Tank Fellowship with Besiegers

[Pepin The Breve]

   This is my first attempt at making a standard deck so suggestions of improvement will be welcome.

   Freepeoples (34):

 -Gimli, BoG with The One Ring, TRot (RB)
- Durin III (start)
- Dáin Ironfoot (start)
- Grimbeon, BC X4
- Brand, KoD X2

- Pallando, FtO X2

- Ring of Fury
- Ring of Guile
- Gimli´s Battle Axe, TW
- Axe of Khazad-Dum X2
- Armor of Khazad X2
- Dwarven Bracers X3
- Beorning Axe X3

- Watch and Wait X2
- Proud and Able X2
- Brooding on Tomorrow

- For a While Less Dark X2
- Sharp Defenses X4

   Shadows (34):

- Troll of Gorgoth, AoS X4
- Great Hill Troll X4
- Troll of Cirith Gorgor X2
- Siege Troop X3
- Gothmog, LoM X2
- Gorgoth Swarm X2
- Gorgoth Assasin X4
- Gorgoth Agitator X2

- Ithil Stone
- Grond, HotU
- Troop Tower X2
- Tower Walkway
- Great Siege Towers X4
- Great Peril of Fire
- Their Marching Companies


   The idea is get Grimbeon and his Axe and set up Durin as Soon as you can and let the carnage beggin 
Obviously Grimbeon can take advantage of your high strenght minions to slaughter the biggest minion you face, preventing your hand of being clogged in the process. Durin probably will have no much problem in dealing with the second stronger minion and the remaining of your companions should be strong enough to take the rest. Dáin reduces the cost of all your people and Brand makes them even bigger!
   
   Pallando and Brooding are for condition and Watch and Wait for burden removal, since winning skirmishes shouldn´t be a problem 
   
   Sharp Defenses can make Durin huge and For a While Less Dark works nice with Pallando and Grimbeon can take the event back with his axe when Brand needed.

   The Besigers are prety self-explanatoire: try control some sites, play a lot of engines, make your besigers bigger and let your Trolls do the rest! Gorgoth Assasin is great because you can aim him in a almost dead companion or make a kamikase move to the stongest to let your big guys butcher the smaller fellows.

   Since i don´t have a good knowloge of the sets beyond shadow i know you people can help me to improve this deck a lot 

[TheJord]

This deck is solid; I played so I know. I am concerned about what will happen when you face any of the following decks - Ninja Gollum, Archery, Troll Swarm (not as much as the other 2).

These 3 decks are the 3 to worry about in you Fellowships case.

[Pepin The Breve]

   In fact Ninja Gollum could be a pain in the  :x from my guys... I´m considering to put that dwarven event that spot a dwarf damage +X to discard X shadow cards so i can clean the table at regoup. This should help against other decks that rely heavy on conditions and support area possessions. I can use the bracers and the armor to prevent some early deaths but against a solid Ninja Gollum this shouldn´t be enough... But maybe Ninja Gollum in standard isn´t so powerfull as it is on expanded, i really don´t know... I have ways to discard some conditions and remove some burdens what maybe give me a chance.

   Swarms could be a problem too since only Brand and TW may not be enough to counter many minions and Gimli should have some problem...

   I had never faced a archery mans deck so i really don´t know what expect...

   Maybe a choke deck could be terrible against my shadow side but then i can run with my fellowship and use the minions to make damage if my opponent try to double...

   Anyway thanks for the considerations 

[TheJord]

Elf Archery, Dwarf Tank, RB Hobbits butcher Besiegers

[Gillian2]

Troll swarm is ugly for most of the freepeople. With normal setup for Trolls this freepeople doesn't have chance to live after region 2.
[men]archery are very ugly for this freepeople, but frepeople have many dwarf possessions and Proud and Able, and Armor of Khazad prevents wounds. So archery wounds can go to burdens, and Watch and Wait remove two burdens, Jarnsmid wold be help also. With Beorning Axe you can pull another copy of man for healing, and condition discard helps with Howdah, rapid reload, ect...
But still [men]archery has advantage.
Without Blood runs chil this freepeople will die against Corsairs. There is no possession discard so ships could sail without problem, many freepeople possessions mean many tokens on ships, Castamir with halebard and wind that speed up ships beats Durin and Grimbeorn and Red Wrath could be very dangerous for Grimbeorn and his exertions.
Forest Nazgul will also kill this freepeople, or corupt Gimli.
Bersigers have chance against rb Hobbits. With many machines trolls are cheep, Grond can discard followers.

[Gillian2]

For the bersigers I would play Gorgoroth Berserker instead of Gorgoth Swarm, and Olog-hai of Mordor instead of Troll of Gorgoth.

[Pepin The Breve]

  But how many trolls can be played at the same time? Grimbeon and Durin really can get two of them without more problem since Grimbeon will probably be 20+ strenght and Durin III around 15 and with possibilities to pump a lot with Sharp defenses. Beastly Olog-hai can be a problem if Gimli is with his ring and Brand asd Dáin can have some rpoblems facing a bigger minion, but i think they can survive if seted up properly...

   Corsair are really bad cause they can swarm in the last sites if i can´t discard their ships and Red Wrath is really dangerous for Grimbeon. I will Consider to put some BRC cause it helps against other shadows as well...

  I Just realized that They Stole It isn´t standard legal and with Armor of Khazad i can nullify Not This Time! Without automatic wounds no exertions with PK and without wounds + exertions gollum doesn´t kill anybody and if he doesn´t kill anybody no winning skirmishes from him and no pain from my guys...    Well, Unseen Foe can really crack my guys out but i guess only this cannot do that much without him pilling wounds. Corruption gollum could be more problematic.

  Against Forest Guls i have Mount Doom and no fear to use it! hehehe. Corruption it´s allways a problem but if i can get WaW early i should stand a chance, cause i will have two good choices of win every skirmish. Fierce Nazgul? Even Better! Thinking twice even my other guys can actually win skirmihes... Brand with axe get a 9 stenght plus 1 from pallando and 4 for the event we came to 14! Not bad. Dáin With Brand starts from 8 with a axe and bracers = 11. Sharp defenses can pump him +4/+6 so he gets big as well. Obviuosly i don´t expect have a dream table with all the cards i need to make everybody happy, but we can get an idea of their potential...

  In fact i have to try this deck against it and see it´s weakness, but thanks Jord and Gillian for the advices!

[SomeRandomDude]

Encirclement.

[Pepin The Breve]

  Hey maybe i can try to pair the freeps with a Troll Swarm...

  Hmmmm...

[Gillian]

  But how many trolls can be played at the same time? Grimbeon and Durin really can get two of them without more problem since Grimbeon will probably be 20+ strenght and Durin III around 15 and with possibilities to pump a lot with Sharp defenses. Beastly Olog-hai can be a problem if Gimli is with his ring and Brand asd Dáin can have some rpoblems facing a bigger minion, but i think they can survive if seted up properly...

  Against Forest Guls i have Mount Doom and no fear to use it! hehehe. Corruption it´s allways a problem but if i can get WaW early i should stand a chance, cause i will have two good choices of win every skirmish. Fierce Nazgul? Even Better! Thinking twice even my other guys can actually win skirmihes... Brand with axe get a 9 stenght plus 1 from pallando and 4 for the event we came to 14! Not bad. Dáin With Brand starts from 8 with a axe and bracers = 11. Sharp defenses can pump him +4/+6 so he gets big as well. Obviuosly i don´t expect have a dream table with all the cards i need to make everybody happy, but we can get an idea of their potential...

Troll swarm means you will face many Trolls. Troll Keyward on warg and 4 maybee 5 Trolls.

Mount Doom can only slow forest Nazguls, not stop them. I am ready to bet that I will win at least 7 games from 10 with forest Nazgul against this freepeople.

Enquea, Toto, Bnap, Sense of Obligation shadow is also nightmare for this freepeople.

[TheJord]

The first time you play a Troll Swarm you will probably either laugh yourself silly or cry at the horrible death they cause.

You will not be happy when Gollum hits the table followed by Shelob, HL and Durin or Grimbeorn arent allowed to skirmish. Her being fierce means damage +5 Durin causes a strength 18 minion....

I think Archery is your biggest concern - Mumak Commander, GatS + Pavise makes Grimbeorn useless.

These are the things to worry about! Every deck I build concerns these major threats, and Forestguls because everyone uses them aswell!

[King89]

just a few words to the shadow site:

cut down:
1x Troll of Gorgoth, AoS
1x Great Hill Troll
1x Great Peril of Fire

and add:
1x grond
1x ithil stone
1x din of arms

this change will improve your deck to a higher level.
you should also think about cards like encirclement, sauron (from both expansions) and throne of a dark lord --> damange+1 trolls kick #$&*@!!

King89