The Saga of the Hobbit Pipe Dream

Experimental hobbit deck for the LotR Saga Expansion (Campaign Mode). I had good start with this deck in A Shadow of the Past. The second chapter, however, is different, mostly on account of Bill Ferny which requires some ad hoc solutions to be dealt with.

I like playing thematically, but I don't mind the occasional concession (like the Ithilien Lookout).

It was originally inspired by the Hobbit Pipe Dreeam deck.

First Impressions

I had a pretty nice go at A Shadow Of The Past, but maybe I was just lucky with the encounter.

Anyway, these were my takes:

• threat-control-wise, the deck is awesome! I finished well under secrecy and I didn't even need to sack Folco!

• Control of the encounter is also very good, especially tanks to the usual green secrecy suspects, the willpower-boosting events and the Hobbit Pony. These last two types of cards give you flexibility on who and what goes in and out of the quest, so that you have means to modify your totals before going to quest resolution.

• Gaffer Gamegee was the real Nazgul bane! At one point I was constantly bouncing him in and out to keep a Black Rider from attacking me, while the three Ithilien Scouts, Folco and Merry were hacking at him slowly but relentlessly.

• The other Nazguls were patiently waiting in the staging area. The deck could handle the12 threat (plus any reveal) with relative ease.

Variants

The aSotP version was more straightforward secrecy/control; it also had a couple of allies more. What I am trying to do now is:

• use Thorongil to sneak tactic Merry in: that would give me some way to deal with Ferny in the staging (Hail of Stone) and to beef up the hobbits for combat, if needed.

• I also bring a couple of Good Harvest as an insurance policy, if I need the occasional resource on a color, or if I end up with red cards and no Thorongil.

• I also want to draw, draw and draw; and since I may have a few Thorongil or an unused Drinking Song, good ol' Daeron's Runes seems pretty good.

In order to make place to these cards, I had to cut a couple of allies and a few copies of events (I even cut the Hobbit Pony, who served me pretty well in aSotP). I would need to make a few tests to see whether the deck can handle an adventure or not.

Strategy

I would mulligan for a Resourceful and/or some encounter manipulation in your opening hand. This deck is pretty slow, so getting control on the what's coming at you in the first couple of rounds is crucial. Fortunately, you have plenty of options (Risk some Light being the most useful).

The threat level of this deck is ridiculously low, and it will most likely remain like this for the duration of the game.

Eventually, you'll be able to build a pretty decent army of obnoxious, pesky little hobbits. The Gaffer is your (half) man, as soon as you need some insurance policy for enemies. With Resourceful, it makes a pretty neat combo that would give you man-to-man coverage on an enemy, while the others deal a damage or two each turn.