Happy Monday All! I hope you had a great Halloween Weekend whether you were kickin’ it back and watching scary movies, tricking and treating, or even doing something completely unrelated to Halloween.

Now we must get back to our day to day. Thankfully another Holiday (for those in the U.S. at least) quickly approaches, albeit in 4 sure to be long weeks.

But maybe this little Took can help you get through that. So here goes nothing. If you paid attention to the title then the next few words will seem redundant but I am pleased to introduce the Hero of the Month for November: Sam Gamgee.

UPDATE: I will be posting other articles about Sam right here, that way you don’t have to scroll to the bottom.

Further Analysis

Deck Tech: Sting Like a Bee

Deck Tech: Sam and The Bear

A little lore breakdown for those who may not know. Sam Gamgee, or Samwise Gamgee, was a hobbit of the shire and the best friend (and gardener) to Frodo Baggins. Together they set out from the Shire with The One Ring (carried by Frodo). They eventually made it to Rivendell where it was decided that Frodo, along with eight other companions of which Sam was included, were to take The One Ring across Middle Earth to the heart of the enemy’s land of Mordor and cast it into a molten volcano to end evil once and fore all. Man! What a mouthful! And that’s only halfway through the first novel.

Needless to say, Sam’s involvement in the story was vital to the success of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, though some never knew. Of course all the companions played their part, but Sam’s story is one of the most dramatic and certainly had some of the biggest influences in the outcome. Sam was able to confront all types of dangers and horrors and if I remember correctly, one of only 2 ring bearers to actually willingly give up the ring when the time came. It’s debatable in my opinion, which Hobbit was more “heroic”, Sam or Frodo but I always tend to lead more towards Sam. Nevertheless Sam was the prime example of a hero alongside Frodo and I think his card portrays this oh so well.

With a sword in his hand and his faithful pots and pans on his back, Sam Gamgee as a Hero is certainly a force to be reckoned with. His placement in the leadership sphere is very appropriate in my opinion, and I have a hard time finding another sphere that makes more thematic sense. His slightly higher threat than some of the other Hobbit heroes is a little off but I still think it makes sense. His willpower is nothing to laugh at either. Boasting more willpower than nearly the entire Spirit Sphere Hero lineup, Sam can be a questing machine, and his 3 hitpoints can provide some safety against any encounter cards that might deal direct damage.

What makes Sam so thematically juicy (does that sound gross to you?) is his ability which reads as follows:

Reponse: After you engage an enemy with a higher engagement cost than your threat, ready Sam Gamgee. He gets +1 Willpower, +1 Attack, and +1 Defense until the end of the round.

I mean… wow! They hit the nail on the head with this one. Not only does this go well with the hobbit theme (which I will go into more detail possibly in the next post) but it goes well with the theme of Sam in itself. Consistently in the story Sam finds himself against obstacles that are far greater than himself. Obstacles that would send most fleeing back towards home. And of course Sam tackles with these issues himself. But time after time he perseveres and faces the troubles before him, and turns into a force to be reckoned with. You can quest quite strongly with Sam and then, should you need a defender (assuming you have proper attachments or a certain pony) or if you need an attacker, you can take on an enemy before you normally should and Sam will be ready with a fire in his eyes!

Sam Gamgee is one of my favorite hero cards that has been released so far. I love the artwork for one. It’s probably one of my favorite depictions of the character aside from Sean Astin’s portrayal in the Jackson Films. Some of the other portrayals make Sam out to be an oaf and though he is naive and innocent in the start, his true nature doesn’t take too long to come out and I think this image does a fair job of showing both sides of the character.

Sadly though, I must cut this post short. In a later post, possibly tonight, I will being posting some decks I found on the internet that contain this brave hobbit. I will say though, it has been difficult to find many decks that contain Sam that don’t go right into a standard hobbit build, but I was able to find a few and I’m hoping to come up with one myself that I can add to this series. As the month progresses I will continue to post articles and/or decklists about the Hero. If you have an opinion or an idea that you want to share please do so! If you have a deck list you’ve been devilishly hiding from everyone containing Sam please let me know! I’d love to put it on here and have people see it if you’ll allow it.

As always, I appreciate any comments or concerns about the blog thus far. Also, special thanks to the Hall of Beorn for his wonderful card search. The above image should post to his page on Sam Gamgee. If you haven’t been to the Hall of Beorn before, please click the image above and follow the links to the rest of the search engine and have fun!

Have a Happy Monday All!

-The Secondhand Took