Bohemond said:

+1 for this

And "The eagles are coming" in an egale deck to get all your eagles into your hand in few turns (paying for Hamas abilty with multiple Landrowals afterwards for example)

Awesome Hero

Just saw the Hama card as it is in the preview, the artwork is brilliant! Another excellent example!

I agree that Hama is a much stronger hero than many people are realizing. Like someone said, he has the ability to retrieve specific events to defeat enemies before any defenders are involved (Quick Strike) or negate an attack from an enemy, possibly multiples (Feint). Another thing that no one is mentioning is that this guy is a Rohan Warrior. He could be put into a Rohan deck and benefit from different Rohan synergies. However, I would have gladly traded a 10 threat hero for +1 on the defense but I can't wait to put this guy on the war path. I think he might work really well in a Rohan deck or Tactic/Leadership with the Twins. As long as resources don't become an issue The Twins and Hama have the ability to defend and attack with some ferocity.

Drengi said:

Agreed. Pretty stellar artwork. Love the sword and shield, pretty BA. Hama on the card is way better than the Hollywood movie version.

With one card, they put Tactics on track to be playable in solo play. Well done!

Upon first glance, I had the exact same thought others had about running a Tactics/Spirit combo using Dunhere, Eowyn, and this guy. I would just put in a bunch of cheap 1-cost tactics events and a handful of Tactics allies who are geared specifically toward blocking. With a Rohan centered theme, a lot of event cards I don't normally play would suddenly find themselves as the centerpiece of their very own deck concept. :)

I don't buy the complaints about not being able to block if you have more than one enemy and are repeatedly throwing Feint at one of them. No smart player who has the option would be blocking with a hero anyway, unless of course he/she is in control of the specific combat situation (ie a Lore character with a 2 defense with Burning Brand on it blocking a 2 attack enemy, or Hasty Stroke in his/her hand when he/she blocks with the hero). If you are having blocking issues, put more allies in your deck.

Curious to know what else is in this set, if anyone has time to post the cards. Player cards I mean, not encounter cards. I will see those when I get my copy.

 Tactics is GREAT at defending.

If you're playing with Eagles, that is. 

Otherwise Leadership and Lore both FAR outstrip Tactics when it comes to Defending. 

I'm not excited by Hama, but I'm not saddened either. His ability has some great potential and I've been wanting a Tactics hero for Rohan. I think he's more generally useful than Dunhere's. Which is not to say that Dunhere's ability isn't cool, it definitely is, but it's also more niche. I've gone whole games without ever getting to use his ability.

I agree that Dunhere is not super fit in every quest. But I would argue his usefulness is on ascendency - with the exception of the Watcher, there he could do little but Unseenly Quick Strike some Mountain Wargs.

A hero that is designed to burn through events to optimally use puts a significant amount of pressure on the card advantage of a deck. Not to say that it can't be done or isn't effective, but the reality is that this optimizes event usage which have temporary effects on the board. I am glad to see events get a boost since a board permanent has an inherent advantage. But Hama is as card hungry as any card in the game outside of Protector of Lorien (if you play it right).

Speaking of Protector of Lorien, that card is insanely good.  I win a lot of games due to this card alone! :) 

DurinIII said:

definatly one of the most power cards - without a doubt. and i think it will stay that way, its one of the timeless classics

richsabre said:

Yes POL is really powerful. Sometimes i think to much powerful…….. Maybe this card should to have limit like: no more then 4 cards per round.

Glaurung said:

That may be one of the worst ideas for errata ever, lol - don't mess with my game-winner! :)

Boris_the_Dwarf said:

I use to play previous Lotr card game from Decipher and this errata idea come from this game. From the begining they also have unlimited draw like Lotr lcg( for now) but quickly they understand is too unbalance and create the rule no more then 4 cards you can draw 1 turn.

In my opinion strategy when 1 player in the begin of the game just draw lot of cards with Beravur while other players defend and fight quite unbalanced.

Then Beravur player draw 25 cards in his hand and start to quest and run. This strategy very effect but also very boring! Cose of this i never play Beravur.

But even without Beravur POL is still very powerful.

mmmm…not sure about that- i have to admit, she is my main game winner, along with map maker, steward and dain

i dont think its over powered though

I think Word of command is an insanely cool card (thematically speaking), but we'll need more Istari cards to really be able to use it to full potential. I don't see myself using it with Radagast in my eagle deck, nor do I see myself exhausting Gandalf just to search my deck for a specific card. Way to expensive.

Sneak attack + Gandalf + Word of command is awesome, but that's a 3-card combo.

I hope they'll come up with Tom Bombadil as a new Istari card in the near future