As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns.
–The Hobbit

Two of Thorin and Company’s estimable members join the heroes of Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game with the upcoming release of Khazad-dûm. These Dwarves have traveled extensively with Balin, and now that Balin and his fledgling Dwarven colony have gone missing, it only makes sense that they would offer their services as brave fellowships form to search for the missing Dwarves within the mines of Moria.

Dwalin

A number of players have already found images of Dwalin (Khazad-dûm, 1) floating about the internet. This spirited Dwarf was the first to introduce himself to Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Hobbit, and we originally previewed this card in an article for Game Trade Magazine.

Dwalin plays nicely into two of the Spirit sphere’s common strengths with his low starting threat and his built-in ability to reduce your threat whenever he destroys an Orc enemy. Meanwhile, it’s a fairly safe bet that Dwalin will have plenty of opportunities to confront Orcs within the mines of Moria.

However, with only two Attack Strength, Dwalin is certainly not the game’s mightiest warrior. In fact, as a combatant he pales in comparison to heroes like Gimli (Core Set, 4) and Boromir (The Dead Marshes, 95), who can cleave through foes in a single axe stroke or stand against multiple foes, fending them off and cutting back at them. Still, Dwalin is a Dwarf and benefits from a number of racial synergies. While Dáin Ironfoot (Return to Mirkwood, 116) remains standing, Dwalin gains additional prowess in battle, and a single Dwarven Axe (Core Set, 41) can boost Dwalin to four Attack Strength, enough to destroy most Orc enemies. With support, Dwalin can more than carry his weight in combat, and when he starts cutting through Orcs, he buys you time to complete your quest, safe from the threats massing in the shadows.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Dwalin is the game’s first Dwarven Spirit hero, and this opens up a whole range of new deck types built around Dwarf cards. Many of the game’s most powerful events require Spirit resources, and players utilizing Dwalin in their Dwarven fellowships will have the resource icon to play them.

Bifur

Similarly, the second new Dwarf hero from Khazad-dûm offers fans of the all-Dwarf party their first Lore hero. Bifur (Khazad-dûm, 2) gives fans of the short and sturdy Dwarves tremendous deck-building versatility, but he can also make an excellent addition to any deck in need of a Lore hero. Bifur shares the lowest starting threat, at seven, of any hero in the game. In fact, he’s a bargain. As many players have noticed, most heroes have a starting threat equal to the sum of their Willpower, Attack Strength, Defense Strength, and Hit Points, but Bifur’s is one point lower. It’s worth remembering that in key moments, a single point of starting threat may prove the difference between having one last turn to prepare for combat with a Hill Troll (Core Set, 82) and having it make paste from your exhausted heroes.

While his special ability is useful, allowing players to feed him resources (often from Leadership heroes with more resource tokens than ways to spend them), it doesn’t allow him to ready himself or boost all Dwarves or damage every enemy that enters play or draw cards. Thus, Bifur gives players better base statistics than any other hero of his cost. Built into the right deck, this economic advantage can pay off in dividends, especially since Bifur’s two Willpower makes him a decent hero to commit to a quest, and his two Defense Strength can make him a decent defender, especially when paired with a Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock, 33).

New adventures

Neither Dwalin nor Bifur stole the spotlight in The Hobbit, but both played their roles in the success of Thorin and Company. As the heroes of Middle-earth prepare themselves for a dark and deadly journey into the depths of Khazad-dûm, these stalwart Dwarves once again offer their services. They may not be the stars, but they’re excellent help, and your companies are going to need all the help they can get…