Magic and Mayhem

NOTE: I have an improved version of this fellowship. I strongly recommend the new one instead of this one.

Here's my Fellowship for an Angmar Awakens 2P campaign. The / deck controls the staging area via the magical influence of the Silvans, while the /Gandalf deck absorbs attacks and cuts through enemies.

Though the decks are complimentary, both are functional without direct support from the other, so click through to the individual deck descriptions for notes on how each one plays. There's a few obvious places where they help each other out; specifically getting Protector of Lórien and Unexpected Courage onto the side, and Gandalf's Staff helping the / side with card draw & resources. Also, Aragorn obviously trigger early and often to pull enemies away from the other player, so it can focus on staging control rather than combat.

Because of the strength of the other heroes and allies, Gandalf is often not needed for combat. When this happens, a really nice play is to use Narya to ready the Mirkwood Explorers, so they can play their progress tokens on the same turns that they quest. You lose the and boosts, but those are rarely needed anyway. (Gandalf is also a good target for Spare Hood and Cloak when Eleanor passes it, because he's most likely going to be able to pass it back on a subsequent turn.)

Boosting Gandalf's with Flame of Anor and then playing Hour of Wrath in Valour is ridiculously powerful, easy to pull off, and a ton of fun to play. This is a self-contained combo within that deck, but worth calling out here because of how satisfying it is. :)

So far, I've only extensively tested this Fellowship against Intruders In Chetwood. That's been an absolute blast since enemies don't make engagement checks, and Aragorn can pull in 2x orcs after their chance to attack has passed. Initially progress is made very slowly as the weapons, readying effects, and the victory display all need to be established, but once that happens, progress comes quickly and enemies are dispatched easily. So basically you struggle through the first few turns, and then either lose quickly or are set up for a fun orc-slashing romp. I'll add notes for other quests as a progress.

Update: The Weather Hills

As fun as this Fellowship was against Intruders In Chetwood (and also Journey Down The Anduin, which doesn't have forced engagement checks either), it really struggled against The Weather Hills. Eleanor's ability to cancel treacheries turned out to be not all that helpful, since it requires drawing a new card which was usually another treachery anyway. Also there wasn't enough healing, nor enough chumps to absorb the direct treachery damage. Three attempts on the Weather Hills were three clear defeats, and it wasn't close (or all that much fun).

I did a minor rebuild, swapping out Eleanor for Arwen Undómiel to help get allies out faster, and then replaced Ally Arwen with some Handmaidens and, crucially, Warden of Healing. I also brought a full complement of A Test of Will and Dwarven Tomb to help with the treacheries, dropping Asfaloth and the Spare Cloaks. Also the addition of Arwen makes Mirkwood Long-knife a more viable weapon for Argalad. The deck is mostly unchanged. This version of the fellowship was much, much better against Weather Hills: I still got off to a (very) slow start, barely making any progress against the quest for several turns, but keeping the staging area under control while I built up the victory display and established decent board states on both sides.

The Rossiel deck really proved itself when I had two consecutive turns mid-game where I was able to use Test of Will & The Door is Closed! to cancel every encounter card (5 total). That gave me lots of breathing room to quest aggressively while the side mopped up the straggling orcs. Narya + two Wardens in play made damage mitigation a snap. So maybe there's hope for this fellowship after all?

Update: Deadman's Dike

The rollercoaster continues. Neither deck is designed to use chump blockers well, and the fellowship simply can't keep up with the undead onslaught that this quest is throwing at it. High threat on the side is proving to be a challenge, which is forcing the Rossiel side to engage enemies to take some pressure off. Locations and treacheries have been no problem, but in 3 tries, I haven't even made it to the 2nd quest card without losing at least two heroes to enemy attacks. Back to the drawing board I guess; the Rossiel side may simply take too long to set up to go against some of the tougher quests. I may try to rebuild for secrecy, to make better use of Out of the Wild. It'll still need a better defense strategy though. Stay tuned! (UPDATE: I made the new fellowship with secrecy and it works much better!)