Played the game twice so far and looks like my friends and I will be playing again tonight. I re-read the rules last night as a refresher since we have not played in a few weeks, but still have a few unanswered questions from the last time we played.

1) When a Hero Trains he takes the top 2 Skill Cards, places 1 in his hand and discards the other. Does Sauron get to see the 2 cards before or after the decision is made? We've played that Sauron gets to see the discarded card, but not the chosen one until it is used/discarded.

2) The Execute Skill Card seems to be the most powerful. Last time we played I lost a minion to it and after looking through Sauron's combat decks it seems tough to avoid it since a few of the decks have a low number of combat cards with a printer defense greater than 0. When I lost the Minion to Execute I actually had 0 cards with a printed defense in my hand. Seems rough to loose an undamaged Minion so easily.

3) During combat it says to resolve the Heroe's Text 1st, then Sauron's. So if we both play cards that would cancel the other person's card, does this mean that Sauron's card is cancelled and the Hero's is not? What if we both play Anticipate, does this mean Sauron has to show his card 1st on the next round before the hero decides what card to play?

Thanks for the help!

Monkeyclops said:

#1: No, he'll see which one the Hero discards. Of course, unless Sauron is a doofus, he should keep an Eye on which card with the Star symbol the Hero later uses for movement or combat.

#2: Yep, Execute is pretty bad. But, then again, odds aren't that great, 20 cards in the Training deck, 2 cards per draw, 10% per Training to get it. Apart from Beravor and Dain II making a lot of appearances, I don't think Heroes get more than 2 Training most games. Even with Dain II, 2 Favors might be more needed at the time.

#3: FAQ clarifies double Anticipate, nothing happens.

"If two cards cancel each other, then they are both blank
with zero attack and defense." (p. 29)

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply!