What an interesting hero! To start us off, I'll go over some of the more obvious things. The artwork is very good, so nothing to complain about there. 3 is fantastic (and can even be boosted with Visionary Leadership), and provides your deck with strong turn one . The is really low, but can come in useful if you manage to ready Ingold. The 2 in combination with 4 means Ingold can take smaller attacks easily, and even a large one without perishing in a pinch. For 10 this is really good value, exactly what you'd expect, 10 stats for 10 .

Now to get on to the interesting part, the ability. Ingold's ability obviously works well in Gondor decks or even in decks that support many Warrior allies such as Rohan. The ability is great because it patches one of the major flaws of Gondor decks: card draw. Previously the only thematic options were Pillars of the Kings and Rod of the Steward. Card draw was especially hard to come by as Gondor decks tend to be and , which can both struggle with card draw. But with Ingold's ability, you can draw an extra card every round assuming you play a Gondor ally.

Now of course, this response isn't free, it comes with a few costs. Every time you activate the response, you have to either raise your threat by one or spend 1 resource from Ingold's pool. Raising your threat in Gondor decks is barely even a cost because you usually want to hit 40 as soon as possible anyways to activate your Valour triggers. Once you hit 40 , spend the resource to pay for Ingold's response because by that point you will have enough resources lying around to pay for the effect anyways, and you will be glad to spend one resource for an extra card.

The second restriction is the response's restriction of "Limit once per phase". At first glace, this means you can only get one extra card per round because you can only play allies during the planning phase. But that is not strictly true because there are several ways to play allies out of the planning phase. Hirgon is a thematic example that lets you play a ally during the quest phase, netting you an extra card in exchange for 1 raise or 1 resource. Sneak Attack and Reinforcements are a no brainer (in sphere) examples, and so is A Very Good Tale. Open the Gates is an option included in this expansion, as is Morwen Steelsheen. There are many other options such as Elfhelm and Stand and Fight. Lothíriel is another particularly interesting example because she's thematic, as is her father. With all these options, its very easy to consistently get more than one extra card per round with Ingold. The cost will raise your threat very quickly, but thats good because you will get to Valour much quicker, will allow you to quickly find important cards such as Angbor the Fearless, Visionary Leadership, and Errand-rider. Alternatively, using Ingold's response can be great for activating A Perilous Voyage more quickly.

Well, that's it from me. I hope you found my review useful, and I encourage you to experiment with the hero like I have. He's seems very well balanced to me, and really changes the way you think about your turns because deciding if you need another card and how to pay for it adds a really interesting dynamic to every turn, especially in the early game.

“I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them.” - Charles Darwin.

I know no one is out here on ringsdb reading the reviews of campaign cards especially boons, but this card has been so key to my campaign run that I will not let this blank page stand. Although it should thematically be attached to Frodo for most scenarios, this card reaches its peak of greatness when attached to the already great, and my favorite card, Sam Gamgee.

First off, the stat boost. 3 stats for a neutral 2 cost is of course fantastic and what you would expect. Although it's a balanced spread, Sam is one of few cards in the game that can make regular use of all 3 of his stats on one turn. With just this card and one Fast Hitch, he can quest now for 4, ready upon enemy engagement to defend for 3, and ready with fast hitch to attack back for 3.

Of course the above can be improved upon with other attachments or Rosie or methods to engage extra enemies, etc. But all those strategies are outlined on Sam's Page and this was supposed a be a review of Sting, whoops.

On to the ability. Direct damage is nothing to sneeze at, especially if you get lucky and discard enough threat to kill the enemy before they even attack, although it doesn't save you the exhaust. Even a couple points can make a huge difference, you can send your regular attackers questing and still eventually be rid of engaged enemies. And if you get "unlucky" and simply discard a treachery to deal no damage, typically the treacheries are the cards in the Saga you want to avoid revealing most anyway.

Finally and most importantly, unlike other weapons or boons like Anduril, this card does not need to be exhausted, it happens anytime the hero exhausts. If you have built your Hobbit deck around Sam as most do, that's typically at least 2 defends per turn, if not more, and thus more chances for damage.

No matter how tightly packed your 50-card Hobbit campaign deck is, make room for this.

A very efficient ally from a cost benefit perspective especially in a deck running Dáin Ironfoot. Also pairs well with A Very Good Tale to cheat in more allies. Run this in your next dwarf deck and you will not be disappointed!

Khazâd! Khazâd! is effective in stabilizing your board state in the opening rounds. It's precisely at this time that the dwarf archetype is most vulnerable since many of its heroes only have 1 or 2 attack and you will not have many allies on the table. Khazâd! Khazâd! can help you defeat those low to mid range enemies that tend to engage you early. It's utility tends to decrease towards the endgame because by that time you have established the dwarf army. Overall a great card and a staple in most dwarf decks.

I would say this is not the strongest hero in the game, Ioreth can be very powerful, and Warden of Arnor can heal one damage from two different characters per round, this healer card definitely has place in some decks. I can see this being a really good option in decks with heroes like Erestor or Arwen Undómiel. With Erestor you are likely to have a card or two spare so his healing ability makes use of them, instead of just discarding them without any use. With Arwen Undómiel you may still discard the Elven-light into discard pile for resource, pull it back and if needed, chunk it back in for healing. Also he can be good in decks which have lot of unique cards you dont need and they may sit in your hand. This way you can get some healings out of them. As the other reviewer pointed out, this healer can also survive treacheries, which deal damage to allies, because he has 2 hitpoints, unlike Ioreth or Warden of Healing. And he can quest at the same time. Also if he dies and you play the ALeP cards Wandering Spirit he can be put back into play from your discard pile! Which can be put into the discard for the healing effect as well! Another good ALeP card I would include if I have access to Tactics would be Relic of Nargothrond as you can discard it for his abilty and then play it from the discard pile! I fully admit I really like this healer and if I can, include it in my decks.