Rohan Rising

Indeed Rohan is on the LOTR LCG rise.

The claim to fame of this fellowship is regularly beating the Nightmare Nin-In-Eilph scenario. This scenario is particularly difficult due to the randomness of the quest-card sucker-punches and handling a 6 boss-enemy at every stage.

How to beat the Nightmare Nin-In-Eilph scenario:

The key in piloting this deck is to use Eowyn's ability in turn 1 to temporarily clear the Ancient Marsh-Dweller with the help of Beorn or Theoden. If Forth Eorlingas! is in the starting hand, Éowyn and Théoden can even do so without having Beorn lose half of his health. This tactic is not necessary to succeed, but I did pull it off once and it was extremely satisfying to take out the boss AND a Giant Swamp Adder. New Legolas helps to make sure Eowyn is ready when her ability triggers and takes out two enemies.

In 2B, No End in Sight is the preferable stage, as neither deck relies on drawing cards or gaining resources outside of the Refresh/Resource stages. An Arduous Journey is a little more difficult but Allies entering exhausted is a minor issue since the heroes do most of the heavy lifting. A Forgotten Land is the worst of the bunch since both decks are certainly capable of playing multiple cards every turn and is the only stage that forced a delay. Once passed however, the additional resources gathered went right to work.

In 3B, Deadly Waters is preferable, since there is no intent to cancel treacheries. More on that in a second. Creatures of a Forgotten Age is similarly harmless since there are many Sentinel characters in the Theoden deck. The Ranged heroes from the other deck help to keep the board clear. A Treacherous Swamp can be the most difficult 3B stage if a good number of allies are out and unable to refresh more than 5 characters at once. The more looming problem with 3B is the 16 quest points needed, but at this point the Rohan Spirit Army is in full effect and is questing through any version in two rounds.

The key to 4B is holding back a few chump blockers to handle the auto-boss attacks. Between the Sentinel heroes and the Ranged heroes, there is enough attack strength to reliably finish off the swamp thing.

The worst treachery cannot be cancelled, so no point bringing Test of Will anyway. Defend the Creatures from Remnants of Elder Days with Frodo and Beorn as with any other enemy.

In Need of Rest goes on Frodo who can convert those end of round damages to threat. Only once did I win with 49 threat on team Frodo, largely because of this treachery.

Low on Provisions can be a very challenging card, but Frodo and Beorn can help spread out the damage.

Shifting Marshland is the one target for Minas Tirith Lampwright. He had one job and couldn't do it in my last game, but it was the most tense moment in gaming I have had in awhile that found myself pacing before making a decision!

The most surprising MVP of these decks is the Rider of the Mark. Galloping back and forth across the swamp trampling away shadow cards was an easily performed feat and saved several victories. In my last game the boss would have performed a game-ending shadow-card-enabled second attack killing Beorn if not for the RoftM.

Another favorite moment was the Curious Brandybuck popping into play after traveling to a location, only to find his contribution short-lived at the suckers of tentacle mere moments later.

Frodo carried a lot of weight, absorbing many of the undefended minion attacks. His inclusion allows Good Meal which makes the Rohan events much easier to pay for while continuing to build the army.