When the object of the game is to go and get everything you can, how about a card that stops your opponent from going anywhere?
Siege # Hazard # Permanent-event
Playable on a Border-hold or Free-hold site. A company at this site must face
an Orc attack of three strikes at 7 prowess at the beginning of its site phase.
At the end of the organization phase, a company at a site with Siege on it must
make a roll (or draw a #) and subtract one from the result for every non-scout
character it contains. If this result is less than 5, the company may not move
this turn. Discard when the site card is discarded or when the site card is
returned to the location deck. Cannot be duplicated on a given site.
This card can make or break a game, causing a simple trip for a faction to become a several turn wait for frreedom. And while it won't do too much against an all Hobbit deck, it rocks against An Unexpected Party.
This card is designed to hit a company as they head for a faction. And unless your opponent does something kinda weird, he'll head to a free/border-hold for a faction (or ally) at some point in the game. And when she does, slap this on her company! While it doesn't work too well against some companies, it rocks against many. For instance, the typical Indy Jones company will have about six characters and just two or three scouts. When they head to a border- hold to store those Rescue Prisoners they will have to roll better than a 7 or 8 to be able to move. Of course, an Indy Jones company won't have any trouble with the orc attack, but this card may completely shut them down for a turn or two. And when you're stuck in a Siege you always seem to start rolling all your fives and sixes, Murphy's Law takes over.
As I said, this card has different levels of effectiveness against different companies. A company of Adrazar and a Hobbit won't have many problems running away from the Siege, but they may have problems playing a faction. They have to face an attack of 3@7, which will tap all members of many small companies sent around Gondor to get factions. The other cool thing about the attack is that it has to be faced every turn they company is there, not just when they enter the site. Thus if you include Siege in an orc deck for some faction defense to balance your heavy item defense you can have an attack of 5 strikes of 12 or more, making it difficult for almost any company to bring in a faction. And with luck they won't be able to go somewhere else and come back later for a couple turns. And a couple turns of unanswered MPs may be just the thing you need to get the edge in the game.
If you want to really punish a company for not packing the right skills (or take them away with Memories Stolen), you can play Siege with Chance of Being Lost. "Yes, you THOUGHT you were going to Gold Hill with all your Dwarves, but you're actually going to Dale, and you'll be staying there for a while." This can also be carried out well with Winds of Wrath, and can be a good way to get that Assassin out of your hand and into your opponent's characters. Further fun can be had by bringing the Balrog out, moving Galadriel, and Sieging Lorien, maybe even with Song of the Lady, and with your own character there to keep the Siege around ;-) One card it doesn't work with, though, is Redoubled Force. Since it's not an auto-attack it is faced every turn, but it's not helped by Redoubled Force, Eye of Sauron, etc.
So while Siege won't hurt every company, it can really cause some damage against certain companies. Or draw out a Marvels Told...
| Ratings for Siege: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 8.5 |
| Bandobras: | 9.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 9.0 |
| Legolas: | 8.8 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Fingolfin: | 8.5 |
| Beorn: | 7.5 |
| Cirdan: | 9.0 |
| Merry: | 7.2 |
| Frodo: | 9.0 |
| Samwise: | 6.3 |
| Average: | 8.3 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1997 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.