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Stopping Large Fellowships |
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 A large fellowship in the Lord of the Rinigs TCG is often very hard to defeat, because Shadow players often do not have enough cards to make use of all the Shadow they are given, and can do little against the Fellowship. This is less of a problem in multi-player, but still an issue. Mostly, however, I will deal with how to deal with a large Fellowship in one-on-one games. There are two main approaches that I have tried. I have had limited success with each, but there is not currently a particularily effective method, as many cards that are extremely effective against large groups do not affect a small Fellowship, or cost too much Shadow to be useful against a deck that even does a little Shadow denial, thereby hurting your deck overall. These are compromise strategies that seem to work reasonably well. Move LimitsThe best way to deal with a large Fellowship is to not have to. In other words, if they are not allowed to move as fast as you are, then they cannot win ules their Shadow can beat you. Therefore, one approach is the Move Limit deck type. This works best as a combination of Sauron Orcs and Uruk-Hai. If you have read my article on cycling cards or have experience playing these cultures, you may remember that they work best in a small to medium deck where the Fellowship is not dependant on having a mostly Free Peoples hand going into your turn. This holds even mroe true for this deck type, where certain specialized cards are used that are either high cost or can only be used at certain times effectively. Anyway, a basic move limit deck for use against large Fellowships also needs to be able to effectively add burdens, as most of the current move limiters trigger based on burdens rather than Fellowship size. This is done in this design by the use of Worry, large Uruk-Hai, and You Bring Great Evil. Here are the basic cards to put in the deck: Sauron:
Orc Inquisitor This set allows for a combination of cheap Orcs along with some higher vitality Orcs for exerting. In addition, the ability of the Soldier's to exert to wound can be used with the Uruk-Hai to cause some deaths in a large Fellowship (tirggering Sauron's defenses) or to add an occasional extra wound to a small Fellowship. In addition, tagging the Free Peoples player's hand now and then is never a bad things. If You Bring Great Evil is played on Frodo, it encourages him to add burdens rather than add wounds that he can't heal. As a result, it becomes easier to use the Isengaard side of the deck. Isengaard:
Uruk Warrior These cards provide for the ability to add burdens to the Ring-Bearer as well as exhausting other companions from the large numbers of wounds that Uruk-Hai do when they win a fight. Using this can trigger the keypoint of the side: Traitor's Voice. Also, the Tower aids in the restrictive costs of these cards, preventing the Fellowship from moving too cheaply. Admittedly, combining both of these card sets can make it difficult to make a deck sufficiently small to be playable. It should be noted however that the Isengaard side of the deck is the primary side, with the Sauron Orcs supporting with other versions of Move Limiters, which may not be as useful, and healing prevention, which is very useful. It may be better to use Sauron exclusively to add wounds and prevent healing: ei. cheap trackers along with You Bring Great Evil and Under the Watching Eye. << Back to Lord of the Rings Anti-Large Fellowship CardsUnfortunately, many of the cards provided in the set for anti-large Fellowship use are too cost prohibitive to effectively use: cards such as Greed and A Host Avails Little. Despite this, there are a few key cards that work for this purpose:
Ulaire Enquea, Lieutenant of Morgul These cards provide fighting ability regardless of number of people in the Fellowship, but are distinctly stronger when the Fellowship is large, and aren't too expensive for their effect. << Back to Lord of the Rings |
