So I just used Lords of the Eldar for the first time in my new decks featuring Arwen.

Decks: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/194603-the-dread-realm-available-in-europe-revealed-the-last-hero/?p=1942484

I decided to start the saga campaign again as I always do when I change a hero in my line-up.

Playing the first scenario, A Shadow of the Past, and I do not get Elven light in my opening hand and instead have a copy of Lords of the Eldar, I discard it first turn with Arwen and it sits there until turn 3.

I get off to a decent but somewhat rough start, two nazgul by the third turn, one engaged with me and one in staging and I'm getting ready to quest for the third time. Also no Nazgul attacks just yet as I used Mr Underhill on the first turn after optionally engaging the starting Nazgul and on the second turn used feint to stop another attack from that same Nazgul. First off I sneak attack Gandalf in right before committing characters doing 4 damage to the Nazgul in staging (the one engaged with the Elrohir, Elladan, Arwen deck only has 1 damage and would have 4 if not for a very close but successful hide test on the second turn that Elladan alone succeeded in, stopping him from helping in the counter attack) and realise wait a minute, there are two nazgul in play and im about to proceed to stage 2 adding a third and I really don't have that much firepower out just yet (I cleared a copy of Gather Information side quest turn 2 after only placing 1 progress on it on the first turn hence still being on stage 1) to deal with 3 nazgul this early... especially not if I fail another hide test..

so I decide to also use Lords of the Eldar with the 3 spirit resources I now have because I have not drawn a copy of Elven Light just yet (I did discard a second copy of Naith guide on turn 2 however to fuel Elrohir's resources) to spend them on.

Everyone gets buffed and so I only quest with Gandalf, Glorfindel (with LoV), Naith Guide and Arwen for a pretty decent 13....

first card revealed? GILDOR *********ING INGLORIAN!!! Who is Noldor and is now sitting on 4, 3, 4 statwise because of Lords of the Eldar!

second card revealed is a copy of Evil Crow and I easily advance to quest stage 2.

The combat deck succeeds at the hide test against the new Nazgul only just with just Gildor hiding with 4 willpower and the hide test coming up to 4 threat!! (+2 as the combat deck had two allies in play, naith guide and gildor).

The questing/support deck optionally engages the Nazgul with 4 damage and the combat deck engages the new one and the crows engage the combat deck.

Elrohir defends one nazgul attack takes no damage thanks to shield and steward and readies with his single resource, Frodo defends the second nazgul for that deck and uses his ability to cancel all damage and raise both decks threat by 2 and the shadow effect which returns the nazgul to staging is cancelled with my single spirit resource and single copy of Hasty stroke by the questing/support deck. The Evil Crow attack goes undefended and he gets a shadow card that makes him engage the other player and make another attack, his next attack gets a shadow effect that causes him to make another attack and his third attack then hilariously gets a nazgul as the shadow card helping me avoid one on the following turn immediately. What crazy luck right?

The third nazgul is then defended with Elrond who has burning brand attached and has 4 defense thanks to Lords of the Eldar and he only takes one damage.

I then counter attack with Elrohir and Elladan together with a nice 7 attack against the Nazgul with one damage bumping it up to 4 damage. Haldir and Glorfindel easily take out the Nazgul already on 4 damage engaged with them and the third is left untouched.

During planning on the following turn I hardcast Gandalf easily and keep 2 resources on Elrohir for defense and take out the Nazgul with 4 damage (that had returned to staging from Black Steed attachment) with Gandalf's direct damage effect.

I am now down to only one Nazgul and the useless Evil Crow in play and no other encounter cards. I also have four Nazgul in the discard pile (two as shadow cards, one on the second turn that was discarded by feint and the one I mentioned above on the third turn and two now killed) and the one engaged with the combat deck. That is all 5 so I shouldn't see another except for the one added to staging by quest stage 3 unless something like Piercing Cry appears so am hopefully in a very good position to race to the end.

Now yes I would have been able to kill that injured Nazgul with Glorfindel and Haldir anyway without the boost from Lords of the Eldar and yes the other Nazgul could have only taken 1 more damage to then die to Gandalf's sneak attack the following turn so the boost to Elrohir and Elladan whilst attacking was also not really needed. The boost did allow me however to quest with so few characters saftey and leave so many other characters ready for combat against the three nazgul, it also boosted Gildor who was able to succesfully complete the hide test totally on his own stopping two extra nazgul attacks and it also boosted Elrond and Elrohir's defense ensuring they take little to no damage from their defensive duties.

Overall it made what could have been a turn that went very badly and may have been the start of the lead in to an eventual loss into one that was easily manageable and put me in a much better position the following turn and helped me defend against three nazgul and then dispatch two of them taking only a single point of damage in the process.

I love this new card. Such potential in epic situations and the ability to completely turn around a game purely with stat boosts across the board for every Noldor hero.

Update:

Just had two locations revealed during the fourth turn and so was easily able to kill the remaining Nazgul and the Evil Crow. Lords of the Eldar may have turned this game around more than I gave it credit for!

first card revealed? GILDOR *********ING INGLORIAN!!! Who is Noldor and is now sitting on 4, 3, 4 statwise because of Lords of the Eldar!

Given that some of the rulings for this game make little sense, i'm probably wrong - but surely the effect of Lords of the Eldar would only apply to the Noldor who were in play when it was played, not to Gildor if he was revealed afterwards?

Nope, Lords of the Eldar creates a lasting effect until the end of the round, not an immediate one only affecting the characters in play at the time.

Edit: Hmm, I thought this had a general numbered FAQ ruling, but I can't find it. It is, however, analogous to the specific ruling on Treacherous Fog:

"Q: If a location is revealed after Treacherous Fog (CORE 118) was revealed during the same quest phase, does the revealed location get +1 [Threat] from the “When Revealed” effect on Treacherous Fog?

A: Yes. The “When Revealed” effect on Treacherous Fog creates a lasting effect until the end of the phase that affects each location in the staging area. This is different from Driven by Shadow (CORE 92) which uses the language “currently in the staging area” when it is revealed and only affects enemies and locations in the staging area at the time it is revealed."

In the same way, Lords of the Eldar affects each Noldor character in play until the end of the round, regardless of where they were when the event was played.

Hmm...good to know. Clearly I need to reread the FAQ.

As I said before, Lords of the Eldar is my favourite new card. I had initially thought Elven-light could top it (of course it is a very different type of card, strategy-wise) but it hasn't come close. Of course you better play it with Erestor but there it is gold, so flexible, so reliable (quite unlike the cards that cannot be played from the discard pile).

ps: Checking the decks afterwords, I realize you take good use of the card not using Erestor hero. Even better, though Arwen can do the discarding trick quite well, too.