So I’ve played a lot of LotR LCG solo or two player. I recently introduced a third person who enjoyed the game and so I began putting together three decks for us all to play together. In the process I had to give some serious thought on how each deck was to gain resource advantage and made some interesting discoveries I figured I’d share. This might not be news to many of you.
I found 8 options for gaining resource advantage in a deck (there may be others.) First are the big 3, Steward of Gondor, Horn of Gondor and Zigil Miner. Each of these has the potential to get you some serious resources. Then there are a number of smaller resource advantage options that shine a little brighter in 3+ player as not everyone can have one of the big three. These are Theodred, Gloin, Bifur, Radaghast and Parting Gift.
- 1. Steward of Gondor – This is #1 in my book. Consistent 2 resources every turn by exhausting the card. Doesn’t get much better. Put it on a hero with a Song (or Aragorn with Celebrian’s Stone) to get two spheres of resources. Perfect.
- 2. Horn of Gondor – In 3+ player games the Horn can be assured to provide at least 1 resource a turn on average and often does more (especially when playing with Rohan and Eagle decks.) The Horn combines well with decks containing lots of disposable low cost allies such as Snow Born Scout or Vassal of the Windlord as they are essentially free returning the resource you spend to play them when they leave play which can then be used to bring out the bigger guns.
- 3. Zigil Miner – In the proper deck (Ziggy 5) Zigil Miner far outshines Steward. However it can still be a good resource engine in a more moderate deck. I’ve found it very useful in Rohan heavy decks with a focus on 2 cost cards. Westfold Horse-Breaker, Riddermark’s Finest, Escort from Edoras, West Road Traveller are all cost two as is Unexpected Courage and Zigil Miner himself. You can generally average 1 resource a turn per miner by calling 2 in such a deck. Add in a Gildor Inglorion (you may have to play him out of the discard pile with Stand and Fight) to really make the Zigil Miner pay off. Adding cards that let you play out of your discard pile with a Zigil Miner deck is helpful. Stand and Fight, Dwarven Tomb, Second Breakfast, Erebor Hammersmith are all good choices to either have in your deck of have in the Fellowships’ decks (aka the players.) In this way Zigil Miner gives you a large hand to work with (your discard pile.) Don’t forget Will of the West to reshuffle your discard pile once your deck gets low.
So those are the big three allowing at least three players to have some form a resource advantage… but what about player #4 .
- 4. Theordred - Theodred is one easy answer. Quest every round and give yourself 1 extra resource (on Theodred himself if no other heroes from your side quest.) Theodred is good for resources but not the best quester with only 1 Willpower. He also has the ability to potentially help another player by giving a resource to another questing hero.
- 5. Gloin – Takes a little more planning but can provide some serious resources. He needs to take damage to gain resources so you’ll need a ready source of healing such as Self Preservation or Daughter of the Nimrodel in your deck or one of the other player’s decks. Song of Mockery works great as it give Gloin an easy way to take damage. Boots from Erebor give an extra hit point cushion but Citadel Plate gives four times cushion if you can afford it. Narvi’s Belt can work very well on Gloin if he’s able to produce a lot of resources.
- 6. Bifur – Often called the begging method. Any other player at the table once per turn can send a resource over to Bifur. Prime candidates include the player with the Steward of Gondor (making each get 1 resource per turn) or whomever had a good resource turn such as the player with the Horn of Gondor after the Fellowships’ allies have been decimated by the Necromancer’s Reach. Bifur does unfortunately depend on the kindness of strangers but functions as a great way to spread the wealth. Narvi’s Belt can work very well on Bifur allowing him to take the resources he’s been given and put them towards playing cards from any sphere.
- 7. Radaghast – Really only comes into play when you have an eagle heavy deck. He can help put out eagles (and Riddermark’s Finest, a Creature from the Spirit Sphere) or heal damage to creatures (especially useful if using Landroval as a sentinel.)
- 8. Parting Gift – I see two ways to use Parting Gift. The Charity method and the Stealing method.
- a. (Charity) Players with a lot of resources should consider spreading the wealth and Parting Gifts is a great way to do so although it only allows you to transfer resources on a Leadership hero. If you’re not playing with Leadership you’ll need to rely on the Song of Kings or Narvi’s Belt to use Parting Gifts.
- b. (Stealing) – Sometimes you have to take what you need. If the other players are going to horde resources sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands with Parting Gift and take what you need. “Move any number of resource tokens from a [Leadership] hero's resource pool to any other hero's resource pool.” Note the text. You don’t need permission to take resources from a Leadership hero and redistribute them (specifically to yourself.) While this is a collaborative game and I believe Parting Gifts was meant to be used charitably as noted above, it can function as a great way to steal resources from the other players thus granting resource advantage to your deck. Unfortunately you can only steal from a Leadership hero but generally that won’t be a problem as Leadership is often splashed into other decks whether through the Song of Kings or a 1 Leadership Hero/2 Other Sphere Hero deck designs. I especially like to combine this with Bifur (calling it the beg, borrow and steal method).
These methods need not be exclusive. Playing a Parting Gifts (Charitable) with Steward of Gondor and Theodred is viable. Gloin with Horn of Gondor (and while you’re using Tactics throw a Song of Mockery on Gloin). Bifur and Parting Gifts (Steal) for beg, borrow and steal as noted above.
The interesting thing to me was that in solo and two player games you tend to get stuck in the Steward and Horn rut (and lately Zigil Miner has started to make an appearance.) But when you have three or four players you have to get a little more creative to give everyone resource advantage. I wasn’t sure it was possible and was surprised by what I found and I decided to share those discoveries.
Anyone got any other options for resource advantage?
Later,
Wraith428
