Introduction

This deck was created for a two player campaign where both player decks use the Rohan archetype. The first of the two decks - Ride of the Horse Lords - leans heavily into the discard mechanic and mount aspect of the Rohan theme while the second deck - Warriors of the Riddermark - revolves around attacking into the staging area while maintaining low threat.

Disclaimer

When crafting these two decks, I used a single cardpool for both decks in which every Adventure Pack or Expansion is only included once. So if one deck plays 3x Escort from Edoras, the other deck won't be playing that card at all.

Update

The only change to the deck was the inclusion of Captain of Gondor instead of Battle-fury. For the rest the deck remained exactly the same. Eventhough this card does not quite fit the Rohan theme, it is another way to boost Fastred's .

Gameplan

The strategy of this deck is to maintain low threat through Fastred, engage as little enemies as possible and have Dúnhere snipe them in the staging area. The deck plays a bunch of weapon and armor attachments to further buff the heroes. Dúnhere gets the Spear of the Mark and a Dagger of Westernesse. Meanwhile Raiment of War and Captain of Gondor turns skinny Fastred into a decent defender.

All these restricted attachments tie in perfectly with your primary questing hero, Herubrand who gains +1 for every hero with a restricted attachment you control. Herubrand's second ability is excellent to fuel your hand with cards, especially in a two player game since this card draw ability is not limited once per round. Give Herubrand, the Necklace of Girion for quicker access to resources and even more will power as well as either a War Axe for a bit more or Raiment of War so he's not as vulnerable while questing. It does not matter much which restricted attachment goes on Herubrand, the main purpose is to further boost his . If you are playing the in a two player setup with Ride of the Horse Lords, you could also give the Necklace of Girion to Thengel to boost his by 2 allowing him to quest for 5 . If he then also has the Golden Shield he can defend for 8 .

Admittedly, the War Axe is not your best attachment in a solo game. In a two player scenario however, it does really well. When attached to Éomer, it can potentially boost his attack to a staggering 9 .

Since this deck does not rely as much on allies for combat, it is important to have your heroes ready whenever possible. This is where Unexpected Courage comes into play.

Fastred and the Deeping Defender are there to make sure enemies stay in the staging area to fully capitalize on Dúnhere's and Herubrand's abilities. To protect your defenders, Close Call is a great card to keep on hand. You know, just in case a sneaky Muck Adder with Despair threatens to straight up discard one of them.

I include a small package of very good boys: Fang, Grip and Wolf; which can all search eachother and can also fetch you a Wild Stallion. Once on in play, these intimidating looking hounds will scare off enemies by raising their engagement cost, and if they do engage you, you can always sacrifice one of these 2 cost allies to soak up a big attack. The Wild Stallion is there for our Deeping Defender which turns this 2 cost ally into a respectable 1 1 4 3 defender.

The other Rohan allies like West Road Traveller, Rider of Rohan, Théodwyn and Éomund are there primarily to assist with questing.

And finally, Rally the West play it or don't, it is up to you. It synergises with your Rider of Rohan. Once completed it gives +1 to all heroes. But more importantly, it is in theme!

The Opening Hand

With this deck you're primarily looking for some Restricted attachments more so than for allies. Having Spear of the Mark or Raiment of War in play as early on as possible is the goal. Since all of these requires tactics resources, finding Necklace of Girion in your opening hand is great as well. With a bit of luck, Quick Strike could allow you to snipe the Necklace of Girion off an enemy in the staging area with Dúnhere before the end of the first planning phase. Finally Unexpected Courage is also great to have at your disposal.

Sideboard

Note

This is more of an idea section. Use it to tune the deck to the deck your friend(s) play and the scenario you're up against.

Normally this deck does not struggle with card draw, but if the scenario you're up against starts stealing cards from your hand and deck (Yes, I'm looking at you ALeP Ambush at Erelas)... Foe-hammer makes for a great addition to refuel your hand.

If you feel like Fastred + Raiment of War is not sufficiently bulky for the scenario you're up against, Arwen Undómiel is an excellent ally to buff his just a little bit higher.

A Test of Will and Hasty Stroke can be swapped with eachother depending on the scenario. If the scenario is going hard with both shadow effects and treacheries you can drop cards that are not key to the functioning of the deck, like a Wild Stallion, Onward Into Battle or a War Axe to include both of these power cards.

Is the scenario more exploration/quest heavy, you could also consider switching your Wild Stallions for more questing allies or The Riddermark's Finest to get rid of locations before questing. Another option is adding in Astonishing Speed for that late game questing boost, but bear in mind that this is a rather costly card to play.

You could also consider swapping the War Axe for Snowmane to ready Herubrand after questing successfully.

Sidequests are also great additions to consider if you want to avoid progressing the main quest too quickly. A nice example of this is the first stage of Conflict at the carrock. You really don't want to have those four menacing trolls coming at you when Dúnhere is not fully set up to oneshot them with back up from a couple Deeping Defenders and the hounds.

There are many more options to consider here, too many to list them all.

Lore

Since these two decks play a ton of Rohan characters, I thought it'd be nice to see how they relate. Many of these characters are descendants from the line of Eorl. Below you can find a Family Tree of the House of Eorl as well as a listing of Rohirrim of notable renown. These warriors served under King Théoden, as high ranking commanders, banner men, messengers, or soldiers of Rohan.

Characters with a tiny deckbox icon are included in either this deck or in Ride of the Horse Lords. Golden portrait frames indicate Rohirrim heritage while the silver frame indicates Gondorian heritage.