This is an auto-include if you’re running spirit in Heirs of Numenor and Against the Shadow. The majority of the quests have shadow cards that do this to the player, so having a free means to effectively cancel the extra damage is amazing.

No reviews for tactics Imrahil? Well he's not really popular, either in this or his leadership form, but I find his unique ability incredibly useful with combat-heavy quests and encounters. So right off the bat, you get a strong hero with a great range of stats- the 2WP is nice in a sphere that averages less than that. He's a capable defender, and can deal a good bit of damage, too. But his real strength is his ability, combined with his three traits that make him work in a variety of decks: I've successfully used his ability in everything from a Gondor tactics deck to a leadership/tactics dwarf/Gondor/Rohan hybrid deck- which worked because most, if not all of those allies shared at least one trait with our venerable prince. I've even teamed him up with Na'asiyah with good effect. I'd be hard-pressed to pick between leadership Imrahil and tactics Imrahil, but if I had to pick one, I'd give a slight edge to this incarnation, as I've personally found his ability to be an absolute lifesaver and occasionally a game-changer; being able to instantly bring out reinforcements as needed is high utility, and it gets even more useful when paired with the leadership access to resource generation and management. Again, remember that his ability can work with many deck and card types, including many elves, dwarves, etc. so he lends himself well to experimentation! Starting out with the Gondor, Noble, and Warrior traits is great, but throwing attachments on him that bestow traits- like Sylvan, Noldor, Rohan, Outlands, etc.- make him potentially suitable to such a wide variety of decks that I'm really surprised he isn't more highly-regarded. Give tactics Imrahil a shot; it's a lot of fun experimenting with him!

I've just started reading The Hobbit to my young son and was instantly reminded of this card when I read the relevant line from the book, which is the flavor text on this card. As a bonus, I retrieved this card and showed it to my son, which amazed him -- both because of the artwork (including Bilbo cowering in the background) and that it gave my son an idea of how well the book is known. But what about the card itself?

Given the timing of the card, it can obviously be a complete loss of 1 resource and 1 card if no enemy appears. That is, unless you employ various scrying tricks, of which there are a few. The easiest to setup is playing one-handed with Henamarth Riversong, who should be a staple in any solo deck. But since I now play 99% of my games with 2 decks, I pass over this card. And not just for those reasons, but because given all the attack power you can muster these days, paring off 2 in one instance can't compare with +2 every turn.

Still, when I want to create a direct damage deck, this one is on the radar... but again, unless I'm willing to play one-handed and/or make scrying work, I pass it up. Regardless, I like the card for it's artwork, for honing in on a specific moment in Middle-Earth, and now, for me, the added bonus that I'll always think about my son's widening eyes when I showed it to him, giving him an inkling of the scope of Tolkien's reach.

Errand Rider is an incredible splash card. He's a great fit for two different archetypes: the Gondor Swarm and a multi-sphere deck, but first, let's look at the Errand Rider in a vacuum.

That one cost immediately tells me this card is worth something. You'd be hard pressed to show me a one-cost ally in this game that is not good, and our serviceable friend here is no exception. Even with a blank text box, Errand Rider is a nice chump blocker that can even take some direct damage before biting the dust.

Now let's throw his action in the mix. The first thing you should have coming into this game as a new player is an understanding of sphere and resource pool balance. Having the ability to shift resources around is phenomenally useful. Your single Spirit hero? Now you can play those crucial two cost cards in one round or have a resource handy for some cancellation. Hand full of pricey uniques? Get 'em out there! If your deck has heroes from three different spheres, Errand Rider can even save games; and multiplayer takes him to a whole new level.

He also fits extremely well into your old Leadership Gondor swarm deck. This one cost chump becomes a serious contributor being boosted by Boromir and Visionary Leadership. Even if he dies the round you play him, a Gondor deck benefits just from having another ally around to key off of (AVGT, Herald of Anorien , Citadel Custodian).

As you can see, auto include glue ally in many decks. Don't let that stat-line fool you from giving this hard worker his due credit.

(its interesting: finding 200 words to describe the Dunedain Warning isn't easy.) no one would question its inclusion in a mono leadership deck, also good for multiplayer. 4 stars in the Dunedain sky.