Pillage the VillageRing-bearer:
Frodo, Courteous HalflingRing:
The One Ring, Answer To All RiddlesAdventure deck:
Horse-countryWold of RohanStablesWestemnet HillsDeep of HelmGreat HallKing's RoomRing of IsengardFortress of OrthancFree Peoples Draw Deck (39):
1x Éowyn,
Lady of Rohan (Starting)
1x Éomer,
Rohirrim Captain (Starting)
1x
Ceorl, Weary Horseman1x
Gamling, Warrior of Rohan1x
Household Guard1x
Hrethel, Rider of Rohan2x
Ecglaf, Courageous Farmer1x
Guma, Plains Farmer1x
Hlafwine, Village Farmhand1x
Banner of the Mark1x
Brego1x
Firefoot1x
King's Mail1x
Rider's Mount3x
Rider's Spear1x
Rohirrim Bow1x
Rohirrim Helm2x
Rohirrim Shield1x
Eowyn's Sword1x
Brace of Coneys2x
Sting, Baggins Heirloom1x
An Honorable Charge2x
Let Us Be Swift3x
Simbelmyne1x
Severed His Bonds1x
Arrow-slits1x
Thundering Host1x
We Left None Alive3x
Well StoredShadow Draw Deck (39):
1x
Band of Wild Men4x
Dunlending Elder1x
Dunlending Warrior2x
Advance Uruk Patrol1x
Berserk Butcher1x
Orthanc Champion1x
Uruk Assault Band1x
Uruk Chaser1x
Uruk Follower1x
Uruk Hunter1x
Uruk Stormer1x
Uruk Trooper1x
Uruk Vanguard2x
Uruk-hai Horde1x
Uruk-hai Marauder2x
Uruk-hai Mob3x
Hides1x
War Club1x
Broad-bladed Sword1x
Uruk Spear3x
Ferocity2x
Ready to Fall3x
Attack on Helm's Deep2x
Down to the Last Child1x
Scaling LadderOne of my first decks and still one of my favorites. I've kept it Towers block legal for the sake of convenience, but I play this deck primarily in Towers standard even though a few support cards from Fellowship block would fit nicely. I bid nothing, but if I can go first I take the opportunity. While both Free Peoples and Shadow are very capable of winning, the Shadow side is far more potent.
Free Peoples: The focus for most of the game is to cancel 2 minions' skirmishes with
Firefoot and
Rohirrim Helm, then use
Ecglaf to replay
Rohirrim Helm on the next turn. There are a few replacement companions; this Fellowship is built to break in a controlled fashion, so losing anyone (including Eomer) is not that big of a deal. Eowyn protects from Enquea in Towers Standard, but in Towers Block it's best just to stay below 6 companions thanks to
Southron Commander and
swarm. I use Eomer's ability to help other companions win skirmishes and cycle cards, which are both equally important. It is worth getting rid of usable cards to find the cards you need.
Hrethel is an incredibly solid fighter, as is Gamling if he's drawn early enough.
Guma can be used to heal
Ecglaf and pull another item if needed. While losing a few companions isn't a big deal, remember that if you don't have 3 Valiant companions you won't be able to use
Let Us Be Swift and if you don't have 2
Ecglaf is left inert.
I used to run up against
a lot of site control decks when I built this one, hence
Ceorl, but he could be swapped for another
Household Guard. I'll note that
Let Us Be Swift does the job most of the time, but only
Ceorl will protect you when you can't afford to lose an inch (
Over the Isen, for example).
Banner of the Mark is actually to help exhaust minions for
Rohirrim Helm or
We Left None Alive, but it can obviously be replayed. Minions with low vitality don't get to skirmish, and minions with high vitality are more vulnerable to Eomer's text. There's a ton I could say about how to handle just about everything, but suffice to say it's a very sturdy Fellowship. I hope it isn't too frustrating to play against.
Shadow: This side has seen much more fluctuation over the deck's lifetime. It started as pretty evenly bi-cultural, but has since degraded to Uruk-Hai with some Dunland support. I can only remember losing 1 game after I've controlled 2 sites. The Uruk-hai do damage along the way, but if by site 7 you can play 2-3 Dunlending Elders with
Ready to Fall it's over. Since the end goal is to play cards from discard, you can usually mill through the deck via Eomer pretty harmlessly and set up a really nice hand for site 5 to make that happen. You
need to get either
Attack on Helm's Deep or
Down to the Last Child out quickly. I don't understand why more people don't play
Uruk Vanguard. The Shadow side doesn't have quite the versatility of the Free Peoples, but it still has a response for any issue even if you need to dig for the cards to pull it off.
The biggest weaknesses are the slowness of the Free Peoples and winning skirmishes against Rohan or Ring-bound Rangers which get set up too quickly. Since skirmish cancelling is the main feature and
Merry, Swordthain isn't in Towers, you're limited to one use per turn. If you need to double, this usually means getting through the site you're on without using
Rohirrim Helm. Rarely impossible, but usually requires more sacrifice. It doesn't help that I tend to start second (
Stables at 3 and
Deep of Helm at 5 are a great help, plus
Great Hall at 6 helps take some heat off of a risky double). For the Shadow side, those fellowships with strong skirmish capabilities and damage bonuses make grabbing tokens difficult.
Scaling Ladder's primary purpose is to kill
Mablung, Soldier of Gondor, though it can win skirmishes against Rohan too. If you can't catch up, forsake your Free Peoples and use Eomer to set up the hand you need and break through. Better to lose Frodo while you're trying to win than to let your opponent survive site 9 while you're trying to keep your Fellowship healthy. Waiting for your opponent to get an unlucky draw is not a plan.