The Woses and other Pukel-men of the White Mountains were often ignored by the other races of men. One card that is often ignored from deck consideration is
Pukel-men # Hazard # Creature # 1 MP # 11/- # Keyable: Sh, Dh
Pukel-creature. Two strikes. May also be played at Ruins & Lairs sites in the
following regions: Andrast, Anfalas, Anorien, Dunland, Enedhwaith, Gap of Isen,
Lamedon, Old Pukel Gap, Old Pukel-land, and Rohan.
Despite appearances of being little-playable, Pukel-men can be used effectively against both Indiana Jones decks and Gondor decks, something most creatures can't brag to. Against certain other decks Pukel-men are worthless, but they may deserve a spot in your sideboard at least.
First off, Pukel-men have decent creature stats. 11 prowess is more than most 1 MP creatures and 2 strikes is also a good plus, but Pukel-men aren't playable a lot of the time. Since they can only be played at sites they can't hit a company going through dangerous area to a safe site. It also means that you have to hit with them on a companies way out rather than as the company heads back to a haven. However, many companies travel to one of the many shadow/dark holds, many of which have greater items and other attractive things. A company, especially a small one, may be thrown off guard with a Pukel-man. It's not surprising to see a company heading to some place like Moria with a Star-glass on the table and a Dark Quarrels in hand. You then check your hand, play a Pukel-man, and your opponent says "What?" being totally unprepared for this "statue" to attack and she will likely have to tap two characters to deal with it.
Since even Gondor decks need to get items sometimes, Pukel-men can be a help against these as well. While Anfalas, Anorien, Dunland, Lamedon, and Old Pukel-land don't have any ruins & lairs in them (though they may in future expansions), most Gondor decks (and some other decks as well) will pay a visit to Stone-circle, The Stones, Ruined Signal Tower, Glittering Caves, Isengard, or Amon Hen. This is a pretty good number of sites and two strikes at 11 may be more than a Gondor party is looking for. And even though several of the sites in those regions are border-holds, why not MAKE the ruins & lairs? Your opponent thought he would be safe heading to Wose Passage-hold, but as he arrived the Woses, in a fit of Gloom, turned against him and attacked his company. The use of Gloom (with Doors of Night of course) adds six sites where the Pukel-men can be payed.
Pukel-creatures, due to their small numbers and low frequency of play, are often ignored by most people. They have no special modifiers that you can give them as creatures, but on the plus side, there are no resources that specifically affect Pukel-creatures. And even if there were, hardly anyone would play with them, as they would only expect to find the Pukel-creatures at auto-attacks for The Stones and Glittering Caves, noto coming for your hand.
So if you're looking for a different and non-traditional creature for your deck that can combat several different item gatherers, check out the Pukel-men, they may come in handy. Well, that's my piece of mind which comes with every creature of the rock ;-)
| Ratings for Pukel-men: | |
| Isildur: | 6.0 |
| Samwise: | 7.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 7.0 |
| Legolas: | 5.0 |
| Bandobras Took: | 7.2 |
| Fingolfin: | 7.0 |
| Beorn: | 7.0 |
| Frodo: | 7.5 |
| Strider: | 5.0 |
| Alatar: | 5.0 |
| Average: | 6.4 |
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.