I think this makes Anborn the first character to have two different non-objective ally versions of himself in the game?

Bofur.

I am glad I am two for two in guessing the heroes in the upcoming saga: Faramir and Damrod, even with the spheres. I hope I am as effective with the rest, though (good) surprises are always welcome, too.

I think, new Faramir would be good with da Celeborn, to get most out of dat inflated 1 turn stat silvan allies.

Useless. Galadriel does that already which is infinitely better. Plus two Leadership heroes is silly with Silvan.

Faramir capacity + Ents ... So Powerfull !

Indeed, very good.

"Limit one Trap attachment per enemy" so you could put multiple into the staging area without them all hitting the same enemy and wasting half the effects.

+1 for this!

I have to say that I am not as impressed with Faramir as others are. I think this Faramir is best outside of a ranger/trap deck as his ability seems to contradict what ranger/trap decks like to do which is avoid engagement. Damrod and the other allies fit perfectly into that archetype, and those I do like. And if I am taking Faramir outside of the ranger/trap archetype, I think I'd rather use the ally version as I feel it would serve me in a wider variety of cases.

I guess I am just a little disappointed that It wouldn't help me to have Leadership Faramir "leading" his rangers in their own deck type. It seems that both Faramirs contradict, at least thematically, the archetype they are associated with given Lore Faramir's high threat cost and this ones engagement bonus. Maybe I am missing something that others see, if so help me like "shado-mir"

I think the Lore Faramir hero is still meant for the trap deck. Leadership Faramir into a deck with strong allies and a higher threat.

What's the benefit of Ambush vs Ithilien Pit beyond the fact you can strike first? Is the 1 extra cost and discard worth it? Ithilien Pit is good if you're not engaged since you can smack the enemy around in the staging area so there is no danger of it attacking you anyway. I primarily play solo so I guess when the enemy does engage, Ambush is superior. hmm... seems like getting the right traps on the right enemies will be a big challenge and strategy to the deck.

Yeah. Ambush works on enemies that engage you as well as ones which don't (and indeed allows you to gain benefits from engagement, with e.g. Faramir/Mablung/Pippin, which now I say would probably make for a pretty good deck, we can do the Faramir/Ent combo as well). Also, if we're looking for means of killing enemies without them attacking you, this way you can have six in your deck rather than three, doublling the chances that you have one at a relevant moment.

And I agree. I think the less-used traps (i.e. the ones which aren't Ranger Spikes) would turn up a lot more if they actually let you choose if an enemy tripped them or not. Maybe that would be too good. Or alternatively, if they just added to all the traps "Limit one Trap attachment per enemy" so you could put multiple into the staging area without them all hitting the same enemy and wasting half the effects.

Haha I love the brutal honestly of "the ones which aren't ranger spikes". Couldn't agree more re the limit one trap per enemy to make them a little more powerful especially due to how many enemies cannot have attachments.

Faramir aka hardest choice between hero and ally (even more than big G for me).

2P:

L. Faramir - L. Boromir - Imrahil/L. Aragorn - lets lead the army of allies of Gondor to victory (Supported by Beregond - Eleanor - Eowyn (wife of Faramir) from across the table ), gather resources (Steward, Horn, Gondor Events,...) and let the Gondorian Fire and Blood of Númenor and even Steed of the Mark do their job.

Of course Visionary leadership, Sword that was Broken, Captain of Gondor, Shield, Raven winged helm for Beregon, For Gondor for key moments and/or battle/siege questing, Add Ingold/Denethor hero via that new attachment, .....

L. Faramir - Mablung - T. Aragorn (Let´s engage all the enemies)

Damrod/Haldir - Pipin - Merry (Keep it secret, keep it save)

Use Lore secrecy scrying to know when to lay traps, resourcefull, Ithillien lookout,.....

More secretive version: swap T.Aragorn with Sam, engage when you want and profit for all your heroes.

Also this version would be very thematic for this expansion.

So many possibilities....

And Anborn is excellent. Repeatable dmg, combine with traps, Ranger bow, Gondorian Spearmen and Spear of the Citadel

I was thinking of something like that. When I do this, I will certainly go all Gondor, though. It shall be Boromir, Faramir, Imrahil (a family) in a mono-Leadership on one side and Beregond, Damrod and either Denethor or Eleanor on the other. I think Denethor will probably win it though I like to play the ally version in the mono-Leadership (mostly for theme and wonderful art). Spirit doesn't have much Gondor love and its best is for mono: Shipwright, Emery; only Blood of Númenor and Lampwright (who is weak) that I can think of enhancing the deck.

By the way, I am loving the previewed cards. Pretty much all of them.

Faramir is excellent. Of course his ally version is one of the strongest willpower boosting cards in the game (if not the) but I have grown tired of him, quite a bit, as it puts some other cards to shame (like his father ally). I will play this hero instead, gladly, as the Lore hero is...

Anborn is excellent too. Even if you don't make the whole strategy around him, of course, just his attack with Boromir is amazing (and in sphere, this time).

Mablung. 2 willpower for 2 cost plus an ability, one cannot complain, can he? 2 hp, 2 attack with Boromir: gold.

Damrod. Maybe the best of them still, I am not sure of course, but this guy has both resource acceleration and draw engine built-in. And he is a decent quester. 9 threat and Visionary Leadership make him just superb.

Ambush. Great to see more traps. And Damrod will make them much more efficient. I had already liked Ithilien Pit, and this is similar from a slightly different angle. It pays off having Denethor hero for them, I'd say.

In the Shadows. Well, I think this is surely the weakest of the bunch (but what a bunch it is). I like any card that has a synergy with hero Beorn though (and he can help you from the other side of the table).

Anborn is competing with itself. I would much prefer that we could play both Anborns, so my wish is that he had another name. Same problem with Mablung.

In the Shadows should really give -2 atk and -2 def. That is a binder card. It has many restrictions, it need you to have only rangers+hobbits (not necessary but overly advised), only target enemies engaged with you and the enemy need to have a higher engagement. Also, if you lose one hero, sunderly this card cost more.

Yes, as I said above, I can't really see In the Shadows to be very strong, certainly very iffy. If you have low threat, you probably don't have many enemies engaged, etc.

I hope this yet unspoiled gondorian weapon will help out Faramir with his silly 2 attack.

Wow! All, new, cards so good!!!

Very cool time for lotr now!

I wonder about the weapon. I feel, it being Leadership, it might not directly deal with attack. Yes, Faramir's 2 attack is not amazing, but I think you chiefly want him for questing, especially in the beginning. There are other ways to accumulate attacking strength in Gondor deck.

He has ranged, I want to utilize that.

Anborn and Unseen Strike seem like a cool combo you could pull off if you were so inclined. Not sure how to build a deck around that but it could be interesting.

I am excited about having a Ranged hero in Leadership, who is bereft of the trait except for Hirulin the Fair as far as I know.

Also Faramir+ Aragorn(Tactics) is pretty great.

He has ranged, I want to utilize that.

I know. Beside Hirluin (and the Lore version) Faramir is the only ranged hero who doesn't have 3 attack strength, I believe. Well, Gondorian Fire could help but it is not in-sphere.

Can you include 3 copies of both Anborn cards in one deck? Or are you only allowed 3 Anborn's total and you have to mix and match? I could see the possibility of including both in one deck since Allies can and do die and both are effective cards.

Faramir will combo well with the Warden of Annuminas the 4 cost Spirirt Dunedain ally who gets +1 wp for each enemy engaged with you. I remember people were complaining how if you have so many enemies engaged with you to make questing with him worth it your going to need lots of combat help. Now you can give this ally some readying ability by questing, and having him back to fight.

Can you include 3 copies of both Anborn cards in one deck? Or are you only allowed 3 Anborn's total and you have to mix and match? I could see the possibility of including both in one deck since Allies can and do die and both are effective cards.

You can have only 3 copies of a card in your deck by title, if I remember correctly.

Can you include 3 copies of both Anborn cards in one deck? Or are you only allowed 3 Anborn's total and you have to mix and match? I could see the possibility of including both in one deck since Allies can and do die and both are effective cards.

You get 3 copies total of cards with the same name. I've seen this question with regard to the two Gandalf allies and, alas, you can't include 3 of each.

Edit: Ninja'd!

Each trap we have at present, including Ambush, aims to give you a way of permanently dealing with an enemy. Either keep it out of combat (Ranger Spikes, Forest Snare), deal damage to it (Poisoned Stakes -- too slow!), or give you an extra way to attack it (Ithilien Pit, Ambush). So right now it's a waste if you're playing more than one trap per round. We need some way to get traps into play after the planning phase. A Response event that works after an enemy enters the staging area is the most obvious solution, and I'd be surprised if we didn't see something like this eventually. Maybe 0 or 1 cost and you still need to pay the cost of the trap itself.

That, or continue to develop the 'Ithilien ranger' archetype so that trap decks can do more than rely on traps. We have a handful of effects that don't yet amount to a solid strategy in itself (+engagement cost, -enemy stats, a couple of direct damage effects, engage enemies or return them to the staging area), but can play into other traits (Hobbits, Dunedain Rangers).

Each trap we have at present, including Ambush, aims to give you a way of permanently dealing with an enemy. Either keep it out of combat (Ranger Spikes, Forest Snare), deal damage to it (Poisoned Stakes -- too slow!), or give you an extra way to attack it (Ithilien Pit, Ambush). So right now it's a waste if you're playing more than one trap per round. We need some way to get traps into play after the planning phase. A Response event that works after an enemy enters the staging area is the most obvious solution, and I'd be surprised if we didn't see something like this eventually. Maybe 0 or 1 cost and you still need to pay the cost of the trap itself.

That, or continue to develop the 'Ithilien ranger' archetype so that trap decks can do more than rely on traps. We have a handful of effects that don't yet amount to a solid strategy in itself (+engagement cost, -enemy stats, a couple of direct damage effects, engage enemies or return them to the staging area), but can play into other traits (Hobbits, Dunedain Rangers).

I agree with you. Also, the +- engagement are pretty unreliable or very costly (same with direct damage). Also, the newer quests generally comes with more doomed or raise threat effects then older ones.

The "trap" deck is a enemy focused deck, but one of the main problems is that it can only deal with one enemy every round, maybe two but at a cost, while good tactics decks can reliable engage, defend and attack with little cost most of the time.

We need some way to get traps into play after the planning phase. A Response event that works after an enemy enters the staging area is the most obvious solution, and I'd be surprised if we didn't see something like this eventually. Maybe 0 or 1 cost and you still need to pay the cost of the trap itself.

I think it work best as a ally card instead of a event, to be repeatable. A event for that effect, even costing 0 resources, but one card, would still be costly for the deck.

One of the basic flavors of Traps is that you can't predict which enemy will be get stuck in your trap (without scry). To preserve that but still allow more than one useful trap per round, you could do this:

Response: After a trap is attached to an enemy, pay 1 Lore resource. You may play a Trap card into the staging area (you must still pay the Trap's cost).