Bard, Great-great-great-great-great Grandson of Girion

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CDavis7M 139

Bard, Great Grand-son of Bard, Great-great-great-great-great-Grand-son of Girion.

But there was still a company of archers that held their ground among the burning houses. Their captain was Bard, grim-voiced and grim-faced, whose friends had accused him of prophesying floods and poisoned fish, though they knew his worth and courage. He was a descendant in long line of Girion, Lord of Dale, whose wife and child had escaped down the Running River from the ruin long ago. Now he shot with a great yew bow, till all his arrows but one were spent. The flames were near him. His companions were leaving him. He bent his bow for the last time…

Then Bard drew his bow-string to his ear. The dragon was circling back, flying low, and as he came the moon rose above the eastern shore and silvered his great wings. “Arrow!” said the bowman. “Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!”

PLAY NOTES

Thanks to the On the Doorstep reprint I can finally achieve my dream Dale deck crowning the Bowman as the King of Dale.

You may have noticed that the Fire and Ice Drakes (and even snow-trolls) of the Ered Mithrin prefer to dwell in deep dark Staging Areas. In comes Bard the Bowman to blast them away with his Great Yew Bow at -2 . Unfortunately, certain Dragons and Tiny Orcs and Trolls are immune to such player card effects (eg "choosing" by Great Yew Bow). Hands Upon the Bow also doesn't work against enemies with "immune to player card effects" (despite not specifically "choosing" an enemy, FAQ 1.47). Also, it is not a "ranged" attack and does not apply -2 from Bard. Still, Bard can get an extra attack on the Drakes (pass around the Spare Hood and Cloaks). Grey Cloak is a Dale-friendly item that can keep other enemies in the staging area. Glamdring and Black Arrow help strengthen the bowman.

Other than Bard the Bowman, this deck just implements the familiar Dale strategies. Focus on playing as many attachments as you can using Brand son of Bain to draw cards. Long Lake Trader moves around the Spare Hood and Cloak and open up allies to be "without an attachment." The Long Lake Fisherman can usually draw something by naming 0/1/2. One rather unfortunate Dale strategy is to simply "sacrifice" a character with attachments to an attack (that you might otherwise defend) to retrieve their items using young Bard's ability, so that you can play them to draw more cards. I've found that brute-force item-heavy deck Dale decks can blast through the anti-swarm and anti-item encounter effects. Still, I do include A Test of Will.

4 comments

Mar 05, 2019 Purple Dain 8

Very cool thematic deck. I've been super impressed with the Ered Mithrin cycle "feel." I've been eyeing the Hobbit sagas, might have to take the plunge. Thanks for sharing!

Mar 05, 2019 CDavis7M 139

Yes! What am amazing cycle. The deck definitely has a fun theme, even if great-grandpa Bard should be dead. The only problem I've found is that there are very few enemies in WoR/ErMi that can be one-shot by Bard, even with Glamdring. I am looking into Swift and Strong though (event - if destroy enemy and exhaust weapon then ready character and +2 attack). Still he works OK against the smaller enemies but doesn't really work against the boss enemies. Though, I did have Bard take out Dagnir with the Black Arrow and Hands Upon the Bow.

Mar 05, 2019 Mormegil 2890

Hands upon the Bow does not work witk immune enemies unfortunately. Great deck!

Mar 05, 2019 CDavis7M 139

Thanks for pointing that out @The Mormegil. I looked into it more and Hands Upon the Bow is specifically given as an example of effects that cant be used against Immune enemies in FAQ 1.47. Though Quick Strike still works against Immune enemies as it only attacks normally engaged enemies. I'm not sure I agree with the different in reasoning but there it is.