Hero (2)

Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

Grimbeorn the Old

Ally (9)
2x Arwen Undómiel (The Watcher in the Water)
3x Envoy of Pelargir (Heirs of Númenor)
1x Quickbeam (The Treason of Saruman)
3x Warden of Healing (The Long Dark)

Attachment (20)
2x Asfaloth (Foundations of Stone)
2x Captain of Gondor (The Antlered Crown)
3x Dagger of Westernesse (The Black Riders)
3x Bow of Yew
2x Light of Valinor (Foundations of Stone)
3x Rivendell Blade (Road to Rivendell)
1x Rivendell Bow (The Watcher in the Water)
2x Rohan Warhorse (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)

Event (20)
3x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)
3x Deep Knowledge (The Voice of Isengard)
2x Desperate Alliance (On the Doorstep)
3x Feint (Core Set)
3x Foe-hammer (Over Hill and Under Hill)
3x Proud Hunters (Race Across Harad)

Player Side Quest (1)
1x Double Back (Escape from Mount Gram)

This deck play Grimbeorn hero, and 3 bow of yew instead of the great yew bow. Those cards have been revealed on FFG website but not yet sell anywhere. So there are not in base from now but I'm already playing them. You can see them on: http://sdajce.forumactif.org/t7145-galerie-visuelle-des-cartes-joueurs-a-venir

This new hero do a lot of things and seem to be able to block and kill enemies alone. I want to try to build a deck to try it.

What fit well on him? Many attachment, and especially captain of Gondor. He also need some resource gain. I prefer to play [Steward of Gondor](/card/01026) on a hero who pay for many allies that go in quest so I'm looking for another way. [The Day's Rising](/card/08139) could have been a solution but I prefer [Proud Hunters](/card/17032) over him. Aragorn and Glorfindel seem the best Noble/Ranger combination, able to help me to block and/or kill enemies, what is the main purpose of the deck.

We can play many draw spell so I'm trying to play only 2 of each attachment I only want in 1 exemplary.

I will playtest the deck very soon and start to be able to talk about him after that.

Ooh, Armored Destrier and Amarthiul would work nicely with Grimbeorn. Maybe he fits into a Dunedain deck.

Amarthiul and Armored Destrier are beautiful together, especially with Elfhelm at the table, but I'm not sure how Grimbeorn fits into that mix. Can you elaborate?

I'm looking forward to using Grimbeorn/Dori/Day's Rising.

This is off topic, as I wrote about Grimbeorn elsewhere, I am always surprised to see Double Back so often in the decks. Maybe it is because I play 2-player mostly, but I find this side quest to be very situational. On the other hand, Rally the West seems so strong, and I barely see it used.

6 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Amarthiul and Armored Destrier are beautiful together, especially with Elfhelm at the table, but I'm not sure how Grimbeorn fits into that mix. Can you elaborate?

I'm looking forward to using Grimbeorn/Dori/Day's Rising.

If he doesn't I will probably do. But not within two week I think.

5 minutes ago, Fingolfin Fate said:

This is off topic, as I wrote about Grimbeorn elsewhere, I am always surprised to see Double Back so often in the decks. Maybe it is because I play 2-player mostly, but I find this side quest to be very situational. On the other hand, Rally the West seems so strong, and I barely see it used.

I find double back pretty good at 2 player too. Side quest does not function the same way depending the quest you are facing. In some (like 5%) it is impossible to perform any, or even a pretty bad idea to play it (battle of five armies for example) but even most (may be like 50%) give you some turns where it is easy to do it, a stage where advancing is useless. I use this time to do double back. It is a mid/end game strategy and that is why double back is my favorite side quest: it is the only one who is not supposed to be complete on turn one to provide advantage all along the game. Side quest that need to be completed on turn one are more fitted for easy games so does not tempt me.

8 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Amarthiul and Armored Destrier are beautiful together, especially with Elfhelm at the table, but I'm not sure how Grimbeorn fits into that mix. Can you elaborate?

I'm looking forward to using Grimbeorn/Dori/Day's Rising.

Oops, I meant Elfhelm, not Amarthiul. The Destrier would allow him to defend at four, use his ability, then ready him to do both again (provided he has enough resources). And yeah, Day's Rising would be awesome on him! Anyone think a Na'asiyah(got it!)/Grimbeorn deck would work?

It will increase Grimbeorn attack (not defense as you say). I see a bad interaction between Grimbeorn and Na'asiyah. The first is able to block and kill enemies on his own but already spend our resource so he will prefer a hero who help at getting resource that one who want to spend even more resource to fight.

I like side quests, well mostly if I play Thurindir. I mostly play LotR saga and in the majority of them, there is chance to pass one on the opening round, and maybe another later. For the most of those, we try to pass Rally the West, as 5 or 6 heroes usually go questing and this give us a great boost, not to mention some other benefits (double on Thurindir, Legacy Blade, Fair and Perilous of Glorfindel).

Thurindir have a mechanic of snowball: if thing goes well you became stronger. I prefer to do the exact opposite: invest a lot for the turn one because it is in the most difficult quest if you can't stuff before questing you will loose both from questing and fight. Hardest quests rarely gave you time to explore side quest on turn one.

Well, I do not play nightmare, that is true, but otherwise I have gone through the whole saga (except Mount Doom, do not have that yet) with Thurindir, and he has been wonderful. It is true we have not always passed the side quest on round 1, but much more often than not. You just need proper decks for that strategy. However, I really do not know how much harder the nightmare is, if that is what you were referring to.

Difficulty vary from on nightmare to another, like it did among regular quests. For example journey down Anduin nightmare is still easiest than pelennor fields that is easiest than Encounter at Amon Dun nightmare. It is not that much about playing nightmare. My point is:

- When you can pass the side quest during the beginning of the game, then the game is probably quite easy and the benefits of the side quest, no matter how great it could be, is not essential;

- When you can't pass the side quest during the beginning of the game it is most likely because everything was going bad. And I don't want to play cards that can't help you on hard times.

If you can't enjoy abilities of one of your heroes when the game is hard, then I think the hero (and so the deck who play it) is not one of the good decks of the game. It is not that bad, he still have an interesting mechanics.

There is still decks when I play gather information, because there is an essential cards who help me so much that I can sacrifice a turn to find it, or some other cards who ask us to wait (treebeard) so it is not a golden rule to me.

Well, there are quests, like Journey in the Dark or Pellenor Fields, which I do not find easy (but true, we win vast majority of tries) that we pass the side quest on the first round (second in the latter, but feels like first). I think the more modern quests are not always hardest in the beginning like the quests of the first few cycles. Then, instead of flying through the opening of the game, and hitting the wall later, it is better to get some advantage through the side quest and prepare.

There are quests when lingering is advantageous. Massing at Osgiliath comes to mind. And there are quests like Assault on Osgiliath, when side quests are super good every time.

However, I mostly only play them with Thurindir, as I said my favourite is Rally the West, but also Scout Ahead. Sending for Aid I sometimes to a Leadership Gondor deck, it is more random, as the example you gave above, and does not need to be done early in order to reap benefits.