The Hunt for Gollum - Full DC Set With Images

[hsiale]

Saruman's Fog
Condition
Spell. Stealth. Weather.
To play, exert a Isengard minion. Plays on a site.
While the fellowship is at this site, at the start of the assignment phase you may exert/discard X minions to end this phase immediately.
Discard this condition at the end of the turn.

Exert or discard and appropriate X to make it balanced need to be found by playtesting.

[Cw0rk]

Thanx for all the comments guys.

Hsiale: You are right with the rules. I will write it another way. For Saruman's Fog, I understand that your goal is to make it more difficult to play but I still prefer the simplicity of the original one. Instead, I will increase it's twilight cost to and see how it goes.

tanzhamster: I agree that combined with Isengard Warrior and Spies of Saruman, Saruman's Fog is quite strong. For Interrogate, I didn't think about making it an Enquea protection card when I made it... Perhaps that should be a concern. Nevertheless, I'll make its cost increase to . I also initially though that I could make the cost "Exhaust Gandalf to exhaust..." instead of "Exert...". However, you can't kill a big minion using Interrogate and Archery because "That minion cannot take wounds until the start of the skirmish phase...". For Gandalf, I agree with you. Just thinking how complicated it would be if it was integrated into a software (like Gemp) makes me want to change it.

[tanzhamster]

I think to increase the twilightcost of Interrogate wouldn't help here because it is barely usable in maneuver and afterwards. It seems to me that this card will end very close to Terrible and Evil but only with exertions. Maybe adding a burden for each placed exertion could be an option. It would be something new and even with archery everyone would have to consider if it's worth to play it or not...

[Not a Zombie]

I would think interrogate would be better as something like this:

Exert Gandalf to exert a minion twice. Then wound that minion unless the shadow player chooses to reveal their hand.

I think this makes more flavor sense, because the minion would be giving up the information in order to stop the torture. It would also regulate the power some (exhausting a minion that easily is ridiculous, even this may need to be brought down to one exertion or an increase in twilight).

[Cw0rk]

What about that one? It solves the Enquea problem, and makes it more like a true 1 on 1 interrogation. Also, it makes it more different from Terrible and Evil.

Interrogate
Event • Assignment
Search.
Assign a minion to Gandalf to exhaust that minion.
½R13

Here is my suggestion for a new common Gandalf...

•Gandalf, The Grey Wanderer
Companion  • Wizard
Strenght: 7
Vitality: 4
Signet: Gandalf
While you have more cards in your hand than an opponent, Gandalf is strength +2.
½C11

I also edited the 2 Nazguls. If the fellowship is at site 1, even if you can spot 5/6 you can't play them, its like playing the Dunland guys in the skirmish phase, if you don't have enough twilight, you don't play them.

•Úlairë Cantëa, Rider in Black
Minion • Nazgul
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 2
Tracker.
The shadow number of each site is +1 for each weapon you can spot.
Response: If you can spot 5 twilight tokens during the fellowship phase, play this minion from your hand.
½U42

•Úlairë Toldëa, Rider in Black
Minion • Nazgul
Strength: 12
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 2
Tracker.
The shadow number of each site is +1 for each burden you can spot.
Response: If you can spot 6 twilight tokens during the fellowship phase, play this minion from your hand.
½U43

I also edited the first post and put all the updated cards.

[Cw0rk]

Here are the Elves! My objective for this set was to make Elves playable as a culture on their own in FOTR block.


Culture


Battle is Coming
Event • Skirmish
Make an Elf strength +2 (or +4 if skirmishing a tracker).
½C5

Note: Here is a much needed pump for Elves which only had Ancient Enmity, Defiance and Border Defenses. The introduction of several trackers in this set will make it even more useful.


Elanor
Possession
To play, exert an Elf. Bearer must be a companion.
At the end of each regroup phase, if bearer is exhausted, heal him or her.
½U6

Note: Its a kind of flower. Can be useful, especially against Blade Tip.


•Elven Lights
Condition
Search.
To play, spot 3 Elf companions. Plays on an ally.
Each time the fellowship moves, add .
Bearer participates in archery fire and skirmishes.
½R7

Note: A key card to turn an ally into a companion (why not Elrond?) and make Elves playable on their own in FOTR Block. The spot 3 elves requirement makes it more difficult to play in other decks.

•Gildor, Elf in Exile
Companion • Elf
Strength: 5
Vitality: 3
To play, spot an Elf.
Gildor is strength +1 for each forest on the adventure path.
½U8

Note: The Elf in the movie. I thought that he looked like Gildor Inglorion. Like Haldir, EotGW, he gets stronger in late game.

Lords of the Forests
Condition
Tale. Plays to your support area.
Each Elf bearing a ranged weapon is strength +2.
Discard this condition if you move to a site that is not a forest or a river.
½C9

Note: This is one of my favorite. Its the Elven counterpart of "Lords of the Mountains" and will really give a boost to the Elf culture especially in FOTR block with all the rivers and forests. The card is quite strong, but the ranged weapon (I hesitated with archer) requirement makes it tougher to play. I know that card might be too good outside movie block, but this set is not meant to be played in that format.

•You Have My Heart
Condition
Strength: +1
Vitality: +1
To play, exert Arwen. Bearer must be Aragorn.
While Aragorn is the only other companion you can spot (except the Ring-bearer), Arwen cannot be overwhelmed unless her strength is tripled.
½R10

Note: Finally a card to help the Aragorn-Arwen strategy...

[hsiale]

The problem of making a viable pure deck is that Aragorn just works too well with Elves. Elven Lights needs two cards to be played before you can play it (3rd Elf companion and Elrond - as Elrond is the only ally worth using with it, others are too weak). This will take a lot of cards to set up quickly - way easier to play Aragorn instead. Especially as you introduce a card that (together with The Saga of Elendil) can make Aragorn vitality 6.

I think that to make it work we need a new Elrond as well. Maybe something like this:

•Elrond, Last Prince of Noldor
Ally • Home 3 • Elf
Strength 8
Vitality 4
When you play Elrond, discard Gandalf and Aragorn. You may not play Gandalf or Aragorn. When you play Elrond, you may play an character and an condition from your draw deck.
Fellowship or Regroup: If the fellowship is at site 2, exert Elrond to play the fellowship's next site (replacing opponent's site if necessary).

The deck idea behind this is the following: start Greenleaf and Arwen. Preferably go first to play Hobbiton Woods, use it to play Breeland Forest or Trollshaw Forest. Play 4x Elrond, hopefully you get him site 1 or at most site 2. Get Gildor, get Elven Lights for Elrond, play Rivendell Waterfall. You are more or less set up: 5 companions that don't trigger Savagery to Match Their Numbers, two of strength 8.

The deck still has problems, the biggest being no non-unique weapon. But at least it can set up in reasonable time. It will struggle a bit mid-game (Bridge of Khazad-dum may be hard), but if it can survive, it will be better late game once Bows and Lords of the Forests are in play, though it will probably need a lot of site path control (to avoid: Galadriel's Glade and Dimrill Dale site 6, Anduin Confluence and Anduin Wilderland site 7). It may make Gift of Boats playable (though at a cost of not using Lothlorien Woods or Caras Galadhon, which means not getting the 4th forest for Gildor).

[Ringbearer]

 •Elven Lights
Condition
Search.
To play, spot 3 Elf companions. Plays on an  ally.
Each time the fellowship moves, add .
Bearer participates in archery fire and skirmishes.
½R7

I find this card a tad strong, especially as the ally doesnt trigger the 6 comp threshold.

[Cw0rk]

 There wont be any Elrond in the set as he isnt in the short film. Technically, if you start Legolas and 2 Lorien Elf, Elven Lights becomes playable quickly, perhaps too quickly. I'm now worried that someone could do that and then sacrifice the Lorien Elves. I think I will change "To play, spot 3 Elf companion" into "If you cannot spot 3 Elf companions, discard this condition."

[hsiale]

Technically, if you start Legolas and 2 Lorien Elf, Elven Lights becomes playable quickly, perhaps too quickly. I'm now worried that someone could do that and then sacrifice the Lorien Elves. I think I will change "To play, spot 3 Elf companion" into "If you cannot spot 3 Elf companions, discard this condition."

No difference, the card will be equally useless.

Any deck using Lorien Elf is technically playable. So FotR Elves are "technically playable" with no new cards. But I guess you want to make them really playable. And for this you need to give players a reason not to play Aragorn.

Aragorn :
- is a str 8 vit 4 companion (highest base strength in the game) with no spotting requirements and with powerful ability,
- has really good weapons, making him a strong fighter both in archery and skirmish (Ranger's Sword, Aragorn's Bow, Armor, Flaming Brand),
- is easy to set up - The Prancing Pony, even if you're overbid chances are good your opponent uses this site as well, and even if not, Aragorn is one card, so putting 4 copies into your deck doesn't hurt that much - the extra ones can be used for healing,
- gives Elves access to several cards either important for their deck strategy (Gondor Bowmen, Last Alliance of Elves and Men) or generally useful (Athelas, Might of Numenor).

This is quite a lot, so a replacement should be strong as well. I like the idea of Elven Lights turning Elrond into a companion, but alone it's too weak. To pull it off, you need to get 3rd Elf companion and Elrond, then Elven Lights. 3 cards which you need for your deck to work. Would probably take 4x Elrond, 4x Gildor/Haldir, 3x Elven Lights. This is one third of a deck - it takes way less deck space to fit Aragorn and all his support cards. To make this viable, first and foremost there must be a way to set it up so that you don't need so many extra copies of cards. If not via introducing an Elrond dedicated to use with this, then maybe a new site can work. Maybe something like this:

Trollshaws (site 2)
Forest. Regroup: Spot two Elves and discard all companions (except Frodo and Elves) to take 3 cards (except Galadriel) into hand from your draw deck.

This works with Gildor (is a forest), allows setup in reasonable time (still a bit late as you will probably be playing all those cards site 3 and if you end up at Hollin afterwards you will be really hurt) and makes it harder to add Aragorn into the mix (as you can't use The Prancing Pony and need to wait with playing Aragorn from hand). Galadriel exception because I feel getting Lady of Light so easily would be too good.

[Cw0rk]

Hsiale, thanks for taking the time to explain me your point of view so clearly. I now understand the importance of making these cards playable more easily and I think that your suggestion of using a site is quite good.

Let me suggest a site idea...

3 Rivendell Alley
Sanctuary.
At the end of the fellowship phase, you may spot an Elf to play Elrond and an card on him from your draw deck. Discard Aragorn.

It's somehow related to the idea that Elrond did not approve the relationship between Arwen and Aragorn (at first). Perhaps it can be reworded better, the main idea is play Elrond and 1 card for him, then if you have Aragorn, discard him. If you don't have Aragorn, you still can play Elrond. You could get Vilya, Elven Lights, Elven Bow (works with Lords of the Forests), Elven Cloak, The Tale of Gil-Galad (I think that's it). I'm not too concerned about the possibility of having Dwarves, Hobbits, Gandalf, or even Boromir. I just think that taking Aragorn out of the mix is enough to bring more variety and help mono-Elf.

[Cw0rk]

I've decided to change the ability of Dug Far And Deep from "Response: If a card is discarded from the top of your draw deck, discard this condition to take that card into hand instead." into the simple but more useful "Skirmish: Discard this condition to make a Dwarf strength +2."

See first post for updated cards.

[Cw0rk]

Culture

This culture is not very present in The Hunt of Gollum short film so there are only 2 cards. The goal of these two cards is to help weak Moria strategies.

•Danger of the Unexplored
Condition
Search. Stealth.
To play, exert a minion. Plays to your support area.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, if the Free Peoples player cannot spot more companions than minions, add a burden.
½R37

Note: Nearly impossible to corrupt someone with Moria unless you pull out some tricky moves with Lost to the Goblins I hope this card could launch new deck ideas, maybe even taking Goblin Spear out of the useless cards tablet. The picture would show Aragorn searching inside a dark cave. I've made it both a search (Aragorn is searching) and stealth card (minions might be hiding in there).


Goblin Raiders
Minion • Orc
Strength: 11
Vitality: 2
Site Number: 4
Shadow: Exert this minion to add for each search card you can spot.
½C38

Note: Take out Goblin Reinforcements out of your trash! Other than Danger of the Unexplored, other search cards are Goblin Domain, Through the Misty Mountains and What Is This New Devilry?. I also wanted to give high strength and cost to this guy in order to make it compatible with the less used Moria Beatdown (Goblin Patrol Troop, Goblin Flankers) strategy.

[Cw0rk]

Culture

Here is the Shire! As it is not present in the Hunt for Gollum short film, there are only 4 cards. 3 of them are I focused on Bree and Bree-Hobbits, a place which is shown at the beginning of the film. Quick shots of the people in the Prancing Poney could be used to make visual virtual cards of the allies.


Hobbit Taverner
Ally • Home 1 • Hobbit
Strength: 2
Vitality: 2
Skirmish: Exert this ally to make Merry or Pippin strength +1.
½C53

Note: Frodo and Sam got The Gaffer for healing, Merry and Pippin got Farmer Maggot. Sam has Rosie Cotton to get a strength bonus, Merry and Pippin now has Hobbit Taverner.


•Lilly  Mugwort, Bree-Hobbit
Ally • Home 1 • Hobbit
Strength: 1
Vitality: 3
At the start of each of your turns, heal Lilly Mugwort.
Fellowship: Exert this ally twice to heal a Man ally.
½R54

Note: She is the Hobbit Party Guest of the Prancing Poney. Can be useful in FOTR block to heal Barliman Butterbur, Albert Dreary or good old unused Hugin. I made her Vitality 3 and exert twice to avoid abusing her if used with Hobbit Party Guest and Barliman. Also has some potential with TT allies.


Send the Hobbits to Bree
Event • Skirmish
Exert a Hobbit or Man ally to add that ally's strength to a Hobbit companion.
½R55

Note: Similar effect to Merry, FtS, this card will make Hobbit decks involving Gandalf better. The strongest Man ally being Erland at 5, followed by Hugin and Jarnsmid at 4, might make you take some unused cards out of your trashcan. Can also be cool with Rohan allies which usually reach strength 4.


Tracks Like Those Of A Hobbit
Condition
Search. Plays to your support area.
Skirmish: Discard a Free Peoples search card from hand to exert a minion skirmishing a companion with the Frodo signet.
½U56

Note: A card to help the Frodo signet strategy. Works well in FOTR Block with Blade of Gondor, Frying Pan and PATHS. It would become better later with the other skirmish wounding Frodo signet cards in TT.

[Cw0rk]

EDITS (see the first page)

I've changed the format in which Events are written to the one that was used in FOTR cards. I have small changes in some cards.

Escape Through the Dark
Event
Stealth.
Response: If your minion is about to be killed or discarded, return it to your hand instead.
½C39

Note: I didn't like the previous version. This one works with all minion, even Bill Ferny. Returning cards to hand is a theme that is exploited in later sets with Ulaire Attea, TotO and Rings from Reflections.

Seeking the Ring
Condition
To play, exert a Nazgul. Plays to your support area.
At the end of the turn, if you can spot 5 burdens and 5 search cards, the Ring-bearer is corrupted.
½R40

Note: I have added "At the end of the turn". It should make it more difficult to use with cards like Bent on Discovery.

•Úlairë Cantëa, Rider in Black
Minion • Nazgul
Strength: 10
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 2
Tracker.
The shadow number of each site is +1 for each weapon you can spot.
Response: If the fellowship is about to move, play this minion from  hand.
½U42

Note: I rewrote the response action in a simpler way.

•Úlairë Toldëa, Rider in Black
Minion • Nazgul
Strength: 12
Vitality: 3
Site Number: 2
Tracker.
The shadow number of each site is +1 for each archer you can spot.
Response: If the fellowship is about to move, play this minion from hand.
½U43

Note: +1 for archer instead of burdens because I didn't want him to interact too much with The Road Will Not Be Easy. I also rewrote the response action in a simpler way.

I have also edited Hobbit Taverner and Bree Thugs.

Always look at the first post for the most uptaded cards.