Some of you probably saw that I mentioned this deck in the Carn Dum thread and that it got crushed, but I still want to show you guys this deck because it is suprisingly powerful. The whole Dúnedain archetype is definitely not quite there yet (unknown Leadership weapon missing I think, much like Gondor needed Visionary Leadership in the last pack). However, it does work fine as it is, and most of all, it is a really fun deck to play. Maybe even one of the most fun decks ever, at least in my opinion.

So, when thinking about creating a Dúnedain deck, my first idea was to use Tactics Aragorn, Halbarad, and another Leadership hero (normally Sam, but Amarthiul now took his place), but then I realized that since Amarthiul can get a Tactics icon, I could instead use Core Aragorn and go with mono Leadership and all the advantages that brings. And it works great. First of all, being able to play Feint from round 1 in mono Leadership is huge. Not only that, but also cards like Gondorian Shield and of course Strength of Arms. Action advantage is probably the main feature (Descendants of Kings is a ridiculously good card), making use of the high stat Dúnedain allies and heroes. Also it's great to use allies like the Dúnedain Wathcer again. The rest of the deck is the typical Leadership willpower pack (Galadriel, Stone, Sword, Faramir, Sneak Attack & Gandalf), and the Envoys are there because the deck needs more turn 1 allies, and they are also really good with Sword that was Broken.

The main thing that stands out about playing this deck is that it really makes use of engaged enemies. You have to make interesting decisions about whether you should keep an enemy engaged or not, even though there are times where you just can't afford afford it. Still, after you build a decent company of rangers having a bunch of enemies engaged is really fun, as you can make great use of the Guardian of Arnor, Descendants, etc. So far I've taken it against Carn Dum, where it got destroyed, but it defeated Into Ithilien without too much trouble. All in all, the deck is definitely not there yet, but it is really fun. I will also say that it's a bummer that you can't use this against most of the Angmar Awakened cycle. Also I hope that we get some form of card draw for Leadership other than King Under the Mountain, as that is what these mono-Leadership decks lack the most.

Aragorn (Core)

Halbarad

Amarthúl

Envoy of Pelargir x2

Galadriel x3

Gandalf x3

Faramir x2

Guardian of Arnor x3

Weather Hills Watchman x3

Son of Arnor x2

Dunedain Watcher x2

Dúnedain Hunter x2

Ranger of Cardolan x2

Steward of Gondor x3

Celebrían's Stone x2

Sword that was Broken x3

Gondorian Shield x2

Dúnedain Warning x3

Feint x3

Sneak Attack x3

Strength of Arms x3

Descendants of Kings x3

Gather Information x1

Descendants of kings has got to be one of the best cards in such a deck. Since you are Mono-Leadership, have you thought about including Tome of Atanatar for more uses?

I think that is the best all Dunedain deck I've seen. I too figured that combination of heroes was the way to go, but hadn't bothered to put together a deck yet. Nice job.

I've considered Tome of Atanatar, but even in my Gondor deck I only run 1 copy as most of the time running three copies of each event is enough, and 2 or more copies of Tome normally end up clogging my deck and hand. I just don't think it's that necessary to be honest.

I've got bad news. I was looking at the rulebook and saw that there is no action window between defending and atacking, which means you can't defend with, say, Amarthiúl and then use Descendants of Kings to ready him and attack. This makes Descendants of Kings a significantly worse card and in consecuence the deck becomes much more limited in what combat tricks you can do. Bummer.

I've got bad news. I was looking at the rulebook and saw that there is no action window between defending and atacking, which means you can't defend with, say, Amarthiúl and then use Descendants of Kings to ready him and attack. This makes Descendants of Kings a significantly worse card and in consecuence the deck becomes much more limited in what combat tricks you can do. Bummer.

There is an appropriate action window. Core rules, p. 18: "When resolving enemy attacks, the players follow these 4 steps, in order. Players may play event cards and take actions at the end of each step." You can do it after step 4 of the final defense resolves.

You're fine. All of those bars are green in the chart at the end of the book. This means you can take actions 'generally' or rather before, during, or after each of those steps.

Even if they were red, players can take actions at the end of each step of enemy attack resolution. You could use Descendants of Kings after flipping the enemy's shadow card but before resolving the attack.

Thanks for the clarification. As you can see, I rarely even look at the rulebook.

Yeah, same reason that Boromir works. You can defend with him and then use his action to ready and attack. Even if you get caught unawares with your heroes exhausted when an enemy makes an immediate attack, there is an action window after "Select the enemy" and before "Declare a defender" in which you can perform actions like readying.

The funny thing is that I use Boromir like that but for some reason I thought it was different for the event.

I have been playing the deck for a while now and I can easily pinpoint its main weakness. While it is possible to muster a large number of allies if you have good draws, especially Sneak Attack & Gandalf, your hand eventually runs out of cards and thus you are limited to 1 card each turn (even less if you draw extra copies of uniques). A Leadership attachment with an effect like "Response: After you play an ally from your hand, exhaust this attachment to draw a card", would be just perfect for this deck to really gain strength.

Hmmm, what about filling it with more tactics allies and including Lord of Morthond?

You mean adding the Knights of the Swan and the Warriors from Lossarnach as well as Lord of Morthond? I don't think Lord of Morthond is worth it unless you run 6 Outlands allies to be honest, otherwise it becomes a very narrow combo. Still, that's a lot of card space, and but it could work. Don't know what to take out apart of the Envoys, though.

How do you draw ?

May be you should play Erestor ally, in order to cycle all your unique attachments.

I'm not so keen about son of Arnor for solo play, 'cause its capacity is not so helpfull.

Lord of Morthond is good for any non-Leadership allies -- to draw you cards. Amarthiul is especially good for this.

And Tome of Atanatar will give you more chances to play Sneaky Gandalf and thus draw more cards.

If empty hand is your problem the above two may be your solution.

No need for Outlands. Morthond will let you draw when you play your Dunedain Hunters or the upcoming Fornost Bowman. If you find that Aragorn can get Celebrian's Stone reliably you could also include some spirit Dunedain.

But I think Fingolfin Fate's idea of Tome of Atanatar for more sneaks is better in terms of raw draw power.

You're totally right, I thought Lord of Morthond only draws you cards when you play Outlands allies. However, I think Tome of Atanatar will work better. Here's hoping the Leadership weapon will give us some card advantage, as I'm also tired of relying on Balin and King under the Mountain for the Gondor deck.

Son of Arnor is not a stellar ally in this deck, but he combos well with Halbarad and Ranger of Cardolan. I'll keep him in until we get something better. I get the feeling this deck will not be quite complete until the last pack.

I too hope the weapon will be a good one. Did they say it should work for both Dúnedain and Gondor? What do you think it may be then? I mean Andúril would be kinda obvious but there is already "Narsil" and saga "Andúril". I would actually hope it won't be unique but since it is supposed to be Leadership, I think it will be.

And what are some ideas as toward the function?

I actually hope for Leadership Andúril (as well as all the treasure and boon items), and since boon Andúril doesn't have any restrictions with Sword that was Broken, I don't see how that's an argument for not having it. Howeve, I am aware it's not likely we will. The article says that the weapon will "enrich" the armies of Gondor and Dúnedain, so thematically it could be just a generic "Blade of Westernesse" sword or something like that. What they meant by "enrich" is a mystery, but it'd be dissapointing if it was more resource generation. What Leadership, especially these two traits need is card draw or some kind of card advantage, so I hope that's what it is.

My guess is just a generic 1 cost, restricted, +1 attack for each enemy engaged with you.

Hopefully that's not the case, lol. Same effect as a card in the same pack, and thus extremely boring. I'd rather use Dúnedain Marks, at least those are fetchable.

Just tested it against The Antlered Crown and beat it without too much trouble. The Guardian of Arnor is an extremely good ally in this deck, especially against swarmy quests. This deck will be fun to take to Moria I suspect. However, I noticed another major weakness which, while not devastating, can be very perilous in some quests. The deck lacks shadow cancellation, and even if I used Balin it would not be enough, as the whole idea is to keep at least one enemy engaged and while the attacks themselves are not the problem, the constant shadow effects are. Dúnedain Watcher is a good emergency button, but not really reliable in this deck.

However, I noticed another major weakness which, while not devastating, can be very perilous in some quests. The deck lacks shadow cancellation, and even if I used Balin it would not be enough, as the whole idea is to keep at least one enemy engaged and while the attacks themselves are not the problem, the constant shadow effects are. Dúnedain Watcher is a good emergency button, but not really reliable in this deck.

Looks nice! How is your willpower doing early game? I ragequit with my Dúnedain deck against treachery of Rhudaur when it put 8 threat in the staging area in turn 1 on top of an 8 quest point location. Getting high willpower early is one of the weak points it has. Then I played Into Ithilien and Cair Andros to cheer me up again. What has this game gotten to that I play into Ithilien as a breather?! How do you do your turn 1 and 2 in Into Ithilien with this deck?

On a side note: I hope we don't get good carddraw in Leadership. I think King under the Mountain is already way beyond the level of sphere-bleeding I am ok with.

Early willpower is an issue, yes, and the main reason I wanted the hero in Carn Dum to have 3 willpower. It's also the main reason I include 2 copies of Celebrían's Stone, which if you play early, it helps quite a bit, as you can quest for 6 each round exhausting at most 1 hero. Still, the deck can take an early threat punch without much trouble if you don't get it, but with Galadriel and Sword that was Broken willpower is rarely an issue. In the only playthrough of Helm's Deep I've done with it I won without ever seeing Sword that was Broken, but of course the Stone was essential.

With Into Ithilien, it depends. I normally want to clear the Ithilien Road as early as possible, but that's not a problem if you don't draw an enemy first round. If I draw the southrons that attack from the staging area in the first round, that's normally a scoop, as I normally won't have an ally to defend and would have to take 4 undefended, which most of the times ends badly. The Southron company will end up engaged for the first couple rounds, but I kill it as soon as possible.

When I ran against Into Ithilien with the Dúnedain, the first two encounter draws either completely killed me, or I would win the scenario eventually anyway. I'm always curious to see how other decks do their first turn.

I really really like your deck. I built it to test it, as Dúnedain are one of my favourite factions in the game, and since the first day I desired to build a Dúnedain deck. It worked well, but as you said, multiple shadow effects were slowly wounding my heroes, and eventually causing one of them to fall, which really complicates the game (I was testing the deck in the nightmare modes of Passage Through Mirkwood and Journey Along the Anduin).

What worked very well for me was to change leadership Aragorn for the its lore version, also I did those changes to deck:

-2 Gondorian Shield

-3 Strength of Arms

-2 Son of Arnor

-3 Galadriel

-2 Son of Arnor

+2 A Burning Brand

+3 Sarn Ford Sentry

+2 Warden of Healing

+2 Forest Snare

+1 Henamarth Riversong

+1 Ranger of Cardolan

+1 Wingfoot

In one of the games, I had two enemies engaged with forest snare... Amarthuil is just amazing with that.