Bulwark of the West 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

BULWARK OF THE WEST

"Believe not that in the land of Gondor the blood of Númenor is spent, nor all its pride and dignity forgotten. By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay; and thus alone are peace and freedom maintained in the lands behind us, bulwark of the West."

-- Boromir at the Council of Elrond, LotR II p.322

DECK OVERVIEW

This is my version of a Gondor mono-sphere Leadership deck and one of the first decks I designed, having come to the game late when a plethora of cards was available. As a new player, it was quite validating to see a very similar deck posted by FFG after I had come up with my own version. The deck is highly thematic and features a large Gondorian host led by Denethor, Boromir & Imrahil. Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, organizes the defense of the realm, while Prince Imrahil & Boromir, with his visionary leadership, ride forth with the war-host and a battle-cry of "For Gondor!" [Denethor is one of my favorite heroes in the LCG and Boromir & Denethor are two of my favorite characters from the trilogy due to their tragic--and very human--flaws; Faramir being my favorite.]

HEROES & ATTACHMENTS

Denethor is Steward of Gondor in order to gain resources and draw cards with Rod of the Steward during the Planning Phase. Later, he can use his resource-moving effect to give 1 resource to Boromir to ready him with Heir of Mardil and enable his attack-boosting effect and the willpower-boosting effect from Visionary Leadership.

ALLIES & EVENTS

Except for Gandalf, all of the heroes & allies in the deck have the Gondor trait to take advantage of several universal modifiers: Visionary Leadership & Faramir for ; Boromir & For Gondor! for ; and For Gondor! for .

Herald of Anórien, A Very Good Tale & Sneak Attack help muster this army. In fact, the out-of-sphere allies Defender of Rammas, Warden of Healing & Honour Guard can only be played with these effects, but provide important defense, healing & damage cancellation. Over half the allies are 2-cost or less so they can be played with Herald of Anórien. Strength of Arms can ready allies exhausted for A Very Good Tale and allows the entire host to quest and still be ready for combat or to defend and then counter-attack. Tome of Atanatar recycles key events like For Gondor! & Strength of Arms.

Given the discarding from A Very Good Tale, the larger deck size is not a problem. Hidden Cache takes advantage of this discarding to provide resources or, if drawn, can provide card drawing. Envoy of Pelargir & Squire of the Citadel also provide resources. And when Squire of the Citadel leaves play, he can both trigger Valiant Sacrifice for card drawing and ready Prince Imrahil. Sneak Attack can also trigger these effects.

With the deck's starting threat of 30 and the threat increases from Herald of Anórien, it will likely hit the 40-threat Valour threshold by mid-game, allowing Veteran of Osgiliath & Honour Guard to shine. When the threat gets too high, Gandalf & Favor of the Valar provide threat reduction.

VARIATIONS

One of the deck's weaknesses is lack of treachery & shadow control. Dawn Take You All is an option for shadow control. It is somewhat expensive in solo play, but can be a good option for multi-player.

Reinforcements is an additional option for mustering, and fits the theme nicely. Though expensive, it is a good way to play out-of-sphere allies that become stuck in your hand. However, in general I've found A Very Good Tale to be more effective.

If desired, Captain's Wisdom or Wealth of Gondor can provide more resource acceleration. Though, with the resource acceleration already in the deck and it being mono-sphere, I haven't found them necessary.

Since Steward of Gondor & Visionary Leadership are key attachments, Galadriel could be included to get them faster. She can also trigger Valiant Sacrifice & Prince Imrahil's readying effect.

CARDS BY FUNCTION

12 Resource Acceleration/Cost Discount: Denethor, Envoy of Pelargir, Squire of the Citadel, Steward of Gondor, Hidden Cache

10 Card Drawing: Gandalf, Rod of the Steward, Hidden Cache, Valiant Sacrifice

5 Player Threat Reduction: Gandalf, Favor of the Valar

8 Mustering: Herald of Anórien, A Very Good Tale, Sneak Attack

7 Willpower Boost: Faramir, Veteran of Osgiliath, Visionary Leadership

5 Attack Boost: Boromir, Veteran of Osgiliath, For Gondor!

4 Defense Boost: Veteran of Osgiliath, For Gondor!

0 Hit Point Boost:

0 Treachery Control:

0 Shadow Control:

6 Readying: Prince Imrahil, Heir of Mardil, Strength of Arms

4 Healing/Damage Cancellation: Warden of Healing, Honour Guard

3 Card Recycling: Tome of Atanatar