Here’s a deck I’ve been tooling around with on GCCG for a while.  The basic idea is to stick to unusual regions: the southern rhovanion region and its adjacent regions.  No ahunts hit you, even though you look like you’re going to play King Under the Mountain.  It’s got a surprisingly high number of character points for a Saw Further and Deeper deck, and the thematic play is kinda cool.  Well, here it is:

Start:

Thrain II / Cram
Galadriel / Elf-Stone
Bombur
Dori

In Deck:

Celeborn
Oin
Gloin
Balin
Nori
Bifur
Bofur
Dwalin

Resources:

3 Saw Further and Deeper
3 An Unexpected Party
3 A Chance Meeting
2 A Friend or Three
1 Forewarned is Forearmed

2 Longbottom Leaf
3 Smoke Rings
2 Marvels Told
2 Mirror of Galadriel
1 Gold Belt of Lorien

1 Easterlings
1 Orcrist
1 Wormsbane
1 Durin’s Axe
1 Sapling of the White Tree

3 Noble Steed

Hazards:j

This deck plays best vs minion and fallen wizards because it needs thrain and galadriel to work properly, and they can’t bounce vs. those alignments.  As such, go with a haz strat like this one (from the hazard strat taxonomy list), except add dror for protection from pilfering.

Key Sideboard Cards:

3 Show Things Unbidden
The White Tree
Men of Anorien
Nenya
A Friend or Three
Iron Hill Dwarves
Men of Dorwinion
The Arkenstone (protection against minion arkenstone)
Khamul the Easterling (since you have no wizard’s horses — or put him straight in the hazards)

Play Tips:

First turn go to Lorien with everyone, protecting galadriel from attacks and skinchangers.  the only reason not to do this is if you draw both Celeborn (for skins) and (a) something you can play right away with the dwarves or (b) An Unexpected Party (it doesnt work when she’s around — mind too high).  After that, the elves squat at lorien all game, giving you 5 MPs, Marvels Told, +1 hand size, 6 Gi used (after belt comes out), Mirror of Gal, and Show Things Unbidden.  Talk about outdoing halbarad/ioreth! ;)  Meanwhile, the dwarves visit sites like Buhr Widu, Easterling Camp, RaiderHold, The Lonely Mountain, and Dead Marshes to pick up some fun stuff.  The ideal GI setup is:

Gloin/Oin = 5
Thrain/Balin=9
Celeborn/Gal = 6
little dwarves = 0

That’s 13 points, and 5 free gi with Saw Further out.  Of course, getting there can be kinda hairy, what with call of home and all, but I’ve done it most games.  The key to making travel safe for the dwarves is to know where to go from using Mirror and Saw Further.

MP Breakdown:

Character: 10-13
Item: ~12
Ally: 3
Faction: 4-11
Misc: 0-5
Total: 36-51