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Author Topic: Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown  (Read 4549 times)

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August 08, 2018, 04:16:33 AM
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RJH777

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Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown
« on: August 08, 2018, 04:16:33 AM »
Hi all,

My first post - getting back into the game after 12 years (!), looking forward to playing online too.

First deck I'm looking at testing out - a my axe is notched/final count freeps with a good old Uruk beatdown shadow (minus the sadly X'd Keeper of Isengard  :'()

Free People (34)

Starting:

Frodo, Courteous Halfling
The One Ring, Isildur's Bane

Legolas, Greenleaf
Gimli, Son of Gloin

Main Deck

Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples x2
Elrond, Herald to Gil-galad

Bow of the Galadhrim
Long Knives of Legolas
Asfaloth
Gimli's Battle Axe x2
Hand Axe
Rangers Sword
Aragorn's Bow
Dwarven Bracers
Gimli's Helm
Sting, Baggins Heirloom

Quick As May Be x4
Double Shot x2
Defend it and Hope x2
Power According to His Stature

My Axe is Notched x2
Final Count x2
Strength of Arms x2
Shoulder to Shoulder
The Tale of Gil-Galad
Endurance of Dwarves

Shadow (34)

Troop of Uruk-hai x4
Uruk Regular x4
Uruk Lieutenant x4
Uruk Fighter x2
Uruk Captain x2
Uruk Guard x2
Orthanc Assassin x2
Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
Orthanc Champion

Broad-bladed Sword x4

Lurtz's Battle Cry x2
Saruman's Power

Saruman's Ambition x4
Tower of Orthanc

Strategy

On the FP side it's hopefully self-explanatory - use your pre-skirmish wounding to pick off anything too big and then finish off the smaller guys with Legolas and Gimli to start collecting tokens.

Aragorn and Strength of Arms gives Legolas a regenerating -3 and Gimli is a tank already. Elrond allows you to effectively heal Gimli twice a turn. Once set-up, Legolas should be a 13 with a recurring -3 through Aragorn, Gimli a 13 with recurring +4 (and heal twice from Elrond) and Aragorn is a 10. Should mean any minions that do make it to skirmish can be taken care of.

Does add quite a bit of twilight when setting up so a bit concerned by swarm decks, especially early...any thoughts?

On the shadow side, it's pretty simple, get your conditions and a couple of minions down early then site 5 aim to hit them with 3 or 4 Uruks which should leave a mark, especially if you can hit them with an LBC. Orthanc Champion against self-exhausting comps like Greenleaf is great fun. Not sure whether to add Greed or if most free peoples in this fellowship will effectively self-police?

August 08, 2018, 05:41:31 AM
Reply #1

Phallen Cassidy

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Re: Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2018, 05:41:31 AM »
Welcome back!

There's a tricky (and highly unfortunate) truth to 4+ Free Peoples culture decks after Fellowship Block. If they are unsuccessful, they don't get used. If they are successful, people begin packing Grima, Chief Counselor in their decks and they're not successful anymore. The other main fear is condition discard. There's no way to prevent Final Count from being discarded, which means all of your progress will be reset once that happens :( All this to say it won't be a hyper-competitive deck, but it certainly looks fun!

Aragorn's ability only allows you to make minions skirmishing him strength -3, so you won't be able to use that ability to help Legolas. You can (and should) use him to heal Gimli, though. Perhaps a copy of Stout and Strong would be better than Endurance of Dwarves? Or perhaps replace Strength of Arms, since it's not doing what you want. Also, Gimli's Helm is nice to have in certain corner cases when you have a strong Gimli, but I don't recommend it. Going over 3 cards on a companion will almost always invoke the wrath of Grima, Wormtongue (curse you, Grima!), so it becomes more of a liability than anything. Extra reason to get rid of Endurance of Dwarves. Plus only having 1 copy means you probably won't get it when you need it (early game).

Your fear of swarm is warranted, though, so I'd swap it for a second copy of Sting or O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! to survive a site 4 swarm with 10 strength on Frodo, and to keep Easterlings from adding burdens too often (though they will use Gathering to the Summons anyway). Gimli's Battle Axe is a great answer to swarm decks since most of them in Towers are hybrid Moria/Isengard Orcs without using deck space on Goblin Armory, though you're right to keep a copy of PATHS at hand if there's a pure Moria deck. In Towers Standard Cavern Entrance at site 7 will ruin a lot of anti-swarm strategies, but that's just part of the format.

Your shadow side is interesting. I don't think Tower of Orthanc will do you good, though you do need the twilight. Trouble is, you'd have to have it out and spot an exhausted companion by site 5 to get the most out of it. It's great for the last 3 sites, if you're set on it. Abandoning Reason for Madness goes a long way in setting up a good hand when you need it, especially if you're already using Saruman's Ambition. Other than that, I'd be interested to see how it does! Greed is always a solid card to include whenever you're playing Uruk-Hai, but it's up to you whether it's necessary. All that twilight from 9 companions would do your deck some good, so you have to decide whether the damage of Greed against those decks is better than the uselessness against 5-companion lineups.

August 08, 2018, 05:59:29 AM
Reply #2

Dictionary

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Re: Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2018, 05:59:29 AM »
Nice deck :up: With Orthanc Assassin being fairly mild and unique, you definitely don't need two of them. Orthanc Berserker, Advance Uruk Patrol or Uruk Rear Guard are nice alternatives. The Rear Guard is a common too, which is really nice for a big minion.
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August 08, 2018, 06:47:33 AM
Reply #3

Pepi

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Re: Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2018, 06:47:33 AM »
There's also the other Grima, (Chief Councilor, I believe) that spots 4 free people's cultures and bounces an unbound companion. For that reason, I think Baruk Khazad could be a better option than Double Shot. Helps with Wormtongue too, of course. I would probably try a second Lurtz in place of one Orthanc Assassin, and maybe some pumps (it's always nice to surprise your opponent's fellowship), perhaps in place of some of the less useful minions.

EDIT: Also, I would indeed include greed. Even if just for the cases, where your opponent knows your deck.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2018, 06:51:47 AM by Pepi »

August 08, 2018, 11:30:05 PM
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RJH777

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Re: Hunter Tokens/Uruk Beatdown
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2018, 11:30:05 PM »
Thanks guys!

Ah yes I totally forgot about that Grima - I knew there was a reason why I could never get 3 hunter decks to work back in the day.

Also apparently totally misread that Aragorn! Will definitely drop Endurance of Dwarves for Stout And Strong and Gimli's helm for another Sting.

Swapping the Double Shot for Barak Khazad is a good idea too, will definitely do that (although might be better to drop Aragorn and his kit and either run at 3 comps and just add extra Frodo pumps or maybe put in another Elf (Arwen?) With a bow etc.?

Shadow side, forgot about Abandon Reason, Tower of Orthanc was to help discourage doubling but the cycling is probably more important so will drop that and a copy of Orthanc Assassin for 2x Abandon Reason for Madness.

Think it's also worth dropping a copy of the Uruk Regular for Greed (As the Regular isn't that great by Himself). Leaves 20 minions (and captain can revive) which seems ok?