Solo Thematic Campaign: The Battle of the Pelannor Fields 1.0

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• 1.0

The Campaign

I’ve been part of 2, 3, and 4 player campaigns but I’ve never sat down and run my own solo campaign. I won’t be recording or blogging this campaign as others have recently done that (I’m in the middle of a YouTube thematic campaign with Mr Underhill right now) and I want to play rather quickly through the entire set of quests but I will play in “strict” campaign mode and trying to build as thematically as I can.

I can’t promise the decks I publish in this series will be totally optimized or super teched against each quest for a 90% win ratio, but I hope they will be decent thematic decks that could provide a good experience for people looking to play the campaign in a thematic manner.

The Deck

First of all, I'm bending the campaign rules a little here. Somehow I had never noticed that there isn't an opportunity to swap heroes without the penalty before this quest. That's crazy! If my heroes just finished taking out the Umbar pirates in Siege of Gondor, how can they be here at the Pelannor Fields while I wait for Aragorn to show up in the pirate ships?? I wanted to play a "clean campaign" but I'm switching out my heroes for thematic choices here without taking a +3 threat bump. I don't feel sorry.

This deck is a variation on Chad's Red Arrow deck and it's the most fun I've ever had playing a real Rohan Swarm. This quest is great for it as well since you get a free turn to set up before the battle starts which is always good for Theoden with his discount every turn.

For heroes we have Théoden, the Lord of the Mark and he's central to getting these Rohan allies into play. Hirgon never actually made it to this battle, but he played a crucial role in getting Rohan to the battle so I felt he was thematic here. And of course, we have Denethor, on the brink of a mental collapse, behind the walls of Minis Tirith, sending resources where they're needed most.

I devoted a lot of cards to taking out the Wraith on Wings right away because if you can do that, you can camp at stage 2 for a few turns and build up while you save the defenders of Osgiliath. The forced effect on stage 2 will quickly kill your ally in the staging area if you leave enemies up there so included Hunting Party to removed the Nazgul and some sidequests to help me sit there for a while and not advance too quickly once I got rid of the Wraith.

I have a few attachments for my heroes and a little card draw, cancellation healing, but the rest of the deck is a host of Rohan allies with a few thematic non-Rohan allies thrown in for flavor and/or power (in the case of the Vigilant Dúnadan).

I wish I could have worked Merry and Eowyn into this deck but I just didn't... The new Merry ally would be great here, but I played this before he was available.

Guthwine is great tech for this quest as it can nerf the Dread and Despair treachery.

The Experience

I beat this in one attempt! My Hunting Party tech didn't show up, but I was able to barely block the Wraith Denethor, drop in Gandalf (which felt thematic) and take out the Nazgul on turn 3 with a beefed up Theoden, Gandalf's direct damage and 4 and a Riddermark Knight. Then I camped at stage 2 while a wounded Éomund slowly made his way back to Minis Tirith for a good 5 turns or so. By the time the forces of Mordor got serious about taking the city, Aragorn was there leading a good sized army and Rohan sang as the slew. It was a fun game! It was a long game and my threat got up there, but it was a solid win!

I got the Rohan and Gondor boons in this quest. I put Gondor on Theoden which made Denethor's ability very useful and the Rohan train on Hirgon for lack of a better target.

You can see final board states to my successful games on my Twitter account.

Campaign Decks so Far

1. Shadow of the Past
2. The Old Forest
3. Fog on the Barrow Downs
4. Knife in the Dark
5. Flight to the Ford
6. The Ring Goes South
7. Journey in the Dark
8. Breaking of the Fellowship
9. The Uruk-Hai
10. Helm's Deep
11. The Road to Isengard
12. The Passage of the Marshes
13. Journey to the Crossroads
14. Shelob's Lair
15. Passing of the Grey Company
16. The Siege of Gondor
17. The Battle of the Pelannor Fields
18. The Tower of Cirith Ungol
19. The Black Gate Opens
20. Mount Doom