Shire Freeps

[Gerontius]

I would remove 2x Severed his Bonds. 3x Bounder should be plenty to protect you in that area, especially because you can heal with Old Bilbo's Heir. As well, take out 2x Orc Armor, and maybe throw in one or two Mithril Coat. Definitely take out some of the less important allies, and some conditions. Replace these cards with 1-2 more swords, Filibert Bolger, WR, and fill the rest with events- Dagger Strike, PATHS, and so on.

[ket_the_jet]

I think you missed the point of the deck was to abuse Chance Observation by having a ton of cards (allies) out. That said, I'd rather have four A Promise than any four of those allies.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Also, you need an easy way to get cards into the discard pile quickly to use Chance Observation. What if rather than using a bunch of events, you just used extra copies of companions that you could then discard? Like, if you use Sam, Son of Hamfast and then just have four copies of Sam, you could always exert for no cost just so you could discard a Sam.

Or even easier, use Sam, Resolute Halfling and discard extra possessions, conditions, etc., during the Fellowship phase.

You could always bring back Chance Observation with Birthday Present.
-wtk

[Gerontius]

I think you missed the point of the deck was to abuse Chance Observation by having a ton of cards (allies) out. That said, I'd rather have four A Promise than any four of those allies.
-wtk

I realized that. However, Chance Observation is useless unless you have four cards in your discard pile. My goal was to make this a slightly more event oriented deck, to avoid obliteration in the first half of the game. I said remove *some* allies, not all. He should have at least 12 after adding Filibert, which is probably enough.
Edit: And, he beat me to it. It did remind me though, to comment on your choice for Sam. If you want to get maximum use out of Chance Observation, then Proper Poet could be remarkably effective.