Print On Demand 4: The Old Forest

Victory on the Second Attempt!

The Recap

Well I certainly have found my new go-to quest for testing decks with a strong location focus. A few similarities to The Hills of Emyn Muil here, but executed much better (and thus making that quest less likely to see any play, although I hear the nightmare version is fun). I want to come back to The Old Forest with a bag full of the location-focused tricks Lore and Spirit have been gathering.

My first attempt featured a lot of wandering around and a location lock. I worked around this on attempt two by adding Mr. Underhill and Old Bogey-stories to the victory display at a non-essential time, bringing me up to the needed five victory points to proceed onward. On both attempts, Wall of Trees was a fantastic starting location for a deck designed to quest strong right off the bat.

It took me two rounds to get through stage 3B. I saw the staging area, quested with all my might, then somehow missed the fact that the stage had 18 quest points! That honestly seemed like it was going to be game-over for me, with a few enemies and Old Man Willow in the staging area. But my band of hobbits survived by the skin of their teeth and onward we moved!


Now let's talk about the art of this set. Not everything here is jaw-dropping, but when it is those jaws just hit the floor. Just look at Swaying Without the Wind by Jake Bullock. This piece is hidden away as a treachery in a print-on-demand set? Shame for everyone without it (which was me up until recently) and joy for us!

But it is Romana Kendelic's art on Song of Sleep, Lost and Witless, and Ending and Failing that really caught my eye. I immediately though, "Hey, that's the Courage Awakened / Free to Choose artist!" but how little did I know. Doing a search at Hall of Beorn revealed how prolific Ms. Kendelic has been in her contributions to the game. Little did I realize that this artist I was appriciating is the very same one who produced the Merry I was using to go against the quest.

Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 35
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Sam 3, Frodo 1)
Note: Bill the Pony was in play, giving Sam that extra hitpoint.
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -7 (Mr. Underhill 1, Old Bogey-Stories 1, Withywindle 3, Deep Gulley 2)
Total Score: 82

I did not earn Old Bogey-stories on this victory attempt, not realizing the value in attacking Old Man Willow. Definitely an accomplishment I hope to make in the future as it is also a beautiful piece of art and will be useful in situations where I am drawing into cards that do not fit my exact situation (duplicate uniques, too much of the wrong sphere is a multi-sphere deck, that one missing combo piece, etc.).



The Deck

While reading The Secondhand Took's article on hobbit art, I was inspired to use Keen-eyed Took for a hobbit-themed discard deck. Ered Luin Miner is a card I have been itching to play with since opening him last month and this seemed like a perfect match. Ironically (or maybe not), the Took ended up being a pretty weak link the deck and was reduced to a one-of. While his ability + deck manipulation can help get the right card discarded, you're paying two resources for a privilege in a deck that has many other ways to grant the same favor.

Imladris Stargazer, Gildor Inglorion, and Wizard Pipe will help you in getting the right allies to the top of your deck for some Timely Aid, Expert Treasure-hunter(ing), or a reciting of A Very Good Tale. Good old Zigil Miner will dig up some resources for you in the meantime. You then have Elven-light, Hidden Cache, Ered Luin Miner, and Glorfindel who are begging to be tossed out with the trash.


Drop It Like It's Hobbit

Heroes
Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Allies
Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens) x1
Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller) x1
Imladris Stargazer x3
Kili x1
Zigil Miner x2

Barliman Butterbur x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Gelowine x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Mablung (Land of Shadow) x1
Mirkwood Explorer x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x1

Bill the Pony x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Fili x1
Keen-eyed Took x1

Ered Luin Miner x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1

Attachments
Expert Treasure-Hunter x2
Good Meal x3
Wizard Pipe x1

Events
Elven-light x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Timely Aid x3
A Good Harvest x3
Hidden Catche x3
Frodo's Intuition x3

Sets Used
Core Set
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived


RingsDB

This deck seems like a bit of a jumble, but so far it has been consistently spamming out allies once it hits its rhythm.

There is a lot of alteration that can be made here, if you are willing to let go of the amazing name. The Hobbit theme is honestly pretty optional. Take out Bill the Pony, Barliman Butterbur, Good Meal, and Frodo's Intiution. You now have 8 card spots free and can use any combination of sphere-relevant heroes. The entire Lore sphere is fairly optional as well. Expert Treasure-hunter is nice to have, but not fully needed.

Quest 35: Celebrimbor's Secret

Victory on the sixth attempt!

The Deck

From the story section of The Nin-in-Eliph, I knew I would be going up against Orcs this time around. Great! Time to break out the tactics orc-hate! I put in Legolas and a few other Tactics-centric ways to get progress out. I did not realize how much questing strength this quest would actually require. Coming just 1-2 progress sort of clearing The Secret Chamber, I lost momentum and could not get that final progress on before the chamber was destroyed.

Separately, I have been working on some decks for my wife and I to use. After a crushing defeat vs. Shadow of the Past, I decided to do a bit of play testing to make sure the decks actually work well before we make another attempt. She's a fan of Elves so I went for a Silvan theme (even though two of the heroes are Noldor). While my eventual intent was to simply splash some spirit into my tactics deck for the next attempt of Celebrimbor's Secret, this seemed like as good a time as any to playtest the Silvan deck I was building for my wife. 

Silvan Survival

Heroes
Celeborn
Galadriel
Glorfindel

Allies
Naith Guide x3
Orophin x2
Galadhrim Weaver x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Defender of the Naith x3
Gandalf (Core) x3

Attachments
Cram x3
O Lorien x3
Light of Valinor x2
Mirror of Galadriel x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Nenya x2

Events
Feigned Voices x3
Sneak Attack x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Fair and Perilous x3
Island Amid Perils x3

Sets Used
Core Set
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Druadan Forest
The Blood of Gondor
The Dunland Trap
The Three Trials
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
Across the Ettenoors
The Treachery of Rhudar

RingsDB Link

You're looking for Nenya or Mirror of Galadriel in your opening hand, along with 1-2 allies to get you started. Then bounce things, boost things, and recover things (via Galadriel's Handmaiden and the shuffle from Mirror of Galadriel).


The Recap

I do not mind loosing against a quest the first time. My goal is to take a deck I think will function well in most circumstances, combine it with a quest I know little to nothing about, and see what beautiful child they create. Usually it's a monstrosity.

I do take issue with miss-plays: Missing a line of text or keyword that results in a playthrough being invalidated. The above six attempts represent one standard failure (using mono tactics with low willpower), three missplays, one error in judgement (letting locations freely stack under The Orc's Search), and a victory.

Let's talk about the error in judgement, because I think it has some relevance to others going up against this one. My second attempt was a pretty handy win, but I realized I neglected to set out a location of my choice (I was playing on OCTGN and forgot that set up pieces with player input like that do not automatically generate). Figuring attempt three would be easy as well, I allowed a couple of locations to be damage unto destruction and placed in The Orc's Search. In fact, I encouraged it several times! My thought was that it would clear up the staging area (which it did) and I would rush to victory so fast that the increased threat of Bellach and the increase in my own threat at the end of the round would be negligible. Wrong! Very wrong. Painfully wrong. One of the biggest tips I can give is, as far as it is within your power, do not let locations build up under The Orc's Search. Fully prevent it if you can! With that, I wonder how brutal this particular quest becomes as you add players. The last thing I ever wanted was more encounter cards to be revealed, giving me either locations to be damage or effects to cause the damage.

This is a fresh and exciting quest for me. While the Time X keyword is used almost too much in the Ringmaker Cycle, I like that it has a bit more of an optional consequence here. Is it bad to run out of time? Depends. How does your staging area look? I also love the creativity of the encounter deck "questing" against you. Who will explore a location first? Will the enemy discover The Secret Chamber before you? And then it wraps up with a good old boss fight.

This does seem like a solo quest to me, though. Not that multiplayer can't win (or have fun). But if I am ever in a playgroup that wants to throw down Celebrimbor's Secret, I am likely going to cluck under my teeth, wrap my fingers on the table, take a deep breath, look my fellow players in the eye and tell them, "I need you to accept the fact that you're likely going to die." And be they willing, we will ride to ruin.

Campaign Progress Update: Journey in the Dark

The Recap

As I documented in my post on Journey in the Dark, I was not satisfied with my deck or experience playing Journey in the Dark earlier this year. Sure, I won, but I accumulated all four burdens and had a pretty "meh" time playing. Hoping to improve both my experience with the quest and my campaign pool, I went at it again a few weeks ago with a new version of my "Hot Mess for Moria" deck. It was a blast! Now, I did not have reveal after reveal of Mines of Moria, so that helped ease the frustration of the quest. The deck got out quite a few allies until my horde by the end was pretty sizable, giving the Balrog little chance of survival. I did sacrifice Gandalf and earned that thematic satisfaction.

This quest was beaten fair and square previously, so I am not going to increase the number of attempts it took me to beat it, but I am going to update my campaign pool with the new adjustments:

Boons
Mr. Underhill (attached to Frodo Baggins)
Noble Hero (attached to Sam Gamgee)
Anduril, Mithril Shirt, Sting, Glamdring (one in opening hand, others shuffled)

Burdens
Gandalf's Delay (setup)
Overcome by Terror (shuffle)
Overcome by Grief (setup)
Shadow of Fear (shuffle)

Fallen Heroes
Gandalf

The Old Forest and Fog on the Barrow-Downs have made their way into my collection recently. I plan on tackling them with the heroes and campaign pool I had accumulated at that point (which means I can go with Merry/Pippin or Merry/Pippin/Sam). If I earn the accompanying boons, I will add those to the campaign pool moving forward.


The Deck

Another Hot Mess for Moria

Heroes
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Allies
Dori (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Galdor of the Havens (The Treachery of Rhudaur) x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Mablung (The Land of Shadow) x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x2
Anborn (The Land of Shadow) x1
Bill the Pony x1
Eldahir x1
Erestor (The Long Dark) x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Gimli (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Ingold x1
Beorn (Core) x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3

Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Steward of Gondor x1
Sword that was Broken x1
Elf-stone x2
Expert Treasure-hunter x1
Fast Hitch x2
Gandalf's Staff x1
Good Meal x3
Narya x1
Shadowfax x1
Wizard Pipe x1

Events
Captain's Wisdom x3
Timely Aid x3
Heed the Dream x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Dead Marshes
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders
The Road Darkens
The Nin-in-Eilph
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Treachery of Rhudaur
The Land of Shadow
The Grey Havens
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Thing in the Depths

RingsDB Link

Get some allies out. Heed that dream. Destroy the monster. Rescue the princess Istari something.

Quest 51: Temple of the Deceived

Victory on the Second Attempt!

Talk about "semi-chronological," eh? Skipping from quest 34 to 51!

I, and I trust I do not stand alone in this, have been itching to get my hands on Temple of the Deceived since it was first announced. That is a very rare occurrence for me. There are other quests that have grabbed my interest but it is usually the player cards I am chomping at the bit for. Temple had such a unique, board-game like feel to it that I wanted to stop my blog in its tracks and take a crack at this one.

The Deck

There's a level of satisfaction in using cards that come with a quest to tackle that quest. Rohan horses is an archetype I have been playing around with a bit this year, so hero Elfhelm made me justifiably excited to return to that archetype. Adding in Tactics and Spirit gives quite a few horse to choose from, with the Charge of the Rohirrm and Westfold Horse-breeder being natural accompaniments. I wrestled with how many Rohan-centric cards to add in and went with Astonishing Speed, since a massive and dramatic questing phase would be needed to wrap up the quest. Oh, it's worth noting that this draft of the deck was made after my first play-through. The initial deck was brimming with cheap Rohan allies and cheap allies are not favored in this quest (there are still a few in the below decklist, though).


I considered using the new dwarf, Ered Luin Minder, as he fulfills the needs of 3-cost allies (this scenario punishes you for allies costing 2 and under), multi-sphere resource management woes, and a chance of combing with A Very Good Tale. In the end I went with an (almost) pure Rohan course, with the exception of Beorn for fun.

Pretty basic goal with this deck: Get a horse on everyone, load up Eowyn with resources, and pump out allies. Chumping with allies will allow Eomer (equipped with a mount) to take out any enemy that pops up. Save at least one Astonishing Speed for an astonishing last round.

You Get A Horse

Heroes
Elfhelm (Temple of the Deceived)
Eomer
Eowyn (Core)

Allies
Cerol x2
Eothain x2
Beorn (Core) x1
Deorwine x2
Westfold Outrider x3
Eomud x2
Gamling x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Westfold Horse-breeder x3


Attachments
Amored Destrier x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Snowmane x1
Steed of the Mark x2

Events
A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Charge of the Rohirrim x3
A Test of Will x3
Astonishing Speed x2
Elven-Light x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
Return to Mirkwood
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived

RingsDB Link

The deck actually miss-fired. Steward of Gondor did not show up until the final round. A Very Good Tale and Elven-Light never made an appearance. Yet the deck more than held its own, which probably speaks more to the strength of Eowyn and Eomer than anything else. Elfhelm's contribution was welcome, and it was fun to use him, but I likely would have done just as well with Spirit Theoden.


The Recap

For my first attempt against Temple of the Deceived I messed up at the set-up. Being told to use the Ruins of Numenor encounter set from The Grey Havens, I picked out all the Lost Island cards that had the Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. The problem? Just take a look at the Lost Island cards that come with Temple of the Deceived. What do you see on their Lost Island side? The Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. They all have it! Their actual expansion symbol is on the back of the card. Told to set up all 15 Lost Island cards, I simply dealt out the appropriate number and chalked it up the extra four cards to intended randomization and set them aside. Fortunately one copy of Cursed Island was a part of the map I built (the other one was set aside). After beating the quest, I asked around on the appropriate subreddit and was shown the error of my ways. Now removing any The Fate of Numenor cards (goodbye Shrine to Morgoth!), I reset the map and began anew...

For my second attempt, the encounter deck kind of handed me a victory. I flipped to reveal a Jungle Path Jagged Cliffs* in the upper left and a Cursed Temple in the lower right during the opening set-up. Starting at the Jungle Path (a great location to start at), I discovered a Winding Caverns bridging the two locations. Taking my time and building my forces, I went down to the Cursed Temple, dispatched the Temple Guardian (I had two ways to chose from by that time, allowing me to keep one in reserve for future use), made my way back to the Winding Caverns and jumped three spaces over to a Drowned Graves. With two Rohan Warhorses on Eomer and a few allies to expend chump blocking, three undead foes were easily removed. Using the Gate Key I found that the adjacent Temple of the Deceived card was The Grotto's Entrance. Ran over, took a chump block from the Temple Guardian, and quested like crazy (thank you Astonishing Speed) for a victory.

I usually pay little attention to the difficulty level, but this seemed far easier than I felt it would be. Seeing the "DL = 4" made sense: The quest is not a total breeze but you will not be wracking your brain on how to beat it. On future attempts I actually intend up the challenge by mirroring my erroneous setup: Placing one Cursed Temple in the card pool and one to the side, I will randomly deal out the appropriate number of Lost Island cards with The Fate of Numenor included. I will also place a stipulation on myself that the heroes cannot win if the Temple Guardian is still in play. Does this massively increase the difficulty? No, but it will have an impact. Honestly, I got pretty lucky and even reshuffling the encounter deck might give me all the difficulty I need. Temple of the Deceived is decent as a 4 but I would love it even more as a 5 or 6.

*Note: I actually had a Jungle Path in the upper left and miss-read what "not considered to be in the staging area" implied in terms of travel. Figured a re-do was needed, but checked the cards and Jagged Cliffs would have played out exactly as reported. We'll fudge that for now. But this does show that simply re-shuffling the island may give the added complexity I want.

Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Elfhelm 4, Eowyn 4)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 135

Time to Reformat

Recently I pulled out the card table, unrolled my playmat, and got to work re-tackling Journey in the Dark. It was a blast! It has been a while since it was just me, the cards, and a good time. That memory was fresh in my mind while listening to the Grey Company Podcast episode 41 today, where everyone took turns recounting what adventures they had been going up against recently. I realized how much playtime I am missing due to the work I put into my detailed quest logs and how counter that is to the original purpose of this blog: to get me playing more!

Why The Quest Logs? The secondary purpose for this blog is to serve as a resource for fellow mediocre solo players. Think a quest can't be beat one-handed solo? Think again! But it is one thing to simply say "No, you can totally beat that" and another to show the work (number of attempts made), planning (decklist), and strategy (the breakdown) that goes into that. Hopefully this has helped other players improve their game, but I know some early comments felt the quest logs were a bit tedious (which led to the inclusion of infrequent commentary notes).

What Will Replace the Logs? The recap sections of the blog posts have been, frankly, a bit unnecessary. Moving forward, I will still detail and explain the deck I won the ques with and then hae a recap section that includes my final score, a more detailed review of the quest, and highlights from my play-throughs. These highlights will focus not only on memorable moments I was proud of (or ashamed of), but will also try to highlight challenges or advantages a solo player has when going up against this specific quest.

So that's the new plan. This blog gets enough traffic to make me happy but is not a major player by any means. It is my assumption that removing the quest logs will have little impact on readers while having a major impact on how frequently the game hits my table. If you do feel the quest logs have been a significant draw to you, please do let me know and I will consider some other solutions.

Thanks for going down this journey with me!

Quest 34: The Nin-in-Eilph

Victory on the seventh attempt!

The Deck

Swampwater

Heroes
Cirdan the Shipwright
Eowyn (Core)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)

Allies
Curious Brandybuck x3
Elven Jewler x3
Emery x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Pelargir Shipwright x3
Saruman x3
Westfold Horse-breeder x3

Attachments
Herugrim x3
Light of Valinor x3
Map of Earnil x3
Snowmane x3
Unexpected Courage x2

Events
A Test of Will x3
Dwarven Tomb x2
Elven-light x3
Fair and Perilous x3
Power of Orthanc x1
Ride Them Down x3

Sets Used
Core

Foundations of Stone
Heirs of Numenor
The Blood of Gondor
Assault on Osgiliath
The Treason of Saruman
The Voice of Isengard 
The Antlered Crown
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the EttenmoorsThe Dread Realm
The Land of Shadow
The Grey Havens

Rings DB Link


Lord of the Rings: the Card Game has decently-sized card pool now. Large enough that I sometimes forget cards exist, especially if they from an expansion I have not interacted with too much. That is the case with The Antlered Crown player cards, since I purchased that and most of the Angmar Awakened cycle at the end of last year (and the blog clearly shows I have not played much since then). While I have been utilizing quite a few cards from that purchase (just look at the above decklist), sometimes a card slips past the radar.

My initial experience being slaughtered on the first attempt (I think I brought a Leadership/Tactics Gondor deck to the party) showed me that massive willpower was going to be required. Subsequent attempts taught me that a reliable way to dispatch enemies almost instantly was crucial, as each of the few enemies present here proved quit a pain to keep around for any significant time. I tweaked my deck here and there, almost coming to the point of jumping ship for a new strategy between attempts four and five, when I re-discovered the beautiful piece of arsenal that is "Ride them Down." Wait, I can re-direct all of that massive willpower I'm throwing at the quest to take out an unwelcome enemy after it is revealed? Sign me up!

I never actually had to use "Ride them Down" in my final attempt, but its presence in my hand gave me a much more confident feel throughout the game. Before re-discovering the card, there was a chance my deck could pull of the win but plenty of ways it could fail. With the card in hand, there were ways the encounter deck could get the better of me but I held a significant advantage over the quest. That is the fun-zone for me. I do not mind loosing, but I do mind being in position where I have not quite figured out the puzzle of the quest and my only hope is to scrape by.



The Journey

Player Setup
Set starting threat to 26
Draw: Map of Earnil, Snowmane, A Test of Will, A Test of Will, Elven Jeweler, Light of Valinor
Light of Valinor + A Test of Will x2 (x3 with the Map, practically) is nice, but I want more ally support than just the Jeweler.
Mulligan: Snowmane, Elven-light, Westfold Horse-breeder, Curious Brandybuck, Saruman, Ride Them Down
Drawing Westfold Horse-breeder and Snowmane is less than optimal (I would rather see Herugim and the Horse-breeder), but hopefully I can get some more discard fodder along with my chump blocker.
 Encounter Setup
Take control of Nalir. Set Ancient Marsh-dweller inside. Search encounter deck and add Fen of Reeds to the staging area. Flip to side 1B. Advance to random stage 2A. Forced (Fen of Reeds): Exhaust Nalir. Raise threat by one (27). Flip to side 2B: A Forgotten Land (cannot play more than 1 card/round). Time 3 (add three time counters).

Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Cirdan the Shipwright (1), +1 Eowyn (1), +1 Glorfindel (1)
Draw: Curious Brandybuck
Draw (Cirdan): Emery
Discard (Cirdan): Curious Brandybuck

Planning Phase
Discard three (player deck) to put Emery into play: Curious Brandybuck, Map of Earnil, Elven Jewler.
This doesn't count as my one card played/round. I'm going to save that for Ride Them Down, if needed.

Quest Phase
Commit: Cirdan (4), Eowyn (4), Glorfindel (3; raise threat to 28), Emry (1)
I feel comfortable leaving no-one up, knowing that Ride Them Down should be able to knock any enemy out, if needed.
Total Willpower: 12
Reveal: Fen of Reeds
Total Threat: 4
Discard Elven Light to give Eowyn +1 willpower for the phase.
Updated Willpower: 13
Play: Elven Light (from discard; Glorfindel -1). Return Elven Light to hand. Draw: Fair and Perilous. 
Place 9 progress on stage 2B (9/13).

Travel Phase
Travel to Fen of Reeds #1

No Engagements or Combat

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 29.
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 30.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/3). 

Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Cirdan the Shipwright (2), +1 Eowyn (2), +1 Glorfindel (1)
Draw: Pelargir Shipwright
Draw (Cirdan): Pelargir Shipwright
Discard (Cirdan): Curious Brandybuck
I think that's all three in the discard now! Definitely a card to re-evaluate, since I'm eager to pitch them when it comes down to it.

Planning Phase
None.
Still saving that one play for Ride Them Down, just in case. I would rather be a little lower on my willpower right now and yet able to knock out something if needed.

Quest Phase
Commit: Cirdan (4), Eowyn (4), Glorfindel (3; raise threat to 31).
Leaving Emery up this time, in case I get the stage 3B that causes Ancient Marsh-Dweller to engage me.
Total Willpower: 11
Reveal: Stinking Bog
Total Threat: 3
Place 3 progress on Fen of Reeds, exploring it
Place 5 progress on stage 2B (14/13), exploring it. Advance to random stage 3A. Forced (Fen of Reeds): Exhaust Nalir. Raise threat by 1 (31). Add Ancient-Marsh Dweller to the staging area. Flip to side 3B: Creatures of a Forgotten Age (enemies in the staging area get -20 engagement cost). Time 3 (add 3 time counters).

Travel Phase
Travel to Fen of Reeds.

Encounter Phase
Engage Ancient Marsh-Dweller.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Ancient Marsh-Dewller. Attacks! Emery defends. Shadow: In Need of Rest (no effect). Emery is destroyed.
Love seeing In Need of Rest as a shadow and not an encounter card! 

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 32.
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 33.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 3B (2/3).  Place 1 resource on Ancient Marsh-Dweller (1).

Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Cirdan the Shipwright (3), +1 Eowyn (3), +1 Glorfindel (2)
Draw: Map of Earnil
Draw (Cirdan): Dwarven Tomb
Discard (Cirdan): Elven-Light

Planning Phase
Play: Westfolt Horse-breeder (Eowyn -1). Look at top 10 cards (player deck) and add nothing to hand. Shuffle.
Play: Pelargir Shipwright (Cirdan -1, Eowyn -1, Glorfindel -1).
Play: Elven-light (from discard; Cirdan -1). Return Elven-light to hand. Draw: Herugrim.
Got my Eowyn combo in hand!

Quest Phase
Commit: Cirdan (4), Eowyn (4), Glorfindel (3; raise threat to 34).
Total Willpower: 11
Reveal: Off Track. Attach to Fen of Reeds (active location). Surge.
Reveal: Stinking Bog.
Total Threat: 2
The nice thing is having low threat in the staging area. The hard thing is attaching Herugrim to Eowyn will lower her stats.
Place 5 progress on Fen of Reeds, exploring it (and discarding Off Track).
Place 4 progress on stage 3B (4/16).

No travel or engagements

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Ancient Marsh-dweller. Attacks! Westfold Horse-breeder defends. Shadow: Off Track (no effect). Westfold Horse-breeder is destroyed.
Farewell, you breeder of none.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 36.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 3B (1/3).  Place 1 resource on Ancient Marsh-Dweller (2).

Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Cirdan the Shipwright (2), +1 Eowyn (2), +1 Glorfindel (2)
Draw: Power of Orthanc
Draw (Cirdan): Emery
Discard (Cirdan): Elven-light

Planning Phase
Discard three (player deck) to put Emery into play: Herugrim, Envoy of Pelargir, Fair and Perilous.
Play: Pelargir Shipwright (Cirdan -1, Eowyn -1, Glorfindel -1).

Quest Phase
Commit: Cirdan (4), Eowyn (4), Glorfindel (3; raise threat to 37), Shipwright #1 (3), Shipwright #2 (3).
Total Willpower: 17
Trying to "go big or go home" here, with the hopes of defeating stage 3 and having Ancient Marsh-Dweller returned to the staging area. It will then attack and I will be in trouble if it gets to attack again, but what is life without risks?
Reveal: Finger of Glanduin
Total Threat: 5
Place 12 progress on stage 3B, exploring it. Advance to stage 4A. Return Ancient Marsh-Dweller to the staging area. Attacks! Deal shadow card. Emery defends. Shadow; Giant Swamp Adder (no effect). Emery is destroyed. Flip to side 4B. Time 2 (add 2 time counters).

Travel Phase
Travel to Finger of Glanduin.

No encounters or combat.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 38.
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 39.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 4B (1/2). Place 1 resource on Ancient Marsh-Dweller (3).

Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Cirdan the Shipwright (2), +1 Eowyn (2), +1 Glorfindel (2)
Draw: Ride Them Down
Draw (Cirdan): Pelargir Shipwright
Discard (Cirdan): Ride Them Down

Planning Phase
This is it! I have pieces of my various win conditions in hand, but I think I'm going to Fair and Perilous my way out of this.
Play: Map of Earnil (Glorfindel -1). Attach to Cirdan.

Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Glorfindel (3; raise threat to 40).
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: Hall of Eyot
Total Threat: 11
Discard Ride Them Down to give Eowyn +1 willpower.
Updated Willpower: 8
Raise threat to 43.

No Travel

Encounter Phase
Engage Ancient Marsh-Dweller.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Ancient Marsh-Dweller. Attacks! Pelargir Shipwright #2 defends. Shadow: Low on Provisions (+2 attack). Pelargir Shipwright is destroyed.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Glorfindel -1). Choose Cirdan, giving him +4 attack (6).
Discard Map of Earnil. Choose Fair and Perilous (Eowyn -1). Choose Cirdan, giving him +4 attack (10).
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Eowyn -1). Return Fair and Perilous to hand.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Cirdan -1). Choose Cirdan, giving him +4 attack (14).
Cirdan declares an attack on Ancient Mash-Dweller, destroying it and adding it to the victory display (5).
VICTORY!

Final Scoring
4 Completed Rounds x40: 40
Ending Threat: 44
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -5
Total Score: 79


The Recap

The teaser for this one, which presented various routes through the swamp and a menacing creature waiting to attack you, appealed to me more than the actual quest did. The Three Trials actually presented more of what I had hoped to find here in The Nin-in-Eilph. The quest did make use of the cycles Time X keyword in a pretty massive way. At first I saw this as a flavor win, but the more I think about it the more I felt the quest was a mad rush through the swamp vs. the tiring slog the art and flavor text seemed to suggest.

As a solo player, there was a healthy challenge in deck-building here: Can you combine massive willpower with the ability to defend large attacks and deal significant damage? I am sure I made this harder on myself than necessary, since I stuck to my mono-Spirit guns on attempt #2 and up.

That final round did give me the adrenaline rush I love so much from this game. While I had a good board presence and hand, the right combination of treachery and shadow cards could have landed me in very hot water. Instead, I was able to swing for a massive kill with one hero. That was memorable!

Artist Spotlight: Preston Stone

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is beautiful. I'm not going to speak in hyperbole and say that I love every single piece of art, but I can honestly say I love most of them. The game is full of hundreds (thousands?) of cards that impress me and help immerse me in the world of Middle-earth. I sometimes pause (less often than I care to admit) to pick up an encounter card and just admire the detail that went into one of many cards in one of many quests.

Last week I was at the closing of a midnight prerelease for another game (hint: probably the only one that does midnight prereleases) waiting for prizes to be distributed before I could go home and get some needed rest (false: I went grocery shopping, hung out with my family, and then finally crashed). A couple of guys were talking next to me, including one who had stood out due to an awesome pull he made from one of his packs. Bits of their conversation floated over and, as the board game industry was mentioned and projects that could be discussed and not discussed, I realized this guy I had noticed before was doing art for games. Consider my interest peaked! Then he mentioned Fantasy Flight Games. Then he went through a small list, ending with Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. I had been slowly turning in the general direction of the conversation and I'm basically salivating with excitement and anticipation now. When there was an appropriate moment, I asked him for his name and what work he had done on the game. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Preston Stone.

(Preston's on the right. I assured him he looked just fine 

after 9 hours of gaming, which began at midnight).

In the interesting timey-wimey world of art commissioning, Preston is a fairly newcomer to players of the game. He had two pieces in the Agmar Awakened cycle and one piece featured in the Grey Havens deluxe box. But for Preston, these are pieces he completed and turned in a while a go. He had to think a bit about all the pieces he did. He remembered one with ghostly wargs, one with a guy being pulled from a ship, and he was not sure if a sword he had done went to print yet or not. Let's see what could be dug up:

White Warg (The Wastes of Eriador #21)

Daechanar's Brand (The Treachery of Rhudar #110)

Lingering Malevolence (The Grey Havens #34)

(Note: All images were lifted from The Hall of Beorn. Big thanks to The Second Hand Took for helping me learn how to use Beorn's tools to look up an artist. This game has a great community!).

I am not an art critic. My eye is pretty rough and my taste is along the lines of "I like that" or "eh." Ranking these three cards, I'm going to go for: Daechanar's Blade, Lingering Malevolence, and White Wargs. I do think they're all good pieces.

For the Blade, there is something about the clarity of the clean lines that emphasizes the horror of what you are seeing. At the same time, the lighting and placement of the blade draws your eye to the proper focus of the piece.

For Lingering Malevolence: Who would have thought you could summon up feelings of claustrophobia in a sea-based adventure? Preston told me this was actually part of a larger piece and he was sad to see the whole thing not used. I'm torn between sympathy for the artist and the judgement call of really just freaking out the player if they stare at the card too long. Imagine yourself in that guy's place! I will say, though, that the art and text of the card are a perfect pair but the name seems a bit out of place for one-time, harsh effect. Or maybe the name and art are perfect (for a condition attachment?) but the text is out of place. In any case, the card serves its purpose of freaking me out both artistically and in the way it may wreak my game plan.

White Warg has a great eerie feel to it, with the purples and muted tones. The card mentions nighttime effects (spoiler!) and this is an animal I would not want to face on a winter camping trip (which is basically what our heroes are doing, right?). The art conveys movement and you can just see that warg slowly creeping toward you in the night.

Now Preston does have more up his sleeve than just the shivers, as you can see over at his Deviant Art page (Forest Romp is a personal favorite). He even has at least one more Lord of the Rings piece (likely not for the game).

Preston was a great guy to chat with. Besides getting my question answered about the pieces he did, I got to hear what it is like to be an artist and the hopes he has for increasing his work. Now I have even more reason to pause, pick up a card, and admire the effort that went into bringing me the quality gaming experience that Lord of the Ring: The Card Game is.