A very situational card, but in some quest with awful Conditions it can be a real life saver and if you are playing with some sort of ally sward deck its cost it's not to steep, especially since the ally can be an exhausted (and even wounded) one.

This is a pretty good card if you have the right target for its action.

I'm thinking in cards like Gandalf or Saruman and that action window at the refresh phase... you can play the Bulwark and remove a nasty card, at no cost, by discarding a card that is going to be discarded anyway. Even better, you can also trigger a Word of Command or A Very Good Tale + Bulwark of the West combo, and maximize the utility of that "leaving play" istari card.

If istari are expensive or that refreshing step is too late for our purposes, we also have several low cost eagles going through some action window, right before we are forced to apply their leaving play effects, in earlier steps of the round.

Having only a few cards in the entire pool for removing condition attachment effects (3 in , 1 in , and this one in , if I'm not wrong¹), I believe it is worth to save a few slots for including the Bulwark in our leadership decks.

1. = Miner of the Iron Hills, Athelas, Elrond. = Power of Orthanc.

There are few condition attachments I want to get rid of so desperately that sacrificing an ally for them is worth it, I mostly just prefer taking them and living with the consequences instead of dedicating deck-space to their removal. And even if I want to counter a particular bad condition, there are often better options, be it Elrond, Power of Orthanc or Miner of the Iron Hills. Bulwark of the West can gets rid of a condition immediately (even before resolving the quest for instance), which only Power of Orthanc can also do (if you don't count combos like Sneak Attack/Elrond), which is something going for this card, however in most cases, I still prefer the alternatives (as long I have access to them sphere-wise).

Rating: 3/10

Decks of mine using Bulwark of the West

All my card ratings