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DECIPHER.com > The Lord of
the Rings > Expansions
> Battle of
Helm's Deep
Upon the Shores of Middle-earth
by Geoffrey Snider
Decipher Playtester
When I first came to work for Decipher as a playtester, I tried to dig
around for as much information on The Lord of the Rings™ as
I could. I had to understand what was motivating the designers to make certain
cards the way they did. I had to get into the extremely meaty story background
that Middle Earth had to offer. I read the trilogy of novels for the first
time, listened to my 'books on tape' of The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit, and even dug around in Mike Reynolds' old Middle Earth:
The Wizards card collection. Amid all the history in the world of Tolkien's
imagination, I found the history of 'Men' most intriguing.
Tolkien's Men are humans, and yet they aren't. They all lead grand lives,
have historic backgrounds, oppose their enemies to their last dying breath,
and forge vast and powerful kingdoms to prove their worth; they're nothing
like everyday men that you or I know each other to be, except in the metaphorical
sense. The Men of Middle Earth are, by far, more like its mythical beings,
the Elves, than they are like us. These Men and their Elven cousins descended
from the same beings, but in the 'grand design' of their world, Elves are
immortal and Men are not.
I could probably ramble on some more about Middle Earth, but I'll get
to the point. Gondor is the main kingdom of Men in Tolkien's stories. Elendil,
one of the valiant, seafaring kings of Numenor, founded it several thousand
years ago. Gondor sprawls wide across Middle Earth, reaching far to the
South, West and North. It encompasses the territories known as Anfalas,
Belfalas, Ithilien and South Gondor. Its armies pull troops from all these
territories.
 To
give an old culture (like Gondor) some new tricks in LotR TCG is no easy
task. These new cards function on a totally different level than all the
Gondor cards that came before them. The variant for this branch of the culture
was made to show how Gondor has a regular army of knights, and to demonstrate
how some of their tactics and strategies may work on the battlefield...specifically
in a defensive situation. Citadel
of the Stars is a great start in displaying Gondor's tactics. As a fortification,
it sits in plain view for your opponent to contemplate. He knows he must
get around it somehow, and in the process he's going to lose some of his
own troops. With three different possible fortifications for Gondor Men
to utilize, these fortifications can really build up and cause some scary
situations for a minion strategy.
 The
Gondor knights themselves are your average troops. They stand in a line
and take orders from their commanders, waiting to defend their territory
from the enemy. Your basic knight companion carries the 'Knight'
keyword, but there are some more in-depth commanders you can use to head
up your knight-and-fortification strategy. Turgon,
Man of Belfalas is one of two possible commanders you can use. Once
his troops have done their part to stop the enemy with their fortifications,
he can take over the operation and cause some serious damage among the enemy.
In game play terms, when you've made a single move, but haven't killed off
all your opponent's minions, you can still make a second move with relative
safety; Turgon can wound a couple minions that may still be lingering, trapped
in various fortifications.
 These
Are My People is an extremely surprising card. It's not part of the
'knight' cycle of cards, and emphasizes a specific part of the story. Aragorn
vows to fight with the men of Rohan, no matter the odds, no matter the cost.
The men of Rohan are inspired by his presence, and fight on "'...to whatever
end.'" A lot of eyebrows will perk up when people see this card for the
first time, immediately saying "Wow, there's just no limit to how many possessions
this card can play!" and they're right. There simply is no limit!
February 19, 2003
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