The Way Into Mordor - Gandalf (8/28: "You still speak in riddles.")

[lem0nhead]

So you dont get to heal the RB.... Big deal, its still potentially boat loads of healing cos ur playing unbound ents and unbound hobbits, have patience heals a companion twice gets a cost of 3 but this could heal more fore 3. Sorry but unless cost is raised i refuse to go quietly.

[Elf_Lvr]

Not So Hasty
Event • Fellowship
Heal an unbound companion for each unhasty Ent you can spot.
"‘I have become too hot. I must cool myself and think; for it is easier to shout ‘stop!' than to do it.'"

Massive Have Patience. No problem.

A Strange and Sad Story
Condition
Vitality +1
Resistance +1
Bearer must be an unhasty Ent (or Treebeard). Limit 1 per bearer.
Each time an Ent is played, you may heal bearer.
"‘Together we will take the road that leads into the West, / And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.'"

Yikes. Not sure I like more vitality on ents. I guess since it requires unhasty, and you don't get any strength bonus from the twilight... it works.

[DáinIronfoot]

So you dont get to heal the RB.... Big deal, its still potentially boat loads of healing cos ur playing unbound ents and unbound hobbits, have patience heals a companion twice gets a cost of 3 but this could heal more fore 3. Sorry but unless cost is raised i refuse to go quietly.

Fair enough...but keep in mind that, as you yourself have pointed out, unhasty Ents usually have to do a good bit of exerting to stand a fighting chance (pun intended ). If you have a lot of them, and are therefore likely exerting a lot to get them skirmishing, then I think it's only fair they have some above-averge healing.

And if you DON'T have several unhasty Ents, then this event isn't nearly as powerful, now is it?

I think it's balanced when one considers cards like Farewell to Lorien, Much-needed Rest, and Simple Living. Have Patience is TOO expensive, I have always thought. would probably be better for it, but that, of course, is beyond my control.

[Thranduil]

I don't think Have Patience is too expensive - it's one of the most efficient and useful healing cards in the game, because all you need to do is spot Gandalf. This card requires a lot more for potentially less or more benefit, and I'm pretty sure you can't heal the same companion more than once the way it's currently worded, so it looks fine to me.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

...and I'm pretty sure you can't heal the same companion more than once the way it's currently worded, so it looks fine to me.

That was my assumption too, though that wording has always been a little bit of gray area to me.

[lem0nhead]

Ok 2 things to say.

1. I concede on the costing now ONLY because Dain rightly pointed out you have exert carp loads to get into fights so its culturally balanced rather than gameplay balanced.

2. You can heal a companion more than once with this phrasing, its pretty much the only good phrasing you can use to do the healing anywhere you want. Heal x for each x is different, for example might of numenor, cos that specifies a number of companions to heal, this say a comp must be healed for each unhasty ent. So I heal gorn, thats 1 unbound companion healed, then i heal him again thats an unbound companion healed etc...

E.g. Galadriel sothl heals multiple elves or same elf a few times etc...

[DáinIronfoot]

Which do you think is more balanced, then?

- Heal an unbound companion for each unhasty Ent you can spot.

...OR...

- Heal X unbound companions, where X is the number of unhasty Ents you can spot.

[Thranduil]

Which do you think is more balanced, then?

- Heal an unbound companion for each unhasty Ent you can spot.

...OR...

- Heal X unbound companions, where X is the number of unhasty Ents you can spot.

To be honest, I'm not at all bothered.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

Time to switch gears a little. We're certainly not AT ALL finished with Ents, but before we get too much further, I want to introduce the "sheep" that the Ents shepherd. What are the Ents called again...? Oh yeah: Shepherds of the Trees.

Decipher teased us with the possibility of a Tree subculture with Reflections' companion Huorn...then didn't do anything else with it. I, however, have been setting up MUCH more with Tree companions for a while now....

From my Hobbit-based set, Lasting Alliances:

•Radagast, Gandalf's Cousin
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Radagast is strength +1 for each Tree, Eagle, and Free Peoples mount you can spot (limit +3).
Fellowship: Exert Radagast and discard 2 cards (or one or card) from hand to heal an Eagle, Tree, or Ent.
"‘...not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe.'"

From my Fellowship of the Ring-based set, The Road Ahead:

Friends Of Old
Event • Maneuver
Exert Radagast twice to draw a card for each Eagle, Tree, and Spider you can spot.
"‘For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood....'"
22U?

•Help Of All Things
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Radagast or exert your Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this condition to make each Free Peoples Wizard, Eagle, and Tree strength +1 until the regroup phase.
Maneuver: If you have initiative, exert your Wizard and add a threat to play an Eagle or Tree from your draw deck.
"‘Send out messages to all the beasts and birds that are your friends.'"
22R?

•Old Man Willow, Angry and Resentful
Minion • Tree
Strength: 11
Vitality: 5
Site: 2
Damage +1. Fierce. Hunter 1.
If the fellowship is not at a forest or river site, discard Old Man Willow.
The move limit is -1 (to a minimum of 1).
Shadow: Exert Old Man Willow twice to take a weather card into hand from your draw deck.
Skirmish: Exert Old Man Willow to make a Tree strength +2 or strength -2.
"...his heart was rotten, but his strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river."

Had a whole subculture of Tree minions, actually, but this one can specifically target FP Trees (making them strength -2).

And now...I will tease ONE last time with today's only all-new card before we get to some actual Trees...tomorrow.

•Leaflock, Ancient Ent
Companion • Ent
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
Unhasty. Leaflock's twilight cost is -1 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Each Tree is strength +1 (or +2 if you can spot a Wizard).
Assignment: Exert a Tree or 2 Ents to allow Leaflock to skirmish.
"‘Leaflock has grown sleepy, almost tree-ish, you might say...covered with leafy hair, he is.'"

[Thranduil]

•Radagast, Gandalf's Cousin
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Radagast is strength +1 for each Tree, Eagle, and Free Peoples mount you can spot (limit +3).
Fellowship: Exert Radagast and discard 2 cards (or one or card) from hand to heal an Eagle, Tree, or Ent.
"‘...not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe.'"

It sounds a little silly to have this grand list of things that Radagast gets a bonus for, then put a measly +3 limit on it! It sounds much better to say something like: "For each of the following you can spot, Radagast is strength +1..." or "While you can spot 3 Trees, Eagles or Free Peoples mounts..."

Friends Of Old
Event • Maneuver
Exert Radagast twice to draw a card for each Eagle, Tree, and Spider you can spot.
"‘For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood....'"
22U?

Apart from the fact that Friends of Old is obviously already a card title, this looks like it could get crazily out of hand. I'd prefer much less cost for much less benefit.

•Help Of All Things
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Radagast or exert your Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this condition to make each Free Peoples Wizard, Eagle, and Tree strength +1 until the regroup phase.
Maneuver: If you have initiative, exert your Wizard and add a threat to play an Eagle or Tree from your draw deck.
"‘Send out messages to all the beasts and birds that are your friends.'"
22R?

Looks good. I might even make it cost .

•Old Man Willow, Angry and Resentful
Minion • Tree
Strength: 11
Vitality: 5
Site: 2
Damage +1. Fierce. Hunter 1.
If the fellowship is not at a forest or river site, discard Old Man Willow.
The move limit is -1 (to a minimum of 1).
Shadow: Exert Old Man Willow twice to take a weather card into hand from your draw deck.
Skirmish: Exert Old Man Willow to make a Tree strength +2 or strength -2.
"...his heart was rotten, but his strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river."

Fun stuff! But I don't get the hunter bonus.

•Leaflock, Ancient Ent
Companion • Ent
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
Unhasty. Leaflock's twilight cost is -1 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Each Tree is strength +1 (or +2 if you can spot a Wizard).
Assignment: Exert a Tree or 2 Ents to allow Leaflock to skirmish.
"‘Leaflock has grown sleepy, almost tree-ish, you might say...covered with leafy hair, he is.'"

You should 'Exert a Tree or an Ent', but otherwise looks good. Though obviously it depends on what kind of trees you have....

Thranduil

[Elf_Lvr]

- Heal an unbound companion for each unhasty Ent you can spot.

...OR...

- Heal X unbound companions, where X is the number of unhasty Ents you can spot.

Uh, neither of them limits the healing to one companion, if that's what you were going for. "For each" lets you heal one separate time for each time you spot an unhasty Ent. So you could heal one companion 3 times, a companion twice, and another companion once, if you wanted to. Like Aiglos.

The card is most balanced if healing is limited to one companion.

So, I'd say: Heal a companion X times, where  X is the number of unhasty Ents you can spot.

•Radagast, Gandalf's Cousin
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Radagast is strength +1 for each Tree, Eagle, and Free Peoples mount you can spot (limit +3).
Fellowship: Exert Radagast and discard 2 cards (or one or card) from hand to heal an Eagle, Tree, or Ent.
"‘...not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe.'"

I like thran's wording of "for each of the following" because it reminds me of Friend of the Shirefolk. Good ol' card.

This guy is good, by the way.

Friends Of Old
Event • Maneuver
Exert Radagast twice to draw a card for each Eagle, Tree, and Spider you can spot.
"‘For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood....'"
22U?

Interesting. I agree with Thran, in a way, maybe make this one "for each of the following" and then I don't think you'd need any exertions. "For each of the following" could be a nice little Radagast theme, don't you think?

•Help Of All Things
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Radagast or exert your Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this condition to make each Free Peoples Wizard, Eagle, and Tree strength +1 until the regroup phase.
Maneuver: If you have initiative, exert your Wizard and add a threat to play an Eagle or Tree from your draw deck.
"‘Send out messages to all the beasts and birds that are your friends.'"
22R?

I think it's a way to easy way to pull companions during the maneuver phase, plus you could theoretically (with all the vitality increasing cards out there) throw out 5 or 6 companions in one maneuver phase (since each companion would enable you to add another threat) and then not have to play any more companions the rest of the game, depriving the opponent of a lot of potential twilight.

I'll review the other two later.

[DáinIronfoot]

Anyone else? Just one review for Leaflock so far...I'd prefer one or two more before moving forward, if anyone has the time.

[FM]

•Radagast, Gandalf's Cousin
Companion • Wizard
Strength: 7
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 7
Radagast is strength +1 for each Tree, Eagle, and Free Peoples mount you can spot (limit +3).
Fellowship: Exert Radagast and discard 2 cards (or one or card) from hand to heal an Eagle, Tree, or Ent.
"‘...not a bad fellow as wizards go, I believe.'"

Kinda wordy. Perhaps you could reduce his text a bit by cutting the mount part? Otherwise he'll just be a tanky companion for pretty much any deck.

Friends Of Old
Event • Maneuver
Exert Radagast twice to draw a card for each Eagle, Tree, and Spider you can spot.
"‘For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood....'"
22U?

Still wordy, and I'm not too fond of the Spider connection. I like FP cards that can trigger off the opponent's Shadow, make them pay dearly for playing that, but I think it does too much right now.

•Help Of All Things
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot Radagast or exert a[color] Wizard.
Fellowship: Discard this condition to make each Free Peoples Wizard, Eagle, and Tree strength +1 until the regroup phase.
Maneuver: If you have initiative, exert your Wizard and add a threat to play an Eagle or Tree from your draw deck.
"‘Send out messages to all the beasts and birds that are your friends.'"
22R?

I think stuff that deals with initiative should almost always have discarding as a cost, so that you eventually LOSE initiative for abusing the ability. Otherwise, fine.

•Old Man Willow, Angry and Resentful
Minion • Tree
Strength: 11
Vitality: 5
Site: 2
Damage +1. Fierce. Hunter 1.
If the fellowship is not at a forest or river site, discard Old Man Willow.
The move limit is -1 (to a minimum of 1).
Shadow: Exert Old Man Willow twice to take a weather card into hand from your draw deck.
Skirmish: Exert Old Man Willow to make a Tree strength +2 or strength -2.
"...his heart was rotten, but his strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river."

If Trees are in the Gandalf subculture, as weird as it may be, I think Old Man Willow should share their culture. Also, I'm not sold out on the idea of a tree that doesn't move being a hunter... Do you really need the strength bonus/keyword? He already does so much!

•Leaflock, Ancient Ent
Companion • Ent
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
Unhasty. Leaflock's twilight cost is -1 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Each Tree is strength +1 (or +2 if you can spot a Wizard).
Assignment: Exert a Tree or 2 Ents to allow Leaflock to skirmish.
"‘Leaflock has grown sleepy, almost tree-ish, you might say...covered with leafy hair, he is.'"

He's good. Not spectacular, but still very good. Gets amazing if you don't have a way to enforce the "rule of 5" over the Fellowship.

[DáinIronfoot]

Alright, I'll go back and touch up some of those older cards (especially Radagast), but what I was REALLY looking for was reviews of Leaflock. If EL still wants to finish off his review (or anyone else wants to), please feel free. But since there doesn't seem to be any controversy in the two reviews I DID recieve, let's get to the actual Trees, eh? And with this being the last update before a weekend, you get a bunch of cards to enjoy until Monday. Enjoy!

Huorn of Fangorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
To play, spot a character.
While you can spot an Orc or Uruk-hai, this companion is damage +1.
This companion is strength +1 for each Tree and Ent you can spot (limit +4).
"‘...the Ents with all their rustling Huorns behind.'"

Sort of a slightly different take on Huorn. This one can only get up to strength 9, unlike the original, and the damage bonus is conditional. But it can work well with other Trees instead of only Ents, so THAT, I think, sets it apart enough that it hopefully stands out on its own.

Dark Huorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 4
This companion is damage +1 for each Orc and Uruk-hai in its skirmish.
Maneuver: Add a threat to make this companion strength +2 until the regroup phase (limit once per phase).
"‘There is a great power in them, and they seem able to wrap themselves in shadow....'"

Kind of an unusual phase for a strength pump, but being able to turn twilight into an extra 2 strength every turn ain't bad, eh?

Now, some BIG guys that should make folks like lem0n and FM happy.

•Trees of Fangorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 12
Vitality: 5
Resistance: 6
Damage +1. Defender +1. To play, spot 2 Trees or 2 Ents.
Trees of Fangorn's twilight cost is -2 for each Tree you can spot.
Regroup: Exert Trees of Fangorn and another Tree companion to liberate a site.
"Great trees, bare and silent, stood, rank on rank, with tangled bough and hoary head...."

•Fangorn Forest
Companion • Tree
Strength: 12
Vitality: 6
Resistance: 5
Damage +1. To play, spot 2 Trees or 2 unique Ents.
Fangorn Forest's twilight cost is -2 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Fangorn Forest is strength +2 for each Orc and Uruk-hai in its skirmish.
"‘It is Orcs that they hate....From the deep dales of Fangorn, Gimli, that is whence they come....'"

[Elf_Lvr]

•Old Man Willow, Angry and Resentful
Minion • Tree
Strength: 11
Vitality: 5
Site: 2
Damage +1. Fierce. Hunter 1.
If the fellowship is not at a forest or river site, discard Old Man Willow.
The move limit is -1 (to a minimum of 1).
Shadow: Exert Old Man Willow twice to take a weather card into hand from your draw deck.
Skirmish: Exert Old Man Willow to make a Tree strength +2 or strength -2.
"...his heart was rotten, but his strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river."

Good enough.

•Leaflock, Ancient Ent
Companion • Ent
Strength: 10
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
Unhasty. Leaflock's twilight cost is -1 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Each Tree is strength +1 (or +2 if you can spot a Wizard).
Assignment: Exert a Tree or 2 Ents to allow Leaflock to skirmish.
"‘Leaflock has grown sleepy, almost tree-ish, you might say...covered with leafy hair, he is.'"

I think the original version of Leaflock had a little bit less strength, didn't it? I might drop this guy's strength by 1, but otherwise he's fine.

Huorn of Fangorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 5
Vitality: 4
Resistance: 6
To play, spot a character.
While you can spot an Orc or Uruk-hai, this companion is damage +1.
This companion is strength +1 for each Tree and Ent you can spot (limit +4).
"‘...the Ents with all their rustling Huorns behind.'"

He's fine. Could stand to have 6 strength, like a regular Huorn.

Dark Huorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 4
This companion is damage +1 for each Orc and Uruk-hai in its skirmish.
Maneuver: Add to make this companion strength +2 until the regroup phase (limit once per phase).
"‘There is a great power in them, and they seem able to wrap themselves in shadow....'"

Easy 9 strength for might not be cool. Maybe lower base strength to 6, but have some conditional cost-lowering.

•Trees of Fangorn
Companion • Tree
Strength: 12
Vitality: 5
Resistance: 6
Damage +1. Defender +1. To play, spot 2 Trees or 2 Ents.
Trees of Fangorn's twilight cost is -2 for each Tree you can spot.
Maneuver: Spot an Orc or Uruk-hai and exert Trees of Fangorn and another Tree companion to liberate a site.
"Great trees, bare and silent, stood, rank on rank, with tangled bough and hoary head...."

Honestly, I think these trees could be tied together with a better theme than race hate. Base Def+1 is a little bit odd, I might make it conditional.

•Fangorn Forest
Companion • Tree
Strength: 10
Vitality: 6
Resistance: 5
Damage +2. To play, spot 2 Trees or 2 unique Ents.
Fangorn Forest's twilight cost is -2 for each Ent and Tree you can spot.
Fangorn Forest is strength +2 for each Orc and Uruk-hai in its skirmish.
"‘It is Orcs that they hate....From the deep dales of Fangorn, Gimli, that is whence they come....'"

See above. Base D+2 also make doubling much easier... I have a big problem with heaping such powerful keywords on companions that also have massive strength, plus reduction and other abilities. Massive companions are fine; but if you look at the biggest ents, they lack other keywords and have conditional abilities.