Ted Sandyman, Chief's Men's Ally (18U75)
 Squint-eyed Southerner (18C74)
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Treachery (18R76) 
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Ted Sandyman, Chief's Men's Ally (18U75) is a 
Men Minion from the Treachery & Deceit set.
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Strategy[edit]
Ted Sandyman is an unusual card, although not one that is very useful in most decks. His main use is to turn site control effects into a global strength bonus for other Men minions. However, he does also have some very unusual qualities. He's the only Hobbit that isn't a Free Peoples character, and he can stack Men minions in strange places. These latter qualities are rarely useful, though.
Because of his low strength, his only useful ability outside of gimmick decks is his Maneuver ability. It synergizes decently well with site control abilities that also go off in the Maneuver phase, on cards such as Rapt Hillman (15U90)
(especially with Pavise (11C94)
), Engrossed Hillman (15U78)
, and Wandering Hillman (15U94)
. Since all of these occur in the maneuver phase, the Shadow player can control sites then immediately release them for strength bonuses, giving the Free Peoples player little opportunity to use their own site liberation abilities.
Ted Sandyman is has high vitality, so he can soak up archery, undirected wounding, and exertions. His low cost and site number make him very easy to play, and can be useful for fulfilling the spotting requirements of larger Men minions, such as Voice of the Desert, Southron Troop (13R101)
and Desert Wind (13R86)
.
That covers his typical uses.
He also has some atypical ones. Most cards that spot or affect hobbits are written with the assumption that those hobbits are 
Shire Free Peoples characters. So he occasionally benefits from your opponents' cards, like Little Golden Flower (15R148)
. Just as often, his presence is a benefit to your opponent: he'll trigger cards like Fates Entwined (13U148)
if he wins a skirmish somehow, and your opponent can exert him to pay for Incognito (11C167)
. The main way you can take advantage of this is by using cards that were meant to punish players who were playing Shire decks. Many of these cards don't work on him -- any card that specifies companions, allies, or Ring-bound or unbound hobbits won't work -- but there's one exception: Fool of a Took! (1R170)
You can use Fool of a Took! and Ted Sandyman, in combination with a Free Peoples deck that filters out as many cards that aren't 
Moria minions as possible, to draw many minions and bomb your opponent out of the game all at once with a huge swarm. This is a gimmick deck, but it's a funny gimmick.
His Regroup ability is even stranger. It has no limit on which possessions you can stack a Men minion on, or whose. If you want to stack your minions on your opponent's Gandalf's Cart (1U73)
or Ithilien Blade (15C62)
, you can do that. It's useless and possibly even counterproductive, but you're allowed to. You can technically get some use out of this, by stacking Men on Web (8C30)
to benefit Shelob, Eater of Light (8R25)
or on Scaffolding (6U73)
to protect your Isengard
orcs, but these interactions are so esoteric and weak that you'll never find a use for them outside of the silliest gimmick decks. Even if you did have a use for this ability, he only has 3 strength, so he'll usually die in his skirmish even against fairly weak Free Peoples companions.
Strengths and Weaknesses[edit]
Synergizes With...[edit]
- Site control, especially in the Shadow or Maneuver phase. (eg Rapt Hillman (15U90)
Engrossed Hillman (15U78)
, and Wandering Hillman (15U94)
). He can turn that site control into immediate strength bonuses.
- Fool of a Took! (1R170)
and other Shadow cards that spot Hobbits, as long as those cards don't specify Shire culture, companions or allies, nor Ring-bound nor unbound hobbits.
Strong Versus...[edit]
- Archery and undirected wounding/exertion, soaking up wounds to protect more important minions.
- Site Liberation, since he can liberate sites very early in the turn, often before the Free Peoples player gets a chance to.
Weak Versus...[edit]
- He will almost always die in his skirmish without support from other cards. He's rarely worth the effort.
Rulings[edit]
- Ted Sandyman is a Hobbit, so he can interact with some cards that spot or affect Hobbits. Note that he is not Shire culture, is not a companion or ally, and, because he is not a companion, is neither Ring-bound nor unbound.
- Can stack other minions on any active possession in play. This is any Shadow possession his player has in play, or any Free People's possession his player's opponent has in play. This has no effect on most possessions.
See Also[edit]
- Has the typical Hobbit 3 strength, 4 vitality, 1 cost stat array, mirroring those of Merry and Pippin in Fellowship of the Ring.
