Rohan 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

Overview

I've decided to share some of the decks me and my friend group play with for particular cycles. This is Deck #1 in a 2-player fellowship, given to a friend of mine, while myself I'm playing the other deck. For more in-depth overhaul regarding structure and thought behind those decks please check out the fellowship description! (e.g. no shared cards in Decks #1, sticking strictly to the theme).

For the first cycle, Shadows of Mirkwood, I've decided to give my friends a Rohan deck. Given that during this time of game weren't really any fleshed out archetypes, we could see glimpses of what to be later in the line a Rohan discard playstyle. Since it is a chronologicaly a first cycle in the game and the one I start with friends who are new to LOTR LCG (after some tutorial scenarios from Dark of Mirkwood), you could say Rohan deck would be too complicated for a new player, especially unfamiliar with card games. While it is true there are easier to grasp archetypes, like Dwarves, Rohan made the most sense given the theme and mechanics of first 9 scenarios. The beauty of this deck lies in a fact that you could play it in a very simple fashion: heroes' "roles" are very straightforward, you play allies for cheap and then you just use them for their stats or just chump block with them, feeding Éomer. However more expierienced card game players can find ways to utilize Rohan discard abilities and try some fun combos with them.

General strategy

Mulligan for either Horn of the Mark or Gamling. Rohan struggles with card draw and even when most of scenarios in this cycle will be REALLY short you don't want to topdeck every single turn. Gamling provides semi card draw, allowing to utlize your allies' abilities without losing them forever.

Éomer obviously is a main attacker here, with all the discard abilities (as well partner's Eagle deck shenanigans) he will be mostly attacking for 5, 7 with Firefoot.

Éowyn, no surprise, quests all of the time. One of the most powerful questers in the game, allowing for some adjusting after the staging step. She gets Horn of the Mark as well as Windfola (which secondary ability won't come to much into play during this cycle - take that Black Forest Bats! - but +1 is always nice).

Théoden serves all roles, being an early game defender if you don't want to chump block, questing if needed, or holding that 3 for a massive charge on a big enemy. Corresponding attachments accelarate his flexbility: Golden Shield allows him to defend for 4, Herugrim to attack for 5 and Snowmane to make better use of his spreadout statline. However his ablity is important too, as this deck doesn't have any resource accelaration, but this usually isn't a problem. Rohan allies are mostly cheap and even cheaper with this guy.

General tips

This deck doesn't have notable cards, allies serve mostly as a "toolbox" with their varied abilities. Just to give some examples: Westfold Lancer pairs really well with other's deck direct damage thanks to Faunith and Descendant of Thorondor, Westfold Outrider is fantastic against Wargs and The Riddermark's Finest with Meneldor cruise through locations. Early game treacheries and shadows can be really nasty so it was natural to give this deck such staples as A Test of Will or Hasty Stroke also showing the importance of cancelation effects to the newer players. One card that I don't see that often appearing in Rohan decks is Stand and Fight which makes a really good insurance in case of lack of Gamling on the table or even resource smoothing (discard ally to Éowyn and then put them into play with resources).

I really like the idea of giving each deck some epic moment big event and in this case it's The Muster of Rohan. Feels really good to just plop 4 allies in one turn for a massive quest push or boss battle.

Conclusion

That pretty much covers the basics of this deck. Please keep in mind it is designed to play with the other deck in a fellowship and for a particular cylce in a game. This decks is meant to represent most powerful combination of cards in a given archetype, but feel free to leave a comment regarding them, as even after some years of using them I change them slightly after some thought :) Feel free to try them, even with new players as I did!