Hi guys. Long time player, first time poster :-)

I have a favor to ask of the community - can you please help me remain a LotR player by putting your collective brains together!

TL;DR What combination of heroes can stand a chance in two-player against the various scenarios in the game, even if it means reworking the cards in the decks between scenarios?

Now, the long version. Here's my situation: my wife and I love the LotR LCG and have been playing on and off for a couple of years. We're not people who want to spend lots of time obsessively building and rebuilding decks, and we thrive on the idea of having a fellowship which tells a story - i.e. which goes through a whole cycle of missions together.

We've got to the point though where we can play various fellowships through the core trio of scenarios and Dwarrowdelf cycle. Sometimes a fellowship fails and we try again (and again). That's okay. We've just started the Numenor core trio of missions. Difficulty 5? Difficulty 4? Difficulty 7? More like difficulty 50 and 100 respectively. Can't vouch for the Cair Andros scenario - never got that far.

After 8 Ithilien losses in one hour (never made it past turn 3 even in our best run) last night, my wife has said she's had it with the LotR LCG. If the game requires us to create new fellowships and decks for each scenario, even within a trio of scenarios, then she's not interested. Neither am I, to be honest.

So, here's where I'm at - I'm happy to change out cards in the decks between scenarios (thematically, the fellowship will be showing different sides to their skills). But we have to be able to keep the same heroes throughout a whole cycle.

If it isn't possible just tell me straight up. I'll (with great, great sadness) shelve the game.

Otherwise, let me know what sets of options you think might work for a two-player setup going into Gondor and looking to last through the cycle.

EDIT: One additional note. I don't have the latest (Isengard/Sylvan) cycle. Hasn't made it to my local supplier in New Zealand yet -(

The Heirs of Numenor quests are dramatically harder than the Dwarrowdelf quests. Those difficulty ratings are meaningless.

You'll definitely have to use different decks than you're used to using, but you shouldn't have to change them up too much between quests. My go-to power deck using mostly cards from HoN or before is Aragorn (Lore), Glorfindel (Spirit), and Elrond. A good and thematic companion deck with be Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir. You could find a sample deck list here: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/104951-two-handed-decks/

Aragorn/Glorfindel/Elrond seems strong. So does the other deck, but I realised I don't have Redhorn Gate or Road to Rivendell (again, very tough to find), so I'll have to find others to go with the awesome Legolas :-) Can't think who would work as suitable Tactics and Leadership to go alongside Legolas right now. Hmmm...

Bummer. Not only so you lose out on Elladan/Elrohir, but also Rivendell Blade. Hmm... Maybe Boromir or Beregond for Tactics. Imrahil is pretty nice for Leadership. All of those guys should be beasts for siege quests when you give them a shield of Gondor.

The pair of decks that I did that have done pretty well use Legolas/Beregond/Prince Imrahil and Frodo/Glorfindel/Elrond .

Well you don't have the right cards and sets but like TeamJimby posted both my decks and others in the two handed decks thread are pretty powerful. I use mine consistently for all quests and rarely even change cards in the decks let alone the heroes. I have a sideboard of about 12 or so cards (power of orthanc, forest snare etc) that can be swapped in when need be.

I too do not enjoy making decks for each scenario and have instead since I got into the game been slowly working on my two decks and constantly refining and editing them, they have been through many changes and are constantly upgraded with new cards released as well.

Others have posted some very good alternative ideas so if you can't get your hands on the packs you don't have fair enough but if you can I definitely recommend giving the Elladan, Elrohir, Celeborn and Glorfindel, Elrond, Haldir decks a try =)

Ah, thanks. Yes, it seems like my collection of cards (everything up to and including the HoN block but missing Journey to Rhosgobel, Redhorn Gate and Road to Rivendell) leaves my deck building at a major disadvantage. I don't hear much in the way of dwarf decks, for instance, or pure hobbit decks, or Rohan as a keyword. Those are some of the major options from what I have! Gondor might be viable, and I admit to loving spirit Glorfindel, Elrond and Aragorn of course.

Your story sounds a lot like mine. My wife and I spent two evenings in a row trying to figure out Into Ithilien before getting so frustrated that we shelved the game for about a month. We typically play the game the same way, using the same six heroes for the entire cycle and swapping out deck contents with a sideboard.

The Heirs of Numenor box really requires a paradigm shift in the way you build decks, and you have to figure out how to do everything really well--you have to be able to produce defense values high enough to quest with them, and you still have to be able to defend against enemies, attack them, and generate high willpower as well.

I think the thing we had to shed was the concept that almost all of the previous quests teach you: that you need a low starting threat. Once we started combining some of the "power heroes" we got a lot closer. Action advantage is huge--you want your heroes to be able to do double-duty when possible.

I want to offer a word of encouragement, however: things get much better after Cair Andros. The challenges start to feel fair again, and you can most certainly clear the rest of it using the same six heroes. It's actually a really fun cycle once you get past the two juggernauts at the beginning.

I don't hear much in the way of dwarf decks,

Dwarves are very strong, but you need to survive a couple of rounds to set them up, as they rely on ally swarms boosted by Dain. My wife and I play 2-player, and went for a long time with Legolas-Ori-Bombur and Dain-Thorin-Nori. We had success against pretty much all of the early scenarios prior to Heirs. The decks pretty much build themselves if you stick to the dwarf theme, but they work better if Legolas has his toys. You don't have Rivendell Blade, but you could always proxy it (today Mr. Gondorian Fire, you shall be known as 'Rivendell Blade!'). I could dig up an actual decklist if you're interested in going this route.

I'd love to give that a go if you can find the deck list, G.S. That's a very kind offer.

Found the 'vintage' decklists... here they are, unmodified:

That's awesome. I'll put those together (which is how I tend to 'feel' a deck). Exciting prospect!

Thank you.

An Outlands and a Dwarven deck paired together are all you need to smash everything thrown at you. Every single quest.

I really need to look into how to make Outlands work. It doesn't seem like there are very many cards with the keyword but I'm aware that lots of people love their Outlands decks so it must be a potent combination of cards.

The only criticism I have concerning the Outlands build (which is a serious one I have to admit) is that the deck almost runs in autopilot; no place for creativity and skillful maneuvering here: just a bunch of hardened bearded Gondorians demolishing everything in their path. The more, the merrier. But if you cannot defeat the Heirs quests otherwise, they become necessary. On the plus side, contrarily to the Dwarven archetype, building an Outlands power deck won't cost you much: almost everything is included in The Steward's Fear AP (which sports the best quest in the game i.m.o.).

My wife and I have the same problem. HoN is very difficult. We had beated it but with a Beregong, Gorfindel, thalin (one player) and Thorin, ori, Dain (other). The dwarf deck, thorin company, is incredible powerful. The other deck is only to have Beregong as a 6 defennse centinel guy (with his shield), and spirit for canceling when revealed and nasty shadows. Thats give time to dwarves deck to deployed his game and beat almost any quest.

I'm currently trying a Beregond/Beorn/Boromir(leadership) deck with gondorian allies with Aragon(lore)/Elrond/Glorfindel(spirit) on the other side of the table. Fun, and so far not doing too badly against some of the familiar scenarios my wife and I enjoy. Haven't dared against the HoN scenarios yet, though.

I never thought I'd find a use for Beorn, but Song of Mocking (on Beregond with Citadel Plate) and Dori make him viable. So far. We'll see how I progress :-)