Once upon a time enabled very Tookish shennigans but no longer
Background
The flavor text is from the brief overview of Bilbo’s parentage in The Hobbit. He was related to the Tooks from his mother’s side. The Took family was known for having adventures. An ancestor Bullroar Took was famous for being tall enough to ride a horse and defeating a band of orcs in Northfarthing.
Card Theme
The mechanism to pass this ally around the table is a great way to represent the wandering in the title of this this card. It quite literally wanders.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Hobbit Character Boosts and Attachments
There are few ways to boost Wandering Took’s stats and get more value out of its cheap cost. Tom Cotton boosts its attack to 2 for the round it enters play. Redbook of Westmarch will boost its willpower by 1 each time it can quest. Bill the Pony provides an extra hit point that can help soak some damage, especially archery. Halfling Determination can offer +2 to all stats (except hit points) for a single phase. Ring Mail and Boots from Erebor boost the Took’s defensive stats. Fast hitch can ready the Took to maximize the utility of having at least 1 in every state and more if boosted. Hobbit Pipe doesn’t boost stats but provide a way to get card draw. Interestingly, putting it on Wandering Took can allow a player to pass that card draw to another player. Hopefully they are playing some threat reduction events!
Song of Earendil
This is a pre-errata combo. It used to be that Wandering Took didn’t have a limit on its ability. Players could transfer the Took to build up one player’s threat and reduce another’s. Here is an example with 2 players at 30 threat.
Player 1 with Song of Earendil passes Wandering Took to Player 2. Player 1’s threat becomes 27 and Player 2’s is 33.
Player 1 activates Song of Earendil to raise their threat to 28 and Player 2’s threat becomes 32.
Player 2 passes Wandering Took to Player 1. Player 1’s threat becomes 31 and Player 2’s is 29.
Players could repeat this endlessly then then either reset the first player’s threat with Lore Aragorn or manage it with other threat reduction cards like The Galadhrim’s Greeting or Elrond’s Counsel.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I rate Wandering Took at 7 rings. It is good value for cost considering many later 2 cost allies will only have 1 hit point and a 2 stat. The Wandering Took gets 2 hit points and 1 across the board for the cost. Unfortunately, power creep has passed by more versatile and value add allies like this. Players often need the more efficient and focused allies with at least a 2 in one stat for 2 cost. Additionally, this ally is in Spirit with allies like Emery and Elven jeweler that have similar stats but alternative costs that ensure they fit into particular decks.
The only advantage Wandering Took has is in multiplayer. It effectively has range and sentinel as long as players aren’t at 47 threat. The ability when it didn’t have a limit certainly enabled a game breaking combo, but I liked it much better when that was possible. The Song of Earendil combo can still work to transfer 1 threat per round since the once per round limit doesn’t specify for all the players. I wish it was once per phase or 3 times per round. Then it could still have a significant threat transfer effect, but it would still take a few turns to work. In its current state it just isn’t worth it when multiplayer games usually are completed in under 10 rounds.
This deck is designed solely to take on The Dunland Trap and only uses cards from one Core Set, The Voice of Isengard Deluxe Box, and the Dunland Trap adventure pack, making this a “Minimum Purchase” deck.
A Rohan Deck for Dunland Trap, Minimum Purchase
Main Deck
Hero (3) Éomer (The Voice of Isengard)
Éowyn (Core Set)
Théodred (Core Set)
Sam is a gardener at Bag End, where he meets Bilbo Baggins and learns about the greater wonders of the world. Sam becomes Frodo’s companion on his journey to destroy the One Ring, after eavesdropping on Frodo and Gandalf’s conversation about the ring’s true nature. Sam joins the fellowship and insists on bringing his pony, Bill, along. He saves Frodo’s life from the Watcher in the Water. After the Breaking of the Fellowship, Sam is the only member to journey with Frodo and Gollum to Mordor. When Gollum betrayed the Hobbits to Shelob, Sam took up Sting and fought off the giant spider. Then he went on to rescue Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol and return The One ring to Frodo’s care. The two disguised as orc made their way to the slopes of Mount Doom. Sam watched in dismay as Frodo claimed the Ring as his own, and then as Gollum claimed Frodo’s ring finger taking the Ring with it. After the Gollum and the Ring’s destruction in the fires of Mount Doom, the Eagles came and rescued both Sam and Frodo. They were hailed as heroes by the newly crowned King Elessar of Gondor.
Card Theme
Sam despite being a simple gardener that had never left the Shire persevered over great odds in the quest to destroy The Ruling Ring. This demonstrates his strength of will. The readying and combat bonuses fit with Sam finding hidden reservoirs of strength when needed such as his fight with Shelob. The also game represents the Hobbits affinity for stealth with various bonuses for engaging enemies with higher engagement cost than their threat. This can easily be construed as the advantage they get from the element of surprise.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Stat Boosts
Sam’s built-in readying along with the availability of Fast Hitch, and other readying effects like Armored Destrier make stat boosts very effective on him. His ability already can make him a 4/2/2 hero for the entire round. Dunedain Warning and Mark are good in sphere options to boost his combat effectiveness after engaging an enemy with engagement cost higher than a player’s threat.
Hobbits also many trait specific boosts or ones that use the same Hobbit Surprise mechanism. Hobbit Cloak in sphere with Sam is both that can turn Sam into a Beregond level defender. Dagger of Westernesse while not limited to Hobbits does use their surprise for an additional attack bonus. Rosie in particular is a minimum +2 boost to whichever stat Sam needs. Let’s not forget Sam’s beloved Bill who not only gives all Hobbits a hit point but is free with Sam in play.
Then there are a few cards that can boost all the basic stats (except hit points) like Sting, Halfling Determination, and Friend of Friends. These are great the more readying Sam has to each bolstered stat in a single round.
Sam being a Leadership hero means he has access to Steward of Gondor. This also makes Sam eligible for two of the biggest combat boosts, Blood of Numenor and Gondorian Fire. Even activating both each round will net a +1 bonus from Steward’s additional resources. The Red Book of Westmarch can accelerate this further.
Engagement Control
Sam’s ability is a response to engaging an enemy with higher engagement cost. Normally, the only opportunity for this is Optional Engagement during step 5.2. This usually is fine to utilize Sam’s now 2 attack or defense during combat since it lasts until the end of the round. Ideally, a player would engage an enemy during the quest phase to get the additional willpower and still have Sam ready with higher attack and defense for combat. Not to mention it will lower the threat in the staging area. Westfold Outrider‘s has an action that can force an engagement during the quest phase but at the cost of discarding it. Son of Arnor, Mablung, and Lore Faramir ally when put into play can also force an enemy engagement. Sneak Attack, Reinforcements, or Horns! Horns! Horns! are necessary to put them into play during the quest phase.
Secrecy
Hobbits are all fairly low threat heroes making starting at 20 or less threat for Secrecy viable. Sam provides Leadership access for one of the key acceleration cards in Secrecy, Timely Aid. The other, Resourceful, is neutral and can be included with the other Leadership Secrecy cards. Swift and Silent can ready a hero and get itself back if threat is 20 or less. The other two, Rivendell Scout and Dunedain Wanderer mostly are stats for a good value if played for the Secrecy cost.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I rate Sam at 3 rings. His 3 willpower combined with his ability tend to make him into a dual questing and defending hero in a Hobbit deck. Granted he needs a little set up to be a good defender. Fortunately Leadership has plenty of defense boosts including the Hobbit Cloak that can get his defense to 4 depending on the enemy’s engagement cost. Outside a Hobbit deck, he is a lower cost questing hero at worst. His ability may not trigger as often but 3 willpower is still good. He only has 3 hit points which is on the lower side for a hero. Still it is better than nearly all the Hobbit heroes.
I think Sam is good, but loses out as a general purpose questing hero to 4 willpower heroes particularly Eowyn. They’re very similar in threat cost and stat line to each other. Spirit Eowyn is 1 more threat cost and has 1 more willpower and easier to activate willpower bonus. Tactics Eowyn is 2 less threat cost with 1 more willpower and a very useful once per game ability. Later quests tend to require 6-7 willpower in the first couple of turns. It is much easier to manage that level with a 4 willpower hero than 3 willpower one. A single 2 willpower ally + 4 willpower hero and a player can quest well. Additionally the condition on his readying ability works well with other low threat heroes. Combined with heroes that have threat 10 or more, it won’t trigger much throughout the game. It makes him less useful in decks with high threat cost heroes or Bond of Friendship other than keeping starting threat from being too high. His 3 willpower means he’s fine outside Hobbits and Secrecy, but he really shines in those decks.
The mandatory hero for The Hobbit: On the Doorstep Saga expansion.
Background
Bilbo once a respectable Hobbit from a respectable family that didn’t go off having adventures, went on an adventure to burgle treasure from a dragon. Along the way, he won or found a magic ring (depending on the telling) that would change the course of Middle-Earth. That however is another story. Bilbo aided by the magic ring, verbally sparred with a dragon in trying to burgle some treasures. In so doing provoked the dragon to attack a nearby town leading to its demise and liberation of a Dwarven ancestral home and its treasures. Elves, Men, and Dwarves afterwards nearly came to war over the liberated treasures until the host of goblins, orcs, and wargs arrived. Bilbo was soon knocked out in the fighting but survived to take a nice stash of treasure home to retire on.
Card Theme
This version of Bilbo is meant to represent him in the second half of The Hobbit. He has to be included for those 3 The Hobbit: On the Doorstep quests. The theme comes in a couple of ways. The low willpower, attack, and defense represents his lack of experience at this point. Then there is his ability to pull out a treasure card from the player’s deck. It is a very burglar ability to just suddenly come up with this valuable object. It could also represent him just pulling his magic ring out of his pocket when needed.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Burglar Baggins and The Lucky Number
There are only 2 non-hero Baggins sphere cards. Burglar Baggins could boost Bilbo’s stats. The Lucky Number could boost another character’s stats. There used to be an infinite willpower combo with The Lucky Number and Galadriel hero. The Lucky Number being able to boost another character’s stats by Bilbo’s could feed into Nenya adding Galadriel’s willpower to another character. When targeting Bilbo, it used to create an infinite loop because Bilbo’s willpower would update and that would recalculate Galadriel’s and so on.
FAQ 1.55 on lasting effects killed the loop. Basically, 1.55 said the effect for player cards that last until the phase or round has to be calculated when triggered. Before 1.55 and still true for encounter cards, you would recalculate if something else in the game would affect the total. Now for player cards, it doesn’t update if there is a change. Under 1.55 Bilbo adds his 1 willpower to Galadriel. Then with Nenya, she adds her 5 willpower Bilbo. It doesn’t update to add Bilbo’s 6 willpower to Galadriel.
Treasure Cards
The treasure cards that can be earned in The Hobbit Saga all have useful effects. Sting, Glamdring, and Orcrist earned in Over Hill and Under Hill more so than The Lonely Mountain ones. Bilbo can help find them and get them into play. Bilbo’s Magic Ring in particular should be the first one found to gain more Baggins resources and cancel attacks.
Neutral Cards
The lack of Baggins sphere cards doesn’t mean that Bilbo’s resource are useless. Neutral cards don’t need any specific sphere resources to be played. Thematically, that let’s Bilbo get Gandalf into play. This also can help open up more possibilities with Bilbo’s resources with the songs that can grant Bilbo additional sphere icons. A Good Harvest can also change Baggins resources to another sphere for a phase.
Resource Transfer
Bilbo can’t gain resources from player effects eliminating Steward of Gondor, Legacy of Numenor, etc. Moving resources to him is still allowed. Errand-rider and Parting Gifts are great ways to take advantage of Steward to build up more Baggins resources.
Quest Specific
Something to keep in mind with Baggins sphere Bilbo is that you will need his resources for encounter effects as well. Most commonly in On the Doorstep, is paying to travel to different locations. In The Lonely Mountain scenario, they are very important. The Lonely Mountain location lets Baggins resources be spent to help succeed a Burgle attempt. If the player discards a card from their deck they don’t have a match for in their hand, then the resources let the player have a redo and draw card. Baggins resource sin The Battle of Five Armies can get the players are an Eagle ally with hero level stats.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I have to rate this version of Bilbo a 9. It really isn’t fair to rate this hero like a regular player card given the massive restriction on his play. He can’t be put into a deck outside On the Doorstep per the rules. He’s then limited to 3 scenarios and is more akin to an objective hero or ally. He also has a sphere with only 2 non-hero player cards in it. He’s fine in the scenarios he’s allowed to play in. That is because he’s a free hero, Baggins resources are required to mitigate encounter effects, and he’ll get the powerful Treasures out of the deck. Otherwise, the 1/1/1 stat line adds about as much as a low cost ally. Overall, he doesn’t do much without Baggins resources and extremely niche given the few scenarios he’s playable in.
Bilbo once a respectable Hobbit from a respectable family that didn’t go off having adventures, went on an adventure to burgle treasure from a dragon. Along the way, he won or found a magic ring (depending on the telling) that would change the course of Middle-Earth. That however is another story. Bilbo aided by the magic ring, verbally sparred with a dragon in trying to burgle some treasures. In so doing provoked the dragon to attack a nearby town leading to its demise and liberation of a Dwarven ancestral home and its treasures. Elves, Men, and Dwarves afterwards nearly came to war over the liberated treasures until the host of goblins, orcs, and wargs arrived. Bilbo was soon knocked out in the fighting but survived to take a nice stash of treasure home to retire on.
Card Theme
The game is set in the 17 years after Bilbo’s party and presumably living in Rivendell while finishing his book. It follows then that as he is compiling and recording the lore of his adventures that he can give additional knowledge to the heroes he is with. Knowledge often is represented by the cards in this game. The Lore sphere is full of examples cards representing Middle-Earth’s knowledge, stories, and songs with Gleowine, Daeron’s Runes, Deep Knowledge, Erestor, Drinking Song, and Mithrandir’s Advice representing the knowledge, stories, and songs present in Middle Earth.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Discard from Hand
Bilbo’s passive ability has an additional use besides just playing the cards and that is to discard them for other effects. The core set gave players a couple ways to discard cards for bonuses. Protector of Lorien is in sphere with Bilbo. Most importantly, it can help with Bilbo’s low stats. Especially defense which is his best stat at 2. Additionally there was Eowyn’s willpower boost which having the option to increase willpower by 1 can be handy to avoid failing questing or ensure to clear an active location.
Angmar Awakened and Dream-Chaser built up the Noldor archetype that centered around this mechanic. This allowed players to discard cards for resources, cost reduction, action advantage, healing, and other effects. Noldor decks typically don’t need Bilbo considering Elven-light, Cirdan, and Erestor hero offer lots of card draw.
Sting and Other Stat Boosts
Sting, Bilbo’s sword provides the 3 stats to equal his threat cost. The resulting 2/2/3 stat line also starts to make Bilbo a reasonable target for action advantage like the Hobbit specific and in sphere Fast Hitch attachment. Rosie Cotton offers the most versatile way to boost Bilbo’s stats. It can even become much stronger if Rosie becomes a hero via Messenger of the King or Sword-thain. There are of course many other stat boosters than can improve Bilbo and really the cheap readying from Fast Hitch.
Thorongil
The Tactics version of Bilbo did much to try and make up that his printed stats don’t equal his threat cost like most other heroes. Thorongil offered the means to bring in the bonus willpower effect and keep drawing extra cards. Not to mention a little direct damage and access to Tactics sphere for playing Sting.
Quest Specific
The Ringmaker cycle is full of card draw hate. Enemies will make extra attacks or other effects when a player draws a card. Some effects will penalize the player for having cards in hand.
Deadman’s Dike and Under the Ash Mountains both have players lose the game when they run out of cards in their deck. Drawing additional cards only accelerates the end of the game in those scenarios.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I hate to give this low a rating to one of my favorite characters, but this version deserves it. The big drawback is that he has little stats for his threat cost. He was the first hero released after the core set, and it shows. The passive card draw is good, and I’m sure people appreciate that it goes around the table in multiplayer. The additional 3 threat over his 6 stats was too much. It isn’t even just that he is 3 more threat, but his stats are incredibly inefficient. His best stat is defense at 2. In the early days of the game, 2 defense might mean a hero could defend and not take damage. The problem lies that he also only has 2 hit points. One bad shadow and Bilbo can’t defend anymore or is dead. It would be a long time before decent cheap hit point boosts would be available besides Citadel Plate. Pretty much It was up to Protector of Lorien with either Burning Brand or Dark Knowledge to make him into a reasonable defender. The alternative was for 1 more threat play Beravor that had also a card draw ability and enough hit points to defend well enough to survive long enough where healing could help.
Later on, the game provided the update of Lore Bilbo with Lore Pippin hero.
Lore Pippin had the same breakdown of stats, but arranged in a better configuration. Questing typically won’t cause a low hit point hero to die (except for the first cycle that liked to target questing or exhausted heroes with direct damage.) He also doesn’t need to exhaust to draw cards, has lower threat, and has another passive to help keep Hobbits from engaging enemies. Bilbo in comparison is very inefficient, costly, and doesn’t work well with the Hobbit archetype that eventually developed. Lore Bilbo then usually sits in odd place it the card pool. Usually on a direct comparison basis, there are better heroes to play if additional card draw is needed. Lore Bilbo, however, does end up still seeing play because card draw is just that useful. He’ll be doubled up with other heroes with card draw ability to draw a massive amount of cards quickly and get some crazy combo going.
It was also mentioned briefly that the card draw always going to the first player is very nice in multiplayer. Lore with encounter scrying, encounter control, and victory display effects can make for a great support deck. If the other players have questing and combat covered, providing some all around utility is always appreciated. Lore Bilbo will still get played, but the situations where he works well are few making him a niche hero.
Fun, mono Lore, multiplayer support deck. Designed for 3-4 players where other players are handling the questing and combat, and you get to give everyone across the table lots of card draw, healing, play traps, get side quests out, etc. This deck has very low starting threat of 22 but will need to be protected by other players’ Ranged/Sentinel characters.
Fun, mono Lore, multiplayer support deck. Designed for 3-4 players where other players are handling the questing and combat, and you get to give everyone across the table lots of card draw, healing, play traps, get side quests out, etc. This deck has very low starting threat of 22 but will need to be protected by other players’ Ranged/Sentinel characters.
The nephew of Bilbo Baggins and his designated heir. The One Ring was left to Frodo along with Bag End when Bilbo disappeared after his 111th birthday. This all lead to Frodo carrying The Ring first to Rivendell and eventually all the way to Mount Doom where it was destroyed.
Card Theme
Frodo’s ability to cancel damage once per phase appears to represent him as the ring bearer. It makes sense that Frodo can avoid danger using The One Ring to turn invisible much like his uncle did many years before. In the books, we see Frodo do this to escape Boromir when he tried to take The Ring. Earlier he tried to do this as well to escape the Ringwraiths although they could see him as they were also bound to the Ring. The Ring also draws the attention of its master hence why its use raises the player’s threat.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Threat Reduction
Threat reduction offsets the threat gained by using Frodo’s ability. A deck packed with threat reduction can utilize it with little risk of losing due to threat. Hobbits have access to a couple nice threat reduction events, The Shirefolk and Elvenses that provide a nice amount of threat reduction for a reduced cost compared to the Core Set staple, The Galadhrim’s Greeting. Elrond’s Counsel also works well for cheap threat reduction as long as the player(s) control a Noldor. Galadriel can fulfill that requirement and provide repeatable threat reduction. The classic hero pairing with Spirit Frodo is Lore Aragorn because Aragorn can reset threat back to the starting level once per game.
Another way to lower threat in a large chunk after using Frodo’s ability several times is Vanish from Sight + A Elbereth! Glithoniel!. The basic setup is engage a lower engagement cost enemy but higher than 20. Let’s say 25 for illustrative purposes. The player uses Vanish from Sight so threat is treated as 20 and plays A Elbereth! Glithoniel! The player gets to treat their threat as 20 for A Elbereth, put the enemy on the bottom of the deck, and set their threat to 25.
Hobbit Pipe
Players will want threat reduction to make the most use of Frodo’s ability and most of it is available from events. Hobbit Pipe allows the player to also draw cards as well from this dynamic.
Sam Gamgee similar to Hobbit Pipe will have plenty of triggers to use his ability. Any time Frodo cancels damage Sam can ready and get +1 to all stats for 1 resource. Most times this will make him into an attacker with 2 attack. Two defense while reasonable in the first cycle, won’t be enough to help him survive an enemy attack in later cycles.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I rate Frodo at 3 rings. He’s a very solid defensive hero with a very useful ability. It is not difficult at all to include enough threat reduction to avoid threating out despite using it heavily. Often just pairing him with Lore Aragorn is enough. His 2 willpower can even help out in questing if need be because the damage cancelation also works on an undefended attack. The only real downside is the ability is limit once per phase. This can be problematic in later scenarios when boss enemies can get multiple attacks or multiple enemies can build up. Then other defenders with higher defense and hit points that can turn into a “super defender” like Spirit Beregond or Messanger of the KingJubayr are going to be a better choice.
But one day Bilbo was asked to go On a big adventure to the caves below To help some dwarves get back their gold That was stolen by a dragon in the days of old
The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Leonard Nimoy
Background
Bilbo once a respectable Hobbit from a respectable family that didn’t go off having adventures, went on an adventure to burgle treasure from a dragon. Along the way, he won or found a magic ring (depending on the telling) that would change the course of Middle-Earth. That however is another story. Bilbo aided by the magic ring, verbally sparred with a dragon in trying to burgle some treasures. In so doing provoked the dragon to attack a nearby town leading to its demise and liberation of a Dwarven ancestral home and its treasures. Elves, Men, and Dwarves afterwards nearly came to war over the liberated treasures until the host of goblins, orcs, and wargs arrived. Bilbo was soon knocked out in the fighting but survived to take a nice stash of treasure home to retire on.
Card Theme
The willpower boost Bilbo gains from an enemy in the staging area is very thematic to Bilbo in The Hobbit. While he is initially resistant to the adventure, he always rises to the occasion when confronted with adversaries.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Guarded X Cards
This version of Bilbo is basically designed for these cards considering he does 2 damage to an enemy guarding a card. The guarded card Bilbo most wants besides for thematic reasons, Sting, is Guarded (enemy). This is great as it gives Bilbo a potential target and once free of encounters +1 willpower, attack, and defense. It also builds on his ability to directly damage enemies dealing 1 damage each time Bilbo attacks. This set ups Bilbo damaging an enemy in the staging area and dealing the final point of damage just by blocking. Durin’s Axe is similar as the only other Guarded (enemy) card and also with a direct damage effect.
Most of the others are Guarded (enemy or location), and there’s at least a chance they will add an enemy for his ability. Of course, there is always A Shadow of the Past to help set up an enemy preferably with lower hit points for one of these wonderful attachments. Necklace of Girion or The Arkenstone both can help make Bilbo a better quester. Of course these can always be given to other heroes as well even those under the control of other players. In multiplayer, there will likely always be a target for Bilbo’s ability and more willpower available to handle an additional encounter card.
Commit a Hero or Character to the Quest
Both Hobbit Pony and Late Adventurer let a player commit him in the action window after staging but before quest resolution. This opens up any enemy revealed during staging as a target for his ability and maximize Bilbo’s willpower bonus. You can chose to Hobbit Pony is better considering it is an attachment and can be used every round once it is in play.
A fun combo is use one or both of these with Elevenses. Commit Bilbo during the regular commit characters to the quest step. After staging, remove him from the quest with Elvenses and reduce your threat by 1 (assuming you only remove Bilbo). Then recommit him with these two to trigger his willpower boost a second time. This works because his response lasts until the end of the phase. Per FAQ 1.55, lasting effects from player cards are not recalculated even if the game state changes. In this case, Biblo’s questing status. Additionally, his response does not have a stated limit. It can be triggered again if he is recommitted to the quest creating a new trigger and another lasting effect boosting his willpower twice. Windfola can also potentially commit Bilbo to the quest twice, but it requires a Song of Travel and a quest that can removes characters from the quest.
Direct Damage
Bilbo’s ability alone typically won’t destroy an enemy in a single round. Some quests early in the game’s life had a many 1 or 2 hit point enemies like The Seventh Level or Over the Misty Mountains Grim. Later scenarios, the norm was enemies with 3 or more hit points. In those, more is needed if a player wants to destroy an enemy with direct damage.
Tactics is full of direct damage options including Bilbo’s signature weapon, Sting. Sting deals a damage whether attacking or defending. This works quite well considering Hobbits have additional readying via Fast Hitch. Spear of the Citadel can also go directly on Bilbo to deal damage when defending or on Gondorian Spearman. The spearman then can deal 2 damage when defending. Thalin can also soften up any enemies revealed during a turn when he quests. Galadhon Archer, Descendent of Throndor, and Rumil have direct damage effects are like Gandalf ally from the Core Set dealing direct damage when they enter play.
Lore is the other main sphere with direct damage effects. Argalad can team up with Bilbo to deal 1 damage to an enemy in the staging area provided he has enough attack power to reduce their threat to 0. Poisoned Stakes trap can also deal 2 damage at the end of each round. This works well when building around keeping an enemy in staging for Bilbo to target over multiple rounds.
These that I’ve listed is not an exhaustive list. These are most of the recurring ones or could be recurred fairly easily. There are many event based ones like Swift Strike, Hail of Stones, Goblin-Cleaver, or Expecting Mischief.
Staging Area Attack
Similar to Bilbo’s ability, staging area attack lets a player damage an enemy before engaging it. Dunhere introduced the ability in the Core Set. Haldir hero and Leadership Eomer have staging area attack built in as well. Heroes with ranged can also gain it via Great Yew Bow and Hands Upon the Bow. Bilbo’s old acquaintance, Bard the Bowman using the Great Yew Bow can even give the enemy -2 defense.
Engagement Control and Threat Reduction
There are 2 kinds of effects that allow a player wants to keep an enemy in the staging area. Engagement control that either skips the encounter phase or increase the enemies’ engagement cost, or Threat Reduction to reduce a player’s threat. There are only a couple cards that can increase an enemy’s engagement cost, Take No Notice and Mablung ally. Both only do so by 5 and for a single phase. This limits their usefulness significantly because 5 will not push the enemies with very low engagement of 10 – 20 above the threat of most decks. This cross-section of enemies are the ones this effect would be the most useful against and needed, but they don’t increase it enough. The only repeatable engagement cost increase is from Lore Pippin‘s ability which Biblo helps to boost. Unfortunately there are only 2 cards that prevent engagement checks. Ranger Spikes is a bit of a nonbo since it lowers the enemy’s threat. Advance Warning isn’t available because all the heroes require a printed Lore resource to play it.
Threat reduction is better considering there are several more cards for it. Unfortunately, in sphere there is only Secret Vigil that at best will reduce a players threat by 4. Fortunately, hobbit focused decks have The Shirefolk that can reduce threat by 4 for free and it is neutral. Elevenses is another option with some other combo potential mentioned earlier. Then there always the threat reduction staples of Galadhrim’s Greeting, Elrond’s Counsel, and Woodmen’s Clearing. Galadriel, Fastred, and Spirit Beregond all provide repeatable threat reduction. Galadriel and Beregond won’t help lower threat below more enemies’ engagement costs, but they’ll maintain threat turn after turn. If the Bilbo player is already low enough, they’ll keep the enemies up in staging Fastred can help get threat lower and put the enemy back into staging for Bilbo to target.
Grey Wanderer
Grey Wanderer has many advantages for Bilbo. One, the player’s threat starts very low avoiding most if not all enemy engagements allowing him to use his ability easily. Two, the free 1 cost attachment can get Strider allowing him to quest every round without exhausting and boost his willpower to quest even without an enemy. Third, it has a built in readying to maximize direct damage when Bilbo uses Sting.
Quest Specific
Escape from Dol Guldur, The Hunt for Gollum, A Journey to Rhosgobel, Across the Ettenmoors, A Storm on Cobas Haven all feature the Guarded keyword. While it is not guaranteed an enemy will be the encounter card guarding each objective, they still present more opportunities for Bilbo to deal 2 damage. Shadows of Mirkwood and Darrowdelf have a couple great targets for Bilbo, Goblin Sniper and Khazad-Dum’s Orc Drummer. High engagement cost, low hit points, and an incredibly annoying ability while they’re in the staging area. Little surging enemies in later cycles similar to Ered Mithren’s Stray Goblin are also good targets. It creates action advantage by not having to defend them and gets a little threat out of the staging area. Ered Mithren also has some enemies like Mirkwood Patrol and Hobgoblin that end up guarding cards on their own that Bilbo can counter.
Intruders in Chetwood, Dungeson of Cirith Gurat, and Helm’s Deep are all ones to avoid using Bilbo in. Intruders in Chetwood enemies can’t be damaged while Orc War Party is in play. The quest starts with one in play and there are 2 others in the encounter deck. More often than not, enemies won’t be able to take damage. Dungeons of Cirith Gurat is a real heartbreaker for Biblo. Enemies guarding objectives are immune to player card effects during stage 1 otherwise they would take 2 damage from him! They’re even often guarding something because they will capture allies as objectives. The second stage when the players have to avoid engaging enemies for 2 turns where it would be another great time for him, except they’re all immune to damage. Helm’s Deep many of the enemies have the toughness X keyword that cancels the first X damage any time damage is dealt to them. Bilbo’s damage then will just get canceled every time it is used against them.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I’m going to preface this rating with Tactics Bilbo is one of my top heroes I like to play. If I rated on how much I like the card, the rating would be at least a 2. Still based on his general usefulness, power level, and how many deck types he would fit into he’s a 5. He can work fine in many decks because he can basically offset an enemy’s threat and possibly soften up an enemy before it is engaged. This only gets more powerful when combined with player guarded attachments or more effects that can damage enemies in the staging area. Bonus willpower in the willpower poor Tactics sphere is a huge boon to monosphere Tactics.
One problem is his stats are all low. Still his base willpower isn’t enough for him to be the main questing hero without several willpower boosting attachments or Forth the Three Hunters side B active. His best stat is defense but at 2 and 2 hit points, he can’t defend well without a couple defense boosts. Sting can help since it boosts all his stats and gives him direct damage for defending. Plus 1 to all stats though makes him more like the Dunedain heroes that are jack of all trades. Hobbit heroes fortunately has additional readying with Fast Hitch and additional stat boosting from Rosie Cotton. It is a lot of setup to put him on par with many other heroes.
The other problem that is carried over from his earlier Lore version is the 9 threat cost. It is the highest of the Hobbits and a bit counter to his ability. His ability requires the player to avoid engagement at least once to trigger unless using Hobbit Pony or lots of engagement control and threat reduction.
This is all to say that without much support, Tactics Bilbo is often outclassed by others in the same sphere and threat cost like Core Set Legolas. When built around, Bilbo can be powerful and fun to play. Contracts in particular make it easier to get him built up quickly.
Wandering Burgler Discovers Fate of Numenor by kattattack22
Basic idea is to leverage Bilbo’s ability combined with direct damage from Gandalf and Descendent of Thorondor to clear enemies guarding Sting or Necklace of Girion. Also the Eagles of the North might discard a non-unqiue enemy guarding a card. Azain’s direct damage ability is another possibility since can engage an enemy not guarding a card that shares a trait and have ability deal more damage to enemy in the staging area.
This deck was created because of an episode of Card Talk where Grant and Dave discuss ways to get Guarded Cards, namely Durin’s Axe into play. To see that episode, click on over to it HERE. The idea is that Éomer can attack into the staging area and, coupled with Firefoot, excess damage can be assigned to enemies engaged with you. While this isn’t even remotely the “new hotness,” coupled with Bilbo Baggins is a great twist.
Guarded-o-rama
Main Deck
Hero (3) Bilbo Baggins (Mount Gundabad)
Éomer (The Mountain of Fire)
Éowyn (The Flame of the West)
Peregrine “Pippin” Took most people know as the hobbit that sang a sad song while Denethor made a disgusting mess of a tomato. He also is Merry’s cousin, a relative of Bilbo and Frodo, and good friend of Frodo and Merry. So much so that he aided in Frodo’s plan to cover his leaving the Shire. He helped Frodo pack for his apparent move from Hobbiton to Buckland. Then accompanying Frodo on his journey to Rivendell.
At Rivendell he would join the Fellowship of the Ring. Notably he caused the commotion that lead to the Fellowship being attacked by Orcs and a Troll. This ultimately led to Gandalf’s demise by Durin’s Bane. He would also inadvertently lead to Boromir’s end. This time due to being ambushed by Orcs as Boromir attempted to defend him and Merry.
It is after being captured by the Uruk-hai that he shows his quality. He keeps his wits to leave a clue for the Three Hunters and engineer his escape with Merry. Then he and Merry manage to get the Ents to attack Isengard and stop Saruman.Pippin’s curiosity about the Palantir diverts Sauron’s attention to Gondor and Rohan as Sauron thinks Pippin has the Ring at Isengard. He rides with Gandalf to Gondor and upon arrival enters Denethor’s service in honor of Boromir’s sacrifice. This position allows him to know of Denethor’s plan to burn Faramir and himself to death and get help to rescue Faramir from the funeral pyre. Pippin also participates in the final battle at the Black Gate killing a troll that subsequently falls on him and removes him from the battle. After returning home to the Shire, Pippin would help oust Sharkey/Saruman by raising the Shire against Sharkey and his men.
Card Theme
Pippin having 2 willpower is reasonable considering he volunteered to help Frodo leave the Shire. Then despite the dangers they encountered there, again volunteered for the dangerous mission to Mordor to destroy the Ring. While he wasn’t a fighter early in the story, Pippin learned how to fight as demonstrated by his taking down a Troll at the Battle of Morannon. That his attack is predicated on attacking an enemy with higher threat is aligned with other hobbit cards to represent their sneakiness and affinity for stealth or being underestimated.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Hobbit Tribal
There are 3 in sphere cards that can work very well with ally Pippin.
Many hobbit decks tend to be tri-sphere as they have several good cards across all 4 spheres. Tom Cotton‘s resource smoothing ability makes it easier to play Pippin and gives him 2 attack the turn he enters play. The second ability synergizes very well with Raise the Shire. Raise the Shire is great to help find Pippin. In the best case scenario, the players engages a higher engagement cost enemy, finds Pippin to put him into play, attacks for 4, and then returns him to hand to play Pippin again to quest for 2 and attack again for 4. Halfling Determination can make Pippin have top tier hero level willpower or attack for a phase.
Odo Proudfoot is also useful to help find Pippin. Fast Hitch, however, is a bit of a nonbo. Pippin already readies himself when engaging an enemy with higher threat cost. Secondly, his attack is conditional and may not always have attack to make good use of the ready. Lastly, if playing a Hobbit focused deck, a player likely has a better target for this that I’ll discuss in the Messenger of the King and Sword-thain section.
Engagement Control and Threat Reduction
The game has 2 ways to help ensure Pippin’s abilities can trigger, increase the enemies’ engagement cost and reduce a player’s threat. There are only a couple cards that can increase an enemy’s engagement cost, Take No Notice and Mablung ally. Both only do so by 5 and for a single phase. This limits their usefulness significantly because 5 will not push the enemies with very low engagement of 10 – 20 above the threat of most decks. This cross-section of enemies are the ones this effect would be the most useful against and needed, but they don’t increase it enough. The only repeatable engagement cost increase is from Lore Pippin‘s ability and can’t be used with his ally version.
Threat reduction is better considering there are several more cards for it. Unfortunately, in sphere there is only Secret Vigil that at best will reduce each players threat by 4. Fortunately, hobbit focused decks have The Shirefolk that can reduce threat by 4 for free and it is neutral. Elevenses is another hobbit specific option can significantly reduce threat mid to late game when lots of hobbit allies are out. Galadriel, Fastred, and Spirit Beregond all provide repeatable threat reduction. Galadriel and Beregond won’t help lower threat below more enemies’ engagement costs, but they’ll maintain threat turn after turn that a lower threat deck can still ambush the same enemies from beginning to the end of the game.
Fellowship Contract
Pippin is a thematic fit with this card. He like any other unique character gains great state buffs. This means once flipped Pippin could quest for 3 and attack for 3 when engaging an enemy with higher engagement cost than the player’s threat. On top of that, many unique allies are on the more expensive side. Pippin at only 2 Tactics resources can get into play quick and help flip the contract.
Messenger of the King and Sword-thain
As a Messengar of the King Hero, Pippin is pure value. He becomes a 4 threat hero that often times will have 6 threat of states. Especially as he will help keep the total low. It also opens up giving him state boosting attachments like Celebrian’s Stone or Dagger of Westernesse to make him more effective either questing or attacking. Thorongil is also a great option to add his Lore version to him. Then engagement costs are always at least 1 higher for better chance of triggering his abilities and possibly drawing a card as well. On top of this, Rosie can help boost his stats further even in both phases when a Fast Hitch is attached to her. Sword-thain also opens this possibilities, but it comes with the downside that Ted always points out in the podcast. That is the player has to draw it first. Still, it is great that the card referring to Pippin swearing his service to Denethor can be used on him and is useful.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I’m very close to 1 on ally Pippin because I know how hard it is to get willpower in Tactics. I’m rating him at 2 rings. Any Tactics ally with 2 willpower is almost an auto-include in mono-Tactics. That he is 2 cost for 2 willpower putting it on par with the best questing allies usually concentrated in Spirit is fantastic. On top of that he has great abilities with the conditional readying and attack that fits right in with other hobbit cards. He is great for almost any deck running Tactics or hobbits.
I didn’t rate him a 1 ring because outside hobbits or other low threat decks he is often just a 2 cost quester. Two cost questing allies are solid cards, but they’re not a card like A Test of Will that will save the players from certain defeat, or Core Set Gandalf that are so powerful that they can turn the tide of the entire game. I also think that Forth, the Three Hunters lowered the value of willpower allies in Tactics. Tactics has more restricted attachments than the other spheres making it easy to flip the contract and get the willpower boost. Three Hunters decks can quest really well when combined with some other willpower boosting attachments and the combat power of the restricted attachments to destroy enemies reliably.
Pippin ally is still an incredibly strong fair costed card with great abilities. He’s a pretty good target for Messenger of the King and works well with the Fellowship contract. He can synergize well with other hobbit cards as both his abilities that want to engage and attack enemies with higher engagement cost. He helps Tactics with one of their major deficiencies since the Core Set. There is a lot to like about this card and has become a staple of my decks with Tactics that aren’t using Forth, the Three Hunters.
The Brandybucks are descendents of the first Thains of The Shire. Originally called the Oldbucks, they ruled The Shire until the twelveth Thain, Gordenhad Oldbuck, moved to Buckland. He began to turn it into a settlement and renamed himself Brandybuck. The only member of the Brandybuck family from the main story is Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck.
Card Theme
This card appears to be modeled after Gordenhad as the exmplar of the Brandybuck family. The ally comes into play for traveling to a new location. Then once that location is known, the ally goes away much like how Gordenhad left his nominal leadership position to establish a new Hobbit settlement.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Hobbit Character Boosts
Curious Brandybuck particularly benefits from any Hobbit character boost that doesn’t require an attachment to be placed on it. Fortunately Hobbits have a few options here. Tom Cotton boosts its attack to 2 for the round. This could be triggered multiple times in a game if the Brandybuck is put back on the bottom and later drawn again. Redbook of Westmarch will boost its willpower by 1 each time it can quest. Lastly, Bill the Pony provides an extra hit point that can help soak some damage, especially archery. This is a good play since any damage put on it will disappear when it is placed on the bottom of the deck.
Merry + Horn of the Mark
Hobbits don’t have many ways to bounce in and out of play like Rohan. Curious Brandybuck, however, provides one of the more reliable triggers for Horn of the Mark. The card draw from it helps offset the loss of the card when Brandybuck leaves play.
Westroad Traveler
West Road Traveler provides a way to avoid the Forced effect to put the Curious Brandybuck on the bottom of the deck. It still can only be temporary since there is an active location providing a buffer to the main quest. Still if a player wants to keep the Curious Brandybuck around for another round to chump block then West Road Traveller
Erestor
Curious Brandybuck gives an Erestor deck a free ally it can play. This is important when Erestor decks have a 10 card starting hand but only 3 resources to play them. Mid to late game, the card being put back on the bottom is not an issue as a player can expect to draw it eventually with 4 cards being drawn a turn.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I rate Curious Brandybuck at 7 rings. This is recognizing that getting a free ally even temporarily is a good deal. Tom Cotton can give it low but helpful attack when it comes into play. It also can be used to get a free chump block in an emergency. Using its cost reduction ability, however, results in it having to leave play eventually. Horn of the Mark, Valiant Sacrifice, or other card draw can offset the loss of the card. Still there are other 2 cost 2 willpower Spirit allies that won’t have to leave play if the active location is explored. The availability of these solid alternatives make this more of a niche card.
A multiplayer gift deck that uses Beregond’s armor and weapon discount combined with Battering or Long Lake Trader to pass out attachments to other players.
Main Deck
Hero (3) Beregond (Heirs of Númenor)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Thurindir (Race Across Harad)
Black Rider’s Frodo is really thematic in my eyes. Exhausting the One Ring symbolizes putting it on and vanishing from usually an enemy and then running away and finding himself someplace different, like a location.
Card Theme
Throughout the books and movies Frodo (against Gandalf’s strict warnings) has used the ring to escape deadly situations and flee the servants of Mordor. For me, this card represents his heroic escapes and him fleeing from one situation and falling into another.
Card Synergies and Interactions
This card combo’s really well with other Hobbit heroes for a few reasons. Reason number one is that Frodo has 0 threat, meaning with a few Hobbits (who, besides a few exceptions, are the lowest threat heroes in the game) you can have easy access to Resourceful (which can be brought in for cheap due to the Secrecy Keyword and help provide Frodo with resources for him to use for his ability, as well as to pay for Neutral and Fellowship sphere cards. Another reason for Hobbits is that Frodo’s Intuition is in-sphere for Frodo. For a cheap total of 2 resources, you can give each hero +1 Willpower AND draw 1 card for each hobbit hero you control, thus drawing you as much cards as you have Hobbit heroes. Throughout the whole Saga campaign, the only quests that seem to not work so great with Frodo are the ones that have cards in them that have negative effects if the One Ring is exhausted (ex. Morgul Wraith). For the most part, considering Frodo can only be used in LotR Saga quests, his ability is great and has little to no negative effects.
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I strongly believe that this deserves a 3 rating and is the best Fellowship/Saga hero in the game. Let me explain why it is (Black Riders) Frodo Baggins.
First, stats: 2 willpower is pretty good for a Hobbit hero, so no complaints there. This version of Frodo will be questing almost every time so his 1 attack and 2 defense don’t really matter unless he has some way of readying. 2 HP is a bit on the lower side, so it’s usually a good idea to have strategies in place to cancel direct damage effects or simply by giving him attachments that boost his HP. Lets talk about his sphere. He is one of the 7 (8 counting ALeP Scouring of the Shire) Fellowhsip sphere heroes. Unfortunately, belonging to that sphere means he can’t be used outside of LotR Saga quests, but on the plus side you get access to all of the Fellowship cards which for the most part are really helpful with willpower.
Now let’s talk about what makes him so great. His ability. By spending one resource and exhausting the One Ring, you can choose and CANCEL the effects of a card revealed from the encounter deck. You heard that right. CANCEL! If you reveal a tough enemy you can’t deal with until your deck is set up, no problem, simply trigger his response and shuffle the card away. One too many locations? Nasty treachery and no Test of Will? He can solve them all. There is a couple of downsides to his ability however. The first and most obvious one is that you have to shuffle the card back into the Encounter deck and reveal another card. Imagine if the encounter deck is almost empty, the odds of drawing the same card again would be pretty good. Another thing to point out is that you could draw a worse card then the one you just canceled which could screw you over. And finally, throughout the Saga quests there are cards that have effects which are very nasty if the one ring is exhausted, and because you need to exhaust the One Ring to use Frodo’s ability, you are running the risk of having something nasty trigger. This is why, in my opinion, Frodo is one of the best cards in the game.
Folco Boffin is a friend to Frodo. He that helps Frodo load up his belongings in a cart for the move from Bag End to Crikhollow. After they finished and had lunch, Folco returned home.
Card Theme
What little screen time Folco has in the books fits pretty well his abilities. Frodo’s move is cover for him to head East and travel to Rivendell. Folco, unwittingly, assists in that deception as seemingly just another Hobbit helping his friend move. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. He even returns home after helping and having lunch with his friends. Nothing there to draw the attention of Sauron. This is consistent with the idea of threat being the awareness of Sauron and his minions to the activities of our heroes. The more heroic and active in opposing to this plans, the more threatening they are to Sauron.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Secrecy
Folco’s low base starting threat makes it fairly easy to put him in a 3 hero line up to start with 20 or less threat. Just looking at heroes with effective starting threat cost of 7 or less there are 10 unique possibilities. 13 options including other sphere versions of the same character. This isn’t counting the low threat options available thanks to Messenger of the King contract.
Bifur
Eleanor
Tactics Eowyn
Fatty Bolger
Leadership Frodo Baggins
Spirit Frodo Baggins
Spirit Glorfindel
Spirit Merry
Tactics Merry
Mirlonde
Spirit Pippin
Lore Pippin
Smeagol
Roughly half of these listed above are Hobbits that makes Folco even cheaper. This extends the time you have in Secrecy or more flexibility to include a higher threat cost hero.
You can then utilize 2 great resource acceleration cards Resourceful and Timely Aid. Although you will need Leadership for Timely Aid it can very much worth it wirh expensive but powerful allies like Treebeard and Beorn. Both who are great ally defenders for the generally low defense and low hit point Hobbits.
Even if you are sticking to mono-Lore Secrecy is on a few great Lore cards providing even more resource acceleration from the discounted cost. Ithilien Lookout is a very solid combat ally with its 2 attack and tremendous value at 1 cost. The ability to discard an enemy from the encounter deck is very helpful for the squishy low hit point Hobbit heroes. Then there are 2 of the best encounter control cards, Out of the Wild and Risk Some Light. Needful to Know is another Secrecy Lore card, but even free the chances of reducing your threat after raising it one are not great. Woodmen’s Clearing is a much better option that always costs 0.
Hobbit Engage an Enemy with higher Engagement Cost than your Threat Bonus
Folco’s low starting threat, particularly with other Hobbit heroes, facilitates the Hobbit abilities centered on engaging enemies with higher engagement cost than your threat. Most important among these and in sphere for Folco, Gaffer Gamgee. Attack cancelation is huge for the generally low defense and low hit point Hobbits. The only other in sphere effect is Lore Pippins card draw which drawing more cards is almost always good.
Out of sphere, many of these abilities are simple stat boosts like that of Leadership Sam, Tactics Pippin, Hobbit Cloak, Dagger of Westernesse, Taste it Again!, Hobbit Archer, and Bywater Shirrif. You also get readying effects from Sam, Pippin, and Taste it Again! There’s a little ally mustering from Odo Proudfoot and Raise the Shire. After that it’s a few miscellaneous effects like Farmer Maggot’s direct damage, Tom Cotton’s resource smoothing, and shadow cancelation from Staff of Lebethron.
Houses of Healing
If you want to take advantage of Folco’s sacrifice ability, Houses of Healing is a good in sphere option to bring him back immediately after. The 5 cost is high but easily reduced with the number of Healer characters available in Lore. Elrond, Ioreth, Warden of Healing
Ring Rating
Card Talk uses the highly scientific yet arbitrary scale of 1 ring for the card to rule them all to 10 to be cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
I rate Folco at 4 rings. He’s a solid hero for enabling Secrecy or the Hobbit engagement mechanism. It’s not difficult to get his threat cost down to 4 or 5. Not quite the stats for cost value of Spirit Glorfindl but still a free stat or 2. His stats are very efficient as well with 2 willpower, 2 attack and 2 hit points. Equally good at questing or attacking. A decent target for Fast Hitch to leverage both of those stats. He also offers some emergency threat reduction by sacrifing him. Easy to bring him back with Houses of Healing in the same sphere.
His low threat cost consistently makes him a third hero choice when building Secrecy Hobbits. It’s also for that reason he’s rather limited to those type of decks. Alone he is just a Lore Hobbit hero at 6 cost putting him in direct competition with Lore Pippin. Lore Pippin in most cases is going to be better for the card draw. There are some 2 hero decks that run him for the single Lore resource then sacrifice him first turn, but they’re fairly niche.
I also find his efficiency rather boring. After setup, he’s just going to help with questing or attacking. He doesn’t have an interesting ability that you can trigger throughout the game or build around like many of the other Hobbit heroes. He just serves a particular role in deck building and does it well.
Card Talk: A LOTR LCG Podcast and Blog 