I'm bringing this up because I've been told that Lore can do battle just as well as Tactics can.

I hear a lot of good things about Mirkwood Runner, but I find him very difficult to use. Maybe it's my play style. See, I'm the kind of person who wants to wait until I have enough attack strength to kill an enemy in one blow before I choose to engage it, rather than chip away at it's hp over 3 turns. The thing that really gets me about Mirkwood runner is that his ability is only good if attacking alone, but if he attacks alone, he can only do 2 damage. Furthermore, you can't attack with him by himself and then let somebody else attack the same enemy because you can only target each enemy once per round (except for ranged, but that's not the point).

So how are people using this guy? What's your strategy for Mirkwood Runner?

Obviously he is most useful against enemies with 2 HP. This applies to most of the goblins in KD. They can also kill the Black Uruks with a single blow. If a defender has more than 2-4 HP you need two rounds to eliminate them which isn't too bad either. Only those enemies who have mor than 4 HP should be attacked in a group.

Together with Silvan Tracker you can block a lot of those goblin enemys and instantkill them. Especially if there is A Burning Brand on it. I love those combination and use it as often as possible.

I've found he synergises well with Thalin, giving you instant take-down of critters up to 3 hp. In KD he is immense, but I have to say I've never built a deck purely around his ability to kill enemies, even if the Mirkwood Runner is the best way to clean up low level monsters easily. It's a shame that the new Silvan Noldor weapons aren't quite as useful to the Runner, since the blade reduces defence and the bow only gives him ranged. Actually, that's a question: if a character has received ranged from the Dunedain attachment, does the character then get +1 attack for the bow if attached later when attacking ranged?

Also, Silvan Tracker + Burning Brand =

I don't worry about killing something in one shot. Now, I won't drag an enemy off the staging area if it is going to wipe out my cards, but my technique with the runner is to have something with a 2 defense stay back to block, and the Mirkwood Runner to attack. Most enemies only have a 2 or 3 attack rating, and prior to Watcher in the Water, the ones that have higher attack values also have high threat ratings.

I use Dunhere to whittle down a character as much as possible while it's in the staging area and then drag it down for the final kill. If I am not able to do it, then I at least block with a different character (I have no qualm about losing allies, and will play Stand and Fight to bring them back as often as possible). If it takes 2-3 turns to kill something that won't wipe me out, then I have accomplished 2 goals.

1. I have reduced the threat count in the staging area.

2. I have isolated an enemy without having to use something like Forest Snare.

Thanks for the responses. It sound like he really shines in KD. I just got KD this weekend, but was doing a dwarf theme so left all elves out of my decks for theme's sake. I may have to go back and rethink my strategy.

The idea to let Dunhere whittle away at the enemies and let Mirkwood Runner finish them off is a great idea too. Guess I have more experimenting to do.

One combo that I really enjoy is using Haldir with A Burning Brand to block, then use Mirkwood Runner to attack the enemy. Once Haldir refreshes, Silvan Tracker can heal him allowing to block again and again even against enemies who would deal limited damage. You can keep doing this for quite a while. Arwen can also be a great help as she will increase Haldir's defense allowing this combo to be effective against stronger enemies. This can render many enemies as irrelevant. The one drawback is it takes a few turns to have everything in place, so it is more of a mid to late game tactic.

Yes, I like the card a lot. The art of it also. Just hope the synergies will soon get even stronger.

As it is, it may be already strong. Runner combos great with either Tactics' Unseen Strike or Leadership's Grave Cairn but somehow it is hard for me to make such a deck. But he is good even without the combos, the 2-hp enemies are ever more numerous, and further you can either have Thalin to make the sturdier once ready to kill or Spearman to finish them later. Plus, the 1 point of Willpower is a nice addition, and it means he can go to Redhorn Gate as well.

3 runners can do alot of damage to a horde of goblins in your attack area……i rarely make a lore deck without them- them being the only real good attackers out of the lore allies ….apart from gildor but he's usually used from other things

Mirkwood Runner is great! He was really solid in the whole KD scenarios because many enemies have high defense. So I'd just get these enemies out of the staging area (no more threat), block with some random meatshield, and kill them in 1-2 rounds with Mirkwood Runner(s). Then that would still leave Dunhere available to attack into the staging area.

I do understand (and like) the strategy of Mirkwood Runner but I am often surprised by the sentence you have used here again, blocking with a random meatshield. Again I do not want to doubt that strategy either but out of curiosity, what allies do you use as such? I was going to ask this question before but I finally do now… for I have hardly ever allies to spare, and I do not like to use them lightly. I can imagine Snowbourn Scout can be used for such a purpose as he cannot do much but who else?

i admit i use poor snowbourn for this….but apart from that i prefer a fast hitched or UC'd hero with high defense stats (maybe with a few dunedain warnings on) to do the defending, allow my runners to tear the goblins apart

lleimmoen said:

Just for examples:

• Erebor Hammersmith (cost 2)
• Snowborn Scout (cost 1)
• Iron Hills Miner (cost 2)
• The spirit ally who quests for 2 but does nothing else (cost 2)

Maybe I'm being too flippant when I say "random meatshield," but I'm generally referring to allies with a cost of 1 or 2 that don't serve some other specific purpose.

Mind you, I try to keep my allies alive. But it can be worth sacrificing a low-cost ally to absorb damage. If I have some nasty enemy with a 5 Attack, I don't mind sacrificing an Iron Hills Miner or something to take one for the team.

richsabre said:

I use this strategy too. It's a good one!

All I mean is that I'm willing to sacrifice a low-cost ally to save everyone else.

gvaughn1 said:

indeed….however west road traveller is rather too beautiful too send to the wargs….

richsabre said:

She is indeed a foxy lady! But my favorite is Arwen. Eowyn dresses in far too frumpy a manner.

Geez, I think I need to get a life.

no its only natural haha….though in all seriousness in do have trouble concentrating whilst arwen is in play….i need to stop typing before my partner sees this or else its me for the dog house…..

Yeah, don't get yourself banished to the Warg's Den!