The Chetwood Stompers - REVISED SETS ONLY

These are some of the first decks I've put together myself and I have run them through a variety of quests with a lot more wins than defeats. They aren't hard to utilise, and offer many options for achieving the objectives. They are made up of REVISED ONLY cards so should be good for those like me who are new to LotR and don't want to chase up out-of-print rarities.

For the Gondyboys, Beregond is the defensive lynchpin for the entire fellowship, with his easy attachments quickly building him up. Look to get Armored Destrier and Gondorian Shield with a cheeky Raven-winged Helm and there won't be much he can't stomach. His Sentinel allows him to cover for the Noldobles then refresh and cover his own back. Prince Imrahil is the hit machine, looking for his blades and a cheeky Unexpected Courage from the other side. His ability is used like a Sneak Attack if he needs help, with the allies all sharing at least of his traits. Some actual Sneak Attack will get a Gandalf out in case of need. Denethor kickstarts the resource generation with his 3 starting and ability to feed one of the heroes when needed. Steward of Gondor has been going over to Arwen Undómiel but can go where needed based on the hands in play.

Otherwise, Marksman of Lórien will cover the Noldobles and the rest of the allies can be played as and when, or snuck/Imrahilled out. Prioritise some attachments at the start of the game and the heroes will hold the line until the board gets going.

The Noldobles are the quest and support crew (quelle surprise), with Arwen Undómiel generating resources when needed for staples like Hasty Stroke and A Test of Will. Getting the Elven-light cycle of 'pay to draw card, discard Elven-light for a resource refund' underway will help, and I will send her Steward of Gondor if the Gondyboys don't need it. Galdor of the Havens helps to fine tune the starting hand, and don't sleep on his ability to refill the hand. Between Arwen Undómiel discarding for resources, Steed of Imladris discarding for progress and Imladris Caregiver discarding for health, a mid-game top up will be most useful. Ahhh Círdan the Shipwright, how I love thee... I usually have no problem getting Unexpected Courage and Narya on him, then the plan is exhaust to quest for 4 (or more if the friendly local Faramir has turned up), refresh him, then use his ring's ability to either ready 2 superhuman allies on the Gondyboys, or pop one of his own allies up if needed to take care of Noldor bullying. And his ability means that you will be finding what you need from the deck more often than not.

The rest of the Noldobles deck is fairly point-and-click straightforward, but I do like the Gather Information to help find the key cards in a pinch (Narya, Gondorian Shield, The Galadhrim's Greeting etc).

I'd love some feedback on what works and what doesn't, and there is lots of wiggle room to drop a few cards and add some from your collections.