Howdy Forum,

I compiled a list of known Combos a while ago over on BGG, check it out:

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66685/lord-of-the-rings-combo-compendium

Just click on the sublists to get to the spheres of your liking. Here is a sample Combo:

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66675/item/1654400#item1654400

Let me know, if there are any Combos missing or you would up or down any rating. Or whatever

That's an awesome list. I think that a damaged Gimli with Quick Strike should be added. It's a nice way of taking care of some bigger enemies before they attack.

Very nice.

You keep the rating low, I think Sneak Attack w/ Gandalf is more than a 4 out of 5 stars. You find it not so? Also Sneak Attack w/ Son of Arnor in my opinion deserves better than 3 out of 5. But it is your list. And a very good one!

If I may have another point. I'm almost through the combos and it seems you prefer Self Preservation to Daughter of the Nimrodel your point being it is less fragile. There are a few Shadow effects that get rid of attachments whilst there are less "When Revealed" effects that exhaust characters. Also there are just the Necromancer's Reach and Evil Storm that kill them directly. And you needn't worry much about the Reach if you heal after questing.

Also, as it is a nice combo, not sure whether you have mentioned it (probably so) you can Ever Vigilant Daughter to heal 4 damage in a turn.

Finally, the because advantage of her is that she can heal any hero whilst the attachment can heal any character (good) but only the one you choose in the first place.

For the same cost, I strongly believe Daughter is a much better buy. And the card even looks much nicer.

lleimmoen said:

Maybe I can explain, why I rated Gandalf + Sneak Attack "only" as a 4/5. It has to do with how I defined my rating. That Combo can totally turn a single turn upside down, but in order to get a 5/5 the Combo has to have a permanent effect that turns the game. IIRC currently the only 5/5 Combo by this rating is Beravor + Unexpected Courage, how would you rate that compared to Gandalf + Sneak Attack?

I tried to explain my definition of rating on the initial list in order to provide a more "objective" framework. Maybe I should alter the definition?

lleimmoen said:

I agree, that the Daughter can often replace the Self-Preservation. (And is probably better in general)

First off, I took Self-Preservation for the Gloin Combo, because just any constant healing does the trick.

Then about the fragility: When Shadow cards force you to discard an attachment, you can always chose another one, that doesn't harm the Combo.

But with Gloin, you can be sure that 95% of the time, he will be the one to be healed, so I don't feel bad illustrating the Combo with Self-Preservation.

But of course both are fine choices (thats why I also included the Daughter in brackets)

plueschi said:

Yeah, you have a great point. For Beravor + Unexpected Courage is easier to get, you have the hero initially and you only need to get UC. Sneak Attack + Gandalf, on the other hand, you need to draw both. I understand. And from the availability point of view the former is better. From the effect it has on play, I'd say the latter is more powerful. Hard call.

plueschi said:

There is a Shadow effect that makes you discard an attachment from the defending character, and Gloin is usually the one who does the defending. And I cannot see you would want to have other attachments on him. Maybe yes but there will likely be better candidates.

Overall, just a very minor point of mine.

lleimmoen said:

To me it is like this:

Getting two extra cards per turn >> using Gandalf an extra time and cheap.

Think of the Beravor Combo as a fueling all your other Combos by 200%

lleimmoen said:

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to prove a point for Self Preservation, but Gloin often eats attacks undefended (especially with Dark Knowledge)

double post

It makes me wanna regret my replacement of Beravor with Bilbo. I have been arguing it insane from the start but finally the Bilbo-type-of-player prevailed in me as Bilbo dedicated his latter life to stay with the Elves (in my case Glorfindel and Legolas).

Howabout Daughter combos. I think you may be missing that. It is good enough to include, I feel. With both Sneak Attack or Ever Vigilant you get to heal 4 damage on up to 2 heroes, for the extra cost of 1.

Then of course Grim Resolve is a powerful combo with pretty much everything but that would be annoying to write up. Plus it is costly.

Kiwina said:

Personally I don't think so. Compare it to Feint + Gimli, in both cases you have invested one card, spent one resource and killed one enemy while sparing a defender, but Gimli doesn't get anything for killing that guy early (at least so far).

The heroes where such timing matters currently are Legolas and Dunhere in my opinion.

lleimmoen said:

Sneak Attack + Daughter? I agree. Because it brings healing to the sphere o Leadership since you can play this without a Lore hero after all.

But Ever Vigilant + Daughter? I don't see it. You get 2 points of healing for one resource while investing a card. You can currently get 1 point of healing for 1 resource without investing a card (Glorfindel), or full heal for one extra resource (Lore of Imladris). And both can be used on allies, too. Sure it is nice to have such utility, but is not a Combo in m opinion.

And you are right, that I spare myself the time to include everything with Grim Resolve as well. Should be obviuos, too.

plueschi said:

I see you have invested more thought about defining combos than me. And you've got good points. This is indeed more like a good tool when most needed.

To Quick Strike Beorn is good. To Sneak and Quick Strike Beorn is very cool but it becomes very hard to get.

I have added Sneak Attack + Daughter of the Nimrodel to the list:

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66678/item/1717204#item1717204

But for Quick Strike + anything to be a Combo in my book, it has to provide greater value than "just" Feint + anything. Know what I mean?

plueschi said:

Makes sense to me.

plueschi said:

Okay, so you have Quick Strike as a combo not because you can kill things before they attack, but because you can kill things outside of the combat phase. That makes sense. Now that I go back and re-read the combos' descriptions, that's how you've got their uses described. I just didn't see it the first time.

Kiwina said:

No worries.

I just updated the Combo Compendium with some Combos containing Hunt for Gollum cards, you can check it out here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/664273/hunt-for-gollum-combos

4-5 star: Snowbourn Scout + Northern Tracker

avgzxc said:

You serious?

If you played spirit + leadership, had at some point in the game 2-3 Northern trackers in play and had 1-2 Snowbourn Scout in hand you wouldn't be asking whether I'm serious Locations are so completly owned by those guys that you even risk forgetting what they actually do.

I certainly agree that both cards are strong, but a Combo? Its like calling Celebrians Stone and Favor of the Lady a Combo...