Ranger's Bow (4C131)

Ranger of Ithilien (4C130)

Back to The Two Towers Index

Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn (4U132)

	Set:		The Two Towers
	Kind:		Free Peoples
	Culture:		Gondor
	Twilight:		1
	Card Type:		Possession • Ranged Weapon
	Game Text:		Bearer must be Ring-bound Man. Skirmish: If bearer is skirmishing a Man or a roaming minion, exert bearer to wound that minion.
	Lore:		“Two had great bows, almost of their own height, and great quivers of long green-feathered arrows.”
	Rarity:		C
The information presented above about LoTR TCG, both literal and graphical, is copyrighted by Decipher Inc. This website is not produced, endorsed, supported, or affiliated with Decipher.

General Strategy

A staple of The Two Towers' [Gondor] Ring-bound Rangers, Ranger's Bow relies on Ancient Roads and Gondorian Ranger to ensure that a minion is always roaming and able to take a wound, and its primary text keeps [Dunland] Men from safety despite a naturally low site number. Mablung, Soldier of Gondor makes a particularly apt bearer, using his skirmish ability to exhaust a minion and the bow to finish it off. Gondorian Ranger also makes a good bearer because of his low strength, leaving few other methods of winning skirmishes unlike Ranger of Ithilien or Faramir, Captain of Gondor. Because one or two wounds is not always enough to kill many minions, players often complement Ranger's Bow with Citadel of the Stars, Stone Tower, Henneth Annun, and Gondor Bowmen to lower the vitality of Uruk-hai, Nazgul, and other high vitality minions. The exert cost may be offset with Banner of Westernesse and Citadel of Minas Tirith, leading to a highly reliable fellowship capable of winning every skirmish each turn.

Since the core of this wounding strategy is in skirmish abilities, Wargs are particularly devastating to decks which have no regular skirmish power. Direct wounding cards like Whirling Strike may unexpectedly exhaust a companion and cause him to die if there is no backup available. Skirmish healing such as Scaling Ladder and Not Easily Destroyed can be used to heal minions between wounds, which can also catch a player unaware. Further, wound prevention such as Hides, Goblin Armory, and Southron Traveler may make skirmishes impossible to win with Ranger's Bow alone. To combat this, events such as War and Valor and Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom are often used as a fall back.

It is worth noting that while Bill Ferny, Swarthy Sneering Fellow prevents Nazgul from roaming and he himself has the lowest site number at 2, he is a Man and may be easily killed if the Shadow Player assigns him to a skirmish.

Ranger's Bow has strong synergy with the [rohan] mounts, Brego and Horse of Rohan, as these exert the minions at the start of the skirmish and make them easy to pick off.

Ranger's Bow can be combined with Blade of Gondor on a Ring-Bound Boromir (Bearer of Council or Steward's Heir) to allow him to exert to wound any Orc, Uruk or Man he skirmishes.

This card also works well with Faramir, Bearer of Quality and Ranger's Cloak in the later sets, as these cards can easily make a skirmishing minion roaming.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong Versus...

• Minions with low vitality
• [Sauron] minions, which are often exerted by the shadow player
• Man minions

Weak Versus...

• Minions with high vitality or vitality boosting cards
• Skirmish special ability negation ([isengard] Wargs, Saruman's Snows, Cavern Entrance)
• Skirmish healing (Scaling Ladder, Not Easily Destroyed, Surging Up)
• Skirmish direct wounding (Whirling Strike, Desert Spearman, Desert Sneak)
• Wound prevention (Hides, Southron Traveler, Winged Mount)
• Cards which prevent minions from roaming (Bill Ferny, SSF; Hollin)
• Effects which lower minion site numbers, such as Fires Raged Unchecked or the numerous [Sauron] Trackers