Maxine Newman's Forth into the Vale of Isen! 1.0

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• 1.0

The Rohirrim now have several different strategies at their disposal. While many of the Rohan allies and events from the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle revolved around Willpower and questing, the Tactics cards they receive from Against the Shadow and The Voice of Isengard emphasize combat. This deck attempts to balance both questing and combat, two of the most important factors in achieving victory in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game .

Mounts form an important backbone for this deck’s attachments. With Steed of the Mark and Rohan Warhorse supplementing Unexpected Courage, both Éomer and Dúnhere have an extraordinary amount of flexibility. Given enough time and resources, this deck can eventually get to the point where Éomer is questing, defending, and attacking twice per turn. That’s a lot of action advantage! To facilitate this strategy, Westfold Horse-breeder is an absolute must-have, because of her ability to find either of this deck’s two different Mount attachments.

With a starting threat of twenty-seven, this deck isn’t going to win any awards for low starting threat, but it’s certainly low enough to take frequent advantage of Dúnhere’s ability, which has become even better with the inclusion of Spear of the Mark. This powerful weapon is cheap and effective; draw one in your starting hand, and Dúnhere can attack enemies in the staging area for five damage. Attach two to him and he can attack for a whopping seven damage! Best of all, the spear still provides a one-point bonus to its bearer’s Attack Strength even after your threat has reached a high enough level that enemies are engaging you left and right. This makes it a wise purchase in any situation, but if you want to take full advantage of the spear’s bonus, you can use A Light in the Dark to push enemies to the staging area and then play Forth Eorlingas! so that both Dunhere and Éomer can ride together to obliterate them.

As for Éomer, his already formidable attack value of three is boosted to five whenever an ally leaves play. To that end, this deck features a good number of allies that have abilities that discard them, or that trigger when they leave play. For example, you can use a Westfold Horse-breaker to ready Éomer and give him an additional two points of Attack Strength whenever you need it, or you can use a Westfold Outrider to engage an enemy in the staging area, removing its threat as you quest, and giving Éomer two more Attack Strength in the process. Use Ride to Ruin to discard Éomund, and you can place three progress on a location, ready all Rohan characters in play, and give Éomer a boost to his attack! There are many more combinations and tricks to find.

This deck performs adequately in single-player, but the inclusion of Nor am I a Stranger can make it truly shine amid an alliance between several decks. Giving another hero on the table the Rohan trait is not something to be taken lightly when there are enough powerful effects in your deck to take advantage of it. Éomund, Astonishing Speed, We Do Not Sleep, and Forth Eorlingas! provide more than enough ways to take advantage of this card, and that’s only the beginning.

Like the Rohirrim in Middle-Earth, this deck truly shines when paired up with a dedicated Gondor deck. Together, they form a powerful and thematic duo that can tackle some of the tougher challenges The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game has to offer.

-Maxine Newman, Developer. Posted to the FFG Website 2/14/14