Scout 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 #2 in a 2-player fellowship, played by myself while other player gets Deck #1. 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).

By the time of Angmar Awakened cycle most of the traits or archetypes were already introduced to the game, so the question for this deck was mainly from mechanical point of view. It's worth to note that those scenarios are very hard so I had to create a deck that can cover weaknesses of the other, Dunedain, player. Since Dunedain take care of all the enemies, this deck focuses on both quest and travel phase. The best traits for this job are Woodmen and Scouts. The first one can follow one of two philosophies: either slamming all the attachments on one location or spreading them out on all locations. I've decided to lean onto the first one since I feel the latter is more beneficial for a pure Woodman deck, which this isn't. Other part of this deck are Scouts who don't have really much in common. They mostly have high willpower and that's it. But with Scouting Party those numbers can go very high in short bursts. With the nature of the quests as well as Dunedain deck will take some beating healing was also mandatory here. Finally, this deck doesn't do combat. Like at all. You can help with Lanwyn or maybe Mirkwood Hunter but apart from that all the enemies go to the other deck, while Scouts focus on questing purely.

Starting Hand

To be frank there isn't really a must have card in this deck to grab during the setup. You definitely want some attachments, maybe 2-3, to start Woodman synergy. Rest depends highly on quest. In direct damage scenarios, like The Weather Hills, looking for Warden of Healing or Ioreth is a good idea. In quests with harsh treacheries, like The Battle of Carn Dum, A Test of Will is very welcome. Lastly Scouting Party is also a great card to finish some side quests early.

Heroes

Most of the heroes here come for their or abilities and Haldan isn't an exception. Firstly, his response makes this deck draw crazy amounts of cards. If you manage to stack a location with all the attachments here you draw 9 (sic!) cards after clearing a location. Of course that's highly unlikely but even then drawing 2-3 cards extra every round is nothing to sneeze at. Him not exhasuting to quest isn't a big deal since you don't want to deal with enemies. But even then, when one of them slips through Haldan can take some weak attack or swing back for 3 .

Lanwyn is a very vital hero here, capable of achieving up to 6 . The choice between reading her or giving her willpower boost depends purely on the current circumstances, though I would rather be sure to clear a side quest or just quest successfuly. Her ranged can help Dunedains with killing big enemies. Of course her main interaction will be with Gavin, which I will cover below.

Widfast opens up a lot of gameplay possibilities. Firstly she lets you grab Gavin outside of your deck and play him for free. This ally is very vital in this deck so it's great you get him from the beginning. Secondly, her action allows you to travel to another location, having two active ones in total. It's not OP mechanic however you can get out of a location lock with it pretty easily.

The Deck

Allies here are Woodman/Scouts that trigger of their respective synergies. Celduin Traveler, even though meant to played in secrecy, has a very useful ability, even in multiplayer, allowing you to peek at the top card. You can discard it if it's a location, however scrying itself is noteworthy. Forest Road Traveler gets stronger the more attachments you put on the active location. Dunedain Pathfinder is quite a tricky card. It's definitely not on the par with it's direct comparison, Dúnedain Hunter, and you shouldn't be tempted by its 0 cost. The best way to play him is when you get unlucky and didn't get any locations to put your attachments on. Other cool combo is with Guarded Ceaselessly: you bring up a location with him and then you can decrease it's . Haleth and Súlien are very good but costly allies which makes them a great target for Elf-stone. I had to make some thematic concession in form of Warden of Healing and Ioreth since healing is mandatory in this cycle. Lastly, Mirkwood Hunter is there to support some combat abilities just a little bit. Make note he is not a Scout, so don't send him to the quest when planning to use Scouting Party. Now the hawk in the room - Gavin. This little guy serves as sort of extension to your heroes, namely Lanwyn. Its text can be a bit confusing but in simple terms it can give card a surge keyword for a resource. It's critical for Haldan since resources here are hard to come by. Normally that would be a horrible trade but the card revealed with surge that way is discarded unless it's a location. This can screw you over sometimes but it's more often than not worth triggering. The other benefit is that Lanwyn gets her boost to willpower or you can ready her. So basically what this ally do is give you a resource and +2 or ranged 3 with small risk of revealing a location. Worth a trade in my book.

Attachments are meat and bones for Woodman archetype. I've decided to stick to more conventional ones instead of more exotic (like Put Off Pursuit). They are mostly self-explanatory; just make sure, in case of Ancient Mathom and Woodmen's Clearing, to target right player with them. Some card draw can be crucial for Dunedain deck. Thrór's Key is here to blank most notorious locations. Normally I could see cutting it for some other attachment, but one location - Wastes of Eriador in .. Wastes of Eriador - triggered me so many times I had to include it. It's still good for some other locations with annoying passives.

Within events we have staples such as A Test of Will and Hasty Stroke which are almost mandatory in some quests. Now, when looking at the attachments in this deck one might think that only 16 of them isn't really that much for a Woodman deck. Introducing Reforged. With it you have 3 extra attachments to go on locations and you can pick whichever is the most useful. In quests that discard cards from the deck it can be also useful to bring back Heir of Valandil or Forest Snare from another deck. Scouting Party grants a phenomal boost to your questing for one round, perfect for completing side quests. Finally, South Away! is a mix of threat reduction and avoiding travel cost.

There is also one side quest here, Double Back. Some quests can increase your threat highly or punish you for having high threat and Woodmen's Clearing and South Away! can be a bit conditional to pull constantly. Double Back offers big threat reduction in exchange of completing this side quest.

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!