Lord of the Rings LCG: In Moria, In Khazad-Dum!

"The world is grey, the mountains old,

The forge's fire is ashen-cold;

No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:

The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;

The shadow lies upon his tomb

In Moria, in Khazad-dûm."

Having previously blogged about the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game by Fantasy Flight, I have continuously found myself returning to Middle Earth to explore the fantastic worlds of Tolkien. My recent attempts have been in envisioning a retelling of the tale whereby the remaining Dwarves of Erebor make the journey into Moria in search of Balin and his company. As my LOTR LCG journey was very late in the making, my card-pool was rather limited, given that most of the adventures and expansions from the earlier sets are out of print. Nonetheless, I built two Dwarf decks (Leadership/ Spirit and Tactics/ Lore) and forged headlong into the depths of Khazad-Dum, trudging first off in the dark pools outside Durin's Gate where the mysterious Watcher in the Water lay hidden.

These are the decks I forged for this undertaking (explanations and strategy follows). The card pool is derived from the Core set, Shadows of Mirkwood (Conflict at the Carrock, A Journey to Rhosgobel, Return to Mirkwood), Dwarrowdelf (Khazad-Dum, The Watcher in the Water), The Treason of Saruman Saga Expansion and the Grey Havens Deluxe Expansion.

Leadership/ Spirit Dwarf Deck:

• Heroes: Leadership: Dain, Gloin
• Heroes: Spirit: Dwalin
• Allies: Leadership: Faramir (1), Brok Ironfist (1), Longbeard Orc Slayer (1), Eldahir (1),  Snowbourn Scout (2), Guard of the Citadel (1)
• Allies: Spirit: Arwen Undomiel (1), Zigil Miner (2),  Lorien Guide (1), Northern Tracker (1), Sailor of Lune (1)
• Allies: Neutral: Gandalf (2)
• Events: Leadership: Parting Gifts (1), Grim Resolve(1), Valiant Sacrifice (2),  Ever Vigilant (2), Second Breakfast (2),  Durin's Song (2), Sneak Attack (2)
• Events Spirit: The Galadrim's Greeting (1), Stand and Fight (2), Strength of Will (2), Untroubled by Darkness (2), Dwarven Tomb (1), A Test of Will (2)
• Attachments: Leadership: Steward of Gondor (2), Celebrian's Stone (1), Narvi's Belt (2)
• Attachments: Spirit: Ancient Mathom (3), Unexpected Courage (1)
• Attachments: Neutral: Resourceful (1), Shadowfax (1)

Tactic/ Lore Dwarf Deck:

• Heroes: Tactics: Gimli, Thalin
• Heroes: Lore: Bifur
• Allies: Tactics: Veteran of Nanduhirion (1), Veteran Axehand  (2), Legolas (1),  Gondorian Spearman (1)
• Allies: Lore: Longbeard Map-Maker (1), Erebor Record Keeper (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1),  Miner of the Iron Hills (1), Daughter of Nimrodel (1),  Henamarth Riversong (1), Gleowine (1)
• Allies: Neutral: Gandalf (2)
• Events: Tactics: Khazad! Khazad! (3), Quick Strike (2), Feint (2) 
• Events Lore: Secret Paths (1), Rumor from the Earth (0), Lore of Imladris (2), Ancestral Knowledge (2) 
• Attachments: Tactics: Raiment of War (1), Dwarven Axe (2), Blade of Gondolin (1), Arod (1), Dwarrowdelf Axe (1), Citadel Plate (2),  Born Aloft (2)
• Attachments: Lore: Forest Snare (2), A Burning Brand (2), Self Preservation (2), Rivendell Bow (1),  Legacy of Durin (2), Explorer's Almanac (2)
• Attachments: Neutral: Boots from Erebor (2)

Scenario Specific:

• The Watcher in the Water: Shadow of the Past (3).

I stuck with the base sphere strategies from my passage through Mirkwood cycle, despite having been sorely tempted to switch it all up with Spirit/ Tactics and Leadership/ Lore decks but this was my first playthrough and, hobbit modesty aside, I wanted to play to win.

Strategy: Tactic/ Lore

So, no surprises - my Tactics/ Lore deck is primed for combat with lots of battle-ready allies and an arsenal of attachments to both wield and withstand serious damage. And with a bit of Lore healing and knowledge in place for location control.

The basic strategy is to tank Gimli with a Citadel Plate, Self Preservation and quick readying via either Unexpected Courage or Erebor Record Keeper to allow our hardy dwarf to both defend and swing his axe in for the kill.
Thalin is our main Questor in this deck, providing much needed damage to any unexpected nasties popping off the encounter deck. With a readying event and a sharp axe and Thalin could also provide some additional attack on an ugly goblin swarm.
Bifur is mainly a resource entity, providing resources to our Lore sphere but also functions as a defender with a Burning Brand and Boots from Erebor crucial to his ability to defend. Mostly though, his 3 willpower (2 + 1 from Dain Ironfoot's ability) makes him more of a viable questor.

Supporting our heroes are a host of fairly low-cost Dwarf allies from both spheres. Veteran of Nanduhirion is probably the most expensive of the lot but is amazing with a 3 attack (4 with Dain). Slap a Raiment of War or a Khazad! Khazad! on top of either the grizzled Veteran or the cheaper Axehands and you have a slaughterhouse of attack in this deck. The other dwarf cards - Hammersmith, Miner and Longbeard are key anchors for questing or, if needed, defense. Playing all of these dwarf allies along with Legacy of Durin gives this deck some needed card draw.

Our dwarf company also befriended a group of Silvans to ease their arduous journey. We have the Daughter of Nimrodel to heal our wounds, Henemarth with his keen Elven eyes peering into the encounter deck and of course, everyone's favorite wood-elf, Legolas, for those elf-dwarf bromance moments. Getting Legolas on board with Arod and a Silvan Bow means we can rely on Tactics to support our Leadership/ Spirit decks when the enemies start ranking up.
Some staple allies are included such as the ever useful Gandalf who I coupled with 2 copies of Born Aloft to sort-of sneak attack the pointy haired wizard back into our hand. We even have a certain Rohan minstrel along to sing us a few ballads (and draw us an extra card) and a chump blocker Gondorian Spearman.

On the events cards, again a few staples such as Quick Strike and Feint and, of course, the powerful Khazad! Khazad! to ramp up our attacks. Lore gives us a bit more healing with Lore of Imladris and foresight with Rumor from the Earth (in case Henemarth goes into hiding) but also some strong location management with Ancestral Knowledge and Secret Paths being key.

Strategy: Leadership/ Spirit:

So this is sort of an all-round deck, with a strong emphasis on resource generation, questing, card draw and dwarf ally support.

While Gimli is seen as my attack powerhouse for my Tactics/ Lore deck, Gloin is essentially my money-maker who, coupled with a Steward of Gondor and some quick healing from either Self Preservation or Daughter of Nimrodel makes for an exceptional revenue-model. Adding on a Narvis Belt for Gloin ensures that we can share those resources across spheres and cards like Resourceful will ensure that the money keeps flowing.
Dain is basically, well Dain...The quintessential hero for a successful dwarf deck with his +1 attack and +1 willpower to ALL dwarfs. The dwarves simply refused to leave home without their Ironfoot leader.
Dwalin is my mini-tank with some clever threat reduction.

While not as ally-driven as the previous deck, we do have some powerful dwarves in the form of Longbeard Orc Slayer and Brok Ironfist (if I can get him in play) which mirrors the Veteran Dwarf Tactics combatants. I threw in Zigil Miner to benefit from the the 2 questing, 2 attack boost from Dain and also for the extra card draw from Legacy of Durin. To date, I have not yet successfully used the Miner's action but as a low-cost dwarf ally, he is great.
Most of our allies for this deck are heavy questors with Faramir, Arwen and Sailor of Lune providing some impressive questing stats. Northern tracker and Lorien Guide provides both questing and location management.
Then, of course, we have a few regular joes such as Gandalf, some Snowbourn Scouts and a Citadel Guard. I threw in Shadowfax as a nice-to-have once-off for Gandalf, provided we have enough resources (which in this deck, there is really no scarcity of).

Card draw is seriously lacking in both decks, despite having Gleowine and Legacy of Durin at hand. This is why I have 3 copies of Ancient Mathom thrown in. There's going to be a lot of location management in the depths of Khazad-dum and having the Mathom 3 card draw attachment is key to successful deck scrimmaging. One of the ways to capitalize on card draw is with the Second Breakfast event card which allows us to pop Mathom back into our hand from the discard pile. And because this is more of a buffet breakfast, our Tactics/Lore team gets to pull up any any axes or plates they may have dropped along the way. Or, better still, a Born Aloft which allows us some clever Ally work. And then 2 copies of Valiant sacrifice for even extra card draw.
Using this nifty engine along with Gandalf once netted me an 11-card draw in one turn which primed my Tactics team for an all-out Dwarven assault!

There are a few more essential events such as Sneak Attack, A Test of Will, Ever Vigilant and some soothing Durin's Songs but also Untroubled by Darkness and Strength of Will for questing and location management. As we have a lot of cheap dwarf allies in our Tactics/Lore deck, I threw in two copies of Stand and Fight to add some firepower to this side.

Additions/ Changes:
Apart from Hennemarth and Rumor from the Earth, encounter-deck peeking is kind of lost in these decks. Now, with Watcher in the Water, knowing the title of the top card of the encounter deck is crucial to solving the Durin's Gate riddle. Which is why I included 3 copies of Shadow of the Past - to be able to bump up the top of the encounter discard to the top of the encounter and get through the gate before the Watcher crushes us.

So, those are my 2 Dwarf decks for our journey into Moria. I'm about a quarter of the way through, having beaten off the Watcher and made it past the First Gate. A battle report of how it all went down will come through soon. Wish me luck!