From the first glance he seems like a decent ally. 2 defense and 2 health for 2 resources, and even a readying ability if you get lucky.

Let me think what he actually is from the second glance. Doomed keyword never comes out naturally from the encounter deck outside of the quest phase, so if you want to utilize his printed ability, you'll need either luck or a doomed card played after he commits to the quest.

Doomed player cards to this day are: Give all 1 resource per hero, give all 2 cards, give all the feint and take a condition from all... oh and this little fetchy thingy. 3 out of five best played before the quest phase, so it's actually pretty hard, so, unless the deck is doomy and you're in luck - his printed ability is going to be wasted most of the times. And even when it doesn't - 1 willpower is not that much to boot, unless boosted by some side effect.

As for his main purpose, defending, he is semi-good. He'll probably sustain a punch or even two, but in the current reality with 214124 attack enemies, it'll be a miracle if he'll survive his first defense.

I can see a decent combo, where he defends lesser enemy, somebody uses Wizard Voice and then he defends a second time, probably to his demise, but still.

What I hope is that Isengard trait gets developed in this cycle and there will be something to help the fellow out, but we already had 5 previews and not a single isengard-supporting card was spoiled, so the hope is slowly fading...

Also, two main competitors of him are Pelargir Ship Captain and Guardian of the Citadel. Their main advantage over him is Gondor, being able to turn them into cheap 2-willpower, 2-attack beast, given the circumstances. And Cap can even arrange some resource transportation, if need arrives. They won't stand even a slight chance in defense, like Orthanc Guard does, but I'm comparing cost to effectiveness here.

Spare Hood and Cloak !

Well... it's something ^^

Here's my list of uses for him:

Spare Hood and Cloak is good.

You could also exhaust him for A Very Good Tale in the planning phase, play a doomed card, then ready him to quest.

He also combos well with Grima if you're going to use Grima's ability to play an event after characters commit to the quest.

He's not a bad body on the table for Sword that was Broken or Faramir if you're flooding the table with cheap allies.

He's a solid Siege quester.

I also found him to be a helpful defender for the smaller Dunland enemies in Fords of the Isen (and presumably other scenarios).

That's about it. He not useless, but more Isengard synergy would be good and I'm hoping we get some more Isengard stuff in this cycle.

He looks cool.

We clearly will be getting more Isenguard support at some point. I think it's a little disingenious to compare the Isenguard trait to the far more well developed Gondor trait.

All it would take to make him good would be a doomed keyword card that boosts questing (ideally in the leadership sphere, but any would do since Isenguard itself is clearly going to be a trait that spans all four spheres based on the cards revealed so far).I think it's fairly obvious that such a card will be created either in this cycle or a future one.

He's not a terrible leadership ally (cost to stats wise) even without the response. He doesn't really need justification.

He combos with Arwen fairly well but it would be nice if he could get a static boost to his willpower and/or hit points, as he can be a bit fragile for any real defending.

Wasn't everyone booing Gondor until Visionary Leadership came out late in the cycle? Insengard will be the same. I think all the previews and spoilers have been focusing on elves and their padding out older traits. There will definitely be 'some' isengard cards in this cycle. I'd say at least 1 or 2 per pack. Is that roughly the same amount as others in the past? If they didn't, why bother making it a trait at all? Although I now think about Dunedain and Isengard feels roughly the same to me, if only in geographical coverage.

We clearly will be getting more Isenguard support at some point. I think it's a little disingenious to compare the Isenguard trait to the far more well developed Gondor trait.

All it would take to make him good would be a doomed keyword card that boosts questing (ideally in the leadership sphere, but any would do since Isenguard itself is clearly going to be a trait that spans all four spheres based on the cards revealed so far).I think it's fairly obvious that such a card will be created either in this cycle or a future one.

He's not a terrible leadership ally (cost to stats wise) even without the response. He doesn't really need justification.

Have you used him to your success?

Have you used him to your success?

Yes

You imply that you're Rapier?

You implying that only Rapier´s successful use of Orthanc Guard is satisfactory?

Yes.

Dat wrong

I asked him a question directly, not you or the wide audience. You can start being decent any time now.

Then ask him in a PM if it´s that important it remain between the two of you. The headline also seem to suggest this is supposed to be a general debate.

Also you are not really in a position to ask anyone to act decently. And no I don´t suspect you´re necessarily aware what I´m talking about, nor do I care much.

Headline - yes. The question I asked him - no. The question I asked him, while quoting him, was obviosuly adressed exclusively to him. But you're free to post whatever you wish lol, not reading the posts you're answering to seems to be a common practice for you.

Oh, you don't care so much you dedicate a whole post to your lack of caring, how sweet <3

And here comes the infamous trololo logic: five words, as an afterthought, in a post means the whole post is dedicated to it. Not to mention it is obvious that exact comment was directed at your lack of self-awareness specifically.

Since this is still a general discussion about Orthanc Guard then all people are welcome to write about their opinions and experiences with that card. If that is not the case then as I said: handle it by PM.

The OP doesn´t own a topic just because he started it.

This guy is good at saying tales. You know, especially A very good tales!

My infamous logic concludes that your entire post is nonsese if you finish it with words that you do not care, because posting a post is a sign of caring in the first place. A little consistency, please?

Are you that stupid that you can't see that you replied not to the thread itself, but exactly to the post being adressed directly to someone else? Or you're just trying to "troll" me by acting so dumb?

As I said previously - answer the **** out of all the questions you can find on the internet, just don't expect people to react accordinhly when it's not you who is being asked

My infamous logic concludes that your entire post is nonsese if you finish it with words that you do not care, because posting a post is a sign of caring in the first place. A little consistency, please?

Are you that stupid that you can't see that you replied not to the thread itself, but exactly to the post being adressed directly to someone else? Or you're just trying to "troll" me by acting so dumb?

As I said previously - answer the **** out of all the questions you can find on the internet, just don't expect people to react accordinhly when it's not you who is being asked

Point missed entirely on so many levels. Or deliberately misunderstood.

Not going to give you a sorely needed lesson in semantics. Figure it out yourself.

Funny, I could rightfully say the same thing to you.

Awesome looking Orthanc guard's 2 DEF is something to consider. Not many allies offer that much protection. I don't think his special ability is that great, even if there were more doomed guards, as his stats are only mediocre. There are times, however, when it is cool to have an extra defender when you have an unvinvited guest that tries to attack your heroes directly. He combos nicely with The Seeing-stone, but that's it, mostly.

He combos nicely with The Seeing-stone, but that's it, mostly.

Seems to me he combos quite well with Gríma´s ability.

I have been thinking about trying out a solo lore/leadership (my two favorite spheres) deck with that in mind for awhile.

My infamous logic concludes that your entire post is nonsese if you finish it with words that you do not care, because posting a post is a sign of caring in the first place. A little consistency, please?

Are you that stupid that you can't see that you replied not to the thread itself, but exactly to the post being adressed directly to someone else? Or you're just trying to "troll" me by acting so dumb?

As I said previously - answer the **** out of all the questions you can find on the internet, just don't expect people to react accordinhly when it's not you who is being asked

You two need to calm down. Nerdmeister simply quoted your question so that he could make his post easier by only saying "yes". He could have made a post that didn't quote you and that said "I have used Orthanc Guard successfully" and no one have batted an eye.

After all, the overall question is whether or not Orthanc Guard is useful, which can also be answered by answering whether someone has used him successfully, which is what Nerdmeister was doing. If we can't avoid petty arguments like this, then we shouldn't be on the internet.

And here comes the infamous trololo logic: five words, as an afterthought, in a post means the whole post is dedicated to it. Not to mention it is obvious that exact comment was directed at your lack of self-awareness specifically.

Since this is still a general discussion about Orthanc Guard then all people are welcome to write about their opinions and experiences with that card. If that is not the case then as I said: handle it by PM.

The OP doesn´t own a topic just because he started it.

You're wasting your time with this.

As for whether i have used him to my own success, it depends on your metric for success.

He's the best defender ally in leadership for cost 2. No leadership ally has more than defence 2, and the other cards that have deference 2 all have cost 4 or 5. (The Dunidain character with secrecy is clearly better in a secrecy deck - since he also then is cost 2).

So in terms of wanting a chump blocker that might survive some attacks he's pretty good to be honest, even without the ability to ready - the ready ability allows him to occasionally be able to quest and be available to defend.

Also if we ever get a low damage enemy card with doom he would be perfect to quest vs that enemy. I think that as I mainly play trait decks rather than just sphere's I probably wouldn't use him that much as I prefer to stick to a theme (Gondor, Hobbit).

However I would certainly consider him if I needed a cheap ally that could defend and didn't have tactics.