[Deck Avatarless Minion] Brotherhood of the Spiders

[Fangorn]

Finally I found time to post the deck I played ... 3 years ago !
This deck idea came from the Scenario "Brotherhood of the Wolves", but applied to Spiders with the Necromancer set.

A Few Trusty Lads leading a Endurant Marauding Band of Orcs gathers spider allies (Last Child of Ungoliant and Sulfur-spawn) and factions (Spiders of Mirkwood, Lesser Brood).
Meanwhile land is overrun by nasty spider hazards.


[DC] stands for a DreamCard.

Character Pool

Starting Company
[DC MEDF] Bolg of the North
Mauhur
Radbug + [DC MENE] Orc-pouch
[DC MENE] Orc-archer
[DC MENE] Orc-archer
[DC MENE] Orc-archer
+ [DC MENE] A Few Trusty Lads
+ [DC MENE] Orc-endurance

In deck
Shagrat
[DC MENE] Ukog
Ufthak

In sideboard
Troll Lout


Characters

[DC MENE] Orc-grunt
[DC MENE] Orc-grunt
[DC MENE] Orc-grunt
[DC MENE] Orc-Shaman
[DC MENE] Orc-Shaman
[DC MENE] Goblin-miner
[DC MENE] Goblin-miner


Resources

[DC MEDF] Dwarf-chopper
[DC MENE] Bone-basher
[DC MENE] Orc-cuirass
[DC MENE] Bloodspike
High Helm

[DC MENE] Sulfur-spawn
Blackbole
Great Lord of Goblin-gate

[DC MENE] Spiders of Mirkwood
Orcs of Mirkwood
[DC MENE] Orcs of the Uldona Spine

[DC MENE] Marauding Band of Orcs
[DC MENE] Precious Burden
[DC MENE] Precious Burden
Bade to Rule

[DC MENE] The Goblins are upon You !
[DC MENE] The Goblins are upon You !
[DC MENE] The Goblins are upon You !
[DC MENE] Hatred
Hail of Darts
Hail of Darts
Bold Thrust
Bold Thrust
Swift Strokes
Swift Strokes
I'll Report You
I'll Report You
Smart and Secret
No More Nonsense
We Have Come to Kill


Hazards

[DC MEDF] King-spider
[DC MEDF] King-spider
[DC MEDF] King-spider
Giant Spiders
Giant Spiders
Giant Spiders
Lesser Spiders
Lesser Spiders
Lesser Spiders
Shelob's Brood
Shelob's Brood
Shelob's Brood

Spawn of Ungoliant

[DC MEFB] Protecting Their Domain
[DC MEFB] Protecting Their Domain
[DC MEFB] Protecting Their Domain
Full of Froth and Rage
Full of Froth and Rage
Full of Froth and Rage
[DC MENE] Fruitless Victory
[DC MENE] Fruitless Victory
[DC MENE] Spiders Huge and Horrible
Flies and Spiders
Black Vapour

Bane of the Ithil-stone
Bane of the Ithil-stone
Bane of the Ithil-stone
[DC MENE] Evil Entered Secretly
An Unexpected Outpost
An Unexpected Outpost


Sideboard

vs. all
Orc-draughts
Orc-draughts
Orc-draughts
Orc-liquor
Orc-liquor
Orc-liquor
[DC MENE] Fizzling Torch
Foul Smelling Paste
Threats
[DC MENE] Second in Command
[DC MENE] Lesser Brood
[DC MENE] Lesser Brood
Last Child of Ungoliant
[DC MENE] Ungolcrist
Uruk-hai
[DC MENE] Slew the Great Warrior
No News of Our Riding
[DC MENE] The Ashdurbuk
Voices of Malice
Voices of Malice
No Better Use
Crept Along Cleverly
Weigh all Things to a Nicety
Weigh all Things to a Nicety
[DC MENE] Ill East Wind
[DC MENE] Many Burdens
Durin's Bane
Saruman the Wise
Stay her Appetite
The Roving Eye

vs. Fallen
[DC MENE] Politics
[DC MENE] Forgot His Order
[DC MEDF] Call of the Deeps
[DC MEDF] Fear of Kin
[DC MEDF] Flooded to the Surface
Something Else at Work
The Will of the Ring
[DC MEFB] Choked with Vanity
Drowning Seas
Diminish and Depart


Sites

The Under-grottos, The Under-gates => [DC MEDF] Dwarf-chopper
Moria => [DC MENE] Bone-basher
The Lonely Mountain => [DC MENE] Orc-cuirass
Ovir Hollow => [DC MENE] Bloodspike
[DC MENE] Strayhold => High Helm, [DC MENE] Slew the Great Warrior
Buhr Widu => High Helm, [DC MENE] Slew the Great Warrior
Sarn Goriwing => Orcs of Mirkwood
[DC MEDF] Gaurblog Lug => [DC MENE] Orcs of the Uldona Spine
Goblin-gate => Great Lord of Goblin-gate
[DC MEFB] Cor Angaladh => Blackbole
The Sulfur-deeps => [DC MENE] Sulfur-spawn
[DC MENE] Mountains of Mirkwood => [DC MENE] Spiders of Mirkwood, [DC MENE] Lesser Brood
Shelob's Lair => Last Child of Ungoliant, [DC MENE] Lesser Brood, [DC MENE] Ungolcrist
Cirith Ungol => Uruk-hai
Henneth Annun => [DC MENE] Slew the Great Warrior


Play tips

Bolg and Mauhur are leading a few trusty lads.
Bolg is the strongest leader, with ranger skill and hatred vs dwarves and elves.
Mauhur is a strong and low-cost leader, perfect for fight.
Radbug is a strong ranger having great efficiency with Orc-pouch.
A full unit of Orc Archers follow them, supporting with Hail of Darts.

Orc-endurance allows them immediately to boost fight and to move further with Orc-draughts and Orc-liquors.
A Few Trusty Lads allows immediately access to sideboard and 7 free GI.

Shagrat and Ufthak go to the deck for furthers missions.
Ukog is a back-up of Mauhur, his movement restriction being balanced by Orc-endurance.
Troll-lout goes to sideboard, his usefullness being only for Bloodspike.
Orc-grunts, Orc-Shamans and Goblin-miners are easy reinforcements for the marauding band.


Most part of the deck is simple to play.
Gather weapon-gear items and Orc factions and allies.
Dont' forget free minor-item thanks to Orc-endurance (boosted by Orc-Pouch).
Resources are spread out in Wilderland, so use Orc-endurance to reach far sites.
Once every Orc-draughts and Orc-liquor have been played, replace Orc-pouch by a Fizzling Torch and a Foul Smelling Paste.

Battle-gear items power-up leaders.
Dwarf-chopper rocks with Bolg.
We can imagine Mauhur with Bone-basher chasing down from Moria.
If opponenent plays a free peoples hazard strategy, play Bloodspike and sideboard Troll Lout to bear it.

Build an Marauding Band army by recruiting at Orc-holds warriors who Have Come to Kill.
Resource part rely on brutal force, giving Orcs amazing prowess :
- leaders with huge weapons
- I'll Report You
- Great Lord of Goblin-gate
- Goblins are upon You and usual boosts

The company is almost unstoppable by fight while seeking for CvCC, coolest with No Better Use !
The goal is to crush dwarves and elves companies (Hatred helps) and make opponent's Lord as a trophy !
With fame Bolg could be The Ashdurbuk and Mauhur the Second in Command, allowing a third leader in the company.

Apart from seeking CvCC, the cool part of the deck is the spider theme (and Blackbole).
Bolg should tame Sulfur-spawn and recruit Spiders of Mirkwood and Lesser Spiders.

Feed Spiders of Mirkwood with useless wounded characters, and with Ufthak too which is his fate !
As a side note, Crept Along Cleverly would have been cool in deck for the drawing (but not playable on a Marauding Band).
Spiders of Mirkwood have a nice recycling spider hazard ability, so the sooner influenced the better.

To draw Spiders of Mirkwood earlier, play Precious Burden on an Orc Grunt (9 body).
To increase chances, discard an Orc-liquor unless a leader has Smart and Secret.


Meanwhile overwhelm opponent with all spider hazards.
Fruitless Victory reduces kill MPs opponent should gain.
Stay her Appetite is a cool theme hazard.


Further missions

Shagrat must wait at Minas Morgul for 2 Orcs.
He must then go to Shelob's Lair and sacrifice one of them in order to play Last Child of Ungoliant.
He then should influence Lesser Brood with Threats.

It would be great if afterwards he succeeds influencing Uruk-hai.
Because he could then Slew the Great Warrior Faramir at Henneth Annun which would be cool.

The easier way to play Slew the Great Warrior is at Strayhold or Buhr Widu with the help of Orcs of Mirkwood or of the Uldona Spine.
Be sure to play because it's the only Misc MP, unless opponent plays Elf/Dunadan/Man hazard allowing No News of Our Riding.


MP overview (expected / max)

Characters : 9 / 13
Items : 8 / 15
Factions : 6 / 12
Allies : 7 / 9
Miscellanous : 1 / 2
Kill : 1 / 3
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Total : 32 / 54