Watchmen of the North.

[menace64]

As assigned in my "I'm Lazy" thread, I'll be toiling around for a spell with the Northern Rangers, under the condition that all of you minions and followers overwhelm my cards with fierce reviews!

(That was a lot harder to write than you may think, heh.)

Now, I'm going to try blending a few of the already-in-print standard cards into a cohesive strategy, as well as throwing back into extended for a few of the older mechanics these guys seemed to enjoy. There should be a kinship between them and their Osgiliath-traveling cousins, but I'm going to try separating them as often as allowable (since the newer incarnation of rangers are just terribly overpowered, in my opinion).

To begin. Two characters:

•Watcher at Sarn Ford, Ranger of the North
Companion • Man
Strength-5
Vitality-3
Resistance-8
Ranger.
Skirmish: Exert a Man with a resistance 6 or more to make that Man strength +3.
"'Little do they know of our long labour for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not.'"

•Halbarad, Ranger of the North
Companion • Man
Strength-7
Vitality-3
Resistance-6
Ranger. While the Ring-bearer has resistance 9 or more, Halbarad's twilight cost is -1.
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may discard a card from hand to heal a companion.
"'He was tall, a dark standing shadow.'"

Pretty cool cards, huh? I know!

...

All right. All joking aside, I wanted to get this thread posted but I'm afraid I'm still rather writer-blocked. I'm certain that these guys will maintain a stranglehold on resistance-power (Hobbits aside), and their pre-skirmish trickery will be fantastic. Healing is a must, and - if you'll allow it - discarding Shadow conditions from companions (please don't hurt me).

This subculture's drawbacks, however, will be plentiful. From the get-go they will lack in some fellowship numbers; whether through only a few more companions being written or some "To play, spot less than 4 companions" text is still up in the air. Skirmishes they will have a little trouble with. The way I see it is that if they're in a skirmish something is going wrong (if they can't kill you before you start swinging the swords, they're toasty bacon!). Double-moving won't show up, but not even Nazgul will be able to keep up with their ability to change sites around. I guess you could say that these fellas get around.  :hey:

Anywho. I've got the ball rolling in my head. Stick around for some *real* fake cards.

[DáinIronfoot]

All right. All joking aside, I wanted to get this thread posted but I'm afraid I'm still rather writer-blocked. I'm certain that these guys will maintain a stranglehold on resistance-power (Hobbits aside), and their pre-skirmish trickery will be fantastic. Healing is a must, and - if you'll allow it - discarding Shadow conditions from companions (please don't hurt me).

This subculture's drawbacks, however, will be plentiful. From the get-go they will lack in some fellowship numbers; whether through only a few more companions being written or some "To play, spot less than 4 companions" text is still up in the air. Skirmishes they will have a little trouble with. The way I see it is that if they're in a skirmish something is going wrong (if they can't kill you before you start swinging the swords, they're toasty bacon!). Double-moving won't show up, but not even Nazgul will be able to keep up with their ability to change sites around. I guess you could say that these fellas get around.  :hey:

Anywho. I've got the ball rolling in my head. Stick around for some *real* fake cards.

Heheh..."real fake cards". I'll have to remember that one.

I like the idea of making them control the sitepath like crazy, and heal and focus on pre-skirmishing. Consider a little choking potential as well, since that's very old-school ranger trickery.

I look forward to some of your real fake cards.

[Elf_Lvr]

Indeed. I'll be holding my breath.

Too bad "Aragorn, Ranger of the North" has already been used. 

[menace64]

Solivagance
Event • Fellowship
Return a ranger (and all cards borne by that ranger) to your hand to heal a companion twice or discard a Shadow condition borne by that companion.
"'Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild...'"

Simple start, I think. Let me know if you like it.

[lem0nhead]

Cool, but the discard a shadow condition bit isnt worth the cost and isnt equivalent to a heal twice bonus. besides there are other cards that can do that.

[Thranduil]

Just a simple question: What does the title mean?

Other than that, I think I'd prefer it as a maneuver or regroup event so that you can't just immediately replay the ranger you just returned to hand.

Thranduil

[Anvar]

What if the Ranger is bearing a shadow card? At the moment, it looks like they go into your hand as well, which surely can't be right since you can never put your opponents cards into your hand (it just gets too confusing).

I think that the card needs to state that only free peoples cards are returned to your hand.

Secondly if you want to discard a condition, do you still have to return the ranger to your hand? Looking at the card I can't see your intent as to the cost for getting rid of the condition. Personally, I don't think the clause needs to be there. It is a fun trick to bounce companions to hand with all their kit in order to lose shadow conditions played on them. Makes it worth the hand clog.

Thirdly, I agree with Thran that the timing of this event needs to change, and I would incline towards a Regroup action.

The idea of it is great, and I love the cost of having to bounce a card, something that LotR doesn't have much of.

[DáinIronfoot]

Much as I like the idea of playing the ranger and his gear again, I agree that it should probably be a regroup event. Maybe do something like this, though:

Solivagance
Event • Regroup
You may add to play this event during the fellowship phase.
Return a ranger (and all cards borne by that ranger) to your hand to heal a companion twice.
"'Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild...'"

Now you CAN do it during fellowship, but you have to add a lot of twilight to do so.

Obviously, as you can tell by my rewrite, I recommend dropping the condition thing, as it seems rather useless. Might be more useful if it discarded EACH Shadow condition borne by a companion, though....

EDIT: Oh, and best that I can tell, guys, solivagance basically means "wandering alone". I don't think "solivagance" is an actual word, but "solivagant" is.

[lem0nhead]

I guess it rather depends on who you return though if you guys are concerned about them being replayed. If i return aragorn with anduril to hand, its gonna cost 7 to replay him. And a card that costs 7 to heal twice is probably ok in fact lame whereas a 2 cost ranger with nothing can be replayed and 2 wounds healed for 2 is OP. I suppose the card could be costed depending on who or who good the character you return is....

But then again if you return Gorn to your hand when hes exhausted, youre healing 4 or 5 wounds.....

Ooo.... The possiblites.

[Thranduil]

And if you can return a card like Ranger of Westernesse or Elessar Telcontar?

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

Thats just awesome with thr ranger! It would be a cool side mechanic. But to be fair if youre gonna pay gorn et's cost again you deserve the healing!

[Elf_Lvr]

I think I like Dain's version as the best edit.

Also, the way it was originaly worded, it seemed like you could discard a shadow card borne by the companion you returned... which is kinda useless, because once that companion is returned to your hand the condition would be discarded anyway...

Although, if that "or" became an "and" the card would make more sense and be much more useful.