Dunland Strategy Notes

This Strategy-Note article was written by Joe Alread (Game Designer - Decipher, Inc) and was published first on "Lord of the Rings Online (lotrtcg.decipher.com)".

Some of the philosophies behind the Dunland culture were born very early in the Two Towers design process.

Wild and unstable.

These were the words I used to describe how I felt about the people of the culture. Angry, barbarous, and uncivilized were other words thrown back and forth at the design table as well. We felt we could transfer this feeling of "wildness" into the game in a variety of ways.

For example, examine the three minions below from three different cultures.

Notice the cost/strength/vitality ratios on all three minions. Can you tell the difference? The Dunlendings specialize in higher strength, but suffer in vitality as a cost for that strength. You'll notice this number scheme on most of the Dunland minions. There isn't even a single Dunland Man with 3 vitality!

Other Triggers

Along with the unique number scheme, we needed a few other triggers for the Dunlendings to get "angry" over. Examine the following cycle of cards out of the Dunland culture.

Many Dunlendings receive additional bonuses from winning their skirmishes. Along with the cycle above is another cycle that allows them to play additional minions in a skirmish phase.

They all already have a high strength for their cost, so winning skirmishes isn't hard for this culture to accomplish. What's hard for them is getting to the actual skirmishes themselves.

The Art of Hides

Through playtesting The Two Towers, initial results on the Dunlendings were very negative. Dunlendings matched up against archery decks made a sad showing. Multiple minions would fall every turn simply because of some Elves and their pesky bows. With this in mind, we decided to set out on a quest to strike up a balanced mechanic for Dunland wound prevention.

The key lay in costing the wound prevention correctly. I don't recall there being any other versions of Hides. We sent the first version out to playtest and it stuck. We created a couple of sites on the adventure path to protect Dunlendings in the early part of the game, and things seemed to click for this culture afterwards. A question I frequently get is whether we'll create another version of Hides in the future for variety's sake, and I'm pleased to say we were able to sneak in another Dunland wound prevention card in Ents of Fangorn. Is it better than Hides? That's for the players to decide.

The Foundations of Site Control

Originally, site control was designed specifically for Dunlendings. Being the front line of Saruman's attack and taking control of Rohan villages, it seemed like a natural ability for them. As a result, Dunland's site control cards have the highest cost-to-ability ratio in the Two Towers block. Other cultures have varying abilities of site control but no other culture let's you perform powerful actions such as assigning your own minions or making them all fierce and damage +1 for a turn.

While I'm sad to see the Dunland culture take a break during King block, I have no doubt they will return one day with a vengeance in a future block. And who knows, maybe we'll sneak in a card or two next year when we can, much like we've done for Moria this past year. Until next time, here's to winning skirmishes.