Send Forth the Scouts 1.0

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SEND FORTH THE SCOUTS

"December was passing when the scouts began to return. Some had gone north beyond the springs of the Hoarwell into the Ettenmoors; and others had gone west, and with the help of Aragorn and the Rangers had searched the lands far down the Greyflood, as far as Tharbad, where the old North Road crossed the river by a ruined town. Many had gone east and south; and some of these had crossed the Mountains and entered Mirkwood, while others had climbed the pass at the source of the Gladden River, and had come down into Wilderland and over the Gladden Fields..."

--LotR II, p.359

DECK OVERVIEW

This is one of my first attempts at a Scout-themed deck, inspired by the advent of the event Scouting Party with "Temple of the Deceived". Legacy of Númenor (mulligan for it) gets this otherwise resource-challenged deck off to a good start while keeping the threat below 30. With only a few Scout allies and Scouting Party (paid for with Good Meal) you can be questing for up to 15 or 16 in no time. Snowbourn Scout & Woodland Courier help clear locations to draw cards with Ancient Mathom, and The White Council can recycle Scouting Party or any other card, as needed.

HEROES & ATTACHMENTS

Elfhelm 2 2 4(5) 4 Leadership
Attachments: Armored Destrier, Dúnedain Warning, Cram or Unexpected Courage
Elfhelm will quest with the Scouting Party, then ready with Cram, Unexpected Courage, Naith Guide, or The White Council to defend. Armored Destrier lets him defend twice, when needed, and provides some shadow effect cancellation.

Lanwyn 4 4 1 3 Spirit
Attachments: Windfola, Dúnedain Mark, Cram or Unexpected Courage
Lanwyn will quest with the Scouting Party, then ready with her effect, Cram, Unexpected Courage, Naith Guide, or The White Council to attack.

Merry 3 1 1 2 Spirit
Attachments: Hobbit Pony, Good Meal x3
Merry's role is primarily threat reduction. He will typically sit out the quest (especially since he's not a Scout) in order to use his threat reduction effect. If the revealed encounter card during Staging is not an enemy, he can join the quest with Hobbit Pony.

ALLIES & EVENTS

13 allies are Scouts who will benefit from Scouting Party. As mentioned above, Snowbourn Scout & Woodland Courier help clear locations. Westfold Horse-breeder helps get the heroes' Mounts into play faster for the benefits they provide, especially with Elfhelm's effect. Ceorl, Naith Guide, and The White Council provide additional readying effects. The White Council can also be used for resource smoothing or card drawing, when needed, but is primarily in the deck to recycle cards, especially Scouting Party.

For combat, Warden of the Havens will help Elfhelm with defense duties. Try to get Cram or Good Meal on top of the discard pile to trigger his +2 . Arwen Undómiel can also give one defender +1 on rounds when she quests (i.e., when Scouting Party is unable to be played). Gandalf, played with Sneak Attack, brings his usual threat-reduction & card-drawing effects, but may best be used in this deck for his direct damage, as the heroes and allies are somewhat lacking in firepower. Sneak Attack could also be used with Naith Guide, Snowbourn Scout, or Woodland Courier to use any of their enters-play effects more than once.

VARIATIONS

Good thematic additions include Warden of Arnor for either Elfhelm or Lanwyn or Mariner's Compass for additional location control. I cut the former because the deck already generates a lot of location progress with allies.

A Very Good Tale could be used in lieu of Sneak Attack to help muster allies more permanently. If so, you might consider replacing Legacy of Númenor with Hidden Cache to take advantage of the discarding created by A Very Good Tale.

Strength of Will could be included as a method of exhausting Arwen Undómiel (for her +1 boost) rather than questing, since she will not usually quest with the Scouting Party.

Weather Hills Watchman could join Westfold Horse-breeder to fish key Signal attachments for the heroes out of the deck. I went with Westfold Horse-breeder because her effect searches 10, cards rather than 5, for the same number of attachments. With all of the questing power in the deck, Gather Information would also be a good option for getting any card from the deck.

To trim the deck or to substitute in alternate cards, Cram could be removed, as there is a lot of readying in the deck. Though, I like it as a way to get Warden of the Havens his +2 bonus.

CARDS BY FUNCTION

6 Resource Acceleration/Cost Discount: Good Meal, Legacy of Númenor

8 Card Drawing: Gandalf, Ancient Mathom, The White Council

3 Card Recycling: The White Council

3 Player Deck Control: Westfold Horse-breeder

3 Threat Reduction: Merry, Gandalf

0 Equipping:

2 Mustering: Sneak Attack

9 Willpower Boost: Elfhelm, Lanwyn, Sailor of Lune, Windfola, Scouting Party

1 Attack Boost: Dúnedain Mark

6 Defense Boost: Elfhelm, Arwen Undómiel, Warden of the Havens, Dúnedain Warning

0 Hit Point Boost:

0 Engagement Control:

6 Location Control: Snowbourn Scout, Woodland Courier

2 Treachery Control: A Test of Will

3 Shadow Control: Armored Destrier, Hasty Stroke

14 Readying: Lanwyn, Ceorl, Naith Guide, Armored Destrier, Cram, Hobbit Pony, Unexpected Courage, The White Council

1 Healing: Dúnedain Remedy

0 Condition Control: