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DáinIronfoot |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:50 am |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 4594
Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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Dáin’s DC Duos #18
Well it’s farewell to Gandalf and his fellow Wizards, but we’re not leaving the culture any time soon!
Today, I’d like to introduce one of a handful of new subcultures you’ll find in my sets: the Men of Laketown. Here’s a full description....
Laketown/Dale is a new subculture introduced in Lasting Alliances and continuing, to a lesser extent, through all five of my sets. It is contained within the culture that already houses a couple subcultures: the culture. It wouldn’t have been my choice of "parent" culture--I would have picked , personally--but Decipher already put several men from Dale in with , so I figured I better follow suit.
The men of Laketown (and Dale) rely on possessions to get better (much like ), have a number of events to help them direct wound--especially against roaming minions--and heal (much like ), and are proficient archers (much like the now-two Elven cultures: and [Mirkwood], represented (for now) by ).
But they do more than just borrow from other cultures; they have their own unique flavor. For one thing, they are one of the first cultures in my sets that can capture minions, and rather easily at that. (My sets feature capturing/rescuing characters much as one controls/liberates sites. See Duo #17 for more details.) Inspired by their watchfulness for Smaug the dragon’s return, they work A LOT with threats, adding and keying off of them to get stronger and use some of their better abilities and events. They take two not-so-unusual skills--archery and wounding roaming minions--and combine them in new ways. And in the same spirit of healing up Thorin’s exhausted party in The Hobbit, they’re pretty good at healing you up when you need it the most. In general, they support other cultures very well, especially Elves (and particularly Elves), Men (thanks mostly to a certain keyword the cultures share) and Dwarves (moreso in later sets than in Lasting Alliances).
But that doesn’t mean they can’t shine on their own. With heroes like Bard, the Master of Laketown, the Captain of the Guard, and later heroes like Brand, and with possessions galore, archery and skirmish events that can make big minions cry, and the ability to capture minions as you go, the men of Laketown and Dale are a force to be reckoned with even on their own.
Their only real limitations are size (even with all the cards in my sets combined with Decipher’s, it’s still a comparatively small Man subculture) and REMOVING all those threats they add. They have a couple cards that can help in this regard, but not many.
This subculture is, as you would probably guess, biggest in Lasting Alliances since that’s the set that focuses on The Hobbit, and that’s the book where the Lakemen were seen most prominently. But they’ll be dotted throughout the other sets and make a small resurgance in the RotK-focused set The End Of All Things as they desperately fight against the forces of Mordor with their Dwarven allies.
With that all out of the way, let’s kick things off with a couple of Laketown’s biggest heroes. Enjoy!
•Bard, Heir of Girion
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Archer. Knight. To play, spot a Man.
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may exert a Man to wound a minion in that skirmish.
“‘Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true.’”
What would a Laketown subculture be without their greatest hero? The Slayer of the Dragon himself, the only man in Middle-Earth who could be called simply "The Bowman", Bard is a force to be reckoned with. He’s one of only a very small handful of companions in the entire game to be an archer from the get-go, and that alone makes him nice to have around. He’s a also a knight, as many Man warriors will be, so he can use a few tricks of his fellow men further south in Gondor, including a couple of their horses (Knight’s Mount and the particularly appropriate Gondorian Steed) and, of course, fortifications!
And that’s just Bard’s keywords. His ability obviously works nicely for him, a perfectly eligible archer, but you’ll find that like Elves, several Men can become archers as well with less trouble than the Men of Gondor and Rohan.
Now the only bad part: he’s not TOO easy to splash into any old fellowship. You have to already have another Man before he can join in on the fun. But after that, he can quickly become your centerpiece companion.
•Captain of the Guard
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While bearing a hand weapon, Captain of the Guard is strength +1 and damage +1.
Each time Captain of the Guard wins a skirmish, you may exert him to capture a minion in that skirmish.
“‘If you come in peace lay down your arms!’”
The Captain is never named in The Hobbit, and while I invented names for many characters from Laketown and elsewhere, I thought it would be best if I left his a mystery. Tolkien makes a special point to always call him "Captain of the Guard", so by golly, so will I.
The Captain is a knight as well, so he can have some Gondorian fun if you so choose. But he’s also the quintessential Lakeman: he gets better with possessions, and he can capture minions. With even a simple hand weapon (which we’ll get to before too long), he can become a beast and have a good chance of winning skirmishes and triggering his capturing text a lot. The prisons will fill up fast when he’s on guard!
There are actually more cards relating to the Lakemen than there are cards relating to Wizards, so we’ll be here for a while. Pull up a chair and get comfy.
However, to make sure this doesn’t drag on TOO long, I’ll be open to posting multiple Duos on the same day, something I’m usually loathe to do. If a Duo gets a couple reviews by, say, sometime in the afternoon, I may post another Duo that same day. Otherwise, I estimate this could take 2-3 weeks, and I fear it getting stale after that long. *shrug* Maybe not. We’ll see how it all goes.
So get the reviews in and you get more cards sooner. Not sure if that’s more incentive for you or me....
Oh, HERE’S incentive. Just like any new post of mine, your first review in this thread earns you a , with the potential for me as we go along. That’s a good thing, right?
EDIT: Couple changes made to Bard based on AC’s and mm’s comments.
EDIT 2: One more change to Bard based on an update from AC. |
Last edited by DáinIronfoot on Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:24 pm; edited 18 times in total |
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macheteman |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:18 pm |
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 1200
Location: The Jungle
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hey, cool with the laketown idea. back in Dec. i made some DCs along these lines. if you want to check them out.
http://lotrtcgdb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2710
•Bard, Heir of Girion
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Archer. Knight. To play, spot 2 Men.
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may exert Bard and another Man to wound a minion in that skirmish.
“‘Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true.’”
very good. not too over powered, but very useful.
•Captain of the Guard
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While bearing a hand weapon, Captain of the Guard is strength +1 and damage +1.
Each time Captain of the Guard wins a skirmish, you may exert him to capture a minion in that skirmish.
“‘If you come in peace lay down your arms!’”
awsome idea for knights! plus the bonus for bearing a weapon is cool. |
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Anonymous Prodigy |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:19 pm |
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Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 4197
Location: United States
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DáinIronfoot wrote:
With that all out of the way, let’s kick things off with a couple of Laketown’s biggest heroes. Enjoy!
• Bard, Heir of Girion
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Archer. Knight. To play, spot 2 Men.
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may exert Bard and another Man to wound a minion in that skirmish.
“‘Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true.’”
Nice skirmish ability! Bard could single-handedly take down a 3 vitality minion! He dishes out an archery wound, then if he wins a skirmish, exert him and another Man to wound that minion! Nice card!
• Captain of the Guard
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While bearing a hand weapon, Captain of the Guard is strength +1 and damage +1.
Each time Captain of the Guard wins a skirmish, you may exert him to capture a minion in that skirmish.
“‘If you come in peace lay down your arms!’”
Sweet strength bonus, plus he is a splash companion!
Nice cards, DainIronfoot! |
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DáinIronfoot |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:32 pm |
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 4594
Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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Wow, that was fast. Thanks for the reviews, guys. for you both.
I’ll take a closer look at your Laketown cards and probably give ’em a review, mm. Great minds thinks alike, eh?
Anonymous Prodigy wrote: DáinIronfoot wrote: • Captain of the Guard
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While bearing a hand weapon, Captain of the Guard is strength +1 and damage +1.
Each time Captain of the Guard wins a skirmish, you may exert him to capture a minion in that skirmish.
“‘If you come in peace lay down your arms!’”
Sweet strength bonus, plus he is a splash companion!
Yeah, that’s another thing about the Men of Laketown...I’ve tried to make their subculture, on the whole, a little more splashable than most cultures (and subcultures) are, which would hopefully make up for their small size. The good Captain isn’t the only guy that’s that easy to splash. Since I’ve gotten some quick reviews, you’ll see what I mean soon with another Duo. |
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AnxiousChieftain |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:33 pm |
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Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 3947
Location: Maryland
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DáinIronfoot wrote: • Bard, Heir of Girion
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Archer. Knight. To play, spot 2 Men.
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may exert Bard and another Man to wound a minion in that skirmish.
“‘Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true.’”
First, off, I must say I am rather against the idea of Men being knights. It doesn’t seem to fit into the story very nicely, plus they get to use all the cards (which, in turn, doesn’t really fit into the story).
That being said, he seems underpowered. This is, after all, Bard, so I think you could drop both exertions.
DáinIronfoot wrote: • Captain of the Guard
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 6
Knight.
While bearing a hand weapon, Captain of the Guard is strength +1 and damage +1.
Each time Captain of the Guard wins a skirmish, you may exert him to capture a minion in that skirmish.
“‘If you come in peace lay down your arms!’”
See above about the knight issue. Other than that, great card.
- AC |
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead |
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DáinIronfoot |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:00 pm |
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Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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AnxiousChieftain wrote: DáinIronfoot wrote: • Bard, Heir of Girion
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Resistance: 7
Archer. Knight. To play, spot 2 Men.
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may exert Bard and another Man to wound a minion in that skirmish.
“‘Bard is he, of the race of Dale, of the line of Girion; he is a grim man but true.’”
First, off, I must say I am rather against the idea of Men being knights. It doesn’t seem to fit into the story very nicely, plus they get to use all the cards (which, in turn, doesn’t really fit into the story).
But how many cards is that, really? There’s only two fortifications--First Level and Fifth Level--that knights could use without any Men, and only those two mounts I mentioned that they can use from , and I think that makes those mounts even better. Similarly, only a very small handful of cards (Reckless Counter, Vorondil, Faramir, Defender of Osgiliath) have text that applies to just "knights"...almost all of them say " knights". The way things are written, and the abilities of cards that have before "knight" and the ones that don’t, lead me to think Decipher was leaving things open for the potential of non- knights in the future anyway.
I understand exactly what you’re saying, and I figured that someone would take issue. But believe and trust me when I say that I’ve done my homework on this, and really thought long and hard about it, and I think it works out okay. In fact, I think it makes the cards that DO work for either culture even better, and encourage splashing some and Men together. It’s one of the reasons I thought about doing it in the first place. I have great respect for the storyline Tolkien created (like you, probably much more than Decipher seems to these days) and take great care not to do things with it that don’t fit particularly well. Dale and Gondor share the same (distant) history--Dale split off from Gondor much as Rohan did--and there are many similarities between the two cultures. Unlike the Rohirrim, the men of Dale stayed very much like Gondor in terms of fighting styles, government, and all-around culture.
So again, I understand your concern and appreciate you watching out for my set. But I also very respectfully disagree. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong, though...and I’ll listen, I promise. I’m not all-out opposed to abandoning the idea, but only for good reason.
AnxiousChieftain wrote: That being said, he seems underpowered. This is, after all, Bard, so I think you could drop both exertions.
That’s the opposite of what I expected people would say about it. Shows what I know.
I can see dropping one exertion, but I’m reluctant to do two for fear of him being TOO good. How about this:
Each time a archer wins a skirmish, you may spot another Man and exert that Man or Bard to wound a minion in that skirmish.
Kinda wordy, but it lets you choose who to exert. That work, or you still think I should drop both?
Thanks for the review. GP as soon as I can award one. |
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macheteman |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:21 pm |
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Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 1200
Location: The Jungle
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maybe drop one exertion, and one spotting cost. so "to play spot a man"
-macheteman |
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If at first you don't succeed...Sky-diving isn't for you.
"Combat is dangerous. It tends to interupt your breathing process."
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DáinIronfoot |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:22 pm |
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Location: Beltsville, MD, USA
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Anonymous Prodigy |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:17 pm |
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It’s like Bard Reloaded! This one’s even better! |
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macheteman |
Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:23 pm |
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better than what? i didn’t think there was a bard card made. there is a brand... |
Check out my best article The Utterly Corrupt Corruption,
If at first you don't succeed...Sky-diving isn't for you.
"Combat is dangerous. It tends to interupt your breathing process."
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