Quest 23: The Druadan Forest

Victory on the first attempt

The Journey

A re-posting of my session report from May of this year (2014).

Tonight my wife and I set out to lead a band of ill-prepared elfs through the Druadan Forest.

I like surprises, so I like to play my first run through an encounter blind (no knowledge of the specific hazards we will face). The LotR LCG has taught me the importance of being realistic, so I also expect to lose. Tonight was no exception. After finally squeezing out a narrow victory vs.The Steward's Fear, we were looking forward to moving on but wanted to enjoy ourselves. The plan was to pick a set of decks we wanted to play, lose terribly while learning the encounter deck, then come back better prepared. Thus, I asked my wife what deck she wanted to play and she said, "I like elfs." Elfs it is.

There are seven elf heroes available (including two iterations of Glorfindel). I went for a solid lore deck (Elroknd, Mirlonde, and Lorefindel) and a tactics/leadership deck (Legolas, Elrohir, and Elladan). The Second deck focused on building up already strong stats (with Dunedain Mark, Dunedain Warning, Gondorian Shield,Celebrain's Stone, Black Arrow, and Rivendell Blade). The Lore deck had no strong focus, but tried to be well-rounded. Protector of Lorien was included to play along with the stats game. I hesitated before putting in Vilya, but figured, "Hey, this is a deck to have fun and lose with). Vilya is a card that seems awesome, is fun to use, but has never really added much t m game (manly since it uses up Elrond's fantastic stats).
Alright, let's play!

On set-up, one of the cards flipped is "Leaves on Tree." Great. With one deck built around attachments, I now know there is a good chance I could lose all of them at any given time. During our first turn I played a bit cautiously knowing this, but then threw caution to the wind. Why? Because our first questing phase revealed "Stars in the Sky," removing all of our heroes from the quest and raising our threat by 9. Nine! N-I-N-E!

Well. We came to lose, right? At last we get to feel a sense of accomplishment earlier rather than later.

The first stage just slogs by. We keep getting "Secluded Glade" as a location, which is immune to player card effects and handicaps Legolas' ability to add progress. My wife is at 45 threat before we advance to stage two.

Our first crack at the stage is decent and we make a little progress. Then my wife decides to "Risk Some Light." A few rangers are held back to clear away the "Overgrown Trail" and almost everyone else jumps in to run past another "Secluded Glade" and advance to stage 3!

It take 30 minutes and a decoder ring to decipher the text on 3B, but it finally clicks. But the mental rest from solving that is short-lived: now there is Dru-buri-Dru to deal with. "I'm going to lose Legolas" is what I keep thinking. He was the "almost" in the "almost everyone" above, having been held back to take care of some other business. But now I need to block with him. And he is going to die.

Or is he?

We didn't reveal any cards that stole away our resources. Legolas has one. I have a "Feint" I drew in my opening hand. LEGOLAS IS GOING TO LIVE!

Next round. My wife is at 48 threat. We need to win Dru-buri-Dru over to our side and put 10 more progress on the quest (no longer needing to defend, Legolas took out his intended target which, combined with Legolas' own ability, placed 4 progress on stage 3). We break even on questing (a lot of people held back + the new questing conditions) and, at the Encounter phase, I gain a Drudan Drummer to deal with and, after "Men in the Dark" is revealed, every hero is damaged.

So Dru-buri-Dru. I plan on defending with Elrohir, who now has 6 defense (Shield of Gondor x1, Dunedain Warning x2 plus his own ability). This means I can attack with Legolas and Elladan, who have a combined willpower of 3. My wife has Haldir down, who can come to our aid and add two more. So two damage. We need four more. I pause. I think. I squint. I think some more.

Then it hits me: switching from attack power to willpower for attacks made me ignore the two Rivendell Blades on Legolas!

Strategy changed, I block Dru-buri-Dru with a chump blocker and we "persuade" with Legolas, Elladan, Haldir, and Elrohir. Dru-buri-Dru is persuaded and 8 progress are added to the quest.

This is it. Two progress to go, Drudan Drummer engaged with me, my wife at 49 threat and myself at 48. I draw "Defender of Ramas"! Wow, that four extra questing is going to be nice. Legloas is held back and everyone else goes in (if something happens and we break even, Legolas can take out the drummer to defeat the stage).

Reveal time: "Men in the Dark." Resources are paid, where possible, but most heroes have two damage on them.

Reveal: "Lost Companion." Trollshaw Scout and Glorfindel are removed from the quest. But who cares?

We don't even tally up the progress we make. The tokens look like a small hill. The quest card has to feel embarrassed for itself. And I even forgot about Dru-buri-Dru's victory display effect, which would have added eight ir so more tokens to the pile.

We won.

That wasn't supposed to happen.


The Decks

When going up against a new quest, I like to start of by starting with a deck that simply seems fun to play. Then I'll go back and make a more focused deck, wiser (hopefully) from my first attempt. This time around I asked my wife what type of deck she's been wanting to play: elves. Elves it is!

Elves: Leadership/Tactics

Heroes

Elladan

Elrohir

Legolas

Allies

Gandalf x3

Defender of Rammas x3

Errand-rider x3

Gondorian Spearman x3

Trollshaw Scout x3

Attachments
Rivendell Blade x3
Gondorian Shield x3
Dunedain Mark x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Celebrian's Stone x2
Cram x3
Steward of Gondor x3

Events

Feint x3

Hands Upon the Bow x3

Quick Strike x3

Sneak Attack x3

Foe-hammer x3

Sets Used

Core

The Hunt for Gollum

Conflict at the Carrock

The Redhorn Gate

Road to Rivendell

Foundations of Stone

Shadow and Flame

Over Hill and Under Hill

Heirs of Numenor

The Steward's Fear

Elves: Lore

Heroes

Elrond

Glorfindel (Core)

Mirlonde

Allies
Gildor Inglorion x2
Gandalf (Core) x3
Haldir of Lorien x2
Ithilien Tracker x3
Mirkwood Runner x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Warden of Healing x2

Attachments
Asfaloth x3
Vilya x3
Thror's Map x3
A Burning Brand x3
Elf-stone x3
Ranger Spikes x3
Protector of Lorien x3

Events 
Daeron's Runes x3
Mithrandir's Advice x3
Risk Some Light x3

Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Return to Mirkwood
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Drunadan Forest
The Black Riders


The Recap

This was a fun little romp and quite a relief after the challenged posed by The Steward's Fear. Not having run through the Heirs of Numenor quests yet, I was not expecting the change in questing conditions at the end (although I had heard of those occurring in the Numenor set). And it was close (which I like). Once I pick up the rest of the Ringmaker Cycle after the challenge is complete, it would be fun to return here with a more streamlined set of elf decks to see if victory can be obtained yet again.