The point of playing hazards is often just to tap a character or two. Here is a card that does just that.
Gnaw with Words - Hazard - Short-event
Tap a sage if another sage is in his company or at his new site or at his
current site. Tap a diplomat if another diplomat is in his company or at his
new site or at his current site.
(Note: I think the text is different, but I don't have the card on me and I got the text of the card from ICE's website). Well, as I said, this does exactly what you usually try to do: tap a character. It is, however, limited in that you may not be doing much of anything.
Especially in the shorter games, the whole point of playing hazards is to tap the characters so they cannot play things during the site phase. This card can help that a lot, as the diplomat or the sage may be the only character your opponent wants to keep untapped.
There are, by a quick count, 23 sages and 25 diplomats (plus an ally or two for each). Some of them are both, but it doesn't matter in this case. Also, almost every company has at least one sage and many have a diplomat, especially if the party is hunting for factions. However, most companies don't plan on needing multiple sages or diplomats for their skills, especially diplomat as it only helps to prevent against a couple of hazards.
So, why would I want to tap a sage or diplomat? If I think you are going to play some information, I would be wise to tap your sages. If I notice that you have Adrazar with a Horn of Anor heading to Dol Amroth, I should probably tap him. Also, if I think you are planning to use a character with one of those skills (wizards come to mind...), I can easily tap them (Cirdan, Elrond, Celeborn, Thrain, Thorin, Bilbo, etc.).
However, frequently you may just be able to use the other character with that skill. If I tap Annalena, you can just as easily use Ioreth to have some Dreams of Lore, and if I tap Gimli, you can probably use Frodo to have some Lordly Presence. But sometimes, I might want to use this card to start off with, to either tap your sacrificial Halbarad or to prevent you from tapping Bilbo to conceal from my Dragon. And through other creature attacks and other hazards (two Gnaw With Words works well) you may be able to tap all of the sages/diplomats that you want. Thus, Gnaw With Words can be an effective, MP-free, card.
Plus, it gives you a chance to annoy your opponent if you enjoy play acting your cards :-)
| Ratings for Gnaw With Words: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 7.0 |
| Frodo: | 7.0 |
| Samwise: | 5.4 |
| Wormtongue: | 5.0 |
| Legolas: | 5.0 |
| Strider: | 6.0 |
| Gandalf: | 6.5 |
| Morgoth: | 7.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 7.0 |
| Average: 6.2 | |
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.