The Journey
Another "new to me" quest we never quite got to, I had heard this one is A) loved by many and B) has a neat mechanic of splitting up the team somehow. Wanting to simply test the waters, I went to my standby test deck lately: mono-Spirit dwarves. I have yet to find the right quest for this deck, so I've simply been using it to help me figure out what needs to go into the "real" deck for a given quest. Then, surprise, it wins! And, no surprise, I make a few major mistakes (including not taking all the steps for stage 3B, Washed Away). So scratch that attempt and start again.
Note: Twice, I neglected to add another encounter card due to Watchful Eyes effect. The first was the round before clearing stage 2B, so it would have been washed away itself (but possibly added to the Foundations of Stone deck). The second was during round 6. In both cases, if I had not quested with Nori (who had the card attached), I would have still had enough willpower to proceed to the next stage. Still, a detail I need to watch out for in the future.
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 26
Draw: Fili, Bofur, Erebor Battle Master x2, Ever My Heart Rises, Khazad! Khazad!
Fili instead of Kili, no A Test of Will, and no Gandalf. I'm going to try my luck again.
Mulligan: Erebor Battle Master, Kili, Heavy Stroke, Unexpected Courage, Gandalf, Khazad! Khazad!
Two of my three-card wish list? I'll take it!
Encounter Setup
Attach Cave Torch to Nori
Advance to stage 1B
Reveal: Goblin Swordsman
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (1)
Draw: Thror's Key
Planning Phase
Play: Thror's Key (Dwalin -1). Attach to Oin
There are a few locations with effects I would rather mitigate, if possible
Quest Phase
Commit: Nori, Oin
Total willpower: 4
Reveal: Lightless Passsage
Not quite nasty enough for me to want to use the Key
Total threat: 4
No progress placed
Travel Phase
None
Engagement Phase
Engage Goblin Swordsman
Combat Phase
Deal a shadow card to Goblin Swordsman.
Goblin Swordsman attacks. Dwalin defends. Shadow: Branching Paths (no effect). One damage dealt to Dwalin (1/4).
Exhaust Cave Torch. Place 3 progress on Lightless Passage (3/4). Discard: Branching Paths (no effect).
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 28
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (2), +1 Oin (2)
Draw: Imladris Stargazer
Planning Phase
Play: Gandalf (Dwalin -1, Nori -2, Oin -2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Oin, Nori, Gandalf
Total willpower: 8
Reveal: Watchful Eyes. Attach to Dwalin.
Exhaust Cave Torch. Place 3 progress on Lightless Passage, exploring it. Discard: Fouled Well (no effect).
Total threat: 0
Place 8 progress on stage 1B (8/9)
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Goblin Swordsman
Goblin Swordsman attacks. Gandalf defends. Shadow: Zigil Mineshaft (no effect). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 29
Raise threat to 31 to keep Gandalf in play
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (1)
Draw: Blue Mountain Trader
Planning Phase
Play: Kili (Dwalin -1, Nori -1, Oin -1). Reduce threat to 30 (Nori's effect). Search deck and put Fili into play. Shuffle.
Quest Phase
Commit: Nori, Gandalf
Total willpower: 6
Reveal: Goblin Swordsman
Total threat: 1
Place 5 progress on stage 1B, clearing it
Proceed to stage 2A, flip to 2B
Encounter Phase
Engage Goblin Swordsman #2
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Goblin Swordsman x2
Goblin Swordsman #1 attacks. Oin defends. Shadow: Goblin Scout (no effect). Deal two damage to Oin (2/4).
Goblin Swordsman #2 attacks. Gandalf defends. Shadow: Watchful eyes (no effect). No damage dealt.
Dwalin, Kili declare an attack on Goblin Swordsman, destroying it. Reduce threat to 28 (Dwalin's effect).
Reveal (Watchful Eyes' effect): Crumbling Ruin. Exhaust Fili. Discard: Fili. Discard Fili from play.
Shame! No chance to get him back into play this game now.
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 29
Raise threat to 31 to keep Gandalf in play
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (1)
Draw: Kili
Planning Phase
Play: Unexpected Courage (Dwalin -1, Nori -1). Attach to Dwalin.
Quest Phase
Commit: Oin, Nori, Gandalf
Discard (stage 2B's effect): Dwarrowdelf Axe, A Test of Will.
Total willpower: 8
Reveal: Watchful eyes. Attach to Nori
Place 8 progress on stage 2B (8/12)
Travel Phase
None
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Goblin Swordsman
Goblin Swordsman attacks. Gandalf defends. Shadow: Goblin Swordsman (add to staging area). No damage dealt.
Dwalin, Kili declare an attack on Goblin Swordsman, destroying it. Reduce threat to 29 (Dwalin's ability).
Exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Dwalin
Note: Neglected to add a card for Nori's copy of Watchful eyes. It would have been a Goblin Follower, but I do not know what would have been revealed during the next quest phase.
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 30
Raise threat to 32 to keep Gandalf in play
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (2)
Draw: Dwarrowdelf Axe
Planning Phase
Play: Imladris Stargazer (Dwalin -1, Nori -1)
As I'm likely going to push past 2B -> 3B -> 4B, I want a chump blocker out. And if I don't need that, then I can use her to get the best card possible for next round.
Quest Phase
Commit: Oin, Nori, Gandalf
Neglected to discard my two cards.
Total willpower: 8
Reveal: Goblin Follower. Engaged by Goblin Follower.
Total threat: 1
Place 7 progress on stage 2B, clearing it.
Proceed to stage 3A, flip to 3B.
Here's where it gets crazy.
Discard Thror's Key into player discard.
Discard Watchful Eyes x2, Cave Torch, Goblin Follower, Goblin Swordsman into encounter discard
Shuffle enemies and treacheries from encounter discard into Foundations of Stone deck.
Remove encounter deck from play, replace with Foundations of Stone deck.
Proceed to stage 4B (after shuffling them around a bit).
Stage 4B: Old One's Lair
Reveal 1: Crumblin Ruin. Exhaust Imladris Stargazer. Discard: Bofur. Discard Imladris Stargazer from play.
Not quite the chump block I was thinking of, but that will work.
Reveal 2: Watchful Eyes. Attach to Dwalin.
Reveal 3: Drowned Treasury
Reveal 4: Goblin Swordsman
That went a lot better than it could have, with some of the nasty enemies in here.
Travel Phase
Travel to Drowned Treasury
Encounter Phase
Encounter Goblin Swordsman
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Goblin Swordsman.
Goblin Swordsman attacks. Gandalf defends. Shadow: Cave Torch (no effect). No damage dealt.
At least it's not a nasty effect, but I would have liked to get that back!
Dwalin, Kili declare an attack on Goblin Swordsman, destroying it. Reduce threat to 30 (Dwalin's effect).
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 31
Raise threat to 33 to keep Gandalf in play
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (3)
Draw: Untroubled by Darkness
Planning Phase
Play: Blue Mountain Trader (Dwalin -1, Nori -1). Reduce threat to 32 (Nori's effect).
Quest Phase
Commit: Dwalin, Nori, Oin, Gandalf, Kili, Blue Mountain Trader
Total willpower: 11
Reveal: Moria Bats
Total threat: 1
Place 3 progress on Drowned Treasury, exploring it. Draw: Zigil Miner, Ancient Mathom
Place 7 progress on stage 4B, exploring it
Proceed to stage 5A, flip to 5B
Reveal: Watchful Eyes (add to Nori)
Travel Phase
None
Encounter Phase
Engage Moria Bats
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Moria Bats.
Moria Bats attack. Undefended. Shadow: Nameless Thing (no effect). Deal one damage to Nori.
Exhaust Unexpected Courage to ready Dwalin
Neglected to reveal a card for Nori's Watchful Eyes
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 33
Raise threat to 35 to keep Gandalf in play
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Dwalin (1), +1 Nori (1), +1 Oin (4)
Draw: A Test of Will
Planning Phase
Play none
While I feel confident in winning this turn, I should have played Zigil Miner to reduce my threat by 1.
Quest Phase
Commit: Dwalin, Nori, Oin, Gandalf, Kili, Blue Mountain Trader
Total willpower: 11
Reveal: Goblin Scout
Total threat: 3
Play: Untroubled by Darkness (Oin -2)
Updated total willpower: 16
Place 13 progress on stage 5B, exploring it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
6 Completed Rounds x10: 60
Final Threat: 35
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Dwalin 1, Nori 1, Oin 2)
Threat of Destroyed Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total: 99
The Deck
Once again, Over Hill and Under Hill Gandalf was the MVP of this deck (as he was with the Lore/Tactics deck I tried for The Long Dark). But the runner up was Untroubled by Darkness, which won the final stage for me in one go during both attempts. That was fun, as I've been wanting to see this card live up to its potential for a while.
Will of the Dwarves
Heroes
Dwalin
Nori
Oin
Allies
Bofur (The Redhorn Gate) x2
Imladris Stargazer x3
Zigil Miner x3
Erebor Battle Master x3
Kili x3
Fili x2
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x3
Attachments
Thror's Key x3
Unexpected Courage x2
Map of Earnil x3
Miruvor x3
Events
A Test of Will x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Untroubled by Darkness x3
Power of Orthanc x3
Hasty Stroke x3
Late Adventurer x3
Dwarven Tomb x2
Sets Used
Core
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
On the Doorstep
Assault on Osgiliath
The Voice of Isengard
The Recap
I can see why people love this scenario. It has a lot of creativity and variety. Yes, that would come out more in a multiplayer game, but it was enjoyable enough solo. During both attempts, I managed to draw Old One Lair as my stage 4B and get a pretty easy four-card set up, so there was a bit of luck on my side (plus my mistakes...). There are definitely some nasty cards that could have come up and put quite a damper on my day, as well as some more intense stage 4B options. My opinion might be different if I was beat-down by that part of the quest, but as it stands I think I'll be coming back to this one again.
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