Haldir's Revenge - A Journey Along the Anduin Deck [2.0] 2.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

A Tactics and Lore deck specifically built to tackle Journey Along the Anduin as a solo player. Haldir's Revenge is designed to absolutely destroy the Hill Trolls in this quest, even if you have to fight both at once in the first few turns.

-- Heroes --

• Haldir of Lórien: The powerhouse of this deck. Hold him back from questing (at least until you have Wingfoot and/or Henamarth Riversong) and use him to attack/kill an enemy in the staging area every round.
• Gimli: Helpful as a defender in the first couple of turns if needed and then gives you flexibility to quest, attack or defend depending on your needs each round. (Replaces Legolas from V1.0.)
• Éowyn: Useful as a low-Threat second Tactics hero with high Willpower, and her ability is obviously useful against the Hill Trolls if needed. Grappling Hook is also here, which she can use with her ability to power through Stage 2.

-- Key Cards for an Opening Hand --
If any of the following cards or combinations come up, you will probably want to keep your hand rather than mulligan.

1. Bow of the Galadhrim: This will give Haldir an instant power boost so he can start attacking the Hill Troll in the staging area.
2. Dagger of Westernesse: Drawing one or two of these early is great for either Haldir or Gimli, especially since your Threat will be lower than most enemies early on.

If you get two (any combination), keep your hand and get them on Haldir ASAP.

That's really about it. The deck is very flexible and can cope with almost anything the quest can throw at it. As always, a couple of low cost allies in hand is also a huge help in the first few turns.

-- Early Turn Priorities (Stage 1) --
One of the strengths of this deck is there's not many ways to go wrong. Nevertheless, here are some of its priorities:

• Arm Haldir: Haldir is the power behind this deck, so the sooner you can get some combination of Bow of the Galadhrim and Dagger of Westernesse onto him the better. With even just one of these, he can one-shot almost every enemy in this quest from the staging area.
• The Hill Troll: As with most plays of Journey Along the Anduin, removing the Hill Troll is a top priority. With a starting Threat of 26, you should have 4 turns to do so. With weapons, Haldir can kill him in 3 turns without even needing to engage (or, if needed, in 1 using Eowyn's ability and Feint or Quick Strike). You also have Derndingle Warrior who can actually defend against it and not die.
• Willpower: Willpower is a weakness of Tactics and not exactly a strength of Lore. Eowyn's 4 will give you a few easy turns, but it's helpful if you can get at least one 2 ally onto the table quickly as well such as Mablung, Quickbeam or Grimbold. Use Gimli to quest as needed.

-- Mid-Game Priorities (Stage 2) --
Once the Hill Troll is down, you could choose to turtle for a couple of turns to build up more Willpower, but try to avoid getting too close to 35 Threat (when many bad treacheries start taking effect). Once you start Stage 2, here's what you should work towards:

• Attack the Staging Area: By now, Haldir should have enough power to one-shot or two-shot every enemy from the staging area (since there's no forced engagement on this stage anyway). Have him take down an enemy every round without engaging.
• Healers and Defenders: This quest has several nasty treacheries that can deal damage to your quest-committed characters. Imladris Caregiver can protect Eowyn, who only has 3 health. Gimli is a good defender once or twice, but after that Derndingle Warrior on the table is helpful, though your low starting Threat gives you a lot of breathing room.
• More Willpower: Try and get the more expensive 2 characters into action to help you make faster progress. This will likely be Grimbold, Rúmil, Elladan or Quickbeam. I would suggest saving Eowyn's ability (combined with Grappling Hook) and Gandalf to use for their Willpower boost on this stage (use Gandalf to reduce your Threat as well).

Ideally, you want to blitz through Stage 2 as fast as possible. The longer this deck spends there, the more likely it will be overwhelmed by surging enemies or deadly treacheries that reduce your Willpower and slow you further.

-- Other Cards --
I'm sure many cards from this deck could be substituted for others that perform a similar role, but there's a few picked out for particular purposes. This section provides just a little more detail for my choices that I haven't already covered (or aren't necessarily self-explanatory).

• Galadhon Archer: Try to play them when there's an enemy in the staging area you otherwise can't one-shot. Also useful to take out Eastern Crows. While you're under 35 Threat, no treachery can kill them since, with 0 , you won't be committing them to the quest.
• Asfaloth: Without Glorfindel he's not at full power, but even one progress can be quite helpful against some locations. Remember, you can use his action after committing to the quest if The Brown Lands is revealed to immediately clear it and remove the 5 .
• Ithilien Pit: Allows Gimli to get in on the Staging Area action with Haldir.
• Secret Vigil: Save it for the 2 enemies if you can, as the longer you can stay under 35 Threat, the better.
• Wingfoot: Really elevates Haldir in conjunction with Henamarth Riversong. This lets him quest and attack in the same round.
• Quick Strike: Multi-purpose, but in a pinch works alongside Eowyn's ability to deal with the Hill Troll if you're without Feint.
• Gandalf: Originally this deck was without him, but his Threat reduction and questing boost can be life-saving on Stage 2.
• Hands Upon the Bow: This was more useful when hero Legolas was in the deck (V1.0), however it does still allow Haldir to attack the Staging Area with +1 or on a round when you've had to engage an enemy.

-- Suggestions from the Community --
Thank you to the commenters who suggested these additional cards to elevate the deck! I don't have them in my collection, but you might in yours:

• Open the Armory: Speeds up getting weapons on to Haldir.
• Proud Hunters: Provides resource acceleration for Lore.

-- Version Notes --
Notable changes to V2.0 from V1.0:

• Legolas replaced with Gimli. This allows for 1 extra Willpower and a hero who can defend if needed in the first few turns.
• Ghân-buri-Ghân has been removed as there aren't heaps of high cost locations and he often felt wasted.
• Derndingle Warrior replaces Defender of Rammas because, with only 1 health, the Defenders of Ramnas would die to treacheries past 35 Threat.
• Gandalf added.