Caleb Grace Rides with Rohan

Questlogs using this decklist
None.
Fellowships using this decklist
None.
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
None yet.
Card draw simulator
Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
The gameplay simulator is an experimental feature and is currently only available for those that support RingsDB development on Patreon.
Gameplay simulator
Round
0
Threat
0
Hand
In Play
Deck
Discard Pile

jkl620 113

This is actually a slightly modified version of the first deck I built after I started playing The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game , and it’s still one of the decks that I play frequently to test new scenarios. It’s a good deck for players who enjoy a straight-forward style of play since its focus is simply to keep my threat low as I quest successfully and defeat scenarios.

The deck uses the three heroes from the Core Set that share the Rohan trait: Théodred, Éowyn, and Dúnhere. I like this starting lineup because it starts at a mere twenty-five starting threat, Éowyn and Théodred can quest for five Willpower without any support, and they gain a resource from Théodred’s ability to boot! That allows me to leave Dúnhere ready in case an enemy is revealed from the encounter deck.

The deck also runs a total of fourteen Rohan allies. With that many Rohan characters in the deck, it’s not uncommon for me to be able to commit at least six Rohan characters to a quest. For this reason, Astonishing Speed is the most valuable card in the deck. A well-timed Astonishing Speed can grant me twelve or more additional Willpower for only three resources! Every time I play this card, I enjoy picturing the Riders of Rohan galloping over all the enemies in the staging area.

It’s such an important card in the deck that I included Dwarven Tomb so that I can potentially play it more than three times. I also like that it gives me the option to return a Spirit ally to my hand. It pairs nicely with Stand and Fight since many of the allies in this deck have effects that trigger when they are discarded. My favorite example would have to be The Riddermark's Finest “ Action: Exhaust and discard The Riddermark’s Finest to place 2 progress on any location.” I like using that effect to explore a location in the staging area in order to remove its threat strength. Not only that, but if I attach Ancient Mathom to that location ahead of time, I can draw three cards while I’m questing.

The main thing that this deck struggles with is defeating a lot of enemies. That’s why it’s important to keep my threat low; then I can choose when they engage me. Typically, I will try to keep them in the staging area where I can use Dúnhere to destroy them. If Dúnhere isn’t strong enough to defeat an enemy, I can boost his Attack Strength with Dúnedain Mark, or I can play Gandalf to deal four damage to the enemy. Occasionally, it’s necessary to defend an enemy with Éomund so that his sacrifice can inspire each of my other Rohan characters to a massive counter-attack. That’s a great opportunity to shout his son’s battle-cry: “Death!”

This deck pairs well with the aforementioned Tactics and Spirit deck because the two complement each other and cover for each other’s weaknesses. The fact that they both begin with a low starting threat and can lower their threat as the game plays means that they can each function as designed, even in multiplayer. Between the two decks, players gain lots of options to quest with high Willpower, keep their combined threat low, explore locations, and deal with enemies. Most importantly of all, as with the first deck, I find that this deck is fun to play. If you try this deck or use pieces of it in your own deck, I hope that you will enjoy the experience as well!

-Caleb Grace, Lead Developer. Posted to the FFG site 4/12/13

2 comments

May 27, 2023 Marctimmins89 105

Thanks for sharing these decklists. Interesting to see what the designers were doing with their decks 10 years ago. I kinda want to see what these decks might look like with a full card pool at their disposal.

May 28, 2023 jkl620 113

Glad to hear you are liking them. It is nice to see what they were thinking when they first made these cards. The website is no longer a priority for FFG and I am afraid they will stop maintaining the archives and these will all disappear like the forums did. They will be hopefully be safe here :)