Next Updates for the Hobbit Draft Game

[Durin's Heir]

- Nenya: Just noticed, with the new version you can use AWINL to play Galadriel, play Nenya and recover AWINL. So you will play it twice to get Elrond and Saruman, or 3 times to get also Bard (or any other ally). That's for Galadriel (played by AWINL), for Elrond ( + AWINL + Nenya), too for Saruman, and perhaps more for Bard = 18 or 23 twilight!

Quite expensive, but powerful too. The Prancing Pony (if coincides) can get AWINL from the VERY start. You only need AWINL in hand/discard, and Nenya in hand. If the Shadow player doesn't have (good) Shadow cards to play, all that twilight will be gone without giving any trouble to the FP player. Which is not improbable at site 1 (with the Prancing Pony).


- Balin Pack and Elrond Pack: Great idea! Balin is the 2nd at command and has a deep development in personality and story, in both PJ's Hobbit films and Tolkien's books (plural!). "Burned Dwarves" about the Battle of Azanulbizar (can be a def+1 trick, similar to Disquiet of My People). Some event to remove doubts. His Mace Sword!! I've even considered making Balin a follower, and Ori/Óin a companion...

The "Elrond pack" might be "Rivendell pack" instead. I believe we can make an amazing The Shards of Narsil, to link Elves and Men (it's a vestige of the Elf-Man alliances and what they can do together). Yes, Lindir and Vilya. But don't forget about Hadafang!

A Gandalf, or Radagast/Rhosgobel pack can bring more tricks and friends to them. Radagast lacks a lot of things: his Sled, Sebastian (the Hedgehog), his Staff, the Birds of Rhosgobel (they were very important, 'cause gathered messages and news between the Wizards; they were key to get the Eagles into the Battle), healing tricks, Beorn's horses, perhaps Beorn as an ally...

The only problem is that Radagast isn't present in the Main deck. Elrond/Rivendell, Balin, and Gandalf all are present and can be easily developed. But I believe Radagast too is really worthy of such deeper treatment, if we can find a solution to that problem (obviously, having another version of Radagast solves all but can cost too much card slots, which would be really good for new ideas).


I owe you all remaining points . Have no more time right now.

[-Enola-]

- Nenya: You're right. Maybe instead of adding , it could be only spells (so not AWINL, He Gives Me Courage and Former Herald). Or it can make the Shadow player draw 2 cards.

- Jail: I think this card is very good with the Bolg's Army. But such a mass wounding Shadow needs Jail, Galadriel and his ring heal a lot.
I made a test with Jail and Bolg's Army, it's really hard to stack Wise characters, because Elrond is always healed and Galadriel has often 3 or more vitality.

[Durin's Heir]

- Nenya: Not spells-only, because Former Herald is key for Wise ally support (I had problems when designing prototypes for Saruman's Staff because of it; limiting to "spells only" lets out that key tool). I prefer:

- Choosing a Shadow player who may draw 2 cards, as you propose. Or
- Taking into hand a "non-fellowship event" only. That way you prevent loops, as loops occur when 2 (or more) actions feedback each the other(S), and those actions happen at the same phase.

I like the latter, as it allows us to develop new Fellowship events to heal (otherwise you'd use a loop to heal all wounds: add a ton of twilight and choose a Shadow player who draws a ton of cards, to heal a ton of wounds). Gandalf healed Thorin at the end of the 1st film, Radagast healed Sebastian the Hedgehog, Galadriel healed Gandalf... but there isn't a single card to heal characters. Yet.

This is a healing event I've been working:

Compassionate Spirit
Event • Fellowship or Regroup
Spell.
Spot a Wizard to heal a companion once or an ally twice.
You may exert Radagast twice to play this event from your discard pile.
"'Release the animal from sharp pain. Animal-friend, now listen to voice-words. Be its life renewed.'"

The lore text is the translation of Radagast's spell/prayer to heal Sebastian: "'Lerya laman naiquentallo. Celvameldë, sí a hlarë ómaquettar. Na coilerya en-vinyanta.'" (Googled it, don't ask me about Sindar 'cause I don't know! )


- Jail: Interesting. Experience always beats theory, if they happen to differ. I wonder how did behave Hidden Attack. Well, it needs dead characters at first stance... not too well I guess.

[-Enola-]

- Nenya: Unfortunately, I think I will change it for spells: after a simple test, I realise that He Gives Me Courage can come back again and again with Balin. It becomes a NPE experience for a Gollum Shadow (removing 2 doubts each turn is too much). I know the only non-spell card which doesn't give new big problems is Former Herald . Whatever, the Free Peoples player can bring Elrond (strength 11 and healing twice each turn) back in skirmishes each turn with Balin (and eventually Saruman).

- Gollum, Bound to the Ring: Instead of this card (which could be hard to use in some Shadow strategies), I propose this.



It's a response action, so the Shadow player can do it more than once.

- Orkish Bow: I modify Orkish Bow. It seems easier to use now (Orcrist was the biggest problem).

- Sauron gives now strength +1 to all Orcs and the assignment cost of the Ring of Thror is only .

[Durin's Heir]

- Riddles in the Dark: Clever and interesting! Seems like a real riddle game, and introduces the discard mechanic, which was abandoned.

- Orkish Bow: Nice! I think it might be more balanced if it allowed the FP player to replay that card if the fellowship moves again, or at the regroup phase (otherwise will punish double moves too hard):

- "The Free Peoples player may play that weapon at the start of the fellowship phase".
- "If the fellowship moves again, The Free Peoples player may play that weapon".

- Sauron & The Ring of Thrór: Seems fine. The first version of Sauron gave them +1 strength.

[-Enola-]

- Orkish Bow: It's powerful but the Bolg Shadow needs it. Ok, the double move will be hard, but most the [Gundabad] Orcs will be discarded due to Orkish Veteran (it was a problem in the stupid swarm Shadow: too much easy double moves).

- Sauron: Thank you, I didn't remember that .

[-Enola-]

Moreover, the Beatdown Pack 3 will be:
- Corrupted Men (Braga & Cie) : 15 cards
- Shadow Elves ? : 15 cards
- : 10 cards

[Durin's Heir]

10 cards: Bree spies? Bill Ferny Sr & Squint.

[-Enola-]

They will be Shadow cards from the Traveller's Pack (the one with Prancing Pony).

I don't know yet if Alfrid will become a Shadow card or not (since the Master is a fellow card). This way, we will see Percy in the Esgaroth Pack .

Maybe Stone Giants for the last Shadow ? It will probably be the last Shadow pack...

[Durin's Heir]

They will be Shadow cards from the Traveller's Pack (the one with Prancing Pony).

I don't like them as Men, as Ferny Sr. & Squint can be or [Gundabad] Men instead. Then they will be target of the same cards that aim or [Gundabad] minions. Remember they were spies of Azog, and there were some others of Sauron that carried the Black Speech message shown by Gandalf.

Besides, the Evil [Dale] Men might very well be [Dale] Shadow cards, there's no need to include a new culture (the Dale and Bree evil guys weren't related at all, they shouldn't share the same culture). They would be easily differentiated from the FP Men, not only because the cards would be darker and would use a diamond instead of a circle. There would be [Dale] allies (FP), and "[Dale] minions" (Shadow). And references to "[Dale] Men" would affect both, making some FP cards feed the Evil Dale men, and some Shadow [Dale] cards feed the good Dale guys...

I don't know yet if Alfrid will become a Shadow card or not (since the Master is a fellow card). This way, we will see Percy in the Esgaroth Pack .

- Percy: Alfrid's gametext can be used by Percy, with some modifications. He'd be a like Alfrid, summoning others to the fight... and joining them of course:

•Percy, Porter of Lake-town [Dale]
Ally • Home 6 • Man
Strength 6  Vitality 3
Archer.
Each other [Dale] Man bearing a weapon participates in archery fire and skirmishes.
Response: If another [Dale] Man is about to take a wound, exert Percy to prevent it.
"'Bard! Orcs are storming over the causeway!'"

He's an archer, is stronger than Alfrid and prevents only 1 wound per response.

Anyway, I've been working on a "Ruins of Dale" pack that includes Percy, Hilda Bianca and some [Dale] fortifications. The idea is to not portray what the Esgaroth pack already does (a strong and ordered society in Lake-town, with Iron Weapons and politicians), but instead the survivors of Esgaroth's destruction forced to defend their new home at the ruins of Dale (mostly elders and women). If you like that idea, a FP version of Alfrid can still be present in the Esgaroth pack, while a Shadow version of Alfrid would be in that 3rd Beatdown pack.

Maybe Stone Giants for the last Shadow ? It will probably be the last Shadow pack...

There are some subcultures missing. Moria Archers for instance!

Also, there are many parts missing yet regarding the Shadow cultures. An Add-on to each Shadow pack is what I believe would fix that problem. I mean, the 3 Trolls don't have a Sack event/condition to capture the Dwarves; Azog's Army lacks the very important Dark Bats that darkened the fields in the book (helping the daylight-hater Orcs). Nazguls don't have Rings (or a generic universal support area Ring). Gollum doesn't have riddle event/conditions yet. Smaug also doesn't have cards to portray his fight with Bilbo. There's no [Gundabad] Warg minions...

As stated above, a new Add-on to each Shadow pack would fix that problem.

Here's a Sack card to help the Trolls:

Caught In A Sack [Troll]
Condition • Support Area
Strength -1
Response: If a or companion loses a skirmish to your Troll, transfer this condition from your support area to that companion. Limit 1 per companion.
The Free Peoples player must exert a companion to assign bearer to a skirmish.
"And so the fight ended."

Hope you like it.

[-Enola-]

I don't like a [Dale] Shadow with a too similar template as the [Dale] FP culture. Shadow seems great for this. Ok Bill Ferny Sr and Squint could be or [Gundabad] cards. I wanted a more general Corrupted Men Shadow, but it's ok for me that way.

I don't want to make add-on of each Shadow Pack. 3 boosters of 15 cards are enough. There will be only new Shadow cards of Shadows from Beatdown Pack 1 and Swarm Pack 1 through Shadow cards from the Supplementary Packs, that's all.

We can put this card in the Bilbo Pack (instead of Stone Giants) or even in the Balin Pack (the Stone Giants will only be a condition in another supplementary pack):

Caught In A Sack [Troll]
Event • Assignment
Discard a minion (or exert a Troll) to spot a companion. That companion cannot be assigned to a skirmish until the start of the regroup phase. That companion may exert twice to prevent this.
"As each dwarf came up and looked at the fire, and the spilled jugs, and the gnawed mutton, in surprise, pop! went a nasty smelly sack over his head, and he was down."


So the Beatdown Pack 3 will be:
- Corrupted Men - 15 cards
- Evil Elves - 15 cards
- Goblin Archers - 10 cards

I don't think a Ring for the minions is a good idea. Furthermore, there is no picture of this in the Hobbit movies.

Can you make a list of what is missing ?
- Sacks
- Dark Bats
- Dragon's Malice for the fight between Smaug and Bilbo (maybe I can change the picture).
- Riddles in the Dark in the Bilbo Pack will be the riddle you expected. I don't want a keyword too rarely used.
- Warg minions (not sure for this, the previous version of Savage Warg wasn't great in play).
- ...

[Durin's Heir]

- Percy: I love the picture you chose!

- Beatdown Pack 3: The Goblin Archers don't mix well with the Evil elves and men. I'd rather have some "Dragon Sickness" Smaug cards, or even some cards (not Sauron in person, but his plans). Or Warg minions, they pressed them to move fast to safe places, where the evil Men and Elves despised them and caused them lots of troubles. I believe Wargs have more sense than Goblin Town archers, if you don't like a Smaug pack II or a Sauron pack II.

The Goblin Archers might instead be in a 3rd Swarm Pack, along with perhaps other cards for Spiders (the spiders don't have web cards, those might work as the Uruk Trackers and search conditions). Or Warg minions. Or spiders AND wargs: a Swarm pack divided in 3 cultures like the Beatdown packs do.


- Ferny & Squint: The way to connect the Evil Dale men with these 2 spies, in case they should work together, would be to refer to "Man minions" instead of a common culture. That can be used to bear weapons or for some conditions of special abilities.

I don't like the Travellers Pack using the 2 Shadow card slots with these 2 spies. I mean, they travelled all along the North-Western Middle Earth to get to Erebor, and they had many enemies hindering them besides those human spies. I mean: Trolls, Stone Giants, Goblins, Wargs, Spiders, Elves... all participated against the Company. And the clock was their main enemy to get to Erebor: Durin's Day. And then they had to defeat Smaug.

I'd rather have The Last Lights of Durin's Day, and something else. But there isn't a picture where both Squint and Ferny show their faces (they are together only when following Thorin at the streets of Bree, 1:32 Dos EE, but only their backs can be seen). So I'd make a condition-minion like A Shadow Rises, using either the picture of their backs, or the picture of the Black Speech message:

•Someone Wants You Dead
Condition • Support Area
Maneuver: Remove and spot Thorin to make this condition become a fierce Man minion until the regroup phase that has 11 strength and 1 vitality, and cannot take wounds or bear Free Peoples cards. This card is still a condition.
"'A promise of payment... for your head.'"


So this card can only be discarded as a condition, or be overwhelmed. And can bear Shadow cards, like a weapon for any Man minion or any minion (which would stay stacked with it after the end of the turn). And stays the whole turn, making double moves much harder, therefore allowing to trigger The Last Lights of Durin's Day...

That way the titles of •Bill Ferny Sr. and •Squint will be available for the Corrupted Men pack. "This, Mr. Baggins, is the world of Men."


- Add ons: I know you don't like the idea of adding more cards, but there's a simple way of adding only 7x cards per player, which isn't an aggressive change but allows to deepen some flavor and strategy aspects of the cultures:

The current is: 3x Boosters with 15x cards each = 45 cards per player. By reducing the cards per Booster to 13x, and increasing the Boosters to 4x = 52 cards. That's only 7 cards more per player. 1x Shadow pack requires 2x players, so 2* 7 cards = 14 cards to distribute in add ons. Then a Swarm pack can divide in 7 + 7, while Beatdown pack might be 5 + 5 + 4. Those card slots can improve a Shadow culture to a suprising extent. The list of missing things will show us the potential of this.


- Caught in a Sack: Your version is much better! Bilbo's Pack should be OK, and the Stone Giants should be then in Balin's Pack. In the book Balin was the Company's explorer, and in the film he knew better than anyone the paths of the Misty Mountains.

Your version will be a nice suprise against Dwalin's skill!



I'll be working on the list of missing things.




EDIT #1: Some additions:

I don't like a [Dale] Shadow with a too similar template as the [Dale] FP culture. Shadow seems great for this.

Hmmm, perhaps you might use the template of the culture, BUT still use the [Dale] culture symbol. Then, they'd still be [Dale] cards, but with a darker, yellow template very different to that of good Dale guys. Cards that give strength to any "[Dale] Man", meant to help the good guys, would be helping the evil bloodsuckers too!


- Caught in a Sack: Should be "discard a minion (or exert a Troll)", or "(or exert a [Troll] Troll)"? I think the Trolls at the BotFA lacked the wit to use the sacks; the 3 Stone Trolls were brain gifted among their race.

EDIT #2: Cleared up, I wrote a lot of errors at first.

EDIT #3: Changed a bit Someone Wants You Dead. Now is a bit cheaper, needs to spot Thorin and is used at maneuver.

[-Enola-]

- Beatdown Pack 3: I don't think I will make a Beatdown Pack 3. There will be a lot more interactions with other Shadows than for the Swarm Pack 3:
    - Swarm Pack 3 (without Beatdown Pack 3): interactions with 4 other Shadows.
    - Beatdown Pack 3: interactions with 9 other Shadows.

So, we can do Goblin Archers or Stone Giants as the 3rd Shadow of the Beatdown Pack 3. Or another one ?

- Add-ons: There will be 14 other cards to put for 2 players. But this will be a lot of new playtesting before printing it.... with only 6 supplementary cards for 2 players, the playtest began one year ago. Moreover, 3 boosters of 15 cards are enough for the players. There will be no add-ons, only new cards in the supplementary packs. Some situations of the list of missing things will probably not be in the Hobbit Draft Game.

- culture: not sure about making the [Dale] culture in the same way as the Smeagol/Gollum culture. The occurence of the Esgaroth pack in the draft will distort this Shadow.

[Durin's Heir]

- Corrupted Dale Men: They must have a Site Number of 6. And I believe they shouldn't be too strong nor fierce or damage +1, for falvor's sake. Then, they must be really cheap and rely on punishing skills to counter that high site number. I think Men are a good precedent. But these will have a higher base strength and should have weapons.

They have 2 faces that can be recognized: 1. they are bullies that interrupt the Quest (and bother the people of Lake-town); 2. they steal the riches of Lake-town.

1st point can be represented by conditions played on characters (like Desertion), by blockage of special abilities (like Leechcraft) (they unabled Bard to face Smaug by imprisoning him), by exertng the Company or adding doubts, by returning or discarding weapons (like Where Has Grima Stowed It?)... etc.

2nd point is a damage to the resources, that can be portrayed by discard from draw deck (like Desperate Measures or Uruk Soldier).

A last thing: they musn't work along with Orcs (they aren't allies nor subjects of Orcs). So Orcs should be a discardable resource, like Spiders and Nazguls already do.

I made a version of Braga (based on Unferth), to show how the Evil Dale men might work:

•Braga, Captain of the Lake-town Guard
Minion • Man
Strength 8  Vitality 3  Site Number 6
Each time the Free Peoples player assigns a companion or ally to a Man, that character must exert.
Each time an exhausted companion or ally is wounded by a Man minion, add a doubt instead.
"'What's going on here? Stay where you are. Nobody leaves.'"

So Braga is a bully like Unferth and has his grinding skill. The 2nd skill is there because the Guards weren't killers but only imprisoners; as such they interrupted the normal flow of the Quest as well as Bard's intervention (that interruption can be represented by doubts; too many interruptions = they forget about reaching Erebor at time). Of course both skills synergize, as the exertions will soon exhaust and then you'll reap a good bunch of doubts.


A weapon like this can be added to make them stronger:

Sword of the Guard
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Man minion.
Each character skirmishing bearer loses all strength bonuses from weapons and followers.
Shadow: Exert bearer to add .
"'We caught them stealing weapons, sire.'"

This weapon interferes with the FP weapons (and followers), so aims to the goal of Wormtongue and Where Has Grima Stowed It?, albeit by different means. Can be used also by Squint, Ferny and the condition-minion Someone Wants You Dead. The Shadow ability is a copy of Orc Taskmaster's; another Corrupted Man can make them unable to take wounds before during archery (or before skirmish), so exerting won't carry any risk.



- Bilbo's Pony: If there will be no more add-ons and no Riddles pack, I'd rather have something to portray Bilbo's pity (instead of a mount), which changed the fate of all Middle Earth:

Gandalf: "'My heart tells me that he (Gollum) has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many...'"

Pity
Event • Skirmish
Make Bilbo strength +3. If he wins this skirmish, prevent all wounds to losing minions to heal Bilbo and remove a doubt once for each wound prevented this way.
You may exert Bilbo twice to play this event from your discard pile.
"'It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy...'"

It's a surviving tool, replayable from discard. And also removes a doubt and a wound from Bilbo (or 2 of each if bearing Bombur) if he wins the skirmish.

Note: you cannot prevent twice the same wound. Therefore, playing many copies won't stack the doubt/wound removing effect. So the replaying skill won't be useful to remove 2 or more burdens/wounds per wound prevented.


Hope this helps.

[-Enola-]

Thank you. I made a first shot for this Shadow:

3x Gangsquad Member : Cost (2). Minion. Man. Strength 5. Vitality 2. Site 6.
Each time a companion or ally loses a skirmish involving a minion, you may discard a weapon.

3x Gangsquad Lieutenant : Cost (3). Minion. Man. Strength 6. Vitality 2. Site 6.
When the Free Peoples player assigns this minion to a character, exert that character.
Shadow: Exert this minion and discard a Shadow card from hand to play a card from your draw deck or discard pile.

3x Laketown Mercenary : Cost (2). Minion. Man. Strength 4. Vitality 3. Site 6.
When the Free Peoples player assigns this minion to a character, exert that character.
Skirmish: Place another minion from play beneath your draw deck to return an exhausted companion (except Bilbo) to its owner's hand.

3x •Alfrid's influence : Cost (1). Condition - Support area.
The Free Peoples player must exert a companion to assign a minion having strength 6 or less to a skirmish.
Shadow: Remove to discard the bottom card of your draw deck. If it is a minion, you may play a minion from your discard pile.

3x •Braga : Cost (2). Minion. Man. Strength 6. Vitality 3. Site 6.  
Skirmishes involving Braga must be resolved after any other.
Skirmish: Place another minion from play beneath your draw deck to make a minion strength +2.


But you're right, since the [Mirkwood] Shadow will probably not have possessions, we will need a possession in this Shadow.


And in the Esgaroth pack:
2x •Alfrid, Lickspittle : Cost (2). Minion. Man. Strength 4. Vitality 3. Site 6.
Each time a [Dale] ally is assigned to a skirmish, exert each [Dale] ally.
Skirmish: Discard Alfrid to play a Shadow condition from your discard pile.