LOTR - The Dead Marshes

[fatolaf]

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Gollum has been found! After racing through The Hills of Emyn Muil to pursue the elusive creature's most recent signs of movement, the heroes of Middle-earth catch first sight of him in The Dead Marshes, the fifth Adventure Pack for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.

Slippery catch

In The Dead Marshes, players see Gollum (The Dead Marshes, 107) in the staging area for the first time. With a glimpse of the creature, your fellowship has new incentive to push forward, but The Dead Marshes are filled with nasty monsters and lie perilously close to Sauron's watchful gaze.

Corrupted and devoured by his years in possession of the One Ring, Gollum remains a clever and wicked threat to your fellowship. As he races through The Dead Marshes with your heroes close on his trail, he seeks to lead them to their ruin.

The Dead Marshes introduces a new, scenario-specific mechanic called an escape test. In most scenarios, as the heroes push forward on their quest, they need to split their efforts between the quest and defending themselves against the enemies that assault them. Now, the escape test creates a new problem for which heroes will need their Willpower. Gollum plies every devious trick he can in order to lose them, and at the end of each quest phase, your heroes need to commit Willpower against Gollum's attempts at escape. Many of the scenario's encounter cards have an Escape value, and the heroes must commit Willpower to the escape test greater than the Escape value on the cards dealt, or Gollum gets closer to finding a means of eluding them. If he succeeds, he slips free into the marshes.

Your heroes may continue to pursue Gollum even if he manages to shake them off his trail, but that may take time your heroes don't have as they travel so near the black lands of Mordor.

Tricks of your own

Gollum isn't the only one with a head full of clever ideas. Your heroes have done and seen much on their travels about Middle-earth. They have slain Orcs and resisted temptations. At different points along their travels, different heroes have taken the lead, depending upon the moment's needs. Valiant warriors battled the Trolls during the Conflict at the Carrock, and healers tended to Wilyador's wounds along A Journey to Rhosgobel. Scouts and trackers helped find Gollum's trail anew amid The Hills of Emyn Muil, and now Hobbits get a chance to shine in The Dead Marshes.

Their legs are short, so they have to use their heads. Rather than relying upon raw speed to snare Gollum, your Hobbits can try to snare the creature with a rope. Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes, 103) allows a Hobbit character to exhaust for multiple actions each round. This means Bilbo Baggins (The Hunt for Gollum, 1) and Frodo Baggins (Conflict at the Carrock, 25) can exhaust to quest, then ready themselves for Gollum's escape test immediately afterward. Their anticipation of the wretched creature's attempts at escape may prove the difference between successfully capturing him or losing him in the fens and mires.

Because Bilbo belongs to the Lore sphere, Fast Hitch is a natural use of one of his resources. Many players have already made note of how handy the old Hobbit can be. Because he doesn't need to exhaust to allow the first player to draw a card, he can exhaust to take other actions later in the turn. With Fast Hitch, Bilbo allows the first player to draw a card, and then can participate in the escape test and ready himself to defend. With multiple copies of Fast Hitch attached, Bilbo becomes a very clever and resourceful Hobbit, indeed, able to quest, participate in an escape test, and defend... even attack, though his Attack strength is relatively weak, fo

[fatolaf]

Song of Mocking doesn't make so historic an impact in the world of Middle-earth, but it can be put to good use in the right deck. Because the flavor quotes The Hobbit and cites Bilbo, players may be led to consider playing it on Bilbo Baggins (The Hunt for Gollum, 1), but Bilbo's low hit points make him a poor candidate for the attachment. Instead, the attachment's sphere of influence provides the first suggestion for one of its better targets. You need Tactics resources to play Song of Mocking, and even though heroes can now gain the Tactics icon via Song of Battle (The Dead Marshes, 104) the easiest way to gain Tactics resources is still playing a Tactics hero... such as Gimli (Core Set, 4), who benefits from each point of damage redirected to him.

Players have often tempted fate by choosing to have Gimli defend massive attacks, hoping that he'd survive the enemy's strike, only to become stronger for his eventual counterattack. Accordingly, Gimli has often fallen in games when the Shadow cards turned against him. Song of Mocking offers an alternate strategy to launch an angry Gimli into battle. Players can defend with Bilbo Baggins or Denethor (Core Set, 10), heroes with reasonably high Defense strength, but low hit points. Instead of placing the wounds on them, they can redirect those wounds to Gimli who, because he didn't need to defend to survive the attack, can counterattack immediately afterward.

To ensure the damage doesn't spill over Gimli's available hit points, players can take advantage of the Lore icon both Bilbo Baggins and Denethor share to play A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock, 33), rendering Shadow effects against them harmless, and guaranteeing that your combat goes according to plan