Rohan/Archery

[Haszor]

I haven't tried the Free side out yet but I took the Shadow side out and it did some serious damage.

Free Peoples (35)
Frodo, Courteous Halfling - AtAR
 1x Eomer, Third Marshal of Riddermark (starting)
 1x Eowyn, Lady of Rohan (starting)
 2x Elite Rider
 1x Theoden, Lord of the Mark
 1x Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
 1x Hrethel, Rider of Rohan

 1x Firefoot
 1x Herugrim
 3x Rider's Mount
 3x Rider's Spear
 3x Rohirrim Shield
 2x Rohirrim Helm
 1x Sting, Baggins Heirloom
 1x Eowyn's Sword
 1x Eomer's Spear
 2x Rohirrim Bow

 2x Thundering Host
 2x Fortress Never Fallen
 1x Arrow Slits
 1x Armory

 4x Simbelmyne

Shadow (35)
 2x Lurtz, Servant of Isengard
 2x Berserk Slayer
 2x Berserk Savage
 2x Elite Crossbowmen
 2x Orthanc Assassin
 3x Ranged Commander
 4x Uruk Crossbowman
 4x Uruk Crossbow Troop

 3x Broad-Bladed Sword

 2x Devilry of Orthanc
 4x Weapons of Isengard
 
 4x Cloud of Arrows

Sites
 The Riddermark (1T)
 Uruk Camp (2T)
 Throne Room (3T)
 Westemnet Hills (4T)
 Deep of Helm (5T)
 Hornburg Hall (6T)
 Hornburg Causeway (7T)
 Valley of Saruman (8T)
 Saruman's Laboratory (9T)
Anyone have any advice on what to drop/add?  I would like to get some more wounding in on the Rohan side to keep those annoying Dunlending minions off my tail.  Also I have the nagging feeling that my Rohan companions don't have high enough strength and need more events or something along those lines.  Thanks in advance.

[MuadDib85]

Sting, BH is useless and just costs 1 extra twilight than hobbit sword.

Nonsense.

[ket_the_jet]

Sting, BH is useless and just costs 1 extra twilight than hobbit sword.

Breeze,

That may be the worst advice I have ever seen on this site. Have you ever played this game?

If you are going to pay anyways, why not get the extra ability? Sting, Baggins Heirloom and Hobbit Sword**** cost the exact same and Gollum, Stinker and Gollum, Old Villain are very common in Towers Standard.

Quit while you are behind.
-wtk

[ket_the_jet]

Haszor,

The Freeps is, frankly, not very good.

Drop two Heavy Chain, two Rider's Spear, one Rider's Mount*, Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples, and Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn.

Add two Simbelmyne, three An Honorable Charge, one Gamling, Warrior of Rohan, and a few Rohirrim Bow if you are concerned about {Dunland} in your meta. Arrow-Slits and Armory can also both be very helpful at one copy apiece.

You could always splash a copy of Legolas, Greenleaf for a late push against Dunland, but odds are, they will have the pool to keep the minions alive with Hides.
-wtk

[Haszor]

Haszor,
Drop two Heavy Chain, two Rider's Spear, one Rider's Mount*, Aragorn, Defender of Free Peoples, and Ranger's Sword, Blade of Aragorn.

Add two Simbelmyne, three An Honorable Charge, one Gamling, Warrior of Rohan, and a few Rohirrim Bow if you are concerned about {Dunland} in your meta. Arrow-Slits and Armory can also both be very helpful at one copy apiece.

You could always splash a copy of Legolas, Greenleaf for a late push against Dunland, but odds are, they will have the pool to keep the minions alive with Hides.
-wtk

Thanks for the advice.  Why should I keep one of the heavy chain? I liked the suggestions on what to add though thanks a lot!  I'm not gonna try to run Legolas as in order to use him in the later sites I'm gonna have to keep him alive, which means more buffs on him and an even larger deck.
Quick question: Does Gamling's effect allow you to play a possession during the skirmish?  It should but I'm just checking.

[Haszor]

Okay.  I took this thing up on GCCG and have a 0-3 win:lose ratio.  The Free side keeps getting butchered.  Suggestions?  If there's a better culture to use feel free to tell me.

[ket_the_jet]

No need to keep Legolas alive. Play him, kill a minion, and let him die.

Gamling's text allows you to play possessions during the skirmish phase on him.

Heavy Chain, or even Armor, can be nice on Eomer.

There are better builds, but for what you are going for here (just drop possessions to cycle), it should be okay.

I didn't really look at the Shadow, but that is a ton of high cost minions...
-wtk

[Haszor]

I know but I always seem to be able to get them out there.

[macheteman]

well, what ways did you get butchered? did frodo get overwhelmed? bounder is always helpful. corruption, a copy of sam son of hamfast can help you survive. can't handle the skirmish phase, a few strength pumps can't hurt.

to be honest, my 2 splash companions are often aragorn ranger of the north, and sam soh. gorn if i'm in a tough swarm, sam for the nasty corruptiuon decks. cutting the deck size dawn can't hurt either. 32 would probably be ideal. but even 34 would be better. i run a funky rohan deck that packs gimli with 3x delving. and i think even that runs around 32 cards.

[Haszor]

They keep killing off my companions so I assign any of their minions

[macheteman]

that sounds like you aren't getting your freeps set up fast enough. eomir with a horse or spear shouldn't die very easily.

[Haszor]

The problem is there's A) a tank with 15 strength who's damage +1 and fierce, or B) there's a ton of Uruk-hai and my companions are just getting the snot beaten out of them because I don't have very high strength.

[Elessar's Socks]

I'd run 9 companions and start Eomer TMoR / Elite Rider for another tank. Eowyn LoR and Hrethel look good, but for the remaining slots, maybe try the Dalton approach to splash companions: Aragorn RotN, Greenleaf, Sam PP, and...Boromir SoD? Speaking of, I think he also had the Hlafwine and Leod allies, boosting strength.

IMO Thundering Host should be at 4, and a few skirmish events would help (probably An Honorable Charge). And then deduct from / adjust the gear; Shield and Helm could go completely, as well as Herugrim and Eowyn's Sword if you shake up the companions. Oh, and replace a mount with Brego.

[ket_the_jet]

I'm quite fond of Faramir, Son of Denethor as a splash companion.
-wtk

[macheteman]

I'm quite fond of Faramir, Son of Denethor as a splash companion.
-wtk

very true. quite a useful guy.