Without further ado, let's get started. Thanks again to Hall of Beorn's card search for the images.
Realtalk. Eowyn is one of, if not my favorite, character in The Lord of the Rings. While the movie did her character justice, the way she actually confronts the Witch King in the book is so badass, I've decided to replicate it here.
The Witch King: “[I will] bear you away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where your flesh shall be devoured, and your shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye. No living man may hinder me." then she drops the bomb, takes off her helmet and...
Eowyn: "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."
Alright, enough of that! Eowyn is fantastic in the game- and is singularly THE questing character to end all questing characters. With 4 willpower, 1 attack, 1 defense, and 3 hitpoints, she does one thing exceptionally well. Her ability allows all players to optionally discard a card to give her +1 willpower each turn. Seriously, she is the best questing character in the game, bar none.
Eleanor
Dunhere sadly was not in the movies, but played a role at the Battle of Pelennor Field (though was not at Helm's Deep). Dunhere has 8 starting threat, 1 willpower, 2 attack, 1 defense, and 4 hitpoints. His ability allows him to attack enemies in the staging area so long as he attacks alone. When doing so, he gets +1 to his attack.
thoughts: Pretty meh on this one. His ability is kinda cool, but it rarely works out. Either they're weak enemies, so they don't stay in the staging area long, or they're big beefy bad guys, and being hit with 3 doesn't do much. Combined with other effects he can be alright, but I've never been all that impressed.
Thalin
thoughts: When playing multiplayer, whoever brings Thalin deserves a pat on the back. Plus, you can hook him up with bonuses that boost his willpower to make him even more of a no-brainer for questing. This dude rules!
I always loved Gimli, and was a bit bummed they made him so silly in the movies, but hey! Gimli is here and he rules! with 2 willpower, 2 attack, 2 defense, and 5 hitpoints, Gimli is a well rounded hero clocking in at 11 threat. His special ability is that his attack goes up by onefor each point of damage he's taken- awesome!
thoughts: I really like Gimli- for a while he was overshadowed by an ally called Erebor Battle Master, but a recent errata has brought that somewhat in check (he now only gets +1 attack for each other dwarf ALLY). Obviously you WANT Gimli to get hurt, but not too much. Paired up with some armor, and a weapon, Gimli can become a beast of a damage dealer, dropping major bad guys with one hit. I like Gimli a lot, and certainly always consider him for any dwarf deck.
You can't have Gimli without Legolas! I feel like I've said this about almost every hero, but Legolas is just fantastic! With 1 willpower, 3 attack, 1 defense, and 4 hitpoints, Legolas does one thing very well: kill bad guys. With his low threat and Ranged, he's great even before you get to his special ability: When Legolas participates in an attack that kills an enemy, you immediately place 2 progress tokens on the current quest! thoughts: With no shortage of bad guys in most quests, that means Legolas is both killing baddies AND moving you forward on the quest. Love it! With some later attachments like Rivendell Blade or Blade of Gondolin, Legolas is just killer!
I hope you guys enjoyed this post, please let me know if there's anything you'd like to see specifically! I plan to take a look at some of the better core set cards next post.
