Sites:
[1] Edoras Hall
[2] Rohirrim Camp
[3] Hall of the Kings
[4] Anduin Banks
[5] Pelennor Flat
[6] Minas Tirith, Fourth Circle
[7] Pelennor Grassland
[8] Northern Ithilien
[9] Haunted Pass

Frodo, Hope of Free Peoples
The One Ring, Answer To All Riddles
Eowyn, Lady of Rohan
Eomer, Valiant Warchief

Theoden, Leader of Spears x2
Merry, Swordthain x2
Gamling, Warrior of Rohan
Household Guard x3
Hobbit Sword x2
Eomer's Spear
Rider's Spear x2
Herugrim, Sword of the Mark
King's Mail
Rohirrim Bow x3
Rohirrim Shield x3
Firefoot
Brego
Rider's Mount
Let Us Be Swift x3
An Honorable Charge x4
Fey He Seemed x4
Simbelmyne x2
Thundering Host x3

Total: 42

Shadow:

Isengard Flanker x4
Isengard Rider x4
Warg-master x4
Foul Horde x4
Saruman, Master of Foul Folk x3
Sharku, Warg-captain x3
Warg x4
War-warg x2
Sharku's Warg x2
Isengard Axe x4
Wolf-voices x4
Servants to Saruman x4

Total: 42

I was attempting to build a Rohan deck, something that was purely Rohan one day, and I realized something: Rohan by itself can suck a lot at times (at least, every deck I have tried to build did). Every Rohan deck that is in use is usually a mix of other cultures, like using Legolas Greenleaf, Aragorn's Bow, and other direct wounding methods to pump up Eomer, Third Marshall of the Riddermark. Or the newly used Eomer, Skilled Tactician. But, I couldn't use either of them to build an interesting "pure" Rohan deck.

Finally, after looking at the new premium Eomer, I realized he could potentially be a powerful companion. As long as you have initiative, you are able to discard 3 cards as a skirmish action to make him Strength +1 for each Valiant man you can spot. Realizing that this ability has potential, I decided to try to build a deck around Eomer, Valiant Warchief. (Which is certainly a first since I have yet to see anyone use him outside of a RotK sealed deck tournament).

Well, now that I knew I wanted to use Eomer, Valiant Warchief, I needed to find my other companions. I knew that I'd use Eowyn, and Theoden, but which ones? Well, at first I decided to use Eowyn, Dernhelm, since she seemed cool. And the only good Theoden was Theoden, Leader of Spears because 1) he is Valiant; and 2) he has better Strength and Vitality than any of the TTT block Theoden's.

After that, I needed a healing engine of some kind. And there are a few that I could use (that is only Rohan), but I couldn't find one that I liked. The best that I could find was using the Rohirrim Shields to heal, but that required putting them on companions that I knew were going to take wounds.

After thinking about that, I realized that I could use Eowyn, Lady of Rohan instead! Her ability to exert to prevent wounds was good, and using Rohirrim Shields on her to heal her during the regroup phase made that better. It meant that any of my (unbound) companions could take wounds, and she can prevent, and then heal herself via the Rohirrim Shield! I had found my healing engine for this Rohan deck.

Knowing that Dunlending discarding possessions was annoying for Rohan, at best, I needed something to counteract that. And then after I saw Merry, Swordthain's ability, I knew I should use him. His ability means that 1) I get to retrieve any possession; 2) Regain initiative for Eomer, Valiant Warchief if I lost it; and 3) assist with pumping up Eomer by discarding possessions I have in my hand to increase Eomer's strength, and then returning Merry to my hand to regain those possessions back into play.

The other annoyances are Grima, and Enquea. Well, Grima can actually help this deck out. If any cards get returned to my hand, I can discard them to pump up Eomer, and then use Merry to retrieve from my discard pile.

As for Enquea, well, that is something I haven't worked out yet. The only defense I can find would be to use Merry's Sword to exhaust Enquea. However, with Merry, Swordthain, this makes that strategy problematic, since Merry's Sword would be discarded when he is returned to your hand. The only way around that would be to use Merry's Sword, and Weapon Store to replay it back from your discard pile when you have to use it. But that would require more cards, and I don't know if it would be beneficial to use.

The rest of the companions were filled in to increase the number of Valiant companions, and I chose Frodo because he was the best Frodo to use in this deck. Since threats can suck, and the ability on Herugrim, Sword of the Mark can be useful at times (so keeping threats low is beneficial).

The Shadow side is a rather basic Warg-riders, mainly because they were the only shadow culture I had leftover to use. And with enough twilight, they can really hurt. There is nothing more satisfying that getting a Foul Horde, with Sharku's Warg and an Isengard Axe out at Site 2 to really destroy a fellowship.

Now, keep in mind that this deck was built mainly as a fun deck, and isn't tournament caliber as of yet. Perhaps with some more future revisions, we might be able to see Eomer, Valiant Warchief be used in an open tournament, and show everyone how powerful he can become.

~Ivo Ciric