Well, sorry this is so late, I just had a time crunch and also grossly under- estimated how much time the data collection the survey involved. So, enough with excuses, what are the opinions on Dark Minions?
Most people seem to really like this expansion. There's lots of new ideas, old cards that people were wanting, improved strategies, and the art, if anything, got better. So, what are the specifics?
Who is your favorite minion? The best? The coolest?
People's favorite minions vary quite a bit. The Grimburgoth barely edged out
four other minions. The Grimburgoth is either the best minion or the one
that's easiest to appreciate. Runners up: Baduila, Golodhros, Anarin, Elerina,
Wormtongue.
The overwhelming choice for best minion is The Grimburgoth. He can attack a
company during M/H phase with +2 to his normal prowess of 7 (9 if he's face
down). This can be a formidable surprise to anybody. He can also use Sorcery,
which should crop up in Lidless Eye (sounds dangerous ;-) Only drawbacks are
his 8 mind (so you can have him and three similar characters) and his homesite
of Dol Guldur, which is actually close to a lot of places.
The largest vote for coolest minion went to Wormtongue. People have been
calling for Grima since about a month after the game came out, and he's finally
here to mess around with your opponent. He can also knock out an Edoras-based
strategy double-handedly ;-) Coming in second was The Grimburgoth, giving him
24 total votes in those three categories (out of about 32 voters).
What is your favorite piece of minion artwork?
Another close one, Dror (Tom Cross) won out over Firiel and Wormtongue. From
Dror you get the feeling of an outcast dwarf in the cold mountains, plotting
revenge. A good mood is set as well. I would like to give honorable mention to Bill Ferney (two votes behind Dror)
by Chris Cocozza. Bill looks almost real...
On a scale of 1 to 5 (with five being great), how well do you like the concept
and rules of minions?
The average on this comes out to ALMOST exactly 4. Minions (agents really)
were a much needed addition to the game. While they've got some interesting
quirks that will definitely take getting used to, I think Minions are a very
well worked out addition, and I can only hope at what Lidless Eye holds with
being able to use minions as characters.
What is the worst part about minions?
The general consensus is that there are two bad things about minions: the rules
are hard to understand and remember (what was that modifier for being at his
homesite again?) and they take up your sites. The first will probably be
cured after we have used them for long enough (just as the original rules
were). The second can be really agravating. The first game we played with
minions, a couple of times we had to modify our strategies because agents were
occupying the sites we wanted to go to. There are a few ways to get around
this. The first is the new maps coming out from ICE. They let you move your
companies around without site cards (AFAIK), leaving your sites to your agents.
The second way to avoid that is careful planning of your agents. If you are
largely in the north, you might want to include Mordor-based and Gondorian
agents, for instance. Ah! I just found out from Mike Reynolds (of
ICE) that you still have to use the sites whenever you play :-( Scrath that
forthcoming strategy.
What is your favorite hazard? The best? The coolest?
Again, lots of different answers to people's favorite hazards (only three
received more than one vote). However, Durin's Bane got seven votes, and is
probably the high point of this set. It's got pretty good art (more in a
moment), is pretty nasty, and fits in well with complaints of the first balrog
(this one has BODY!).
As to the best hazard, more cards got multiple votes (Khamul even got two votes
and he's not in the set!). Again, however, Durin's Bane took the cake,
followed by Revealed to All Watchers. Durin's Bane ties Shelob for the highest
modified strike in the game, two of them to be precise, and has a wider range
than Shelob does. While against some decks he may never come out, he is almost
every Under-deeps deck's worst enemy. Revealed to All Watchers is also a
really powerful card. It allows you to get a hand chock full of hazards to
slam your opponent with, and then you get your resources back. My vote here
actually goes to Two Or Three Tribes Present, because it has EXTREME
versitality and can really spell doom for a company.
Durin's Bane also easily takes coolest hazard. Hey, it's the Balrog (a great
part in the books), but it's BETTER than the first one (which was practically
saying "Come and get some MPs at your leisure."). My vote here goes to My
Precious, who came in second. It's great fun to have the game conversation
suddenly turn into hisssesss and ssssmall noisssesss.
What is your favorite piece of hazard artwork?
What is your favorite new hazard concept (e.g. not counting against hazard
limit, attacking from discard pile, etc.)?
What strategy do you think increased the most?
What resource strategy do you think was hurt the most?
What do you think is the worst hazard?
What type of hazard do you think there should have been more of?
What is your favorite resource? The best? The coolest?
What is your favorite piece of resource artwork?
What is your favorite new resource concept (e.g. "quest" events)?
What strategy do you think increased the most?
What hazard strategy do you think was hurt the most?
What do you think is the worst resource?
What type of resource there should have been more of?
What is your favorite Under-deeps site? The best? The coolest?
Do you think the Under-deeps are worth the risk for what you can get there?
What site do you think has the best artwork?
On a scale of 1 to 5 with five being great, how do you rate the concept of the
Under-deeps?
What is your favorite card from this expansion?
What is the most powerful card?
What is the coolest card?
What card has the best artwork?
Other than Under-deeps and minions, what do you think is the best new concept
(e.g. not counting against the hazard limit, quest cards, etc)?
What overall strategy changed the most?
Compared to Dragons, how do you rate this expansion? Compared to Wizards?
So there you have it, general ideas about Dark Minions. Hopefully ICE is
paying attention and can use this information to better sets down the road.
Have fun with all your new cards!
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.
You guessed it, Durin's Bane (Stefano Baldo) by quite a bit. I love some of
the resources Baldo has done (especially Elf-song), and I really like the
figure of this balrog (much more detail than the earlier one), but the bright
orange background kinda turns me off (maybe I'm just a resource kinda guy).
Nevertheless, the image of a hideous winged creature with flaming sword and
whip heading at at you definitely adds to the fear and shock value
There were several new concepts in this expansion which really expanded the
strategic options of a many different strategies. The tie for first place
vote in this category goes to taking prisoners and not counting against the
hazard limit. Prisoners can be a great way to take your opponent's key
characters out of his service for a couple of turns, and thus throw an orc-
wrench into his strategy. It's also a great opportunity to call the council
(well, you just went down by 10 MPs...). Not counting against the hazard
limit can really mess up a small company. It makes largish combos possible,
makes it possible to play what would be an allowance hazard and then the
creature hazard to be played as one, or with the embodiment of this new idea
(Two Or Three Tribes Present), completely annihilate an entire company with a
hazard limit of two or three.
Perhaps the most deadly hazard strategy is now undead. There are several
undead helpers to add to the two or three existing ones as well as several new
undead, giving us more than four. Undead are now no longer a corruption-
corrilary, but a full-fledged stand-alone kick-ass hazard strategy. 18 strikes
at 12 is something for any company to fear. Coming in behind is orcs and orc-
variants (orc/troll, orc/nazgul, orc/men, etc.). With several new orc-specific
hazards as well as some that help them as well as others (Two Or Three Tribes
are still present), making a formerly wussy strategy a possible danger.
The two biggest responses here were "Indiana Jones" decks and faction decks
(or variations). Indy was considered one of two broken strategies for quite
a while, but it got hit with some recent erratta and it is also now hard to
keep enough characters untapped to play that Thorough Search and Rescue
Prisoners along with another item. Curiously enough, The Under-deeps seem like
some pretty good Indy territory to me, if you can handle the trip there.
Factions were hit pretty hard by agents, being able to influence your stuff
away while your opponent's companies are wandering around somewhere else.
However, agents can't reveal an identical card and also can't use cards like
muster, so they are most effective at home (which can still be pretty bad if
you concentrate your factions in one place like the south-east).
I though In Darkness Bind Them would be a sure shoe-in, but it only came in
second to Whisp of Pale Sheen (odd, as most people said Undead got a lot of
help...). Whisp taps anybody who has mind is equal to or less than its
prowess, but most of those people would tap anyway. It is widely playable, but
there are better ways to soften up a company for undead without giving them an
MP.
The overwhelming one in this category was creatures in general (and several
more votes for specific types of creatures like spiders). I see this expansion
as more as a set that helps several types of creatures (that were in need of
it) than a set to propagate creatures. Needless to say, I look forward to
seeing several new creatures in Lidless Eye.
Resources
Just as Durin's Bane was the runaway favorite hazard, a lot of people like
Aiglos. It can make a character kick some serious butt (especially when
Doors is out, when there is more butt to be kicked). Plus, it's the spear of
Gil-galad. Aiglos took favorite and best easily and narrowly edged out Fate
of the Ithil-stone for coolest. My votes for favorite and coolest go to
Mallorn, however. With all these nasty creatures like Durin's Bane are running
around, it's nice to have a place to sit and enjoy the nice things in the
world. Plus, it also made non-One Ring Hobbit decks quite a bit more viable.
The card that took this category by storm was not Aiglos, as one might expect,
but To The Uttermost Foundations (maybe people just really like Balrog picts).
John Howe depicts the action in a great way (better than True Fana, one of my
favorites). It takes in one frame the terror of the Balrog and the tattered
but triumphant Gandalf atop him. The effect is pretty nice too.
By far the favorite resource concept is quests. Many people were longing for
a) some reason to go to sites like Barad-dur and Dol-guldur and b) wanting some
sort of definite quest to complete. Cards like Mithril and Fate of the Ithil-
stone do this while giving some hefty MPs and helping certain strategies along.
Several of them also provide good reasons to go spelunking.
This category also had ranging opinions. The result is a tie between Hobbit
and Dwarf decks. Hobbits got cards like Mallorn, Noble Hound, and Fireworks/
Rebuild the Town (yes, that is a good Hobbit combo). The Dwarves got cards
like The Dwarves Are Upon You! as well as a whole bunch more places to get
shiny items. Some other strategy increases worth mentioning are minor items
and wizardless. Minor items, though not yet a FULL strategy can help several
strategies along with cards like Armory, Cup of Farewell, and the Lost
Knowledge cards. Wizardless decks are now quite a lot more possible with cards
like Saw Further and Deeper (on the flip side, The Windord Found Me is also a
nifty card).
This biggest answer here was, interestingly enough, corruption. Cards like
Free To Choose (and the general lucrativity of creatures) has lured people
away from corruption decks. However, with the Under-deeps, corruption could
be a pretty deadly strategy (Lure of Expedience anyone?). There also weren't
very many corruption cards in this set (though Pale Dream Maker and Foes Shall
Fall are pretty good).
Again, a lot of different opinions here, but the top vote getter is The Hunt
(which a couple people said was the BEST resource). This card has some really
good art, but it may not be worth the risk. Sure, you can get to call your
shot on a couple MPs, but you have to have faced it before (you can't have
Pallando looking at your opponent's discards and Alatar running around). Is
it worth the risk of Alatar dying for just one or two MPs (which is probably
going to be the best choice). He can't use spells or get help from his
company, and you've probably bailed out on it before.
Another close one, with items just beating out factions. More items would be
nice, as we now have all these new sites where we can crank out the items.
I would like to argue, however, for more factions. The last two expansions
have given us all of one faction (and that's a pain in the eye to get out).
Sites
The Under-grottos edged out The Under-courts and Under-gates as the favorite
site of this expansion. It's got a sweet picture (yes it does, my precious),
a decent auto-attack (equal to Moria's), and gives you +2 on your ring checks
(another Scroll of Isildur). It's missing greater, but it's pretty good now.
Under-gates narrowly beat Under-grottos and Under-galleries in the vote for
best new site. It's under Moria, one of the best sites in the game, and can
play anything but hoard and special items. It also has access to a wide area
of the Under-deeps. The auto-attack is the most dangerous in the game (aside
from the added ones like at homes). However, if you want to defeat your own
Balrog, you can get into the Under-gates pretty easily.
The Under Galleries won in terms of coolest new site. Sure, it's under Udun
(and "Any site in Udun" makes me think more are coming), but you can get two
minor/major/greater items there. And then when you're done, you get 3 MPs
(of what type, BTW?). I like that idea.
The overwhelming answer is YES (18 votes compared to 6 for both no and
sometimes). My experience with the Under-deeps has been pretty greuling, so
I would be inclined to go with sometimes (only if you are REALLY prepared).
The winner here (by a whole bunch) is the Under-courts (which I don't have and
have just seen briefly). From what I saw, it wasn't all that spiffy. Just
a bunch of clutter, but I won't comment further. I will say I like the art on
Under-grottos (Ted Nasmith) a lot.
This averages out to about 4.2. The Under-deeps give rise to some new
strategies and help out some old ones (who cares if there's a Snowstorm up
there?). They are pretty powerful, but balanced (maybe overbalanced) with
pretty dangerous auto-attacks (not to mention our friend Durin's Bane).
General
There was not as much variety in this category as one might suspect. Durin's
Bane didn't win this one, but he came in third tied with Mallorn (my personal
fave). In second was Aiglos, and the Grammy goes to.... My Precious. Now we
can build a Gollum based deck, or just put him in and hiss to our tongue's
content.
Not much of a surprise here, Durin's Bane edged out Aiglos. I think Aiglos
gives a better (permanent) advantage, but in order to get it you may have to
deal with old DB...
Here third goes to Aiglos, second to Durin's Bane and first to, you guessed it,
My Precious. This is potentially the coolest card in the whole game. Great
art, and all the fun of Gollum. Plus, you can keep attacking your opponent to
give him that minus one MP :-)
Here the winner is To The Uttermost Foundations (mentioned earlier) followed
closely by Pass the Doors of Dol Guldur (John Howe again) which was got more
votes as the all around best piece of artwork than it did best resource piece.
This card gives another nice view of Gandalf blowing in the wind and making a
flare. What happened to Durin's Bane you say? It got third. My personal
favorite, though, is Twisted Tales. It captures the scene perfectly, not to
mention it packs a punch to the term "Wormtongue."
Quest narrowly beat prisoners here. Quests were a much needed addition and
can be great fun in longer games. Prisoners, as I mentioned, can really turn
the tide of a game.
This turned out to be a tie between Undead and Orcs/whatever. Both went from
so-so strategies to in-your-face I-WILL-kill-your-characters strategies. Plus,
with Angmar Arises, Reaching Shadow, and (sort of) In Darkness Bind Them,
Gondor and the sea may be the only places to avoid these two strategies.
Overwhelmingly, this is a MUCH better expansion than dragons (26 votes for
better, two for worse, and two for the same). This set introduces more ideas
and helps more than just two or three strategies. Plus, it gave us more cards
we were clambering for. It's very difficult to compare this set to Wizards, as
that's got most of the characters, factions, good commons/fixeds, etc. I just
put that in to see if people thought this improved upon Wizards. I hope
Lidless Eye is this good!