

•The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Strength: +2
Boromir is the Ring-Bearer.
Each time Boromir wins a skirmish you may reinforce a  token.
At the end of each turn that Boromir was not assigned to a skirmish and another companion was, he wears the One-Ring and adds 2 threats or 2 burdens.

[Elrohir]

I do not understand. Why does the text say: "Boromir is the ring-bearer"?

[chompers]

The concept is you can use any version of Boromir as your Ring-Bearer - the ring makes a companion the ring-bearer rather than the companion themselves (as is currently the case).

The idea is to create new deck strategies by chooising your ring-bearer from available companions (in this case Boromir).

You trade-off the advantages and disadvantages present on current Ring-Bearers and One-Rings for a new set of adcantages and disadvantages.

[Thranduil]

However - seeings he cannot wear the one-ring this impacts certain shadow decks .....

The One Ring Such a Weight to Carry becomes:

•The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Strength: +2
Boromir is the Ring-Bearer.
Each time Boromir wins a skirmish you may reinforce a  token.
At the end of each turn that Boromir was not assigned to a skirmish and another companion was, he wears the One-Ring and adds 2 threats or 2 burdens.

He cannot elect to wear The One Ring, but a card like Resistance Becomes Unbearable would still make him wear the Ring. Therefore I don't think that extra line is necessary, nor does it quite work because at the end of the turn is too late to key off it with Shadow cards.

Thranduil

[AgentDrake]

However - seeings he cannot wear the one-ring this impacts certain shadow decks .....

The One Ring Such a Weight to Carry becomes:

•The One Ring, Such a Weight to Carry
Strength: +2
Boromir is the Ring-Bearer.
Each time Boromir wins a skirmish you may reinforce a  token.
At the end of each turn that Boromir was not assigned to a skirmish and another companion was, he wears the One-Ring and adds 2 threats or 2 burdens.

He cannot elect to wear The One Ring, but a card like Resistance Becomes Unbearable would still make him wear the Ring. Therefore I don't think that extra line is necessary, nor does it quite work because at the end of the turn is too late to key off it with Shadow cards.

Thranduil

With MOST shadow cards:

Southern Spies