Rohan -
ShadowplayRing-bearer:
Sam, Bearer of Great NeedRing:
The One Ring, The Ring of DoomAdventure deck:
Free Peoples Draw Deck:
1x
Smeagol, Simple Stoor (starting)
1x
Aragorn, Defender of Rohan1x
Gamling, Defender of the Hornburg (starting)
1x
Hama, Captain of the King's Guard1x Théoden, King of Rohan
1x Éomer, Forthwith
Banished (starting)
1x Éowyn,
Lady of Ithilien1x
Merry, Swordthain (starting)
1x
Ecglaf, Courageous Farmer1x
Guma, Plains Farmer1x
Leowyn1x
Rohirrim Herdsman1x
Weland, Smith of the Riddermark1x
Brego1x
Eomer's Spear, Trusty Weapon1x
Erkenbrand's Horn1x
Firefoot, Eomer's Steed1x
Heavy Chain1x
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark1x
Horse of Great Stature1x
King's Mail1x
Merry's Sword1x
Rider's Spear1x
Spear of the Mark1x Éowyn's Sword
1x
Bill the Pony, Dearly-loved1x
Sting, Weapon of Heritage4x
Something Slimy4x
Last Days of My House4x
Simbelmyne1x
Follow Smeagol3x
Gladden Homestead1x
Fortress Never Fallen1x
Weapon Store1x
A Light in His Mind1x
Home and Hearth4x
Scouring of the Shire4x
Shadowplay4x
Deagol, Fateful Finder4x
Rohan Stable Master1x
Rohirrim Doorwarden1x
The Gaffer, Master GardenerShadow Deck:
4x
Incited4x
Sudden Strike4x
So Polite4x
Captured by the Ring1x
Web4x
Evil-Smelling Fens4x
Led Astray1x
Gollum, Her Sneak1x
Gollum, Old Villain1x
Gollum, Threatening Guide2x
Dark Horseman2x
Southron Leader1x
Shelob, Her Ladyship1x
The Balrog, Demon of Might1x
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul30x Nazgul Cards (or another shadow culture that uses / adds threat)
Try to use a shadow that can grab cards from the bin (
Ring of Terror,
Morgul King,
Morgul Squealer) and cards that can cycle out of the hand (
winged mount).
Eternally Threatening and
Cantea, Faster than Winds can add threats to power
So Polite and
Threatening Guide.
Ends up being a 130 card deck (similar in size to
Powerful Guide style decks) but thins out very quickly.
This deck started out as a fun concept, where I wanted to combine a few Rohan and Shire cards. Originally the deck used 4x
Unheeded,
Daddy Twofoot,
Birthday Present to play off the horses that force exertions. Over time it moved to a more tank style strategy with followers, regroup minion discarding, and healing.
I'm posting to get suggestions from more seasoned players as I find rohan doesn't really get played a lot in expanded.
The first few turns are spent grabbing cards with Gamling, pulling Horn and followers (get a
Deagol first). Deagols will get
Merry's Sword,
Sting, and eventually
Bill the Pony, Dearly Loved. Every turn you want to grab a possession with gamling, and a
Deagol with horn to pull a more expensive possession / a specific character's possession. Get Deagols in the grave ASAP to power up
Simple Stoor, by turn 2 or 3 you want to start winning skirmishes with him (remember to use your Stable Masters).
Simple Stoor will send Gollums (
Threatening Guide is key) to the grave to make
So Polite active. I also usually send
Led Astray, Shelob (to grab with Fens),
Sudden Strike, or
Something Slimy depending on where I am with the game and if
Incited is up. With a shadow that can add threats here and there,
So Polite ends up netting you twilight and
Threatening Guide will survive enough to activate
Incited.
You can give little twilight by discarding possessions to villager allies, then playing them during skirmish with Merry. This also applies to the shadow side, feel free to discard possessions to
winged mount or other outlets. By discarding cards to the villagers, you will fly through your deck. This also gives a large amount of healing, and reliable threat removal.
Bill the Pony, dearly loved is there to make Sam mounted, which allows him to be healed by
Weland.
Shadowplay / Scouring the Shire is there to keep 'exert to do something' minions at bay. Grimas, Shotgun Ulaire, etc.
Merry's Sword helps with this as well. If you're fighting a large minion, exert it as much as you can with
Shadowplay (something even the Balrog can't stop), assign it to Eowyn, and use her ability to clear the field. Often I'll let her combat last, so all the exertions from horses go through. You can also use
Merry's Sword to exhaust a large minion, assign it to Eomer, then pitch his spear to kill it. Replay the spear by bouncing Merry.
You can replay
Merry's Sword with either
Ecglaf or
Weapon Store. You'll need Aragorn to make
Ecglaf active.
For actual skirmishes, I usually just attach all of the followers to Sam and let him remove burdens with
Sting. This also turns on Aragorn's and Theoden's +1 to Rohan companions.
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark ,
King's Mail, and
Rohirrim Herdsman make Theoden almost invulnerable. This set up allows him to simply tank the Balrog for a good bit, and makes him a great 'get out of jail free' card in otherwise unwinnable situations.
Gladden Homestead is a concession to condition removal, as Rohan doesn't really have a good card for it. It's mostly there to stave off
Greed if I happen to get caught with it (which is honestly never, but it's still a hard card to fight through).
I find that as long as I set up
A Light in His Mind /
Home and Hearth /
Sting early enough to control burdens it does fairly well. I'm going to remove a card to fit another
Home and Hearth so I can be more reckless with burdens from the Ring, Gaffer and Deagols (and honestly, the deck would be 100x better if it could support
One Good Turn Deserves Another).
I used to run Rosie Cotton with a
Green Dragon Inn site, but most games didn't have a chance to grab her and she can't be tutored out otherwise. The Gaffer works better.
Anyways, any suggestions for improvements would be appreciated. I mostly play the deck for fun, but it feels like it could be pretty viable overall.