Warmed Up a Bit (4C322)

Swiftly and Softly (4C321)

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East Wall of Rohan (4U323)

	Set:		The Two Towers
	Kind:		Free Peoples
	Culture:		Shire
	Twilight:		0
	Card Type:		Event
	Game Text:		Stealth. Skirmish: Discard an unbound Hobbit.
	Lore:		“‘...we shall be able to stand again, and walk.'”
	Rarity:		C
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General Strategy

Part of a new toolkit for unbound Hobbits in The Two Towers, Warmed Up a Bit allows Merry or Pippin (and the other unbound Hobbits released beginning in Shadows) to be discarded in a skirmish, often instead of being killed.

There are many benefits to discarding a companion. Most obviously, companions in the discard pile are not dead and can be played again or replaced by stronger companions without fear of violating The Rule of 9. Merry, In the Bloom of Health and Pippin, In the Bloom of Health in particular are often replaced in this way, used as starting companions and later discarded in favor of an 8 Ent fellowship. Discarding a companion also allows you to play a different copy of the same companion, such as discarding Merry, Horticulturalist (whose text is essentially useless once Farmer Maggot is played) in favor of a more useful version like Merry, Friend to Sam. Because you don't have to discard a Hobbit in an active skirmish, you can use Warmed Up a Bit during another skirmish phase to prevent a skirmish entirely and avoid activating text of cards which trigger after skirmishes are won such as War Club and Howl of Harad.

Treebeard, Earthborn and Gandalf, Greyhame are among the most common and consistent ways to play discarded Hobbits once more, and the complementary event Knocked on the Head can replay a discarded Hobbit in the regroup phase to prime the fellowship for a double move or avoid paying the companion's twilight cost during next turn. All tokens are removed from a card when it is discarded, so unbound Hobbits may be used to soak up wounds from threats or archery, discarded, then played again with full vitality. Likewise all cards attached to a card are discarded, so discarding a Hobbit may operate as a way to get rid of conditions such as Throw Yourself in Next Time or Great Heart at the potential cost of discarding cards like Escape and Hobbit Sword attached to the same companion.

While Hobbit discarding may represent the escape of Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-Hai, the Uruk-Hai trackers are still portrayed as captors and are themselves a hard counter to cards such as Warmed Up a Bit. Uruk Pursuer, Uruk Follower, and Uruk Hunter each explicitly prohibit unbound Hobbits from being discarded and confer sharp penalties if those Hobbits are killed. Discarding a companion is also the only way for the number of threats to be greater than the number of companions; the extra wounds could prove cumbersome should a companion die and cards such as Mumak Commander which are built to counter fellowships with many companions may still spot the necessary number of threats to devastate a smaller fellowship. Though there are three Shadow cards which cancel specifically stealth events (Wariness, Relentless, and Seeking It Always), these cards are rarely seen because a majority of fellowships - even many with [Shire] companions - do not use stealth events.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong Versus...

• Fellowships able to replay companions from discard
• Shadow cards which activate after a skirmish is won or a companion is killed
• Strong minions which may otherwise kill a companion

Weak Versus...

• Certain Uruk-Hai Trackers (Uruk Pursuer, Uruk Follower, and Uruk Hunter)
• Event canceling, as Hobbits often have no other way to avoid being killed
• Fellowships which rely on cards such as Hobbit Sword and Escape which will be discarded along with the Hobbit bearing them
• Foot of Mount Doom, if planning on replaying Hobbits from discard

Example Decks

• Decklists or links to decks that use this card.

Rules and Clarifications

From the Comprehensive Rulebook:

• If all characters of one side are removed during a skirmish before strength has been totaled, the skirmish resolves and the other side wins.
• If all characters of one side are removed from a skirmish before that skirmish begins, that skirmish does not occur.

Extra Information

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