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Post by animalmother on Jan 6, 2007 18:45:25 GMT 1
The Balrog of Moria, Evil of the Ancient World, does not strike me as a very plausible leader of Shadow Armies, or someone who would increase Shadow Command and Control by providing an added Action Die. I think the original game handled the Balrog better as an Event Card.
Here we have a Balrog who has been swimming in fire beneath Moria for decades, with no ambition to do more than drive out some occasional dwarfs. When he makes his rare appearances, he terrifies orcs as much as Free Peoples. Not officer material, I'd say, to say nothing of major political material. He seems quite content to be a proud and lonely Evil of the Ancient World, reminiscing about the good old days when Morgoth was alive. Why would he take orders from Sauron anyway, as he is of the same cosmic rank as Sauron and the Istari, namely, a Maia? (Pardon if the spelling is wrong.)
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Post by mrweasely on Jan 7, 2007 19:09:25 GMT 1
He does seem like more of a shock-tank than a back-rank schemer. That is combat abilities are useless when stacked with decent armies and good generalship is troubling to me as well.
Pre expansion I was assuming he'd be more mobile and have an ability like: Add two dice to the Shadow player's combat roll, to a limit of seven dice.
I guess the fact that Sauron's control is tenuous is represented by the fact that he doesn't come out every game.
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Post by ruben on Feb 8, 2011 17:35:49 GMT 1
Balrog leadership I find plausible. Remember, in the First Age, Balrogs were demonic commanders of Morgoth's armies. I can imagine that evil maiar would serve the successor of their ancient master. Presumably, Durin's Bane is powerful, but not as powerful as Sauron and the host at his command.
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