Oakenshields company

Overall idea

I wanted to make a dwarf-fellowship taking Dáin Ironfoot for a spin, and then that quickly turned into a (slightly supplemented) version of Oakenshields company as they make up the majority of the dwarf-heroes anyway.

The idea behind my dwarf-fellowship was to use every dwarf-card, but at the same time limiting it to only dwarf-cards (so no Imladris Stargazer for the discard-engine or anything like that). However, since it ended as Oakenshileds company, I allowed Beorn and Gandalf as exceptions for thematic reasons (but it had to be ally-Gandalf as he was a bit in-and-out of the company, and not a permanent member). Given that it ended up as Oakenshields company I wanted to be able to use it on “the Hobbit” saga-missions, so I didn't include Bilbo anywhere (but working in the ally-Bilbo Baggins in deck 2 shouldn't be hard if you want to). I have no problem with the unique dwarves who wasn't a part of the Hobbit-saga (like Thalin or Brok Ironfist) - quite the opposite really since I wanted to use every dwarf-card. However, I felt that Gimli was a thematic miss-match as he was not only "not part of the Hobbit-saga", but also so clearly belonged to another saga altogether. Again he can be worked in if you like (in deck 1).

I took the idea of a dwarf-fellowship quite far. I decided that if a card is unique it's only required minimum 1 copy, but other than that I wanted to use EVERY dwarf-card, which included me adjusting for cards owned (3x core-set, and 1 of every expansion). This is the reason why some cards seem a bit over-represented (cough Veteran Axehand cough cough) and some that you could argue for in multiple of the decks (like We Are Not Idle) are only present in one. I also went with a quite broad definition of "dwarf-card". I didn't limit it to the dwarf trait, but it includes all cards with a dwarfish theme (be it from artwork, flavor-text or card-name). For this reason cards like Cram, Expecting Mischief and Dwarven Tomb must-include as well. In the end this means that 80% - 90% of the card-pool is given, but there is still some choice left, and off course the combinations are still limitless.

One final note:

I'm a bit late to publish. I started this idea before the new limited edition starter came out. For this reason Thorin Stonehelm isn't here. If you want him in I would probably take out hero-Dwalin and put in ally-Dwalin in deck 2. I'd then also move Thorin Stonehelm to deck 3, and put Thalin in deck 2 (since Thalin is a quester he can make better use of Ever My Heart Rises than Thorin Stonehelm, and you normally want that threat-reduction in deck 2).

Another option is simply to take out hero-Dori and put in ally-Dori, but I don't like the idea of loosing the only sentinel in a 4-player fellowship.

About the decks:

Deck 4 is the most specialized (and most obviously made as part of a fellowship).

It’s made as it is, in part, simply to free up the maximum number of dwarf-allies for deck 1 and 2 (so they can get the most out of the effects on Legacy of Durin and Nori. Another goal behind it is to maximize the probability of finding and attachment with Well-Equipped (if we count Ered Luin Miner and Hidden Cache 33 out of 50 cards are positive reveals). It also has a nice little discard-engine going, and although it’s not quite an “everything-costs-2" deck, the Zigil Miner should be effective with 36 out of 50 cards positive reveals (again counting Ered Luin Miner and Hidden Cache).

Extra resources from the Zigil Miner and Hidden Cache should normally go on Óin to help pay for the expensive cards (like Beorn and Citadel Plate), but if Balin needs to fire off his ability a lot you can adjust accordingly (and once Balin has a Song of Battle you can give him everything regardless).

Deck 3 got a pretty standard Glóin-engine and most of the expensive cards. Other than that it’s a pretty straight forward mostly combat-oriented deck.

Deck 2 is all about threat-reduction in order to enable it to keep Gandalf permanently in play once he’s out. It hasn’t got much of an engine in terms of card-draw or resource-acceleration, but the cost profile is adjusted accordingly and it should do alright. The Blue Mountain Trader can help to balance resources if it’s needed. If all goes well it could even be able to pass excess resources to deck 1 via Bifur in mid-game or late-game.

Deck 1 on the other hand got plenty of both card-draw and resource-accelration. It’s your typical swarm. In mid-game or late-game you should hopefully be getting ekstra resources from deck 2 or deck 3 via Bifur. Because of it’s high card-draw this deck also has all the glue-cards for the other decks (Narvi's Belt and Song of Battle).

Play-style

As mentioned deck 1 has the glue-cards for the other decks. The Narvi's Belt goes on deck 2, usually on Dwalin (or Thorin Stonehelm if you go with that alternative), but you can adjust according to game-state. Depending on what cards you have in hand Dáin Ironfoot can be an option. The first Song of Battle goes on Glóin, the next on Balin and the final on Bombur (the last 2 aren’t critical, but help smooth things in deck 4 as it has a few rather expensive -cards). If the first Song of Battle is slow to arrive deck 3 has A Good Harvest to help it function until the Song of Battle arrives (but ideally the A Good Harvest is there to help you with an early Lure of Moria or when you need a Will of the West).

Legacy of Durin , King Under the Mountain, Hardy Leadership, Thror's Map and Thrór's Key all go on deck 1 / Thorin (but the last 3 is purely thematic and can go anywhere).

Deck 3 needs the first weapon on a hero, usually Glóin, (ideally a Dwarven Axe as those are hero-specific anyway, to offer more flexib for where you place the Dwarrowdelf Axe) so that it can trigger Foe-hammer. The rest of the weapons can be placed in accordance with needs, but Dwalin can often be a good choice (again especially for the Dwarven Axe).

Glóin get’s the first Self Preservation, the first Citadel Plate (possibly the first Boots from Erebor) and the first Song of Mocking. Ideally he get’s all the Song of Mocking and then multiple Self Preservation (and/or multiple Citadel Plate), but here you can adjust in accordance with game-state. One of each really should suffice to give deck 3 enough cash. Since there’s 6x Self Preservation (and very high card-draw in deck 1) you might end up with a second (or third) Self Preservation playable, but not many (possibly none) Song of Mocking on Glóin . In that case you might want to start spreading the Self Preservation very early (and then possibly also spread the Song of Mocking afterwards to maximize the use from the previously played Self Preservation). Another scenario is that the Citadel Plate doesn’t show (or you can’t find the cash to play it), which again might limit how many copy's of the other attachments it makes sense to play on Glóin.

Dori gets the first (possibly first two) boost (Ring Mail or Dwarven Shield), and all copy’s of Unexpected Courage. Not so much because of his ability (which is a bit of an action-drain), but simply because of his sentinel keyword. The ability is a nice perk tough, and ensures you can always get use out of what you play on him one way or the other. Bombur and Bifur wield A Burning Brand and are good secondary targets for boosts. With som buff’s they can defend without support from Dori (on normal enemies) or combine with Dori for boss-defense. All of them are also potential targets for Self Preservation (and possibly Boots from Erebor – especially Bifur).

All Ever My Heart Rises goes on deck 2 for threat-control and Dwarf Pipe on deck 4. Cram and Boots from Erebor are played as needed. Deck 2 and 3 plays Will of the West on deck 1 and 4 as needed.

That’s pretty much it. Comments are appreciated.