Does it seem strange to anyone else that Born Aloft doesn't have the Eagle keyword?

Bohemond said:

You mean "trait", "keywords" are something else (page 24 of the rules)

It has the "Condition" trait and I notice that currently none of the other "Condition" attachments have any other trait except "Condition".

It's not strong enough on its own without possible keyword synergy benefits?

@xris - The core set contains no event cards with traits, but that didn't stop them from adding the Eagle trait to The Eagles Are Coming! With the limited amount of cards bearing the Condition trait, I see no reason to assume that Condition Attachments can't take other traits.

@qwertyuiop - At the moment, I am struggling to see the value of this card. I get how you use it, but it seems vastly inferior to Stand and Fight, which fulfills a similar role. Adding the Eagle trait would help make the card more useful, and also contribute to making The Eagles Are Coming! playable

Bohemond said:

I'm not aware of The Eagles Are Coming! event card, from one of the forthcoming expansions I take. It does seem odd that an Event card should include a trait, in fact it seems odd that Born(e) Aloft is an Attachment and not an Event! To me it should be an Event or an Ally, an Attachment would be the last choice for such a card.

If the Event card The Eagles Are Coming! includes a trait (which does in itself seem strange) then I would agree that it seems odd that the Born(e) Aloft doesn't include the Eagle trait. Just as odd as the fact that they spelt Borne incorrectly on the card!

Bohemond said:

I agree. Maybe we do not know the full picture and once more cards are released we might get a better idea of the designers intent.

Bohemond said:

I see this mainly as an extra use of Gandalf. Let's face it: More Gandalf is never a bad thing.

The fact that is is an attachment makes it obviously less playable for you have to know for whom to use it in the planning phase. The cost of 0 is nice though. For a deck without Sneak Attack, it is a nice utitlity for Gandalf as you can get rid of him after questing and a player with Sneak Attack can play him during combat.

It can be useful for Éomund as suggested in the preview. I like Éomund quite a bit, for the cost of 3, his willpower is good. The readying ability can be of help. I have already experience an interesting situation. Both the father and his daughter were questing when the Necromancer's Reach revealed; it killed Éomund which would ready Éowyn, but did it ready in time to save the damage from the encounter card? I guess not.

lleimmoen said:

So very good question. Reach say deal 1 damage to each.... Bu damage is alweys deal step by step, woun by wound. So you deal damage to Eomund he die and in response ready Eowyn and now next damage should be dealt but she is ready so there is no damage. I think is like this but if the damage come in the same time all to all this doesn work.

The damage is all dealt simultanously isn´t it?

In mostly card game what i use to play damage apply wound by wound(lotr tcg Decipher for example). Should be here the same. Between any damage there should be response window but not ACTION!!! Only responses.

Why should there be? Any way it is done poses a challenge to the player, and one way is in no way superior to the other.

I must be missing something - where can I see the born aloft card or game text?

It's a link found in the The Muster of Rohan article. Here is the link to the image itself.

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Bohemond said:

This card 'feels' more proactive to me. It allows for a level of planning that you don't get with SaF. SaF is great because it allows you to play allies that would normally not be playable, but it requires you to dump cards and save resources that might be better spent elsewhere on a given turn. Of course, this doesn't really apply to the Spamdalf strategy, which SaF is great for... but it also requires dedicated Spirit resources, not AS easy to do when you're splitting Leadership/Spirit to maximize on Sneak Attack as well.

I like that Born Aloft lets me plan my defense with a little more breathing room. Bouncing an ally who would otherwise die and only needing 0 resources to do it is pretty sweet. Crack the BA after Shadow cards are revealed but before damage is dealt. So good. Works well with the Gondorian Spearman. AND it generates resources if you have Horn of Gondor in play. It flows really naturally with other Tactics cards, IMO.

And of course.. for those who want to use Gandalf as much as possible. Gandalf in Planning phase. Play BA on him. Crack the BA when needed. Sneak Attack+ Gandalf. And since this will be part of a Tactics/Leadership deck, you can get the bonuses from Horn of Gondor and Valiant Sacrifice.

Keep in mind that I don't want a large number of extremely useful cards in this game right out of the gate, though. I like a little weakness in player cards if it keeps the game as a whole challenging...minus playing Gandalf twice in one turn without having to kill him.

It's an action though.

So if you let the ally be rescued after shadow cards are revealed the attack goes undefended. You can't use an action to save a character from combat damage otherwise. So apart from using it to pop Beorn or Gandalf back into your hand just before they would otherwise be discarded I see it's usefulness as limited.

If this card was a response it would be worth 2 resources to me.

Troymk1 said:

That is wrong actually. You can play actions at the end of any of the steps in combat, so you can easily declare a character as a defender in step 2, wait for the shadow card to resolve in step 3 and then play the card, as an action, at the end of the step, before step 4 where the attack is resolved. The attack is not undefended, since a defender was declared in step 2.

Felix said:

I am unsure where you think you get that rule from. You have the option to declare an attack as undefended in step 2, but that does not mean that any attack you defend against in step 2 remains defended through the combat phase. The rules contradict your claim.

"If a defending character leaves play or is removed from combat before damage is assigned, the attack is considered undefended."

Felix said:

Yes you can play actions and after shadow effect too but...... in the rules if defender somehow was removed from combat before determine combat damage attack is count undefended. This is not Magic the gathering my friend. You cannot do this. Enemies deal they damage anyway and if at the moment when damage is deal there is no defender ,attack is undefended. Sad but true.

There is a lot of use for this card since there are allies that have effects when they enter or leave play.

Two of the these cards and the orc slayer ally would allow you to deal 3 damage to every Orc in play. That's pretty good, depending on your circumstances.

Or imagine you're playing pure tactics and Ungoliant Spawn comes out and you have Gandalf, this card, and 10 resources. Thalin hits US for 1 when he is revealed. Double Gandalf and the game's over.

There are uses....

Johnny, Sneak Attack allows you to execute your Gandalf combination combination with 6 resources rather than 10.

You can use the card, that doesn't make it good. One of the few redeeming factors of the card is its sphere; tactics doesn't have a way to replay allies at the moment. The fact remains that Sneak Attack and Stand And Fight remain far superior cards that serve a similar function. Borne Aloft only earns its keeps with cards with come into play or leaves play effects, and, only I am misremembering, tactics has not such cards. All the cards people are suggesting playing it on are in neutral or belong to other spheres. It lacks any synergy within its own sphere, which further decreases its power relative to other similar cards. I stand by my original point that, given the limited value of the card as printed, it should have the Eagle trait o increase its utility and to make The Eagles Are Coming worth considering in an eagle themed tactics deck.

Glaurung said:

Yes that is true. I didn´t look closely enough at the rules. I only read step 2 and interpreted that as saying your declaration in that step decided the status of the attack for the entirety of that attack. I stand corrected.

Not to worry. The rules for this card game are fairly intricate. We have all made numerous mistakes over the last few months.

Bohemond said:

It's not the best card in the game or anything, but in co-op games it will be useful in the right hands of a duo-sphere player.