I thought there would be a lot of red/blue decks in here by now. (And just because Glorfindel has a horse doesn't mean he's from Rohan.)

Sad thing is that Glorfindel will be from Rohan with Nor Am I a Stranger attached. Uh oh i have an Idea.

But, seriously I am really waiting to get VoI in hand and hope there will be some cards that tie the whole trait together.

Are they not going to be focusing on elves or something it said in a preview? We also have the Dunedin (imo) on the first AP.. So I expect this to be focused on Isengaurd and the surrounding forests.. elves, rangers, orcs OH MY!

I built one with Theoden, Merry, and Eowyn, plus some horses for Theoden to ride.

It does just fine, but it's not super interesting.

I would allow Merry of course. Please post it when you get a chance along with any interactions you feel are key.

I don't still have it built, so I don't have a full decklist, but the basic strategy/build goes like this. (For solo play. Things will probably be different for multiplayer.)

Theoden, Merry, Eowyn.

For tactics, you want cheap allies that can help take care of combat duties. The heroes already contribute 10 willpower on their own, so adding more isn't really necessary. I used eagles so I could use The Eagles are Coming as a form of card draw.

You also want Halfling Determination, since it's a huge boost to Merry in any phase.

As for spirit, cheap Rohan allies bring questing and some location control, depending on the exact mix. And Eomund lets you quest, chump with him, and ready characters to attack back.

Steed of the Mark is included to go on Theoden, though he doesn't need to use it most of the time.

And I didn't feel any need to bring Astonishing Speed or We Do Not Sleep. Not enough resources to afford them, and their effects are good, but the deck puts out so much willpower without them that it isn't hugely necessary.

I posted a Theoden/Dunhere/Eowyn deck a bit back. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Forth Eorlingas just wasn't ever useful with that high start threat despite being cool thematically, there wasn't enough resource to go around, especially with the horsey, I just went right back to Theodred, Dunhere, and Eowyn. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

So what do we think of FFG's Rohan deck posted today? (Feb. 14) I'll probably give it a shot, but I don't think it's really that powerful.

Yea I didn't see anything all that impressive with it either... Only playing it will tell us for sure.

I put together a Eowyn/Dunhere/Eomer deck with all the new Rohan cards and beat the first VoI quest. With no quest points to spare at the end it was actually a nail biter.

Astonishing Speed turned out to be the key card in the deck.

Post it!

I'm playing a Rohan deck right now against Fords of Isen. Win-loss ratio is roughly 50-50, but it is fun to play.

I am using only one core set.

Heroes :

Théoden, Éomer, Éowyn

Allies:

3x Gandalf (core)

3x Saruman

2x Horseback Archer (mainly because of theme and because I didn't use them for ages)

3x Westfold Outrider

2x Guthlaf (good defender against all those 2 ATT enemies)

3x Westfold Horse-breeder (cannonfodder that triggers Éomer's ability and to grab Steed of the Mark for Théoden)

2x Westroad Traveller

2x Éomund (keep him for endgame and then use his ability)

2x Pride of the Riddermark (mostly cannonfodder or used for Éowyn's ability)

3x Excort from Edoras (excellent. as they trigger Éomer's ability)

Attachments:

3x Dagger of Westernesse (attached to Éomer)

3x Rohan Warhorse (attached to Éomer it gives you pretty much power once you discard an ally)

3x Steed of the Mark (attached to Théoden --> keycard)

1x Unexpected Courage (attached to Théoden)

Events:

1x The Seeing-stone

2x Feint

2x The Wizard's Voice (rarely used; mostly sacrificed for Éowyn's ability)

1x Hail of Stones

2x Blade Mastery

2x A Test of Will

3x Power of Orthanc

2x Ride to Ruin (rarely used; mostly sacrificed for Éowyn's ability)

Here is the Rohan deck I used to beat The Fords of Isen quest.

The strategy was to keep the card count in my hand low using Eowyn to keep discarding cards each round and including all low cost cards that can be paid for easily.

I would also try to initially draw a weapon attachment for Dunhere in order to take out the Dunland Tribesman in round 1 that I chose in setup.

Astonishing Speed worked to great effect with only one character lacking the Rohan trait.

Heroes (threat 27)

Eomer

Dunhere

Eowyn

Allies (19)

Silvan Refugee 3x

Westfold Horse-Breeder 3x

Westfold Outrider 3x

The Riddermark's Finest 3x

Escort from Edoras 3x

West Road Traveller 3x

Guthlaf 1x

Attachments (16)

Spare Hood and Cloak 3x

Rohan Warhorse 3x

Steed of the Mark 3x

Dagger of Westernesse 3x

Spear of the Mark 3x

Unexpected Courage 1x

Events (15)

Astonishing Speed 3x

Ride to Ruin 3x

Feint 3x

A Test of Will 3x

Forth Eorlingas! 3x

Denison - Nice, thank you. (I'll try that deck, but might tweak it as I don't bind myself to the one core set constraint.)

So close on To Catch an Orc. Had the last card been a treachery I could have cancelled it and won with my Rohan deck. Alas, an enemy came out, lost a hero, time expired, captive went back to the staging are, went back to Saruman with my tail between my legs.

Update: I swapped out Forth Eolingas! for Goblin Cleaver and easily succeeded with the second VoI quest. Using 3 Astonishing Speeds at the end I quested for 50 just because I could.

Update: Breezed through Into Fangorn. The Rohan deck is officially solid for VoI.

Ok, I tried FFG's deck and didn't like it so well. Now Matt did say that he wasn't sure how well it would function solo and it could use some help.

On to Denison's deck. I'm worried by three things. Rohan doesn't have 1) threat reduction, 2) healing, 3) card draw. Dunhere functions best when your threat is low and he can sortie into the staging area. Might have to put some Quick Strike's in the deck for that. I don't want to go off-theme and put in GGreets or AMathoms, but I might grab a Foe Hammer or two. Healing? Hmmm...

P.S. Denison, I know why you added the Sylvan Refugees, but I might drop them as being too out of theme.

After playing a few more games it turned out that my deck wasn't as good as expected. I decided to help Rohan by sending them some help from the elves. Trollshaw Scout and Watcher of the Bruinen are incredibly helpful in this scenario. They can be played on turn 1 and their ability is very useful. Watcher of the Bruinen can defend against multiple enemies while reducing your handsize to a minimum - awesome!

Heroes :

Théoden, Éomer, Éowyn

Allies:

3x Gandalf (core)

3x Saruman

2x Horseback Archer (mainly because of theme and because I didn't use them for ages)

3x Westfold Outrider

2x Guthlaf (good defender against all those 2 ATT enemies)

3x Watcher of the Bruinen

3x Trollshaw Scout

3x Westfold Horse-breeder (cannonfodder that triggers Éomer's ability and to grab Steed of the Mark for Théoden)

2x Éomund (keep him for endgame and then use his ability)

2x Pride of the Riddermark (mostly cannonfodder or used for Éowyn's ability)

3x Excort from Edoras (excellent. as they trigger Éomer's ability)

Attachments:

3x Dagger of Westernesse (attached to Éomer)

3x Rohan Warhorse (attached to Éomer it gives you pretty much power once you discard an ally)

3x Steed of the Mark (attached to Théoden --> keycard)

1x Unexpected Courage (attached to Théoden)

Events:

1x The Seeing-stone

2x Feint

2x The Wizard's Voice (rarely used; mostly sacrificed for Éowyn's ability)

2x A Test of Will

3x Power of Orthanc

1x Ride to Ruin (rarely used; mostly sacrificed for Éowyn's ability)

I have had some fun with playing Rohan (and Glorfindel) two handed, if I can get the decks how I want them I will post them. The first is Dunhere/Eowyn/Glorfindel and the second is Hama/Grima/Theodred. Arwen is extremely helpful as is getting Keys to Orthanc in your first hand. I'll be tinkering with them all weekend and hopefully post tomorrow.