Ranger Spikes

I had great fun using this against the trolls in Carrock. However, I am not sure about its use in case you play more copies of the card into the staging area. I would love to be reassured that each attaches to a different enemy. But I have a bad feeling they would all stick to the same beast since they are attachments without any special restrictions. Which would make multiple use redundant. Thoughts?

Hmm hadn´t thought about that but seems plausible that if you have multiple unattached copies in staging area at the same time that they will all attach to the same enemy (and lowering his threat proportionally). In this case I´d probably play them out one at a time though.

Yup, they would all attach to the same enemy.

Well well, just as I feared - the less thematic interpretation wins . That makes them just somewhat useful against Carrock rather than very useful. Thanks for the comments, guys.

How do they become "unattached"? Can the owner detach them at will? Do they detach upon engagement? Do they detach upon death?

They are unattached when you first play them. Then an enemy comes out, they attach, and stay attached. There is no way to unattach them again. If the enemy dies, they go to your discard.

Also, revising the earlier question - since the trolls all enter the staging area at the same time, the first player gets to chose which spikes go on which trolls. So this totally can be effective. Of course, if the encounter deck flipped up an enemy before then you are required to attach all the spikes to it - so to be sure of this working you'd want to play some encounter deck manipulation (or just get lucky)

Hmm which begets another question since Bert (OHaUH) says that players cannot play attachments on troll enemies while he is in play. Technically nobody is playing anything on them since the Ranger Spikes are laying passively in wait for their trigger to happen. Any thoughts on this?

I suppose that the "spikes" don't work with Bert in play. The "spikes" are in the staging area an when the troll comes in play you must attach to one of them, and so the ability of Bert negate the action.......

The phrasing on Bert is "Players cannot play attachment cards on troll enemies".
But once ranger spikes is in the staging area it has already been played an it´s ability is in a passive state untill an enemy enters. At which point the attachment itself attaches to the enemy. If you go by the wording on the cards then Ranger Spikes would attach to the trolls this way. I´m just wondering wether that was the intent (it might well be but who knows)

In this case I choose the hardest way.....pro enemy, so if I win the quest I have no regrets of choosing a more easy solution......

When ranger spikes are in the staging area and an enemy like dol goldur orcs step into the trap, wouldn't the when reveal effect of the orcs be negated??

When ranger spikes are in the staging area and an enemy like dol goldur orcs step into the trap, wouldn't the when reveal effect of the orcs be negated??

Nope. All the spikes do is reduce the threat and make sure you cannot engage them. It's not ideal, but the spikes cost two, and that's okay by me.

Just curious, why would it say when it becomes unattached if you can't unattach it or it doesn't become unattached upon death. I feel like death would unattach it becomes thematically you've killed something, cleared your spikes and set the trap for the next enemy.

A little understanding please?
Thanks

I believe this is a one-time use attachment; you are not allowed to continually re-set the trap. It uses the term "unattached" to allow you to place it in the staging area not attached to anything (i.e. it has no target). Once the next eligible enemy hits the staging area, it attaches to that enemy until the enemy dies, at which time the spikes go into your discard pile.

Can you still make optional engagement checks against an attached enemy? Or can you only attack them in other ways to clear it from the staging area?

There isn't really optional engagement "checks" since you can optionally engage any enemy, regardless of their threat level (excluding any cards that have text that also prevent optional engagements).  So yes, you can still optionally engage this enemy if you want.  It just will never forcibly engage a player due to an engagement check.  

so if i get it right this card pins one enemy to the staging area preventing it to engage players and also reducing his threat by two. simply awesome card!

Especially cool when a quest cards asks you to discard encounter cards until you find an enemy...

Does this card's effect prevent an attached enemy from engaging players by other means? Heirs of Numenor includes enemy cards that engage players for reasons other than the engagement phase (for example, Harbor Thug). 

Harbor Thug will still engage the player, even with the trap attached.

Thanks. I assume the Thug engages the player and the spikes stay attached to him rather than go to discard.

Yep they would stay attached.

This card has great synergy with Lore Faramir. Trap three baddies with spikes in the staging area and now Faramir has 5 attack power!

Rules Question:
> Hello! How is it with multiple traps in staging area and multiple enemies incoming here at the same time? Like trolls in We Must Away, Ere Break of Day scenario, or trolls in Conflict at the Carrock scenario. Can I choose which enemy goes to witch trap? Or one enemy goes to all trap? Thanks for your answer. Laco.

 

Hi Laco,
Whenever several effects resolve simultaneously, it is up to the first player to decide how they resolve. If you have multiple traps in the staging area when you advance to stage 2 of Conflict at the Carrock and add 4 Troll enemies to the staging area, the first player will decide which enemy to attach each trap to because they are all valid targets.
Now if there were multiple traps in the staging area when just 1 enemy was added to the staging area, then each trap would be attached to that enemy.
Cheers,
Caleb