Boomed and Trumpeted

Event. Cost: 1.

Ent.

Response: After an Ent character takes any amount of damage, ready it. That character gets +3 until the end of the phase.

"They roared and boomed and trumpeted, until stones began to crack and fall at the mere noise of them." Merry, The Two Towers
Jordan Saia

Escape from Mount Gram #32. Tactics.

Boomed and Trumpeted
Reviews

I admit, this is an odd card to review as it's pretty self-explanatory, but after a recent game where I played a couple of them, I had the urge. While some cards are staples and/or overused, this is obviously very niche. But if you have Ents and , this is almost required, in part to its synergy, but also because it's one of those cards that just feels so gratifying to play.

Any Ent that can damage itself, such as Derndingle Warrior, Beechbone, Quickbeam, and Treebeard are perfect candidates, as this event not only readies them, but boosts their attack by a significant amount, which can very easily be that extra boost you need to take out an enemy. (And with Treebeard, a double attack is quite potent, especially as any initial damage to himself for his first attack, along with the +3 , will stay with him for both attacks as they last for the phase.)

But my truly satisfying, recent moment came when I used the enemy's Archery against itself, when an exhausted Wellinghall Preserver, who had quested for 3 took 1 damage. He then "roared and boomed and trumpeted" by readying and was poised to hit for 5 , taking out the enemy who had shot him, with the perfect ending being that he healed his own wound at the end of the round.

I'm one of those players who, rather than creating bonkers-good decks that can feel gimmicky, love it when strong theme comes through. And with the scenario I described... well... if you can't picture a resting Ent suddenly taking an arrow from an assailant, and then imagine his fury, making him rise up with indignation from his usual non-hasty self (I mean, just look at that card image with some dude's tiny sword helpless to fend him off in the lower right corner!) and then swiping an angry, vindictive branch to bat aside an enemy, only to pause to heal before trudging forward... then honestly, you've no business playing this game. Because these are the cards where I tip my hat to the designers and say "Bravo!" at making me feel like I temporarily stepped into the pages of Tolkien.

JYoder 344
I especially like using this with Derndingle Warrior (Defend for 5 then attack for 4) and Beechbone (which I actually overlooked for a while, before realizing that his ability will "deal X damage", which bypasses defense). It also works with Ally Quickbeam if you want a big attack for the phase, but I hate "wasting" the ready effect. — AzogTheUruk 21