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!
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Sunday, June 12, 2016
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 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!
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).
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!
Saturday, April 9, 2016
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.
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:
(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.
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.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Quest 33: Trouble in Tharbad
Victory on the first attempt!
The Deck
This deck started off with some brainstorming on the combination of Erestor and Cirdan the Shipwright. What could I do with four cards per turn (seeing five)? I've also been wanting to try out Tale of Tinuviel as well as Fair and Perilous. Core Aragorn (Coragon?) is most un-creative inclusion for Tale of Tinuviel that came to the top of my mind. Card draw + Aragorn made me think that maybe this is time to try out the new Arwen as well (Cirdan will have his day). The idea of Erestor accompanying Aragorn & Arwen on an outing was amusing to me.
Armed with my first draft of heroes and spheres, I started pouring over cheap inclusions: Zero-cost cards, allies that can be put into play for free, allies that put other allies into play for free. I also looked for cards that could take advantage of discard: Protector of Lorien, Steed of Imaldris, Lindon Navigator. With Arwen's ability to add a resource to any of my chosen heroes, two-cost cards were on the table. I did worry that the deck was sacrificing quality cards for cheap cards, but it felt right that what this deck wanted to do was to spit out a ton of small things that would add up to a large effect.
The deck ended up being a blast to play, allowing me to get utilization out of almost every card in my hand. While I'm usually keeping track of quests I would like to return to, this is actually a deck I look forward to coming back and tweaking some day.
Chaperone
Heroes
Aragorn (Core Set)
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Allies
Herald of Anorien x3
Fili x1
Kili x1
Elven Jewler x3
Curious Brandybuck x3
Lindon Navigator x3
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Quickbeam x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x2
Cram x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Spare Hood and Cloak x2
Light of Valinor x2
Steed of Imladris x1
Healing Herbs x3
Protector of Lorien x1
Events
Legacy of Numenor x2
Tale of Tinuviel x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Fair and Perilous x2
Dwarven Tomb x2
A Good Harvest x2
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Voice of Isengard
Trouble in Tharbad
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treacher of Rhudaur
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens
Now, before we get started, here is the funny thing: I would not have taken this deck on this quest if I knew what I was going up against. It's not that I had particular challenges, it's that knowledge of this quest would have encouraged me to experiment in some other directions. Massive orc hate + secrecy is something I would love to play around with, for instance.
The Journey
Player Set-Up
Set starting threat to 31.
Draw: Erebor Hammersmith, Herald of Anorien, Dunedain Warning, Curious Brandybuck, Dunedain Warning, Celebrian's Stone
I'll go for the keep. Still unsure exactly what I want this deck to do. Might normally mulligan in the hopes of getting some more zero costs items, but I know I'll be drawing four more cards.
Encounter Set-Up
Set Bellach and The Crossing at Tharbad out of play. Put one copy of Spy from Mordor in the staging area. Make The Empty Mug the active location. Gain control of Nalir. Flip to side 1B. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Spare Hood and Cloak, Elrond's Counsel. Lindon Navigator
Herald of Anorien into Lindon Navigator sounds like a solid plan. Curious Brandybuck might make it to the table if I can blow past The Empty Mug and reveal a new location.
Planning Phase
Arwen: Discard Dunedain Warning to add one resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Light of Valinor (Arwen -1). Attach to Arwen.
Play: Spare Hood and Cloak. Attach to Erestor.
Play: Elrond's Counsel (The Empty Mug: No threat reduction). Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower.
Shame to not get the threat reduction, but something is better than nothing.
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2). Give it Doomed 2 (raise threat to 33) and put Lindon Navigator into play.
I did debate getting Celebrian's Stone down instead, but two allies will give me some versatility to work with.
Quest Phase
Commit: Arwen (4; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust).
Total Willpower: 8
Reveal: Hidden Allyway
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on The Empty Mug (3/4).
Lindon Navigator: Discard Dunedain Warning.
Drat. Just a bit too low to travel and play my hobbit for free.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engaged by Spy from Mordor
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4). Herald of Anorien defends. shadow: Cornered (+1 attack). Herald of Anorien is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy from Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 34.
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Kili, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Envoy is really my all-time MVP, making it into most of my decks.
Arwen: Discard Healing Herbs to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Play: Kili (Arwen -3). Search deck and put Fili into play.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (2), Arwen (3), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Envoy (1)
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Seedy Inn
Total Threat: 6
Place 1 progress on The Empy Mug, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (4).
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 32.
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 29. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from game.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hidden Allyway (no enemies in play = no threat increase). Add 1 time counter to stage 1B (3/4).
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 30.
Ready all. Raise threat to 31.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Celebrian's Stone, Elvish Jewler, Cram
Planning Phase
Play: Celebrian's Stone (Aragorn -2). Attach to Aragorn.
That's the nice thing about passing on this early: I'm burning through my deck so fast that I was likely to see it again. Not guaranteed, though, so it is still a welcome sight.
Arwen: Discard Light of Valinor to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Play: Elvish Jewler (Arwen -2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Aragorn.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elvish Jewler (1), Envoy (1).
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Spy from Mordor.
Total Threat: 5
Place 5 progress on Hidden Alleway, exploring it.
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 28.
Travel Phase
Travel to Seedy Inn. Search encounter deck and add Orc Hound to the staging area.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hound Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Hound. Attacks! Arwen defends. Shadow: Ruins of the Second Age (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard Cram to ready Aragorn.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 29.
Ready all. Raise threat to 30.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Curious Brandybuck, Cram, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Erestor.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy of Pelargir #1 (1), Envoy of Pelargir #2 (1)
Total Willpower: 16
Spend one of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Streets of Tharbad
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on Seedy Inn, exploring it.
Place 8 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 22.
Rounds 1-3 helped me get set up for success and now it is time to plow through stage 1.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
Travel to Streets of Tharbad.
Put Curious Brandybuck into play.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spy from Mordor.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 40. Place four time counters on stage 1B. Curious Brandybuck defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Curious Brandybuck is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy From Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 23.
Ready all. Raise threat to 24.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4)
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Herald of Anorien, Erebor Hammersmith, Legacy of Numenor
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 21. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from play (The Empty Mug's effect).
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2).
Arwen: Discard Legacy of Numenor to add one resource to Erestor's pool.
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Erestor -2). Add Healing Herbs to hand.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1), Envoy #2 (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1)
Total Willpower: 17
Reveal: Orc Hound. Surge.
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/4).
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on Streets of Tharbad, exploring it.
Place 14 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 7.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Engaged by Orc Hound. Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hound attacks. Arwen defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 1 damage to Arwen.
Orc Hunter attacks. Herald of Anorien defends. Shadow: Constant Tail (no effect). Herald is destroyed.
Discard Cram to ready Erestor. Exhaust Erestor and Spare Hood and Cloak to ready Aragorn. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to Aragorn.
Aragorn + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Discard shadow card.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 8.
Ready all. Raise threat to 9.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4)
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (3), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Steed of Imladris, Fair and Perilous, Tale of Tinuvil, A Good Harvest
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Get That Dwarf! Surge (no enemies).
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 30. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Total Threat: 2
Place 11 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 0.
That stage worked out pretty well. Now I'm waiting for an unexpected slap in the face from stage 2.
Advance to stage 2A. Add Bellach and The Crossroads at Tharbad to the staging area. Shuffle encounter discard into the encounter deck. Discard: Spy from Mordor. Add to the staging area.
Flip to side 2B. Place 3 time counters on stage 2B.
Actually, that's not bad. Really the same general philosophy: quest like crazy.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Steed of Imaldris.
No Travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hunter attacks. Envoy of Pelargir #2 defends. Shadow: Constant Tail. No effect. Envoy is destroyed. Forced (Stage 2B): Raise threat to 2.
Orc Hound attacks. Erebor Hammersmith defends Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 2 damage to Erebor Hammersmith (2/3).
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, and defense for the phase.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Erestor +Nalir declare an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Arwen: Discard A Good Harvest to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 3.
Ready all. Raise threat to 4.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/3)
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (4), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: A Good Harvest, Protector of Lorien, Fair and Perilous, Dwarven Tomb
Planning Phase
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Arwen -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to my hand.
Play: Protector of Lorien (Erestor -1). Attach to Arwen.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelargir (1).
Total Willpower: 16
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Orc Skirmisher
Total Threat: 10
Exhaust Aragorn and Spare Hood and Cloak. Ready Erestor. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to him.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower: 19
I could go Dwarven Tomb -> Tale of Tinuviel to get two more willpower, but I need three and I would rather hold onto the resources for now.
Place 9 progress on The Crossing at Tharbad (9/12).
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard A Good Harvest.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Skirmisher. Deal 3 damage to Erestor (3/4).
I could sacrifice an ally, but I don't care too much about my score and would rather have all the willpower I can keep for next round. Especially since I'll likely need to loose my Navigator this round
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Skrimisher. Attacks! Lindon Navigator defends. Shadow: Cornered (+2 attack). Navigator is destroyed. Raise threat to 6.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Arwen -1). Choose Erestor to add his 2 willpower to his attack for the phase.
Aragorn + Erestor declare an attack on Orc Skrimisher, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 7.
Ready all. Raise threat to 8.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (1/3)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Tale of Tinuviel, Healing Herbs, Herald of Anorien, Dwarven Tomb
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelagir (1).
Total Willpower: 14
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Decrepit Rooftops
Total Threat: 8
Won. Time to win more.
Protector of Lorien: Discard Healing Herbs and Herald of Anorien to give Arwen +2 willpower
Updated Willpower: 16
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Aragorn. Ready Erestor, giving him +2 wilpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated Willpower: 18
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Aragorn -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to hand.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower; 21
Place 13 progress on The Crossing and Tharbad (21/12), exploring it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x70: 70
Ending Threat: 8
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (1 on Arwen, 4 on Erestor)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4
Total Score: 78
The Recap
I am a bit torn on how to classify this quest, in terms of it being a favorite or not. I had a blast playing it due to the deck I was piloting but not necessarily due to the quest it self. Now the mechanic of trying to get to zero threat on stage 1 opens up the possibility for some fun deck design, specifically allowing you to use secrecy cards (eventually) without limiting your starting threat (Shadow and Flame does this as well). That makes me want to come back to this one and do some deck testing, but there was little else about the quest itself that really stuck out as memorable. Still, making it to the list of quests I want to come back to is merit enough to earn it a spot on the Favorite list. Because when the itch to get up to some crazy secrecy shenanigans hits me, I'll be looking to stir up some trouble in Tharbad again.
The Deck
This deck started off with some brainstorming on the combination of Erestor and Cirdan the Shipwright. What could I do with four cards per turn (seeing five)? I've also been wanting to try out Tale of Tinuviel as well as Fair and Perilous. Core Aragorn (Coragon?) is most un-creative inclusion for Tale of Tinuviel that came to the top of my mind. Card draw + Aragorn made me think that maybe this is time to try out the new Arwen as well (Cirdan will have his day). The idea of Erestor accompanying Aragorn & Arwen on an outing was amusing to me.
Armed with my first draft of heroes and spheres, I started pouring over cheap inclusions: Zero-cost cards, allies that can be put into play for free, allies that put other allies into play for free. I also looked for cards that could take advantage of discard: Protector of Lorien, Steed of Imaldris, Lindon Navigator. With Arwen's ability to add a resource to any of my chosen heroes, two-cost cards were on the table. I did worry that the deck was sacrificing quality cards for cheap cards, but it felt right that what this deck wanted to do was to spit out a ton of small things that would add up to a large effect.
The deck ended up being a blast to play, allowing me to get utilization out of almost every card in my hand. While I'm usually keeping track of quests I would like to return to, this is actually a deck I look forward to coming back and tweaking some day.
Chaperone
Heroes
Aragorn (Core Set)
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Allies
Herald of Anorien x3
Fili x1
Kili x1
Elven Jewler x3
Curious Brandybuck x3
Lindon Navigator x3
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Quickbeam x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x2
Cram x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Spare Hood and Cloak x2
Light of Valinor x2
Steed of Imladris x1
Healing Herbs x3
Protector of Lorien x1
Events
Legacy of Numenor x2
Tale of Tinuviel x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Fair and Perilous x2
Dwarven Tomb x2
A Good Harvest x2
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Voice of Isengard
Trouble in Tharbad
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treacher of Rhudaur
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens
Now, before we get started, here is the funny thing: I would not have taken this deck on this quest if I knew what I was going up against. It's not that I had particular challenges, it's that knowledge of this quest would have encouraged me to experiment in some other directions. Massive orc hate + secrecy is something I would love to play around with, for instance.
The Journey
Player Set-Up
Set starting threat to 31.
Draw: Erebor Hammersmith, Herald of Anorien, Dunedain Warning, Curious Brandybuck, Dunedain Warning, Celebrian's Stone
I'll go for the keep. Still unsure exactly what I want this deck to do. Might normally mulligan in the hopes of getting some more zero costs items, but I know I'll be drawing four more cards.
Encounter Set-Up
Set Bellach and The Crossing at Tharbad out of play. Put one copy of Spy from Mordor in the staging area. Make The Empty Mug the active location. Gain control of Nalir. Flip to side 1B. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Spare Hood and Cloak, Elrond's Counsel. Lindon Navigator
Herald of Anorien into Lindon Navigator sounds like a solid plan. Curious Brandybuck might make it to the table if I can blow past The Empty Mug and reveal a new location.
Planning Phase
Arwen: Discard Dunedain Warning to add one resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Light of Valinor (Arwen -1). Attach to Arwen.
Play: Spare Hood and Cloak. Attach to Erestor.
Play: Elrond's Counsel (The Empty Mug: No threat reduction). Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower.
Shame to not get the threat reduction, but something is better than nothing.
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2). Give it Doomed 2 (raise threat to 33) and put Lindon Navigator into play.
I did debate getting Celebrian's Stone down instead, but two allies will give me some versatility to work with.
Quest Phase
Commit: Arwen (4; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust).
Total Willpower: 8
Reveal: Hidden Allyway
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on The Empty Mug (3/4).
Lindon Navigator: Discard Dunedain Warning.
Drat. Just a bit too low to travel and play my hobbit for free.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engaged by Spy from Mordor
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4). Herald of Anorien defends. shadow: Cornered (+1 attack). Herald of Anorien is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy from Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 34.
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Kili, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Envoy is really my all-time MVP, making it into most of my decks.
Arwen: Discard Healing Herbs to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Play: Kili (Arwen -3). Search deck and put Fili into play.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (2), Arwen (3), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Envoy (1)
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Seedy Inn
Total Threat: 6
Place 1 progress on The Empy Mug, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (4).
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 32.
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 29. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from game.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hidden Allyway (no enemies in play = no threat increase). Add 1 time counter to stage 1B (3/4).
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 30.
Ready all. Raise threat to 31.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Celebrian's Stone, Elvish Jewler, Cram
Planning Phase
Play: Celebrian's Stone (Aragorn -2). Attach to Aragorn.
That's the nice thing about passing on this early: I'm burning through my deck so fast that I was likely to see it again. Not guaranteed, though, so it is still a welcome sight.
Arwen: Discard Light of Valinor to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Play: Elvish Jewler (Arwen -2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Aragorn.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elvish Jewler (1), Envoy (1).
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Spy from Mordor.
Total Threat: 5
Place 5 progress on Hidden Alleway, exploring it.
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 28.
Travel Phase
Travel to Seedy Inn. Search encounter deck and add Orc Hound to the staging area.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hound Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Hound. Attacks! Arwen defends. Shadow: Ruins of the Second Age (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard Cram to ready Aragorn.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 29.
Ready all. Raise threat to 30.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Curious Brandybuck, Cram, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Erestor.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy of Pelargir #1 (1), Envoy of Pelargir #2 (1)
Total Willpower: 16
Spend one of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Streets of Tharbad
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on Seedy Inn, exploring it.
Place 8 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 22.
Rounds 1-3 helped me get set up for success and now it is time to plow through stage 1.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
Travel to Streets of Tharbad.
Put Curious Brandybuck into play.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spy from Mordor.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 40. Place four time counters on stage 1B. Curious Brandybuck defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Curious Brandybuck is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy From Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 23.
Ready all. Raise threat to 24.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4)
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Herald of Anorien, Erebor Hammersmith, Legacy of Numenor
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 21. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from play (The Empty Mug's effect).
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2).
Arwen: Discard Legacy of Numenor to add one resource to Erestor's pool.
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Erestor -2). Add Healing Herbs to hand.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1), Envoy #2 (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1)
Total Willpower: 17
Reveal: Orc Hound. Surge.
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/4).
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on Streets of Tharbad, exploring it.
Place 14 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 7.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Engaged by Orc Hound. Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hound attacks. Arwen defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 1 damage to Arwen.
Orc Hunter attacks. Herald of Anorien defends. Shadow: Constant Tail (no effect). Herald is destroyed.
Discard Cram to ready Erestor. Exhaust Erestor and Spare Hood and Cloak to ready Aragorn. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to Aragorn.
Aragorn + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Discard shadow card.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 8.
Ready all. Raise threat to 9.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4)
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (3), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Steed of Imladris, Fair and Perilous, Tale of Tinuvil, A Good Harvest
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Get That Dwarf! Surge (no enemies).
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 30. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Total Threat: 2
Place 11 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 0.
That stage worked out pretty well. Now I'm waiting for an unexpected slap in the face from stage 2.
Advance to stage 2A. Add Bellach and The Crossroads at Tharbad to the staging area. Shuffle encounter discard into the encounter deck. Discard: Spy from Mordor. Add to the staging area.
Flip to side 2B. Place 3 time counters on stage 2B.
Actually, that's not bad. Really the same general philosophy: quest like crazy.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Steed of Imaldris.
No Travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hunter attacks. Envoy of Pelargir #2 defends. Shadow: Constant Tail. No effect. Envoy is destroyed. Forced (Stage 2B): Raise threat to 2.
Orc Hound attacks. Erebor Hammersmith defends Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 2 damage to Erebor Hammersmith (2/3).
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, and defense for the phase.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Erestor +Nalir declare an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Arwen: Discard A Good Harvest to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 3.
Ready all. Raise threat to 4.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/3)
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (4), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: A Good Harvest, Protector of Lorien, Fair and Perilous, Dwarven Tomb
Planning Phase
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Arwen -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to my hand.
Play: Protector of Lorien (Erestor -1). Attach to Arwen.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelargir (1).
Total Willpower: 16
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Orc Skirmisher
Total Threat: 10
Exhaust Aragorn and Spare Hood and Cloak. Ready Erestor. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to him.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower: 19
I could go Dwarven Tomb -> Tale of Tinuviel to get two more willpower, but I need three and I would rather hold onto the resources for now.
Place 9 progress on The Crossing at Tharbad (9/12).
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard A Good Harvest.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Skirmisher. Deal 3 damage to Erestor (3/4).
I could sacrifice an ally, but I don't care too much about my score and would rather have all the willpower I can keep for next round. Especially since I'll likely need to loose my Navigator this round
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Skrimisher. Attacks! Lindon Navigator defends. Shadow: Cornered (+2 attack). Navigator is destroyed. Raise threat to 6.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Arwen -1). Choose Erestor to add his 2 willpower to his attack for the phase.
Aragorn + Erestor declare an attack on Orc Skrimisher, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 7.
Ready all. Raise threat to 8.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (1/3)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Tale of Tinuviel, Healing Herbs, Herald of Anorien, Dwarven Tomb
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelagir (1).
Total Willpower: 14
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Decrepit Rooftops
Total Threat: 8
Won. Time to win more.
Protector of Lorien: Discard Healing Herbs and Herald of Anorien to give Arwen +2 willpower
Updated Willpower: 16
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Aragorn. Ready Erestor, giving him +2 wilpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated Willpower: 18
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Aragorn -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to hand.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower; 21
Place 13 progress on The Crossing and Tharbad (21/12), exploring it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x70: 70
Ending Threat: 8
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (1 on Arwen, 4 on Erestor)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4
Total Score: 78
The Recap
I am a bit torn on how to classify this quest, in terms of it being a favorite or not. I had a blast playing it due to the deck I was piloting but not necessarily due to the quest it self. Now the mechanic of trying to get to zero threat on stage 1 opens up the possibility for some fun deck design, specifically allowing you to use secrecy cards (eventually) without limiting your starting threat (Shadow and Flame does this as well). That makes me want to come back to this one and do some deck testing, but there was little else about the quest itself that really stuck out as memorable. Still, making it to the list of quests I want to come back to is merit enough to earn it a spot on the Favorite list. Because when the itch to get up to some crazy secrecy shenanigans hits me, I'll be looking to stir up some trouble in Tharbad again.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Quest 32: The Three Trials
Victory on the seventh attempt!
Before I start talking about the seventh attempt, let me go over the tragedy that was the second.
Coming hot off a very close first attempt, I did some minor tweaking to the deck but basically went at the quest with the same strategy. I came to the final stage with a massive amount of willpower available, two allies designated for blocking each guardian, plus a few extra allies set aside for the Spirit of the Wilds that had built up.
Now I do remember seeing the 10% battery warning on my computer. I told myself "I should plug this in...right after my next quick household task." Warning subsequently forgotten, I played on with increasing excitement as victory drew nearer!
Then the screen went black.
I ran to a power source, fearing what I would find when I woke the machine back up, and was greeted with the dreaded...
No going back. No way to even copy & paste the textbox, which would have allowed me to go through the tedious work of "resetting" where I was.
Lesson learned (and implemented) from this: Cntrl+A then Cntrl+C in the log box every now and then during subsequent attempts.
My spirits crushed, I bashed the deck against the quest a few more times over the next few weeks, making poor strategic choices and coming to an early end. After a brief break I was able to look at the deck with fresh eyes, make some strengthening cuts & additions, and reach sweet victory!
The Deck
Distant Stars earned my admiration and obsession after my first attempt. In fact, some of my middle attempts were lost primarily to poor decisions made while waiting around for that specific card to appear. While I tried to start making better strategic decisions, I wanted to maximize my realistic chances of seeing this card in Round 1. Mithrandir's Advice, Scroll of Isildur, and Galadhrim Minstrel all made the cut primarily for this goal (with the first two just being solid card draw in their own right).
Next was Treebeard. Man that tree is a beast! But he requires TLC. Elrond, Warden of Healing, The Long Defeat, Lembas, Healing Herbs, and Erebor Hammersmith (to get back those last two) made the cut.
Damrod and his traps proved useless in that first attempt, but a ranger was still needed for Distant Stars. I tried Beravor for a while, hoping to get a little card advantage, but only used her draw ability once. I did threat out on that first attempt and continued getting too close for comfort to 50. Aragorn, while raising my starting threat, would (hypothetically) double the amount of time I had to finish the quest. And he's a solid attacker, which I hoped would come in handy for the Trial of Strength.
The Ent theme went out, as they proved too slow for my needs and the pace I needed allies available. Quickbeam is, well, quick and made the cut. Wellinghall Preserver helps with maintaining Treebeard, quests for three, and can block some attacks.
20 Allies + 15 Attachments +15 events is my tried and true standard. But I hear that all the kids on the street are talking about 50% ally recommendations. I figured it was time to see what this newfangled idea, presented by the game designers back in year one of the game, was all about.
Legend of the Three Trials, v.2
Heroes
Treebeard
Rossiel
Aragorn
Allies (26)
Henamarth Riversong x2
Wellinghall Preserver x3
Quickbeam x2
Elrond x3
Warden of Healing x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Galadhrim Minstrel x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Saruman x1
Ranger of Cardolan x3
Attachements (11)
Lembas x3
Scroll of Isildur x3
Wingfoot x1
Healing Herbs x3
The Long Defeat x1
Events (13)
Distant Stars x3
Secret Paths x3
Mithrandir's Advice x3
Waters of Nimrodel x1
Out of the Wild x3
Sets Used
Core
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
The Steward's Fear
The Druadan Forest
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Battle of Carn Dum
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 33.
Draw: White Tower Watchman, Mithrandir's Advice,Galadhrim Minstrel, Ranger of Cardolan, Secret Paths, Warden of Healing.
This is a pretty well-rounded opening hand. I have two ways to search for Distant Stars, a way to deal with nasty location or enemy reveals for just one resource, a means of healing, and a means of surviving a surprise undefended attack. Keep and go!
Encounter Setup
Start at stage 1A. Flip Guardians, Barrow locations, and keys upside down in separate piles & shuffle. Advance to stage 1B and discard.
Advance to stage 2A: The Trial of Perseverance. Flip up Stone Barrow and add it to the staging area. Flip up Key of the Wolf and add it to the staging area. Search for Wolf's Guardian and add it to the staging area, attaching Key of the Wolf. Add three time counters to Wolf's Guardian. Advance to stage 2B. Wolf's Guardian engages me.
I am really happy with this setup. Stone Barrow can really mess you up in the late game when you need to be conservative with your threat. And, since stage 1 is typically over very quickly for me due to Distant Stars, having the toughest Guardian up first is best.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Wellinghall Preserver
Planning Phase
Play: Mithrandir's Advice (Treebeard -1). Draw: Wellinghall Preserver, Galadhrim Minstrel, Distant Stars
Perfect! The stars have aligned. I have to admit, I rely on this card way too much to get this quest started off right. My own personal skill challenge would be beating this quest without Distant Stars.
Play: Warden of Healing (Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1)
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Playing it a bit risky with the threat here, but I'm counting on Loragon to save me towards the end of the game.
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 35).
Total Threat: 3
Raise threat to 36
Travel Phase
Travel to Stone Barrow.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Forced (Stone Barrow): Raise threat to 38. Treebeard defends. Shadow: The Guardian's Fury (Makes additional attack). Deal two damage to Treebeard (2/5).
Deal new shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Forced (Stone Barrow): Raise threat to 40. Aragorn defends. Shadow: Cursed Forest ("if this attack destroys..." no effect). Deal three damage to Aragorn (3/5).
Exhaust Warden of Healing to heal one damage from Treebeard (1/5) and one damage from Aragorn (2/5).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (2/3).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Secret Paths
Planning Phase
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (3)
Total Willpower: 3
Reveal: Turned Around. Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (1/3).
Total Threat: 1
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard to give him +1 willpower (2/5).
Updated Willpower: 4
Place 3 progress on Grim Foothills, discarding it.
Play: Distant Stars. Exhaust Aragorn. Discard Stone Barrow. Search encounter deck and make Cursed Forest the active location. Shuffle encounter. Add Wolf's Guardian to the victory display (3). Attach Key of the Wolf to Aragorn.
Discard Stage 2B: The Trial of Perseverance. Proceed to stage 2A: The Trial of Strength. Add Boar's Guardian to the staging area. Place two time counters on Boar's Guardian. Add Cave Barrow to the staging area. Attach Key of the Boar to Boar's Guardian. Flip to side 2B. Boar's Guardian engages me.
Now this is a big departure for me from the previous six attempts. I have been going Perseverance -> Intuition -> Strength. Two close victories, but still six failures are six failures. Focusing some of the themes in my deck was one strategy for mixing it up this time, but maybe an adjustment in how I proceed through this quest will also make a difference. Doing a bit of math, I think I might be able to take out the Boar's Guardian within a few rounds.
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: Ancient Forest (exhaust a character). Exhaust Warden of Healing. No damage dealt.
Discard shadow.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal one damage on Treebeard (1/5).
Raise threat to 41.
Remove 1 time counter from Boar's Guardian (1/2)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: The Long Defeat
Planning Phase
Play none.
Quest Phase
Commit: None.
Total Willpower: 0
Crazy, eh? Counting on Aragorn's help soon and wanting to reserve everyone for an all-out attack on Boar's Guardian.
Reveal: Curse of the Wild Men (deal 1 damage to all non-unique characters).. Deal 1 damage to Warden of Healing, destroying him. Deal 1 damage to Wellinghall Preserver (2/3).
Total Threat: 3
Increase threat to 44.
No Travel and No Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: The Guardian's Fury (Makes additional attack). No damage dealt.
Deal second shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Wellinghall Preserver defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack due to one key). Wellinghall Preserver is destroyed.
Well I didn't want that to happen, but hopefully I can still pull of the needed damage next turn.
Deal 3 damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (4/5).
Treebeard + Aragorn declare an attack on Spirit of the Wild, dealing 5 damage (5/10).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.
Remove final time counter from Boar's Guardian. No allies to discard.
Place two time counters on Boar's Guardian.
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Lembas
Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: White Tower Watchman (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1).
Play: The Long Defeat (Aragorn -1). Attach to Stage 2B.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Reveal: Spirit of the Wild
Total Threat: 4
Raise threat to 47.
Discard Lembas. Ready Treebeard and heal three damage (1/5).
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Spirit of the Wild.
Put Ranger of Cardolan into play (Rossiel -1).
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Boar's Guardian and Spirit of the Wild.
Spirit of the Wild attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Turned Around ("if attack is undefended" no effect). No damage dealt.
Boar's Guardian attacks. Ranger of Cardolan defends. Shadow: Wild Tenacity (if guardian, deal two additional shadow cards). Shadow #2: Tangled Woods (no effect). Shadow #3: Ancient Forest (exhaust a character). Exhaust Rossiel. Deal two damage to Ranger of Cardolan (2/3).
Deal three damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (4/5).
Treebeard + Aragorn declare an attack on Boar's Guardian, destroying him and adding him to the victory display (6). Attach Key of the Boar to Treebeard. Add Cave Barrow to the victory display (8). Discard stage 2B: Trial of Strength. Response (The Long Defeat): Heal four damage from Treebeard (0/5) and one damage from Aragorn (1/5).
Advance to stage 2A: Trial of Intuition. Add Raven's Guardian and Hill Barrow to the staging area. Place four time counters on Raven's Guardian. Shuffle Key of the Raven into the bottom ten cards of the encounter deck.
Only 12 cards left in the encounter deck! Should find this guy soon.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 48.
Use Aragorn's ability to lower threat to 33.
Shuffle Ranger of Cardolan back into player deck.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4).
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Warden of Healing.
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4).
Reveal: Curse of the Wild Men (1 damage to each non-unique character). Deal 1 damage to White Tower Watchman (2/3).
Play: Secret Paths (Treebeard -1), targeting Hill Barrow.
Total Threat: 0
Place 3 progress on Cursed Forest, exploring it.
Instead of placing 1 progress on stage 2B, discard: Ancient Forest.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hill Barrow.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Raven's Guardian, Spirit of the Wild.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Deal additional shadow card. Aragorn defends. Shadow 1: Key of the Raven (shuffle into encounter deck). Shadow 2: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack for each key = +2 attack). Deal 3 damage to Aragorn (4/5).
Spirit of the Wild attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+2 attack). White Tower Watchman is destroyed.
Deal three damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (3/5).
Treebeard declares an attack on Spirit of the Wild, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 34.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Ranger of Cardolan
Planning Phase
Play: Warden of Healing (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1).
Exhaust Warden of Healing. Heal one damage from Treebeard (2/5) and one from Aragorn (3/5)
Play: Galadhrim Minstrel (Aragorn -2). Look at top five cards of player deck. Add Out of the Wild to my hand. Shuffle player deck.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4).
Total Threat: 0
Place 4 progress on Hill Barrow (4/6).
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Deal second shadow card. Galadhrim Minstrel defends. Shadow 1: Tangled Woods (no effect). Shadow 2: Key of the Raven (shuffle into encounter deck). Galadhrim Minstrel is destroyed.
Ha. Nice. Shadow card again! I'll find you during the staging setup at some point....
Aragorn + Treebeard declare an attack on Raven's Guardian, dealing 1 damage (1/8).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Exhaust Warden of Healing. Heal 1 damage on Treebeard (1/5) and one from Aragorn (2/5).
Remove final time counter from Raven's Guardian.
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard (2/5)
Deal 1 damage to Rossiel (1/3)
Deal 1 damage to Aragorn (3/5)
Deal 1 damage to Warden of Healing, destroying it.
Add four time counters to Raven's Guardian.
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Healing Herbs. Attach to Aragorn.
Play: Galadhrim Ministrel (Treebeard -1, Aragorn -1). Look at top 5 cards of player deck, adding nothing to hand, and shuffling player deck.
Wiff.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Reveal: Tangled Woods
Total threat: 2
Place 2 progress on Hill Barrow, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (10).
Travel Phase
Travel to Tangled Woods. Exhaust Aragorn.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Grim Foothills (no effect). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 36.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (3), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Mithrandir's Advice
Planning Phase
Play: Mithrandir's Advice (Rossiel -1). Draw: Warden of Healing. Lembas, Elrond.
Play: Lembas (Rossiel -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4)
Total Threat: 0
Place 4 progress on Tangled Woods, exploring it.
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Key of the Raven (no effect). No damage dealt.
Dude! Do I need to go through every other remaining card first?
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Remove 1 damage from Treebeard (1/5).
Raise threat to 37.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4)
Round 9
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Scroll of Isildur
Planning Phase
Play: Warden of Healing (Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1).
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total willpower: 4
Reveal: Key of the Raven
Yes! Now to survive this round and quest like crazy on the next one.
Attach Key of the Raven to Rosiel.
Discard stage 2A: Trial of Intuition. Proceed to stage 3A. Add Hallowed Circle to the staging area. Reveal Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian from the victory display, adding them to the staging area. Place 4 time counters on Raven's Guardian, 3 on Boar's Guardian, and 2 on Wolf's Guardian.
Flip to side 3B. Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian engage me.
Put Ranger of Cardolan into play (Treebeard -1).
Travel Phase
Travel to Hallowed Circle. Exhaust all three keys.
Deal shadow card's to Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Wellinghall preserver defends. Shadow: Grim Foothills (no effect). Deal 1 damage to Wellinghall Preserver (1/3).
Wolf's Guardian attacks. Warden of Healing defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+3 attack). Warden of Healing is destroyed.
Boar's Guardian attacks. Ranger of Cardolan defends. Shadow: Turned Around ("if undefended..." no effect). Deal two damage to Ranger of Cardolan (2/3).
Note: When I played, I thought the second Galadhrim Minstrel died to Raven's Guardian's forced effect, thus she was not utilized here.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
No shadow cards added.
The encounter deck is empty! Just need to survive three pure attacks this round and we are good to go!
Boar's Guardian attacks! Treebeard defends. Deal two damage to Treebeard (3/5).
Discard Lembas. Ready Treebeard and remove three damage (0/5).
Wolf's Guardian attacks! Treebeard defends. Deal three damage to Treebeard (3/5).
Exhaust Aragorn and discard Healing Herbs to heal all damage from Treebeard (0/5).
Raven's Guardian attacks! Undefended. Place 3 damage on Treebeard (3/5).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal 1 damage from Treebeard (2/5).
Raise threat to 38.
Shuffle Ranger of Cardolan into the encounter deck.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4)
Remove 1 time counter from Boar's Guardian (2/3)
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (1/2)
Round 10
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Out of the Wild
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Heal all damage from Aragorn (0/5).
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Aragorn (2), Wellinghall Preserver (3), Elrond (3)
Total Willpower: 14
Reveal: Turned Around. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Total Threat: 0
Place 12 progress on Hallowed Circle, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (15)
Place 2 progress on stage 3B, clearing it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x9: 90
Ending Threat: 37
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (2 on Treebeard, 1 on Rossiel)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -15
Total Score: 116
The Recap
That victory was a rush and this quest was a blast. It has everything I love: mid-range difficulty and a lot of fair variety ("fair" meaning the variety does not include encounter setups that basically just loose you the game). Can you go at this quest with any deck you choose? Probably not. Your secrecy trap deck is likely not going to fair too well. But I think there are quite a few choices that you could have a great time with. I, personally, will definitely undergo these trials again in the future!
Before I start talking about the seventh attempt, let me go over the tragedy that was the second.
Coming hot off a very close first attempt, I did some minor tweaking to the deck but basically went at the quest with the same strategy. I came to the final stage with a massive amount of willpower available, two allies designated for blocking each guardian, plus a few extra allies set aside for the Spirit of the Wilds that had built up.
Now I do remember seeing the 10% battery warning on my computer. I told myself "I should plug this in...right after my next quick household task." Warning subsequently forgotten, I played on with increasing excitement as victory drew nearer!
Then the screen went black.
I ran to a power source, fearing what I would find when I woke the machine back up, and was greeted with the dreaded...
No going back. No way to even copy & paste the textbox, which would have allowed me to go through the tedious work of "resetting" where I was.
Lesson learned (and implemented) from this: Cntrl+A then Cntrl+C in the log box every now and then during subsequent attempts.
My spirits crushed, I bashed the deck against the quest a few more times over the next few weeks, making poor strategic choices and coming to an early end. After a brief break I was able to look at the deck with fresh eyes, make some strengthening cuts & additions, and reach sweet victory!
The Deck
Distant Stars earned my admiration and obsession after my first attempt. In fact, some of my middle attempts were lost primarily to poor decisions made while waiting around for that specific card to appear. While I tried to start making better strategic decisions, I wanted to maximize my realistic chances of seeing this card in Round 1. Mithrandir's Advice, Scroll of Isildur, and Galadhrim Minstrel all made the cut primarily for this goal (with the first two just being solid card draw in their own right).
Next was Treebeard. Man that tree is a beast! But he requires TLC. Elrond, Warden of Healing, The Long Defeat, Lembas, Healing Herbs, and Erebor Hammersmith (to get back those last two) made the cut.
Damrod and his traps proved useless in that first attempt, but a ranger was still needed for Distant Stars. I tried Beravor for a while, hoping to get a little card advantage, but only used her draw ability once. I did threat out on that first attempt and continued getting too close for comfort to 50. Aragorn, while raising my starting threat, would (hypothetically) double the amount of time I had to finish the quest. And he's a solid attacker, which I hoped would come in handy for the Trial of Strength.
The Ent theme went out, as they proved too slow for my needs and the pace I needed allies available. Quickbeam is, well, quick and made the cut. Wellinghall Preserver helps with maintaining Treebeard, quests for three, and can block some attacks.
20 Allies + 15 Attachments +15 events is my tried and true standard. But I hear that all the kids on the street are talking about 50% ally recommendations. I figured it was time to see what this newfangled idea, presented by the game designers back in year one of the game, was all about.
Legend of the Three Trials, v.2
Heroes
Treebeard
Rossiel
Aragorn
Allies (26)
Henamarth Riversong x2
Wellinghall Preserver x3
Quickbeam x2
Elrond x3
Warden of Healing x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Galadhrim Minstrel x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Saruman x1
Ranger of Cardolan x3
Attachements (11)
Lembas x3
Scroll of Isildur x3
Wingfoot x1
Healing Herbs x3
The Long Defeat x1
Events (13)
Distant Stars x3
Secret Paths x3
Mithrandir's Advice x3
Waters of Nimrodel x1
Out of the Wild x3
Sets Used
Core
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
The Steward's Fear
The Druadan Forest
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Battle of Carn Dum
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 33.
Draw: White Tower Watchman, Mithrandir's Advice,Galadhrim Minstrel, Ranger of Cardolan, Secret Paths, Warden of Healing.
This is a pretty well-rounded opening hand. I have two ways to search for Distant Stars, a way to deal with nasty location or enemy reveals for just one resource, a means of healing, and a means of surviving a surprise undefended attack. Keep and go!
Encounter Setup
Start at stage 1A. Flip Guardians, Barrow locations, and keys upside down in separate piles & shuffle. Advance to stage 1B and discard.
Advance to stage 2A: The Trial of Perseverance. Flip up Stone Barrow and add it to the staging area. Flip up Key of the Wolf and add it to the staging area. Search for Wolf's Guardian and add it to the staging area, attaching Key of the Wolf. Add three time counters to Wolf's Guardian. Advance to stage 2B. Wolf's Guardian engages me.
I am really happy with this setup. Stone Barrow can really mess you up in the late game when you need to be conservative with your threat. And, since stage 1 is typically over very quickly for me due to Distant Stars, having the toughest Guardian up first is best.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Wellinghall Preserver
Planning Phase
Play: Mithrandir's Advice (Treebeard -1). Draw: Wellinghall Preserver, Galadhrim Minstrel, Distant Stars
Perfect! The stars have aligned. I have to admit, I rely on this card way too much to get this quest started off right. My own personal skill challenge would be beating this quest without Distant Stars.
Play: Warden of Healing (Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1)
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Playing it a bit risky with the threat here, but I'm counting on Loragon to save me towards the end of the game.
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 35).
Total Threat: 3
Raise threat to 36
Travel Phase
Travel to Stone Barrow.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Forced (Stone Barrow): Raise threat to 38. Treebeard defends. Shadow: The Guardian's Fury (Makes additional attack). Deal two damage to Treebeard (2/5).
Deal new shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Forced (Stone Barrow): Raise threat to 40. Aragorn defends. Shadow: Cursed Forest ("if this attack destroys..." no effect). Deal three damage to Aragorn (3/5).
Exhaust Warden of Healing to heal one damage from Treebeard (1/5) and one damage from Aragorn (2/5).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (2/3).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Secret Paths
Planning Phase
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (3)
Total Willpower: 3
Reveal: Turned Around. Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (1/3).
Total Threat: 1
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard to give him +1 willpower (2/5).
Updated Willpower: 4
Place 3 progress on Grim Foothills, discarding it.
Play: Distant Stars. Exhaust Aragorn. Discard Stone Barrow. Search encounter deck and make Cursed Forest the active location. Shuffle encounter. Add Wolf's Guardian to the victory display (3). Attach Key of the Wolf to Aragorn.
Discard Stage 2B: The Trial of Perseverance. Proceed to stage 2A: The Trial of Strength. Add Boar's Guardian to the staging area. Place two time counters on Boar's Guardian. Add Cave Barrow to the staging area. Attach Key of the Boar to Boar's Guardian. Flip to side 2B. Boar's Guardian engages me.
Now this is a big departure for me from the previous six attempts. I have been going Perseverance -> Intuition -> Strength. Two close victories, but still six failures are six failures. Focusing some of the themes in my deck was one strategy for mixing it up this time, but maybe an adjustment in how I proceed through this quest will also make a difference. Doing a bit of math, I think I might be able to take out the Boar's Guardian within a few rounds.
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: Ancient Forest (exhaust a character). Exhaust Warden of Healing. No damage dealt.
Discard shadow.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal one damage on Treebeard (1/5).
Raise threat to 41.
Remove 1 time counter from Boar's Guardian (1/2)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: The Long Defeat
Planning Phase
Play none.
Quest Phase
Commit: None.
Total Willpower: 0
Crazy, eh? Counting on Aragorn's help soon and wanting to reserve everyone for an all-out attack on Boar's Guardian.
Reveal: Curse of the Wild Men (deal 1 damage to all non-unique characters).. Deal 1 damage to Warden of Healing, destroying him. Deal 1 damage to Wellinghall Preserver (2/3).
Total Threat: 3
Increase threat to 44.
No Travel and No Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: The Guardian's Fury (Makes additional attack). No damage dealt.
Deal second shadow card to Boar's Guardian. Wellinghall Preserver defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack due to one key). Wellinghall Preserver is destroyed.
Well I didn't want that to happen, but hopefully I can still pull of the needed damage next turn.
Deal 3 damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (4/5).
Treebeard + Aragorn declare an attack on Spirit of the Wild, dealing 5 damage (5/10).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.
Remove final time counter from Boar's Guardian. No allies to discard.
Place two time counters on Boar's Guardian.
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Lembas
Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: White Tower Watchman (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1).
Play: The Long Defeat (Aragorn -1). Attach to Stage 2B.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Reveal: Spirit of the Wild
Total Threat: 4
Raise threat to 47.
Discard Lembas. Ready Treebeard and heal three damage (1/5).
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Spirit of the Wild.
Put Ranger of Cardolan into play (Rossiel -1).
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Boar's Guardian and Spirit of the Wild.
Spirit of the Wild attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Turned Around ("if attack is undefended" no effect). No damage dealt.
Boar's Guardian attacks. Ranger of Cardolan defends. Shadow: Wild Tenacity (if guardian, deal two additional shadow cards). Shadow #2: Tangled Woods (no effect). Shadow #3: Ancient Forest (exhaust a character). Exhaust Rossiel. Deal two damage to Ranger of Cardolan (2/3).
Deal three damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (4/5).
Treebeard + Aragorn declare an attack on Boar's Guardian, destroying him and adding him to the victory display (6). Attach Key of the Boar to Treebeard. Add Cave Barrow to the victory display (8). Discard stage 2B: Trial of Strength. Response (The Long Defeat): Heal four damage from Treebeard (0/5) and one damage from Aragorn (1/5).
Advance to stage 2A: Trial of Intuition. Add Raven's Guardian and Hill Barrow to the staging area. Place four time counters on Raven's Guardian. Shuffle Key of the Raven into the bottom ten cards of the encounter deck.
Only 12 cards left in the encounter deck! Should find this guy soon.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 48.
Use Aragorn's ability to lower threat to 33.
Shuffle Ranger of Cardolan back into player deck.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4).
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Warden of Healing.
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4).
Reveal: Curse of the Wild Men (1 damage to each non-unique character). Deal 1 damage to White Tower Watchman (2/3).
Play: Secret Paths (Treebeard -1), targeting Hill Barrow.
Total Threat: 0
Place 3 progress on Cursed Forest, exploring it.
Instead of placing 1 progress on stage 2B, discard: Ancient Forest.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hill Barrow.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Raven's Guardian, Spirit of the Wild.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Deal additional shadow card. Aragorn defends. Shadow 1: Key of the Raven (shuffle into encounter deck). Shadow 2: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack for each key = +2 attack). Deal 3 damage to Aragorn (4/5).
Spirit of the Wild attacks. White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+2 attack). White Tower Watchman is destroyed.
Deal three damage to Treebeard to give him +3 attack (3/5).
Treebeard declares an attack on Spirit of the Wild, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 34.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Ranger of Cardolan
Planning Phase
Play: Warden of Healing (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1).
Exhaust Warden of Healing. Heal one damage from Treebeard (2/5) and one from Aragorn (3/5)
Play: Galadhrim Minstrel (Aragorn -2). Look at top five cards of player deck. Add Out of the Wild to my hand. Shuffle player deck.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4).
Total Threat: 0
Place 4 progress on Hill Barrow (4/6).
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Deal second shadow card. Galadhrim Minstrel defends. Shadow 1: Tangled Woods (no effect). Shadow 2: Key of the Raven (shuffle into encounter deck). Galadhrim Minstrel is destroyed.
Ha. Nice. Shadow card again! I'll find you during the staging setup at some point....
Aragorn + Treebeard declare an attack on Raven's Guardian, dealing 1 damage (1/8).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Exhaust Warden of Healing. Heal 1 damage on Treebeard (1/5) and one from Aragorn (2/5).
Remove final time counter from Raven's Guardian.
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard (2/5)
Deal 1 damage to Rossiel (1/3)
Deal 1 damage to Aragorn (3/5)
Deal 1 damage to Warden of Healing, destroying it.
Add four time counters to Raven's Guardian.
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Healing Herbs. Attach to Aragorn.
Play: Galadhrim Ministrel (Treebeard -1, Aragorn -1). Look at top 5 cards of player deck, adding nothing to hand, and shuffling player deck.
Wiff.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Reveal: Tangled Woods
Total threat: 2
Place 2 progress on Hill Barrow, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (10).
Travel Phase
Travel to Tangled Woods. Exhaust Aragorn.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Grim Foothills (no effect). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 36.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (3), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Mithrandir's Advice
Planning Phase
Play: Mithrandir's Advice (Rossiel -1). Draw: Warden of Healing. Lembas, Elrond.
Play: Lembas (Rossiel -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4)
Total Threat: 0
Place 4 progress on Tangled Woods, exploring it.
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Add shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Key of the Raven (no effect). No damage dealt.
Dude! Do I need to go through every other remaining card first?
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Remove 1 damage from Treebeard (1/5).
Raise threat to 37.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4)
Round 9
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Aragorn (1)
Draw: Scroll of Isildur
Planning Phase
Play: Warden of Healing (Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1).
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (4)
Total willpower: 4
Reveal: Key of the Raven
Yes! Now to survive this round and quest like crazy on the next one.
Attach Key of the Raven to Rosiel.
Discard stage 2A: Trial of Intuition. Proceed to stage 3A. Add Hallowed Circle to the staging area. Reveal Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian from the victory display, adding them to the staging area. Place 4 time counters on Raven's Guardian, 3 on Boar's Guardian, and 2 on Wolf's Guardian.
Flip to side 3B. Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian engage me.
Put Ranger of Cardolan into play (Treebeard -1).
Travel Phase
Travel to Hallowed Circle. Exhaust all three keys.
Deal shadow card's to Raven's Guardian, Boar's Guardian, and Wolf's Guardian.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Wellinghall preserver defends. Shadow: Grim Foothills (no effect). Deal 1 damage to Wellinghall Preserver (1/3).
Wolf's Guardian attacks. Warden of Healing defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+3 attack). Warden of Healing is destroyed.
Boar's Guardian attacks. Ranger of Cardolan defends. Shadow: Turned Around ("if undefended..." no effect). Deal two damage to Ranger of Cardolan (2/3).
Note: When I played, I thought the second Galadhrim Minstrel died to Raven's Guardian's forced effect, thus she was not utilized here.
No Engagements
Combat Phase
No shadow cards added.
The encounter deck is empty! Just need to survive three pure attacks this round and we are good to go!
Boar's Guardian attacks! Treebeard defends. Deal two damage to Treebeard (3/5).
Discard Lembas. Ready Treebeard and remove three damage (0/5).
Wolf's Guardian attacks! Treebeard defends. Deal three damage to Treebeard (3/5).
Exhaust Aragorn and discard Healing Herbs to heal all damage from Treebeard (0/5).
Raven's Guardian attacks! Undefended. Place 3 damage on Treebeard (3/5).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal 1 damage from Treebeard (2/5).
Raise threat to 38.
Shuffle Ranger of Cardolan into the encounter deck.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4)
Remove 1 time counter from Boar's Guardian (2/3)
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf's Guardian (1/2)
Round 10
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Aragorn (2)
Draw: Out of the Wild
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond (Treebeard -1, Rossiel -1, Aragorn -1). Heal all damage from Aragorn (0/5).
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Aragorn (2), Wellinghall Preserver (3), Elrond (3)
Total Willpower: 14
Reveal: Turned Around. Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Total Threat: 0
Place 12 progress on Hallowed Circle, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (15)
Place 2 progress on stage 3B, clearing it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x9: 90
Ending Threat: 37
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (2 on Treebeard, 1 on Rossiel)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -15
Total Score: 116
The Recap
That victory was a rush and this quest was a blast. It has everything I love: mid-range difficulty and a lot of fair variety ("fair" meaning the variety does not include encounter setups that basically just loose you the game). Can you go at this quest with any deck you choose? Probably not. Your secrecy trap deck is likely not going to fair too well. But I think there are quite a few choices that you could have a great time with. I, personally, will definitely undergo these trials again in the future!
Thursday, February 4, 2016
The First Attempt: The Three Trials
I frequently see players asking how others take on a quest for the first time: Do they look at the encounter deck in detail? Skim over it? Or go in fully blind? I am in the "fully blind" camp, preferring to be taken fully by surprise the first go-around and then giving pertinent parts of the quest a look-over afterwards (usually the text of any quest stages I did not make it to). This often makes for a brutal, short first attempt and shows that my deck needs to be massively re-tooled. Much to my surprise, this first attempt against The Three Trials went surprisingly well and I figured (as I had been recording it anyway) it might be worth keeping as a sample of what an initial attempt looks like for me.
The Deck
"I want to beat this one with mono-Lore."
That was my thought going into The Three Trials. I love that the card pool is rich enough where brazen statements like that can be declared. Okay, maybe it's not that brazen. Saying "mono-Lore" is still leaving a wide range of options open. Am I playing pure Silvan? Pure Noldor? Rangers? Gondor? Secrecy? Honestly, I think Lore is most well-rounded sphere and it is a joy to go back to it when I get the itch.
In initially tackling a quest, I draft up a fun deck with the expectation that it will need quite a bit of re-tooling later. For this attempt, I wanted to play around with Rossiel, Ents, and some ranger tricks. The goal would be narrowing the focus to one or two synergies the second time around. I actually came up with a v.2 of this deck before the first attempt, but already had this version built.
Legend of the Three Trials
Heroes
Treebeard
Rossiel
Damrod (The Land of Shadow)
Allies
Henamarth Riversong x2
Galadhirm Minstrel x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Gildor Inglorion x1
Elrond (The Road Darkens) x1
Quickbeam x1
Wandering Ent x2
Willinghall Preserver x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Attachments
Self-Preservation x1
Asfaloth x1
Wingfoot x1
A Burning Brand x2
Lembas x3
Ranger Spikes x3
Ambush x3
Events
Don't Be Hasty x2
Distant Stars x2
Out of the Wild x2
Leave No Trace x3
None Return x3
The Door is Closed x3
Side Quests
Scout Ahead
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Over Hill and Under Hill
Road to Rivendell
Heirs of Numenor
The Druadan Forest
The Road Darkens
Trouble in Tharbad
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treachery of Rhuduar
The Land of Shadow
The Journey
Player Setup
Starting Threat: 29
Draw: Henamarth Riversong, Out of the Wild, Lembas, Asfaloth, Distant Stars, Wingfoot
This is basically a magic Christmas land opening hand for this deck. I have an event for Rossiel, Wingfoot + Henamarth to keep Damrod ready and me fully aware, healing & readying for Treebeard in Lembas, and Asfaloth to help with those initial locations. Let's do this.
Encounter Setup
Stage 1A. Set aside all three Guardian enemies, all three Key objectives, all three Barrow locations, and Hallowed Circle.
Flip to 1B. Advance to a stage 2A of my choice.
Let's take a look here. I have trials of Intuition, Perseverance, and Strength. Strength is out for now until I get my ents built up. Intuition says it shuffles the key to the bottom of the encounter deck, so I need to burn through some cards before getting that. Perseverance attaches a random Key to a random Barrow, so likely has a question element. Let's go for that.
Advance to: The Trial of Perseverance. Randomly choose Stone Barrow and add it to the staging area. Randomly choose Key of the Boar and add it to the staging area. Find Boar's Guardian and add him to the staging area. Add two time counters to Boar's Guardian.
Looks like the Boar's Guardian is going to be brutal towards my allies, so I may hold back those a little more. We'll see.
Advance to stage 2B. Boar's Guardian engages me.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent
So I'm looking over my game plan for the planning phase and it just hit me how amazing Distant Stars is for this quest.
Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Henamarth Riversong (Rossiel -1).
Play: Wingfoot (Damrod -1). Attach to Damrod.
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at the top card (encounter): Grim Foothills
Quest Phase
Commit: Damrod (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 31).
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 3
Raise threat to 32.
Travel Phase
Travel to Stone Barrow.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Boar's Guardian.
Play: Distant Stars. Exhaust Damrod. Discard Stone Barrow. Attach Key of the Boar to Damrod. Add Boar's Guardian to the victory display (2). Discard shadow card (Spirit of the Wild). Search the encounter deck and make Cursed Forest the active location.
Advance to a new stage 2A: The Trial of Strength. Randomly choose Raven's Guardian and Cave Barrow, adding them to the staging area. Attach Key of the Raven to Raven's Guardian.
Add 4 time counters to Raven's Guardian.
Flip to side 2B. Raven's Guardian engages me.
Raven's Guardian attacks! No shadow. Rossiel defends (+2 defense). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Tangled Woods.
I want to play a Wandering Ent to get Raven's Guardian taken care of soon, but I'm a little wary of how much the staging area is building up. One option would be to play "Out of the Wild" right now and give Rossiel +4 willpower against Forest locations. Nope.
Play: Wandering Ent (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Damrod (2)
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Tangled Woods
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 5
Raise threat to 34
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: Tangeled Woods (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw:Gladhrim Minstrel
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Spirit of the Wild.
Play: Wandering Ent #2 (Treebeard -2).
Play: Asfaloth (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Attach to Rossiel.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (1/3).
Quest Phase
Commit: Damrod (2). Name (Wingfoot): Enemy.
Total Willpower: 2
Reveal: Spirit of the Wild
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 8
Raise threat to 41
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spirit of the Wild.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Raven's Guardian, Spirit of the Wild.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Rossiel defends. Shadow: Turned Around (no effect since attack is defended). No damage dealt.
Spirit of the Wild attacks. Wandering Ent defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack). Wandering Ent takes 1 damage (1/3).
Treebeard + Damrod declare an attack on Spirit of the Wild, destroying it.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Leave No Trace
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Wild Tenacity.
Do I get rid of this with Out of the Wild? No threat would be added to the staging area if I keep it, but I loose Henamarth. Still, the reveal could be much worse and I should just go with it.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (2), Damrod (2).
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery.
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove final time counter from Raven's Guardian.
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard (1/5)
Deal 1 damage to Rossiel (1/3)
Deal 1 damage to Damrod (1/4)
Deal 1 damage to Henamarth Riversong, destroying him.
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #1 (2/3)
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #2 (1/3)
Place four time counter on Raven's Guardian.
Ready Damrod.
Total Threat: 6
Raise threat to 44.
Travel Phase
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (2/3).
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Cursed Forest (remove time counter if a character is destroyed). No damage dealt.
Deal two damage to Treebeard to give him +2 attack until the end of the phase. Discard Lembas to ready Treebeard and heal three damage. Deal two additional damage to Treebeard (2/5) to give him an additional +2 attack until the end of the phase.
Treebeard + Damrod + Wandering Ent #1 + Wandering Ent #2 declare an attack on Raven's Guardian, destroying it and adding it to the victory display (6). Attach Key of the Raven to Treebeard.
Advance to new stage 2A: The Trial of Intuition.
Add Wolf's Guardian and Barrow of the Wolf to the staging area. Shuffle Key of the Wolf into the bottom ten cards of the encounter deck.
Place 3 time counters on Wolf's Guardian.
I took the liberty of noticing that there were only 16 cards left in the encounter deck at this point.
Flip to stage 2B. Wolf's Guardian engages me.
Now that I get to see what the Trial of Intuition is really like, I should have gone here second. There was plenty of questing power available to me, held back for the needs of especially that final round).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Damrod (2)
Draw: Ranger Spikes
Planning Phase
Play: Gladhrim Minstrel (Rossiel -2). Search top 5 cards (player) and add nothing to hand. Shuffle.
Ouch.
Play: Out of the Wild (Treebeard -2, Damrod -1). Search top 5 cards (encounter) and add Ancient Forest to the victory diplay. Shuffle.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place final progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.
Play: Ranger Spikes (Damrod -1). Add to the staging area.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 47).
Total Threat: 10
Deal Treebeard 1 damage to give him +1 willpower (3/5).
Place 3 progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Deal additional shadow card (Hill Barrow). Gladhrim Minstrel defends. Shadow #1:Spirit of the Wild (+2 attack). Shadow#2: Curse of the Wild Men (+2 attack). Gladhirm Minstrel is destroyed.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 48.
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf Guardian (1/3).
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Gandalf
Planning Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Current staging area is 9. Hopefully I can survive, then boost Treebeard and see what is next. Can't quest with just 3 and make it. Wandering Ents die
Reveal: Ancient Forest. All forest locations in the staging area get +1 threat and +3 quest points.
Total Threat: 15
Raise threat to 51.
Defeat!
Looked for the fun of it and found the final key was three deep in the encounter deck. It would have been revealed next round, had I survived!
The Recap
As soon as I saw the randomization possible in this quest, I knew I was in for a treat and The Three Trials did not disappointment. When I can lose a quest and still think, "That was a blast!" then we have a winner on our hands. The key here is being challenging but not overly and being open to a wide variety of decks and strategies. That is what makes a good quest in my book.
Now to analyze the play through. This was a close one and could have been a win if I switched the last two trials I attempted and did not do that crazy under-questing in Round 3. Rossiel seems like a perfect hero for this quest, with Guardian enemies and Barrow locations going into the victory display, but her actual events did not come up and could be done without. I would rather have had "Risk Some Light" vs "Out of the Wild" and may make such a change next attempt. "Distant Stars" is amazing here, but I may cut out Damrod and his traps in favor of another ranger. All in all, pretty happy with the performance here and a little deck tweaking should produce a win after just a few more attempts.
The Deck
"I want to beat this one with mono-Lore."
That was my thought going into The Three Trials. I love that the card pool is rich enough where brazen statements like that can be declared. Okay, maybe it's not that brazen. Saying "mono-Lore" is still leaving a wide range of options open. Am I playing pure Silvan? Pure Noldor? Rangers? Gondor? Secrecy? Honestly, I think Lore is most well-rounded sphere and it is a joy to go back to it when I get the itch.
In initially tackling a quest, I draft up a fun deck with the expectation that it will need quite a bit of re-tooling later. For this attempt, I wanted to play around with Rossiel, Ents, and some ranger tricks. The goal would be narrowing the focus to one or two synergies the second time around. I actually came up with a v.2 of this deck before the first attempt, but already had this version built.
Legend of the Three Trials
Heroes
Treebeard
Rossiel
Damrod (The Land of Shadow)
Allies
Henamarth Riversong x2
Galadhirm Minstrel x3
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Gildor Inglorion x1
Elrond (The Road Darkens) x1
Quickbeam x1
Wandering Ent x2
Willinghall Preserver x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Attachments
Self-Preservation x1
Asfaloth x1
Wingfoot x1
A Burning Brand x2
Lembas x3
Ranger Spikes x3
Ambush x3
Events
Don't Be Hasty x2
Distant Stars x2
Out of the Wild x2
Leave No Trace x3
None Return x3
The Door is Closed x3
Side Quests
Scout Ahead
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Over Hill and Under Hill
Road to Rivendell
Heirs of Numenor
The Druadan Forest
The Road Darkens
Trouble in Tharbad
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treachery of Rhuduar
The Land of Shadow
The Journey
Player Setup
Starting Threat: 29
Draw: Henamarth Riversong, Out of the Wild, Lembas, Asfaloth, Distant Stars, Wingfoot
This is basically a magic Christmas land opening hand for this deck. I have an event for Rossiel, Wingfoot + Henamarth to keep Damrod ready and me fully aware, healing & readying for Treebeard in Lembas, and Asfaloth to help with those initial locations. Let's do this.
Encounter Setup
Stage 1A. Set aside all three Guardian enemies, all three Key objectives, all three Barrow locations, and Hallowed Circle.
Flip to 1B. Advance to a stage 2A of my choice.
Let's take a look here. I have trials of Intuition, Perseverance, and Strength. Strength is out for now until I get my ents built up. Intuition says it shuffles the key to the bottom of the encounter deck, so I need to burn through some cards before getting that. Perseverance attaches a random Key to a random Barrow, so likely has a question element. Let's go for that.
Advance to: The Trial of Perseverance. Randomly choose Stone Barrow and add it to the staging area. Randomly choose Key of the Boar and add it to the staging area. Find Boar's Guardian and add him to the staging area. Add two time counters to Boar's Guardian.
Looks like the Boar's Guardian is going to be brutal towards my allies, so I may hold back those a little more. We'll see.
Advance to stage 2B. Boar's Guardian engages me.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent
So I'm looking over my game plan for the planning phase and it just hit me how amazing Distant Stars is for this quest.
Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Henamarth Riversong (Rossiel -1).
Play: Wingfoot (Damrod -1). Attach to Damrod.
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at the top card (encounter): Grim Foothills
Quest Phase
Commit: Damrod (2)
Total Willpower: 2
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 31).
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 3
Raise threat to 32.
Travel Phase
Travel to Stone Barrow.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Boar's Guardian.
Play: Distant Stars. Exhaust Damrod. Discard Stone Barrow. Attach Key of the Boar to Damrod. Add Boar's Guardian to the victory display (2). Discard shadow card (Spirit of the Wild). Search the encounter deck and make Cursed Forest the active location.
Advance to a new stage 2A: The Trial of Strength. Randomly choose Raven's Guardian and Cave Barrow, adding them to the staging area. Attach Key of the Raven to Raven's Guardian.
Add 4 time counters to Raven's Guardian.
Flip to side 2B. Raven's Guardian engages me.
Raven's Guardian attacks! No shadow. Rossiel defends (+2 defense). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (3/4).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Wandering Ent
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Tangled Woods.
I want to play a Wandering Ent to get Raven's Guardian taken care of soon, but I'm a little wary of how much the staging area is building up. One option would be to play "Out of the Wild" right now and give Rossiel +4 willpower against Forest locations. Nope.
Play: Wandering Ent (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Damrod (2)
Name (Wingfoot): Location
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Tangled Woods
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 5
Raise threat to 34
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Rossiel defends. Shadow: Tangeled Woods (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (2/4).
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw:Gladhrim Minstrel
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Spirit of the Wild.
Play: Wandering Ent #2 (Treebeard -2).
Play: Asfaloth (Rossiel -1, Damrod -1). Attach to Rossiel.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (1/3).
Quest Phase
Commit: Damrod (2). Name (Wingfoot): Enemy.
Total Willpower: 2
Reveal: Spirit of the Wild
Ready Damrod
Total Threat: 8
Raise threat to 41
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spirit of the Wild.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Raven's Guardian, Spirit of the Wild.
Raven's Guardian attacks. Rossiel defends. Shadow: Turned Around (no effect since attack is defended). No damage dealt.
Spirit of the Wild attacks. Wandering Ent defends. Shadow: Spirit of the Wild (+1 attack). Wandering Ent takes 1 damage (1/3).
Treebeard + Damrod declare an attack on Spirit of the Wild, destroying it.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Remove 1 time counter from Raven's Guardian (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Leave No Trace
Planning Phase
Exhaust Henamarth Riversong to look at top card (encounter): Wild Tenacity.
Do I get rid of this with Out of the Wild? No threat would be added to the staging area if I keep it, but I loose Henamarth. Still, the reveal could be much worse and I should just go with it.
Quest Phase
Commit: Rossiel (2), Damrod (2).
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery.
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Wild Tenacity. Remove final time counter from Raven's Guardian.
Deal 1 damage to Treebeard (1/5)
Deal 1 damage to Rossiel (1/3)
Deal 1 damage to Damrod (1/4)
Deal 1 damage to Henamarth Riversong, destroying him.
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #1 (2/3)
Deal 1 damage to Wandering Ent #2 (1/3)
Place four time counter on Raven's Guardian.
Ready Damrod.
Total Threat: 6
Raise threat to 44.
Travel Phase
Exhaust Asfaloth to place 1 progress on Grim Foothills (2/3).
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Raven's Guardian. Attacks! Treebeard defends. Shadow: Cursed Forest (remove time counter if a character is destroyed). No damage dealt.
Deal two damage to Treebeard to give him +2 attack until the end of the phase. Discard Lembas to ready Treebeard and heal three damage. Deal two additional damage to Treebeard (2/5) to give him an additional +2 attack until the end of the phase.
Treebeard + Damrod + Wandering Ent #1 + Wandering Ent #2 declare an attack on Raven's Guardian, destroying it and adding it to the victory display (6). Attach Key of the Raven to Treebeard.
Advance to new stage 2A: The Trial of Intuition.
Add Wolf's Guardian and Barrow of the Wolf to the staging area. Shuffle Key of the Wolf into the bottom ten cards of the encounter deck.
Place 3 time counters on Wolf's Guardian.
I took the liberty of noticing that there were only 16 cards left in the encounter deck at this point.
Flip to stage 2B. Wolf's Guardian engages me.
Now that I get to see what the Trial of Intuition is really like, I should have gone here second. There was plenty of questing power available to me, held back for the needs of especially that final round).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (2), +1 Rossiel (2), +1 Damrod (2)
Draw: Ranger Spikes
Planning Phase
Play: Gladhrim Minstrel (Rossiel -2). Search top 5 cards (player) and add nothing to hand. Shuffle.
Ouch.
Play: Out of the Wild (Treebeard -2, Damrod -1). Search top 5 cards (encounter) and add Ancient Forest to the victory diplay. Shuffle.
Exhaust Asfaloth to place final progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.
Play: Ranger Spikes (Damrod -1). Add to the staging area.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Name (Wingfoot): Treachery
Reveal: Grim Foothills. Doomed 2 (raise threat to 47).
Total Threat: 10
Deal Treebeard 1 damage to give him +1 willpower (3/5).
Place 3 progress on Grim Foothills, exploring them.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Wolf's Guardian. Attacks! Deal additional shadow card (Hill Barrow). Gladhrim Minstrel defends. Shadow #1:Spirit of the Wild (+2 attack). Shadow#2: Curse of the Wild Men (+2 attack). Gladhirm Minstrel is destroyed.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 48.
Remove 1 time counter from Wolf Guardian (1/3).
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Treebeard (1), +1 Rossiel (1), +1 Damrod (1)
Draw: Gandalf
Planning Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Rossiel (4), Damrod (2), Wandring Ent #1 (2), Wandering Ent #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 12
Current staging area is 9. Hopefully I can survive, then boost Treebeard and see what is next. Can't quest with just 3 and make it. Wandering Ents die
Reveal: Ancient Forest. All forest locations in the staging area get +1 threat and +3 quest points.
Total Threat: 15
Raise threat to 51.
Defeat!
Looked for the fun of it and found the final key was three deep in the encounter deck. It would have been revealed next round, had I survived!
The Recap
As soon as I saw the randomization possible in this quest, I knew I was in for a treat and The Three Trials did not disappointment. When I can lose a quest and still think, "That was a blast!" then we have a winner on our hands. The key here is being challenging but not overly and being open to a wide variety of decks and strategies. That is what makes a good quest in my book.
Now to analyze the play through. This was a close one and could have been a win if I switched the last two trials I attempted and did not do that crazy under-questing in Round 3. Rossiel seems like a perfect hero for this quest, with Guardian enemies and Barrow locations going into the victory display, but her actual events did not come up and could be done without. I would rather have had "Risk Some Light" vs "Out of the Wild" and may make such a change next attempt. "Distant Stars" is amazing here, but I may cut out Damrod and his traps in favor of another ranger. All in all, pretty happy with the performance here and a little deck tweaking should produce a win after just a few more attempts.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Taste It Again: Conflict at the Carrock
One fact often on my mind, in regards to this blog, are the 'completed' quests where I made a pretty big error or ones that I haven't actually tackled solo yet. Browsing through the logs today I found, much to my pleasant surprise, that the number of these quests were much smaller than I realized. I decided to clean up one of those records today and try a mistake-free attempt at Conflict at the Carrock.
The Deck
Ever since its release, I felt Conflict at the Carrock needed to be taken on with a solo Tactics deck. It is a conflict, after all. This was a pretty fanciful concept in the early days of the game, when Tactics was poorly rounded out as a sphere, but the currently rich card pool allows for multiple successful options.
The four (unique) trolls in this quest are nasty and the last thing I want to do is go up against them in a fair fight. Two options are staying under 34 threat and taking them on at leisure, or disregarding threat and stopping their attacks. I tried the first option twice and it just was not panning out. For the second option, Hama + Thicket of Spears seemed like the way to go. So the plan became shoring up my board with allies and attachments during stage 1 then progressing to stage 2 once I had Thicket of Spears in hand (or once my threat was getting to a dangerous level).
A Tactical Conflict
Heroes
Theoden (The Morgul Vale)
Hama
Dori (Across the Ettenmoors)
Allies
Dunedain Hunter x3
Eagles of the Misty Mountains x3
Winged Guardian x3
Vassal of the Windlord 3
Skinbark x1
Honour Guard x3
Derndingle Warrior x3
Attachments
Dwarrowdelf Axe x3
Book of Eldacar x3
Secret Vigil x3
Support of the Eagles x3
Rohan Warhorse x2
The Favor of the Valar x1
Events
Hold Your Ground! x3
Heavy Stroke x3
Khazad! Khazad! x3
Thicket of Spears x3
The Eagles Are Coming! x3
Side Quests
Gather Information
Sets Used
Core Set
The Hunt for Gollum
The Dead Marshes
Return to Mirkwood
Khazad-dum
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Encounter at Amon Din
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
The Lost Realm
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Battle of Carn Dum
The Land of Shadow
A highlight here of Derndingle Warrior + Honor Guard. This is a match made in heaven, my friends. The best part is that you can have the Guard protect a hero instead of the Warrior twice before you are at risk of loosing the Warrior (in most cases).
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 31
Draw: Heavy Stroke, Heavy Stroke, Support of the Eagles, Skinbark, Dunedain Hunter, Derndingle Warrior
Not a terrible hand, but no strong synergy for any strategy. I have Heavy Stroke's, but no way to boost Dori. Support of the Eagles, but no eagles. Derndingle Warrior, but no Honor Guard. I am a fan of seeing Skinbark and Dunedain Hunter, but let's see what I can get by doing this again.
Draw: Honor Guard, The Eagles Are Coming!, The Eagles Are Coming!, Derndingle Warrior, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Vassal of the Windlord
Coming? The eagles are here, my friend!
Encounter Setup
Stage 1A. Add The Carrock to the staging area. Shuffle in one copy of Sacked!. Advance to stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Hold Your Ground
Planning Phase
Play: The Eagles Are Coming! Look at the top 5 cards (player) and add Eagles of the Misty Mountains to my hand.
Play: The Eagles Are Coming! Look at the top 5 cards (player) and add non to my hand.
Thicket of Spears would have been my next draw if I had not played the first Eagles and another Thicket came up in the 5 cards for the second peek.
Play: Derndingle Warrior (Hama-1, Dori -1).
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hamma (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Gladden Fields
Total Threat: 5
No progress placed.
Travel Phase
Travel to Gladden Fields
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33 (Gladden Fields).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Dunedain Hunter
Planning Phase
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Theoden -2, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Play: Dunedain Hunter. Look at top 5 cards (Encounter) and put Misty Mountain Goblins in play engaged with me.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hama (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Despair (no progress to remove)
Total Threat: 2
Place 3 progress on Gladden Fields, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (3)
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Misty Mountain Goblins. Attacks! Eagles of the Misty Mountains defends. Shadow: The East Blight (no effect). No damage dealt. Eomer + Dunedain Hunter declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins, destroying them.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 34.
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Derndingle Warrior
Planning Phase
Play: Honour Guard (Theoden -1, Hama -1)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hama (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: A Frightened Beast (raise threat by two to 36)
Total Threat: 2
Place 3 progress on stage 1B (3/7)
No Travel Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 37.
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Thicket of Spears
And here we go! Ready to party...eventually.
Planning Phase
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Muck Adder
Total Threat: 3
Place 2 progress on stage 1B (5/7)
Travel Phase
No travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Muck Adder
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Muck Adder. Derndingle Warrior defends. Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior to give it +3 defense for this attack. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel damage dealt to Derndingle warrior. Shadow: Marsh Adder (Derndingle Warrior gets -1 defense). No damage dealt.
Dunedain Hunter declares an attack on Marsh Adder, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 38.
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Eagles of the Misty Mountains #3
Planning Phase
Play nothing
Quest Phase
Commit: Dori (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains (2)
I could advance to stage 2 this round, but I want to wait and try to build up my party a little more.
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Banks of the Anduin
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on stage 1B (6/7)
Travel Phase
Travel to Banks of the Anduin
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 39.
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Dunedain Hunter
Planning Phase
Play: Dunedain Hunter #2. Look at the top 5 cards (encounter deck) and put Misty Mountain Goblins in play, engaged with me.
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Theoden -2, Hama -2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: Misty Mountain Goblins
Total Threat: 4
Place 3 progress on Banks of the Anduin, exploring it and placing it on top of the encounter deck.
Travel Phase
No travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Misty Mountain Goblins #2
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cars to Misty Mountain Goblins x2
Misty Mountain Goblins #1 attacks. Dori defends. Shadow: Banks of the Anduin (no shadow). No damage dealt.
Misty Mountain Goblins #2 attacks. Derndingle Warrior defends. Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior to give it +3 defense for this attacks. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel the damage dealt to Derndingle Warrior. Shadow: Bee Pastures (no effect). No damage dealt.
Dunedain Hunter #1 + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #3 declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins #1, destroying them.
Hama + Dunedain Hunter #2 declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins #2, destroying them.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 40.
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (3)
Draw: Dwarrowdelf Axe
Planning Phase
Play: Vassal of the Windlord (Dori -1)
Play: Dwarrowdelf Axe (Dori -1). Attach to Dori.
Quest Phase
Commit: Hama
Total Willpower: 2
I am retyping this from an OCTGN report and I honestly have no idea why I didn't advance at this point. Possible reason: watching Downton Abbey in the background with my wife while playing.
Reveal: Roasted Slowly (no effect).
Total Threat: 2
No progress placed
No Travel, Engagements, or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Rohan Warhorse
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 9
Reveal: Goblin Sniper
Total Threat: 4
Place 5 progress on stage 1B, clearing it. Make The Carrock the active location.
Advance to stage 2A. Place Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart in the staging area.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Eomer -1, Dori -1)
Let the cakewalk begin!
Hama + Dori + Dunedain Hunter #1 + Dunedain Hunter #2 + Vassal of the Windlord declare an attack on Louis, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Rohan Warhorse.
Discard Vassal of the Windlord. Place upside down under Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1.
Discard shadow cards.
Forced (Goblin Sniper): Deal one damage to Derndingle Warrior. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel the damage.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Round 9
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Heavy Stroke
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains (2), Derndingle Warrior (1)
Total Willpower: 6
Reveal: Sacked! Attach to Theoden.
Total Threat: 2
Place 4 progress on The Carrock (4/6).
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Goblin Sniper
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Goblin Sniper, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 declares an attack on Goblin Sniper, destroying it.
Hama + Dori + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 + Dunedain Hunter #2 declare an attack on Stuart, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Heavy Stroke. Discard Sacked! from Theoden.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 43.
Round 10
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Heavy Stroke
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2), Eagles of the Misty Moutains #3 (2)
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: River Langflood (+2 threat due to two trolls in play)
Total Threat: 4
Place 2 progress on The Carrock, exploring it.
Place 1 progress on stage 2B (1/1)
Travel Phase
Travel to River Langflood
No Engagments
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Rupert, Morris
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Hama + Dori + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 declare an attack on Rupert, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Heavy Stroke.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 44.
Round 11
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Book of Eldacar
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Oak-wood Grove
Place 3 progress on River Langflood, exploring it.
Travel Phase
Travel to Oak-wood Grove
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Morris.
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Hama + Dori + Eagle of the Misty Muntains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 declare an attack on Morris, destroying him and winning the game!
The Deck
Ever since its release, I felt Conflict at the Carrock needed to be taken on with a solo Tactics deck. It is a conflict, after all. This was a pretty fanciful concept in the early days of the game, when Tactics was poorly rounded out as a sphere, but the currently rich card pool allows for multiple successful options.
The four (unique) trolls in this quest are nasty and the last thing I want to do is go up against them in a fair fight. Two options are staying under 34 threat and taking them on at leisure, or disregarding threat and stopping their attacks. I tried the first option twice and it just was not panning out. For the second option, Hama + Thicket of Spears seemed like the way to go. So the plan became shoring up my board with allies and attachments during stage 1 then progressing to stage 2 once I had Thicket of Spears in hand (or once my threat was getting to a dangerous level).
A Tactical Conflict
Heroes
Theoden (The Morgul Vale)
Hama
Dori (Across the Ettenmoors)
Allies
Dunedain Hunter x3
Eagles of the Misty Mountains x3
Winged Guardian x3
Vassal of the Windlord 3
Skinbark x1
Honour Guard x3
Derndingle Warrior x3
Attachments
Dwarrowdelf Axe x3
Book of Eldacar x3
Secret Vigil x3
Support of the Eagles x3
Rohan Warhorse x2
The Favor of the Valar x1
Events
Hold Your Ground! x3
Heavy Stroke x3
Khazad! Khazad! x3
Thicket of Spears x3
The Eagles Are Coming! x3
Side Quests
Gather Information
Sets Used
Core Set
The Hunt for Gollum
The Dead Marshes
Return to Mirkwood
Khazad-dum
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Encounter at Amon Din
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
The Lost Realm
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Battle of Carn Dum
The Land of Shadow
A highlight here of Derndingle Warrior + Honor Guard. This is a match made in heaven, my friends. The best part is that you can have the Guard protect a hero instead of the Warrior twice before you are at risk of loosing the Warrior (in most cases).
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 31
Draw: Heavy Stroke, Heavy Stroke, Support of the Eagles, Skinbark, Dunedain Hunter, Derndingle Warrior
Not a terrible hand, but no strong synergy for any strategy. I have Heavy Stroke's, but no way to boost Dori. Support of the Eagles, but no eagles. Derndingle Warrior, but no Honor Guard. I am a fan of seeing Skinbark and Dunedain Hunter, but let's see what I can get by doing this again.
Draw: Honor Guard, The Eagles Are Coming!, The Eagles Are Coming!, Derndingle Warrior, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, Vassal of the Windlord
Coming? The eagles are here, my friend!
Encounter Setup
Stage 1A. Add The Carrock to the staging area. Shuffle in one copy of Sacked!. Advance to stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Hold Your Ground
Planning Phase
Play: The Eagles Are Coming! Look at the top 5 cards (player) and add Eagles of the Misty Mountains to my hand.
Play: The Eagles Are Coming! Look at the top 5 cards (player) and add non to my hand.
Thicket of Spears would have been my next draw if I had not played the first Eagles and another Thicket came up in the 5 cards for the second peek.
Play: Derndingle Warrior (Hama-1, Dori -1).
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hamma (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Gladden Fields
Total Threat: 5
No progress placed.
Travel Phase
Travel to Gladden Fields
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33 (Gladden Fields).
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Dunedain Hunter
Planning Phase
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Theoden -2, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Play: Dunedain Hunter. Look at top 5 cards (Encounter) and put Misty Mountain Goblins in play engaged with me.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hama (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Despair (no progress to remove)
Total Threat: 2
Place 3 progress on Gladden Fields, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (3)
No Travel or Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Misty Mountain Goblins. Attacks! Eagles of the Misty Mountains defends. Shadow: The East Blight (no effect). No damage dealt. Eomer + Dunedain Hunter declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins, destroying them.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 34.
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Derndingle Warrior
Planning Phase
Play: Honour Guard (Theoden -1, Hama -1)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Hama (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: A Frightened Beast (raise threat by two to 36)
Total Threat: 2
Place 3 progress on stage 1B (3/7)
No Travel Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 37.
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Thicket of Spears
And here we go! Ready to party...eventually.
Planning Phase
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Muck Adder
Total Threat: 3
Place 2 progress on stage 1B (5/7)
Travel Phase
No travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Muck Adder
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Muck Adder. Derndingle Warrior defends. Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior to give it +3 defense for this attack. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel damage dealt to Derndingle warrior. Shadow: Marsh Adder (Derndingle Warrior gets -1 defense). No damage dealt.
Dunedain Hunter declares an attack on Marsh Adder, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 38.
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (1)
Draw: Eagles of the Misty Mountains #3
Planning Phase
Play nothing
Quest Phase
Commit: Dori (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains (2)
I could advance to stage 2 this round, but I want to wait and try to build up my party a little more.
Total Willpower: 4
Reveal: Banks of the Anduin
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on stage 1B (6/7)
Travel Phase
Travel to Banks of the Anduin
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 39.
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Dunedain Hunter
Planning Phase
Play: Dunedain Hunter #2. Look at the top 5 cards (encounter deck) and put Misty Mountain Goblins in play, engaged with me.
Play: Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Theoden -2, Hama -2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: Misty Mountain Goblins
Total Threat: 4
Place 3 progress on Banks of the Anduin, exploring it and placing it on top of the encounter deck.
Travel Phase
No travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Misty Mountain Goblins #2
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cars to Misty Mountain Goblins x2
Misty Mountain Goblins #1 attacks. Dori defends. Shadow: Banks of the Anduin (no shadow). No damage dealt.
Misty Mountain Goblins #2 attacks. Derndingle Warrior defends. Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior to give it +3 defense for this attacks. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel the damage dealt to Derndingle Warrior. Shadow: Bee Pastures (no effect). No damage dealt.
Dunedain Hunter #1 + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #3 declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins #1, destroying them.
Hama + Dunedain Hunter #2 declare an attack on Misty Mountain Goblins #2, destroying them.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 40.
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (1), +1 Hama (1), +1 Dori (3)
Draw: Dwarrowdelf Axe
Planning Phase
Play: Vassal of the Windlord (Dori -1)
Play: Dwarrowdelf Axe (Dori -1). Attach to Dori.
Quest Phase
Commit: Hama
Total Willpower: 2
I am retyping this from an OCTGN report and I honestly have no idea why I didn't advance at this point. Possible reason: watching Downton Abbey in the background with my wife while playing.
Reveal: Roasted Slowly (no effect).
Total Threat: 2
No progress placed
No Travel, Engagements, or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Rohan Warhorse
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 9
Reveal: Goblin Sniper
Total Threat: 4
Place 5 progress on stage 1B, clearing it. Make The Carrock the active location.
Advance to stage 2A. Place Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart in the staging area.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Louis, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Eomer -1, Dori -1)
Let the cakewalk begin!
Hama + Dori + Dunedain Hunter #1 + Dunedain Hunter #2 + Vassal of the Windlord declare an attack on Louis, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Rohan Warhorse.
Discard Vassal of the Windlord. Place upside down under Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1.
Discard shadow cards.
Forced (Goblin Sniper): Deal one damage to Derndingle Warrior. Exhaust Honour Guard to cancel the damage.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Round 9
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Heavy Stroke
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains (2), Derndingle Warrior (1)
Total Willpower: 6
Reveal: Sacked! Attach to Theoden.
Total Threat: 2
Place 4 progress on The Carrock (4/6).
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Goblin Sniper
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Goblin Sniper, Rupert, Morris, Stuart
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 declares an attack on Goblin Sniper, destroying it.
Hama + Dori + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 + Dunedain Hunter #2 declare an attack on Stuart, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Heavy Stroke. Discard Sacked! from Theoden.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 43.
Round 10
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Heavy Stroke
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2), Eagles of the Misty Moutains #3 (2)
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: River Langflood (+2 threat due to two trolls in play)
Total Threat: 4
Place 2 progress on The Carrock, exploring it.
Place 1 progress on stage 2B (1/1)
Travel Phase
Travel to River Langflood
No Engagments
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Rupert, Morris
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Hama + Dori + Eagles of the Misty Mountains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 declare an attack on Rupert, destroying him. Hama: Return Thicket of Spears to hand and discard Heavy Stroke.
Discard shadow cards.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 44.
Round 11
Resource Phase
+1 Theoden (2), +1 Hama (2), +1 Dori (2)
Draw: Book of Eldacar
Planning Phase
Play nothing.
Quest Phase
Commit: Theoden (3), Eagles of the Misty Mountains #2 (2)
Total Willpower: 5
Reveal: Oak-wood Grove
Place 3 progress on River Langflood, exploring it.
Travel Phase
Travel to Oak-wood Grove
No Engagements
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Morris.
Play: Thicket of Spears (Theoden -1, Hama -1, Dori -1)
Hama + Dori + Eagle of the Misty Muntains #1 + Dunedain Hunter #1 declare an attack on Morris, destroying him and winning the game!
Final Scoring
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 44
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -3
Total Score: 141
The Recap
It took me three attempts to work out the best deck for this quest, but once I had the right deck the quest became a push-over. Funnily enough, some of my main strategies (Dori + Dwarf-boosting events and Eagles + their Support) never made a real appearance. Hama + Thicket of Spears were the real all stars, greatly aided by strong allies and Theoden's questing boost to all tactics heroes (himself included).
This is a fun quest with a clear challenge and not an unreasonable amount of variation. Now that my goal of solo-Tactics victory has been accomplished, I think it is time to try scoring a victory with every sphere. Or how about mono-Tactics with no Feint/Thicket/Wizard's Voice allowed? Good luck with that!
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 44
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -3
Total Score: 141
The Recap
It took me three attempts to work out the best deck for this quest, but once I had the right deck the quest became a push-over. Funnily enough, some of my main strategies (Dori + Dwarf-boosting events and Eagles + their Support) never made a real appearance. Hama + Thicket of Spears were the real all stars, greatly aided by strong allies and Theoden's questing boost to all tactics heroes (himself included).
This is a fun quest with a clear challenge and not an unreasonable amount of variation. Now that my goal of solo-Tactics victory has been accomplished, I think it is time to try scoring a victory with every sphere. Or how about mono-Tactics with no Feint/Thicket/Wizard's Voice allowed? Good luck with that!
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