Continuing with Hobbits and nasty creatures, here's a card that can ruin any Hobbit's day:
Wailaid, Wounded, and Orc-dragged # Hazard # Permanent-event
Playable on a Hobbit facing a strike from an Orc attack. Target Hobbit receives
+2 prowess against the strike. If the strike is successful, he is not harmed
and is taken prisoner at a Ruins & Lairs, Shadow-hold, or Dark-hold. If the
Hobbit bears a ring, his player makes a roll at the start of each of his untap
phases-if the result is less that 7, the ring is discarded.
Rescue-attacks (3): Orcs - 3 strikes with 6 prowess, Orcs - 4 strikes with 7
prowess, Orcs - 5 strikes with 8 prowess.
This is a card that should at least be in the sideboard of every orc deck. It certainly takes a Hobbit out of comission for a while and it may even have a better chance than The WIll of The Ring of foiling a One Ring dunk attempt.
First, a word from our sponsor: prisoners. Taking a prisoner can be seriously nasty and throws a wrench right into your opponent's strategy. Firstly, it takes the character out of comission for at least two turns, but this would also be accomplished if you wounded the character normally. The cool thing about prisoners, though, is your opponent has to send his whole company over there to get the character, wasting a turn, rather than sending the character (and maybe an escort) back to a haven. The company will probably be right in that area, so it won't be too much of a detour, but it will at least waste a turn. Probably the coolest thing about taking a prisoner is that the gaoler gets to take the items (they are discarded).
This may be what kills your opponent's bid for victory. Hobbits are often used to tote the party's items around. If you can manage to attack the Hobbit with a Hobgoblins with Minions Stir out, if the Hobbit doesn't roll a 9 or better, the party potentially loses several MPs in item MPs. And if the Hobbit has a certain ring on, he's got about a 40% chance of losing it each turn until he's rescued. And that rescue attack isn't much fun either, especially with Minions Stir when the company faces a combined total of 18 strikes at 8, 9, and then 10 strikes. And this is AFTER facing the auto- attack. And they're supposed to have a character untapped after that? And another cool thing about prisoners is if the company decides to leave the Hobbit for lost, they've got -1 (or 2) character MPs to deal with when the judgement day comes.
There are, of course, disadvantages to this card. Firstly it only works on Hobbits and there are no race changers, so you're probably want to put this in your sideboard. So while it's really powerful, it's not going to come into play too frequently. Also, being a prisoner card, you may not have a Ruins & Lairs, Shadow-hold, or Dark-hold handy to hold the Hobbit at. Also, the card is susceptible to Marvels Told, freeing the Hobbit without all the rescue attack fun. Further, as soon as a player sees Wailaid, Wounded, and Orc-dragged, he'll do his darndest to keep his Hobbit around, probably either cancelling the attack or strike.
So if you expect to see a Hobbit, be sure to have your Orc deck Waylay, Wound, and Orc-drag him!
| Ratings for Wailaid, Wounded, and Orc-dragged: | |
| Isildur: | 6.9 |
| Samwise: | 8.5 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 7.0 |
| Legolas: | 5.9 |
| Bandobras Took: | 8.5 |
| Fingolfin: | 8.5 |
| Beorn: | 6.9 |
| Frodo: | 7.5 |
| Strider: | 8.0 |
| Alatar: | 8.0 |
| Average: | 7.6 |
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.