Ring-bearer & RingThe One Ring, Answer to All RiddlesBilbo, Bearer of Things BurgledFree Peoples (42)Legolas, Fearless Marksman x1 (starting)
Sam, Resolute Halfling x1 (starting)
Smeagol, Poor Creature x1 (starting)
The Splendor of Their Banners x2
Gondor Bowmen x4
The Council of Elrond x4
Might of Numenor x1
Aragorn's Bow x2
Aragorn, Elessar Telcontar x4
Faramir, Son of Denethor x1
Faramir's Bow x1
Hardy Garrison x1
Consorting With Wizards x4
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom x3
The Shire Countryside x4
A Light in His Mind x4
Red Book of Westmarch x4
Shadow (42)Goblin Armory x4
Goblin Scavengers x4
Goblin Runner x4
Goblin Scimitar x4
Goblin Swarms x4
They Are Coming x4
Host of Moria, Legion of the Underdeeps x2
Orc Pursuer x4
Orc Runner x4
Grishnakh, Orc Captain x3
Ithil Stone x3
Orc Patrol x2
Adventure PathSteps of EdorasKing's TentHall of the KingsPelennor PlainCrashed GateMinas Tirith Third CircleOsgiliath CrossingMorgul ValeHaunted PassI've gone 11-1 with this deck but I still feel like it has some holes. Here's a quick breakdown of my strategy:
I usually bid 0 because going first/second doesn't seem to have much impact on things. There are three cards that I find crucial to get on the table immediately:
Red Book of Westmarch,
Consorting With Wizards &
A Light in His Mind. The drawing engine from the book is key to the strategy, since the bulk of the abuse of
Shire Countryside comes from losing and regaining initiative in a given phase.
Fellowship PhaseIf I find myself particularly beat up in this phase, I tend to play my non-tale cards first and then use Sam's game text to get me down to 4 cards. I can then play a tale (
Gondor Bowmen and Splendor are my preferred plays here) to lose initiative, remove a burden with
A Light in His Mind, heal with
Shire Countryside, regain initiative with the Red Book and then repeat as necessary.
Maneuver PhaseIf I decide I want to ramp up to six companions, this is where
Might of Numenor is key for me. When I play the sixth companion, I am sure to get myself down to 4 cards before I move. In the event I see an Enquea, I pass my phase actions until Enquea has done two wounds, then I play
Might of Numenor. Not only am I able to remove a burden from losing initiative (and heal with
Shire Countryside) but since this card is a tale it also allows me to circumvent the rule of 4 and draw a card with Red Book during the maneuver phase and regain initiative. If the healing from that isn't enough, I usually am able to knock off a couple extra wounds by resolving
Might of Numenor's game text.
Archery PhaseThis is probably the most abusive phase for this mechanic. When I want to make a big double (usually 5-7 or 7-9) I try to set myself up in this fashion. During the Archery phase, I exert Legolas to use Splendor, pop 1-2
Gondor Bowmen with Faramir (if necessary) and then use Aragorn's directed archery exertions. Then I use
Legolas, Fearless Marksman's gametext to do another wound (or two wounds if I have enough cards) during the archery phase. It's at this point that I lose initiative, remove a burden, heal Aragorn and do 2-3 more directed archery. I find that on average I can pump out anywhere from 10-13 archery by doing this without completely exhausting all my
Gondor Bowmen or other tricks.
Skirmish PhaseIf I know I'm not going to be able to kill all the minions during archery, I will try my best to keep myself at 4 cards until the skirmish phase. This is where I will use
Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom to remove 2 burdens (1 from game text, 1 from losing initiative) and clean off a bunch of wounds. This card is also a tale and lets me draw outside of the Fellowship phase, thus regaining initiative immediately. If I'm facing a deck that heavily relies on threats, or if I'm faced with the prospect of sacrificing Smeagol, I will use
NfFatRoD to remove a couple threats instead if I know I can trigger
A Light in His Mind when I play it.
Regroup PhaseProbably the hardest phase to set up, since so many other things have had to go right for me to still have exactly 4 cards in hand, but not impossible. Here is when I use Bilbo's game text and add a burden to drop more copies of
Consorting With Wizards, hopefully losing initiative to immediately remove that burden, heal companions and draw a card.
I find that with the healing this deck generates, I can consistently move with 0 twilight in the pool by exhausting Bilbo. Usually this limits the minions to an amount that can be managed with the archery I generate.
Hardy Garrison is kind of the icing on the cake should I get the chance to use it. Opponents get really frustrated when you remove burdens, heal, and wound a minion every time you lose initiative.
Obviously there are flaws in the design, mainly the fact that I depend so heavily on conditions. If I even smell
Saruman's Power in their hand I know I've pretty much lost the game. But that's the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.
The shadow side is the part of this deck that bothers me the most. It is mostly incapable of stopping anyone and exists solely for the purpose of cycling. I'd love to have a shadow that can stop my opponent from double moving at some point. I'm just not sure how to come up with a 42 card shadow side that won't clog up my deck.
Thoughts and/or observations welcome.
Topic: Bilbo's Tales (Read 14815 times)
