Rohan/Archery

[Haszor]

I haven't tried the Free side out yet but I took the Shadow side out and it did some serious damage.

Free Peoples (35)
Frodo, Courteous Halfling - AtAR
 1x Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark (starting)
 1x Eowyn, Lady of Rohan (starting)
 2x Elite Rider
 1x Theoden, Lord of the Mark
 1x Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
 1x Hrethel, Rider of Rohan

 1x Firefoot
 1x Herugrim
 3x Rider's Mount
 3x Rider's Spear
 3x Rohirrim Shield
 2x Rohirrim Helm
 1x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
 1x Eowyn's Sword
 1x Eomer's Spear
 2x Rohirrim Bow

 2x Thundering Host
 2x Fortress Never Fallen
 1x Arrow Slits
 1x Armory

 4x Simbelmyne

Shadow (35)
 2x Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
 2x Berserk Slayer
 2x Berserk Savage
 2x Elite Crossbowmen
 2x Orthanc Assassin
 3x Ranged Commander
 4x Uruk Crossbowman
 4x Uruk Crossbow Troop

 3x Broad-Bladed Sword

 2x Devilry of Orthanc
 4x Weapons of Isengard
 
 4x Cloud of Arrows

Sites
 The Riddermark (1T)
 Uruk Camp (2T)
 Throne Room (3T)
 Westemnet Hills (4T)
 Deep of Helm (5T)
 Hornburg Hall (6T)
 Hornburg Causeway (7T)
 Valley of Saruman (8T)
 Saruman's Laboratory (9T)
Anyone have any advice on what to drop/add?  I would like to get some more wounding in on the Rohan side to keep those annoying Dunlending minions off my tail.  Also I have the nagging feeling that my Rohan companions don't have high enough strength and need more events or something along those lines.  Thanks in advance.

[MuadDib85]

Sting, BH is useless and just costs 1 extra twilight than hobbit sword.

Nonsense.

[ket_the_jet]

Sting, BH is useless and just costs 1 extra twilight than hobbit sword.

Breeze,

That may be the worst advice I have ever seen on this site. Have you ever played this game?

If you are going to pay anyways, why not get the extra ability? Sting, Baggins Heirloom and Hobbit Sword**** cost the exact same and Gollum, Stinker and Gollum, Old Villain are very common in Towers Standard.

Quit while you are behind.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Haszor,

The Freeps is, frankly, not very good.

Drop two Heavy Chain, two Rider's Spear, one Rider's Mount*, Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples, and Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn.

Add two Simbelmyne, three An Honorable Charge, one Gamling, Warrior of Rohan, and a few Rohirrim Bow if you are concerned about {Dunland} in your meta. Arrow-Slits and Armory can also both be very helpful at one copy apiece.

You could always splash a copy of Legolas, Greenleaf for a late push against Dunland, but odds are, they will have the pool to keep the minions alive with Hides.
-wtk

[Haszor]

Haszor,
Drop two Heavy Chain, two Rider's Spear, one Rider's Mount*, Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples, and Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn.

Add two Simbelmyne, three An Honorable Charge, one Gamling, Warrior of Rohan, and a few Rohirrim Bow if you are concerned about {Dunland} in your meta. Arrow-Slits and Armory can also both be very helpful at one copy apiece.

You could always splash a copy of Legolas, Greenleaf for a late push against Dunland, but odds are, they will have the pool to keep the minions alive with Hides.
-wtk

Thanks for the advice.  Why should I keep one of the heavy chain? I liked the suggestions on what to add though thanks a lot!  I'm not gonna try to run Legolas as in order to use him in the later sites I'm gonna have to keep him alive, which means more buffs on him and an even larger deck.
Quick question: Does Gamling's effect allow you to play a possession during the skirmish?  It should but I'm just checking.

[Haszor]

Okay.  I took this thing up on GCCG and have a 0-3 win:lose ratio.  The Free side keeps getting butchered.  Suggestions?  If there's a better culture to use feel free to tell me.

[ket_the_jet]

No need to keep Legolas alive. Play him, kill a minion, and let him die.

Gamling's text allows you to play possessions during the skirmish phase on him.

Heavy Chain, or even Armor, can be nice on Eomer.

There are better builds, but for what you are going for here (just drop possessions to cycle), it should be okay.

I didn't really look at the Shadow, but that is a ton of high cost minions...
-wtk

[Haszor]

I know but I always seem to be able to get them out there.

[macheteman]

well, what ways did you get butchered? did frodo get overwhelmed? bounder is always helpful. corruption, a copy of sam son of hamfast can help you survive. can't handle the skirmish phase, a few strength pumps can't hurt.

to be honest, my 2 splash companions are often aragorn ranger of the north, and sam soh. gorn if i'm in a tough swarm, sam for the nasty corruptiuon decks. cutting the deck size dawn can't hurt either. 32 would probably be ideal. but even 34 would be better. i run a funky rohan deck that packs gimli with 3x delving. and i think even that runs around 32 cards.

[Haszor]

They keep killing off my companions so I assign any of their minions

[macheteman]

that sounds like you aren't getting your freeps set up fast enough. eomir with a horse or spear shouldn't die very easily.

[Haszor]

The problem is there's A) a tank with 15 strength who's damage +1 and fierce, or B) there's a ton of Uruk-hai and my companions are just getting the snot beaten out of them because I don't have very high strength.

[Elessar's Socks]

I'd run 9 companions and start Eomer TMoR / Elite Rider for another tank. Eowyn LoR and Hrethel look good, but for the remaining slots, maybe try the Dalton approach to splash companions: Aragorn RotN, Greenleaf, Sam PP, and...Boromir SoD? Speaking of, I think he also had the Hlafwine and Leod allies, boosting strength.

IMO Thundering Host should be at 4, and a few skirmish events would help (probably An Honorable Charge). And then deduct from / adjust the gear; Shield and Helm could go completely, as well as Herugrim and Eowyn's Sword if you shake up the companions. Oh, and replace a mount with Brego.

[ket_the_jet]

I'm quite fond of Faramir, Son of Denethor as a splash companion.
-wtk

[macheteman]

I'm quite fond of Faramir, Son of Denethor as a splash companion.
-wtk

very true. quite a useful guy.

[Haszor]

I think he also had the Hlafwine and Leod allies, boosting strength.

If I run those two should I also run a Theoden, King of the Golden Hall, or is that to many do you think.  Also if I'm going to use a Theoden I should probably use Herugrim as otherwise he dies after one lost skirmish with an uruk-hai.

[MuadDib85]

Brego should be in there somewhere. If you're going for skirmish wins, ditch the 2x Rohirrim Bow and add some pumps or more Thundering host. Well stored can be a very good option if going for villagers. I think all the Theodens in TS aren't worthy enough to be one of the nine companions. Just run 1x Rohirrim Shield and 1x Rohirrim Helm, use the extra space to help win your fights.

[Elessar's Socks]

I'd leave the allies as one-shot strength pumps, and skip Theoden completely. I realize this deck would be trending on the plain side, but I think it'd be sturdier as well (IIRC, Rohan TMaYOD and HiDaN were also good skirmish variations in Towers Standard). This is assuming you haven't locked in on any specifics.

[Haszor]

As I failed miserably with the Rohan side I decided to go for a new angle:

 Frodo, Tired Traveller- AtAR
 1x Faramir, Captain of Gondor (Starting)
 2x Ranger of Ithilien (Starting 1 [Sorry])
 1x Mablung, Soldier of Gondor
 2x Aragorn, Ranger of the North
 1x Anborn, Skilled Huntsman
 
 1x Faramir's Cloak
 1x Faramir's Bow
 4x Sword of Gondor
 1x Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn
 2x Ring of Barahir
 1x Aragorn's Bow
 1x Sting Baggins Heirloom

 4x Ancient Roads
 2x Garrison of Osgiliath
 2x Ithilien Trap
 1x Boromir, My Brother

 3x War and Valor
 2x Arrows Thick in the Air

I've played this a couple of times and found the only real problem to be if they manage to keep my companion count at 3 thus rendering Ancient Roads useless.  Ideas?

[ket_the_jet]

So...not at all then?
-wtk

[macheteman]

your starting fellowship doesn't work. best to play mablung to start

[Haszor]

Not running Rohan any more no.
Why doesn't the starting fellowship work?  Are you saying it doesn't work well or something?

[macheteman]

faramir's text doesn't reduce his own twilight.

[Ringbearer]

faramir's text doesn't reduce his own twilight.

THis is nonsense... Faramir reduces the ranger by 1, and the ranger reduces himself by another 1.

[macheteman]

it says he's starting 2x ranger of ithilien. you can only start 1. i hardly think that is nonsense.

[Haszor]

I was just starting one.  Sorry for the miscommunication I just couldn't think of a way to show starting just one.

[macheteman]

oh, lol. my mistake. sorry.

[Haszor]

So any advice on the deck?

[macheteman]

i'd ditch war and valor for swordsman of the northern kingdom. basically a free +4 boost every time. with 4x sword of gondor, you probably don't need the damage bonus that much. ranger's bow can be ridiculously useful. especially combined with mablung. my rb-ranger deck starts faramir and mablung with gondorian ranger and ranger of ithilien each coming in at 3x apiece. + frodo, tt = 9

the best thing about ring-bound rangers is how easy it is to replace them. my fellowship usually contains 5 comps at a time, and i just make sure faramir and mablung stay in the mix. if i'm pretty sure i'm not going to get enquea-d, i'll drop a bunch of comps at once and go for it.

i've seen new errand run very effectively, but i've always been a little too nervous to try it. sometimes 1 wound just doesn't do much.

aragorn isn't ring-bound so he doesn't help a whole lot, and his defender text is good, but honestly, rb-rangers are one of the freeps that doesn't really need swarm protection if played right.

bottom line here: if i were you, i'd cut

3x War and Valor
1x Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn
2x Ring of Barahir
1x Aragorn's Bow
2x Aragorn, Ranger of the North

thats 9 cards. i'd try to squeeze in;
4x swordsman of the northern kingdom
a few more comps and a few bows

garrison of osgiliath probably wouldn't make it into my deck, 2 twilight for 3 strength isn't so hot since you don't care about fortifications. its unique, and i'd cut it also. fitting in a bounder might be nice.

i think you will find that playing it my way has a lot more synergy than trying to keep aragorn in there. plus a gondorian ranger can really help with that roaming problem you were having.

[Haszor]

I like adding the Swordsman of the Northern Kingdom.
Aragorn: There in case I get A) archered, the extra 4 total health is nice B) swarmed, a good swarm deck can get more than 8 minions out with the pool I give them.  Also his ring lets me heal each turn which in turn allows me to be a bit stronger against archery.  Also I have a ranger deck in real-life that I use and I only ever run 5 companions so adding more companions wouldn't do me much as I'd just discard them.  I think I will start Mablung though.

[FM]

So the MAXIMUM number of companions you run is 5? And if you get an unlucky draw and one dies early?

[Haszor]

No the maximum number of companions I run most of the time is 5.  If one dies I replace him but our group has a hard time killing companions.