Lands of Shadow - Something to Fear. (10/24)

[sickofpalantirs]

well you have to have some crud cards in a set

[menace64]

Exactly! PBMS is one of those cards that a new player may wish to use for its simplicity (or just because he has nothing better to use), and that a veteran player may eventually put to strong use (as someone else mentioned, using it for free burden removal in a Gandalf RB deck).

Here it is, sports fans: the last card!

•Glamdring, Blade of the Istar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Gandalf. He gains dominate.
Maneuver: Exert Gandalf and spot 2 Free Peoples alliances to discard a Shadow alliance. That alliance's owner may heal 2 wounds from other companions to prevent this.
"‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. It is naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle, and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?'"
M1R10

Dominate, for those of you who have forgotten, prevents an opponent from exerting any of his characters skirmishing bearer. Beyond that, this card is the "sister-sword" of Theoden's sword, Herugrim. Both blades break Shadow alliances. Glamdring, however, gives the Shadow player an out; an out that can only ever work to your own advantage.

And with that, I think it's only natural to spoil Herugrim, then move full throttle into culture. sports some of the most flavorful, beautiful cards in the entire set, and I hope you enjoy them all!

•Herugrim, Blade of the First Line
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Théoden. He is damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert Théoden twice and spot 2 Shadow alliances of different cultures to discard both of them.
"Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son… Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered."
M1U65

[lem0nhead]

•Glamdring, Blade of the Istar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Gandalf. He gains dominate.
Maneuver: Exert Gandalf and spot 2 Free Peoples alliances to discard a Shadow alliance. That alliance's owner may remove 2 wounds from other companions to prevent this.
"‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. It is naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle, and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?'"
M1R10

Remove wounds should be phrased "heal" surely? How late at night did you do this one!?

•Herugrim, Blade of the First Line
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Théoden. He is damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert Théoden twice and spot 2 Shadow alliances of different cultures to discard both of them.
"Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son… Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered."
M1U65

Hmmm think its ok.

[menace64]

lol I couldn't say. I wrote it weeks ago. But with my wording, the Shadow player can remove wounds from companions that "cannot heal", unless I've missed some rule.

Not that that fact means much, since it's obvious that I goofed. I'll fix the wording.

[lem0nhead]

Haha ok but on a technicality im sure "removing wounds" is the definition of healing vis a vis its still healing and wont work.

[menace64]

And as a "bonus" to spoiling Herugrim:

•Théoden, Lord of the Horse-realm
Companion • Man
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 6
Flanking. Valiant. While in your starting fellowship, Théoden is twilight cost -1.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert Théoden to take a or alliance into hand from your draw deck.
"‘Long years in the space of days it seems since I rode west; but never will I lean on a staff again. If the war is lost, what good will be my hiding in the hills? And if it is won, what grief will it be, even if I fall, spending my last strength?'"
M1C71

This Theoden, being common, doesn't push the envelop with anything in particular. He's the only companion in the entire set that comes automatically with flanking (If this companion is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this companion to replace that character in the skirmish), which is the most advanced aspect of him.

The alliance-pulling part, well, you don't need to know much about what the and alliances do in order to understand that this Theoden is key to any good alliance deck. He leads the Rohirrim or splashes nicely with Gondorians.

[sickofpalantirs]

Exactly! PBMS is one of those cards that a new player may wish to use for its simplicity (or just because he has nothing better to use), and that a veteran player may eventually put to strong use (as someone else mentioned, using it for free burden removal in a Gandalf RB deck).

Here it is, sports fans: the last card!

•Glamdring, Blade of the Istar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Gandalf. He gains dominate.
Maneuver: Exert Gandalf and spot 2 Free Peoples alliances to discard a Shadow alliance. That alliance's owner may heal 2 wounds from other companions to prevent this.
"‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. It is naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle, and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?'"
M1R10
soo alliances are always condition cards right?

•Herugrim, Blade of the First Line
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Théoden. He is damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert Théoden twice and spot 2 Shadow alliances of different cultures to discard both of them.
"Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son… Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered."
M1U65

fine by me.

theoden is cool...

[DáinIronfoot]

•Glamdring, Blade of the Istar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Gandalf. He gains dominate.
Maneuver: Exert Gandalf and spot 2 Free Peoples alliances to discard a Shadow alliance. That alliance's owner may heal 2 wounds from other companions to prevent this.
"‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. It is naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle, and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?'"
M1R10

Card's awesome; no complaints whatsoever. Where is that lore from?

•Herugrim, Blade of the First Line
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Théoden. He is damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert Théoden twice and spot 2 Shadow alliances of different cultures to discard both of them.
"Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son… Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered."
M1U65

Niftiness. Maybe give dominate with this one as well? Seems pretty useless if you happen to be facing no alliances....

•Théoden, Lord of the Horse-realm
Companion • Man
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 7
Flanking. Valiant. While in your starting fellowship, Théoden is twilight cost -1.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert Théoden to take a or alliance into hand from your draw deck.
"‘Long years in the space of days it seems since I rode west; but never will I lean on a staff again. If the war is lost, what good will be my hiding in the hills? And if it is won, what grief will it be, even if I fall, spending my last strength?'"
M1C71

The flanking and starting fellowship cost reduction (something I think at least ONE version of Eomer or Theoden should have had in the actual game) alone make him awesome. The alliance thing is just gravy.

for some neat stuff.

[Thranduil]

•Glamdring, Blade of the Istar
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be Gandalf. He gains dominate.
Maneuver: Exert Gandalf and spot 2 Free Peoples alliances to discard a Shadow alliance. That alliance's owner may heal 2 wounds from other companions to prevent this.
"‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. It is naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle, and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?'"
M1R10

Is your intention that if you have no wounded companions (say a huge healing engine like or ) then the effect cannot be prevented? And lem0n's right; as far as I know, removing wounds is the same as healing them.

•Herugrim, Blade of the First Line
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Vitality +1
Bearer must be Théoden. He is damage +1.
Maneuver: Exert Théoden twice and spot 2 Shadow alliances of different cultures to discard both of them.
"Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son… Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered."
M1U65

Very cool. Alliance doesn't effect the culture of the card, right? Also, I thought you weren't using any damage bonuses!

•Théoden, Lord of the Horse-realm
Companion • Man
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 7
Flanking. Valiant. While in your starting fellowship, Théoden is twilight cost -1.
At the start of your fellowship phase, you may exert Théoden to take a or alliance into hand from your draw deck.
"‘Long years in the space of days it seems since I rode west; but never will I lean on a staff again. If the war is lost, what good will be my hiding in the hills? And if it is won, what grief will it be, even if I fall, spending my last strength?'"
M1C71

No complaints, though it is a powerful common. Perhaps he doesn't need resistance 7.

Thranduil

[menace64]

Well Thran, that wasn't my *intention* when I wrote the healing text bit, but it sure is neat that it came out like that. No, alliance (which appears only on conditions) doesn't change the card's culture; all alliance does is allow other cultures to utilize the card.

As for not having damage bonuses, the "new" subcultures in this set have none of the old keywords. I think damage shows up twice (the other card being Gimli) and there's only one archer (Legolas).

Dain, I can't say for sure where that lore is from (I'm not in the same building as my books), but I'm almost certain (actually, I *am* certain) that it's from the chapter Minas Tirith, just after Pippin swears service to Denethor and before Gandalf blows his top. Just after Gandalf says the quote, Denethor says something to the effect of, "I have seen this and more" yadda yadda yadda.

But I think I will drop Theoden's resistance to 6.

[menace64]

Now we push headlong into the cards. Like I said before, these are some of my favorite cards out of the whole set (if not my favorite DC creations ever), combining strong flavors and mechanics to create - in my opinion - balanced, fun cards. The culture in Lands of Shadow doesn't hold to a central strategy or mechanic; all they want to do is run real fast and kill real good!

But you be the judge!

•Courage and Legacy
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert a companion (or spot a valiant Man).
Assignment: Assign a minion to skirmish a companion of lower strength. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard this condition to reconcile your hand.
"And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains."
M1C60

Each Free Peoples culture in Lands of Shadow has a card that can somehow reconcile your hand outside of the regroup phase. This is Rohan's. Flavorfully, this represents the Rohirrim knowingly engaging Sauron's forces, obviously striking at the stronger foe. Courage and Legacy also encourages the use of skirmish events (like the one two cards below).

For Lord and Land
Event • Regroup
Play 3 companions from your discard pile to reveal the top 10 cards of your draw deck. Play any possessions revealed and shuffle the rest into your draw deck.
"‘Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!'"
M1R63

Read this one carefully. The cost on the card is to play 3 dudes from your discard pile. Doing so nets you some free booty from your draw deck, at the risk of "rallying" nothing to the war effort. This card is representing Eomer calling his kinsmen to arms, to ride without stop to the gates of Gondor.

And one more...

Such Fury Unseen
Event • Skirmish
Make a valiant Man strength +1 for each other valiant companion you spot. If that Man wins that skirmish, make him or her damage +1 for each other valiant companion you spot.
"…and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them…"
M1U69

A big theme for Rohan in this set is pushing valiant as a proper mechanic. Valiant never brought across the punch and power that it deserved. Such Fury Unseen is taken from the culminating moment of Eomer and his men as they rode reckless across the Pelennor, hewing and hacking without remorse.

Next time I'm spoiling Eomer and his trusty sword.  Both are loads of fun, and my Eomer alone will give Third Marshal a run for its money.

[Thranduil]

•Courage and Legacy
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert a companion (or spot a valiant Man).
Assignment: Assign a minion of higher strength to skirmish a companion. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard this condition to reconcile your hand.
"And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains."
M1C60

Tis cool.

For Lord and Land
Event • Regroup
Play 3 companions from your discard pile to reveal the top 10 cards of your draw deck. Play any possessions revealed and discard the rest.
"‘Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!'"
M1R63

Funky, though one would hope that 3 companions weren't in your discard pile so I'm not sure how much use it would have.

Such Fury Unseen
Event • Skirmish
Make a valiant Man strength +1 for each other valiant companion you spot. If that Man is then winning the skirmish, make him or her damage +1 for each other valiant companion you spot.
"…and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them…"
M1U69

[/quote]
Good stuff.

Thranduil

[lem0nhead]

•Courage and Legacy
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert a companion (or spot a valiant Man).
Assignment: Assign a minion of higher strength to skirmish a companion. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard this condition to reconcile your hand.
"And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains."
M1C60

Niiiiiice.

For Lord and Land
Event • Regroup
Play 3 companions from your discard pile to reveal the top 10 cards of your draw deck. Play any possessions revealed and discard the rest.
"‘Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!'"
M1R63

Ooof discard the rest is nasty but playing 3 companions from discard is crazy. Id abuse this with where now the horse.

Such Fury Unseen
Event • Skirmish
Make a valiant Man strength +1 for each other valiant companion you spot. If that Man is then winning the skirmish, make him or her damage +1 for each other valiant companion you spot.
"…and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them…"
M1U69

Not sure youre phrasing is great, isnt if that man wins the skirmish make him damage.... the same? Dont you win the skirmish then wounds are applied?

[DáinIronfoot]

•Courage and Legacy
Condition • Support Area
To play, exert a companion (or spot a valiant Man).
Assignment: Assign a minion of higher strength to skirmish a companion. If that companion wins the skirmish, discard this condition to reconcile your hand.
"And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains."
M1C60

I think the wording would be clearer as "Assign a minion to skirmish a companion of lower strength." Probably also better with "wins that skirmish". Very, very cool card, though.

For Lord and Land
Event • Regroup
Play 3 companions from your discard pile to reveal the top 10 cards of your draw deck. Play any possessions revealed and discard the rest.
"‘Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!'"
M1R63

Wow, Decipher never used that title? I'll have to remember that....

In a companion-heavy deck with multiple copies of several companions (or with Where Now The Horse, as lem0n noted), this is swiggity-sweet. I think I'd like it a LOT better with a low twilight cost (like or ) and sending the non-possessions to the bottom of the deck rather than discarding, or perhaps even shuffling them into the deck.

Such Fury Unseen
Event • Skirmish
Make a valiant Man strength +1 for each other valiant companion you spot. If that Man is then winning the skirmish, make him or her damage +1 for each other valiant companion you spot.
"…and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them…"
M1U69

Yeah, valiant never really took off. Again, I think "that skirmish" would be best. Nifty to the extreme, though.

[menace64]

Thanks for the input on wording guys. You think with how often I nitpick I'd get those sorts of things right!

So, like I promised, today I'm showing Eomer and his sword, Guthwine. Since both are alliance-heavy, I'm starting things off with the non-unique alliance in Lands of Shadow.

Answering the Call
Condition • Support Area
Alliance: . (You may replace with anywhere in this card's gametext.) To play, spot 3 valiant Men.
Each time the fellowship moves during the regroup phase, you may spot 5 companions to make each Shadow player wound a minion. Then, if you can spot 4 valiant companions, discard a minion.
"‘Dark tidings,' said Théoden, ‘yet not all unguessed. But say to Denethor that even if Rohan itself felt no peril, still we would come to his aid… We will come.'"
M1U59

To help beat this mechanic into you guys, I went ahead and included the reminder text for alliance. Even then, it still basically requires 3 companions to play, and adds 3 to boot. Now, this may seem too expensive for the card's ability - which certainly isn't bad - but I'm being very careful about making cross-cultural cards. This card is pricey for two key reasons: first, because it's so darned flexible with who can use it; and second because it's non-unique. If you can maintain 5 OR 5 companions during a double move, you can net 4 wounds (and lots more in multiplayer)... and 4 discarded minions if you spot enough valiant companions.

It's not easy to set up, but great alliances between great kingdoms never is.

•Éomer, Unscathed in Battle
Companion • Man
Strength 7
Vitality 3
Resistance 6
Flanking. Valiant. While you can spot a Man, Éomer is twilight cost -1.
For each alliance you can spot, Éomer is strength +1.
Response: If Éomer wins a skirmish, exert him to heal another companion.
"For once more lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and he was king: the lord of a fell people."
M1R62

The reminder text looking clunky on the card, so here is flanking again:  (If this companion is not assigned to a skirmish, at the start of another of your character's skirmishes, you may exert this companion to replace that character in the skirmish.)

Sporting both flanking and valiant, Eomer shines in cross-cultural fellowships. Those alliances will bolster Eomer's resolve, and when he punches an baddie in the face, you can exert him once or twice (thrice?) to remove annoying wounds from others. PLUS, with Theoden being twilight cost -1 in a starting fellowship, you can start 2 flanking companions that work well with alliances. Talk about teching.  :hey:

On a style note, I (like Dain) tend to stray from including the subtitle in the lore; in this case though I wanted to reinforce the moment. It's just too freaking cool.

•Gúthwinë, Blade of the Riddermark
Possession • Hand Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a valiant Man (or Éomer).
Each time you play a or alliance, if bearer is Éomer, you may remove a Shadow culture token or heal a companion of another culture.
"And so at length Éomer and Aragorn met in the midst of the battle, and they leaned on their swords and looked on one another and were glad."
M1R64

I'm aware that Guthwine doesn't require a subtitle, but all of the swords in this set have a "Blade of the..." thing going for them. Guthwine is pretty basic, granting an additional power from the expensive alliances you might be playing. And, if borne by Unscathed in Battle, this little killer can double (even triple if you have lots of alliances coming into play) the amount of healing you accomplish in a turn.

And if you want to get a really good idea of how much loves alliances, scroll up and have another look at Theoden. Then reread Guthwine while borne by the new Eomer. You'll see some sweet stuff.