Not a review, but theoretical question: what happens with the guarded attachment if the active location is discarded (e.g. with Distant Stars) and not explored?

I see that it's maybe not the perfect combo anyway (since with Distant Stars you "make a location active" instead of "travelling to" and that sadly bypasses the opportunity to draw another attachment), but I'm wondering if there is any synergy.

At least when dealing just with just the core set, getting this card on Gimli along with 4 damage, gets him up to 8 attack. This also makes Quick Strike with Gimli very powerful as you can take out most enemies before they attack. While you can put more damage on Gimli with Citadel Plate, Dwarven Axe is a bit cheaper, which means you can get it out faster. And In most cases 8 attack is enough. That said, if you have the resources, you could always put both on and get him him to 12 attack to enable handling a hill troll or something similar in one hit.

A good companion to Barliman Butterbur + Pint / Half-pint (with or without Nob), or Hobbit heroes (think of Frodo Baggins). Attaching two of these on a Hobbit when you control Bill the Pony implies that Hobbit get +3 hit points.

A good and interesting hero who may be included in a thematic Alep Bree deck or a more generic deck when attaching for instance The One Ring + Well Preserved to him. That mix between the ally Barliman Butterbur, Bombur and some drawing thematic lore option, resolves the major problem of its ally-avatar (too few hit points and handy affordable healing solutions to repeat, use and abuse of the undefended attacks).

Here not only the Gap of Rohan package provides all you need to make its mechanics work (Bree Pony, Pint, Half-pint and its resources recursivity engine Seasoned Forager), but also you are not limited to Bree or Hobbit decks. It extends the deck-building for undefended attacks, in order to change from the classic Glóin + Elrond + Warden of Healing, while it underlines one of the Lore advantage (the drawing).

Among the many archetypes which could benefit from Barliman Butterbur's response, apart from Hobbits, think to Silvan decks where the Silvan characters are pretty flimsy in defense, and one needs a third hero in sphere to complete the Celeborn + Galadriel classic duo and accelerate the drawing and the deck-thinning...

Technically, always commit Barliman Butterbur in quest and let him take undefended attacks when needed. This low-threat swiss-army-knife hero is a very clever addition to that wonderful game.

The previous reviews have highlighted how well this card works with a unique Hobbit character. Even without such a character, this can be a wonderful card to help you find your key card(s) and set up your engine. But you know who hasn't been mentioned, who sings just as good a drunken song as any Hobbit? Gandalf, that's who!

If you play this card from the top of your deck, it completely replaces your whole hand, just like it would if you controlled a unique Hobbit. What's more, Gandalf loves cheap events that he can play when not in the planning phase to maximize his ability and give pseudo-card draw.

What's more, if you are in control of both Gandalf and a unique Hobbit and play Drinking Song from the top of your deck, this acts as actual card draw: you replace your hand fully, draw one more card due to your unique Hobbit, and even expose a new card on top of your deck that you might be able to play. Consistency, card draw, you could even generate resources in combination with Love of Tales, what's not to love?