He's just too good. Throw a "Bow of Yew" on him and a "Hands upon the Bow" at him, and this guys essentially dishing out 6 damage against a 2 Defense enemy on turn one! I know many of you will disagree that this is not power creep, and that is fine, you may be right, but I am immediately struck by how good this one is!

I think in balance, and in flavor of the book, that Bard's ability should read more like this: "When making a ranged attack against an enemy with Hit Points 4 or greater, that enemy is -2 Defense.

This ability would play up Bard's moment in the book in which he takes down a "large target" and it would also make his "niche" so to speak, taking out those big guys.

What do you guys think about Bard?

-Joseph

Both those cards exhaust Bard. You'd need a special ability to untap him… which basically legolas can do the same as him with 1 elven blade, potentially can have 2 elven blades, costs less, and has a chance to gain progress tokens out of the whole thing.

I think he's a-ok.

Abilities that target the staging area are great, but they are often hard to use in practice. You need the right combinations of cards or threat. There are plenty of enemies whose engagement leve is well below 30 threat…. the yew bow is not going to break anything, and Legolas can already do the same as Bard if you put a Rivendell Blade on him.

Perhaps you guys are right. I do look forward to seeing this Hero lineup: Bard, Brand, and Legolas, the "Three Archers Deck."

I just don't think we can keep enemies in staging area enough times for Bard to become overpowered in solo games.

Good all-around hero, but I wouldn't call it power creep as Legolas would still seem equal if not superior choices in most situations.

I think they should have made the bow "action" instead of "combat action" it would retain its usefulness throughout the whole game and still won't 1 shot the bigger enemies in one turn. Then again I'm not a play tester so maybe they tried that at first and it was just absurd

I like the w the way it is. If it would read "Action" instead of "combat action" you would have a character with auto-quick strike on the staging area, picking off enemys while staging and other crazy stuff I can't imagine in the moment. That would make things far too easy.

OnkelZorni said:

If they will make it like this sure this will broke all the game idea. It will be to powerful!!!

So, I totally missed that little detail on the bow. In fact, it is not "broken" in any sense now, it is quite balanced as it can only be used in the combat phase, meaning you can't pick off an enemy before quest resolution, also meaning enimies will possibly engage you befor you can use it, and finally, meaning that Hands upon the Bow is still infinitely awesome!

Since Bard and the Bow was published, I have been thinking of a two-deck that can keep threat low and sniper the staging with Bard and Legolas. I think it is quite managable but I have been on a gaming break so I cannot tell from experience. In theory I like this very much. I used to run Dunhere a lot but Hands Upon the Bow and Great Yew Bow can quite step in his shoes I feel. And whilst you keep the threat low, Unseen Strike is an effective boost.

lleimmoen said:

I like the idea. There are some enemies that are just really hard to keep in the staging area (Zealous Traitor, 17 threat. Tentacles! 12-18 threat each. All the little 15 & 20 threat Goblins in Khazad-dum). But if you can keep your threat under 25, you can make this a pretty viable strategy I think. Bard (11), Legolas (9) with a Great Yew Bow, and Dunhere (8) is tempting (starting total 28), but Glorfindel might be a better choice (5) for a lower starting threat (25). Secrecy is tempting, but Bard and Legolas really won't work as a 2-hero secrecy deck, especially in solo play (all Tactics - no threat management, no Secrecy cards even).

Bard, Legolas, and Glorfindel lets you put in Elrond's Council to keep threat low. Without Leadership, though, you'll have to forego Sneak Attack + Gandalf, which seems like a no-brainer for a deck trying to keep its threat low…. Maybe Bard, Legolas, and Theodred (8) for a starting threat of 28? Still high for what you're aiming at… Glorfindel it is, then, with Song of Kings in the deck! I must have my Gandalf!

GrandSpleen said:

In my opinion this strategy is to fragile. Yes maybe you can build up a deck and defeated first cycle quests but Heir of Numenor or Hobbit i dont think so.

In coop is sound more playable but solo this deck will lose most of the time.

Glaurung said:

I thought you liked it when the game was too hard!

Yeah, I am only talking of two decks working together. First I was indeed thinking of Bard, Legolas and Dunhere but Glorfindel is indeed the option there. You have Counsel to keep the threat low, Unseen Strike to boost against stronger enemies, you snipe those with low engagement cost with Hands.

The other deck can help a lot though. Have say Aragorn, Theorded and Frodo to manage the threat with Good Meal and Galadhrims and Wandering Earendil together with Aragorn's ability. Theodred will pay for the likes of Fresh Tracks, so that you have more options against the low engagement cost enemies. Plus, it is not a great deal when one or two slips and engages you. You try to have Frodo get the damage or just block it on that side, Feint will help from the other deck. Light in the Dark is a spare option against some enemies too.

I actually think Numenor, especially Pelargir, is more than beatable like this. And I had tried a similar tactics. Guys like Theorded or Aragorn are actually much better for the battle quests, and by the final stage, you should have the broken Sword on Strider to quest heavily.