The strategy for this fellowship is the following:

1. Players #1 and #2 consistently play a total of three copies of Gildor's Counsel each turn and use Denethor to control and/or prepare for the top card of the encounter deck. Secondarily, these two players use Out of the Wild to prune the encounter deck of the worst of cards and to force a reshuffle of the encounter deck.
2. Player #3 builds up Beregond as a strong defender and Legolas as a strong attacker.
3. Player #4 uses its heroes as backup defenders and attackers to support Player #3 and its Outlands allies for questing.

The decks are all narrowly focused and are not at all intended to be played separately from this fellowship.

Key Cards

Gildor's Counsel, Scroll of Isildur, and Gandalf and/or card draw effects (like Beravor): The key mechanic of this fellowship is playing Gildor's Counsel three times per round to reduce the encounter deck draws down to a single card per round. In the first round chances are that the three plays will be two direct plays of Gildor's Counsel with one Scroll of Isildur used to recycle a copy. Ideally, though, the decks would use one copy of Gildor's Counsel and one Scroll of Isildur for three plays. For example:

• Play Gildor's Counsel from hand.
• Use Scroll of Isildur (which needs to already be equipped to a hero) to replay Gildor's Counsel from the discard pile, putting it into an empty deck for Player #1.
• Use Gandalf to play Gildor's Counsel directly from the deck.

For Player #2, instead of having Gandalf play the card directly from the deck, you could have Beravor or another card draw mechanic cause you to draw it and then play it again. Until both decks are emptied out, Player #1 may want to use The Seeing-stone to trigger a reshuffle and Player #2 may want to use Master of the Forge similarly.

Cram and Unexpected Courage: There are several good targets for these cards. First and foremost, Beregond can use them to help keep everyone safe. Secondary to that, if there you need to block attacks, then you probably need to kill enemies, in which case Legolas is a good followup candidate. If enemies aren't a particular issue, then Denethor can always use these to scout the encounter deck more than once per round, which in good in general and particularly valuable for certain quests (such as looking for Athelas in A Journey To Rhosgobel to heal the wounded eagle).

Second Breakfast: This card is a critical card for the entire fellowship as it allows Players #1 and #2 to play Scroll of Isildur over and over again, which in turn allows them to play Gildor's Counsel over and over again. This card should pretty much only be played when it is possible for both of these decks to redraw Scroll of Isildur into their hands. For Players #3 and #4, you'll likely want to redraw Cram so that any of Beregond, Legolas, or Denethor can be used more often.

Doomed cards (Deep Knowledge, Legacy of Númenor, The Seeing-stone) and threat reduction cards (Elrond's Counsel, The Galadhrim's Greeting, Secret Vigil, Keen as Lances): If Player #1 plays all eight of its Doomed cards, then that's a cost of +17 threat, which puts Player #1 at 50 threat exactly and everyone else at 46 threat. Given that there is likely going to be only a single encounter card draw and that Denethor (possibly with Cram or Unexpected Courage) should give you some control over what that card is, chances are high that you'll be able to control how much threat you get each turn. That said, you'll definitely be living on the edge. Player #1 has Elrond's Counsel to help with personal threat reduction and both Players #1 and #2 can use The Galadhrim's Greeting either globally or individually to help get past turn one questing. During the combat phase Player #3's Secret Paths should help with global threat. At the end of turn one Player #2 can use Aragorn to reset threat, and chances are that enough copies of Out of the Wild will have been played to make Player #4's Keen as Lances inexpensive. At that point any remaining The Galadhrim's Greeting can be targeted at individuals. As Players #1 and #2 recycle their decks with Will of the West, Elrond's Counsel and The Galadhrim's Greeting become available again.

Resource management: It's very important in the first turn of the game to be very mindful of resource management in several regards. First, while Gaining Strength can only be played on your own heroes, Wealth of Gondor can be played on any Gondor hero. You will want to make certain that Player #4 has enough resources to play out a significant number of allies on the first turn of the game, so Faramir is a good target for this card early on. Second, if Players #1, #2, and #4 are holding multiple copies of Good Meal, then Player #1 likely wants to load up Gandalf with Narya and several resources that can be offloaded onto other characters as needed with Player #4's Parting Gifts knowing that resource support is going to be forthcoming. Similarly for Player #2 and loading up Denethor with extra resources. Third, as a team you'd like to play as many copies of Campfire Tales as possible on the first turn while also ensuring that you have enough resources to play out your needed cards. Be mindful not to overplay or underplay this card.

Turn One

Player #1: Your major priorities for turn one are getting some (but not necessarily all) of your unique attachments into play (Narya, Vilya, Wizard Pipe), playing out most (but not necessarily all) of the Doomed cards (Deep Knowledge, Legacy of Númenor, The Seeing-stone) to get global card draw and resource generation going, and getting some threat reduction going (ideally at least two plays of Elrond's Counsel and/or The Galadhrim's Greeting). The most critical part of this process are the Doomed cards, so playing around that is likely your best bet for a starting hand. Ideally you'll have at least two Doomed cards in your hand. If so, you're probably good to go because you can always play more event cards on other players' turns (not attachments, of course, but on turn one the events are overall more important). Use Word of Command depending on what you're holding. For example, if you have several copies of Elrond's Counsel, then grabbing Vilya is a good play. Overall this deck wants get the other decks off to strong starts by leading with global resources and card draw. If it can play Gildor's Counsel twice on turn one then you're in a good place.

Player #2: What you'd like more than anything else is a copy of Song of Kings (which goes on Denethor) and some significant card draw through Daeron's Runes, Mithrandir's Advice, and possibly Scroll of Isildur to play in conjunction with card draw. You should get extra resources from Player #1, drawing and playing Gaining Strength, Wealth of Gondor, and Good Meal as you draw your cards. Your first priority is figuring out how you're playing the needed number of Gildor's Counsel along with Player #1 to hit your three plays per round. Once you have that figured out, your secondary priorities are Song of Travel on yourself for The Galadhrim's Greeting (and possibly A Test of Will) and helping Player #3 out with Song of Kings or Song of Travel on Beregond if needed.

Player #3: Your top priorities in general are Song of Wisdom, A Burning Brand, and Gondorian Shield as usual for a Beregond deck. As a secondary priority you want Song of Kings to enable your cards to be played. If you've drawn two of these cards, then you probably want to keep your hand. Setting up your first turn is pretty straightforward from there. Use Galadriel with Sneak Attack to scout for key attachments (and remember that you do not shuffle the deck afterward, but rather you get to rearrange the other four cards when you put them back, so you may want to scout for attachments before using card draw effects). Hopefully you'll be able to get Unexpected Courage with your scouting, but if not you can always have Player #2 play a copy of Song of Travel on you.

Player #4: If you have Lord of Morthond in your starting hand then you almost certainly want to keep your cards. This card can get you potentially twelve card draws, which is very powerful indeed and the main source of card draw for this deck. Other than that, you'd ideally have at least one copy of the relevant Outlands ally for questing (Ethir Swordsman for normal quests, Knights of the Swan for battle quests, Warrior of Lossarnach for siege quests). Hunter of Lamedon is good for any quest and gives you additional card draw, so that's also a good starting card. Sitting in the last position on turn one, you get to react to what everyone else has done and figure out what you need to do from there. Feel free to "borrow" resources from other players with Parting Gifts if necessary to build out your starting army. After all, you're the questing player in the bunch, so you need to be able to get cards into play. Timely Aid, while certainly expensive, helps you scout for the appropriate ally type to help you with your questing if you haven't drawn any yet.