The Easterlings are a tough bunch. They're fierce warriors, deadly on horse. If you can befriend them, they can be great allies in a battle, but Sauron's already got them in his grasp.
Dasakun # Minion # Warrior/Ranger Man # 2 MP # 6/7 # 5 Mind # 1 DI # Home Site:
Easterling Camp, Variag Camp, Shrel-Kain
Unique. Agent.
This is a pretty basic attack agent. He's not as powerful as, say, The
Gribmburgoth, just as Elrohir is not as powerful as Beorn.
For 5 mind, Dasakun gives you a pretty good attack agent while leaving 31 mind
left for more agents. It also means that should your opponent kill him,
she'll get 2 MPs, but on the flip side, when you play with him in Lidless Eye,
you'll get the 2 MPs. His 1 DI is nothing to shout about, but Dasakun is
probably not the agent to include to act against factions, though in a pinch
he may be able to rid the board of 3 of the top factions in the game. His
home sites on the eastern rim of the map aren't very centrally located, but
they give him pretty easy access to Gondor, Mordor, Mirkwood, and Dragon
territory. His skill of Warrior allows him to play a few nice attack cards
while Ranger lets him screw up companies with Seek Without Success. And since
normal hazards will work against Minion companies that work against Hero
companies in Lidless Eye, Ranger will continue to be a good skill to have to
avoid cards like River and Long Winter.
Weighing in at 6/7, Dasakun's one of the better agents for taking out
characters. With just a Cunning Foes, his prowess is boosted to 9, making his
average prowess after the roll 16, on par with a Cave-worm. If he was face
down when he attacked, his average prowess becomes 18, equal to Khamul and co.
And while he may not be favored to easily influence away the Easterlings
(though the Men of Dowinion shouldn't be too hard), he may be able to take
out the person who will influence them in. Should your opponent head to
Easterling Camp, have Dasakun pop up. His prowess will be 11 plus a roll,
his body will be 8, and he will be able to choose to hit the faction
influencer (or some other character you don't want). Even against a wizard
(which is the most likely person to attempt the influence), the hero has to
try and roll 5 higher than you just to prevent being wounded. Staying
untapped is out of the question unless the character's toting a number of
items. And if you manage Cunning Foes as well, Dasakun's average prowess is
21. Ouch. Further, unlike creatures, if your opponent manages to stay
healthy (but tapped), you can turn Dasakun face down the next turn and then
attack when the opponent tries to influence the faction again. And if an
average of 18 prowess isn't good enough, why not tap him to play Khamul, who
is always 18, on a company at Shrel-kain? All this, and his only real
disadvantages are a somewhat low body (should he actually be wounded) and the
lack of the Diplomat skill.
Dasakun is different from many of the attacking agents in that his home sites
are border-holds. This allows him to make use of Nobody's Fiend to pop up at
a supposedly safe place like Dol Amroth and attack a company not looking for
an average 15 prowess strike.
If Dasakun were a normal character I would play him a lot. In several decks
I've built I've been in need of a good fighter for 5 mind, but usually end up
using one of the Elven Orc-fighters or someone like Beretar. Dasakun, though,
with the same prowess/body as Boromir but without the corruption modifier
would work pretty well. Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait for Lidless Eye.
| Ratings for Dasakun: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 7.0 |
| Farmer Maggott: | 8.0 |
| Wormtongue: | 5.6 |
| Frodo: | 7.0 |
| Bandobras Took: | 6.0 |
| Samwise: | 7.0 |
| Legolas: | 5.0 |
| Strider: | 5.5 |
| Beorn: | 6.7 |
| Fingolfin: | 7.5 |
| Average: | 6.5 |
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.