Real Second Attempt of The Dunland Trap with Minimum Purchase Rohan Deck – January 11, 2020

Introduction

My real second attempt with Dave’s minimum purchase deck with the same accidental switch of Westfold Horse-Breaker instead of the breeder as my first one.

Decklist

Play by Play

(You may note I refer to Westfold Horse-Breaker instead of Westfold Horse-breeder in here. I accidentally put in breaker instead of breeder. I don’t think it made a huge difference but still, whoops!)

Setup: Boar Clan Warrior in the staging area. Old South Road is the active location.

Starting Hand: Gandalf, Veteran Axehand x2, The White Council, Snowbourn Scout, and Stand and Fight.

Turn 1: Veteran Axehand drawn and warrior gets a shadow. Play The White Council to move a resource from Eowyn to Eomer. Play Veteran Axehand and Snowbourn Scout. Active Location gets a progress token. Eowyn and Theodred quest for 5 with a resource added to Eowyn. Boar Clan Stalker added to the staging area for 5 threat. Discard Gandalf for one more willpower and put 1 progress on Old South Road for a total of 2. Optionally engage stalker then warrior engages. First take stalker attack undefended shadow had stalker make an additional attack but no undefended damage so far. Again stalker undefended, shadow adds 1 attack so 1 damage assigned to Eowyn. Scout defends the warrior’s attack, shadows add 4 attack and scout dies. Eomer attacks and kills the stalker. Axehand attacks the warrior dealing 1 damage. Refresh, threat is 28, discard hand, draw Guard of the Citadel x2, warrior gets a shadow, and time on quest is 2 again.

Turn 2: Gandalf drawn and warrior gets second shadow. Theodred and Eowyn quest for 5 and give a resource to Eomer. In Need of Rest is attached to Theodred removing him from the quest but discard a guard to explore active location, put it in the victory display, and place 3 progress in the quest. Warrior attacks, Axehand defends, shadows add 1 attack which easily kills Axehand. Eomer attacks and kills the warrior. Refresh, threat is 30, time on quest is 1, and Theodred takes 1 damage.

Turn 3: Sneak Attack drawn. Play Guard of the Citadel. Eowyn and Theodred quest for 5 and add a resource to Theodred. Hithaeglir stream added to the staging area for 3 threat and 2 progress on the quest. Travel to the stream and sneak attack Gandalf to reduce threat to 25. Refresh threat is 26, Theodred takes a damage, discard hand, draw Feint and The White Council, and time on quest is 2.

Turn 4: Snowbourn Scout and Guard of the Citadel #3 drawn. Play The White Council to move a resource from Eomer to Theodred and play the guard. Theodred, Eowyn, and a guard quest for 6. Theodred gains a resource. Hithaeglir Foothills added to the staging area. Surge reveals Frenzied Attack which draws Blue Mountain Trader and discards it and Snowbourn Scout. Active location explored, 1 progress added to the quest for a total of 6. Refresh threat is 27, Theodred takes a damage, and time on quest is 1.

Turn 5: Firefoot drawn and played on Eomer. Active location gains a resource. Eowyn, Theodred, and guards quest for 7. Frenzied Attack revealed drawing Steward of Gondor. Surge adds Dunland Berserker for 2 threat in staging area. Discard Steward for 1 more willpower. Active location explored and 2 progress on the quest for a total of 8. Berserker engages. Take attack undefended with Theodred since he is doomed this turn anyway. No shadow but Theodred dies valiantly. Eomer attacks and avenges him. Refresh, threat is 28, discard hand, time on quest is 2, and draw Celebrían’s Stone and Sneak Attack.

Turn 6: Wandering Took drawn and played. Guards and Eowyn quest for 6. Off Track revealed but can’t attach to a location. Surge reveals Low on Provisions basically have each character take a damage. Discard Celebrían’s Stone for a additional progress putting the quest at 15 total. Refresh, threat is 29, and time on quest is 1.

Turn 7: Gondorian Spearman drawn and played. Quest with Eowyn for 4. Dunland Ambush revealed and whiffs. Surge adds Hills of Dunland to the staging area for 2 threat 2 progress placed on the quest for a total of 17. Travel to the Hills drawing Westfold Horse-Breaker. Refresh, threat is 30, discard hand, draw Faramir and Steward of Gondor, time on quest is 2 again.

Turn 8: Dwarven Tomb drawn. Eowyn quests for 4. Frenzied Attack revealed drawing Snowbourn Scout and discarding it plus Faramir. Play Dwarven Tomb before quest resolution to get Stand and Fight. Active location explored and stage 1b completed. Forefoot and allies except Spearman discarded. Shuffle in discard pile and draw A Test of Will. Warrior gains a shadow then another for combat. Spearman defends dealing a damage. Shadows add 2 attack and Spearman dies. Eomer attacks for 5 killing the warrior thanks to Spearman damage. Stage 2b completed, Chief Turch engages and stage 3b begins. Refresh, threat is 31, time on the quest is 4.

Turn 9: Feint drawn. Eowyn quests for 4. Boar Clan Stalker added to the staging area. Discard Steward to place 2 progress on the active location. Stalker engages and time on the quest is 3. Play Stand and Fight to put Spearman into play. Feint the chief and Spearman defends the stalker dealing 1 damage. No shadow and spearman lives. This means that Eomer only attacks for 3 dealing 2 damage to the stalker and it lives too. Refresh, threat is 32, and time in quest is 2.

Turn 10: Stand and Fight drawn. Quest with Eowyn for 4. Dunland Chieftan added to the staging area. 1 progress placed on the active location. Chieftan does not engage. Spearman defends Turch’s attack, shadow gives him another attack, and Spearman dies. Stand and Fight the Spearman to defend second attack, no shadow but Spearman dies again. Emoer defends stalker attack, no shadow, and no damage dealt. Refresh, threat is 33, and time on the quest is 1.

Turn 11: Wandering Took drawn and played. Eowyn quests for 4. Hithaeglir Stream added to the staging area for 6 total threat. That is basically game. I can’t take 3 attacks let alone 4 if I delay Chieftan engagement by discarding test of will.

This one was very close. I maybe could have survived another undefended stalker if a second came out or canceled a treachery to survive. I had 6 resources on Eomer and 4 on Eowyn. I could have easily played Gandalf or Beorn. The draws were just not with me. Losing Theodred didn’t immediately mean I could not win which was nice but drawing all those dead leadership cards after certainly did not help. I consider stand and fighting Faramir before stage 1b completed but I wanted to be able to kill the Dunland enemy added by stage 2 plus it wasn’t guaranteed he would stick around. If I had known that I would get another stand and fight it might have worked better. So many times it seemed like the play that kept my options open for an enemy to appear like holding sneak attack and Gandalf ended up being a waste. Lots of interesting decisions to make with this deck against this scenario though.