IMHO, one of the best parts of LotR was when Sam and Frodo were crossing Mordor to get to the ultimate goal: Orodruin. One card that combines that part of the books well with a much needed idea is
Palm to Palm - Resource - Permanent-event
Playable on a company without a Wizard at a Haven. Any character designated as
tapping in support gives +1 to an influence attempt or to an attempt to remove
a corruption card by any other character in the company. The mind of each
character and ally in the company is increased by one. Discard when any play
deck is exhausted, a Wizard joins the company, or any character in the company
splits off into another company.
Well, this card gives an ability that seems intuitive sometimes. You can tap a character to give +1 to an influence check or check to remove a corruption card. I can't count how many times I've wished I could tap a character to help to bring in those Southrons et al. You can also help to get rid of those annoying little corruption cards.
These two very different effects take place in very different ways. The influence ability is probably the best, as it happens near the end of the turn when the only characters you want to keep untapped is one that you want to get a minor item (if you so desire). Thus, you can feel free to tap and support all you want. The corruption-removing ability is different, though. Since it happens during your organization phase, you will want to leave as many characters untapped as possible to face potential nasties during the move/hazard phase. On the flip side, however, you will have more characters untapped to help, and if you aren't planning on going anywhere (maybe you were wounded by an attack that allowed the corruption to be played), you'll be fine.
This card has several drawbacks as well. First is the fact that it can't have a wizard. This eliminates many companies, but wizardless strategies are on the rise with this expansion (less to risk). However, this combined with this card's second drawback, increased mind, can hurt. However, if you just have a few characters running around, the extra mind might not make too big of a difference. Plus, this card can be used to great effect in a deck without a wizard. You can play Saw Further And Deeper and that card will counter the influence you lose with this card on a five character company. Five is a pretty good size too, as it gives you sufficient characters to tap to give +1 modifiers (a two character company won't benefit from this card very much). The other two disadvantages are somewhat minor. The first is that it must be played at a haven (which makes me wonder how the Frodo/Sam bit came about), and the other is that the company must remain fairly static. However, most companies, given a little time, become the makeup of the company that you desire. This card is also only temporary, as it will go away when any play deck cycles, which is usually long enough.
So Palm to Palm is a card that can really help a company, but that also imposes several restrictions.
| Ratings for Palm to Palm: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 6.0 | Farmer Maggot: | 8.5 | Gandalf: | 7.0 | Frodo: | 6.5 | Strider: | 2.0 | Legolas: | 5.5 | Eonwe: | 8.0 | Samwise: | 7.1 | Average: | 6.3 |
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.