Lands of Shadow: Say Goodbye to Wainriders! (10/3).

[menace64]

The culture (where the Wainriders fit into) in Lands of Shadow is the only culture to feature the new loaded keyword, pillage (When this minion wins a skirmish, add ). My original idea for pillage was too powerful and I needed something that could be spread out over many minions as part of the culture's central focus. So, as you may imagine, the Wainriders like having lots of twilight available to them during the regroup phase.

However, Wainriders are savvy in two other new keywords, which are:
Dominate. (A character skirmishing this character may not exert.)
Flanking. (If this character is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this character to replace that character in the skirmish.)

As well as the new mechanic, alliance:
Alliance: [Culture X]. (You may replace [Culture] with [Culture X] anywhere in this card's gametext.)

•United by Hate
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Wainrider.
Each time a Wainrider takes a wound (except during a skirmish), you may remove to heal another Wainrider.
Regroup: Spot 3 mounted Wainriders and remove to make the Free Peoples player choose to move again this turn (if the move limit allows). Discard this condition.
"‘…the tribes of the Eastlands are against us. What hope have we now?'"
M1R51

This card, being rare, is able to do several different things at several different times. The triggered ability really is a monstrous affect: save the pool, save the lives. If you have the twilight to pull it off, you can make it all the way through to the skirmishes without taking a single wound! And if your Wainriders can pillage their way to 10 twilight, the fellowship is 'routed' and has to run!

Oh, and I made up that piece of lore, since applicable material from the books proper are hard to come by. I've milked just about all that I can, and I'll be concocting my own quotes for the final few cards.

But pillaging isn't all the Wainriders can do...

Wainrider Scout
Minion • Man
Strength 8
Vitality 2
Site Number 5
Wainrider.
Each mount played on this minion is twilight cost -2.
M1U55

As I mentioned earlier, these guys love their mounts. So much so that they get discounts for bringing them into play. This guy is one of the weakest minions in the bunch, but there are one or two minions that can snatch possessions from their brethren.

And, once you get a few mounted Wainriders into play...

Tempest of Hooves
Event • Skirmish
Make a Wainrider strength +2 for each mounted Wainrider you spot.
"‘…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before.'"
M1U48

Trust me, this is easier to strike gold with than in other, previously-established possession-loving cultures. I may actually be raising the cost of this event by one or two, but that'll wait until you guys see the mounts themselves, along with other punishing cards littered throughout the culture.

Yeah... you don't get to see the mounts today. 

Oh, and as an aside before I really get rolling, as I attach lore to card I'm giving no consideration to that lore's prior use. Whatever I find that fits the theme of the card goes on the card. I'm not sacrificing awesome quotes because Decipher felt greedy!

[MR. Lurtzy]

I must say, I am impressed with these.

[lem0nhead]

I agree with Lurtzy. Noice.

[Thranduil]

•United by Hate
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Wainrider.
Each time a Wainrider takes a wound (except during a skirmish), you may remove to heal another Wainrider.
Regroup: Spot 3 mounted Wainriders and remove to make the Free Peoples player choose to move again this turn (if the move limit allows). Discard this condition.
"‘…the tribes of the Eastlands are against us. What hope have we now?'"
M1R51

It's certainly interesting. I don't think it needs to spot a Wainrider to play, however.

Wainrider Scout
Minion • Man
Strength 8
Vitality 2
Site Number 5
Wainrider.
Each mount played on this minion is twilight cost -2.
M1U55

This is good. But I think he should strength 9 due to his site 5 and not so brilliant ability (it's not to the power of Uruk Regular, for example, who has equivalent stats).

Tempest of Hooves
Event • Skirmish
Make a Wainrider strength +2 for each mounted Wainrider you spot.
"‘…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before.'"
M1U48

I would prefer first a simpler common card: "Make a Wainrider strength +2 (or +4 if he is mounted)", but this certainly seems fine at the moment. I would perhaps also suggest that it could spot mounts instead, but that isn't a big deal.

Thranduil

[DáinIronfoot]

•United by Hate
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Wainrider.
Each time a Wainrider takes a wound (except during a skirmish), you may remove to heal another Wainrider.
Regroup: Spot 3 mounted Wainriders and remove to make the Free Peoples player choose to move again this turn (if the move limit allows). Discard this condition.
"‘…the tribes of the Eastlands are against us. What hope have we now?'"
M1R51

Yeah, you can safely drop the spotting requirement, I think. It's useless without Wainriders anyway.

Wainrider Scout
Minion • Man
Strength 8
Vitality 2
Site Number 5
Wainrider.
Each mount played on this minion is twilight cost -2.
M1U55

Not sure if you plan to incorporate fellowship size hate (which the culture already has a bit of), but this guy would be MUCH better if he also included a line like "While you can spot 6 companions, each mount played on another Wainrider is twilight cost -2."

Tempest of Hooves
Event • Skirmish
Make a Wainrider strength +2 for each mounted Wainrider you spot.
"‘…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before.'"
M1U48

Thran's idea about any mount isn't bad, but I do NOT agree with changing the actual strength boost. This is PROBABLY fine as is, but if getting lots of mounts is relatively easy, then maybe up the cost to . Without a cap, that would probably already be my suggestion.

[sickofpalantirs]

•United by Hate
Condition • Support Area
To play, spot a Wainrider.
Each time a Wainrider takes a wound (except during a skirmish), you may remove to heal another Wainrider.
Regroup: Spot 3 mounted Wainriders and remove to make the Free Peoples player choose to move again this turn (if the move limit allows). Discard this condition.
"‘…the tribes of the Eastlands are against us. What hope have we now?'"
M1R51
one Q. where are they mentioned in the book?  anyway...I likey...

Wainrider Scout
Minion • Man
Strength 8
Vitality 2
Site Number 5
Wainrider.
Each mount played on this minion is twilight cost -2.
M1U55
nice and simple, should be C IMSO


Tempest of Hooves
Event • Skirmish
Make a Wainrider strength +2 for each mounted Wainrider you spot.
"‘…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before.'"
M1U48

coolio, maybe limit +6?

[menace64]

They really aren't mentioned in the books beyond "and the variags of Khand" or "dark-skinned horsemen from the east". They're expounded on a bit in the appendices though.

All right, the spotting requirement on United by Hate is gone (good point), and the Scout has 9 strength. Now, part of the Wainrider culture's flavor is their lack of simple strength boosters. What bonuses they get, they get from their mounts and whatever assistance comes out of Mordor.

Hm... I suppose that's where I'll take you today. But before I show you the cross-cultural ties showcased in Lands of Shadow, I think I ought to spoil one of the Wainrider mounts.

Great Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider. Bearer gains flanking.
"For horsemen went wide about westward and came up on the flank of the enemy from behind, and they were destroyed or driven east into the hills."
M1C42

Flanking! Flanking! Flanking! As I started writing the culture, this keyword just showed up suddenly and never went away. In fact, it bled into many other cultures and is one of the three highlight keywords of the set. Remember that the goal of this set is to introduce new subcultures without the use of old keywords (no damage, no archery, no fierce, no nothing). So the Wainriders, Native Mordor Orcs, Dead Army, and the Grey Company focus on new talents to pummel their foes.

Flanking. (If this character is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this character to replace that character in the skirmish.)

Flanking spells out a major headache for your opponent, especially if all of your minions happen to have it! Using it, you can pour all your strength into a select minion, ensuring his survival, and when his skirmish is up, get him into another one! This is the solution for the lack of fierce. But, of course, the FP player can just as easily leave the flanking minions skirmish until last, which is why you've got to be careful who gets it and who doesn't.

In Service
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: . To play, spot a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert a minion to play a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider from your draw deck.
Regroup: Return your minion to your hand to heal a minion.
"Dust rose smothering the air, as from nearby there marched up an army of Easterlings that had waited for the signal in the shadows of Ered Lithui beyond the further Tower."
M1C44

Alliance works as follows:
Alliance: [Culture X]. (You may replace [Culture] with [Culture X] anywhere in this card's gametext.)

So, in the above case, it reads Alliance: . (You may replace with anywhere in this card's gametext.) This ability breaks down cultural barriers, but - as in M:TG - makes you work twice as hard for payoffs. No alliance can be brought into play without satisfying the alliance's own cultural enforcement (in this case, playing a specific kind of minion). But once you play it, you begin reaping benefits left and right, able to strengthen your forces through working together.

Even without alliance, In Service is powerful (too powerful, I deem, which is why it's showing up nice and early). Using alliance, however, lets you substitute exerting a minion for exerting a minion (good in a pinch) or returning minions to your hand to heal other minions if all your minions happen to die. See how it works? Simple, yet highly effective.

I was going to show you another alliance today, but I think I'd rather spoil something a bit different:

Eastern Scimitar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, remove to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion.
From the harsh lands of the East came all manner of cruel and vicious weapons.
M1R39

I'm too proud of this little weapon to save it for another time. Not only does it pack a wallop with the Wainriders, but its ability is a throw-back to the old mechanics from TTT. Since Wainriders gain pillage easily (each time this minion wins a skirmish, add X), the response ability can be used over and over. But it costs 3 to play, gives nothing else but +2 strength, and is rare.

Hope you like 'em!

[sickofpalantirs]

Great Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider. Bearer gains flanking.
"For horsemen went wide about westward and came up on the flank of the enemy from behind, and they were destroyed or driven east into the hills."
M1C42
fine by me...

Flanking. (If this character is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this character to replace that character in the skirmish.)


In Service
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: . To play, spot a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert a minion to play a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider from your draw deck.
Regroup: Return your minion to your hand to heal a minion.
"Dust rose smothering the air, as from nearby there marched up an army of Easterlings that had waited for the signal in the shadows of Ered Lithui beyond the further Tower."
M1C44
why not just to play spot a raider minion?are there other raider minions beside corsairs, easterlings, southrons and wainrider (variags perhaps?)
oh wait, I reviewed alliance and just got it...its ok than.

Alliance works as follows:
Alliance: [Culture X]. (You may replace [Culture] with [Culture X] anywhere in this card's gametext.)

So, in the above case, it reads Alliance: . (You may replace with anywhere in this card's gametext.) This ability breaks down cultural barriers, but - as in M:TG - makes you work twice as hard for payoffs. No alliance can be brought into play without satisfying the alliance's own cultural enforcement (in this case, playing a specific kind of minion). But once you play it, you begin reaping benefits left and right, able to strengthen your forces through working together.

Even without alliance, In Service is powerful (too powerful, I deem, which is why it's showing up nice and early). Using alliance, however, lets you substitute exerting a minion for exerting a minion (good in a pinch) or returning minions to your hand to heal other minions if all your minions happen to die. See how it works? Simple, yet highly effective.

I was going to show you another alliance today, but I think I'd rather spoil something a bit different:

Eastern Scimitar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, remove to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion.
From the harsh lands of the East came all manner of cruel and vicious weapons.
M1R39

works for me...could feasibly be 2 I think.

[menace64]

Eh, I'd rather keep the Scimitar at . Not all cards should be costed competitively. Some need to be a little above the curve, others need to be a little under.

[Thranduil]

Great Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider. Bearer gains flanking.
"For horsemen went wide about westward and came up on the flank of the enemy from behind, and they were destroyed or driven east into the hills."
M1C42

Flanking is interesting - it kind of does your head in though trying to run through all the possibilites - like Stragglers and lurker stuff, so tis good I think.

In Service
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: . To play, spot a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert a minion to play a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider from your draw deck.
Regroup: Return your minion to your hand to heal a minion.
"Dust rose smothering the air, as from nearby there marched up an army of Easterlings that had waited for the signal in the shadows of Ered Lithui beyond the further Tower."
M1C44

This doesn't seem to have such a big enforcement on it - there are a lot of options. Not sure if it's such a problem, though. I would also replace the in the regroup ability with because I feel it's clearer for an alliance to have only 1 culture on it and I don't think it would be too flexible.

Eastern Scimitar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, remove to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion.
From the harsh lands of the East came all manner of cruel and vicious weapons.
M1R39

I'm not sure I'd ever want to pay for a Shadow weapon, almost regardless of how good it is. That said, I don't think it would be too good at .

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

Great Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider. Bearer gains flanking.
"For horsemen went wide about westward and came up on the flank of the enemy from behind, and they were destroyed or driven east into the hills."
M1C42

Flanking. (If this character is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this character to replace that character in the skirmish.)

Cool and cool.

In Service
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: . To play, spot a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider.
At the end of each of your shadow phases, you may exert a minion to play a Corsair, Easterling, Southron, or Wainrider from your draw deck.
Regroup: Return your minion to your hand to heal a minion.
"Dust rose smothering the air, as from nearby there marched up an army of Easterlings that had waited for the signal in the shadows of Ered Lithui beyond the further Tower."
M1C44

Alliance works as follows:
Alliance: [Culture X]. (You may replace [Culture] with [Culture X] anywhere in this card's gametext.)

Meh its ok, not a big fan.

Eastern Scimitar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Response: If bearer wins a skirmish, remove to make the Free Peoples player exert a companion.
From the harsh lands of the East came all manner of cruel and vicious weapons.
M1R39

Why 3 cost? Could easily be 2.

[sickofpalantirs]

the consensus seems to be make the scimitar 2 menace...

[menace64]

You guys may be right on the scimitar. For now though, I'm just going to put up some more cards, since my chances to get on the web are severely limited at the moment and I'm just not sure when I'll be on again.

Great Chariot
Possession • Mount
Strength +3
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Bearer may not take wounds during the archery phase and gains dominate.
"‘The new host that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by way of Andros, it is said.'"
M1C41

That's the second of three mounts in the set (the third is just below). The archery phase is mostly neglected in Lands of Shadow (Legolas being the only character with latent archery skills), so that particular defense is mostly for use outside of whatever block LoS happens to land in (who knows?). But I'm sure that's not what you're wondering about, is it? Well, here's what dominate does:

Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert.)

Basically, it shuts down special abilities (most of them, anyway) and a few events or conditions. But it also prevents the dominating character's owner from purposefully exerting an opponent's characters. All that works is wounds or overwhelms.

Now that I've revealed dominate, there's only one more new keyword left in this set to be spoiled... and I'm keeping it under wraps for now.

Heavy-armored Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +1
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Wainrider. When you play this possession, bearer gains dominate or flanking until the start of the regroup phase.
Decorated after the fashion of the Eastern tribes, the companies of armored cavalry were a disheartening sight on the plains of the Pelennor.
M1U43

There you go. All three mounts in the set have been spoiled. This one costs the same amount as the Chariot, but at the cost of 2 strength and wound prevention. On the other hand, it gives that precious vitality boost, and provides a player with options. As a summary: Great Horse gains flanking, Great Chariot gains dominate, Heavy-armored Horse gains either.

•Chariot Company
Minion • Man
Strength 17
Vitality 3
Site Number 5
Wainrider. Dominate. When you play Chariot Company, you may play a mount on it from your discard pile.
For each mounted Wainrider you spot, Chariot Company gains pillage .
"‘Many of those that we pursued had reached the havens before us, and brought their fear with them…'"
M1U34

There are a few big baddies in the Wainrider culture, this minion being one of them. This guy has dominate, an automatic mount, and gets increasingly profitable as other mounted Wainriders come into play. It's unique, but doesn't require spotting anything to play (as most of the other big Wainriders do), and is rather above the cost-to-strength curve. A scary minion all around, I think.

[Elf_Lvr]

Great Chariot
Possession • Mount
Strength +3
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Bearer may not take wounds during the archery phase and gains dominate.
"‘The new host that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by way of Andros, it is said.'"
M1C41

Fair enough.

Heavy-armored Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +1
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Wainrider. When you play this possession, bearer gains dominate or flanking until the start of the regroup phase.
Decorated after the fashion of the Eastern tribes, the companies of armored cavalry were a disheartening sight on the plains of the Pelennor.
M1U43

Interesting. I like it a lot.

•Chariot Company
Minion • Man
Strength 17
Vitality 3
Site Number 5
Wainrider. Dominate. When you play Chariot Company, you may play a mount on it from your discard pile.
For each mounted Wainrider you spot, Chariot Company gains pillage 1.
"‘Many of those that we pursued had reached the havens before us, and brought their fear with them…'"
M1U34

Really sweet. I might go for dropping his strength a little, because right now he's bigger than a Witch-King, and although he lacks fierce he will often get powered up when you play him.

[Thranduil]

Great Chariot
Possession • Mount
Strength +3
Bearer must be a Wainrider.
Bearer may not take wounds during the archery phase and gains dominate.
"‘The new host that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by way of Andros, it is said.'"
M1C41

That's the second of three mounts in the set (the third is just below). The archery phase is mostly neglected in Lands of Shadow (Legolas being the only character with latent archery skills), so that particular defense is mostly for use outside of whatever block LoS happens to land in (who knows?). But I'm sure that's not what you're wondering about, is it? Well, here's what dominate does:

Dominate (A character skirmishing this character may not exert.)

Basically, it shuts down special abilities (most of them, anyway) and a few events or conditions. But it also prevents the dominating character's owner from purposefully exerting an opponent's characters. All that works is wounds or overwhelms.

I'm not sure about dominate - I don't think the ability captures the flavour and meanings of the word. I don't think it would be too good to prevent only that character's owner from exerting them. Or I quite liked the special ability thing you had before - maybe it could prevent the character's owner from using them in the cost of a special ability?

Heavy-armored Horse
Possession • Mount
Strength +1
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Wainrider. When you play this possession, bearer gains dominate or flanking until the start of the regroup phase.
Decorated after the fashion of the Eastern tribes, the companies of armored cavalry were a disheartening sight on the plains of the Pelennor.
M1U43

Fair enough.

•Chariot Company
Minion • Man
Strength 17
Vitality 3
Site Number 5
Wainrider. Dominate. When you play Chariot Company, you may play a mount on it from your discard pile.
For each mounted Wainrider you spot, Chariot Company gains pillage 1.
"‘Many of those that we pursued had reached the havens before us, and brought their fear with them…'"
M1U34

I can't remember what pillage does exactly - does it add twilight for winning? I think I would prefer this guy at strength 15 vitality 4, but I think he's probably balanced as he is.

Thranduil