https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/7/25/the-names-among-them/

preview article up. There is a slight error, Guthwine is not from the Morgul Vale, I'm guessing it's Mountain of Fire. Elladan and Elrohir allies. Doesnt look like we get an Eomer ally though, sad.

51 minutes ago, awp832 said:

Doesn't look like we get an Eomer ally though, sad.

I think most people given a choice between a new hero version and an ally version would take the hero.

We get a new Eomer hero, though. Leadership, with the ability to attack into the staging area, making Fastred a little better since we're no longer completely dependent on Dunhere or events to make him work. New Elfhelm ally (Tactics), too.

Guthwine makes Tactics Eomer huge, and really helps make Firefoot more interesting.

I want to go the other way with it and put Firefoot (and Guthwine) on the new Leadership Eomer. Sure it's combo-y, but use Fastred to bounce a weak enemy into the staging area, then when you go to quest you kill it with Eomer, and are then able to put direct damage on something engaged with you. Maybe something big that you couldn't kill the turn before.

most people maybe, but not me. I would have preferred an ally Eomer, since Rohan already has quite a few strong heros.

Wow. Just wow. I'm already thinking through the implications of Eomer and Fastred together. An Eomer, Fastred and Dunhere deck would lack questing power, but there are a bunch of allies that can help with that in Spirit. Pair it with a good questing deck across the table...

Or, if you want some real Rohan thematic stuff going on, run a SpTheoden, Dunhere, TaEowyn deck on one side of the table with a LdEomer, Elfhelm, Fastred deck on the other. Use some songs to give Eomer a spirit icon and a tactics icon for the stat boosts (and resource smoothing while you're at it). And while you're doing songs, give Fastred a Ld Icon so that he can take Armored Destrier and get +1 Defense while he's doing so. The +1 boost to Willpower from Elfhelm also makes him a decent target for Golden Shield. Elfhelm's stat boosts would make Theoden quite interesting, especially with Herugrim and Snowmane.

Woaw this attachement. We can build around Eomund + this and get a full ready of rohan character and a chump block every turn. Excellent

Wow, that new Eomer actually makes Late Adventurer useful!

45 minutes ago, donkler said:

Wow, that new Eomer actually makes Late Adventurer useful!

Grappling Hook should get even more mileage, especially if you're boosting Eomer's attack (well, not with Guthwine).

Speaking from the solo player persepctive and thinking of the classic Rohan swarm archetype, I'm not sure I like Éomer that much. I mean, Gúthwine is just perfect for this archetype, but in terms of Éomer I'm not sure how good he'll be in solo. With high starting threat heroes like himself, there just won't be too many enemies leftover from the previous round in the staging area, barring Fastred/Terrible to Behold type shenanigans. In solo, I just don't know if I'll use his ability often, much like all the staging area attack stuff like Battle Fury and Forth Eorlingas, both of which are pretty much binder fodder for the solo player. Hoping I'm wrong though, I really like the theme and art on this card.

Hama loves Guthwine, that's for sure.

Helm! Helm! and Ride to Ruin should be much easier to use with T Elfhelm and Guthwine. Still taxes your hand and resources quite a bit, but less so than before.

Is Elfhelm the first Ally to have cards in 3 different spheres? If you count the hero, there's an Elfhelm in every sphere. Not even Aragorn gets that. Wonder why they thought Elfhelm was important enough to merit that.

EDIT: Of course there isn't a lore Elfhelm, and I'm an idiot who can't count

I don't think there's a Lore Elfhelm.

Ooh, I love all the support staging area Rohan has been getting lately. I always liked that archetype, I just couldn't ever seem to get it to work.

I like that there's not a clear "ideal" lineup for this archetype: I want Dunhere, Eomer, and Fastred, but then I'm missing out on some of the Tactics cards like Spear of the Mark. And ideally I'd like to make use of the bonuses that hero Elfhelm can grant... Lots of new deck ideas to try out now!

10 minutes ago, dalestephenson said:

I don't think there's a Lore Elfhelm.

You're right. I don't know where I got that from. I was thinking we already had 3 versions, and i don't know how I got there.

I'll still surprised they chose Elfhelm instead of another prominent Rohirrim, but not as much so

1 minute ago, Authraw said:

Ooh, I love all the support staging area Rohan has been getting lately. I always liked that archetype, I just couldn't ever seem to get it to work.

I like that there's not a clear "ideal" lineup for this archetype: I want Dunhere, Eomer, and Fastred, but then I'm missing out on some of the Tactics cards like Spear of the Mark. And ideally I'd like to make use of the bonuses that hero Elfhelm can grant... Lots of new deck ideas to try out now!

Dunhere with Rohan warhorse/spear of the mark and the Elfhelm boost would be a pretty decent target for battle fury. Give him a song of battle with TaTheoden on the board and he's attacking for 6 in the staging area and then questing for 3. Not bad at all.

1 hour ago, Onidsen said:

Dunhere with Rohan warhorse/spear of the mark and the Elfhelm boost would be a pretty decent target for battle fury. Give him a song of battle with TaTheoden on the board and he's attacking for 6 in the staging area and then questing for 3. Not bad at all.

TaTheoden only affects characters with a printed Tactics icon, unfortunately, so he wouldn't help out Dunhere sadly.

But you could use Windfola instead of Rohan Warhorse to get the extra +1 willpower instead. At that point, you might be better off using Herugrim than Spear of the Mark, too. Sounds like an Elfhelm / Dunhere / TaEowyn deck might be in order...

It's funny that this pack is getting me to think about all kinds of decks I want to build that don't use any new cards from The Mountain of Fire at all.

2 hours ago, Authraw said:

Ooh, I love all the support staging area Rohan has been getting lately. I always liked that archetype, I just couldn't ever seem to get it to work.

I've tried a few Rohan decks, and although they're always pretty good at combat, you just can't generate enough willpower in high threat quests.

4 hours ago, Onidsen said:

I'll still surprised they chose Elfhelm instead of another prominent Rohirrim, but not as much so

But he seems to be Eomer's second in command, as he is chosen to ambush the army that occupied Cair Andros. I Think he deserves a new ally version.

5 hours ago, JonG said:

I've tried a few Rohan decks, and although they're always pretty good at combat, you just can't generate enough willpower in high threat quests.

That's been my experience as well. I've been running a Rohan deck in a pair through the saga, and oddly enough it has been the Rohan deck that has been doing all the fighting, and until the last saga box that deck as 2/3 spirit, 1/3 tactics. It can quest, no doubt, but I've not quite managed to get the mental questing that you can manage with other deck types going with Rohan, maybe because they're more sacrificial in their nature and so don't build a big board state. Always had great success pairing Rohan with a solid questing deck though.

On the released cards, the new Eomer is very shiny. I recently discovered that Argalad is an amazing double-quester (quest + exhaust to reduce an enemy's threat) and Eomer provides this ability also. It's *very* powerful. It is also good to see support for the staging area attack style decks. All fun!

I prefer to play Rohan with a lot of quester and with only one ally that die each turn: Eomund. So everyone untap and can attack. There is nothing wrong about being reliable to Eomund since you can search for Eomund within 10 cards with the event (mustering the rohirrim?). Now with this attachment you also can bring it back each turn in hand and do it again.

Edit: something like this: http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/56936

3 hours ago, Rouxxor said:

I prefer to play Rohan with a lot of quester and with only one ally that die each turn: Eomund. So everyone untap and can attack. There is nothing wrong about being reliable to Eomund since you can search for Eomund within 10 cards with the event (mustering the rohirrim?). Now with this attachment you also can bring it back each turn in hand and do it again.

Edit: something like this: http://ringsdb.com/deck/view/56936

I haven't tried it, but at first glance it still looks low on WP even with Eowyn - for a solo deck anyway. I'd probably want to stick ally Faramir in there to try and boost WP all round.

13 hours ago, Gizlivadi said:

In solo, I just don't know if I'll use his ability often, much like all the staging area attack stuff like Battle Fury and Forth Eorlingas,

Um, Battle-fury has nothing to do with attacking the staging area though?

Pocketwraith, you're right, I got confused. Still, I'm not sure how viable the whole staging area attack thing is in solo without running Fastred (my ideal thematic Rohan lineup is Eowyn, Theoden and Eomer), though I am open to trying him in the deck, as long as I get Guthwine on him ASAP, the real gem here for the classic Rohan deck.

They made it again. A 1 willpower hero with on-quest-commitment effect, now he has to pay up too. Not sure, not sure. Many enemies boast significant amounts of health/defense, and rarely stick in the staging too. Committing his whopping 1 wp to the quest would be a cost enough for his reponse to me. You need to setup heavy for this to work, and then you need to pay 1 each time on top of it. Both the gift and the curse of this situation is that he is leadship, which means that he has access to resource acceleration (good for paying the cost), but not that much keeping in the staging area potential.