The Fellowship Of The Ring 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

This is a deck I have wanted to be possible since I bought into this game around the release of the Redhorn Gate AP many years ago. With the newest deluxe it's finally starting to take shape. We can now take the actual 10 walkers (yes 10, Bill the Pony counts, just check the Fellowship card art) and even have Frodo Baggins bear The One Ring for good measure.

This deck is arguably better without the ring. It's also probably more viable with different characters, but this deck isn't here to power game every quest, it just wants to be competent and I would even go as far as to say having it struggle and slog its way through quests only adds to the theme!

Gandalf plays the role of pushing the fellowship in the right direction, popping in and out, drawing you cards or lowering threat until you hit Max capacity with your permanent allies and the master cards are great for buying time by cancelling attacks or encounter cards while you get set up, without hindering your resources. It's also worth noting that starting with one of your master cards effectively allows you to play a 49 card deck.

Honestly there isn't much to say about the tactics behind the deck as it's pretty straight forward, although a nice note about this deck is that the allies all combo well together. You can quest Frodo Baggins and ready another character for one resource, like Aragorn. If any enemy comes out and you've quested Gimli you get another ready out of him too, not to mention that a lot of the time you will have a lower threat level than those enemies and will also ready (and boost) Sam Gamgee and Pippin. Sometimes il even quest Boromir when there is archery on the table as it can ready him before combat! So in a common scenario, you can have 6 plus questing characters and ready 5 of the before combat for a total of 1 resource and no extra cards!!

One of my favourite things to do is mount the Rohan Warhorse with Aragorn weilding Dagger of Westernesse and engage one enemy with higher threat, readying Sam Gamgee and Pippin, defend with Sam Gamgee (or Boromir) kill an enemy to pull another down with Aragorn and ready with Rohan Warhorse triggering Sam Gamgee and Pippin again.

An example of a strong turn one I had is The Gathering Storm pulling a 3 threat enemy out allowing me to play Boromir. Paying two for Merry then exhausting both with A Very Good Tale and pulling out Gimli and Pippin and laying down Bill the Pony for free. This gives a turn one board state of 5 allies worth 14 resources For the cost of 3 resources and an enemy in the staging area. This also leaves you needing just Legolas to complete your fellowship and really take off.

It's super fun to play and when it works it can really build up some steam. I would urge people give it a try and let me know what you think.

All feedback is welcome, as I hope to eventually flush out the best possible version of this deck without sacrificing theme, so I am open to all suggestions and hope you enjoy playing it.