I'm new to the game and wanted to create a decent solo dwarf deck.

I have the I have all the expansions/battlepacks up to Watcher in the Water,

So, I'm missing The Long Dark Road and Foundations of Stone as well as Massing at Osgiliath.

First off, what sphere combos would I be looking at and what starting heroes would you recommend. I'm going to start with the first quest and take it from there.

Thanks in advance.

hey

this is one of my most powerful deck- Dain Bifur Thalin so - leaderhip tactics lore

include these cards.

steward of gondor

narvis belt

longbeard map maker

erebor battle master (have you got that one? dont think you do but if you buy the pack put him in)

a couple of dwarrowdelf axes

legacy of durin

erebor record keeper

bofur

ok the idea is simple- get steward of gondor and narvis belt on bifur- this way, along with his 1 resource taking from another hero per turn you have a 4-resource, multisphere hero who can not only pay for all cards, but also feed longbeard map makers willpower whilst questing

thalin quests to deal 1 damage and use erebor record keeper to ready him…..record keepers are cheap so have 3 of them

Dain needs to stay ready- this is very important for this deck. his ability to +1 willpower all dwarves whilst ready makes this deck work really well. he can then of course defend making use of his 3 defense

bofur is there for bifur to put him into play every turn (using narvis belt) with dain ready thats 3 willpower for 1 cost

apart from those cards fill the deck with the standard gandalfs, sneak attacks, forest snares and so on that come in use….but i think the key points of the deck are there

if you want a full deck list i can put one together later tonight

rich

Thanks Rich. That would be great!!

hey

this is sort of the idea of the deck though some of the cards can be shifted about….you may for instance want less spirit cards in there minimising your relience on narvis belt. the 20/15/15 ally/event/attatchement wasnt intentional but a happy accident as it perfectly shows my usual distribution between the card types ie slightly ally heavy

Hero (3)
Bifur (KD) x1
Dain Ironfoot (RtM) x1
Thalin (Core) x1

Ally (20)
Bofur (TRG) x3
Brok Ironfist (Core) x1
Erebor Hammersmith (Core) x2
Erebor Record Keeper (KD) x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Miner of the Iron Hills (Core) x2
Veteran Axehand (Core) x3
Longbeard Map-Maker (CatC) x3

Attachment (15)
Dwarrowdelf Axe (KD) x3
Forest Snare (Core) x2
Horn of Gondor (Core) x1
Legacy of Durin (TWitW) x3
Narvi's Belt (KD) x3
Steward of Gondor (Core) x2
Unexpected Courage (Core) x1

Event (15)
A Test of Will (Core) x2
Durin's Song (KD) x3
Dwarven Tomb (Core) x1
Feint (Core) x2
Fortune or Fate (Core) x1
Hasty Stroke (Core) x2
Sneak Attack (Core) x2
Swift Strike (Core) x2

rich

Rich,

Thank you! this looks awesome. I'll try it out this weekend!

Lukee said:

no worries. a little more on strategy…..thalin and bifur always quest (unless you have some more than 1 enemy engaged and no allies to block). this gives you, with dain ready, 6 willpower. then obivously dain defends. now this therefore means no attackers. this comes down to erebor battlemaster who you dont have (but he is amazingly powerful in this deck) however a few vetern axe hands (or you can put in some veterans of nanhurion if you want more power in the deck) should be fine….remember that the dwarrowdelf axes can go on any dwarf character- not just heros so this really helps with attacking power

for really bad enemies i use the forest snare effectively rendering it useless. the legacy of durin gives cards for when a dwarf allies enters play and the horn of gondor gives resources for when they leave so get them in play as soon as you can.

remember to exhuast narvis belt (if you havnt already used it to buy cards in the phase beforehand) before the staging step and chose spirit so that you can buy test of will to cancel any treachery cards

let me know how it goes

rich

I use a deck very similar to Rich's deck--same heroes and most of the cards and can second that it is very good especially for the 3 Khazad--dum quests. I haven't used it for any of the dwarrowdelf cycle quests yet. Erebor Battle Master is one of the keys, however. It will be your primary creature control card so he is essential. Thalin's ability is great for clearing out goblin snipers and eastern crows. I also use fresh tracks to further clear out goblins with 2 hit points--they take a point of damage from Thalin and then fresh tracks will kill them.

Let us know how you do.

yes battlemaster is a key card in most of my dwarf decks, hes just a killing machine

PS- i would take out durins song and include Lure of Moria….a much better card if you have it and devastating when you can ready all your dwarves in play

rich

richsabre said:

Since your deck seems to be composed with 1 core set, but there is only 1 Swift Strike (deals 2 damages to the enemy when defending) in each core set, I think that may be Quick Strike (declare an attack) instead?

Angus Lee said:

ah-i know what ive done there- i was constructing this one cardgamedb and forgot there was only 1 copy of swift strike-so it is meant to be there, just one of them….which now puts it to 49

rich

I see. I'm going to construct this deck you suggested and test it.

richsabre said:

My first (and so far best) dwarven deck is similar… Dain, Bifur, Dwalin. It was more focued on questing, and I wanted to try and work in some fighting ability, so swapped Dwalin for Thalin last night, and restructed a bit to look similar to your deck here. Didn't get a chance to actually play with it before crashing for the evening, will do so tonight. I know the fighting capabilities will be increased dramatically… interested to see if I am still able to quest as successfully… I put it together for the Hobbit encounters, but after seeing the Riddle mechanic in the third encounter, may need to drop it down to 2 spheres from 3 (plus elements of the 4th with Narvi's Belt)…. Ideally, I'd really love (for theme) to craft a Dwarven deck that can get through all three encounters (all six, once the next box hits later this year…) successfully, to achieve that complete "epic storyline" feel… Will let you know how I fare! (and what, if any, tweeks I needed to make for that third encounter).

benhanses said:

i tweaked the deck above yesterday after receiving the hobbit and shadow and flame…..basically the same deck with dearons runes and we have not been idle and nori and ori- all mixed for a high card drawing deck with good questing…..it hasnt been successfull against unexpected party - but i dont think it is the best deck for that quest

rich

I tweak the deck to suit my play style: 1. take out Brok, one copy of Veteran and Map-maker each but add in 3 Erebor Battlemaster; 2.Use Lure of Moria to replace Durin's Song as Rich suggested; 3.take out Dwarven Tomb, Fortune or Fate and 2 Swift Strike but add in 3 Daerons Rune and 1 Khazad-Khazad; 4. Use 2 Burning Brand to replace the 2 Hasty Stroke.

I usually play Narvi's Belt and Steward of Gondor on Dain instead, so that Burning Brand can be attached to him. I test the deck against Passage through Mirkwood quest and find it is a solid deck. 1st game I have a good starting hand with Steward of Gondor, Legacy of Durin, Narvi's Belt, and finish the quest with ease. However, in 2nd game my starting hand has only Legacy of Durin, which I wrongly play it on Dain in the first turn which does not give me any advantage as I have no dwarf to play. Then when Dain block the spider the shadow effect is to discard an attachment, so the Legacy is gone. Worse is that I draw three Battlemasters consecutively which just get stuck in my hand, and when I finally can play one of them, all the encounter cards are location. Without enough willpower to overcome the locations in the staging area, I lose the 2nd game as my threat level increases to 50. In the 3rd game it is better, though not great as my 1st game, 2 copies of Lure of Moria save my day in two turns to overcome the overwhelming enemies. Finally having two Battlemasters in play I kill two Dol Guldur Beastmasters in one turn. That feels great!