The Recap
Wow, this quest was brutal at first! Really big enemies with a nasty side-effect, horrible treacheries, and mid-size locations that can do a pretty effective job of blocking you. And if that was not enough, you face the constant threat of loosing some heroes temporarily (only to lose all but one of them when you're only 1/3 of the way through the quest). Craziness! As you'll see below, I finally made a deck with a few things in place to target the quest but it really was a good encounter deck draw that won the day for me. And I would imagine that would be the case for most (not all) players. These spiders are vicious and tough and slowly eat away at you. Taking a steady stream of them on, even one at a time, would be tough. One day I will come back and see if I can make a deck specifically designed to take out a bunch of spiders. But I don't see myself returning to these woods for frequent visits.
The Deck
My hopes of going up against this with a thematic dwarf deck were almost crushed after my first few attempts. To say I lost is an understatement. But, for the most part, I've been sticking to my guns in trying to make a certain type of deck work for each quest and "Thematic Dwarf" is what I set my sights on here. But how to make it work?
Thorin, and getting him ready early, seemed like my best bet. Also some heavy reliance on Bilbo + Sting. Playing around with things, it struck me how well Ravens of the Mountains works with both Sting and Expecting Mischief, which can help take care of some of the smaller enemies in this deck.
So how to up Thorin and Bilbo's contribution? Some good old Dunedain attachments, namely the Warning for Bilbo and the Mark for Thorin. Fast-hitch for Bilbo and Erebor Record Keeper for Thorin seem like good fits. Why the Record Keeper and not cram? The flexibility to ready Thorin or quest is handy, whereas Cram only gives you one option (but it is a nice option and the 0 cost is easy on the resources). I also wanted Thorin able to get a lot out after his first resource phase, thus Steward of Gondor + Resourceful. And treasures. To truly use the treasures as intended, you should have used this same hero set to defeat We Must Away, Ere Break of Day. But I honestly would not want to go up against this quest without Sting at the very least, no matter what heroes I'm using. So take that inclusion with a grain of salt and adjust your own build as needed.
The key to this deck is really the strategy. Ideally, you're planing almost no allies during the first stage and instead holding them in reserve for later. It is enough effort to get your heroes ready after progressing past stage 1B, let alone needing to worry about allies. Resources during this first stage should be directed toward attachments that can reap some benefit as early as possible (thus Resourceful being included even though this deck is not likely to ever get below 20 threat).
Wake Up Call
Heroes
Thorin Oakenshield
Ori
Balin
Allies
Fili x3
Kili x2
Gandalf x3
Brok Ironfist x2
Gloin x2
Longbeard Elder x2
Miner of the Iron Hills x3
Erebor Record Keeper x3
Attachements
Dunedain Mark x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Fast Hitch x3
Resourceful x3
Steward of Gondor x3
Events
Durin's Song x3
Burglar Baggins x3
Expecting Mischief x3
Ever Onward x3
Ravens of the Mountain x3
Treasure
Sting x1
Orcrist x1
Glamdring x1
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 29
Draw: Dunedain Warning, Steward of Gondor, Gloin, Brok Ironfist, Durin's Song, Fili
Bilbo joins the heroes
Encounter Setup
Reveal: Dark Bats
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Thorin Oakenshield (1), +1 Ori (1), +1 Balin (1), +1 Bilbo Baggins (1)
Draw: Erebor Record Keeper
Planning Phase
Spend 1 Baggins resource (Bilbo -1) to search deck and put Sting into hand
Play: Sting. Attach to Bilbo Baggins.
Play: Steward of Gondor (Thorin -1, Balin -1). Attach to Thorin.
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorin (2)
Quest Phase
Commit: Thorin, Ori, Balin
Total willpower:7
Reveal: Forest Stream
Much better than getting a spider on the encounter setup and during the first quest phase, which has happened a few times so far.
Total threat: 4
Place 3 progress on stage 1B (3/9)
Travel Phase
Travel to Forest Stream
Encounter Phase
Engage Dark Bats
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Dark Bats
Dark Bats attack. Bilbo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: Fighting Among Friends (no damage dealt). Shadow: Old Tomnoddy (no effect). No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 30
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Thorin (3), +1 Ori (2), +1 Balin (1), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Gandalf
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorn (5).
Planning Phase
Spend 1 Baggins resource to search deck for Bilbo's Magic Ring and add it to my hand.
Play: Bilbo's Magic Ring. Attach to Bilbo.
Play: Dunadain Warning (Balin -1).
Play: Gandalf (Thorin -3, Ori -2). Reduce threat to 25.
Quest Phase
Commit: Thorin, Ori, Balin, Gandalf
Total willpower: 11
Reveal: Wicked Spider
Total threat: 1
Place 4 progress on Forest Stream, exploring it (no poison to remove)
Place 6 progress on stage 1B, clearing it
Advance to 2A, flip to 2B
Create separate staging area for stage 3A, flip to 3B
Remove all resources from heroes (Thorin -2)
Make Thorin, Ori, Balin, Gandalf unconcious
Discard stage 2B and its staging area (Wicked Spider)
Travel Phase
None
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (increase threat to 26) to add 1 Baggins resource to Bilbo's pool (Bilbo 1)
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Dark Bats
Dark Bats attack. Bilbo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: Wicked Spider. Deal 1 damage to Dark Bats, destroying them.
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 27
Round 3
Resource Phase
Thorin (Unconscious), Ori (Unconscious), Balin (Unconscious), +1 Bilbo (2)
Draw: Steward of Gondor
Spend 2 Baggins resources to revive Thorin
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorin (2)
Planning Phase
Play none
Quest Phase
Commit: Thorin
Total willpower 3
Reveal: Giant Web
Total threat: 3
No progress placed
Travel Phase
Travel to Giant Web
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 28) to add one Baggins resource to Bilbo's pool (1)
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
None
Refresh Phase
Ready Thorin
Raise threat to 29
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Thorin (3), Ori (Unconscious), Balin (Unconscious), +1 Bilbo (2)
Spend two Baggins resources to revive Ori
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorin (5)
Planning Phase
Play: Fili (Thorin -3). Search for Kili and put him into play.
Quest Phase
Commit: Thorin, Ori, Fili, Kili
Total willpower: 7
Reveal: Poisoned by Spiders. No effect; surge.
Reveal: Fighting Among Friends. Name: Leadership. Remove Ori and Kili from the quest.
Updated willpower: 4
Total threat: 0
Place 3 progress on Giant Web, exploring it. Revive Balin.
Place 1 progress on stage 3B (1/11)
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 30) to add one Baggins resource to Bilbo's pool (1)
Spend 1 Baggins resource to search deck and put Orcrist in my hand.
Travel Phase
None
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
None
Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 31
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Thorin (3), +1 Ori (1), +1 Balin (1), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Longbeard Elder
Draw: Fast Hitch
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorin (5)
Planning Phase
Spend 1 Baggins resource to search deck and put Glamdring in my hand.
Play: Gloin (Thorin -3). Add 2 resources to Ori (3)
Play: Erebor Record Keeper (Ori -1)
Play: Fast Hitch (Ori -1). Attach to Bilbo.
Play Orcrist. Attach to Thorin.
Play: Glamdring. Attach to Thorin.
Play: Longbeard Elder (Thorin -2, Balin -1)
Quest Phase
Commit: Thorin, Ori, Balin, Fili, Kili, Gloin, Longbeard Elder
Total willpower: 13
Peek at: Caught in Webs. -1 willpower to Longbeard Elder.
Updated willpower: 12
Reveal: Caught in Webs. Make Balin unconscious.
Updated willpower: 10
Total threat: 0
Place 10 progress on stage 3B, clearing it.
Advance to stage 4A. Add The Spider's Glade to the staging area.
Flip to 4B
Travel Phase
Travel to The Spider's Glade. Exhaust Bilbo.
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 32) to add one Baggins resource to Bilbo's pool (1)
Encounter Phase
None
Combat Phase
None
Refresh Phase
Ready all (except Balin)
Raise threat to 33
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Thorin (1), +1 Ori (2), Balin (Unconscious), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Gandalf
Draw: Expecting Mischief
Spend two Baggins resources to revive Balin
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Thorin (3).
Planning Phase
Play: Gandalf (Thorin -3, Ori -2). Lower threat to 28.
Quest Phase
Search encounter deck for Wicked Spider and add it to the staging area. Shuffle.
Commit: Thorin, Ori, Balin, Bilbo, Gandalf, Fili, Kili, Goin, Erebor Record Keeper, Longbeard Elder
Total willpower: 20
Peek at: Old Tomnoddy. -1 willpower for Longbeard Elder
Updated willpower: 19
Reveal: Old Tomnoddy
Total threat: 4
Place 9 progress on The Spider's Glade, exploring it
Place 6 progress on stage 4B, clearing it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
5 Completed Round x10: 50
Final Threat: 28
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 78
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