Thank you for the reply.
I have been play testing it against my wife, and the
Second Level/What Are They? combo is working out very well (she is getting very frustrated as I keep bouncing her Balrog and Lurtz).
Hardy Garrison isn't working like I thought it would; I am thinking I am going to remove it and put in 3x
A Ranger's Versatility (expanding the deck to 64 cards). I am having an easy time moving through the deck. I am going to keep
Gondorian Merchant (rather than a 4th
Second Level) as he is not susceptible to condition discard. I've found it is a bit weaker at later sites when she drops multiple high-vitality minions on me (such as
Troop of Uruk-hai). I'm still getting through it, but
A Ranger's Versatility will help (2 exertions kills any minion).
I haven't had a problem with Boromir; he has been able to wound fine to fight. The
Citadel of Minas Tirith is working out very well to heal him. At early sites she is very frustrated; often the first minion I face is the Balrog at Site 5 because there is just so little twilight (usually between 2-3). I was thinking of adding Faramir and his Bow, but I am afraid that is going to really dilute the deck and weaken my early game choke. I desperately need to make sure I get 1 copy each of
Second Level and
What Are They? before Site 5 or I am in trouble. So far there have been no problems with that; in one game I didn't get one of the cards until Site 4 and I was sweating a bit (but I was testing it with a different shadow that didn't cycle as well).
I was thinking of using
Ulaire Nelya, Lieutenant of Morgul to help get out my later sites that are forests or rivers (ie
Tol Brandir, which won't help many players). I did not know about the ruling on his game text. I can remove him though for extra wounding or more Trackers. I do have 2 copies of
Grishnakh, Orc Captain which I believe draws cards. To bring the Shadow up to 32 I was thinking of adding 2x
Eye of Barad-dur for hand-reveal protection.