Rohan / Stupid Orc Swarm

[ramolnar]

Frodo, Resolute Hobbit (Frodo, Old Bilbo's Heir in less corruption-heavy areas)
The One Ring, Isildur's Bane

FP:
1 Elite Rider (starting)
1 Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark (starting)

1 Hrethel
1 Theoden, Tall and Proud
2 Eowyn, Lady of Rohan

1 Deor
1 Leowyn
1 Hlafwine

1 Firefoot
1 Brego
1 Rider's Mount
1 Eomer's Spear
2 Rider's Spear
1 Rohirrim Bow
1 Rohirrim Helm

4 Simbelmyne
3 Thundering Host
1 We Left None Alive

2 Merry, Swordthain
1 Merry's Sword

1 Aragorn, Ranger of the North
1 Sam, Son of Hamfast
1 Sting, Bane of the Eight Legs
1 The Tale of the Great Ring
1 Bounder

Shadow:
4 Isengard Shaman
4 Isengard Tinker
4 Isengard Tender
4 Warg-Rider
4 Isengard Forger

3 Isengard Warrior
3 Goblin Man
1 Isengard Flanker

1 Gollum, Dark as Darkness
1 Orc Insurgent

1 Servants to Saurman
1 Saurman's Snows
2 The Number Must be Few

Sites:
Edoras Hall
King's Tent
Beacon of Minas Tirith
Anduin Banks (7U341)
Steward's Tomb
Minas Tirith Fourth Circle
Ruined Capitol
Northern Ithilien
Haunted Pass

Strategy:
There are some unconventional choices behind this deck.  It's not tricky or cute. The primary win condition for this deck is an Orc Swarm at site 4 (preferably) or 5. Also, this deck is designed for real life tournaments, with 6, 7, or 8 games. Getting quick wins lets me rest. The secondary win condition is to slow the opponent with the shadow and win with the Fellowship, but that shouldn't happen that often.

The correct bid is zero. You want to go second, and encourage a double to 3, thus the low twilight. You want to set your hand with lots of minions. Note that there are no Fellowship events to clog things up, plus you have hand discard like Deor. You want to equip Eomer first, and he'll kill things, or at least not get killed, for a while. On this line, use Thundering Host and other resources fast - your goal is to not use them later.

By site 5, you need to decide how to win. If you haven't gotten the minion drop, it's likely a race, be aggressive and go for it. Drop shadow for stops; 2 vitality and the Isengard Shaman will keep minions on the board. Leaving 4 minions, plus a redraw, makes doubling a little dicey for the opponent. Then you can run.

Card Comments:
The most controversial card is The Number Must be Few. Since most decks counter swarm by dropping companions, and Isengard Orcs have nothing in culture, I needed to find an anti-swarm card with no spotting requirement. Also, once it triggers, the move limit -1 lasts until the end of the turn even if it's removed.
The more common option is fellowship Enquea, but that also has problems. The biggest is that it costs 6, making it unlikely to play with the swarm at site 4 and often difficult at 5. At site 4 and 5, it's usually just as bad as Number. Also, a good Fellowship will have an Anti-Enquea card: Merry's Sword; Terrible and Evil; Great Day, Great Hour; and so on.

Goblin Man really is the best 2 cost minion, thus I include 3. Underground City of the Dead is annoying at site 4, but it's relatively rare. The best site 2 play is a single Goblin Man and a peek. Information is power. In 2004, I won a state TOC by playing Goblin Man at site 8 so I could see my opponent's shadow hand and survive my move to 9.
I hate Gondor Bowmen, or Gondor F'ing Bowmen, thus the Isengard Warrior. It also stops the common anti-swarm Legolas, Greenleaf, and Aragorn's Bow. I might run 4, replacing the Flanker. On the other hand, you could try less and run more Flankers.

If you do experiment, remember that this deck lives off minions, not tricks. Four non-minions is really the maximum. One of these should remain Servants to Saurman, in this deck +3 for 0 that counters The Tale of the Great Ring. You could try Saurman's Power instead of Saurman's Snows, but stopping Bounder and events is better in my mind.
Orc Insurgent is there to punish splash ROTN and Thrarin and Sam, but there are other choices. Enquea can fit in this spot. Gate Veteran gets a card against 6 companions for 4. Isengard Smith is pricey but can cause panic. Goblin Runner can help against choke and at site 4. Tower Assassin offs Bounder and Thrarin, though unlike all the other cards in the Shadow it's rare.

If you see your site 7, you're going for stops, because a Fellowship that lasted that long should have anti-swarm protection. That affects the later site choices.

On the FP side, Merry's job is usually to take threat/archery wounds, then either get equipment for Eomer, bounce for healing, or sacrifice. Merry's Sword is part of the alternate win condition, and so will often be pitched.
The last four cards are the 2nd Eowyn, Merry's Sword, Rohirrim Bow, and last Bounder. In an environment with Corsairs, at least some of these should become Arrow-Slits. If you drop Eowyn to 1 copy, she should start. Other options include Radagast, Fortress Never Fallen, and Rohirrim Army.

Good luck in all your journeys.

[hrcho]

Few copies of Abandoning Reason for Madness could help a lot and Library of Orthanc is one of the best Isengard Swarm cards, though you'd need to add more cards for that one. Full use Library of Orthanc requires big d_cks.

[ramolnar]

Thanks for the comments, hrcho. Library of Orthanc is appropriate for a deck that wants to win with wounds. Ideally, I don't administer any wounds with this deck; I overwhelm the Ringbearer who dies. Every other skirmish doesn't matter.

Abandoning Reason for Madness is a poor card for this deck. The top card will be a minion slightly over 50% of the time. If I have just Madness in hand, I'd rather have a minion. If I have Madness and 1 other card, the maximum number of minions I can get is 1. I should just run Isengard Flanker over the 55% chance from Madness. For Madness to help, I need to have it and 2 other cards in hand. Given this deck plays almost all its FP cards to the table, it's quite rare to have 2 other cards in hand. Even then, it's only gets 2 minions 30% of the time. I'd get more minions with an Orc Runner (5C109), though it costs 1-2 more twilight and the Shaman doesn't protect the Runner. And if I have 3 or more non-minions in hand, I've failed.

[ket_the_jet]

I agree that you need a card drawing engine during the Shadow phase. 75% of the time, six minions will not get the job done. Add Weapon Store and Armory which allow you to play possessions from discard. Then you can dump them with Abandoning Reason for Madness.

Maybe you draw an extra minion or two, or maybe you get that Saruman's Snows. I also think that you need to add a copy of Gollum, Plotting Deceiver. That's a potential minion that you don't even have to keep in your hand. Play or discard him when you first get him and you can always fall back on that if you have initiative. I think Grima, Wormtongue or Grima, Chief Counselor is a great addition to a swarm deck. And Saruman's Power since The Number Must Be Few modifies the move limit for the entire turn. Get rid of those pesky Greatest Kingdom of My People or Glimpse of Fate...
-wtk

[ramolnar]

I didn't think of Gollum, Plotting Deceiver. That is better than Dark as Darkness in this deck, because it might extend the hand. Thanks. I agree that the correct Grima can help, but that's meta dependent and I don't know what to play. Also, Saruman's Power vs Saurman's Snows is a choice - it's tough to play both. Greatest Kingdom doesn't matter too much because against Dwarves, I should just swarm them.

You're right that 6 minions is often not enough, but 7 frequently is. 7 vs 5 will usually get 3 on Frodo, and people are often afraid of 6 companions and Enquea. The Shaman is very important in this deck, because the Shaman will protect against removal before the skirmish phase given enough pool.
I won games with 6 minions + Servants to Saruman against 5 at site 4, 4 minions against 3 at site 3 off 13 twilight, 7 minions against 5 at site 4 then more at site 5, and 6 minions against 5 companions + pool to protect against Greenleaf at site 5.

And if you want to see hand extension, I'll type up another old deck, the Firebomb.