Rohan and Gondor Go to War

By Authraw, in Strategy and deck-building

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My wife and I made a pair of Rohan/Gondor decks that we used through the entire Voice of Isengard / Ringmaker cycle. We were pretty happy with the way they performed so I thought I would post them for others to enjoy.

The core concept is using powerful heroes to make both combat and quest progress from the first turn and using chump blocking to fuel Imrahil and Eomer's abilities.

Gondor Goes to War

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (3)

1x Boromir [Leadership] (Heirs of Numenor)

1x Thorongil... er, Aragorn [Leadership] (Core Set)

1x Prince Imrahil (A Journey to Rhosgobel)

Ally: (27)

1x Denethor (Encounter at Amon Dîn)

3x Galadriel (The Road Darkens)

2x White Tower Watchman (The Drúadan Forest)

3x Squire of the Citadel (The Blood of Gondor)

2x Warden of Helm’s Deep (The Antlered Crown)

3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Numenor)

2x Snowbourn Scout (Core Set)

3x Pelargir Ship Captain (The Morgul Vale)

2x Faramir (Core Set)

3x Herald of anórien (Trouble in Tharbad)

3x Gandalf (Core Set)

Attachment: (18)

2x Heir of Mardil (Celebrimbor's Secret)

2x Dunedain Cache (The Dead Marshes)

3x Dunedain Warning (Conflict at the Carrock)

2x The Day’s Rising (The Antlered Crown)

3x Sword that was Broken (The Watcher in the Water)

3x Steward of Gondor (Core Set)

1x Celebrian's Stone (Core Set)

1x Path of Need (Foundations of Stone)

1x Visionary Leadership (The Morgul Vale)

Event: (5)

2x Sneak Attack (Core Set)

3x Valiant Sacrifice (Core Set)

Deck Notes:

This deck contains plenty of good chump blockers. Sacrificing one at the right time can boost Eomer and ready Imrahil.
Mulligan if you don't get Steward of Gondor. Place it on Aragorn, you'll need the resources every turn because the cards in this deck are expensive.
Quest with Imrahil and Aragorn (paying one to ready him) pretty much every round. Aragorn is typically the designated defender for both decks (after sacrificing a chump blocker, of course) so Gondorian Shields and Dunedain Warnings go on him first. Later in the game, the Dunedain Warnings can be transferred to Theoden, especially if he has some sort of readying at that point.
Boromir's ability is useful only occasionally (since allies aren't likely to stay around long enough to be useful) but the fact that all three heroes can be used to defend or attack is part of what makes this deck tick.
When possible, use the Envoy of Pelargir or Pelargir Ship Captain to pass resources to the other deck.
Valiant Sacrifice was replaced with more allies for the Dunlanding quests and several of the allies were replaced with more attachments for The Three Trials.
Galadriel is a bit of a thematic stretch, but she provides a bit more consistent access to some of the key attachments in the deck. She could probably be replaced with some more copies of your favourite attachments if it bothers you.

Rohan Goes to War

Total Cards: (57)

Hero: (3)

1x Théoden (The Morgul Vale)

1x Eowyn (Core Set)

1x Éomer (The Voice of Isengard)

Ally: (23)

2x Westfold Horse-Breaker (The Hunt for Gollum)

3x Westfold Horse-breeder (The Voice of Isengard)

3x West Road Traveller (Return to Mirkwood)

3x Gandalf (Core Set)

2x The Riddermark's Finest (The Hills of Emyn Muil)

3x Galadriel’s Handmaiden (Celebrimbor's Secret)

2x Escort from Edoras (A Journey to Rhosgobel)

3x Gondorian Spearman (Core Set)

2x Guthlaf (The Blood of Gondor)

Attachment: (16)

2x Firefoot (The Dunland Trap)

2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)

1x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

3x Thror's Key (On the Doorstep)

2x Steed of the Mark (The Morgul Vale)

3x Gondorian Shield (The Steward's Fear)

3x Horn of Gondor (Core Set)

Event: (18)

3x Power of Orthanc (The Voice of Isengard)

3x A Test of Will (Core Set)

3x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)

3x Gondorian Discipline (Encounter at Amon Dîn)

3x Feint (Core Set)

3x Charge of the Rohirrim (Celebrimbor's Secret)

Deck Notes:

The other deck has more chump-worthy allies, but no ally is sacred if it betters the board state to sacrifice it.
Mulligan if you don't get Horn of Gondor. Place it on Eowyn. This deck's sphere balance is skewed more towards Spirit than might be expected with only one Spirit hero, but after a few turns the Horn should be able to offset it sufficiently.
Quest with Eowyn and Theoden pretty much every turn. Hopefully you can get some readying on Theoden and he can help out with defending or attacking as needed. Steed of the Mark is ideal, since it can be fetched with the Horse Breeder, costs only 1 Spirit resource, and gives a use for some of the excess Tactics resources which are bound to be floating around as the game progresses.
You want to try to get Firefoot and Rohan Warhorse on Eomer if possible.
The decklist, as written, contains the sideboard. When playing, you should remove whichever 7 of the following cards are least helpful for the current quest:
Power of Orthanc
A Test of Will
Hasty Stroke
Gondorian Discipline
Thror's Key
Like Galadriel above, her Handmaiden appears here because we actually found the minor threat reduction helpful more than once because these decks can run hot on threat from time to time. They could probably be replaced with Ethir Swordsmen without too much effect.
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These are pretty much the same builds I use for Gondor and Rohan. It's great to see another person using Galadriel in this deck since she fits perfectly. I would suggest Strength of Arms for the Gondor deck, it's incredibly useful.

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I had Strength of Arms in there at one time, actually, but I found that there weren't often enough allies still on the table (due to sacrificing them as chump blockers) to justify its use. If we ever had a huge ally army, we were pretty much already on the path to victory.

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Have you seen the newly spoiled cards for The Treason of Saruman? Herugrim could be a pretty good addition to the Rohan deck... and the new Theoden could potentially be better than the Tactics Theoden in these decks, though it could throw off your resource balance, which Spirit Theoden can partially make up for with his ability, but unless you can get Horn of Gondor on Eomer early on, it still probably wouldn't be enough and sadly that would take up one of his restricted slots.

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Oh my gosh yes, very excited about the new cards. I actually bet that the new Theoden would work marvelously in the Rohan deck without too many changes. There are more Spirit cards than Tactics here, which was always offset by getting Horn of Gondor on Eowyn, but with a Spirit Theoden things would be much smoother.

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Yes, Spirit Theoden is an obvious must in this deck since you have more spirit allies. But no Westfold Outrider? Cut the Spearmen for those. I would add another Steed of the Mark, either for Eowyn and Theoden, depending on who you give Herugrim to.

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Westfold Outrider was in the Rohan deck for a while, but we found his extra attack to be unnecessary once Eomer was fully loaded up. Both decks are perfectly capable of handling combat, so we never really needed his ability, and most often he just went as a chump blocker. Hence, the Spearman turned out to be a better fit, for us at least.

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Westfold Outrider was in the Rohan deck for a while, but we found his extra attack to be unnecessary once Eomer was fully loaded up. Both decks are perfectly capable of handling combat, so we never really needed his ability, and most often he just went as a chump blocker. Hence, the Spearman turned out to be a better fit, for us at least.

The Spearman is Gondorian too, so it's not like he is getting left out.