The Way Into Mordor - Dwarves (7/18: Warfare That Suits a Dwarf)

[Anvar]

I think I agree with the Citrusy one. Dwarves don't do defender bonuses anymore. Similarly, Elves don't do burden removal, despite the appearance of Elf Song in fellowship. Defender bonuses are only really a feature of Gondor and Rohan.

If Dwarves are going to get a card that gives defender bonuses, they need to pay more of a cost than twilight in the assignment phase, and a card with potentially unlimited defender bonus is too much for any culture and leads to too much road bumping.

Imagine a deck that at site 6 plays Radagast, the Brown and then triple moves by suiciding a Dwarf each turn to the ever growing swarm of minions. Dwarves shouldn't have that ability, and no one should have such a large bonus.

My suggestion would be: Spot a Dwarf that is damage +1 to make him Defender +1. The cost could be turned down to 3 with toil 1.

Hope that's helpful,
Anvar

[DáinIronfoot]

For now, I've given Khazâd! Khazâd! it's original limit back. I may change it to something like Anvar's suggestion if others think that's a good idea...?

For now, here's a couple more. Enjoy!

•Stout Companion
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. Bearer must be a Dwarf.
Each time bearer wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal a non-[Dwarven] companion.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal bearer (twice if at a battleground or mountain site).
"‘But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.'"

Just in case Gimli (or your other lone Dwarf) needs a little extra help, this turns him into an even better helper. Too much, though?

Help As I May
Event • Maneuver
Toil 2.
Exert Gimli and name a race (except Dwarf). Make Gimli and each companion of the named race (except the Ring-bearer) strength +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Come, Gamling, let us see how things go on the wall!'"

The spiritual successor to Lend Us Your Aid, which I always thought was an awesome card and would have been used by more people if it were only a little more versatile. Here's my attempt at that. But again, is it too good?

[Thranduil]

•Stout Companion
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. Bearer must be a Dwarf.
Each time bearer wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal a non-[Dwarven] companion.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal bearer (twice if at a battleground or mountain site).
"‘But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.'"

I think I'd bring the cost down to , maybe remove uniqueness and remove the first ability.

Help As I May
Event • Maneuver
Toil 2.
Exert Gimli and name a race (except Dwarf). Make Gimli and each companion of the named race (except the Ring-bearer) strength +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Come, Gamling, let us see how things go on the wall!'"

I actually have a deck based around Lend Us Your Aid. This feels a bit too much like a reprint for me without actually being one (especially as the title is effectively Lend Us Your Aid looked up in a thesaurus and changed person! ). I would either reprint it, or make something entirely different.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

•Stout Companion
Condition
Resistance +1
Tale. Bearer must be a Dwarf.
Each time bearer wins a fierce skirmish, you may heal a non-[Dwarven] companion.
Regroup: Discard this condition to heal bearer (twice if at a battleground or mountain site).
"‘But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing nigh with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.'"

Seems fine.

Help As I May
Event • Maneuver
Toil 2.
Exert Gimli and name a race (except Dwarf). Make Gimli and each companion of the named race (except the Ring-bearer) strength +3 until the regroup phase.
"‘Come, Gamling, let us see how things go on the wall!'"

Seems ok as theres not gonna be that many occassions where its that useful, otherwise it would be immense. Id maybe up the cost to 4.

[DáinIronfoot]

Made a small tweak as suggested by lem0n. If anyone else (like, say, SoP ) wants to review those, be my guest. But for now, let's get to a rehash of a big theme from the Towers block: stacking. These aren't your typical stacking cards, though....  Enjoy!

Tough Bones
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf and a valiant companion.
Each time you play another card, you may stack a card from hand on this condition.
Regroup: Discard this condition to draw X cards, where X is the number of cards stacked on this condition.
"‘I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike.'"

•I Am Content
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is about to be killed or discarded in a skirmish involving a Dwarf, you may stack that minion here instead.
Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard this condition, and add to make a Shadow player assign X wounds to minions (limit 4), where X is the number of cards stacked here.
"‘Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.'"

[lem0nhead]

Made a small tweak as suggested by lem0n. If anyone else (like, say, SoP ) wants to review those, be my guest. But for now, let's get to a rehash of a big theme from the Towers block: stacking. These aren't your typical stacking cards, though....  Enjoy!

He says hes very busy at the moment! 

Tough Bones
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf and a valiant companion.
Each time you play another card, you may stack a card from hand on this condition.
Regroup: Discard this condition to draw X cards, where X is the number of cards stacked on this condition.
"‘I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike.'"

Hmmm i sense a very strong move here. Using gimli who stops ur conditions discarding u could keep this on the table and move to a site with, what? maybe 20 cards drawn? Suppose it heavily depends on the size of deck though which mgiht balance it. Could get way obscene! Dwarves play weapons and pumps like nutters.

•I Am Content
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is about to be killed or discarded in a skirmish involving a Dwarf, you may stack that minion here instead.
Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of cards stacked here.
"‘Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.'"

You know i dont like stealing other peoples cards Dain! Why dont you just use tokens or something?

[Thranduil]

Tough Bones
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf and a valiant companion.
Each time you play another card, you may stack a card from hand on this condition.
Regroup: Discard this condition to draw X cards, where X is the number of cards stacked on this condition.
"‘I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike.'"

Interesting. I would say that the limited effect probably balances the ease of stacking cards there. But, some of the old stacking cards required cards. Maybe that's something worth thinking about here?

•I Am Content
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is about to be killed or discarded in a skirmish involving a Dwarf, you may stack that minion here instead.
Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of cards stacked here.
"‘Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.'"

It's interesting, but I like the idea of making X the twilight cost of the minion you're discarding. Then you wouldn't need to discard the condition either and it wouldn't need to be unique.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

This country has tough bones.•I Am Content
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is about to be killed or discarded in a skirmish involving a Dwarf, you may stack that minion here instead.
Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of cards stacked here.
"‘Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.'"

It's interesting, but I like the idea of making X the twilight cost of the minion you're discarding. Then you wouldn't need to discard the condition either and it wouldn't need to be unique.

...what? I don't quite follow. What wording would you recommend? That might clear it up for me.

[Thranduil]

Sorry, I meant something like this:

Regroup: Exert a Dwarf and discard a minion stacked here with twilight cost X to assign X wounds to minions.

This might be too good, in which case I might suggest keeping the adding as well.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

So like this?

Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard a minion stacked here, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the cost of the minion discarded.

[Thranduil]

Could be. I was just throwing ideas out...

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

That makes it just a bit immense, you could practically have a constant store of regroup wounding for whenever you want and you could do it loads in 1 turn as well.

[sickofpalantirs]

Made a small tweak as suggested by lem0n. If anyone else (like, say, SoP )
I actually can't remember why I didn't review them...oh yeah...I had a lesson at 1:00 and had to mow 2 lawns  I remember now

Tough Bones
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf and a valiant companion.
Each time you play another card, you may stack a card from hand on this condition.
Regroup: Discard this condition to draw X cards, where X is the number of cards stacked on this condition.
"‘I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike.'"
I think this could cost 0. though possibly should be unique?

•I Am Content
Condition • Support Area
Each time a minion is about to be killed or discarded in a skirmish involving a Dwarf, you may stack that minion here instead.
Regroup: Exert a Dwarf, discard this condition, and add to make the Shadow player assign X wounds to minions, where X is the number of cards stacked here.
"‘Till now I have hewn naught but wood since I left Moria.'"

go with thran's idea...as trying to understand this card has roughly destroyed my spammers brain

[DáinIronfoot]

That makes it just a bit immense, you could practically have a constant store of regroup wounding for whenever you want and you could do it loads in 1 turn as well.

After further consideration, I tend to agree with the citrusy one. It would be tough to pull off until later in the game, but your suggestion, Thran, could lead to some minor insanity with enough minions stored up, especially with multiple copies out. The way it's designed now, you can pull it off only once for each condition, and it still takes a little work to get there.

I think I may make another card similiar to what you're talking about though, with X being the cost of one minion. I DO like that part of the suggestion.

For now, it's time for a rare evening posting.

To keep the them going, here're a couple more stacking-related cards...specifically ones that start to blend stacking and tokens a bit. Enjoy!

Cunning Folk
Event • Maneuver
Spot a Dwarf and discard a card (except a companion) to shuffle another Free Peoples condition (and all cards stacked on it) into your draw deck. Draw a card for each token on that condition.
"‘We do not shape stone with battle-axes, nor with our finger-nails. But I will help as I may.'"

•Secret Ways
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf.
When you play this condition, you may add a token here for each mountain and underground site you can spot.
Fellowship: Discard this condition or remove a token from here to stack a card (except an event) from your discard pile on a condition that has a card already stacked on it.
"‘Such a refuge would be to the liking of a dwarf.'"

[sickofpalantirs]

Cunning Folk
Event • Maneuver
Spot a Dwarf and discard a condition to shuffle another Free Peoples condition (and all cards stacked on it) into your draw deck. Draw a card for each token on that condition.
"‘We do not shape stone with battle-axes, nor with our finger-nails. But I will help as I may.'"
fine

•Secret Ways
Condition • Support Area
Tale. To play, spot a Dwarf.
When you play this condition, you may add a token here for each mountain and underground site you can spot.
Fellowship: Discard this condition or remove a token from here to stack a card (except an event) from your discard pile on a condition that has a card already stacked on it.
"‘Such a refuge would be to the liking of a dwarf.'"

why except an event?