Tonight is Halloween, and all the spirits will be out. And though I didn't plan it this way, today's card is Awaken Denizens, a perfect choice.
Awaken Denizens - Hazard - Long-event
The number of strikes for each automatic-attack at a Ruins & Lairs site is
doubled. Cannot be duplicated.
This card is similar to Arouse Denizens in several ways, but it's also quite different in others. First, it is a R&L auto-attack enhancer, but this one does more to enhance the sites.
Rather than give one attack +3, this card doubles the strikes of all the attacks. This can range anywhere from adding another strike to adding a total of 5 strikes to a dragon lair with an at home. This card almost assures that a company will not defeat any dragons at home.
This card is also very dangerous if your opponent is moving several companies around, this card could halt all of them. This is a double edged sword, though. While it makes things very dangerous for your opponent, it also makes things very dangerous for you if you are planning to go to R&L. There are ways that you can get around this, or course. Perhaps the best is to use this card along with an Indy Jones strategy, so that you are raping the shadow and dark holds while your opponent has a difficult time with the Ruins and Lairs.
As I mentioned yesterday, this card can be very good if played on guard, this card can be quite a nasty surprise, especially if they are going to an at home dragon (it would suck if that dragon were to wake up in the middle of the night as you were approaching, now wouldn't it ;-) If your opponent is smart, however, playing this card on guard probably will only get one company.
This is one hazard long-event that doesn't actually scream "Use me with Will of Sauron!" You might consider using it with WoS, but only if you are prepared to fight or cancel large attacks or are planning on getting your items at shadow and dark holds (such as an Indy Jones deck or perhaps decks from Dark Minions). Other good combos, of course, are the other R&L enhancers, Arouse and Incite Denizens, Choking Shadows, etc. You might also consider in a faction strategy to use this card, Awaken Minions, Eye of Sauron, and Will of Sauron to make item gathering a very dangerous prospect.
There are, as aforementioned, a few drawbacks to this card. Primarily, it's a long-event, so it affects you too, but not too bad if you plan around it. Also, as with other auto-attack enhancers, the company can just wait for a turn, especially in a longer game. That can, however, not be doable if the game is close, which could possibly lead to character death by auto-attack (I've lost characters that way :-(
So all in all, Awaken Denizens is a good card, more powerful than Arouse Denizens, but with more dangers to you as well.
| Ratings for Awaken Denizens: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 8.5 |
| Strider: | 7.0 |
| Frodo: | 8.0 |
| Gandalf: | 7.5 |
| Legolas: | 4.5 |
| Eonwe: | 6.0 |
| Samwise: | 6.5 |
| Smaug: | 7.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 8.3 |
| Wormtongue: | 6.0 |
| Average: | 6.9 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1996 by Trevor Stone. Permission given to duplicate so long as no profit is made and the copyright notice is kept in tact, blah, blah, blah.