Saga Quest 2: Over the Misty Mountains Grim

Victory on the third attempt!

The Deck

Despite failing my duplicate tournament run-through, I want to stick with the same deck. After all, most of the participants (all the others?) were able to pull out a victory with it, so (eventually) I should be able to as well, right?

Duplicate Tournament 3 Deck

Heroes

Thorin Oakenshield

Ori

Bombur

Bilbo Baggins (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Allies

Bifur (On the Doorstep) x3

Brok Ironfist x1

Dori x3

Erebor Hammersmith x2

Fili x3

Gandalf (Core) x3

Kili x1

Longbeard Orc Slayer x2

Miner of the Iron HIlls x2

Attachments

Cram x3

Forest Snare x2

Protector of Lorien x2

Self Preservation x2

Steward of Gondor x2

Events

A Very Good Tale x3

Burglar Baggins x3

Expecting Mischief x3

Radagast's Cunning x2

Sneak Attack x2

To Me! O My Kinsfolk! x3

Treasure

Glamdring x1

Orcrist x1

Sting x1

Sets Used

Core

Over Hill and Under Hill

On the Doorstep

The Journey

Two attempts down, during both of which I threated out, also during both of which I lost a hero (coincidence?). Third time is a charm...

Player Setup

Set starting threat to 28

Draw: Miner of the Iron Hills, A Very Good Tale, Forest Snare, Radagast's Cunning, Gloin, Sting

In all three attempts, I have had at least one treasure in my starting hand. It's a nice way to start, I must say. Two allies + A Very Good Tale is also nice to see.

Encounter Setup

Set out stage 1A, flip to stage 1B

Search player deck, add Glamdring to hand, and shuffle deck

I'll take the card draw over the extra resource, upon killing an orc

Proceed to stage 2A, flip to stage 2B

Add Stone-Giant to the staging area

Reveal: A Suspicous Crow (no encounter discard yet)

Round 1

Resource Phase

+1 Thorin Oakenshield (1), +1 Ori (1), +1 Bombur (1), +1 Bilbo Baggins (1)

Draw: Orcrist

Wow! Starting off with all three treasures! I like those odds.

Planning Phase

Play: Sting. Attach to Bilbo.

Play: Glamdring. Attach to Thorin.

Play: Orcrist. Attach to Thorin.

Play: Miner of the Iron Hill (Ori -1, Bombur -1)

Quest Phase

Commit: Thorin, Ori, Bilbo

Total willpower: 7

Reveal: Lone-Lands

Total threat: 7

No progress placed

Travel Phase

Travel to Lone-Lands

Encounter Phase

Engage A Suspicious Crow

Combat Phase

Deal shadow card to A Suspicious Crow

A Suspicious Crow attacks. Miner of the Iron Hills defends. Shadow: Wind-whipped Rain (-1 shield). Miner of the Iron Hills takes 1 damage.

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 29

Round 2

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (3), +1 Ori (1), +1 Bombur (1), +1 Bilbo (2)

Draw: Fili

Draw: Radagast’s Cunning

Planning Phase

Play: Fili (Thorin -3). Search deck and put Kili into play. Shuffle.

Play: A Very Good Tale. Exhaust Fili and Kili.

Discard: Gandalf, Dori, Fili, Bifur, A Very Good Tale

Man, I hate to miss Gandalf, but I want the allies.

Put Dori and Bifur into play.

Quest Phase

Commit: None

Reveal: A Suspicious Crow

Move Wind-whipped Rain to the table (no attachments to discard)

Play: Radagast’s Cunning (Ori -1)

Total threat: 1

Raise threat to 29

Travel Phase

None

Encounter Phase

Optionally engage Stone-Giant. Discard Fili from play.

Engaged by A Suspicious Crow

Combat Phase

Deal shadow cards to Stone-Giant, A Suspicious Crow x2

Stone-Giant attacks. Miner of the Iron Hills defends. Shadow: No Campfire (raise threat to 32). Miner of the Iron Hills is destroyed.

A Suspicious Crow #1 attacks. Undefended. Shadow: Lone-Lands (No effect). Deal one damage to Ori.

A Suspicious Crow #2 attacks. Undefended. Shadow: Galloping Boulders (place on top of Encounter Deck). Deal one damage to Bilbo.

Thorin, Ori, Bombur, Bilbo declare an attack on Stone-Giant. 12 attack vs. 3 shields = 9 damage, destroying it.

Dori declares an attack on A Suspicious Crow #1, destroying it.

Bifur declares an attack on A Suspicious Crows #2, destroying it.

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 33

Round 3

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (2), +1 Ori (1), +1 Bobur (2), +1 Bilbo (3)

Draw: Dori, Fili

Planning Phase

Play none

Quest Phase

Commit: None

Total willpower: 0

Reveal: Galloping boulders (no questing characters to damage)

Total threat: 0

No progress placed

Travel Phase

None

Encounter Phase

None

Combat Phase

None

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 34

Round 4

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (4), +1 Ori (2), +1 Bombur (3), +1 Bilbo (4)

Draw: Gandalf

Draw: Burglar Baggins

Planning Phase

Play: Gloin (Thorin -3). Add two resources to Thorin’s resource pool (3).

Play: Fili (Thorin -3). Kili already in play.

Quest Phase

Commit: Thorin, Ori, Bilbo, Kili, Dori, Bifur, Fili, Gloin

Total willpower: 13

Reveal: Stone Giant

Play: Radagast’s Cunning (Ori -1). Choose Stone-Giant to not count its threat.

Total threat: 0

Place 3 progress on the Lone-Lands (Bilbo -1), exploring it (Bilbo +1)
Place 10 progress on stage 2B (10/16)

Travel Phase

None

Encounter Phase

Engage Stone-Giant. Discard Dori from play.

Combat Phase

Deal shadow card to Stone-Giant.

Stone-Giant attacks. Bombur defends. Shadow: More Like a Grocer (remove all Baggins resources). Deal four damage to Bombur.

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 35

Round 5

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (2), +1 Ori (2), +1 Bombur (4), +1 Bilbo (1)

Draw: Sneak Attack

Draw: Gandalf

Planning Phase

Play: Dori (Bombur -3)

Play: Forest Snare (Ori -2, Bombur -1). Attach to Stone-Giant.

Quest Phase

Commit: Ori, Bilbo, Kili, Gloin

Total willpower: 7

If there’s nothing in the staging area, I want to move forward in take on The Great Goblin. If a Stone Giant comes out, this will stop me from advancing and give me time to deal with him. I can stop one encounter card from being revealed during stage 3’s set-up with my Baggins resource. I’ll leave a few defenders and attackers up to help from there.

Reveal: Galloping Boulders. Place three damage on Kili, destroying him.

Updated willpower: 6

Total threat: 0

Place 6 progress on stage 2B, clearing it.

Advance to stage 3B

Switch out the Encounter Decks

Add The Great Goblin to the staging area

Spend one Baggin’s resource to reveal 1 less card.

Reveal 1: Grip, grab! Pinch, nab! (no encounter discard to search)

Reveal 2: Goblin Miners

Travel Phase

None

Encounter Phase

Optionally engage The Great Goblin

Engaged by Goblin Miners

Combat Phase

Deal shadow cards to The Great Goblin, Goblin Miners

Play: Sneak Attack (Thorin -1). Put Gandalf into play. Deal four damage to The Great Goblin.

The Great Goblin attacks. Discard: Chaos in the Cavern (not added to the staging area). Gandalf defends. Shadow: Goblin Axeman (shield -1). Place 2 damage on Gandalf (2/4).

Goblin Miners attacks. Shadow: Goblin Bent-Swords (+1 attack). Place two damage on Bifur.

Thorin Oakenshield declares an attack on The Great Goblin, destroying it and adding it to the Victory Display (3)

Dori declares an attack on Goblin Miners, destroying them.

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 36

Round 6

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (3), +1 Ori (1), +1 Bombur (1), +1 Bilbo (1)

Draw: Dori

Draw: To me! O my kinsfolk!

Planning Phase

Play: Gandalf (Thorin -3, Ori -1, Bombur -1). Draw: To me! O my Kinsfolk!, Cram, Erebor Hammersmith

Quest Phase

Commit: Thorin, Ori, Bilbo, Gandalf, Gloin, Dori, Bifur, Fili

Total willpower: 16

Reveal: Great Cavern Room

Play: Burglar Baggins (Bilbo -1)

Updated willpower: 18

Total threat: 2

Place 16 progress on stage 3B (16/20)

Travel Phase

None

Encounter Phase

None

Refresh Phase

Ready all

Raise threat to 37

Round 7

Resource Phase

+2 Thorin (2), +1 Ori (1), +1 Bombur (1), +1 Bilbo (1)

Draw: Forest Snare

Draw: Steward of Gondor

Planning Phase

Play: Gandalf (Thorin -2, Ori -1, Bombur -1, Bilbo -1). Reduce threat to 32.
Play: Cram. Attach to Thorin.

Quest Phase

Commit: Thorin, Ori, Bilbo, Gandalf, Gloin,  Fili, Bifur, Dori

Total willpower: 16

Reveal: Goblin Bent-swords. Surge.

Reveal: Goblin Axemen

Total threat: 6

Place 10 progress on stage 3B, clearing it

Victory!

Final Scoring

6 completed rounds x10: 60

Ending Threat: 32

Total damage on heroes: 6 (Ori 1, Bombur 4, Bilbo 1)

Threat of Destroyed Heroes: 0

Victory Display: -3

Total: 95

The Recap

My loss in the duplicate tournament was unexpected and discouraging. My loss during a second attempt didn’t help! But all-in-all, I do like this quest. You need a nice, well-balanced plan for this one (which are the type of decks I favor anyone). The third stage is best handled when you have a large force built up, but the second stage is going to do everything it can to make that force difficult to build. That is a nice challenge. You also have these Giants who you want to avoid, but their boulders are best avoided by not questing (which is going to likely increase your threat, bringing the Giants closer to attacking). This scenario tries to challenge your likely strategies towards combating it. I look forward to crossing these mountains again!