This will be the first time that I will be playing both a Descent campaign and as the Overlord. The heroes are also first time players. It will be the base campaign with Lair of the Wyrm mixed in. The heroes will be:

Alvric Albright - Disciple

Grisbane the Thirsty - Berserker

Loric of the Book - Runemaster

Jain Fairwood - Wildlander

I will have access to the following Overlord Deck Archetypes:

Warlord

Saboteur

Magus

Punisher

Additionally, I have the following Plot decks:

Splig

Belthir

Zachareth

Alric Farrow

Merick Farrow

Eliza Farrow

Valyndra

I understand that the overlord has to play reactively, choosing a plot deck and upgrades that exploit the weaknesses of the heroes. My problem is that this group seems very well rounded. Jain and Loric are glass cannons with high awareness and knowledge respectively. Grisbane and Alvric can take a bit of punishment. This has led me to waver between Saboteur/Punisher and Warlord/Punisher for my deck upgrades. I'm not too keen on trying Magus for my first time, but if someone makes a good case for it, I am certainly open to it.

As for the plot deck, I am not sure whether to take Zachareth, Eliza, Valyndra (Warlord/Punisher), or another.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I guess you only have access to basic 1 as a overlord deck. In that case going warlord together with Belthir makes for hard hitting and easy to use combo. Nether less I strongly advice to reduce the complexity of the game for first time players by removing rumors as well as plot deck mechanics. The game is already complicated as it is. So play a campaign to get to know the game and expand later on.

Best regards

Funkfried

But complexity is my middle name! Did I mention that we were playing Mage Knight not two days before this? A couple of side quests never hurt anyone, I say!

I don't know your gaming group only mine and even after more than one year of descent we still try to grasp some of the mechanics and rules. Especially through new skills or plot cards, the mechanics can change a lot. It was just my advice.

And thank you very much for it! I was just having a little fun.

I second the recommendation of Belthir. Warlord is the most straightforward OL class, but I've always preferred branching out with several level 1 cards instead. Web Trap (Saboteur), Trading Pains & No Rest For the Wicked (Punisher) and Blood Rage (Warlord) are all really useful cards. The level 2s and 3s aren't always worth it. With Jain the Wildlander, I heavily recommend you pick up at least 1 "No Rest for the Wicked." She absolutely thrives off of fatigue movement. Trading Pains will be bothersome for the Disciple, since he will always be adjacent to the hero he is healing (unless it's himself.)

One last note- I assume you're playing "The Shadow Rune" based on the heroes/classes? Look ahead to the Act 2 quest "Ritual of Shadows," specifically the reward. I've found it a wise choice to play that quest at a time when I'd like to respec my deck (for example, I was playing as a fully Basic 2/Punisher, and I cashed in all of my level 1 and 2 punisher cards- but kept the level 3- and bought warlord cards instead, since I knew the finale was a giant slugfest.)

While I appreciate the advice given so far, I was wondering if someone could address my question as to the strengths and weaknesses of the group. Can I effectively use Warlord or Warlord/Punisher against this composition, or will Grisbane Berserker and Alvric Disciple be too durable by Act II? Are there obvious weaknesses that I should exploit?

In combination with Belthir warlord/punisher will do just fine. As it takes time for you to gather the experience for purchasing additional overload cards you will notice how your heroes play. Why should you limit yourself to a predetermined choice of cards? If the heroes want a slugfest go for warlord, if they exhaust their stamina go for punisher etc. Be dynamic and make their lives a living hell. As Zaltyre already pointed out you have the chance to reset your cards by winning a certain mission. So just try out and have fun :-)

I wouldn't opt for warlord at all with this hero combination. Disciple is a powerful healer, Grisben has a lot of health, and Leoric makes the whole team more tanky. That, and Jain's passive makes her more durable. This is a tanky team, I'd invest in saboteur and magus cards, and some punisher as well instead.

Leoric is the real killer here. However, a web trap card on Leoric can be very potent, it'll force the group to abandon their +1 defense bonus and leave him behind or waste a turn waiting for him to catch up (or waste a heal spell on him, limiting their healer's movement, which accomplishes a similar goal).

With the exception of Jain (who isn't quite tanky enough to go off on her own too far), the group is very immobile. Punisher/saboteur should be a great way to deal with this.

I'd avoid Bel'Thir's plot deck, I really don't like it much. Out of your options, I'd say Zachareth, you don't have the plot decks I'd consider particularly fun and potent in one (like Tristayne Olliven's deck, Raythen, or Gargan Mirklace)

Whitewing, do you suggest that I stick to level 1 cards in Magus, Saboteur, and Punisher, or are they any level 2 or 3 that I should definitely pick up?

By the way, we played the intro scenario and I won, barely. They were about to finish Mauler off (1 hp) and then I top decked a dash and got him to a remote corner surrounded by goblin archers. This bought me a single turn to get one more goblin off of the map. I'm going to pick Masquerade Ball next to play.

The group composition is HP heavy but slow. Jain can move around a bit with her feat, but she'll be alone. Try denying the heroes treasure. Use monsters with ranged attacks or radius powers. I like Barghests for this as they can howl and affect all heroes within 3, forcing them to test or take a stamina.

Focus on quests where the objective is a race and you should do fine.

By the way, we played the intro scenario and I won, barely. They were about to finish Mauler off (1 hp) and then I top decked a dash and got him to a remote corner surrounded by goblin archers. This bought me a single turn to get one more goblin off of the map. I'm going to pick Masquerade Ball next to play.

One question- how did Mauler get surrounded by goblins? Were your goblins not all double-moving toward the exit? (Or did Mauler get protected in a corner by the exit?)

Whitewing, do you suggest that I stick to level 1 cards in Magus, Saboteur, and Punisher, or are they any level 2 or 3 that I should definitely pick up?

By the way, we played the intro scenario and I won, barely. They were about to finish Mauler off (1 hp) and then I top decked a dash and got him to a remote corner surrounded by goblin archers. This bought me a single turn to get one more goblin off of the map. I'm going to pick Masquerade Ball next to play.

It really depends heavily on what abilities the heroes take as they gain experience, and what their strategies are. If Jain is the only one opening doors and grabbing treasure, only web trap will be useful from saboteur. If they're all doing it, Uthek Demon Trap can be strong. I would at least take the two web traps and the card from punisher that lets you get free movement when heroes fatigue move.

The reason I don't like Bel'thir's plot deck very much, is that, with the exception of frenzy and dash cards, you pretty much want to draw basic deck 1 cards as little as possible, by running the smallest deck size possible with as many other cards. Add in the fact that some of his cards are about getting rid of trap cards (like the spectacular web trap, pit trap, or tripwire) and you quickly find that using his cards is more of a hindrance than a help except against highly mobile but squishy groups. This is not a highly mobile but squishy group, so I'd stay away from it.

Alarmed and Whitewing, thanks for those suggestions. I think that I'll go Punisher heavy with some Saboteur mixed in, particularly web traps. Usually it's just Jain doing the searching, so I'm not sure about the Demon trap. What Magus cards are worth it? My first impressions from reading them is that they were a bit underwhelming, but I may be underestimating those cards.

By the way, I went with Zachareth for my plot deck, and I chose the Masquerade Quest next because it is a bit of a race that is stacked in the OL's favor.

By the way, we played the intro scenario and I won, barely. They were about to finish Mauler off (1 hp) and then I top decked a dash and got him to a remote corner surrounded by goblin archers. This bought me a single turn to get one more goblin off of the map. I'm going to pick Masquerade Ball next to play.

One question- how did Mauler get surrounded by goblins? Were your goblins not all double-moving toward the exit? (Or did Mauler get protected in a corner by the exit?)

Because you can only replenish one goblin a turn respecting group limits, I only had one goblin escape at a time. Yes, the one escaping was double moving toward the exit. The others were keeping their distance from the heroes and shooting them while the Ettins played tag team with the heroes. Early on, I got some really lucky roles and knocked out Grisbane, which slowed them down. Eventually, Mauler was down to 1 hp with 2 goblins to go. My hand was empty and I top decked Dash. I moved him to the corner above the water in the tile next to the exist and blocked the path with four goblins while another escaped. They weren't able to kill him the next turn.

That's a decent choice to go with, the relic reward is incredible for the overlord. Make sure to check the errata for each quest you play, as many of them have been edited to fix them a bit.