The new FAQ has added a new entry in the Attachment rule clarification:

(1.23) Attachments
Any card that attaches to another card is treated as an Attachment in addition to its other card types.
The “Attach to…” rules text on an attachment is only a play restriction, and is not taken into account after the card is already attached.

Can someone explain what " The “Attach to…” rules text on an attachment is only a play restriction, and is not taken into account after the card is already attached. " means in layman terms, what the intent is, and how this applies? I suspect this has to do with attached cards to Nameless Thing and the fact that Forest Snare effect would apply to it, but I would be happy to ascertain this.

It would be great that when there is a somewhat convoluted FAQ entry, FFG accompanies it with an example, so that we know the intent of this ruling.

BB or other cards that can only attach to a character of a specific sphere can stay on a character if they loose the sphere.

Like if Burning Brand is attached to a character with a Song of Lore and later the Song is discarded……..the BB stays on that character.

muemakan said:

Aaah… That is the intent? That is a lot simpler than what I thought, and they way you put it is a lot clearer! Thanks. Any other case this would apply?

Support of the Eagles, Love of Tales, Healing Herbs, Song of Earendil, Hardy Leadership…..if you mean other cards that need spheres to be played.

muemakan said:

Thanks. And would there be cases where this applies outside of the case where a character is losing a sphere?

Forest Snare says "attach to an enemy engaged with a player." If that enemy is moved back to the staging area (for example, by A Light In the Dark), the attachment is not discarded.

There are also attachments that add the Gondor and Rohan traits to a character (Steward of Gondor and Nor Am I a Stranger, respectively). Currently I don't think there are any "Attach to…" cards that specifically interact with the Gondor or Rohan traits, but that could happen in the future (particularly with Heirs of Numenor on the horizon).

zeb said:

Whoa. I must've missed reading this before. So when it says:
"Any card that attaches to another card is treated as an Attachment in addition to its other card types."

… does that meant that a card that is not categorized as an "attachment" can be targeted as one?

For instance: Treasure cards (Sting, Orcrist, Glamdring) do not say "attachment", but do attach to players (right?)… so can they then be targeted by cards like Master of the Forge or Erebor Hammersmith? Or shadow cards that discard attachments?

Or am I misreading something here…

benhanses said:

This is a good question, and one I think that will require official clarification. The FAQ strongly suggests that yes, Treasure cards like Sting that attach to other cards can be affected by card effects targeting Attachments. My assumption, however, was that this was only true while the card was actually attached to something (so a shadow effect could discard it, but Erebor Hammersmith could not retrieve it from the discard pile).

But! We actually have a designer explicitly stating the opposite:

"Because Bilbo found his sword in the troll’s cave, I knew I wanted it to be a Treasure card and not just a regular Attachment. This means that players will have to “discover” it in the first quest of the box in order to use it in subsequent scenarios, but it also means that once you play it on Bilbo Baggins it cannot be targeted by cards that affect Attachments ." - Caleb (my emphasis)

Full text here, near the bottom of the article: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3449

I do not have The Hobbit. Is there anything in the accompanying rules that explicitly states that Treasure cards are not considered Attachments?

There's nothing in the rules (that I recall); however it is worth noting that the a treachery card in the Hobbit which target's attachments states "Discard all non-treasure , non-objective attachments in play" (emphasis mine).

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the FAQ was updated to state that treasure cards are not affected by encounter cards unless specifically mentioned.