Rohirrim 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).

When I've settled on Ithilien Rangers for the first part of this fellowship I knew immedietaly who should accompany them. Some form of staging area attack works great when you have already weakened enemies. Also bouncing them back to the staging area can fuel greatly Rangers. Dúnhere and Fastred are great pairing for those kind of shenanigans. With those two heroes I wanted to create lore friendly "Rohirrim" deck using some underdog Rohan allies. Another big part here are of course attachments that boost stats of heroes. Piloting of this deck comes to the ability of Dúnhere to snipe enemies in the staging. He starts poorly, with only 3 but with some attachments you can pretty much melt through everything. When some enemies slip through you have Fastred that can after defending bounce them back for Dúnhere to finish them off. Like I've said in Ranger deck description, this time the roles are flipped, meaning this deck, even though being Deck #2 in the fellowship, serves "main role". This deck will attack, defend and quest for the majority of the party. If one wished, this deck could do fine solo with a few tweaks - but there are already lot of great Dúnhere/Fastred decks for solo, so I've decided to lean more to multiplayer side here with cards like Rider of the Mark or Secret Vigil.

Starting Hand

The most important thing you should look for is a weapon for Dúnhere. Without it he attacks for only 3 , which during this point of the game life is an equivalent of a wet noodle. With at least one armament he strikes for 5, which can either take weaker enemies in one hit or thougher in two. Open the Armory is also fine and it will probably hit something, though you will lose one more resource to use it. Apart from the attachments, worthwile cards to look for are Arwen Undómiel and classic A Test of Will. Elrond's daughter is such a boon here being both a 2 ally and defense boost for Fastred. A Test of Will of course is great insurance to avoid nasty cards at the beginning of the game causing you to scoop.

Heroes

All three heroes are specialized here and Dúnhere makes a deck attacker. As I have said earlier you want some weapon on him ASAP, so he can deal with enemies quickly. With two of those he attacks for 7 which can usually deal with every non-boss enemy. His 4 makes him a good archery soak too since this keyword is very common in this cycle.

Fastred is here to defend enemies that slip through your or other deck's threat. 3 is great, though 3 can be concerning. When you put some weapons on Dúnhere next step is to attach some armor to him so he can defend more safely against thougher enemies. When you grab an Unexpected Courage put it first on him in case of unexpected enemy swarm. Same case with Magic Ring since he can benefit the most from its healing effect.

Choosing third hero for this lineup was a bit thougher. Obviously it should be a to access those sweet weapons and Rohan traited for theme. In first version of this deck it was Éowyn. 4 are a great help early game. She also starts with 6 which is great when taking account this deck only but Rangers in this fellowship start with 29 anyways. Lastly, her nuke ability is helpful in defeating boss enemies. Then came Herubrand in ALeP expansion it he works really well here. He starts with lower than Éowyn but you can ramp it up pretty quickly. His draw ability is fantastic though, making room for other cards in deck. It's also very consistent since it triggers anytime enemy is destroyed in staging - no matter if Dúnhere kills it or they die from some traps. 10 from Éowyn is sorely missed since this deck can ecnounter some problems when dealing with boss enemies that can't be pushed back. But for that either Faramir from the other deck can help or you can draw some attacking allies or Unseen Strike.

The Deck

Most allies here are Rohan traited for theme. Rider of the Mark plays nicely into side quests which are prevalent in this cycle. Rider of the Mark has a very conditional response but still he quests for 2 . West Road Traveller does a great job at swapping some nasty locations. Yes, most of them in this cycle have forced effect instead of travelling cost. Still it's satysifying to get out from a location lock caused by drawing Desolate Lands or other similiar locations. Elfhelm can keep your threat even lower and defend some weaker enemies. Éomund has overall good stats and can be sacrificed for a reset of your characters. Steward of Orthanc is another ally with 2 and his ability can help to draw even more cards. Lastly and most importantly is Arwen Undómiel. She doesn't really fit thematically here but her ability is golden. 2 for 2 resources is good already but +1 is fantastic. It helps immensly Fastred. And don't forget sentinel! With it Fastred can defend even enemies that engaged the other deck.

In the attachments department we have mostly weapons and armors. Dagger of Westernesse and Spear of the Mark go to Dúnhere giving him (usually) +2 . Raiment of War gives Fastred one more and more which is sorely needed on him. Any leftover weapons or armor can go on Herubrand to boost his final point of . Unexpected Courage goes firstly on Fastred, then on Dúnhere, unless you have already Magic Ring on the first one. Secret Vigil wouldn't be needed that much in this deck in solo play but it can help much to decrease Rangers threat.

Events mostly focus on combat, with Open the Armory fetching more armaments, Sterner than Steel cancelling shadows and Unseen Strike boosting Dúnhere even more. A Test of Will is a hard to pass on when having access to . Astonishing Speed is here for a final push during questing since most characters in this deck are Rohan.

Double Back is back (I'm sorry) to decrease threat even more, mostly to help Ranger deck.

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!