On a side note, there was a missed opportunity not to trait Tooks and Brandybucks.

No, there was not.

Wait so is there a missing tactics card as well or not?

I have to be blunt and honest.... these player cards are awful... a handful of them are very very very specific to one hero or one deck type, some are decent but then some of them are just trash...

Honour Guard (who is only useful in certain decks), Rallying Cry, Merry and Scout Ahead are all great but were all already spoiled. I feel like the other player cards in this pack are really really average and some (Curious Brandybuck) are next to useless... I personally am disappointed by the player cards. The only ones I have any interest in are the Sidequest and potentially the lore ally

Lucky the quest itself looks awesome!

some (Curious Brandybuck) are next to useless...

2 willpower for free is next to useless?

You do need a resource match for Curious Brandybuck I believe even though you aren't paying for him. There have been precedents. If you have him in a deck with some northern trackers and Asfaloth etc, where you can control the staging locations without removing the active location, he can stay on the table and just add willpower.

Is there precedence for a card like Curious Brandybuck? This is different than a 0 cost card because you are putting it into play (instead of playing it). I think it's more akin to Elrond and Vilya, which does not require a resource match.

If so, the card becomes slightly more interesting.

It's like Emery, but Emery has a built-in discard mechanic if you're bringing the wrong spheres.

I have to be blunt and honest.... these player cards are awful...

I think I agree, other than Merry. Everything else is very situational. That's not necessarily a bad thing because we don't need power creep with universally good cards. But even these situational cards seem average in the right situation and very marginal in all other situations.

I'm happy to see that many players are thrilled by these cards, but I have to admit that nothing really got me excited that hadn't already been spoiled (I like that Honour Guard!).

some (Curious Brandybuck) are next to useless...

2 willpower for free is next to useless?

Honestly I'd rather pay one resource for Courage Awakened or Spirit Bofur.

Wait so is there a missing tactics card as well or not?

We definitely are missing a tactics card, the card ID's jump from 4 to 6. Very strange.

We need to find out what this card is!!!! Maybe it is the power card of the pack. The rest (that we did not already have spoilers for) are either extremely situational or just not that good.

The suspense is killing me! Someone spoil it, my pack was late! Lol.

I'm a lot more positive overall on the player cards because they are either fleshing out deck types I want to explore or starting new archetypes I find interesting (like the Lore side quest).

The best comp for Curious Brandybuck is Emery (as GrandSpleen noted), and I believe you need a resource match to play her using her action.

some (Curious Brandybuck) are next to useless...

2 willpower for free is next to useless?

Honestly I'd rather pay one resource for Courage Awakened or Spirit Bofur.

I'd rather play ally Elrond than Miner of the Iron Hills, but I wouldn't describe the Miner as 'next to useless' just because there's an alternative I consider to be better...

The best comp for Curious Brandybuck is Emery (as GrandSpleen noted), and I believe you need a resource match to play her using her action.

On the contrary, I'm certain you don't. Why would you?

People have even included her in decks because of the idea of putting her into play in non-Spirit just to trigger Horn of Gondor/Eomer/Imrahil on demand.

Yeah you shouldn't need a resource match to play Emery any more than you need one to play a Sneak Attacked ally or one put into play via Elf-stone.

Got it yesterday early for my birthday today (Kazoo Sounds) The missing card is my favorite in the set outside of Merry. SPOILER ALERT: it is a non-restricted tactics attachment called 'Raven-Winged Helm'. It is a 2 cost item and armor that you can attach to a sentinel hero (limit 1 per hero). It has a response effect that reads "exhaust Raven-Winged Helm to cancel 1 point of damage just dealt to attached character". Also if you pre-ordered you get the special limited edition with Viggo Mortensen signed art (he is a good artist) it adds "valor combat action: exhaust this attachment to cancel all damage dealt to all heroes this round, remove all damage from heroes, search your deck for Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and Saruman and put them into play, do not discard them until the end of the game, shuffle your deck. Then, if any of these characters were put into play destroy all enemies in play, count and discard the top half of the encounter deck adding all cards discarded to your victory display, and raise each player's threat to 48. This effect can only be triggered once by the players per game"

Ok I'm just kidding about the second part, no special edition valor action but the first part is true. Between this and an honor guard that is two points of mitigation per round not including defence. It is a good player counter for direct damage as well. Also Erkenbrand may now be able to cancel a shadow effect for free as it doesn't specify a damage source. Enemies are getting toughness so we might as well get help. Cheers

On a side note, there was a missed opportunity not to trait Tooks and Brandybucks.

No, there was not.

How insightful.

How insightful.

It's simple - spreading pointless traits is not a good thing. How many Dwarves we have compared to Hobbits? And are those Dwarves separated between, lets say, Blue Mountains, Iron Hills, Khazad-Dum, etc.? No. Want to know, why? Because that would be an absolute gameplay disaster, given the amount of cards we get per pack and the pace those cards are coming out. We would never explore any of those traits even halfway as we have explored general Dwarves by now. Same goes to Hobbits, but applies to them even stronger, as there will be far less Hobbits than Dwarves, so spreading them between different traits is even more pointless. Insightful enough?

I can see how Curious Brandybuck will be a good addition to a fast drawing Lore deck. Or a deck with that new Erestor hero.

I love East Road Ranger. She has decent stats for 3 resources, and she'll also quest the hell out of side quests, if needed. Cool.

Hobbit Pony. Well... I can see some use. Won't be much use for anybody else aside from Merry and Frodo. But still, better than something that won't be much use for anybody at all

Ingold. Reminds me of something. Hm...

Regardless, with Visionary Leadership on Boromir he will be 4 WP, 2AT, 1DF and 3HP ally with a cost of 3. Decent addition, I might say.

Ranger of Caldoran. Another ally that is going to be extremely useful in a fast drawing Lore deck or in a deck with this new guy, Erestor.

John, why the tone? I thought you meant it more as a jest, and so did I. But yes, I find arguments better than one-liners. The suggestion itself was meant partly as a jest, though as a Hobbit lover, I would still like it -- not so much for the mechanics but for theme. Has it offended you in some way?

Where does the card come for? A fan made, I am sure. And I am glad, for the art is dreadful.

some (Curious Brandybuck) are next to useless...

2 willpower for free is next to useless?

Honestly I'd rather pay one resource for Courage Awakened or Spirit Bofur.

I'd rather play ally Elrond than Miner of the Iron Hills, but I wouldn't describe the Miner as 'next to useless' just because there's an alternative I consider to be better...

Totally see your point but I still think this card is a coaster.

Miner may be necessary if you are already using hero Elrond, or if you have only one lore hero and won't be able to use Elrond effectively. I get that Curious Brandybuck is free and does give a +2 willpower boost only for the turn (unless it dies that is then it did nothing but at least for free which is better than other allies at the very least ) or maybe a turn or two if there aren't many/any locations in play but the fact it goes on the bottom of your deck when it leaves play, not even shuffled back into your deck at least is for me the nail in the coffin for this card. It really shouldn't leave play if you paid the 2 spirit resources either as another 2 cost 2 willpower spirit ally would have been nice and could provide a thematic replacement to other similar allies in hobbit decks. If they consider this too cheap make it cost 3 and still go into play for free if you travel and leave play if the active location leaves play but only if you played it for free. No one will ever want to spend 2 spirit resources for him (over for example Escort from Edoras who for 2 spirit leaves play at the end of the round but provides TWICE the willpower) and the effect to put him into play is so easy to achieve (just travel to a location...) that I feel like his cost is completely redundant. It is more so there for effects like A Good Tale, Stand and Fight etc.

Also if you run any cards that help clear locations outside of the quest phase like Legolas, Blade of Gondolin etc the Brandybuck can potentially leave play before providing anything whatsoever so you wouldn't want to run it in a deck that uses Legolas, the spirit card that puts progress on the active location by exhausting a character or other similar cards.

Idk I just personally don't see any value in this card that you cannot get out of other cards more reliably or permanently even if it is free and alternatives cost 1. I could never justify using up card slots in a deck for this ally and would always be able to find something else I'd include instead. Just not a fan. Don't like the art or name either.

I am probably pretty biased though as I am not a big fan of hobbits in the game other than Sam.

edit: just saw an above post and I guess one potential spot for this ally is in Erestor decks where you are going to lose your hand at the end of the round anyway so every card you can play for free or 0 cost helps.

Still meh.

John, why the tone? I thought you meant it more as a jest, and so did I. But yes, I find arguments better than one-liners. The suggestion itself was meant partly as a jest, though as a Hobbit lover, I would still like it -- not so much for the mechanics but for theme. Has it offended you in some way?

Where does the card come for? A fan made, I am sure. And I am glad, for the art is dreadful.

What tone? I merely provided you with the insight you requested.

Yes, the card is from a fanmade set. Can't see how the art is horrible, though, but to each his own.

No, I didn't request anything from you.

And of course, art is totally subjective but I tried to look at this piece three times now and had to scroll away quickly each time; it literally hurts the eyes. I hope whoever made this is not reading.

Well, it appeared to be implying it, but if it wasn't - too bad, it's already done. And I see no point in discussing it further.

I don't think some random internet artist is browsing those unpopular LotR LCG forums. Or would take some random person's opinion close to heart - they're pretty used to it.

I don't understand why you would want to spend 1 resource instead of 0 resources for 2 willpower. I could see Bofur being better because he could stay I'm play but courage awakening is a terrible card. In fact, if you wanted to argue that the new hobbit is bad just say "he is like courage awakening, which nobody plays". Anyway, I think he may have a role in a mono red deck with horn of gondor to provide rare questing help for free with resource gain. He is not a great card, but he is not terrible.

Also, I just want to say in general that there is too much hate. If a pack produces 3 playable cards it is an amazing pack, and Merry and the guard are almost guaranteed to be playable. Beyond that, you WANT the cards to be average so that there is as little power creep as possible. These cards are solid well themed and balanced cards. I don't think even one is an outright dud, except maybe the pony. There is no "taking initiative" crap. This is a good pack.

Typed a long comment but pressed the wrong button.

Conclusion was that there is a bit too much hate or better said, too many people want power creep.

Fairly optimistic, not really because of the power of the cards, but moreso to what they point ahead of us.

Finally more generic, non-unique Hobbit allies to flesh out a real fullon Hobbit deck.

All spoiled cards are great, Merry hero is good (!) imo.

More Dunedain allies is never a bad thing, although East Road is not so strong now, but needs more side-quests to be.

Ingold is great! Good to see some more love for the Gondor trait.

Hobbit Pony -> having people exhausted during staging is more often bad then good, strong card for weak Hobbits. (damage dealt for exhausted characters etc.)

Agree with Duke, except for his opinion on the pony.