Ents Swarming Across the Battlefield w/ Evil Men Archery

[DáinIronfoot]

I've known of the loophole that Expanded allows with a ridiculous Ent starting fellowship for a while now, but never used it. I finally put one together. And here it is....

FREE PEOPLES (42 cards):

Frodo, Resolute Hobbit w/ The Ring of Doom

Merry, In The Bloom of Health (starting, )
Pippin, In The Bloom of Health (starting, )
Farmer Maggot, Hobbit of the Marish (starting, )
Quickbeam, Bregalad (starting, )
Skinbark, Fladrif (starting, )
Host of Fangorn (starting, )
Ent Horde (starting, )
Huorn

Sting, Elven Long Knife

Enraged x4
Ent Draught x4
Watch and Wait
Hornblower Leaf x4

The Terror of His Coming x4
The Flame of Anor x4
Boomed and Trumpeted x4
Long Slow Wrath x4
Narrow Escape x4

Massive deck, I know...even by MY standards. But consider that you get to pull 7 companions into the starting fellowship, and suddenly the 35 FP cards left doesn't look so bad. You see, the strength of the deck is its starting fellowship:

- Merry ItBoH and Pippin ItBoH make Bregalad free (2 Hobbits, 2 Ents spotted).

- Toss in Hobbit of the Marish (or any other -cost unbound Hobbit) for a total of 3 Hobbits and 3 Ents, making Fladrif cost only .

- No twilight left over now (all are used up), but that's no problem, because Host of Fangorn is able to now spot 3 Hobbits and 4 Ents to play for free...

- ...followed by Ent Horde which spots 3 Hobbits and now 5 Ents to also play for free. Voila: eight companions in the starting fellowship!

The only companion left in the deck is Huorn, and assuming everyone's still around when he shows up, he enters play as a /12/4 damage +1 beatstick. Not too shabby, eh?

Pumps make sure they win and keep the skirmish wounds to a minion, since you're going to be tossing out a LOT of twilight and opening yourself up to several swarms of minions. The Flame of Anor is a nice, simple event that should work even if a couple Ents fall. Boomed and Trumpeted spots your three unbound Hobbits to make any Ent strength +3 and damage +3, so minions won't be crawling away from any battles they lose. Similarly, Long Slow Wrath makes any Hobbit (under ideal circumstances) strength +5 and damage +5...yikes. Nice for dusting off smaller minions. Enraged can provide a short-term strength +4 boost to an Ent, and The Terror of His Coming can pull it back from discard to use again the next turn. Ent Draught not only provides more survivablity (since there's no healing to be found here), but can be used in a pinch to make any companion bearing one damage +1 and further kill minions off.

Anything that crawls away can be discarded in regroup with Narrow Escape (which can discard 2 minions at once if you don't lose any Hobbits) and Hornblower Leaf (which can be pulled back from discard as needed by Merry ItBoH), setting up double moves, even with such a massive fellowship. The Leaf and Elven Long Knife also keep threats under control so you don't have to slap mass threat wounds on companions should someone die, and Watch and Wait gives a little burden peeling, mostly to remove burdens you bid to make the opponent go first...

...which ensures you get to play battlegrounds and plains sites. The battlegrounds help your Ents with TToHC, but also combine with the plains to greatly aid your Shadow side.


SHADOW (42 cards):

The Mouth of Sauron, Messenger of Mordor x4
Mumakil Commander, Bold and Grim x2
Voice of the Desert, Southron Troop x2
Mumak Rider x4
Fletcher of Harad x4
Archer of Harad x4
Legion of Harad x2

Pavise x3

Goaded to War x4
Countless Companies x3
Howdah x3
Caravan From the South
Suffered Much Loss x2

Overrun x4


See, boys and girls? Uncle Dáin CAN make Shadow sides without a single Nazgûl in them! (Though believe me, I considered pairing my tried and true Forestgûls with the FP side, too. )

Anyway, the point here is probably rather obvious: archery, archery, and more archery, combined with some big minions to finish things off in skirmish. Mouth of Sauron MoM sets everything up for us by pulling conditions like Goaded to War and Countless Companies from your deck, especially if you slap a Pavise on him, which can then go on one of those Countless Companies when you're done with him! Nifty, eh?

Caravan From the South can make Howdah even more evil, and also discourages the FP player from trying to control the sitepath and deny you your battlegrounds and plains. Speaking of which, Suffered Much Loss ensures that ALL your sites are battlegrounds, just in case you somehow DO lose control of the sitepath.

And speaking of THAT....

SITES:

Gates of Mordor
Isenwash
Morannon Plains
Northern Pelennor
Pelennor Fields
Wold Battlefield
Osgiliath Reclaimed
Valley of the Silverlode
Heights of Isengard

Six are battlegrounds and five are plains (and the only one that isn't -- Valley of the Silverlode -- helps your Hobbits and is a dwelling, which helps TToHC), so as long as you make the opponent go first and trail them much of the game, you should also be able to squeeze something out of each site. To get more specific....

Gates of Mordor adds only for you and potentially more for your opponent.

Isenwash gives you a free companion exertion and is one of three plains/battleground combos.

Morannon Plains can add another token to Howdah.

Northern Pelennor admittedly doesn't do much, but it IS another plains/battleground site.

Pelennor Fields adds some ambush to your Men, discouraging double-moving.

Wold Battlefield helps any of your minions and makes for a particularly nasty and lethal surprise with Pavise.

Osgiliath Reclaimed likely won't do much for your opponent, and helps YOU peel a burden if needed. Never a bad thing.

Valley of the Silverlode, as mentioned before, heals your Hobbits.

And finally, Heights of Isengard is simply AWESOME with all these pumped up Ents. You could discard tons of conditions with its text.

[SomeRandomDude]

The point of the 8 comp starting fellowship is to run it 30/30 so you start with a 23 fellowship. In which case, after site 1, you have exactly 45 cards in the deck. Then you toss in some Warmed Up A Bit to get the hobbits outta the way, some Momentous Gathering to filter the deck even more, and set it up with a killer combo shadow. Lackey, Troll Swarm, take your pick.

Because if you can't pull off a kill fast, you're gonna get blasted to pieces come region 3.

Try starting the comps, tossing 3 hobbits via Warmed Up A Bit, running Treebeard, Enraged Shepherd and Gandy, then Strange Meeting + all the Gandy Followers, and follow the rest up with healing. Can you say...ouch?

[Vroengard]

Why in the world is there a Mumakil Commander in there but not a single mumak .....

old topic I know  

[Haszor]

Why in the world is there a Mumakil Commander in there but not a single mumak .....

old topic I know  

That's what I was wondering.  I'd recommend swapping him out for some Mumak Commander, Giant Among the Swertings, especially if you get a pavise.