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Return of the Pumpkin Men

by Geoffrey Snider
Game Developer

Say that we were able to jump way, way back in time to the late spring and early summer of 2002... smack dab into the middle of the first major round of Two Towers testing. I experienced it first hand, but for all of you, viewing the set as it was would be a real shock. Here are a few factoids:

• Wargs could be 'ridden' by any Isengard Orc (and they were tested heavily for inclusion in the TT set). Their vitality-boosting effects made for some extremely unbalancing situations (can you imagine a seven-vitality Orc Overseer?).
• Many Rohan companions (not just Théoden) had just two vitality, and a majority of their strategies were based on allies fighting for the fellowship. Fellowships would usually never exceeded five companions, and dead allies could be 'rejuvenated' back into your draw deck for further use as disposable blockers.
• Many Gondor-generated effects made minions roaming all the time, not just while they were in a skirmish. This made certain cards from Fellowship of the Ring (like What Are They?) extremely problematic.
• Valiant meant about 8 different things at various times. Any rumors you may have heard about what this keyword meant were probably true at one point!
• Easterlings, Southrons, and Dunlendings were all the same culture: Evil Men. This made for some really wacky combos, and some very complicated 'limited play' choices.

In early testing and development, due to the mixing of all the 'evil men' cultures into one big ball of pumpkin-colored cultural traits (at that point the evil men were bright orange instead of yellow), each of the 'pumpkin-man' factions had trouble defining what they 'did.' It was specifically much harder to carve out a niche for the Easterlings. Their focus seemed to be 'fighting to add burdens,' and then exploiting some other [Raider] conditions belonging to the Southrons or Dunlendings when the need arose. Nazgûl were another obvious choice as Easterling temp workers, but the Easterlings seemed to be effective enough at corrupting the Ring-bearer without much outside help.

At some point (I don't remember exactly when) it was decided that the Dunlendings were to be segmented off as their own culture. They took many conditions, events and possessions with them, and the Easterlings were left hanging without the use of some very effective cards. Another major change suggested around this time was that Easterlings and Southrons, even though they shared a culture, had to be much more different from each other than they were. Southrons were already the capable fighters of the culture, and had archers, site control and direct damage at their disposal. This is where the Easterlings became really interesting. Their great fighting capabilities had simply caused corruption (burden adding), and since it seemed to be a bit much in the way of a reward (since minions already cause wounds from winning), some of their underlying functionality was changed. Now they had to fight or add burdens (instead of fighting and adding burdens simultaneously), and then they could capitalize on having built up those burdens. Essentially, they could no longer have their cake and yadda yadda yadda. Burdens were now a hot commodity for them instead of a double-benefit tool.

Here are some original versions of [Raider] Easterling cards:

Easterling Shrimp
Raider
Minion * Man
Twilight Cost: 1
Strength: 5
Vitality: 1
Site #: 4
Text:
When you play this minion, you may add (1) for each burden.

Obviously, this minion is now the Easterling Skirmisher. He has a limit to the amount of Twilight Pool he can add, and has to spot another Easterling to add that 'pool.'

*Black Gates of Mordor
Raider
Condition * Support Area
Twilight Cost: 0
Text:
To play, spot an Easterling.
When the fellowship moves from site 2[T], if you cannot spot 3 ring-bound companions, add 3 burdens.
Maneuver: Exert a [Raider] Man and discard this condition to exert a ring-bound companion.

This card is a great example of how easy it used to be for the Easterlings to add burdens. Many games were won (and lost) because this card happened to show up at site 2. The main text was shifted to become a Southron-based 'domain' condition late in development, obviously losing its burden-adding capability.

*Easterling Lieutenant
Raider
Minion * Man
Twilight Cost: 5
Strength: 11
Vitality: 3
Site #: 4
Text:
Each time this minion wins a skirmish, the Free Peoples player must assign it to skirmish another companion or add a burden.

Another easy-to-use burden-adding card, the old Lieutenant went through multiple versions... some of which weren't unique!

Constantly Threatening
Raider
Condition * Support Area
Twilight Cost: 3
Text:
Regroup: Remove (3) to play a [Raider] Man from your discard pile.

This card is probably the main reason that the Shrimp was endowed with 'limit text.' The original Easterling swarm never really endangered the ring-bearer because it tended to show up during the regroup phase, preventing any kind of double move.

Then the world turned purple. That's right! The 'pumpkin-men' card templates became purple, got a total revamp, and received the texts that are most similar to those that we see today. Guards and Lieutenants (as well as events) would add burdens, possibly capitalizing on a high bid. Troopers and Infantry would cause some extra damage while spotting those burdens, and the Captain, Army, and Desert Legion would fill in as heavy-hitting skirmish-winners (with a bit of Nazgûl support to keep large fellowships in line).

I was definitely beginning to like these Easterlings because they had a much more distinct flavor than before. It helped a lot to have some images pasted on our testing cards as well. Until this point, the Easterlings were just another faceless group of purple (or orange) guys. All of a sudden they had some cool gear like pointy helmets, wicked axes and exotic looking armor. They looked great, had the capability to penalize an opponent's fellowship on a metagame level, and they could be effectively combined with some older cards for a strong punch. They went to print. They were released. Jump forward in time about 6 months.

While developing Return of the King, a really interesting opportunity arose to make the Easterlings a brutal force in the game. These new cards had to be something players could really sink their teeth into, as well as an overall 'patch' for the culture; they needed a new and effective strategy that not only worked in constructed, but also in limited formats.

What were the Easterlings lacking? Compare them to some of the other Shadow cultures out there that are really popular, and the main differences look like this:

• They don't have hand extension, keeping them from consistently 'swarming' the fellowship.
• They don't have a very strong capability to prevent wounds.
• They rely on burdens for their abilities to function.
• They're a combo-oriented culture.

So, in a nutshell, the Easterlings are vulnerable to large amounts of pre-skirmish wounding. If they die (or take wounds) before skirmishes actually begin, their combinations won't function. That's pretty easy to fix, right? WRONG! It would be easy to make another minion like the Guard or Lieutenant that added burdens. It would be easy to make a 'domain' condition like the old testing version of Black Gates of Mordor. So what did we really need? Adding more cards that pretty much did the same thing isn't going to make the culture more effective, just more dynamic in its effectiveness; I'm not sure I want to play a deck that steamrolls an opponent in 50% of its games, but automatically gets blown away the other 50% of the time. What do the Easterlings really need to do, then, to get past this hump?

Small Hope
Raider
Condition * Support Area
Twilight Cost: 1
Text:
Maneuver: If you cannot spot 2 burdens, exert an Easterling to add a burden.
Skirmish: Discard this condition to make an Easterling strength +2.

If they really want to add burdens, just let them... but they have to pay for it. Cards like this allow any Easterling to participate in the burden adding that previously only the Guard and Lieutenant could provide. The Easterling deck functionality is no longer a 3-step process. It's no longer a question of getting a good start. It's now more of a question of how much Twilight Pool an opponent gives the Easterlings to get started (much like every other shadow culture).

This card also fills the role of a 'massive comeback card' because of its ability to allow the Easterlings to recover from the 'ring-toss' (when the Free Peoples player kills Frodo and gives the ring to Sam). Sam has resistance 5? No problem. With this condition, they're almost halfway to corrupting him. Gone are the days of considering including Nazgûl and Helpless to stop that pesky Son of Hamfast (not that those days were ever really here, but you get my meaning).

Surging Up
Raider
Condition * Support Area
Twilight Cost: 1
Text:
Regroup: Exert an Easterling and discard this condition to make the move limit -1 for this turn. The Free Peoples player may add 2 burdens to prevent this.
Skirmish: Discard this condition to heal an Easterling.

What happens if the Easterlings fail to stop a fellowship? What if they were only ever able to add two burdens? This card gives them the capability to 'come back' in another department: slowing down the opponent. Previously, the only way they could do it was if they had multiple minions survive the skirmish phase. Now they just need one surviving minion to trigger this condition's ability. Does your opponent take the chance of adding burdens and moving again, leaving him open to massive abuse by your minions? Does he stop and allow your fellowship to catch up?

All of a sudden, the Easterlings have the capability to blow an opponent's strategy wide open. The number of 'combos' required for them to function drops dramatically, and as a result, their skirmish-winning and overall 'stopping' capabilities spike to a more-than-adequate level.

Hope you like these new cards!

September 23, 2003