I prefer to reduce the strength of these new Shadows than increase the strength of the previous cards. The main deck and the first Shadows are now approximatively balanced.
That's true, that balance doesn't need to be spoiled.
Ok, Fili and Kili will be just strength 6, and it will be ok.
Gloin will probably have a strength +3 bonus (instead of +2).
That solves in a good extent a part of the Boxing Dwarves problem. But the other part I believe is the Marauder blocking more than 3 followers... and that has the purpose of preventing long maneuver phases.
How to equilibrate both needs?Kili and Dwalin are cheap Legolas Greenleaf and Aragorn ROTN.
I don't know if Dwalin should be called a "cheap" version... He was nothing less than a Dwarf, a Longbeard (their strongest kind), a Heir of Durin (even stronger) and a veteran of the bloody War of the Dwarves and Orcs (and probably fought too in the Battle of Dale against the Easterlings). Who lived to be 340 years old. Who buttheaded orcs bearing helmets with his bare forehead! Toughest amongst the toughest.
Dwalin is damage +1, so he can kill a minion while Aragorn would just push it back. I believe Dwalin might be strength 8 without generating a big imbalance, as far as his vitality is always no more than 3. As his twilight cost is 3,
he won't be present in any clever starting fellowship and that's a point to consider.
Here is the two other Shadows.
I'm discussing with the other playtesters about the Balin and Fili changes. If you can send me all the Nazgul pictures, I will start the Nazgul pack.
Enjoy .
The picture for the Demolition Troll should be the one who knocks down the wall of Dale with his head.... (it appears at 1:13:43, I'm not proud of it but downloaded for this project's purpose)
Good pictures there. But the themes of the Swarm Pack are worrying me a little since the start, and if I've said nothing yet is because The Nazgul Pack of the Beatdown one was worked first but the details are still unfinished. So the Beatdown is unfinished as a whole.
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The Nazgul culture:
There are two main issues with this culture: scarceness of
cards per player and the high site number. To put those two points in the proper
perspective we need to look at another culture with clue similarities to the Nazgul: being a completely new culture with no support at all from the Main Deck and having a total of only 15 available cards to stand on its own. That is the
Troll culture. We need to understand how it works in despite of those weak points.
And then replicate those points with The Nazgul.
1. Troll culture consists of only 3 unique Trolls, having each 3 copies to be drafted. Which means that if there are 2 players only and the distribution were regular, each player would have 4 or 5 minion cards. Which is very small. So to counter that shortage those minions need to be replayed from discard over and over again. Therefore
Troll Campfire is the key card of the culture. The cost of replaying them needs also to be quite low.
So the Nazgul need to have a mechanism to be replayed, and unlike Trolls
that mechanism can't come from support cards and instead
must be present in their own gametext.
2. That scarcity of cards is also countered by the high impact each of those minions provide by itself. They are quite disruptive: they are
strong and hard to kill, and fight twice. And they are pretty cheap: only
and
they never roam. The pumps and tricks are powerful too: Troll Knife is pretty destructive, while Bert protects the precious Troll Campfire, William block followers and Tom turns each victory into another potential victory.
They are cheap; they never arrive late to the party by their site number of 2. Nazgul are expensive and even more if they roam until 5. Trolls are strong and disruptive. Nazgul aren't too strong except for the Witch King and Attea, they aren't too disruptive and also don't have room for support cards to pump them or replay them. Nazgul are fierce and that's a good point to keep, but much must be modified until they can stand on their own.
My general idea is to keep the site 5 but reduce the twilight cost of each by 2, and then to replay them each should have a skill: "You may remove
to play this minion from your discard pile". Another alternative is to keep the LOTR TCG costs, but add this instead: "You may play this minion from your discard pile"; therefore the Witch King would cost 10 until 4, and since 5 strike over and over again by paying 8. And it's shorter. The high site number with the same LOTR TCG costs would allow the Company to set up before The Nazgul hit them repeatedly...
I know you are trying to bring them back to the draw deck, but drawing them again is a thing that might not happen at the proper time. Or not happen at all if the Dwarves move fast enough. So I firmly believe it must be a mechanism to replay them directly, but unlike Troll Campfire must be in their text.
Disruptive skills should be added in the small remaining room.