Loaded Keywords

Loaded Keywords

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Loaded Keywords are bold one-word labels included in the game text of many cards. Each loaded keyword has a rule associated with it, and so they change the way the game is played by the very nature of being on the table (unlike their benign cousins Unloaded Keywords, which do not in and of themselves have any effect). For instance, if you look at the example of The Balrog shown to the right, it has two loaded keywords: Fierce and Damage +1. Fierce indicates that the minion skirmishes twice per turn, and damage +1 adds to the number of wounds it dishes out in a winning skirmish. Neither is insignificant, and can have serious ramifications for the unwary player.

These two keywords further establish that there are two different kinds of Loaded Keywords: numeric and non-numeric.

Numeric keywords are always paired with a nonzero number and, if ever reduced to zero, cease to have an effect. For instance, damage +1 indicates that one additional wound is to be placed during a winning skirmish. If the bonus is somehow reduced to damage +0, this ceases to have any effect: when the skirmish is won, zero additional wounds are placed. Cards that spot the lowest numeric version of a loaded keyword can also spot all higher numbers. For example, a card that said "Spot a minion with Damage +1" could also spot a damage +2 minion like Sauron, The Lord of the Rings (9R+48) .

Non-numeric Loaded Keywords, in contrast, never have a bare number associated with them and are simply on or off. In the case of Fierce, that character skirmishes twice per turn, but that's it. If you play a card like Fell Beast (6U83) that on a minion like The Witch-king, Lord of Angmar (1R237) , he doesn't benefit from being granted Fierce a second time. There is no such thing as Fierce 2 (thank goodness), and if it loses Fierce, that's that.

Artifacts and possessions often -- but do not always -- have a special loaded keyword called Item Class. Item Classes have no inherent effect, but a character may only bear one artifact or possession of a given item class at a time, unless they have a special effect that grants an exception, as with Hand Axe (2C10) . See Item Class for more information and a full list of classes.

See the pages at the keywords below for in-depth discussion as to an individual keyword's effects, or see Unloaded Keywords for an explanation for all other bolded keywords.