Bond of Hobbitship 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

With the release of the final AP, I can complete a deck using my favorite archetype, Hobbits. Using the Bond of Friendship contract with Hobbits is low lying fruit, yes, but it makes for a great deck that gives the hobbits that extra little edge they need to be a top tier deck.

Disclaimer: This is solo hobbit deck. There are no cards that are ranged (sorry Hobbit Archer) or sentinel. If you have never tried to play hobbits, this may be a great place to start.

The fun of this deck is that you aren't necessarily looking for anything in particular in your opening hand to get the deck going. You may need something quest specific, but this deck really relies on the versatility of the hobbits to get you going.

Because this deck doesn't need any specific cards to get started, these piloting instructions will focus around the hero line-ups and what makes the most amount of sense to play on them.

Frodo Baggins is definitely your defend right out of the gate. It's no secret that you will probably need a defender early on and he is the go to character for that. While this particular hobbit deck starts at 27, you are still likely to be engaging enemies optionally, with an engagement cost higher than your threat. This makes Hobbit Cloak a great target for Frodo Baggins as soon as one comes available. Also, for scenarios like Fire in the Night that have a big boss enemy, making Frodo a super defender can be the best thing by putting 2 x Ring Mail on him. This gives him a stout 6 and 4 without counting boosts from Rosie Cotton, Boots from Erebor or Bill the Pony.

Pippin is the guy that greases the wheel of this build. With this deck starting at 27, the boost to engagement cost that he gives is great. Also, he is going to be the guy you will always send to the quest, so it makes sense to put the Red Book of Westmarch on him. Also, the extra resource generation that the Red Book gives makes it possible to bring Gaffer Gamgee out each round after triggering his action. Also, the The Arkenstone can go on him, too, but not for any other reason that he may feel left out of mix with all the attachments getting placed in other places.

Merry is going to be your attacker. Starting with 4 makes him one of the strongest attackers (forget hobbits!) in the game. Putting even just 1 Dagger of Westernesse on him makes him able to get rid of most enemies and if you spread the love by putting the other Dagger of Westernesse on, say, Sam Gamgee, then you can group attack a big enemy for up to 10, kill it, and then ready the other character to then swing at a second enemy. Merry's response should not be overlooked in this deck.

Sam Gamgee is kinda your pinch hitter. If you are in a scenario that needs extra defense, send him Ring Mail and the second copy of Hobbit Cloak for 4 or more depending on engagements. Boots from Erebor and Bill the Pony also help to lessen the sting of huge enemies because of their ability to grant extra .

Bilbo Baggins was a late addition to the deck, but Spare Pipe is too good a card (especially for hobbits) for it not to be included in the deck and Bilbo Baggins only helps you get to that. Also, with the Red Book of Westmarch and The Arkenstone out, Bilbo can quest with 4, take an archery soak or two (with Bill the Pony) or give yourself a chump block if necessary.

Treebeard is in here to provide backup when you need a little more oomph. If you have him and Quickbeam in your opening hand, you can play both by round two (Play Treebeard first, then in round two play Quickbeam with the resource generated from Pippin and with the resource from Treebeard) and you'll have more than enough for many of the scenarios. Combined with Merry and literally nothing else, you can attack for 11 once and then ready Treebeard to attack a second enemy for 4. That's not too shabby for a hobbit deck.

In terms of readying effects, it really is quest dependent. In my play testing of this deck though, I find that I want readying on Frodo Baggins and Merry more than other heros and of course a Fast Hitch on Rosie Cotton really helps her shine.

If you aren't totally in love with this deck, switching out Boots from Erebor with Sword-thain may be a good idea, but that increases the cost curve and I find that this deck is better when there is some speed rather than a a slow few cards where you may not see the benefit right away. Of course, Sword-thain Rosie Cotton is a thing and that would give Merry even more attack and each enemy another engagement cost point because of Pippin, but I'm not sure it's worth giving up the immediate 1 that boots give when playing this hobbit deck.

Hopefully you will love this deck like I love this deck!