C – core set M – Shadows of Mirkwood cycle M1 – Hunt for Gollum M2 – Conflict at the Carrock M3 – Journey to Rhosgobel M4 – Hills of Emyn Muil M5 – Dead Marshes M6 – Return to Mirkwood K – Khazad-dûm deluxe D – Dwarrodelf cycle D1 – Redhorn Gate D2 – Road to Rivendell D3 – Watcher in the Water D4 – Long Dark D5 – Foundations of Stone D6 – Shadow and Flame H – The Hobbit saga H1 – Over Hill and Under Hill H2 – On the Doorstep N – Heirs of Númenor deluxe S – Against the Shadow cycle S1 – Steward’s Fear S2 – Drúadan Forest S3 – Encounter on Amon Dîn S4 – Assault on Osgiliath S5 – Blood of Gondor S6 – Morgul Vale
Rescource Acceleration and Management
Horn of Gondor (C) is a famous artefact
and heirloom to the great realm. One needs a proper deck to make a lot of money
with it though. It gets much easier with more players as more characters shall
sacrifice to the swarming enemies. There are other ways to make this worth,
however, usually looking to Prince Imrahil or the aid of the Rohirrim.
Thorin (H1) needs his
Dwarves to provide you with resources; the ability is a nice bonus to his great
stats.
There is another Dwarf Lord who can accelerate the income, Glóin (C) has a much more risky ability
than Thorin but he can also accumulate more wealth more quickly.
Continuing the line of Leadership money-makers is Théodred (C). He is not selfish to keep all the resources to
himself but can distribute them to other questing characters. One would think
it is only a resource per round, and Théodred doesn’t naturally shine at
questing, but the one resource can make a great difference, especially early in
the game.
When a Dwarf hero has many resources, he might want to put on Narvi’s Belt (K) to be able to afford
many different things for the money.
Wealth is a theme of Gondor, the Steward
of Gondor (C) can be played on any hero, however, and what more, it gives
(not requires) the Gondor trait. 2 extra resources per round, it is hard to
find a stronger simple card like this.
A hero with Steward of Gondor attached will likely get more resources
than he shall ever be able to spend, especially over the longer games. But it
is the way of the world that others may not be so fortunate, then why not share
the wealth? It can be in a way of Parting
Gifts (M3).
Maybe someone will wish to perform the above action repeatedly. It is
exactly when Errand-rider (N) should
be called upon, though he can only move a single resource per action. The
benefit compared to the above is that the resource doesn’t have to come from a
Leadership hero.
Once you have many Dwarves ready, it would be a shame to keep them idle,
rather let them claim We are not Idle
(D6) and they will provide much profit for any hero. If you still don’t think
this card is very powerful, know that its cost is 0, and you get to draw an
additional card after you play it. Any Leadership Dwarf deck would be crazy not
to have this card in it.
Wealth of Gondor (N), on the other
hand, may be much harder to justify in a Gondor deck, though there are obvious
heroes ready to be paid. If only one could draw a card after you get the one
resource for the cost of 0; not here, unfortunately. Still, in a deck that hungers for every penny, this is an option, and there are few.
One of which is Ganing Strength (S1). Not restricted by nationality but by income. One has to have two resources in a hero's resource pool to get the third. And the money cannot be sent across the table.
There was a time when Zigil Miner
(K) with the help of the Noldor Gildor Inglorion or Imladris Stargazer (Spirit,
by the way) was able to make you rich to the point you could easily challenge
even the Steward of Gondor. But that time is long gone. One could get angry
thinking what is printed on the card is not what it actually does; still Zigil
can be useful in a mono-Spirit deck, for instance, when paired up with the
Stargazer. Not only he should give you one or two resources a round, he will
help you sift through the deck more quickly to find the cards you really want.
If ever you felt like your Spirit resources were in abundance, you can
send Miruvor (D6) to another hero to
make him a bit richer (if he chooses to drink the flask that way).
Desperate Alliance (H2) can also make another player
richer for a little while.
Ok, this is not very practical, but say even in the time of the upcoming
war, there is this musical approach to face the struggle against Sauron. You
employ Rivendell Minstrel and you let him sing of Kings, Battle, Wisdom, Travel,
the Journeys of Eärendil may also be appropriate (surely the fair lass will not
try to mock anybody). Perhaps all that will result in a great Love of Tales (D4) that will help you
overcome the odds.
Speaking of which, Song of Kings (M1), Song of Wisdom (M2), Song of Travel (M4) and Song of Battle (M5) are all ways to
manage resources. Rivendell Minstrel is an obvious combo to any of these.
Resourceful (D3) is a very effective
card when you can play it with the secrecy discount.
A Good Harvest (S1) is probably meant as an answer to a problematic budget in mono-sphere decks. The fact it is an event means the solution will be similar to many of those made about problematic budgets: very temporary.
Speaking
of effective, Radagast (M3) is… or
rather, if you know the game will last at least five rounds after you play
Radagast, and your Tactics resources are more precious to you than those you
pay Radagast with, and you are in great need of his questing prowess (for some
reason Radagast’s willpower, despite being one of the Istari, is only 2, not to
mention his other stats), then Radagast is probably pretty effective.
Vilya (D6) can be viewed as a resource
management card, as this working on Elrond only attachment doesn’t need any
resources, not even a resource match, to play or put cards into play. It works
much better when combined with the likes of Imladris Stargazer; using it
blindly only works when there are few to none conditional response-type events
in your deck.