Hobbit Swarm

[chompers]

I tried my new deck in the league today and it didn't go so well. The idea is to use Boromir and his horn to call forth hobbit allies to die. Move only one site at a time and let my minions win the game. Fast healing on Boromir allows him to call allies every turn.

So the basics are:

Starting Fellowship
Frodo SOD w/ The One Ring Isuldurs Bane (to add burdens)
Boromir SOD
Merry FTS

Bid to go first and play Green Hill Country at site one or just wait until you get a Hobbit Farmer

4 x Hobbit Farmer to allow all other hobbit allies to deploy for free
2 x The Saga of Elendil to increase Bormoirs vitality
4 x Horn of Boromir
4 x The Shire Countryside to heal Boromir
2 x Thror's Map to stop the use of site 7 (Anduin Conference)
4 x Extraordinary Resilience

Heal Frodo using his gametext - then change to burden removal using Extraordinary Resilience - then heal with TSC

It seems I need a better burden removal mechanic (as using Frodo restricts the effect of the heal, and limits companion choice). Perhaps TSC is not the best way to heal. Also - everyone I play uses mordor trackers and hate and they kill boromir

Can this concept work or should i just give up?

[Gil-Estel]

Well for starters I would use an other boromir. The starter from RotEL, which heals him self. Classic horn deck plays the elf allies, with 4x galadriel, lady of light. Elrond is more of a vital fighter, at strength 11. That way I would go with Boromir starter, play Aragorn with the Pony, the twilight remover, so whatever you throw with Boro, you remove later.
And if everyone plays Sauron trackers, just go with Blood of Numenor bit of an oddbal, but if they do, you will be fine, haha.

[sharkey]

Wait, how are you going to let the allies skirmish?

[ket_the_jet]

Wait, how are you going to let the allies skirmish?

Horn of Boromir.

I would definitely recommend Boromir, Defender of Minas Tirith*, but like Gil-Estel said, allies are much more potent.
-wtk

[Cw0rk]

If you plan to suicide your allies, why not using Thrarin? (That's his job.)

[ket_the_jet]

to whomever finds who first referred to Thrarin as "Thrarin, Dwarven Speedbump." Then I can give the original person a as well!
-wtk

[Not a Zombie]

I once made a deck just to keep thrarin alive but still use him to fight. I used shoulder to shoulder, 2 endurance of the dwarves,  bracers, hand axe, and dwarven axe. 8 str, 4 vit, and after he exerts to skirmish, just heal him! totally pointless, but my opponents reaction was funny.

[chompers]

I p;ayed this deck again last night - it is terrible! Spent the whole game with a hand full of Extraordinary Resilience trying work work out how to wound frodo. Had heaps of allies, all 4 TSC, but opponent had no archery, so no easy wounding. Also did not bid to go first, so struggled to get burdens started as well. Need to lose twice with Frodo, without killing him, to get the heal mechanic going.

If I perservered with it - need multiple copies of Sting for easy Frodo wounds, and will switch to Boromir DOMT, but that impacts the healing mechanic with Frodo as merry is the only one with the Frodo signet (not many easy burden removal cards using just hobbit and gondor in fellowship).

[Gwaihir]

I'm not sure that I understand Hobbit Farmer, so this may not work, but would he allow you to use Westfarthing to wound Frodo and play your hobbits cheap?

You could use Stout and Sturdy to protect Boromir from Hate.  Heal, then remove burden instead with extraordinary resiliance, then use shire countryside to heal boromir.  If you use his horn, he takes one wound, then they wound Boromir, then you use the Stout and Sturdy combo to heal him back up again.

[legolas3333]

Athelas,PATHS and extraordinary resilience,

[TheJord]

chompers, I have been thinking about this deck, and I think its time to remove all the cards dedicated to TSC and use Citadel of Minas Tirith instead. This means way more allies, just watch out for Our List of Allies Grows Thin, its basically ally gangrape.

[chompers]

TheJord - i think i can get it to work using Citadel of Minas Tirith but will need to win skirmishes - so time to move to Elven allies and use Galadriel to deploy them for free. Strength 11 Elrond makes more sense that strength 5 Hobbits.

But its not a Hobbit Swarm. I kind of liked the idea of Hobbit allies getting minced up by minions.

Oh well - maybe I can get this to work with a wider selection of cards using TTT or something.

[jdizzy001]

not all ideas function as well as we'd hope, but finding the right deck is half the fun. I commend you for trying something new, and in my opinion, original

[chompers]

This might work after all - I need fast healing on Boromir and Merry - so ...

i got rid of Extraordinary Resilience and The Shire Countryside and a lot of other support cards to bring in:

I will switch to Boromir Defender of Minas Tirith and lose the dependence on the Frodo Signet, this also allows Frodo to be changed

1 x Frodo's Pipe
2 x Aragorn's Pipe (to heal)
1 x The Gaffer's Pipe
2 x Sting
3 x Old Toby
4 x Longbottom Leaf - to dump excess cards such as horn of boromir and sting)

Fingers crossed - it should work a bit better - now i just have to find someone to play on GCCG

[chompers]

Ok - Hobbit Swarm now works - i have no problem healing and put in so little shadow i face few minions (at least when facing Nazgul). When i move slowly my opponents hand should become choked (unless they have a way of solving this).

Now to get the minions right and i might even win with the deck.

BTW - last game i played 8 minions at site nine - a three minion overwhelm - but they got archered to death. With some Hate in the deck and perhaps a Tower Assassin to deal with some unforeseen problems - i think (fingers crossed) that Hobbit Swarm might actaully win a game once in awhile.

[Ringbearer]

Ever hought about spies of saruman or isengard warrior?

[chompers]

It seems that the problem with the deck is actually the minions - they aren't doing the knockout punch i want them to. I use Mordor trackers with Under the Watching Eye and Hate and Orc Bowmen and site 9 Tol Brandir.

However - fellowship seems to work well - it does have some weaknesses though. I played another game with this deck and lost again but each game is close.

Here is the starting fellowship:
Frodo Reluctant Adventurer
The One Ring Isildur's Bane
Merry Friend to Sam
Boromir Defender of Minas Tirith

First site:
Green Hill Country (no need to bid to go first)

Draw deck:
Blade of Gondor
Hobbit Sword
Horn of Boromir x4
Sting
There and Back Again x3
Hobbit Farmer x4
The Gaffer Sam's Father
Hobbit Party Guest x3
Farmer Maggot Chaser of Rascals
Bounder x3
Thror's Map
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
The Saga of Elendil
Frodo's Pipe
Longbottom Leaf x4
Old Toby x3
The Gaffer's Pipe
Aragorn's Pipe x2

Strategy - you can go first but it is not needed, move one site at a time, use horn to call allies forward to die, rely on minions to win game, choke opponents hand with minimal shadow. Thror's map to protect against site 7 and Aragorn's Pipe to mass heal.

Probably has more allies than needed - might cull Hobbit Party Guest as I am not using them to heal The Gaffer and Farmer Maggot as planned.

Any thoughts or help?

Might modify minions as Ringbearer suggested but i do like playing Mordor trackers. 76 card deck and i often deck myself at site 9 or go very close to decking out.

[Smeagollum]

you could use Frodo's cloack, Brace of coneys, Tom Bomba and if you use Smeagal you can also use I'm not listening. Actually with shire country side you would like it to heal your comps in the skirmishphase. Actually Nine fingered frodo is also quite nice. If you do use Smeagol, then you'll need atar and you'l need 4x sting from 2nd block.

[Cw0rk]

you could use Frodo's cloack, Brace of coneys, Tom Bomba and if you use Smeagal you can also use I'm not listening. Actually with shire country side you would like it to heal your comps in the skirmishphase. Actually Nine fingered frodo is also quite nice. If you do use Smeagol, then you'll need atar and you'l need 4x sting from 2nd block.

This is supposed to be FOTR Block right?

[Smeagollum]

you could use Frodo's cloack, Brace of coneys, Tom Bomba and if you use Smeagal you can also use I'm not listening. Actually with shire country side you would like it to heal your comps in the skirmishphase. Actually Nine fingered frodo is also quite nice. If you do use Smeagol, then you'll need atar and you'l need 4x sting from 2nd block.

This is supposed to be FOTR Block right?

Didn't saw that one.. were my glasses

[chompers]

But you have given me some ideas is i take this deck out of fellowship block