The main similarity is that gives the player(s) 4 options and can pick 2. Honey Cake unlike Miruvor can’t recur itself. The abilities have a little bit of sphere bleed from Lore into Tactics with healing and Condition removal. This makes sense with the advent and ALEP Beornings bleeding from Tactics into Lore as well. The advent set kindly includes a way to find this card too with Beorning Supper.
The most interesting departure from Miruvor is that it can go on allies and not just heroes. This provides some good opportunities to double up on ally abilities or strong stat allies. Beorn ally, in particular, could attack twice after activating his +5 attack bonus. Skaldbera could really leverage their fully boosted stat line. Allies like Faramir and Sulien could activate twice in a single quest phase to really boost questing power. There is an interesting Beorning centric combo here. Gamling can return Rohan allies that are discarded from play to hand. ALEP’s Last Alliance contract can change that text to be Rohan or Beorning ally. Honey Cake then can let Gamling return 2 discarded Beorning allies to hand. This can get 2 Beorning Skin-changers back after putting an expensive Beorning ally into play or use a single Skin-changer to get 2 allies out.
I think Honey Cake is a pretty good card. A point of healing and extra defense will work well with most defenders to save them from being taken out by an unlucky extra 1, 2, or 3 attack. Readying an ally or hero with an ability opens some good combos. Particularly for allies as there isn’t much ally readying beyond effects that ready all allies. Last but certainly not least is the Condition removal. Tactics was the only sphere without a way to remove Condition attachments. This fills that gap nicely since encounter Condition attachments are only an issue in some scenarios. It is there if the player(s) need it. If not, there are 3 other very useful effects.
This hero joins Gloin, Gimli, Treebeard, and Quickbeam in gaining bonuses for being damaged. It is slightly different in that it is a certain amount of damage to gain a static instead of a scaling bonus unlike Gimli and Gloin. The damage also isn’t incurred to get the bonus like Treebeard and Quickbeam.
There are a few ways to get Honabeorn up to the 2 damage threshold for the bonus willpower and attack. Taking an undefended attack doesn’t require any player cards, but is risky. There’s always a chance a shadow effect could push the damage up to their hit points of 4. Bonus hit points can also make this safer. Honabeorn not being able to have restricted attachments limit options to Ent Draught and Spare Pipe with the addition of Honey and Bread in the advent set.
This can also be mitigated with damage cancelation like Honour Guard or Close Call. Beorn also provided a couple Beorning specific options with Protective Instinct and the second ability on ally Grimbeorn the Old.
There clearly one hero that Honabeorn is meant to work with and that is ALEP’s Osbera. Her Tactics side can cancel 2 damage at the cost of dealing 1 damage to a Beorning Character. A couple rounds using this and Honabeorn is questing and attacking for 3. Alternatively, you can take an attack undefended an use Osbera’s ability to keep Honabeorn in the game. Once damaged, Honabeorn then also helps Osbera’s Lore side to reduce staging area threat.
The other way to get damage on Honabeorn is just move damage onto them. Song of Mocking can move all damage dealt in one phase to Honabeorn. It doesn’t have a limit so it can be a bit risky just like taking an undefended attack. Vigilant Guard is better but Honabeorn doesn’t have the Warrior trait innately. Mighty Warrior can give them the trait, but then it needs to be drawn before Vigilant Gaurd.
Beorn also added a couple other cards to combo with Honabeorn. They can qualify for Pack Leader providing readying to leverage both the boosted willpower and attack. Scavening Instinct can work like a Wealth of Gondor trading a card for a resource with a damaged Honabeorn. Possibly more which we’ll get into in that card’s review later.
I with played this card using Beorn’s Yuletide at the Hall deck and liked it. The combo with Obsera’s Tactics ability is not hard to get going and pretty straight forward. The 3 willpower and attack make them a good target for readying or even Grey Wanderer + Strider. I’m also always happy to see another high willpower hero in Tactics. In the FFG card pool it’s basically Eowyn and Tactics Theoden. Tactics Theoden’s 12 threat makes it difficult to fit him into many decks. Honabeorn’s 9 threat is much more reasonable to slide into more hero line ups and do some solid work.
Henamarth appears to be a character created by FFG as there is no mention of him in any of the books. Presumably he is one of the elves of Mirkwood that lived in the Woodland Realm under King Thranduil. This assumption comes from that the Core Set is part of the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle and set in and around Mirkwood. It is still quite possible he is one of the Galadhrim Silvan elves as there many different peoples of Middle Earth represented therein.
Card Theme
Knowing little of Henamarth, there is really only the card art to go by. He is all dressed in various shades of green seemingly to blend in better with the grass and forest around him. He has hand raise shielding his eyes as if trying to see something in the distance. It appears he is being depicted as a scout or sentry of some kind. In either case, seeing dangers before they are generally known fits well with his ability to see the top card of the encounter deck.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Quest Control / Willpower Bonus
Henamarth is a true solo king because knowing the top encounter card gives a player the exact staging area threat they’ll be questing against most of the time. That is barring surge and other similar effects that would lead to another card being revealed or added.
This allows the true solo player to send exactly amount of necessary willpower or hold back enough characters for combat. Willpower bonus abilities that be added are still good to have. These allow the player to use their characters more efficiently and keep as many as possible open for combat.
Encounter Control
There are a number of cards that trigger based on when a certain kind of card is revealed during staging. Thalin from the Core Set is an example of the later and works really well with Henamarth. Thalin’s 1 willpower is not that helpful for questing. A player knowing when to send him, especially in true solo, to trigger his ability versus hold him back to use his 2 attack or 2 defense is much more efficient. Expecting Mischief is very similar to Thalin but being a one time event is much riskier to play blindly. Warden of Arnor being the location version of Thalin can ensure that the Scout hero is only questing when needed. Spirit Merry hero and can quest if Henamarth shows no enemy is expected in true solo. There are also a few cards like Leadership Gimli ally, Leather Boots, and Wingfoot that can ready a character depending on the card revealed. Henamarth can ensure a player knows when the ready will be triggered and send them to the quest without worry.
There are also a few cards that trigger based on looking at the top card of the encounter deck. The Longbeard Elder gets to do a little location control if the top card is a location. The Ithilien Lookout can help set that up with his response to discard the top encounter card if it is an enemy. That would also allow the player to draw a card when playing a Cautious Halfling. Otherwise the Celduin Traveler can get rid of the top location if the player(s) don’t like it.
Messenger of the King
Henamarth as a Messenger of the King (MotK) hero doesn’t bring much in stats, but the threat cost of 3 is prime to enable Secrecy. The biggest problem with Henamarth as a MotK hero is his 1 health. He is only a single undefended attack or direct damage from a treachery away from dying. There is Elven Mail to give him 2 more hit points. Still very risky and potentially lose a Lore resource per round. Gleowine for the same threat cost can quest for the same, has 2 hit points, and can draw a card. Gleowine for the cost seems to be a better pick than Henamarth.
Silvans
Henamarth doesn’t have the enter play effects of the later Silvan allies that came out in the Ringmaker cycle. He can still benefit from Celeborn’s stat boosting ability and the cost reduction offered by O Lorien!. Galadriel synergizes well with him too since he can quest when he comes into play and still be ready to use his ability. Targeting him with The Tree People is a decent option since he is cheap to replay.
Silvans also have a few attachments that can played on allies. Generally they’re better on the stronger Silvan allies like Legolas or Marksman of Lorien or a Silvan hero. They’re still an option to make Henamarth into a ranged attacker that lowers enemy defense by 2 or potentially a secondary defender for weaker enemies with 1 defense and 3 hit points from Elven Mail and Cloak of Lorien. Silvan Trackers can heal off any damage taken quite easily.
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 Henamarth at 2 rings. He is cheap to play, gives the player 1 willpower or 1 attack, and has a useful ability. Worst comes to worst, a player can always chump block with him as well. Just tremendous value for his cost.
Then his ability is just so strong in true solo. Knowing exactly what the staging area will have most turns allows a player to split their heroes and allies most efficiently between questing and combat. If there is a treachery, foreknowledge of its effect can let a player play around it. For example, knowing the top encounter card is Necromancer’s Reach that will deal a damage to each exhausted character, then the player can just commit characters that have more than 1 hit point remaining. His ability can also help in defending because it can show what the first shadow card will be. That foreknowledge can make the difference between losing a defending hero and losing a cheap ally in their place.
The low cost means he can slot into just about every deck with Lore. He doesn’t synergize perfectly with the Silvan cards that came later, but he still works with them although there might be better options. There isn’t really any downside to him. If I’m not playing him in a deck with Lore then it is because it is built around a theme or trait.
An encounter scrying deck full of direct damage effects. The direct damage is meant to kill enemies as soon as possible after they’re revealed in staging.
Vorondil the Hunter created the horn from a wild ox of Rhun. Vorondil was the father of Mardil, the first ruling steward of Gondor. The horn passed down to the eldest son until borne by Boromir. Legend had it that the horn’s call would not go answered if sounded within Gondor. In the Lord of the Rings, Boromir sounded the horn to call for aid in fighting off the Uruk-hai at Amon-hen. While the Fellowship heeded its call, they were too late to help Boromir.
Card Theme
The resource acceleration mechanism for a character being destroyed fits with Boromir’s sort of. The one resource can help put an ally into play which would fit with the horn’s legend of always being answered. That it gives resources for multiple characters falling to Sauron’s forces is quite a mismatch. A more thematic mechanism would have been a mustering effect like Elf-stone or Timely Aid.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Leaves Play
Cards that have effects when a character or itself leaves play can increase the value of a destroyed character. These are generally better since they work with Sneak Attack like effects. Horn of Gondor will only trigger when damage on a card is equal or greater than its hit points. Still stacking effects to get more value out of a chump block or losing a character to Archery can make the resources better spent. There are many useful effects this can trigger. Tactics Eomer can get his attack to 5 without any attachments and Leadership Prince Imrahil can ready. Allies like Descendent of Throndor, Meneldor, Squire of the Citadel, or Eomund can deal damage, place progress, get more resources, or ready characters if they are the chump blocker with Horn of Gondor essentially defraying the cost a bit. Valiant Sacrifice, Rallying Cry, or Horn of the Mark help with the card disadvantage created by a character being destroyed.
Burglar’s Turn
The Burglar’s Turn contract allows items like the horn to be put in a loot deck. The loot are attached to locations when they are made the active one. Exploring the active location will put the attached card into play. This is much more valuable for high cost attachments, but it can still work with Horn of Gondor.
Cheap Allies
Zero or one cost allies work best in a chump blocking strategy and the Horn. The Horn of Gondor will recoup the resource cost the lost ally. The main issue will be drawing enough cards to keep playing allies to defend with. Some of the cards mentioned earlier with leaves play effects can help offset the card disadvantage there.
Quest Specific
Basically any scenario where a player is better off using a chump blocking strategy. The Against the Shadow cycle particularly any scenario with the Mordor Elite and the Orc Vanguard with 8 attack. The cycle’s propensity for multiple shadow effects makes chump blocking generally safer.
Fire in the Night, there is a side quest that stops characters from using their defense versus the dragon, Dragnir. When it is in play a chump blocking strategy is better than losing a hero.
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 Horn of Gondor at 8 rings. I’m really tempted to go even to 9 rings. It does have some use with a chump blocking strategy and multiplayer since it is not limited to characters the owner controls. The pre-errata version I would probably would have rated 2 or 3 rings. It had many more uses synergizing really well with Rohan, Eagles, Sneak Attack, To Me! O my kinsfolk and many other effects that put an ally into play temporarily. It would have been overpowered with Silvans of course. I understand why it received errata, but the nerf hammer hit it into near irrelevance. That is because the trigger is less under the player’s control. It also has the Brok Ironfist ability problem, its an effect that a player typically would rather not trigger. The player loses an ally that had to be drawn and paid for to get a single resource.
The flavor text refers to when Aragorn tells Gimli and Legolas the he used the palantir of Orthanc. Gimli expresses concern that Sauron is aware of them now. Aragorn responds with basically saying he is intentionally forcing Sauron to attack them. The intent is have to misled Sauron to attack them and lead him away from Frodo and The One Ring.
Card Theme
As Aragorn hinted at in the flavor text, Sauron will attack them, but the attack won’t be effective. This is because it will be misdirected away from the true threat to his power. Shadow cards typically make attacks stronger and canceling one will make it less effective. The parallel between the theme and mechanism is there although the scale is different. Aragorn is using a metaphor to explain his strategy for the war. The card affects only an attack by a single enemy.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Discard Recursion
The big downside of the card is that it is an event and can normally be used once. Fortunately, Spirit is the sphere of Discard Recursion. Dwarven Tomb can get it back directly to hand to play Hasty Stroke again. Will of the West, Galadhrim Weaver, and The White Council will only shuffle it back into a players deck. These do make it possible to get another play Hasty Council, but then a player has to draw it again.
Map of Earnil should be noted won’t work to recur Hasty Stroke. This is because the shadow reveal that would trigger Hasty Stroke’s response doesn’t happen during an action window. The player can’t activate the Map’s action to play Hasty Stroke from the discard pile.
Gloin Decks
A big weakness of Gloin decks are shadow effects. A big attack boost that would go beyond his hit points or an effect that discards attachments can wreck the whole strategy. Also taking multiple undefended attacks increases the chances of seeing a bad shadow. Most of shadow control alternatives require the hero to defend, but Hasty Stroke does not.
Quest Specific
Not all shadows are created equal in this game. Early in the life of the game, scenarios are notoriously swingy. There were some encounter cards that would do virtually nothing and others would basically require the players to cancel them or lose. Shadow effects suffered from the same variability. Darrowdelf known for it’s terrible treacheries doubled up with many awful shadow effect’s like Sudden Pitfall discarding the defending character. Sleeping Sentry already notorious is arguably worse as a shadow since it will discard all exhausted cards.
Against the Shadow is also notorious for bad shadows because so many can add more shadow cards to an enemy. It is even possible to have a chain of several shadows on a single enemy.
Later scenarios, has many enemies immune to player card effects. That immunity doesn’t extend to shadow cards except for a few exceptions. Fire in the Night, The Road Darkens, and The Battle of Pelennor Fields make the big boss enemy’s shadows immune as well. Hasty Stroke won’t be as helpful 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 rate Hasty Stroke at 4 rings. The effect can be very useful, but not every scenario has shadows that require cancelation. There are also many alternatives in the full card pool that provide shadow cancelation like Erkenbrand, A Burning Brand, Armored Destrier, Jubayr, Sterner than Steel, Balin, etc. Many of their shadow control effects are repeatable. Doubling up on shadow cancelation only makes it more consistent. It will still make it into many decks or at least their sideboard.
Galadhrim is the term of the elves dwelling in Lothlorien. The Host of Galadhrim in the books would defend Lorien against the orcs invasions. After Sauron’s defeat they attack Dol Guldur to drive out the remaining forces there.
Card Theme
The Silvan archetype centers around their hit and run tactics. This is why many of the ally cards feature enter play effects. The supporting events return a Silvan ally to hand to be replayed later. Host of Galadhrim basically does this en masse with returning all of them to hand and replaying them all in one go. It is very fitting to represent the show of force when they all would come together to attack considering all their enters play effects will trigger.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Silvan Allies
The big two Silvan allies for Host of Galadhrim are Galadhrim Weaver and Galadhrim Minstrel. These two are key to decks that look to replay Host of Galadhrim over and over again. Players will need at least 1 weaver, 2 Hosts (one of which is in the discard), and 1 minstrel. It works best with an empty deck. Player plays Host of Galadhrim to replay weaver shuffling the Host of Galadhrim in the discard back into the deck. Then replay Galadhrim Minstrel to find that shuffled in Host again in the top 5 cards. More copies of the weaver and minstrel can lead to recurring 2 other events every turn like Legacy of Numenor to pay for Hosts every turn or Feigned Voices to cancel attacks.
The other Silvan allies that are good to replay provide a variety of effects.
Orophin is the most situational with bringing a Silvan ally back from the discard, but very useful if employing a chump blocking strategy.
Celeborn and Galadriel Heroes
Celeborn will boost the stats of each ally repalyed by Host of Galadhrim. Galadriel will give them all action advantage to leverage the +1 willpower and the +1 to the combat stats. It functions very much like a global ready effect like Grim Resolve after questing. Very effective when flooded with enemies to have all allies ready for combat. The increased willpower and not exhausting to quest also make this combination with Silvan allies great for a very powerful quest push. If there is ever a quest stage that a player needs to get through quickly, or just wants to race to the finish then that is the time to play Host with these two.
Lord of Morthond
Lord of Morthond can generate significant card draw from Host of Galadhrim. Host doesn’t require a resource match to replay the allies since they are played for no cost. Leadership has several options to play non-Leadership allies the first time. Thranduil hero allows players to play Silvan allies outside the Leadership sphere. Mustering effects like Timely Aid and A Very Good Tale can also help a mono Leadership line up put non-Leadership allies into play. A Good Harvest and the sphere granting songs are possibilities as well. Although this can easily become a win more situation since Host of Galadhrim is usually a late game card to play once several allies are in play already.
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 Host of Galadhrim at 4 rings. Getting several enter play effects can be very powerful. Combined with Galadriel and Celeborn to boost all the allies and have them quest without exhausting makes for a very strong turn. It is the kind of bomb event effect that should be expected from a 4 cost card that generally doesn’t usually hit the mark in this game. This one does it however in spades. It is not that hard to play it more than 3 times in a game considering it combos with Galadhrim Weaver.
There are only a couple limitations to this card that keep me from rating it more highly. It only really goes in one kind of deck and that is Silvans. It’s effectiveness is all centered around having several of them to replay making it a niche card. It is also a late game card due to its cost and the aforementioned need of allies on the board to replay. It’s possible to draw it too early when it is not that helpful but that is just a minor annoyance.
Overall, this card when played well is powerful. Turn the game around powerful. When abused with Galadriel, Celeborn, weavers, Legacy of Numenor, and minstrels it will steam roll quests that don’t have any effects that discard cards from a player’s hand.
The trait based resource acceleration for Dunedain.
Background
You might be wondering who is the Heir of Valandil? Spoilers, it is Aragorn. I know what you’re thinking. Aragorn is Isildur’s Heir. How can he be the Heir of Valandil too? It is because Valandil was the original heir of Isildur. As Isildur’s youngest son he became the king of Arnor after his brothers and Isildur died at the Disaster of Gladden Fields. Valandil ended being the longest reigning king of Arnor at 239 years.
Card Theme
The card’s ally cost reduction by engaging an enemies is similar to idea behind Dunedain Hunter. The Dunedain rangers went where there was trouble during The Watchful Peace. It makes sense that their chieftain would have an easier time mustering them to deal with an immediate threat.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Dunedain Allies
A player might wonder why they might use Heir of Valandil when there is already a staple 2 cost unique resource acceleration attachment, Steward of Gondor. There are a couple reasons to highlight. The first is that the cost reduction can be applied to any Dunedain ally that a player already has a resource match for. This is very advantageous considering the 23 Dunedain allies in the game span all 4 spheres.
The second is, a player can use both. Nearly 2/3 of the Dunedain allies cost 3 or more resources. All the resource acceleration Dunedain can get help get a critical mass of allies and overcome the scenario. Lastly, it provides an alternative in multiplayer when someone else already has Steward of Gondor.
Traps
Traps are ideal way to increase the attachment’s cost reduction. Forest Snare in particular works really well because the enemy remains engaged but no longer attacks. Entangling Nets and Outmatched create a similar more safely engaged enemy that can be defended without sacrificing an action. Shadow effects are still a concern unless the player has a defender with some shadow cancelation like A Burning Brand.
Attack Cancellation
Attack cancelation effects like Feint, Thicket of Spears, The Wizard’s Voice, and Coney in a Trap like Trap attachments can help increase the cost reduction and reduce the risk of the engaged enemy albeit just temporarily.
Gloin hero
Gloin can be an interesting way to increase the effect. Song of Wisdom or Narvi’s Belt or a Warden of Healing make it that Gloin can heal all damage done to him quite easily. Some hit point bonuses from attachments like Citadel Plate, and he can take undefended attacks even from boss level enemies. Provided shadow effects don’t discard attachments, it can be quite easy to keep several enemies engaged without much trouble. Heir of Valandil might become a “win more” card at that point since combat is essentially neutralized.
Attachment Search
Ted often points out that a big drawback to any card is you have to draw it. Fortunately, there are 2 cards that help find an attachment in a deck. Galadriel ally searches the top 5 cards and puts it into play. She is even in sphere with Heir of Valandil. Master of the Forge will do the same expect put it into a player’s hand, but it can be used each round.
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 Heir of Valandil at 7 rings. It is only going into a Dunedain focused deck considering it requires a Dunedain hero and works only on Dunedain allies. That alone immediately makes it a niche card. Then the effect is conditional on having at least 1 enemy engaged. The Dunedain generally want to do that anyway, but it is risky. Especially if keeping any enemies engaged to keep the bonus. The only really nice part of the effect is that it is unlimited. The cost reduction can get high enough to even play a 5 cost Dunedain Wanderer into play for free.
The other major drawback is that it has the same sphere, cost, and also unique like Steward of Gondor. In solo play, unless your Dunedain are really spread across 3 or 4 spheres, Steward is going to be better. In multiplayer, it has the advantage of being a potential alternative if Steward is already taken. It is going to see some play in dedicated Dunedain decks, but not much outside of them.
“2 against 1, eh? It’s almost a fair fight for you but you really should have brought at least one more to make it even.” – Halbarad probably
Background
Halbarad received a message to join his Chieftain Aragorn in Rohan. He and 30 other Dunedain rode south. Later joined by Elrohir and Elladan, they met Aragorn and accompanied him through the Paths of the Dead. Once Aragorn summoned the dead, they rode for Pelargir fighting off the Corsairs they found there. Halbarad took command of one the Corsair ships and sailed for The Battle of Pelennor Fields. He fought in the battle but died in the fighting.
Card Theme
Halbarad like many of the Dunedain heroes has balanced stats with 2 willpower, 2 attack, and 2 defense. This fits with the Dunedain considering their small population having to be self-sufficient and ready to defend their people. The Dunedain in the game generally gain bonuses for having an enemy engaged. This makes sense with their severely depleted population and many enemies around that they would have to rise to each challenge. His ability to quest without exhausting while engaged with an enemy represents this. His ability to optionally engaged 2 enemies is more representative of the Dunedain’s actions during the Watchful Peace. During that time they fought many minor battles with orcs and goblins to keep the lands of Eriador safe.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Stat Boosts
Halbarad’s built in action advantage and balanced if mediocre stats make him a prime target for stat boosts. In sphere and in theme are the Dunedain signal attachments from the first cycle.
While the bonus is only +1, the ability to move to other heroes shouldn’t be discounted. Especially for Dunedain Warning’s defense boost that can help another hero defend for a turn. Dunedain Quest’s willpower is a bit expensive especially when the Core Set gave players Celebrian’s Stone that gives +2 for the same cost. There aren’t many options for targeted willpower boosts in Leadership although the global boosts from Leadership Faramir ally of Aragorn with Sword That Was Broken are also options.
Aside from Dunedain Mark, Leadership doesn’t have many permanent attack boosts. Sword of Numenor is a very thematic one that comes with the possibility of some resource acceleration if fighting some tougher enemies. If utilizing the side quest bonus Dunedain alongside Halbarad, Legacy Blade can be a fantastic attack buff. Tactics has more possibilities with Dagger of Westernesse being the best to possibly get more than +1 attack from a single attachment.
Defense bonuses are generally better to build up on him at least when using other Dunedain. Another defender that can safely keep a 3 or 4 attack enemy engaged helps build up their bonuses. Fortunately, Leadership has some of the best defensive attachments with aforementioned Dunedian Warning, Ancestral Armor, and Armored Destrier. The destrier doesn’t convey a bonus to defense, the action advantage and shadow control is just what the Dunedain archetype needs to keep multiple enemies engaged for several turns.
Traps
Specifically, Forest Snare and Entangling Nets synergize very well with Halbarad and the rest of the enemies engaged bonus Dunedain. Forest Snare allows a player to just keep an enemy engaged for the entire game without having to worry about defending or any shadows. Entangling Nets is similar because of the attack reduction making defending easier. The action disadvantage of defending can be offset with Outmatched or just taking the attack undefended. Shadows effects can still be an issue with it in some scenarios.
Early Engagement Effects
Normally a player can’t get Halbarad to quest without exhausting unless puts an enemy engaged with a player first thing. Dunedain Hunter and Wait No Longer can help get that ability going. They can be especially useful in true solo play if no enemies are forthcoming since they both search the top 5 cards of the encounter deck for one.
Forth, The Three Hunters Contract
One of the downsides of this contract is that the player is limited to just 3 heroes. Action advantage is key to maximizing the heroes questing and combat potential. Any hero with it built in can make use of the contract’s willpower bonus and the combat bonuses of the extra restricted attachment better than ones without.
Quest Specific
The Shadows of Mirkwood featured the Goblin Sniper that could only be engaged if it was the only enemy in the staging area. This could lead to the dreaded double Goblin Sniper situation where neither can be engaged optionally. This left only Son of Arnor and reaching 48 threat as a solution early on in the game’s life. Halbarad’s ability gives players another way to engage both snipers before 48 threat.
Intruders in Chetwood is another quest that benefits from his ability to optionally engage 2 enemies since they don’t make normal engagement checks. Leaving enemies in the staging area is not a good idea since each one raises the players’ threat by 1 for each enemy there. Wastes of Eriador similarly has enemies not make engagement checks when the day/night objective is on the day side. Engaging multiple enemies during the day is better since many have additional effects or are stronger during the night.
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 Halbarad at 6 rings. The built in action advantage works pretty well with his balanced stats. Keeping an enemy engaged to quest isn’t that difficult for many quests especially if also running traps or with an Armored Destrier. Still it has its risks especially since his balanced stats are only 2 on each. He always requires a bit of set up to be more than just a little supplement questing and combat power. Even when built up, he won’t rival the more specialized heroes with a stat of 3 or 4. Still can be a good addition to line ups with a good questing and defending hero. Starting a quest with 6 willpower from heroes typically provides enough willpower to start. Defense is hard to skimp on since one bad enemy attack can easily take out a hero. Attack power can usually wait a turn or two to come online and easy enough to get from allies or attachments.
His ability to optionally engage 2 enemies doesn’t have many uses for solo play. Still in multiplayer it can supercharge a Dunedain deck. It is still tricky to use well considering the Dunedain can take a little while to get rolling. The heroes often have weaker balanced stats. The allies can be expensive and span all 4 spheres. This can encourage players to build tri-sphere to cram as many Dunedain allies into a deck.
Halbarad at one point was one of my most played heroes. He can be used to good effect but he takes some building around and time to set up. Many quests won’t give players time for it. He’s a decent hero and well worth playing. There are just many that are better because they don’t need that set up and support.
There are many instances we see the determination of the hobbits in the books culminating in Frodo carrying the Ring all the way to the fire of Mount Doom. The flavor text pins this to shortly after Frodo, Sam, and Pippin meet Gildor and his band of elven pilgrims. Sam recounts to Frodo how Gildor pressed him to stay with Frodo, and now afterwards the nature of the journey has changed for him. It is no longer about having an adventure and seeing unusual creatures. He knows now it will be a dark journey but he feels he has a purpose in it that he must fulfil.
Card Theme
Boosting all of a Hobbits basic stats is a nicely tied to the theme of this card. It is their determination that helps them find whatever they need within themselves to carry on the quest. Whether it is preserving through strange and dangerous lands, or taking up their swords to fight orcs, trolls, and giant spiders. More willpower, attack, and defense can help players realize that in the game.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Action Advantage
Halfling Determination’s boost last until the end of phase. The more times you can make use of it, the better. Hobbits fortunately have their own readying card that is cheap and easy to play with Fast Hitch. It can also target a character much like Halfling Determination. This will be very important later when discussing Halfling Determination’s interaction with a special Hobbit character card. Then of course there are the other readying staples like Unexpected Courage, Rohan Warhorse, Armored Destrier, Cram, Lembas, and Miruvor among many others. For maximum effect, you will want to play it with Hour of Wrath or Path of Need. These cards because heroes will not exhaust to quest, attack, or defend means the boosted hero can use its enhanced stats against every enemy.
Rosie Cotton
Rosie Cotton like Halfling Determination itself is a powerful boosting card for Hobbits. They work well together because Halfling Determination boosts her willpower and then she can use the resulting 4 willpower to add 4 to a Hobbit hero’s stats. A Fast Hitch on her and the willpower bonus can be doubled for questing by using her ability and questing with her. She can also become a hero with Messenger of the King and Sword-thain. This allows her to target herself with her ability and double Halfling’s Determination for combat by adding her 4 willpower to her boosted attack or defense. This turns her in a pretty strong attacker or defender with 6 in either relevant stat.
Quest Specific
The stat boosts are going to be good in almost every quest since they help with both questing and combat. A couple special cases worth mentioning are in the LOTR Saga quests. Both are special tests called hide and fortitude tests. Hide tests are used in A Shadow of the Past and fortitude tests are in Mount Doom. Both have very similar mechanics where the players commit characters (heroes only for fortitude) and use their total willpower for the test. Then encounter cards are discarded to determine the value the players need to beat. In hide tests, threat is totaled up and fortitude it is Sauron eye icons. There is a special action window after encounter cards are discarded before resolving the test. If the players are short on willpower, Halfling Determination can help push them over the edge.
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 Halfling Determination at 7 rings. It is a pretty good boost with +2 to all of the basic stats. This makes it pretty flexible, but still only a one time boost. It going to be a bit niche considering it is limited to hobbits. I find it often just doesn’t make the cut even in Hobbit decks. Largely because the best hobbit cards are in Spirit and Lore. Hobbits additionally are low on defense and Feint is generally a better 1 cost Tactics event to include over this card. It also doesn’t help that this is the hobbit version of Durin’s Song except that it lasts only until the end of the phase.
The flavor text comes from Chapter 3 of the Fellowship of the Ring, Three is Company. It comes not long after Frodo leaves Bag End and overhears Gaffer talking to a black rider that is asking after him. It describes Pippin, Sam and him walking silently in the night as they leave Hobbiton.
Card Theme
The 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. The description of how the Hobbit cloaks help the characters is a bit of stretch to a defensive bonus. It does help them in a defensive manner by avoiding discovery. There already are a couple mechanisms for that in game, engagement and threat control. It seems like threat reduction or increase engagement cost would have been much more thematic in this case. It is not entirely without precedent. Dunedain Warning, the first Leadership attachment with a defense bonus, arguably more about avoiding danger than protective gear.
Card Synergies and Interactions
Engagement Control and Threat Reduction
The game has 2 ways to help ensure Hobbit Cloak defense bonus can trigger, increase the enemies’ engagement cost and reduce a player’s threat. The only repeatable engagement cost increase is from Lore Pippin‘s ability. There are only a couple cards that can increase an enemy’s engagement cost further, 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.
Threat reduction is better considering there are several more cards for it. Unfortunately, in sphere options are limited to Leadership Frodo and Sneak Attack and Gandalf. 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. Leadership Frodo, Spirit Merry, 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.
Hobbit Heroes
Sam Gamgee is an excellent target for the cloak. His ability also triggers when engaging an enemy with higher threat readying him to defend. On top of that his base defense is boosted to 2 and with the cloak he gets up to 4 defense matching that of Beregond. Sam also has the most base hit points of the Hobbit heroes only matched by his father-in-law, Tom Cotton. Tom also makes a great target since he has the best defense stat. Both versions of Frodo also can benefit from it. Leadership Frodo provides Leadership access and threat reduction to help keep triggering it as the game progresses. Spirit Frodo already is great defender thanks to his ability, but it only works once per phase. The cloak can allow Frodo to save his ability for when it is really needed and still defend some lesser enemies.
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 Hobbit Cloak at 7 rings. It is fairly niche considering it is limited to Hobbit heroes and conditional on the attacking enemy having a higher engagement cost. The bonus however is fair costed compared to the +1 defense of Dunedain Warning that can go on any hero and no conditions. It is also similar to the other tribal defense boosts like Gondorian Shield, Shining Shield, and Cloak of Lorien that give a conditional +2 defense for 1 cost. It is slightly less powerful considering it doesn’t provide +1 defense all the time like the others. It works well in a Hobbit deck that focuses on utilizing the bonuses for engaging enemies with higher engagement cost. It is not going to see much play outside that deck type.
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