The Workbook of Aragorn

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Reserved for workbook


I do not recommend posting in this thread yet; your post will get washed over in a sea of quotes.

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Reserved for tracking

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Originally Posted by infectedsloth

I'm fine with two Aragorn's, but I think we first attempt at making one, to see if it's plausible. If we make two it should be King Elessar and the Ranger, with transitional powers going to which ever one it more fits with.

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Aragorn- I think this is one of the characters that would require 2 separate designs. Aragorn as Strider and Aragorn as Elessar are completely different. One is a ranger, one is a king. Since we're starting with the fellowship, let's focus on the ranger for now. Since he's out in the wild, Tracking could be on the power table. He should be fairly quick and tough to wound from afar, symbolizing his abilities to elude the enemy. Whether or not to give him Anduril is a decent question here, as it's not reforged until the fellowship sets out from Rivendell. I think he ought to have a ranged attack, the guy does carry a bow. But on the whole, high life/mediocre defense values could work here.

Originally Posted by capsocrates

Hm... maybe its because I haven't read the Return as much as I've read the first two books, but it seems like Aragorn as a Ranger and then Aragorn beginning when he's hunting the Uruk-Hai and going all the way to Pellenor fields are two more representative ideas. When I think "King Elessar" I think of him mostly after the ring has been destroyed, so maybe we mean the same thing?

I don't mind trying to represent Aragorn in just one character--we can try.

Originally Posted by Joseph Sweeney

I don't have much time right now, so I'm only going to say this:

• I would like to see something more of the ranger side of Arogorn, because I believe that is the personallity he generally shows throught the book. That being said I wouldn't be opposed to a half/half sort of Aragorn. Also for a power I would like to see a:Summon the Oath Breakers ability, something to the degree of Iskra's summons.

Originally Posted by boromir96

I definitely want to see at least 2 versions of Aragorn, maybe even 3.(Ranger, King, and maybe one in between)

Originally Posted by faure

For a Fellowship-themed set, I'd focus on Strider, Ranger of the North. That would emphasize stealthy movement (e.g. Ghost Walk) and maybe defensive skills rather than powers of command/leadership.

Originally Posted by boromir96

Taken from Arch Vile's LotR customs,

THE FELLOWSHIP
After revealing an order marker on this card and taking a turn with Aragorn, you may take a turn with any one other figure you control with The Fellowship special power.

Thoughts? I think it's a nice way of helping the fellowship work together, and gives you a lot of options as well as eliminating the OM problems that come with a bunch of Heroes..

Originally Posted by capsocrates

I've thought of a power just like that as well. I'm opposed to limiting the Fellowship to only having synergy with itself since our goal is for our units to integrate more or less seamlessly with classic figures--an ability like that would ensure that our Fellowship heroes would rarely be used with other armies. I also don't want bonding for the whole fellowship.

I could see some sort of bonding or synergy between Legolas and Gimli, maybe routed through our second Aragorn, but I would prefer it refer to "elf heroes" or "heroes with X personality." That's a bridge we will cross when we get to it.

Long story short, I'm opposed to that power for this project. Although it would be a great power for different circumstances.

Originally Posted by Good Pig

I have to agree with caps. I don't think all of the Fellowship members need to bond. They can have complimetary powers that make you want to draft them together. Bonding seems best thematically to represent close ties. I could see some figures with bonding like Frodo with Hobbits or Thorin Oakenshield with Dwarves, but don't think Gandalf or Aragorn would need it. Also not a big fan of having more than 3 powers per army card, unless in a rare case it's absolutely neccessary.

Originally Posted by Good Pig

I'll try to test it out and see how it feels. Sometimes trying to explain/theoryscaping only adds to the confusion.

I had some other thoughts on the movement power.

What if we renamed this and did something like it on Aragorn's card (Strider version) to depict him leading the Fellowship? Since he's a ranger it makes sense that he's leading the way too.

Originally Posted by faure

I do like the idea of putting Leadership with Aragorn, and using the Shield of the Istari with Gandalf. Seems more in line with the stories.

Originally Posted by capsocrates

I don't know if this Istari Shield is present in the books, but I haven't read them in a long time. It doesn't seem to me like a significant enough trait of Gandalf to merit giving him a special power for it. If we were to implement it, it seems more like a once-a-game power than a once-a-round power.

I would prefer we keep Gandalf the Grey as the leader of the Fellowship. I would rather use a modified FOOL'S HOPE on our second Aragorn. I'm thinking that our Strider will focus on Aragorn as a Ranger, with one cheerleader power to represent his role in the fellowship.

More to come.

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continued

Originally Posted by Good Pig

I know this was shot down earlier, but having a Strider version of Aragorn with a renamed Fool's Hope (Ranger of the North?) would be a great fit IMO. Being a ranger he knows the lay of the land and would fit the role of "guide" (movement bonding).

This would give you reason to draft both Gandalf and Aragorn on to the same team. Aragorn to push the team forward and Gandalf to get them out of a pickle.

The rest of the Fellowship would fall in place nicely.

Originally Posted by Good Pig

... With a future Aragorn having a power like this...

Originally Posted by capsocrates

... the idea of pairing Gandalf and Aragorn as complimentary halves for leading the fellowship holds a certain appeal to me--especially if we can work it out in such a way that Aragorn can still effectively lead the Fellowship after Gandalf is gone, which I believe we could achieve with your proposals.

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continued

Originally Posted by infectedsloth

[Re: Merry and Pippin]... Their is no doubt in my mind that the version with the movement bonding will be more useful, but I want to see if the other version in workable. Movement bonding can't become are go to power, we need variety. Gandalf already has movement bonding, Frodo and Sam are prime candidates, in my mind better then Merry and Pippin. In addition I could see a movement power for Aragorn and Boromir. That's 7 of the 9 walkers, which is unacceptable. We have to look at the big picture and plan ahead.

Originally Posted by White Knight

I can see bonding for Frodo and Sam, but I don't see bonding for Aragorn and Boromir (other than Aragorn bonding with the ghosts from the Paths of the Dead).

Originally Posted by faure

I'd tend to put a bonding type power on Sam (to keep him with Frodo), but not the other way around (Frodo's focus is on the quest, not bonding -- more likely to have some sort of Overextend power).

I would not put any bonding on either Aragorn or Boromir. I could see a Summon (Phantom Knights?) power with Aragorn rather than a bonding.

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That vote passed and then nothing else happened, because we had rules about how many units could be in what stages at a time and blah blah blah Aragorn just sat waiting.

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Looking back on our conversation, I like where we ended up, but I would drop the Wilderness Instincts power and then either
a) restore this power from the first draft

RANGER'S ASSAULT
When Strider attacks an adjacent figure or destructible object, he may add 2 dice to his attack or attack one additional time.

or
b) bump his attack to 5


If I recall correctly White Knight would have liked either of those

[Splash]

The synergy poll is just about unanimous, so I think we should change Dunedain to Human for better bonding. Aragorn being a Dunedain probably has the most justification out of all the overly specific subspecies, but we have a shoutout to it in one of his powers so that might have to do.

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Here's where I'd like to see us go for Strider.

NAME = ARAGORN
GENERAL = JANDAR

PLANET = ARDA
SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = RANGER
PERSONALITY = RESOLUTE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5

LIFE = 5
MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 100

DUNEDAIN TRACKING
Before the game, choose a unique Army Card in the Opponent's Army. After the chosen Army Card takes a turn, you may move Strider 2 spaces.

RANGER OF THE NORTH
After taking a turn with Strider, if he is unengaged, you may choose an adjacent, unengaged, small or medium friendly figure. Strider and the chosen figure have no visible Hit Zones until the next time you reveal an Order Marker.

I am not sure about the RESOLUTE personality though.

[Shiftrex]

Dunedain Tracking is interesting, I like mobility features and I think they fit the heroes of Middle Earth well which is probably because of how the movies portrayed them (also running across rohan to track down Merry and Pippin).

Ranger of the North is a really good defensive ability, I've played this character with Hide in Darkness before but I think that I prefer this because it allows him to protect another figure. We aren't worried about him protecting Raelin too much though, right?

Resolute could easily be switched for Confident or Stoic or Wary.

[Chris Perkins]

I think the best personality is "Fearless". Certainly needed for the "RotK" version (since army of the dead & all) but I don't think Aragorn starts out any less fearless in the books, so I don't see a reason to change it.

I'm not worried about him protecting Raelin. Raelin won't be on your front line, which means:
A) Raelin now costs 180 points. Not worth it.
B) You used an OM to protect Raelin for only 1 turn. Not worth it.

I think moving the defense up to 4 might make sense here, with only 5 life. For a stand-alone, single attack hero I think he needs the survivability boost to validate a strong OM investment in a given round.

[boromir96]

It may depend on the sculpt we decide to use but I’d like to see him have Tandros style range. I believe he uses a small bow in both the movies and the books in FotR. It could alternatively be a special attack..

Hunting Bow Special Attack
Range 5. Attack 3.
Hunting Bow Special Attack May only be used to attack Small or Medium Figures.