LOTR Part 1: A Shadow of the Past

I fine-tuned my deck to include more allies (I have 24 now, I had 18; I kept my deck at a total of 50 cards) and gave it another shot!

Heroes:

    Aragorn (Leadership)
    Pippin (Lore)
    Sam (Leadership)
    Frodo (Fellowship; Black Riders version)
        *Boon: Mr. Underhill

Boons:

    Gildor Inglorian
    Mr. Underhill

Burdens:

    The Ring Draws Them
    Gandalf's Delay

As it seems relevant to my strategy, I am now also include the total amount of allies I have in play at the beginning of the Quest Phase.

turn number: 0
staging threat (party threat): T: 4(28)
engaged enemies: //
ally count: A: 0
location log: @Bag End

narrative: *Frodo gains the title Mr. Underhill  

-----

1
T: 4(28)
//
A: 1
@Bag End

*The party engages a nearby Black Rider.

2
T: 4(29)
//Black Rider
A: 2
@Bag End

*The enemy has many spies! An Evil Crow engages the party.
*A Black Rider kills an ally (Bill the Pony!).
*A Black Rider is defeated.

3
T: 4(31)
//Evil Crow
A: 2
@Bag End

*The party engages another Black Rider!
*The Black Rider kills an ally.

4
T: 2(33)
//Evil Crow, Black Rider
A: 2
@Bag End

*A Black Rider kills an ally.
*The party defeats the Black Rider and Evil Crow.

5
T: 4(34)
//
A: 3
@Bag End >> Green Hill Country

*We've finally left Bag End!
+++Quest Card 1 completed+++
*Another Black Rider appears, and kills an ally.

6
T: 4(35)
//Black Rider
A: 3
@Green Hill Country >> Pathless Country

*The party encounters Gildor Inglorian in the wild! (Boon gained.)
*The party defeats the Black Rider

7
T: 2(36)
//
A: 5
@Pathless Country >> Green Hill Country

8
T:  2(37)
//
A: 6
@Green Hill Country >> Green Hill Country

9
T: 2(38)
//
A: 6
@Green Hill Country >> Bamfurlong

+++Quest Card 2 completed!+++
*Another Black Rider engages.
*The Black Rider kills an ally.
*The party defeats the Black Rider.

10
T: 4(39)
//
A: 6
@Bamfurlong >> Woody End

*They see a Black Rider crawling toward them in the distance, but successfully hide.

11
T: 3(40)
//
A: 6
@Woody End >> Bucklebury Ferry

*Another near encounter with a Black Rider hunting for the Ring, but the party successfully hides.
*The area surrounding Bucklebury Ferry is being watched, but the party successfully gets there without being spotted.
*The party uses the ferry to pass over the Brandywine, separating themselves from their pursuers (for now!).

VICTORY
Score: 161

Campaign Pool:

    Gandalf's Delay (burden)
    Gildor Inglorian (boon)

-----

My strategy paid off! Instead of focusing on questing at the beginning of the game, I focused my efforts into removing the Black Riders as soon as possible and building my allies. I didn't even leave Bag End until turn 5!

Allies are essential to most decks because they give you a nice stat boost, but also because in a pinch, you can use them for 'chump blocking,' which means you save an ally to defend against a strong attack. This will kill your ally, but it keeps the damage off your heroes and saves them for other uses. You'll notice I chump blocked 5 times! Chump blocking is often not an ideal strategy because you lose your allies fast, but it worked well for this encounter since there was not a high amount of enemies to fight and the enemies that are included (besides the Evil Crow, which has an attack power of 0) are tough (the Black Riders). My best defender is Aragorn (defense of 2), and he has 5 hit points. Blacker Riders have an attack power of 5, so he could only defend one time before the next blow would kill him (without healing, that is).  Later in the game I attached Self Preservation (Lore) to Aragorn, which would allow him to heal 2 damage per round, but it did not help much this game.

The increased allies were also incredibly useful for my hides tests. I could always keep a few allies unexhausted in case a hide test was needed, but still had enough willpower to quest successfully.

Beyond this strategy, other cards helped considerably. I was lucky to access my two Fast Hitch (Lore) attachments early on in the game, which kept Sam and Frodo questing and allowed them to also be available for hide tests or combat if needed. Fast Hitch only can be attached to hobbits, but it lets them ready once per round. It's worth noting that Fast Hitch is not included in the Core Set; this came from the Dead Marshes adventure pack. It is commonly said in forums for this game that increasing your card pool will make the game much easier, and this is a great example of how that can help. 

It's also worth noting that while luck can help you (like getting two Fast Hitches so early), it can just as well work against you. For example, I never encountered Gandalf once (I had three copies in my deck, and he is one of the most powerful cards in the game). Gandalf's Delay indeed.