by Bobble Hat
I'm going for theme being nice-to-have, but not essential.I used dwarves (double handed) to start with in Moria. I lost beautifully thematically quite a few times. The first scenario seemed to be a hurdle the short-legged beardies just couldn't quite leap over. I suspected it was the chain mail under their lycra running gear.
I did have a very nice eagle deck..... The big birds were very wrong for even contemplating showing their feathers in Moria. I felt insanely guilty myself to begin with, being so unthematic. But then I thought - "this is a game I bought with my own money. I can do this if I want. Am I having fun? I surely am!"
"Rad-a-gast!" the crowd chanted over and over, building to a crescendo. Gimli and Legolas piled in, along with that ugly bloke from Dale. Meanwhile in the blue and pink team strip Eleanor, Eowyn and Aragorn worked their usual non-contact magic on the encounter deck. Moria ceased to be a problem.
I like to be thematic, but I consider losing all the while to be a poor use of my time.
To paraphrase another fellow with a big beard, 'I like eagles, they fight.'