The Way Into Mordor - Trackers (9/30: Boys And Their Toys)

[DáinIronfoot]

Long-time reviewers probably remember that, for my Two Towers-centric set The Way Into Mordor, I've dabbled in the culture from time to time, but never seem to carry momentum for long. So even back when I posting new cards daily, I couldn't seem to keep it up with , and it moved slowly ahead in fits and spurts (as you can see by looking at the original thread).

Looking back, I think the biggest problem I had is what the culture is quite varied in this set. Just think back to how it was in the old Tower block. You had good old warrior Uruks, Berserker Uruks, and tracker Uruks. Then you had the Orcs: warg-riders and regular old workers akin to those from Fellowship block. And then, as if it wasn't complicated enough, you had machines thrown in for the Uruk warriors, and Men!

And now that problem...is my problem, as I have (perhaps foolishly) brought ALL of those back for an encore, making easily the biggest and most unwieldy culture in the set. So I think trying to do ALL of that in the same thread was simply overwhelming me (and the poor reviewers) as I kept jumping around.

No more. I'm going to finish up what remains of the culture by doing it not by the culture on the whole, but the respective pieces of it. I think I'm done with warg-riders, and at least nearly done with the so-called "warrior" Uruks (like those at Helm's Deep). But trackers especially I just never seemed to finish. I'd plug away at them for a while and then move on to something else. And again, I think the problem was because it was complicated; in the case of trackers, they are split across two cultures!

So, let's dive back into trackers and finish them off this time, shall we? You can see other tracker stuff I've done already in pages 1-5 of the original thread, for reference. I'll be touching on some of them as I work through this thread, I'm sure.

Anyway, on with the show!

•Uglúk, Enemy of the Whiteskins
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Fierce.
Uglúk gains hunter 1 for each other Uruk-hai tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Orc tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds.
"‘I don't take orders from Orc-maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them.'"

This is actually the second version of Uglúk in this set. The first, Patrol Leader, focused more on direct tracker support, eliminating their roaming penalty and using them to capture companions. This one focuses on...well, himself. He spots other races you're likely to see used with him, and uses them to make Uglúk big and nasty.

•Uglúk's Sword, Fearsome Weapon
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Uruk-hai tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Uglúk, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Uglúk and discard this possession to wound a companion bearing an condition.
"‘I am Uglúk. I have spoken.'"

I actually had this same card in the original thread (second page), but it was much simpler, consisting of just the first two lines and costing . The regroup ability is new, because as I went back and re-reviewed the cards myself, the old sword was just plain boring. I'd say this one spices things up! Remember, old-school trackers (and my new ones) like to slap conditions on companions.

•Grishnákh, Trusted Messenger
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Tracker.
Grishnákh gains hunter 1 for each other Orc tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Uruk-hai tracker, Grishnákh is fierce.
While you can spot a Nazgûl, Grishnákh cannot take wounds.
"‘You seem to know a lot. More than is good for you, I guess. Perhaps those in Lugbúrz might wonder how, and why.'"

This is not the first Grishnákh to appear in this set, either. The first one, the aptly-named Crook-Legged Captain, was like Uglúk PL in that it boosted other trackers. So like Uglúk EotW, this one instead gets big thanks to others around him.

•Grishnákh's Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Orc tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Grishnákh, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Grishnákh and discard this possession to wound a captured character twice.
"No doubt he meant to kill his captives....The sword rang faintly, and glinted a little in the light of the fire away to his left."

Bet you didn't know that while Uglúk has two versions of his sword in the game, Grishnákh doesn't have a single one. Yeah, I didn't know that either. Odd, no? This fixes that.

[Thranduil]

•Uglúk, Enemy of the Whiteskins
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Fierce.
While you can spot another Uruk-hai, Uglúk gains hunter 1 for each other Uruk-hai tracker you can spot.
While you can spot a or tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds.
"‘I don't take orders from Orc-maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them.'"

I love the principle of this card, but I do not like a couple of things:

1) The first ability is exceedingly unwieldy. I think it should just be a basic bonus like the others.

2) I don't like the fact you sometimes refer to race and sometimes to culture -  I think this makes for a misleading card. I think you should refer only to race (or race and tracker).

So all in all, I would make the card's abilities look more like this:

"While you can spot another Uruk-hai tracker, Uglúk gains hunter 2.
While you can spot an Orc tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds."

•Uglúk's Sword, Fearsome Weapon
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Uruk-hai tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Uglúk, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Uglúk and discard this possession to wound a companion bearing an condition.
"‘I am Uglúk. I have spoken.'"

I honestly think the hunter bonus here is too much - it's extra text, and it just looks annoying on this card to me! And this is not just because I hate the hunter keyword!

•Grishnákh, Trusted Messenger
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Tracker.
While you can spot another Orc, Grishnákh gains hunter 1 for each other Orc tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Uruk-hai tracker, Grishnákh is fierce.
While you can spot a Nazgûl, Grishnákh cannot take wounds.
"‘You seem to know a lot. More than is good for you, I guess. Perhaps those in Lugbúrz might wonder how, and why.'"

I'm not going to make a point here, but will direct you to about 30 lines above!

•Grishnákh's Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Orc tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Grishnákh, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Grishnákh and discard this possession to wound a captured character twice.
"No doubt he meant to kill his captives....The sword rang faintly, and glinted a little in the light of the fire away to his left."

Good, except for the hunter bonus!

I like it when you make my reviews easy!

Thranduil

[eomund]

•Uglúk, Enemy of the Whiteskins
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Fierce.
Uglúk gains hunter 1 for each other Uruk-hai tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Orc tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds.
"‘I don't take orders from Orc-maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them.'"

I think the Wizard text should just spot Saruman ... I don't see why Gandalf would prevent Ugluk from taking wounds.

•Uglúk's Sword, Fearsome Weapon
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Uruk-hai tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Uglúk, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Uglúk and discard this possession to wound a companion bearing an condition.
"‘I am Uglúk. I have spoken.'"

I agree with Thranduil; I think this card is fine without the hunter bonus. If you think it's underpowered without (I personally don't), you can save some text space by just making the base strength bonus +3 instead of +2.

•Grishnákh, Trusted Messenger
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Tracker.
Grishnákh gains hunter 1 for each other Orc tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Uruk-hai tracker, Grishnákh is fierce.
While you can spot a Nazgûl, Grishnákh cannot take wounds.
"‘You seem to know a lot. More than is good for you, I guess. Perhaps those in Lugbúrz might wonder how, and why.'"

I enjoy the flavour of the Nazgul bonus. Well done!

•Grishnákh's Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Orc tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Grishnákh, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Grishnákh and discard this possession to wound a captured character twice.
"No doubt he meant to kill his captives....The sword rang faintly, and glinted a little in the light of the fire away to his left."

Same comment as Ugluk's sword: the hunter is wasted text. But again, very nice flavour to have Grishnakh wounding captives.

[ket_the_jet]

A few thoughts:
-Original Ugluk's Sword was a strength +3 bonus. I think that's why Dain did +2 and Hunter 1.

-The original Grishnakh, Orc Captain cost because he would be roaming for the first two-thirds of the game (unless you played his tracker buddies from the set). Because this Grishnakh is site four, it may be worth increasing his twilight cost to something a little more competitive.

-I am assuming with this Grishnakh, you mean "cannot take wounds" as opposed to "wounds are prevented" which sparked a little debate over in the Archives the other day (Gimli's Helm, etc.). So this would be similar to Swept Away.

-Go with Thranduil's suggestions on the Ugluk spotting bit. Something didn't sit right with me when first reading it and Thranduil figured it out.

-I don't mind the spotting a "Wizard" as opposed to Saruman, especially with the Curunír cards people keep coming up with...but make it a Shadow Wizard! Gandalf and Radagast are useless against this guy.

-I think Grishnakh's Scimitar is more flavorful and more descriptive as a title.

These guys are pretty sweet all around. Viva la !
-wtk

[sickofpalantirs]

•Uglúk, Enemy of the Whiteskins
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Fierce.
Uglúk gains hunter 1 for each other Uruk-hai tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Orc tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds.
"‘I don't take orders from Orc-maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them.'"
lovely, dovely.


•Uglúk's Sword, Fearsome Weapon
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Uruk-hai tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Uglúk, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Uglúk and discard this possession to wound a companion bearing an condition.
"‘I am Uglúk. I have spoken.'"
I am really not liking the possibility of a fierce damage +2 minion who can't take wounds.  I think I'd make the hunter one condition on bearer being ugluk, and ditch the damage entirely.


•Grishnákh, Trusted Messenger
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Tracker.
Grishnákh gains hunter 1 for each other Orc tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Uruk-hai tracker, Grishnákh is fierce.
While you can spot a Nazgûl, Grishnákh cannot take wounds.
"‘You seem to know a lot. More than is good for you, I guess. Perhaps those in Lugbúrz might wonder how, and why.'"
fine by me.

•Grishnákh's Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Orc tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Grishnákh, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Grishnákh and discard this possession to wound a captured character twice.
"No doubt he meant to kill his captives....The sword rang faintly, and glinted a little in the light of the fire away to his left."

now this is workable, seeing as Grishnakh doesn't start with a keyword.  but now it loses its symmetry to Ugluks sword (if you listen to my earlier comments)  whatever.

[lem0nhead]

•Uglúk, Enemy of the Whiteskins
Minion • Uruk-hai
Strength: 9
Vitality: 3
Site: 5
Tracker. Fierce.
Uglúk gains hunter 1 for each other Uruk-hai tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Orc tracker, Uglúk is damage +1.
While you can spot a Wizard, Uglúk cannot take wounds.
"‘I don't take orders from Orc-maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them.'"

Interesting, I have no problem apart from gandalf making this guy unwoundable.

•Uglúk's Sword, Fearsome Weapon
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Uruk-hai tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Uglúk, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Uglúk and discard this possession to wound a companion bearing an condition.
"‘I am Uglúk. I have spoken.'"

Fine, but i hate 2 cost weapons, they just dont seem worth playing.

•Grishnákh, Trusted Messenger
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site: 4
Tracker.
Grishnákh gains hunter 1 for each other Orc tracker you can spot.
While you can spot an Uruk-hai tracker, Grishnákh is fierce.
While you can spot a Nazgûl, Grishnákh cannot take wounds.
"‘You seem to know a lot. More than is good for you, I guess. Perhaps those in Lugbúrz might wonder how, and why.'"

Id like to see a damage bonus in there somewhere as thats what red eyes have always lacked and would be nice on grish.

•Grishnákh's Sword
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be an Orc tracker. Bearer gains hunter 1.
If bearer is Grishnákh, he is damage +1.
Regroup: Exert Grishnákh and discard this possession to wound a captured character twice.
"No doubt he meant to kill his captives....The sword rang faintly, and glinted a little in the light of the fire away to his left."

Sound.