The following two decks are designed for a thematic solo experience of The Road Darkens scenarios. Why do I consider them thematic? They contain no allies that would not be present in the story when members of the fellowship left Rivendell. Unfortunately, with the limited number of fellowship allies to choose from I had to develop decks that were essentially ally free, well except for bill the pony, bringing him into the mines certainly leads to some inconsistency, but whatever.

The first deck, Gandalf's deck, was used for the first 2 scenarios. It features the new Gandalf hero. After Gandalf is discarded from play while facing the Balrog, Boromir replaces him for the Breaking of the Fellowship in the final scenario.

I have played through the scenarios a few times with these decks, and it provides me with a very good challenge that fits the feeling of the story for me. Sure these decks can be made much more efficient with some more variety in player cards especially when concerning allies, but i wanted to recreate, to the best of my ability with the player cards available, an experience that felt most true to the struggle the members of the fellowship faced.

Overall the 2 decks transition real nice between the 2nd and 3rd scenarios with only about a twenty card change, but everything else pretty much stays the same.

I post a few ideas on how the decks work below, but one important thing to mention is that I use Frodo from The Black Riders, since the way the decks are designed he never defends, making the new version unnecessary for the decks.

Questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome.

Gandalf's deck

Total Cards: (51)

Hero: (4)

1x Gandalf (The Road Darkens)

1x Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)

1x Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

1x Frodo Baggins (The Black Riders)

Ally: (1)

1x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)

Attachment: (40)

3x Expert Treasure-hunter (On the Doorstep)

2x A Burning Brand (Conflict at the Carrock)

3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

3x Wizard Pipe (The Road Darkens)

3x Gandalf Staff (The Road Darkens)

2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Fellowship of the Ring (The Road Darkens)

2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)

3x Healing Herbs (Foundations of Stone)

2x Protector of Lorien (Core Set)

3x Cram (Over Hill and Under Hill)

2x Celebrian's Stone (Core Set)

3x Dunedain Mark (The Hunt for Gollum)

3x Dunedain Quest (A Journey to Rhosgobel)

3x Dunedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)

Event: (10)

3x Power of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)

2x Flame of Anor (The Road Darkens)

2x Word of Command (The Long Dark)

3x Frodo's Intuition (The Black Riders)

Basically, any attachment that has to do with questing goes on Sam. For the first scenario I made Gandalf the main defender, and Aragorn as attacker, but for the second scenario I switched to Aragorn as Defender/attacker with 2 unexpected courages and gandalf as Attacker with 1 UC. Either way will work, but it is Critically important that Protector of Lorien is attached to the hero defending the Balrog when it shows up.

Boromir's deck

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (4)

1x Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)

1x Boromir (The Dead Marshes)

1x Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

1x Frodo Baggins (The Black Riders)

Ally: (2)

2x Bill the Pony (The Black Riders)

Attachment: (33)

2x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Fellowship of the Ring (The Road Darkens)

3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward's Fear)

2x Gondorian Fire (Assault on Osgiliath)

2x Fast Hitch (The Dead Marshes)

3x Healing Herbs (Foundations of Stone)

1x Protector of Lorien (Core Set)

3x Cram (Over Hill and Under Hill)

2x Celebrian's Stone (Core Set)

3x Dunedain Mark (The Hunt for Gollum)

3x Dunedain Quest (A Journey to Rhosgobel)

3x Dunedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)

3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

Event: (15)

3x Frodo's Intuition (The Black Riders)

3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)

3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)

3x Gondorian Discipline (Encounter at Amon Dîn)

3x Close Call (The Dunland Trap)

Boromir does what he does best on this scenario; smash orc! Anduril on Boromir (another inconsistency) is really good, and it will help keep threat down. Getting his Def./ attack Buffed is important. Archery damage can be soaked up with tactics events, or healing herbs if it gets bad. cram to Aragorn.

I assume that Frodo is supposed to be the Frodo from The Road Darkens, not from The Black Riders. I'm surprised you didn't bother with the Gandalf ally in the second deck.

I assume that Frodo is supposed to be the Frodo from The Road Darkens, not from The Black Riders. I'm surprised you didn't bother with the Gandalf ally in the second deck.

I am using Frodo from TBR. TRD frodo never used his ability in the decks.

Gandalf was removed from the campaign in the second scenario, so i can't use him as ally in Boromir deck.

I'm hoping that players who use Gandalf as the hero sacrificed during the second scenario will be rewarded by getting access to Gandalf the white in later expansions. It's a leap of faith we'll see how the developers handle this.

As usual, nice decks Tracker. I've only played the first two now and ran away from the Balrog with Gandalf still Gray.

Sam becomes an absurd quester. I had Noble Hero, Celebrian's Stone, three Dunedain Quests, Sword that was Broken and Fellowship of the Ring in play so he was questing 11 by himself. Wish I could have pulled Sting too...

One note. I really like having TRD Frodo's defensive ability in case a Troll shows up early, so I've switched to him.