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Post by nigel on Nov 3, 2004 12:59:17 GMT 1
Here's a few ideas for new cards:
Shadow Character Event:
Snow Closes the Passes Play on face up on the table. No movement is possible into or out of High Pass by companions, minions, armies or the Fellowship. Any army in High Pass immediately takes 2 casualties (attrition) and is moved to an adjacent (free) region of the opponents choice, if no such region exists, army is eliminated. Draw 1 Character card.
Combat Effect: Misty Mountain Goblins - If a defending Army is in Erebor, Carrock or Goblin Gate, add 2 to all dice on your combat roll.
Shadow Strategy Event (Muster): Moria reclaimed Play face up on the table, units can be mustered in Moria even if it is under siege. May discard this card from the face up position to use its combat effect.
Combat Effect: A Cave Troll - If a Sauron army is defending in Moria, immediately add an Sauron Elite unit to the army
FP Character Event: Sun Shone Fiercely Force the discard of any Shadow event played Face-up on the table or immediately move the fellowship and the Shadow Player rolls one less die for the Hunt.
Combat Effect: Dawn of a New Day - Cancel the effects of the combat card played by the SP. If the SP did not play a Combat card, add 1 to all dice on your Leader re-roll.
FP Strategy Event (Muster): Returned beyond all hope Return any 2 Elven casualties (regular, elite or leader) to the Elven Reinforcements
Combat Effect: Valour - FP Elite Unit in the Battle. Add 1 to all dice on your Combat Roll.
Nigel
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Post by Gormonghast on Nov 3, 2004 17:15:48 GMT 1
I'll be posting details of my revised card deck soon on BGG. It involves expanding each event deck to 30 cards each, reworking some of the existing cards and of course adding cards for the new Minions. Leaders can now only come into play as the result of playing an event card, so there is one such card for every leader and Nazgul in the game (apart from those which begin on the board.)
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Post by Kris on Nov 14, 2004 15:14:17 GMT 1
Here are some suggested additional cards. The first two are the most radical, and they could be used to shake up the game a little.
Free People’s character card: THE RING SAILS SOUTH
Play only if the Fellowship has been declared in the Gray Havens. Move the Fellowship to Dol Amroth. This card cannot be played if either the Gray Havens or Dol Amroth are captured or under siege.
Battle Effect: A Deadly Contest
If both Gimli and Legolas take part in a battle, their combined leadership is 3.
Free People’s strategy (muster) card: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Play only if Aragorn is with an army that contains Gondor units. Play this card on the table in front of you. Gondor can now muster Gondorian units that have been eliminated.
The Shadow Player can force “The Return of the King” to be discarded by capturing all of Gondor’s strongholds and cities.
Battle Effect: Close Alliance
If an army contains units from more than one nation, add 1 to all combat die rolls.
Shadow Player character card: HIS ARM IS LONG
Play only if Saruman is in play. Saruman may create a blizzard in any region within four spaces of Orthanc (excluding Lorien). No armies, companions, Minions or Nagul may move or attack into or out of this region for the rest of the turn. No siege combat may be conducted and no units can be mustered in this region for the rest of this turn. If this region is the Fellowship’s last known position, then the Fellowship may not move for the rest of the turn. If the Fellowship is reveled, then it immediately becomes hidden.
Battle Effect: Manflesh to Eat
If the army contains units from Isengard or Mordor, then after casualties have been taken, the Shadow player may roll one die for every Free Player casualty inflicted. On a roll of 5 or greater, the Shadow may immediately muster an additional regular unit in this region.
Shadow Player character card: CRUELER THAN ANY ORC
If the Mouth of Sauron and any Shadow armies occupy a captured city or stronghold, the Mouth may commit atrocities to terrorize the entire Free People’s nation. Do the following for any force that contains combat units of the nation of the occupied city or Stonghold: Roll a number of dice equal to the number of units of the targeted Free People’s nation. The Free People’s player must take a casualty for every result of 6.
Battle Effect: Siege Trolls
Play only if a Mordor elite unit is in the battle and the defending army is in a Stronghold. Add one to one combat die roll for every elite unit in the battle.
Shadow Player strategy (army) card: IN TERROR BEFORE HIM
Play only if the Witch-King is in play and in command of armies. The Witch-King may eliminate one or more units from his army, and may move his army one region for every unit eliminated. He may eliminate an additional unit to conduct an attack at the end of his movement.
Battle Effect: Reinforcements
After casualties have been taken, the Shadow player may roll one die for every Shadow unit in an adjoining region (up to a maximum of five dice). For every roll of 5 or higher, the Shadow Player may move one unit of reinforcements into the region of the battle.
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Post by Kris on Nov 14, 2004 17:17:09 GMT 1
Even more suggested cards.
Free People’s character card: THE WILL OF THE ELVES
Use one Elven Ring in order to remove one die from the Hunt Box this turn.
Battle Effect: The Power to Preserve
If the Free People’s Army contains an Elven leader, use one Elven ring in order to cancel one or two casualties.
Free People’s character card: HUNTING FOR ORCS
Play only if Merridoc and/or Peregrin have been taken as a casualties from the Fellowship this turn. You may separate Strider, Gimli, and/or Legolas from the Fellowship and immediately place Merridoc and Peregrin in play again in the same region with them.
Battle Effect: Archers
The Free Peoples Player conducts all his combat rolls and leader re-rolls before the Shadow Player. The Shadow Player must remove his casualties before conducting his own combat rolls and leader re-rolls. If there are one or more Elven units in the region, then add 1 to all the Free People’s combat rolls.
Free People’s strategy (army) card: THE RIDERS OF ROHAN
Play only if Rohan is at war. Play this card on the table in front of you. Any army that contains at least one Rohan Leader and one Rohan combat unit may move two regions as part of any normal move.
Battle Effect: A Red Day
Play only if the Free Peoples’ army contains at least one Rohan leader and one Rohan combat unit. Add 2 to your combat die rolls and 1 to all Leader re-rolls.
Shadow Player character card: THE PALANTIR OF BARAD-DUR
Play this card on the table. The Shadow Player may attempt to look at the Free Peoples Player’s cards once per turn by expending any action die and by removing one die from the Hunt Box. Roll one die for every card in the Free Peoples Player’s hand. On a roll of 4 or higher, the Shadow Player gets to examine that card. The Shadow Player may add 1 to his die rolls by removing a second die from the Hunt box.
Battle Effect: Sauron’s Will. The Shadow Player may remove one or more dice from the Hunt box. For every die removed from the Hunt Box, add 1 to the Shadow combat die rolls.
Shadow Player strategy (muster) card: THE SCALES OF HIS MALICE
The Shadow Player may eliminate two regular Shadow units of any nation at war from any region in order to muster one regular Shadow unit of the same nation in any region that contains a Nazgul. Up to five units may be mustered in this way.
Battle Effect: Frenzied Attack. The Shadow Player may add 1 or 2 to his combat die rolls. The Free Peoples Player is allowed to double the number that the Shadow Player chooses and add that number to his combat die rolls.
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Veldrin
Lord of the Nazgûl
Posts: 1,305
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Post by Veldrin on Nov 14, 2004 17:35:03 GMT 1
I think the Free Peoples player should be able to discard THE PALANTIR OF BARAD-DUR...
[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]
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Post by Kris on Nov 14, 2004 18:35:09 GMT 1
Palantir of Barad-dur
How about if it is discarded by playing a Will of the West and discarding one character card?
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Post by Kris on Nov 14, 2004 19:42:23 GMT 1
I'm home sick with a cold and I don't have anything better to do than dream up WOTR cards.
But I sincerely think the game would be better with larger decks. In some games that I've played, each player was better at hindering his opponent's plans than accomplising his own. This meant that the game dragged on until all four decks were exhausted. This has happened often enough that I suspect the decks are too small, and it isn't just a case of inexperienced players playing badly.
And even if we don't exahust the deck, each player still knows what is likely to show up in his opponent's hand. The Shadow knows that if the Free People's player burns through his character deck, he will get all three Ent cards sooner or later. Larger decks would make this less certain.
And the cards add all sorts of interesting color and strategic possibilities. It is the imagination of the original cards that has inspired my own suggestions.
Anyway, here's two more:
Shadow Player character card: ALL HIS THOUGHT IS BENT ON IT
Play his card on the table in front of you. The Shadow Player is allowed to put one die in the Hunt Box above the usual limitation imposed by the number of companions in the Fellowship. (Example: if there is only one companion in the Fellowship, the Shadow Player may put two dice in the Hunt Box).
The Shadow Player is limited to holding only five cards in his hand while this card is on the table. The Free People’s Player can force this card to be discarded by playing a Will of the West die and discarding one character card.
Battle Effect: Great Evil. If the number of Shadow elite units is greater than the number of Free People elite units in the battle, add 1 to all combat die rolls.
Free People’s strategy (muster) card: COUNCIL OF THE WISE
Play only if Gandalf the White occupies an Elven Stronghold. The Free Peoples Player may recruit up to three units and/or leaders in any Free People Stronghold or city, even if the nation of the units is not at war. No units may be recruited in a Stronghold under siege. After recruiting these units, the Free People’s Player may move two armies or attack with one.
Battle Effect: Captains of the West. If leaders from more than one Free People’s nation are in the army, add 1 to all Leader re-rolls. If any Companions are present, add an additional 1 to all Leader re-rolls.
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Post by Kris on Nov 14, 2004 20:36:44 GMT 1
Maybe COUNCIL OF THE WISE seems too powerful a card for the Free People's Player. But I've had too many games playing the West when I've had three or four muster cards in my hand that were useless because the region where the units would be mustered was too far away from the action or already captured.
This doesn't happen nearly as often with the Shadow player because he has multiple cards that help him move armies multiple regions.
I'd like to see the Free Peoples with a couple of cards with the flexibility to be useful no matter what the situation. If it still seems too powerful, remove the movement component.
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Post by nigel on Nov 15, 2004 9:52:34 GMT 1
I sincerely think the game would be better with larger decks. In some games that I've played, each player was better at hindering his opponent's plans than accomplising his own. This meant that the game dragged on until all four decks were exhausted. This has happened often enough that I suspect the decks are too small, and it isn't just a case of inexperienced players playing badly. Right, although my recent games no deck has been depleted - but they've all ended in around 12-14 turns. It does depend on the number of combats and palantir action dice rolled. I'd also like to see more cards - problem is if you increase the card decks too much then that helps the FP as it reduces the chance of getting the stop tiles into the pool - sure the fellowship blue tiles will have a reduced chance too, but I think it's the stop tiles that are the real 'problem' for the Fellowship in Mordor. One idea I like is to introduce a level of 'customisation' of the decks, where each player builds their decks from a pool of cards (so some cards never get used in that game), that way each side can tailor the decks to match the strategy they want to adopt for the game - the card pool doesn't have to be huge, but having an extra 5 or so cards of each type would give a bit more variety, and experienced players can't assume that card X is definitely in the game ... for those that deck building sounds like it will just make a long game longer, they can pull 5 cards out of each deck at random. You could also have a card that lets you look at the 'not in play cards' and put one in the deck (or you hand ) to further add some depth. Nigel
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Post by Kris on Nov 15, 2004 12:54:33 GMT 1
Yes, a good point about the effect of larger decks on the special Mordor tiles.
I'd like to see ten or eleven new cards for each deck. Then let each player choose five cards from each deck that he won't use for that game. That should increase each deck by five cards each game, and give some additional variety to which cards are likely to appear each game. And your customization idea sounds fun and workable.
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Post by cheup on Nov 15, 2004 13:45:00 GMT 1
Snow Closes the PassesCombat Effect: Misty Mountain Goblins I very much like this Event card idea since I always found it strange that the Fellowship may pass the High Pass so easily. Perhaps one could add that the card may only be played if Saruman is in play. Concerning the combat effect I would say that a +1-bonus would be good enough. Since Moria is one the few SA Settlements which is vulnerable to the FP player, I think, that this event card would be too postive for the SA player. Good idea if combined with one or even both of the above SA cards. Very good idea.
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Post by cheup on Nov 15, 2004 14:08:33 GMT 1
Free People’s character card: THE RING SAILS SOUTH Battle Effect: A Deadly Contest I very much like this event card and its battle effect. I think this offers the FP player a nice opportunity for taking the sea route to the South. Although its use is quite risky, since if, for example, Dol Amroth is captured by the SA player while the Fellowship is already near to the Grey Havens the Fellowship will have a very hard time reaching Mordor via the land route. I think this card is way too strong. It will be not so easy for the SA player to capture all Gondorian strongholds and cities, while the reinforcements of Gondor are unlimited. Perhaps one could add that this card may be discarded by the SA player if he discards a die and two cards, say. Nice ideas. I don't see the logical background of this event card, but I like the battle effect. Good ideas.
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Post by cheup on Nov 15, 2004 14:29:40 GMT 1
My suggestion for a new event card involves a rule adaption for the With-King. He will now be considered as a Nazgul even if he is eliminated during combat which means, in other words, that he may be brought back in play after the elimination. He is only permanently out of the game if the following card is played:
Free People character event card: THE STRENGTH OF A WOMAN Play if the With-King is with a SA army which besieges a FP stronghold containing a Rohan leader. Roll a die. A result of 4 or higher permanently eliminates the Witch-King.
Combat effect: SWORD OF WESTERNESSE Play if the Witch-King and a Rohan leader are involved in the battle. On a roll of 4 or higher the Witch-King is permanently out of game.
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Post by Kris on Nov 15, 2004 15:13:26 GMT 1
As I mentioned, my idea for THE RETURN OF THE KING card is to shake things up. In the games I have played, the Free Peoples never get to go on the offensive anywhere if the Shadow Player is paying attention. I'd like to have one opportunity for the West to attack. I don't think this card is an automatic game-winner. But maybe the cost for playing it should be high. Maybe the Free Peoples need a Will of the West and must discard two other muster cards to play this one.
I like your idea of an Eowyn card.
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Post by Kris on Nov 15, 2004 20:22:25 GMT 1
Doe this sound like a more reasonable version of my proposed card THE RETURN OF THE KING? I think this version is a double-edged sword.
Free People’s strategy (muster) card: THE RETURN OF THE KING
Play only if Aragorn is with an army that contains Gondor units. Play this card on the table in front of you. Gondor can now muster Gondorian units that have been eliminated.
The Shadow player immediately musters four Sauron units (regular or elite) and a Nazgul in a Mordor Stronghold of his choice or with any Shadow army in Gondor. The Shadow player can hold seven cards in his hand without discarding as long as THE RETURN OF THE KING is on the table.
The Free Peoples Player can discard “The Return of the King” at will. The Shadow Player can force “The Return of the King” to be discarded by capturing all of Gondor’s strongholds and cities.
Battle Effect: Close Alliance
If an army contains units from more than one nation, add 1 to all combat die rolls.
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