Reflections Gold - forgotten for over a YEAR - is now finished. WOOOO!

[sickofpalantirs]

The Service of the Stonewrights does seem to be prone to abuse in its current incarnation...Perhaps make the regroup ability exert a dwarf and remove a token, so you can't discard it as easily

Child of the Vanyar would be pretty snazzy in an Elrohir Elladan Deck.  Lots of cool telepathy possibilities...mass attunement cycling perhaps?

Eomer is fine by me.  Though the "accidentally" in his lore sounds awkward when I read it...

[menace64]

I built in an exertion to the cost of Service. As one final note regarding Eomer, I didn't want him to be "very good"; really, the only reason to run him is because you want a -only fellowship. Gaining that advantage comes with the risk of a sub-standard Ring-bearer.

These cards already showed up in the last contest, so because of the fact that they aren't strictly "new" I've included a neat card at the end.

*The Arkenstone
Artifact * Support Area
Resistance -4
To play, exert a Dwarf (or Bilbo as the Ring-bearer).
At the start of the maneuver phase, you may exert a Dwarf to transfer The Arkenstone to an unbound companion. At the start of the regroup phase, transfer The Arkenstone to your support area.
Bearer is strength +X and damage +X, where X is bearer's resistance.
"…there could not be two such gems, even in so marvelous a hoard, even in all the world."
20R3

Besides the initial Dwarven exertion, this card is extremely splashable, and that's the idea! In the book, the Arkenstone become a matter of importance, and it transferred owners several times in a single chapter. Every race had a stake in its possession. But, obviously, this card works best with Dwarves. The resistance -3 penalty serves two functions: first, as flavor (the corrupting power of this gem is apparent in the book); second, I needed to pull back the benefit quite a bit, since I really didn't care for a card which granted +6 strength and damage bonuses under normal circumstances.

*Orcrist
Artifact * Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Dwarf.
Bearer is damage +1 (or damage +3 while skirmishing an Orc).
At the start of the regroup phase, if bearer is Thorin Oakenshield and he did not lose a skirmish at this site, you may remove a Shadow token or discard a minion stacked on a condition or possession.
"'I will keep this sword in honour,' he said. ‘May it soon cleave goblins once again!'"
20R4

I realize that Glamdring is a possession (which it really shouldn't be!) but this is a Reflections set for Pete's sake. The rest of the text is pretty straightforward: hate on Orcs, directly through the damage modifier and indirectly through the stacked-minion-killer.

*Thorin Oakenshield, King of Durin's Folk
Companion * Dwarf
Strength-8
Vitality-3
Resistance-6
To play, spot 2 Dwarves.
While you can spot 2 wounded companions, Thorin Oakenshield is damage +2.
While you can spot 3 wounded companions, Thorin Oakenshield may not be overwhelmed unless his strength is tripled.
"'After that there were no dwarves left alive inside, and he took all their wealth for himself… we still mean to get it back, and to bring our curses home to Smaug – if we can.'"
20R+6

What I really wanted for Thorin is to reflect the fact that he is a King without his Mountain, a lord of lost and aimless Dwarves. They're in a period of decline and suffering, but he's the pulling weight behind them all, and while they are weak, he is strong. Not only is he already 8 strength, but he can easily crank out +3 damage and an immunity to death itself. Let me know if he needs a bit of tweaking, but personally I think he's fine.  

*Old Man Willow, Dark Heart
Minion * Tree
Strength-2
Vitality-6
Site Number-1
Unless played at a forest site, Old Man Willow is roaming.
Old Man Willow may not be assigned to a skirmish.
At the start of the assignment phase, you may exert Old Man Willow twice to prevent up to 3 companions (whose total strength equals 7 or less) from being assigned to skirmishes until the start of the next assignment phase.
"…sprawling branches going up like reaching arms with many long-fingered hands..."
20R+51

I've been waiting to show this guy for months and months, and it might just be my coolest card ever.

First, it's the first site 1 minion - after all, he's right there a stone's throw away from the Shire. But unless he's got a forest to inhabit, you bet your butt he'll be roaming. His strength is lower than dirt but he's inherited the high vitality of his Ent cousins. And since he looks just like a tree, nobody will think to fight him, so right now he's just functioning as archery absorption. But obviously he's got this strange text tacked onto the end...

At first glance this might not seem like a very good card, and honestly the earlier you get Old Man Willow into play, the better he'll be - once again, I wrote it to closely follow his character. Companions like Aragorn are immune to his wiles, and Gandalf generally is as well. But Hobbits will almost certainly be a target for him (sometimes one or two of them at a time, even) and just about every unarmed Man in the game can be removed from skirmishes for a bit. Note that you would need another two exertions to exclude a companion from fierce skirmishes. After all, trapping unwary travelers takes work!

Oh and he's in the culture because it's the best fit and because - at the time of his appearance - the Nazgul were hot on the Hobbits' heels, and only because of their pursuit did they encounter this tree at all.

Let me know what you think!

[macheteman]

i like them all. only thing i think should be changed is (and i know you want him to be invincible) thorin's text should be changed to unless his strength is tripled. i mean really, even with base strength he'd have to have a 24 strength minion to kill him. it just doesn't seem right to make him completely immune. i love old man willow btw.

[Haszor]

i like them all. only thing i think should be changed is (and i know you want him to be invincible) thorin's text should be changed to unless his strength is tripled. i mean really, even with base strength he'd have to have a 24 strength minion to kill him. it just doesn't seem right to make him completely immune. i love old man willow btw.

This and orcrist.  Beautifully designed, and an elven sword thats considered as an Artifact very nice!

[sickofpalantirs]

Arkenstone would be sick in a hobbit deck.  high resistance hobbits with a bilbo ringbearer?  awwww yeah. 

Old man willow has great flavor.  he's a game-changer, thats for sure.

[Not a Zombie]

I like them, but I'm curious how you could have 3 companions whos strength total to 7 or less, 2 wouldn't be hard but I'm not seeing 3... In fact, the least I could see is 8 with rosie cotton and two hobbits. I'd make it just 2 companions

[macheteman]

nono, it has to stay 3. this is the sort of card that decks are build around. i'm packin' 4x weight of a legacy here, i'm throwing all the strength reducers and then slam the ring bearer with a witchking or something. i'm for keeping it at 3 comps.

[Stormcrow]

Arkenstone would be sick in a hobbit deck.  high resistance hobbits with a bilbo ringbearer?  awwww yeah.  

Yeah, with cards like Sam, SF, Moc, SftS, Sting, WoH, ATNtBD, etc.... uber broken!
I like Old Man Willow's flavor.

[hsiale]

Arkenstone: I think it's hugely overpowered. It is an artifact (so hard to get rid of) and you can decide who gets it already seeing minions. Still, unless shadow side is good at lowering resistance, even strength bonus alone is bigger than most weapons (which are limited with who can bear them and harder to move around). I'd limit damage bonus to +1 (e.g. when bearer has resistance 3 or more) (is there any card accessible to a non-dwarf character giving more than +1 damage bonus and not limited to a single companion?) and maybe add some additional cost to keep it in play or transfer cost (maybe discard when you can't spot 3 FP culture companions - I guess it's intended for rainbow FP anyway, or exert bearer when it's transferred to him).

Orcrist - nice, damage +3 looks high, maybe it needs to be lowered to +2. But on the other hand this is Dwarves-only.

Thorin - IMO he lacks cultural enforcement (a strong one, probably stopping him from being played in starting fellowship). You want him to be lord of dwarves, now he is perfect splash companion for any deck. And I'd remove his basic damage bonus, his additional +2 is easy to get. The "can't-be-overwhelmed-no-matter-what" seems strange, even Tale of Great Ring has ways to go around it.

Old Man Willow - great idea, building a deck around this would be fun

[macheteman]

i like the thorin idea. maybe go sortof gil-galad with him and make it: cost 5, to play spot 2 dwarves. if you do that, i'd keep the damage +3.

[azogsbane]

(is there any card accessible to a non-dwarf character giving more than +1 damage bonus and not limited to a single companion?)

Long Slow Wrath

[menace64]

Good points all around! I added a second exertion to the Arkenstone. I also dropped Thorin's innate damage +1 (which was a last-minute add on) and gave him a 2 Dwarf play requirement, along with a cap to his overwhelm bit.

Only two posts left!

*Gilraen's Memorial
Artifact * Support Area
To play, stack a unique Man from your dead pile here. If this artifact is discarded, return that Man to your dead pile.
Each time the fellowship moves to a sanctuary or dwelling site, you may take a card into hand from your discard pile.
"'This is our last parting, Estel, my son. I am aged by care… I cannot face the darkness of our time that gathers upon Middle-earth.'"
20R23

One of the few tomb cards left to spoil. Not much really to say here, outside of pointing out that these cards are designed to give the culture something it normally has some trouble with - in this case, cycling for Gondor.

*Barrow of Thengel
Artifact * Support Area
To play, stack a unique Man from your dead pile here. If this artifact is discarded, return that Man to your dead pile.
While at a battleground or plains site, each companion bearing a weapon is strength +1.
"Ever after the white simbelmynë grew there most thickly, so that the mound seemed to be snow-clad."
20R38

Except for this one, which I wanted to straight-up benefit one of Rohan's strengths (they love their dead, after all).

*Horn of Helm, The Trumpet of Hammerhand
Artifact * Support Area
Maneuver: Exert your valiant Man at a battleground site to make a minion lose all damage and strength bonuses from possessions until the regroup phase.
"Yet men said that the horn was still heard at times in the Deep and the wraith of Helm would walk among the foes of Rohan and kill men with fear."
20R41

It's simple and of fairly-limited use, but not everything can be awesome, even in a Reflections set. But once in a while this can be really useful, and its power is in-line with the flavor of the Horn: get some valiant Rohirrim into battle in the Deep and some minions are gonna quail!

Mirkwood
Forest. Each event gains this cost: "Discard a card from your hand."
------>
20X57

I wanted Mirkwood to be of universal application, and both sides of your deck can use this to hinder an opponent. Basically, it's a site about stifling and slowing.

The next post is going to include some of my absolute-favorites from this set!

[hsiale]

*Horn of Helm, The Trumpet of Hammerhand
Artifact * Support Area
Maneuver: Exert your valiant Man at a battleground site to make a minion lose all damage and strength bonuses from possessions until the regroup phase.
"Yet men said that the horn was still heard at times in the Deep and the wraith of Helm would walk among the foes of Rohan and kill men with fear."
20R41

It's simple and of fairly-limited use, but not everything can be awesome, even in a Reflections set. But once in a while this can be really useful, and its power is in-line with the flavor of the Horn: get some valiant Rohirrim into battle in the Deep and some minions are gonna quail!

I think it's too limited, I don't think I would ever put it into any deck. Though it's very much in line with Red Arrow, equally useless and because of the same reasons - too specific requirements. Maybe add some second use, that helps against more opponents (not a lot of shadow sides rely on minions getting bonuses from possessions), is more powerful but its cost is discarding the horn?

*Barrow of Thengel
Artifact * Support Area
To play, stack a unique Man from your dead pile here. If this condition is discarded

Small typo - should be "if this artifact is discarded".

[macheteman]

the gondor memorial doesn't help with cycling, it helps with recursion. this may be what you wanted, i'm just saying its not cycling, so if you want it to help with cycling, you'd need to change the text methinks.

[menace64]

I think it's too limited, I don't think I would ever put it into any deck. Though it's very much in line with Red Arrow, equally useless and because of the same reasons - too specific requirements. Maybe add some second use, that helps against more opponents (not a lot of shadow sides rely on minions getting bonuses from possessions), is more powerful but its cost is discarding the horn?

What if I remove the "from possessions" portion of the text? This would prevent a minion from gaining strength or damage bonuses from anything, including their own text.