Today spotlight is on the new Tactics hero from the “On the Doorstep” Hobbit Saga expansion. For those who don’t know Bard the Bowman, the best way to describe him would be he is the Gordie Howe of Archers. Only to be out done by Legolas (the Great one). Okay so most of you probably didn’t get that reference but that just means you lack culture [or don't live on the east coast]. Bard is the third hero to have the Ranged keyword (the others being Legolas and Brand son of Bain.) Without any attachments or event cards, Bard would only be useful in Cooperative games like Brand is. He also has the highest threat of the 3 archers and consequently has the best stats [surprise surprise].

Looking at Bard from a Cooperative stand point, he is pretty usesful  because he doesn’t require the rivendell blade to hit enemy’s weak spots engaged to your fellow comrades. However that is where his usefulness begins and ends sadly. But fear not every great hero needs some embellishment from time to time and Fantasy Flight has provided tools to do just that.

 
So far we have already had the opportunity to use events like “Hands upon the Bow” and “Rain of Arrows” . Both of which really get the most out of our ranged heroes however Bard will make the most of “Great Yew Bow” and his famous Black Arrow! As you can see to your left, Great yew Bow is an attachment that allows a ranged character to choose an enemy in the staging area and make a solo “ranged” attack against it. This will allow Bard to pick off the higher threat enemies that will be lurking in the staging area just waiting to rough your fellowship up.

While Great Yew Bow is similar to Hands upon the Bow, there are a few major differences that need to be considered before tossing out Hands upon the Bow. First off, Hands upon the bow is a regular action that can be played during any player action window of the game. So it could be used to take out a high threat enemy during the staging step to help the party progress on the quest. Plus the additional attack strength never hurts to have. On the other side, GYB is a “restricted” attachment that requires that it be a hero with a printed Ranged keyword. {Hands upon the bow can be used by allies with ranged}. GYB is allow limited to the combat phase so that means enemies have already made player engagement checks. This greatly reduces you targets to pick from and as the game goes on players threat increase which reduces the value of the attachment.  However we also have to consider that GYB is an attachment, not a one time use like HutB.

As for Black Arrow, I think this is a really cool card. It is the first player card to give you victory. That’s right I said VICTORY! It is another limited one per deck card and that’s the way it should be. By moving it to your victory window you give the attacking character +5 attack strength for that attack. So in Bard’s hands he becomes a 8 attack strength ranged hero then you pair that with Great Yew Bow and now you can attack Balrogs and Dragons waiting in the Staging area.  

That being said my favorite thing about Bard the Bowman is that he is answer to the damn Warg problems our fellowships face today (combo’d with Great Yew Bow). No more will we have to suffer the injustice of those damn Wargs showing up and making a mockery of everything our Fellowship stands for and then just running away. Those Wargs had better hope they get that shadow effect or Bard will put ‘em down.

RECENT POSTS
CONNECT