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CDavis7M 145
A little people but of Great worth are the Shire-folk. Little do they know of our long labour for the safe-keeping of their borders. Yet, I grudge it not.
-Halbarad
What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?
-Strider
Dúnedain Safe-Keeping
This is a thematic solo deck for playing the first five saga quests, including the three quests in The Black Riders deluxe expansion and the two Bombadil "Print on Demand" / GenCon saga quests. Dúnedain allies (and Gildor) provide safe-keeping of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pip.
I played A Shadow of the Past, The Old Forest, Fog on the Barrow-Downs, A Knife in the Dark, and Flight to the Ford in campaign mode using mostly the same deck. The differences are minimal, as shown in the side board and explained below. These quests were completed in 1 or 2 attempts each.
A Shadow of the Past (47+3):
-You can also swap 2x Gildor for 1x Shadow of the Past and 1x The Hidden Way since Objective Ally Gildor could be revealed from the encounter deck, discarding your Gildor and wasting 5 lore resources (this totally didn't happen to me).
The Old Forest (47+3):
1x Hobbit-sense
A Knife in the Dark (47+5):
3x Son of Arnor proves his quality by engaging Bill Ferny. Mulligan for this card. Absolutely essential.
Fog on the Barrow-Downs (47+4):
Flight to the Ford (47+4)
Once the Mount Gundabad AP releases, 2x Gaffer Gamgee can replace a copy of Farmer Maggot and Andrath Guardsman. And Drinking Song can replace Daeron's Runes.
PLAY NOTES
Mulligan: I look for Elf-stone, Fast Hitch (especially for hide tests in A Shadow of the Past), Ranger of Cardolan (strong ally that's easy to play with neutral resources), or Rosie (for helping Sam defend). But there is no essential card to dig for here, which is nice. Except, be sure to mulligan for Son of Arnor in A Knife in the Dark to engage Bill Ferny.
Early Game: Try to stall for about 4 turns, using Shadow of the Past or The Hidden Way to reveal locations if you can, while you generate enough resources to play one of the stronger allies.
Questing is easy enough with the four Hobbits committing 9 . Later on the Dunedain can help with questing if needed. Save Rosie Cotton until after staging so that you can decide whether to add to or depending on the enemy situation (Rosie can use Fast Hitch to work during both the quest and combat phases, but I typically put them on Merry and Sam).
Defending is handled by Sam using Hobbit Cloak and/or Rosie to boost his defense. Dúnedain Warning can get you the extra defense to avoid damage, especially when his ability doesn't trigger. The one Dúnedain & Hobbit synergy we do have is that Halbarad helps Hobbit Cloak remain active. The Dúnedain allies are also good defenders. Andrath Guardsman is great to play the round after playing Hobbit-sense.
Attacking is (unthematically) handled by Merry with his Barrow Blade (which he's been carrying since he left home). Merry is already swinging for 4 since we're playing solo with Frodo. Between the Dagger, Rosie, Halfling Determination, and another ally, Merry can drop a Nazgul with a single stab behind the knee (so, is this really unthematic?).
Deck Strengths: The Dunedain allies are expensive, but they have great stats. Most of them are good defenders, able to withstand a Rider of Mordor or Fell Rider. A few have decent questing ability. Many are great attackers. Plus, Elf-stone and A Very Good Tale can easily bring several of them into play.
Once you have 2 or 3 Dúnedain safe-keeping the Hobbits, you can pretty much blast through whatever the encounter deck deals you.
This deck does not rely on mulliganing for a specific card.
Henamarth makes hide tests and questing easy to plan for. Yes, Henamarth is a Silvan, but I like to think that he's one of Gildor's kin. As Sam once said "They're all elvish enough, but they're not all the same" (see Henamarth flavor text).
Deck Weaknesses: This deck lacks spirit resources and cannot play ally Glorfindel.
Many of the Dúnedain allies have wasted abilities and there is no room for any Dúnedain trait events given the amount of Hobbit specific cards. Unfortunately, the Dúnedain engagement aspects don't mesh with Hobbits.