My hope was to make a deck list that echoed themes from The Hobbit, but would also be effective, particularly in multi-player games. At the center of the deck’s is Bilbo, Gloin, the twelve other dwarves, and, of course, a constantly appearing Gandalf. Combine it with Burning Brands, Secret Paths, Campfire Tales, Dark Knowledge, and the Dwarven instinct for Self Preservation and many of the cards should evoke memories of the novel.

Mechanically, the deck pursues two tracks. Bilbo, Beravor and campfire tales means you get a ton of card draw which you can use to pull your versatile allies and attachments, which should be able to handle a wide range of threats. In the end game, you can use your large hand and Protector of Lorien as a finisher. Your second tack is resource acceleration. Not only do you have the ever popular Steward of Gondor, but you have Gloin supported by copious amounts of healing. You use Dark knowledge to let Goin take small, undefended attacks, and Dunedain Mark and Burning Brand to turn Gloin into a top notch blocker capable of staring down trolls. Once you get Song of Lore on Gloin, your resources come powering in, and the LongBeard Map-Maker becomes a questing Machine.

I am including the deck in a subsequent post, so that I can modify based on your suggestions. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Heroes
Gloin
Bilbo
Beravor (or possibly Glorfindel)

Lore - 26
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Miner of the Iron hills x3
Longbeard Map-Maker x3
Burning Brand x2
Rivendell Minstrel x3
Daughter of Nimrodel x2
Self Preservation x3
Forest Snare x3
Dark Knowledge x2
Protector of Lorien x1
Secret Paths x1

Tactics - 19
Longbeard Orc-Slayer x3
Sneak Attack x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Son of Arnor x2
For Gondor x2
Steward of Gondor x2
Grim Resolve x1
Campfire Tales x3

Neutral - 5
Gandalf x3
Song of Kings x1
Song of Wisdom X1

Bohemond said:

I like it. I use the same strategy, both card drawing and resource management in a Beravor Theodred Eowyn deck.

Just a minor point to your strategy. I know you want get Gloin damaged but as for a sturdy defender, Bilbo seems a much more obvious choice. He starts with 2 instead of 1 point of defense, he is Lore character so he can get A Burning Brand right away. I think this is better against the biggies and you can still let the smaller ones slip to make you rich.

The Map-maker is awesome. It was the first thought I had, to combine him with Gloin. Really good. I just seem to be unable to make a strong deck around Gloin, even with Frodo and Denethor that make him super awesome - with Frodo taking the undefended damage that would have accidently killed Gloin.

Needs more Thorin Oakenshield in my opinion

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/986610/rightrhombus

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=201&efcid=4&efidt=362110

Yeah too bad. Basically Gloin replaced Thorin (same exact stats and ability) when they moved the timeline from 70 years between the Hobbit and LOTR to 17 years.

Yeah, they did replace it. I find it a pity that the restrain of years will disallow some of the shiny characters like Thorin.

And Gloin did most likely replace Thorin here but the ability is not the same. Thorin's was far more powerful even - allowing the player to spend his damage tokens as resource tokens. You would not need to combine it with healing then. Probably too strong it would have been, even though it was Thorin Oakenshield himself.

Bohemond said:

I like this idea, and the deck looks like it will play well. You may want to change the word Tactics to Leadership though.

Kiwina said:

That's what they call a "feint"