What do you do when there's 2 x Goblin Sniper at the staging area? Since you can't engage it as long as there's OTHER enemies in the staging area, does this mean other enemies than goblin snipers or does it mean that if you get both in staging area you are doomed?

Sounds like a good question for the FAQ! I would say that "other enemies" would mean "non-Goblin Sniper" enemies to make it fair. Otherwise the only way to deal with this situation would be to have some way of killing them in the staging area or getting your threat all the way up to 48...

Luckily there are only 2 of these cards, so the chances of this happening are pretty slim.

Only real use I've found for Dunhere. Still waiting for a Spirit hero (non-hobbit) to replace him with.

yes i use to have this situation before. Yes you cannot engage them. So you need Gandalf or some another direct damage to kill 1 and then you can engage another one. In my case i get no Gandalf and lose the game in the end of the day.

Dam said:

Dam said:

This is the only use you've found for Dunhere? His ability is awesome. Being able to take out enemies before they engage and attack you is a huge advantage. This reduces damage you take and frees up a hero who would be defending at some point.

Glaurung said:

If you are playing with Tactics the new Descendant of Thorondor is another option for direct damage. Playing him with Sneak Attack or pulling him out with Born Aloft would take out both snipers in the same turn.

EDIT: reposting again due to the bleeping quote feature .

Svenn said:

Okay, he can also attack Wargs if/when they bounce back into the staging area and Hummerhorns. Otherwise, playing 2-deck games, both parties rarely have enough threat reduction to make 25 or less threat cost Enemies stay in the staging area. Actually, I've never seen that in plays yet. More often than not, with Dunhere's deck of starting threat 25 paired with any of the other three with starting threat 29, Enemies will be engaging the other deck almost from turn 1. Or otherwise I just engage the Enemy myself (like Marsh Adder, who Dunhere could snipe away, but who also has 3 threat) and kill it in one attack. Other Enemies, meaning the tough ones (Hill Troll, Trolls from Carrock, etc.), he is too weak to do much if anything to on his own. Hell, he needs 2 turns just against measly Wargs!!! So needs boosting, which almost always is wasted on him, might as well put those Marks on some other hero who does more attacking.

Going over the list of Enemies with engagement cost of 30 or more that Dunhere could do something about (beyond those mentioned): Eastern Crows (but really, you probably want to engage them and not kill them), Dol Guldur Beast Master (2 turns), Hunters from Mordor (umm, yeah right, you don't want them putting up 6-8 threat in the staging area) plus a couple of Osgiliath. That's not really a worthwile list IMO, Snipers and Hummerhorns he is nice against, rest are better engaged and killed right away or left engaged (Crows).

I imagine it a solo game, Dunhere gets more of a chance to shine since you only need threat reduction for one deck.

Well, I can say that in my solo Anduin win it was only because I had Dunhere picking off enemies in the staging area the whole time. Without that I would have been screwed.

Thank you for all the answers. I checked the unofficial FAQ and it wasn't too clear about it. Then I saw there where a newer version and it said that if both are in the staging area you can't kill them. Not by any form of attack anyway. Only with Gandalf from the core set. I haven't opened the APs yet so I don't know about these cards. Anyhow, just as Glaurung stated, I lost that game It was Down the Anduin XD

But actually I finally beat it solo with a mono spirit 30 cards deck. I found Dunhere great and to my surprise also Elenor. So she had gotten a golden star in my book

I'm sorry, but the way I see it - you can't engage any of them until the threat of 48... sorry dudes... :S

but this case seldom comes up... GO DUNHERE!!!! HE'S AWESOME! especially with dunedain mark, he gets +1... then his ability really begins to shine as he can overpower monsters with 3 defence....

Son of Arnor from the leadership sphere deck can also help you. When it comes to play (usually during planning phase), you can optionally engage an enemy in the staging area.

But I don't rely think it helps anything to use any character that can engage enemies in the staging area since you can't engage either one of them as long as the other is there. Only buy direct damage like Gandalf can be used. Dunhere can't be used in this situation either.

Actually, I think Son of Arnor could help because if you read Goblin Sniper's ability closely, it says "During the encounter phase, players cannot optionally engage Goblin Sniper if there are other enemies in the staging area". That means that as long as Son of Arnor is played outside of the encounter phase, he can pull a sniper out of the staging area.

mr.thomasschmidt said:

Son of arnor will help in this case. He also good with Forest Snare combo.

Okay, I stand corrected but can't you then use anyone if you just use Quick attack? Or can That only be played in the combat phase?

mr.thomasschmidt said:

I'm not sure I understand. You can use Sneak Attack anytime you want, of course, but unless it is Son of Arnor you are playing with it, you can't pull the Goblin off staging as other allies don't have that ability.

You mean Quick Strike? As far as I know, you can use Quick Strike any time. But, only engaged enemies are considered "eligible" target (you cannot attack enemies that are not engaged, though you can deal direct damage to them).

ppsantos said:

Ahhhh, he meant Quick Strike. In this case, there would be one exception and that's Dunhere. Again, if Quick Strike is used outside of the encounter phase, Dunhere's ability would render a Goblin "an eligible enemy" (notice that the wording is not "engaged enemies") and therefore could be used to kill one of them.

Sweet. Gotta remember that one for next time I'll meet a double Goblin Sniper team. And yes, sorry, meant Quick strike.

mr.thomasschmidt said:

Other enemies is any other enemy; even another Goblin Sniper. However, the card reads a player cannot "optionally engage" the sniper if another enemy is in the staging area. However, Dunhere works well against these guys. Also, Son of Arnor can pull that little greenskin to his doom. If it's going to mean losing a hero, or the game, you could always sneak attack (or just pay for) Gandalf to flame one of them.

Or you could use a Longbeard Orc Slayer and either Sneak attack, or Stand and Fight or a second Longbeard Orc Slayer.

1x Longbeard Orc slayer + Thalin questing

Beorning beekeeper

Descendant of Throndor

various options, aside from the obvious

mr.thomasschmidt said:

Dunhere doesn't "Engage" anyone in the staging area he Attacks an enemy in the staging area so he can kill snipers at will.

Beast Rabban said:

Exactly