Haldir's Revenge - A Journey Along the Anduin Deck 1.0

• Versions
• 2.0
• 1.0

A Tactics and Lore deck specifically built to tackle Journey Along the Anduin as a solo player. Haldir's Revenge is designed to absolutely destroy the Hill Trolls in this quest, even if you have to fight both at once in the first few turns.

-- Heroes --

• Haldir of Lórien: The powerhouse of this deck. Hold him back from questing (at least until you have Wingfoot and/or Henamarth Riversong and use him to attack (and kill) an enemy in the staging area every round.
• Legolas: Useful to kill any enemies that engage you, but even better to support Haldir with killing in the staging area using Hands Upon the Bow. His ability is also helpful to clear the active location and make progress on the quest as willpower is not a strength of this deck.
• Éowyn: She is mainly present as a low-Threat second Tactics hero with high Willpower, but her ability is obviously useful against the Hill Trolls if needed. Grappling Hook is also here which she can use to power through a quest card.

-- Key Cards for an Opening Hand --
If any of the following cards or card combinations come up, you will probably want to keep your hand rather than mulligan.

1. Bow of the Galadhrim: This will give Haldir an instant power boost so he can start attacking the Hill Troll in the staging area.
2. Dagger of Westernesse: Drawing one or two of these early is great for either Legolas or Haldir, especially since your Threat will be lower than every enemy early on.

That's really about it. The deck is very flexible and can cope with anything the quest can throw at it. As always, a couple of low cost allies in hand is also a huge help in the first few turns.

-- Early Turn Priorities --
One of the strengths of this deck is there's not many ways to go wrong. Nevertheless, here are some of its priorities.

• Arm Haldir: Haldir is the power behind this deck, so the sooner you can get some combination of Bow of the Galadhrim and Dagger of Westernesse onto him the better. With even just one of these, he can one-shot almost every enemy in this quest from the staging area.
• The Hill Troll: As with most plays of Journey Along the Anduin, removing the Hill Troll as quickly as possible is a top priority. With a starting Threat of 24, you should have a solid 6 turns to do so. Haldir will get him down in 2-4 turns without even needing to engage him (or, if you feel like it, in 1 using Eowyn's ability and Feint).
• Willpower: Willpower is a weakness of Tactics and not exactly a strength of Lore. Eowyn's 4 will give you a few easy turns, but it's helpful if you can get at least one 2 ally onto the table quickly as well such as Mablung, Quickbeam or Grimbold.

-- Mid-Game Priorities --

Once the Hill Troll is down and you move to the second stage it's a cake-walk. By now Haldir should have enough power to one-shot every enemy from the staging area (since there's no forced engagement on this stage anyway).

• Healers and Defenders: This quest has several nasty treacheries that can deal damage to your quest-committed characters. Imladris Caregiver can protect Eowyn, who only has 3 health. None of the Heroes can defend well either, so Defender of Rammas on the table is helpful, though your low starting threat gives you a lot of breathing room.
• More Willpower: Try and get the more expensive 2 characters into action to help you make faster progress. This will likely be Grimbold, Rúmil and Ghân-buri-Ghân who is more situationally useful.

-- Other Cards --
I'm sure many cards from this deck could be substituted for others that perform a similar role, but there's a few picked out for very particular purposes. This section provides just a little more detail for my choices that I haven't already covered (or aren't necessarily self-explanatory).

• Galadhon Archer: Try to play them when there's an enemy in the staging area you otherwise can't one-shot.
• Asfaloth: Without Glorfindel he's not at full power, but even one progress can be quite helpful against some of the locations and help make up for the deck's average willpower.
• Ithilien Pit and Hands Upon the Bow: These gives Legolas a chance to join Haldir in assaulting the staging area.
• Secret Vigil: Threat is rarely a concern one you're past the Hill Troll, but just in case this is here to help bring you down again. Save it for the 2 enemies if you can.
• Wingfoot: Really elevates Haldir in conjunction with Henamarth Riversong. This lets him quest and attack in the same round.
• Quick Strike: Multi-purpose, but in a pinch works alongside Eowyn's ability to deal with the Hill Troll if you're without Feint.