I'm getting ready to introduce 3 other players to this game, and opted to start them off with the Hobbit Saga. I currently only have 2 Cores, the 2 Hobbit expansions, and Khazad-Dum. I have the entire Mirkwood cycle on the way, but it won't be here before we start.

I built the decks in the link with a couple concepts in mind:

- I wanted them to be thematic (i.e. as much dwarf action as I could fit in there, preferably with the appropriate timeframe in mind. i.e. no Gimli. The Tactics deck is 5 armies themed, with Beorn, Bard and Legolas representing the wood elves)

- I wanted them to be as straightforward as possible. Mono-sphere where I could, focusing on one particular aspect. Tactics = combat, lore = healing/defense, etc. I did end up mixing spheres a bit when it came to leadership and spirit, but one deck is focused primarily on spirit events and the other is focused on allies and party buffs.

With that in mind, I submit these decks to you all for feedback.

No advice, but it sounds like a heck of a fun time!

No advice, but it sounds like a heck of a fun time!

Boy, I hope so! This is a semi-weekly game night I run at work, so hopefully they'll want to continue onward.

Sounds like fun! That last tactics deck looks a little light on allies only having 10. Personally, I use 50% allies, 25%, events, 25% attachments, then proportion each section according to your spheres. Adjust for any themes you're going for. (I read that on some beginner article and have been using it as my general rule for now) The tactics one stands out since that deck will be fighting a lot and might need chump blockers. I'm not familiar with the non-core heroes though so maybe they make up for that.

Take my advice with a grain of salt though, I'm a brand new player myself. While I've read a ton on this game so far between this forum and a few other sites, I only have a dozen or so games under my belt between the first two core quests. I have two core sets and the Mirkwood cycle, but haven't opened the cycles yet since I haven't beat all three core quests.

If you have the time (and focus) maybe give the decks a try solo four-handed to see how they work and make sure they can do things most rounds.

Sounds like fun! That last tactics deck looks a little light on allies only having 10. Personally, I use 50% allies, 25%, events, 25% attachments, then proportion each section according to your spheres. Adjust for any themes you're going for. (I read that on some beginner article and have been using it as my general rule for now) The tactics one stands out since that deck will be fighting a lot and might need chump blockers. I'm not familiar with the non-core heroes though so maybe they make up for that.

Take my advice with a grain of salt though, I'm a brand new player myself. While I've read a ton on this game so far between this forum and a few other sites, I only have a dozen or so games under my belt between the first two core quests. I have two core sets and the Mirkwood cycle, but haven't opened the cycles yet since I haven't beat all three core quests.

If you have the time (and focus) maybe give the decks a try solo four-handed to see how they work and make sure they can do things most rounds.

Thanks! Yeah, I know exactly what you mean on the Tactics allies thing. I was having a hard time finding allies that work with the theme for that deck. My plan was to use Beorn to take some hits for the first couple of turns, until the Lore and Leadership allies come out for chump blocking. Then, the deck switches to letting other decks do the blocking, except for Beorn to Sentinel when necessary, and use my ranged heroes to dish out the pain, then use their weapon attachments and Legolas' ability to advance quest/location progress and trigger other card effects.

It may not work out, though. I'm going to go out to see Captain America tonight, so no 4-player solo for me. We'll just see if I can make any tweaks between now and Friday.

The good news is that my Mirkwood cycle will be here tomorrow, so I will see if I can revamp any of the decks with the cards from those packs.

Yeah, the cycles may add more cards that might fit. Also, you could bring a small sideboard of cards from each theme for your friends to swap out in between games if they feel like their deck isn't fitting their play style, assuming you're playing multiple games.

I can say with absolute certainty that Gandalf's Search needs to be replaced with a playable card.

I can say with absolute certainty that Gandalf's Search needs to be replaced with a playable card.

I currently only have 2 Cores, the 2 Hobbit expansions, and Khazad-Dum. I have the entire Mirkwood cycle on the way, but it won't be here before we start.

How many more playable Lore cards are there in that subset?

haha, thanks Duke! I'll go back to the drawing board on that one

Alright, I made a couple of tweaks now that I know Mirkwood should be here tomorrow. Some noteworthy changes are:

Tactics - Adding Landroval to the deck to bring back Beorn, as well as some Gondor spearmen for chump block/sentinel action

Lore - Adding Longbeard Map Maker for more Dwarf action, adding Burning Brand because ^$#! shadow effects and replacing Gandalf's Search with Lorien's Wealth (if there's something better or more obvious, let me know)

Doing the hobbit quests four-handed, you absolutely need to make room for Thalin. He kills Suspicious Crows and Mirkwood Bats outright while softening up practically everything else revealed from the deck. Combined with Gondorian Spearman, over half the enemies in the second and third quests can be killed without ever attacking (lots of 2 HP goblins). And with Dain Ironfoot in the mix, he quests for two while doing it.

That's a really good point. I swapped out Beorn for Thalin and then swapped Landroval for the Beorn ally

You can build decks and Fellowship groups on http://ringsdb.com/ .

You can build decks and Fellowship groups on http://ringsdb.com/ .

That's actually where I built these, then exported them into plain text to paste here.

awesome. have you published them?

I think I will now that they're more or less finalized. Up until this point, I was tweaking them every few minutes it felt like

http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/292/4-player-hobbit-saga

Very nice! Give us a session update afterwards if you get a chance. I'd love to hear how the four decks worked together, and which scenarios you played.

Very nice! Give us a session update afterwards if you get a chance. I'd love to hear how the four decks worked together, and which scenarios you played.

Just wrote one up on BGG here: https://boardgamegeek.com/article/22612304

I would just like to say thank you to everyone who gave me advice here. In particular, including Thalin made everything a lot more manageable.

I did tweak one more time after this session, removing Ever Vigilant and one copy of To Me, My Kinsfolk! and replacing it with a Narvi's Belt and 3 copies of Dunedain's Signal. I want to try and get a solid defender out there if possible that I can attach the belt to for A Burning Brand, and the Signal for Sentinel. Including those gives me some more freedom as to who I can do that with.

Very cool! Hope your friends enjoy it. Those quests sound pretty intense, especially for four players. (3 cards per turn!?!?)

Very cool! Hope your friends enjoy it. Those quests sound pretty intense, especially for four players. (3 cards per turn!?!?)

Not per turn, thankfully, but when revealed. If you're not ready for it, it can be devastating. The exact card text is:

When Revealed: Reveal 3 encounter cards per player, Bilbo Baggins may spend X resources to reduce the total number of encounter cards revealed by X. (To a minimum of 1.)

If the players defeat this stage, they have won the game.

So if you're lacking on Bilbo resources, you're in trouble