With the release of VOI I have obviously been excited to give the Rohan faction a go with all their new toys after being mostly neglected since the shadows of mirkwood cycle. As a primarily solo player, I was having a lot of success with a Eomer, Eowyn, Imrahil deck that I blew through the most recent scenarios with, but I was looking for something to incorporate more of those old time spirit rohan allies as well as to make the much maligned Theoden work even if it meant a dent in the efficacy of the respective deck(s).

I settled on creating a two handed experience using only Rohan heroes, one solo tactics using Theoden, Eomer, and Hama and the second using Eowyn, Dunhere, and Theodred. Not only is has it been fun to play with, but it also has been working quite well. More strategy will be listed below the decklists.

Big disclaimer: I play with only 1 core set, these decks could obviously be improved with more copies of key cards like unexpected courage, horn of gondor, etc.

Deck 1 (solo tactics)

Theoden

Eomer

Hama

(starting threat: 31)

Allies:

Westfold Outrider x3

White Tower Watchman x3

Knights of the Swan x3

Vassal of the Windlord x3

Defender of Rammas x3

Bofur x3

Beorn x1

Guthlaf x2

Events:

Thicket of Spears x2

Feint x2

Foe-Hammer x3

The Hammer-Stroke x3

Attachments:

Horn of Gondor x1

Gondorian Shield x3

Dagger of Westernesse x3

Spear of the Mark x3

Book of Eldacar x3

Rohan Warhorse x3

Mighty Prowess x3

Deck 2 (Spirit/Leadership)

Eowyn

Dunhere

Theodred

(starting threat: 27)

Allies:

Eomund x2

West Road Traveller x3

Westfold Horse-Breeder x3

Escort from Edoras x3

The Riddermark's Finest x3

Elfhelm x2

Gandalf (core) x3

Snowbourn Scout x3

Westfold Horse-Breaker x3

Events:

The Galadhrim's Greeting x2

A Test of Will x2

Hasty Stroke x2

Dwarven Tomb x1

Stand and Fight x3

Astonishing Speed x3

Valiant Sacrifice x2

Sneak Attack x2

Attachments:

Steward of Gondor x2

Steed of the Mark x3

Song of Travel x2

Unexpected Courage x1

General Strategy:

The reason these decks are so fun to play together, is because how much they work off each other and how they share the tools within the deck. Starting hand wise I always try and get faint in tactics and steward in the spirit/leadership. Since the tactics decks lacks a sturdy reliable defender (aka Beregond) enemies are usually handled via recycling faint with Hama. Also, after time Theoden is made to become a defender by throwing Steward across the table then attaching gondorian shield to give him 4 defense and his natural sentinel ability. Theoden also receives Steed of the Mark and Unexpected Courage to take advantage of his well rounded stats and perform in each stage of the game. Horn of Gondor actually gets sent over to Eowyn to help her pay for the spirit allies besides the fact the tactics heroes will be loaded up with restricted attachments from weapons and warhorses. Obviously the Spears of the Mark and or Daggers of Westernesse are meant for Dunhere, but extra copies can be used to boost Hama, Eomer, or to simply be pitched for Eowyn's ability. Dunhere doesnt have a lot to do other than give his resource where needed, normally either providing an extra tactics resource for feint or to dunhere or eowyn for allies. He gets Song of Travel to help pay for things. Mighty Prowess works really well with these decks since there is no ranged abilities. The hammer-stroke can help with this, but with Eomer slaying things left and right; throwing damage across the table to enemies that sneak by becomes very useful...or to just clean up any pesky enemies staying in the staging area that Dunhere hasnt yet polished off. The all star card of the deck is Astonishing Speed, considering nearly every character is Rohan, using the event normally autoclears a quest stage; extraordinarily powerful.

Notable Exceptions:

I dont use "Forth Eorlings!" since as nice as it would fit with all Rohan Heroes, the starting threats of both decks are so high the opportunities for use would be limited to the first few turns if at all.

I use valiant sacrifice over ancient mathom in deck two just because spirit resources are more precious and I didnt have room for both.

I really want to use Renewed Friendship in this deck but I simply dont have the space

I dont use "we do not sleep" because its just so expensive and I still feel like "astonishing speed" is the more powerful rohan super card. A well timed Thicket of Spears especially in coordination with The Hammer Stroke has nearly the same end results and is easy to pay for and more importantly, repeat.

Eagles: I could certainly fit in the eagles because there are a lot of replaceable cards in the tactics deck, maybe i'll wait for Gwaihir's release or do an alternative later. Def an option.

Thoughts, comments, concerns?

_{Nice pair of decks!}

_{Just build a solo rohan deck the other day using Eomer, Hama & Dunhere.}

_{Which kind of was a mix of what you have here.}

_{It's working quite well, so here are some thoughts on combos you might consider that I've found useful at times.}

_{How about using A light in the dark to kick back those foes into the staging area?}

_{Then you could use dunhere + spears (or maybe even forth eorlingas) to kill it off.}

_{I aslo used Ride to ruin, a very key card I've found, but that might not be as useful here with 2 decks and riddermarks finest in it.}

_{Lastly, how about Will of the West? discarding all those allies will ask for a refuel. I know I needed it}

_{And I must say, the Hammerstorke is awsome!}

Nice deck! The deck I made is pretty similar but I wanted to try out Eomer. I do not have any of the AP's for HoN yet so those cards are lacking. I look forward to them arriving this weekend! Thanks for posting your deck.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aitqe_Zp_e4UdE9fVFkyMGFNOXlWamRRQlM4MnVicWc&single=true&gid=3&output=html

My thematic side had a bit of a problem putting horn of gondor in the deck but I figured if Eowyn and Farimar are doing their thing Eomer would be able to borrow a horn for a while

I just took down the first quest in VOI the other night with this...I tried the first time with my card draw / healing lore / spirit deck and that was a disaster haha

Actually, starting threat of 2nd deck is 25, not 27.

I think Knight of Minas Tirith will fit in 1st deck. I use him, very often and he is awesome in decks like this. You can just act like he is rohan knight. You may add in 3 copies instead of 1 Bofur, 1 Guthlaf and 1 Gondorian Shield.

Actually, starting threat of 2nd deck is 25, not 27.

I think Knight of Minas Tirith will fit in 1st deck. I use him, very often and he is awesome in decks like this. You can just act like he is rohan knight. You may add in 3 copies instead of 1 Bofur, 1 Guthlaf and 1 Gondorian Shield.

Good catch. I'll blame it on being a pharmacist. Useless unless I'm counting by 5's

Actually, starting threat of 2nd deck is 25, not 27.

I think Knight of Minas Tirith will fit in 1st deck. I use him, very often and he is awesome in decks like this. You can just act like he is rohan knight. You may add in 3 copies instead of 1 Bofur, 1 Guthlaf and 1 Gondorian Shield.

Good catch. I'll blame it on being a pharmacist. Useless unless I'm counting by 5's

Hah! Join the club

_{Nice pair of decks!}

_{Just build a solo rohan deck the other day using Eomer, Hama & Dunhere.}

_{Which kind of was a mix of what you have here.}

_{It's working quite well, so here are some thoughts on combos you might consider that I've found useful at times.}

_{How about using A light in the dark to kick back those foes into the staging area?}

_{Then you could use dunhere + spears (or maybe even forth eorlingas) to kill it off.}

_{I aslo used Ride to ruin, a very key card I've found, but that might not be as useful here with 2 decks and riddermarks finest in it.}

_{Lastly, how about Will of the West? discarding all those allies will ask for a refuel. I know I needed it}

_{And I must say, the Hammerstorke is awsome!}

I like a light in the dark especially with Dunhere or if I'm running great yew bow, but space in deck two is really tight and Dunhere himself just really isnt a priority. May be worth a try thought since defense is certainly a weakness of this deck tandem. I would probably remove Galadrim's Greeting for it, threat reduction isnt overly important plus I still have it with Gandalf and Elfhelm helps in that regard as well.

Will of the West is a decent card, but I run x3 of Stand and Fight for pretty much the same purpose. While will of the west has the potential to net me more allies in play over time, I like stand and fight's immediate presence. thanks

_{Really? Dunhere usually steals the show in my deck: 2 spears of the mark + 1 unexpected courage = win.}

_{I also run 3x stand & fight, which is very handy I've found, but chump blocking kills off alot more allies.}

_{1x Will of the West is usefull in a chump deck imo. Not 3}

_{You obviously also don't want Will of the West in your opening hand. So 1x is a fine addition me thinks.}

I tried out a pair of decks last week that were, if memory serves, almost identical. I had a hard time with them against VOI, so I wound up moving on to a different deck to play those quests. I'd be interested to hear your play experiences/strategy with them against the quests.

I tried out a pair of decks last week that were, if memory serves, almost identical. I had a hard time with them against VOI, so I wound up moving on to a different deck to play those quests. I'd be interested to hear your play experiences/strategy with them against the quests.

I did just fine on fords of isen and into fangorn. Isen is a challenging scenario but as long as the number of enemies in play remained managable then i was ok. Fangorn everyone just quested to victory

Have tried to catch an orc twice and lost both times. Too many key cards get removed from the deck whether it be feint, gondorian shield, astonishing speed...especially for a pair of decks that rely on these combos

Edit: Just took the decks against Assualt on Osgiliath and Morgal Vale. Beat AoO first try then lost to Morgal Vale (didnt get faint in starting hand which pretty much meant game over immediately) second try I won with little trouble

I had a lot of fun with these decks. Thank you for submitting them!

I switched Book of Eldacar for another Feint, Thicket of Spears and Horn of Gondor in the first deck and added 3x Ride to Ruin to the second deck after we lost against Morgul Vale. Then we totally crushed Alcaron + Co =)

I had a lot of fun with these decks. Thank you for submitting them!

I switched Book of Eldacar for another Feint, Thicket of Spears and Horn of Gondor in the first deck and added 3x Ride to Ruin to the second deck after we lost against Morgul Vale. Then we totally crushed Alcaron + Co =)

Good additions! I only have one core set and dislike proxies which is why I wasn't running more of those cards but I definetly agree with the alterations.

I'm toying with the idea of subbing out a bunch of cards and adding some eagle support. If I give it a try I'll make sure to update the thread