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AdultLink
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 4:00 pm
Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule
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With so little room for events in most Rohan decks, getting the most out of those cards can be crucial. This article examines each Rohan event in the new LOTR TCG: The Hunters set and shows a deck design using them.
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Rohan is a possession-heavy culture, it’s no secret. The fact that lots of possessions equals lots of power has always been appealing, but on the downside, it leaves you searching your deck for room to put in events. Think about it: when you’ve thrown in a mount, hand weapon, extra weapon (bow or javelin) and an armor, shield or helm for each of your Rohan characters you’ve got anywhere from 10-16 possessions in your deck already, without even putting in Sting or a hobbit sword. The all-important strength event is still looking at you pleadingly, while you bite your nails wondering how you’re going to get in any condition or possession removal, or whether you should put in some Simbelmyne.
The fact is that there are quite a few Rohan events to choose from, and a lot of strategy behind all of them. With the release of the Hunters set I became quite excited on seeing some of the new Rohan events. First up:

(1) Brilliant Light
Event * Skirmish
Make a Rohan companion strength +2 (or +3 and damage +1 if he or she is a hunter companion).
15C121

Obviously you’re going to frown at this card if you’re not playing with hunter Rohan companions, and right now there are only two of them! When you can exploit the bonus you’ve got quite a solid strength booster, and the extra damage +1 can come in awfully handy if you’re not using many mounts (or the Firefoot from Bloodlines that doesn’t exert the minions Eomer is skirmishing). Look for this card to develop in sets after Hunters when they will probably be adding a few more Rohan hunters.

(1) Burial Mounds
Event * Assignment
Make a Rohan companion defender +1 and minions skirmishing that companion cannot take wounds during a skirmish involving that companion until the regroup phase.
15R122

At first glance I thought this card looked about as bad as Donald Trump’s hair. But the card is rare. There has to be SOME use for it! Ok, so keeping minions on the table isn’t a cool thing. This card will allow one or two minions to stay until the regroup phase unless they are discarded or overwhelmed, but it is a good alternative to No Rest For the Weary if you aren’t using valiant men. This could be a potentially amazing card with Eowyn Lady of Itilien. Since the minions assigned to her cannot take wounds (though they may be exerted), you can get off with using her wounding game text to force the shadow player to kill his other minions assigned elsewhere. This could me really good at protecting Frodo from being swarmed. Throw in a Rohirrim Helm for Eowyn and you can safely exert her twice and then cancel her skirmish.

(1) Grim Trophy
Event * Skirmish
Make a Rohan Man Strength +1 for each hunter you can spot (or if you can spot more valiant Men than hunters, make a rohan man strength +1 for each valiant man you can spot).
15C127

I liked this card from the moment I saw it. It is a lot like Challenging the Orc Host from Bloodlines, but a little more stable. The Hunter thing, again, could really take off when some more Rohan hunters are made, especially with the opponent using lots of hunter minions. Otherwise, it’s a sweet strength event if you’re playing with valiant Rohan men, giving a more versatile choice than the traditional An Honorable Charge.

(1) Last Days of My House
Event * Fellowship
Spot 2 Rohan Men (or 1 Hunter Rohan Man) to play a Rohan companion or Rohan follower from your draw deck.
15U131

Last Days of My House is a cheaper alternative than Simbelmyne for those of us not wanting to go broke making our Rohan decks. True, it can’t get out a possession or ally like Simbelmyne can, but it can get out a follower, and that is going to be really important to some Rohan strategies in the not too distant future.

(2) Our Inspiration
Event * Maneuver
Spot a Rohan Man to play a possession from your discard pile for each hunter character you can spot.
15C132

As compared to Sword Rack or Weapon Store this card can be a little less dependable, but it’s a maneuver event which can be more helpful than spending pool in the fellowship phase. A solid choice if you’re thinking of using the new Eomer and Gamling (both hunters) in a deck any time soon.

(1) Swift Stroke
Event * Skirmish
Spot your Rohan Man bearing a possession to discard all possessions from one character.
15U142

Swift Stroke is a card that challenges the authority of For the Mark, which had become my favorite Rohan possession removal card. Swift Stroke does cost 1 and you have to spot a Rohan possession on your Rohan man, but it can discard more than one possession (say, Cave Troll’s Hammer and Chain?), and it can even discard possessions from your own characters if you have a good reason for doing so. No, you probably won’t see that quite as often, but there are certain situations that you might want to. I like versatility in cards, and this one has a lot of uses. For the Mark remains strong since it can be used in two different phases and can also discard a possession from the support area, but Swift Stroke might suit your tastes, style, or design a little better.


Here is a Rohan Free People design, using cards only found in the Hunters Expansion.
Frodo, Weary From the Journey
The One Ring, Ring of Doom
Eomer, Horsemaster (starting)
Eowyn, Willing Fighter (starting)

Companions/Allies/Followers
Rohirrim Soldier x4
Gamling, The Old
Hobbiton Brewer, Maker of Fine Ales

Posessions/Artifacts
Eomer’s Spear, Trusty Weapon
Rohirrim Axe x4
Sturdy Shield x2
Horse of Great Stature x3
Hobbit Sword

Events (The important part!)
Grim Trophy x4
Burial Mounds x2
Swift Stroke x2
Our Inspiration x2
Brilliant Light x2
Last Days of My House x2

First, before I begin my strategy I want to outline the purpose of Rohan events. There are three main purposes: 1) Pump Events, 2) Posession Play and Removal, 3) Miscellaneous (ha lame, I know!)
Pump events explain themselves. They are used to compliment your already powerful and posession-heavy companions. Posession play and removal events are lots of fun! They either discard posessions you want off the table or help play your own posessions back from your discard pile, which is a trendy thing with Rohan right now. Miscellaneous events include condition removal, defender +1, etc. There is only one condition removal event for Rohan (Let us Be Swift), so if this deck was not all Hunters it would probably contain several copies. Pallando can’t be added either because it is all Hunters, bummer huh?
Anyway, as you’ve noticed I have packed the deck with events. In fact, I’ve got copies of all the events I mentioned above. At the same time I’ve managed to put in plenty of posessions (11). There are only three mounts, but that isn’t the big power of the deck anyway. The reason I’m going to be able to get away with putting in all these events (minus the fact that there are no conditions to be had in Hunters) is because of Eomer Horsemaster:
(3) *Eomer, Horsemaster
Companion * Man
7/3/7
Valiant. Hunter 2.
While you can spot a Rohan Man, Eomer’s twilight cost is -1.
Skirmish: Discard a Rohan card from hand to make Eomer strength +2.
15R123
His game text is absolutely superb. Any one of the Rohan events that is not a pump can be converted into one by Eomer’s game text. So if they don’t happen to have any posessions, drop Swift Stroke. If you aren’t in seeming need of Burial Mounds, drop it. If you don’t need any more companions out, drop Last Days of My House. No need for posessions? Drop Our Inspiration (seeing a trend here?). But if you happen to need one of those events, they will be there for you, to help against swarm, to discard shadow posessions, and to pull companions for a faster start. Grim Trophy gets absolutely nasty, and Our Inspiration can also get back Eomer’s Spear (yay!)
The reason I went with The Rohan Soldiers instead of the Rohan Warriers is that they are cheaper, and they also punish the opponent if they try to take away Gamling and Eomer’s Hunter bonuses by playing lots of Hunter minions. So if they don’t play hunters, you’ve got the upper hand. If they do play hunters, well, Grim Trophy and the Soldiers will smack ’em pretty good. Hobbiton Brewer is there just in case Frodo needs an extra something.

The point is that you have to evaluate how you want your deck to work before you decide how many events to use. In this deck, I wanted to take advantage of Eomer’s useful game text. In other Rohan decks, I might have wanted more posessions, or maybe would have wanted to take out some room to stick in Gandalf for condition removal, strength, and Hearken to Me! Sometimes, you have to decide between a condition and an event. For example, Our Inspiration is handy; but maybe Freely Across Our Land (13c127) is a better fit for you. And even though you want to be able to have condition removal, posession removal, and pump events all in the same deck, sometimes you may have to leave an element out to make the deck stronger as a whole. You might leave yourself weak to something that way, but you should never count on winning the game solely with your Free Peoples anwyay. I have constructed Rohan decks before that do not have any events! So what is yours? Beat Down? (go with more pumps). Posession Frenzy? (more cards like Our Inspiration). You have to decide what you want your deck to do, before you decide what to put in it. Experiment, test, find a better fit. Good luck!
Last edited by AdultLink on Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:37 am; edited 6 times in totalHaves/Wants
AnxiousChieftain
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:40 pm
Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland
Very nice article. I love using Rohan events, especially from the newer sets. Smile
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead
ingold55
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:43 pm
Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Out on the front line
you make it sound like oyu are going to tell use how to squeez in events, i was kind of hoping you would. it also didn't hold my attention that much. try to start it out with a bigger bang. other than that i liked it.
AdultLink
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 12:42 am
Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule
Thanks for the critique ingold. Some good points, It would have been nice to explain how to squeeze in the events. I suppose I was going more for the strategy and funtions of the events themselves, and it was a big article so that makes it harder to keep attention too. Thanks for being honest.

Thanks also to AnxiousChieftan for feedback (posting a reply).
Haves/Wants
Earthshaker
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:34 am
Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 47 Location:
A good article but I agree with the other forum members.
I would like to know how to squeeze them in Wink .
These events all have their use but the trick is to choose which one is the most valuable for your deck.....
AdultLink
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 1:04 pm
Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule
There you go guys. I hope this makes the article better and more helpful. Do I get kudos points?! Smile
Haves/Wants
AnxiousChieftain
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 2:31 pm
Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 3947 Location: Maryland
Even better than before. Smile

One thing I noticed that was incorrect was:

AdultLink wrote:
Here is a Rohan Free People design, using cards only found in the Shadows Expansion.

Shadows should be changed to Hunters. Smile
MODS RULE. - lem0nhead
AdultLink
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:24 pm
Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule
Good Call Anxious. I've fixed it now, I believe.
Haves/Wants
joseph_c_chua
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 9:19 am
Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 30 Location: Philippines
I like the article, it's very well written. But there is an error in the deck's starting fellowship: Gamling and Eomer can't start together since Gamling needs to spot a Rohan man.
AdultLink
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:36 am
Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 253 Location: Hyrule
Much thanks for seeing that error joseph_c_chua! It slipped past me somehow. I will edit it so that the fellowship starts with Eowyn and Eomer now! Thanks for your vote too!
Haves/Wants

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