Saga Quest 5: The Lonely Mountain

Victory on the fourth attempt!
Note: Due to a miss-interpretation of Secret Entrance during round 6 (see note), I've taken another crack at this quest.
Note 2: I was wrong! My original interpretation of Secret Entrance (looking at the top card of the Encounter deck and not revealing it) was correct and this fourth attempt will count! 

My question to Caleb: Hi! I'm playing through "The Lonely Mountain." Is the intention of Secret Entrance (card 65) to add a card to the staging area or simply to see the top card of the encounter deck? Thanks!

Caleb's Reply: Hi James,
Secret Entrance should read: “Look at the top card of the encounter deck. If the looked at card…” There is no need to actually reveal and resolve the top card of the encounter deck when traveling to the Secret Entrance. Thanks for asking.
Hope you’re enjoying the On the Doorstep box!
Cheers,
Caleb

The Deck

Knowing that the designers tested this quest with just a single core set and the player cards from Over Hill and Under Hill and On the Doorstep, I really wanted to go for a thematic deck-build here. But I just got crushed my first few times attempting this one. Thrown into stage 4 on round 1 or 2, my heroes were torn apart by Smaug and a chain of shadow cards with burgle effects. Then I finally managed to get to stage 3 with my goal in hand (see below), but had no good plan to damage Smaug or quest over the staging area. I was stumped. Could I make a thematic deck with the willpower or attack strength to meet the demands of The Lonely Mountain? Probably. Eventually. But I was tired. Time to send in Dain! And it almost worked. Pairing Dain with Spirit, I got ten damage on Smaug the Magnificent and 10 progress on Stage 3B and then it all just kind of fell apart. Maybe Leadership-Lore is the key to this quest (for me).

So what are my needs? My goal going in was modest: steal two treasures and get out of Dodge. I didn't want to just breeze through the scenario, but I also didn't want to beat my head against a wall trying to get all five treasures out (average player, not expert, remember?). To that end, I needed the ability to quest massive, attack with some force (if needed and possible), and win a few burgle attempts. With those objectives in mind, here's what I ended up with.

Dain's Mountaineers

Heroes
Dain Ironfoot: Hopefully I can stack up a large a mount of dwarven allies, all boosted by Dains amazing effect. Dain and Spirit Glorfindel definitely fall into "It Kind of Feels Like Cheating But It's Fun" side of heroes.
Ori: Just here for the card draw, 2 willpower, and 2 attack (3 and 3 with Dain ready).
Bifur: The real reason? I want to go Lore heavy here and he's a better fit than Bombur.
Bilbo Baggins (On the Doorstep)

Allies (22)
Miner of the Iron Hills x3: While they're not going to bring much to the party in terms of willpower or attack (even boosted), they can help with any Dragon-Spells that appear.
Longbeard Map-Maker x3: With hopeful resource accumulation, the Map-Maker's ability is very useful for a quest where high willpower is needed.
Longbeard Elder x3: High willpower for a dwarf ally, even if it gets bumped down often.
Kili x2: Playing dwarf leadership or spirit? Need to include these two.
Fili x2: See above.
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x3: Threat is not a massive problem in this scenario, but consistent high questing is. The addition of also having a ready defender is a big bonus.
Erebor Hammersmith x3: Great stats for his cost and perfect ability for a quest that has you discarding cards. Choose to discard an attachment whenever you can!
Erebor Record-Keeper x3: Helps get to the 5-dwarf threshold earlier, quests for 2 when Dain is around, or can be used to ready dwarf characters if needed.

Attachments (13)
Narvi's Belt x2: I honestly don't know if I've ever used this card. With the neutral Songs all released by the time dwarves made their power play, it just never seemed necessary for this solo player (who usually sticks to duel-sphere at the most). But it struck me that boosting Bifur up to a massive resource level and slapping a belt on him might give some great flexibility to this deck (and allow me to include Untroubled by Darkness, which I was sad to cut out after I steered away from Spirit this go-around).
Legacy of Durin x2 Part of the massive card draw I'm hoping for.
Steward of Gondor x2: Intended to be placed on Bifur, along with his shiny belt.
Fast Hitch x2: With Sting and Bilbo's Magic Ring attached, Bilbo Baggins is a force to be reckoned with...for one of three possible uses only. With a Fast Hitch or two on him, this burglar is ready to be unleashed.
King Under the Mountain x2: To serve the purpose of both card draw and trying to prepare my hand a little better for burgle attempts (by picking the card that fills a missing "spot" in my cost/sphere/trait spread).
Protector of Lorien x3: Here's the reason you see a lot of "x2" in the attachment second. I realized that I'll spend the first half of this game trying to build up a massive hand to deal with the burgle attempts, only to have a card draw engine in place during stage 3 that lacks the resources to pay for them all. But being able to quest for an extra 1-3 each round at this point would be quite handy!

Events (15)
Dawn Take You All x3: I went through a phase of loving this card, trying to squeeze it into every leadership build I could, and then set it aside. In-between plays, I was browsing over the playthrough at Tales of the Cards and it was brought to my attention how amazing this card is: you can stop Smaug's chain of attacks in stages 3 or 4 before they even begin! This is the card that needs to be mulliganed for in this deck.
Ancestral Knowledge x3: When I stepped away from Lore and tried Leadership/Spirit on the third attempt, I really missed this card. Specifically to help with Great Hall.
Lure of Moria x3: Why balance massive questing with massive attack when you can do both?
Gaining Strength x3: Combos well with the Steward to add some nice resource accumulation.
Untroubled by Darkness x3: If we're using Narvi's belt, then let's include a must-have event when needing a dwarven willpower boost.

Treasure (4): No specific notes on each treasure, just a note that you are only supposed to use them with the same heroes who discovered them. Consider them on loan...
Bilbo's Magic Ring
Sting
Orcrist
Glamdring

The goal is to set up a good amount of card draw and resource accumulation, then start pouring down the dwarves. The cost/type/trait was not tailored for burgler quests, but the hope is that you'll have enough cards in your hand to make most of the matches (but always try to have the 2 Baggins resources to go for a second attempt).

This ended up being a pretty fun deck to play. There are certainly other cards that could have been included (Daeron's Runes, for instance, or A Very Good Tale) but you have to pick and choose at some point, right?


The Journey

Player Setup
Set starting threat to 26
Draw: Dawn Take You All, Erebor Hammersmith, Sting, Gandalf, Gaining Strength, Lure of Moria
Now this is a fantastic opening hand! I have two of the key events I want to see in the late game (Dawn Take You All and Lure of Moria), a dwarf ally I can play during round 1 to get the party started, a treasure I don't have to use a Baggins resource to find, and Gandalf.

Encounter Setup
Add The Lonely Mountain and Smaug the Golden to the staging area.
Set Smaug the Magnificent and Bare Patch off to the side.
Flip to 1B

Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (1), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (1), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Longbeard Elder
Nice. Two allies right off the bat. I was going to use Gaining Strength on Bifur this turn, but maybe I'll hold off and use it on Dain next round to get the Elder into play.

Planning Phase
Spend 1 Baggins resource to search deck for Bilbo's Magic Ring. Add to hand. Shuffle.
Play: Bilbo's Magic Ring. Attach to Bilbo.
Play: Sting. Attach to Bilbo.
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Ori -1, Bifur -1)

Quest Phase
Skipped, due to stage 1B's effect

Travel Phase
No travel

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
No combat

Refresh Phase
Ready none
Raise threat to 27

Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (2), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (1), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Fili
Well this might be a better option than Longbeard Elder for this round

Planning Phase
Play: Gaining Strength. -2 Dain (0), +3 Dain (3)
Play: Fili (Dain -3). Search deck and put Kili into play.

Quest Phase
Commit: Bilbo
Total willpower: 2
I want to see my card-draw engine kick in next turn before I start my burgle attempts, so I'm banking on a treachery or a low-threat enemy to come out here.
Reveal: Hidden Path
Ouch.
Total threat: 5
Raise threat to 30
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 31) to add 1 resource to Bilbo's pool (2)

Travel
Travel to Hidden Path (Bilbo -2)

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
No combat

Refresh Phase
Ready Bilbo
Raise threat to 32
Wow. Ended that round a bit higher than I wanted to be at this point. I need to save some good buffer room for Gandalf.

Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (1), +1 Head (2), +1 Bifur (2), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Glamdring
Draw: Orcrist
Well, I certainly did not expect to see three treasures throw themselves into my hand. But I'll take it! Won't really help with my burgle attempts that much, though.

Planning Phase
Play: Orcrist. Attach to Bilbo.
Play: Glamdring. Attach to Ori.
I found myself wishing a few times during previous attempts that Bilbo had a bit more attack to him. With Fast-Hitch in this deck, I want to get him in the best shape possible.

Quest Phase
Commit: Bilbo
Total willpower: 2
Same gamble here, hoping for a low-threat item to pop out.
Reveal: Great Hall
Okay, that's painful. But at least it wasn't an enemy surging into a Great Hall, right?
Total threat: 4 (with The Lonely Mountain and Great Hall each getting -1 threat due to Hidden Path).
Raise threat to 34

Travel Phase
No travel

Encounter Phase
No engagement

Combat Phase
No combat

Refresh Phase
Ready Bilbo
Raise threat to 35

Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (2), +1 Hori (3), +1 Bifur (3), +1 Bilbo (2)
Draw: Longbeard Map-Maker
Draw: Legacy of Durin

Planning Phase
Play: Legacy of During (Ori -1). Attach to Ori.
Play: Longbeard Map-Maker (Ori -2, Bifur -1). Draw: Steward of Gondor.
The plan was to designate this for Ori. But with some high-cost leadership cards in my hand, maybe I should just play with what I've been dealt and slap it on Dain? In any case, I'll keep it around for now to help with Burgle attempts since there are a few more 2-cost Leadership attachments in this deck.

Quest Phase
Commit: Bifur, Ori, Erebor Hammersmith, Longbeard Map-Maker, Fili
Total willpower: 12
Time to move on with the burgle attempts. Because my Encounter Deck bluff attempts are failing.
Reveal: Belching Fire
And this is why I held back some people.
Smaug the Golden attacks. Bilbo defends. Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring to prevent all damage, raising threat to 38.
I could have sacrificed a dwarf, but I want to get a small army amassed if I can, in view of stage 3.
Total threat: 11
Successful questing!
Place 1 progress on Hidden Path, exploring it
Why place the progress before the burgle attempt? Because I realized during my last attempt that there are awkward ramifications if you do the burgle attempt first. Suppose you succeed in your burgle attempt and proceed to stage 3. The dynamics of the staging area have changed, with one (additional) treasure removed from The Lonely Mountain and Smaug the Golden switched out for Smaug the Magnificent. Do you use the old willpower vs. threat to place the progress, since a successful quest was declared? Do you use the new one, with the new dynamics likely causing no progress to be placed?
Place 1 progress on Smaug the Golden (1/5) and make a burgle attempt.
Discard: Known to an Ounce (discard 1 card, matching sphere and cost)
Shuffle player deck. Reveal: Erebor Record Keeper
Put Erebor Record Keeper into my hand (Bilbo -2) and reveal: Erebor Hammersmith
No match in hand. Failed attempt!
Deal shadow card to Smaug. Smaug attacks. Kili defends. Shadow: Croaking Crows (no effect). Kili is destroyed.

Travel Phase
Travel to Great Hall

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
No Combat

Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 39
No treasure, one ally down, Gandalf not in play yet, and only 11 threat of buffer left. Maybe I picked the wrong Gandalf for this quest!

Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (3), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (3), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Erebor Hammersmith
Draw: Gandalf

Planning Phase
Play: Erebor Record Keeper (Oin -1). Draw: Longbeard Map-Maker
Play: Steward of Gondor (Dain -2). Attach to Dain.
Touch choice, but I think Lore is holding its own and Leadership can use the boost right now
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Dain (3)

Quest Phase
Commit: Ori, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith, Fili, Erebor Record Keeper, Longbeard Map-Maker
Total willpower: 14
Reveal: Hidden Path
Total threat: 11
Spend 1 lore resource (Bifur -1) to increase Longbeard Map-Maker's willpower by 1
Updated willpower: 15
Successful questing!
Place 4 progress on Great Hall, exploring it
Place 1 progress on Smaug the Golden (2/6) and make a burgle attempt.
Discard: Dark Bats (no burgle text)
Discard: Fighting Among Friends (no burgle text)
Discard: Desolation of Smaug (discard 2 cards, matching cost)
Shuffle player deck Reveal: Gaining Strength.
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 40) to add 1 resource to Bilbo's pool
Add Gaining Strength to hand (Bilbo -2) and reveal: Longbeard Elder
Discard: Longbeard Map-Maker and Longbeard Elder
Successful attempt!
Take the top treasure: Mithril Shirt
Nice! I'm sure this extra defense will come in handy for Bilbo down the line.

Travel Phase
No travel
Not enough Baggins resources left...zero, actually

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
No combat

Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 41

Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (4), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (3), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Longbeard Elder
Draw: Protector of Lorien
Nice. This is going to come in handy in just a few rounds. I'm going to hold onto it for now for possible burgle attempt use.
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Dain (6)

Planning Phase
Play: Gaining Strength. -2 Bifur (1), +3 Bifur (4)
A little something in reserve for my Map-Maker, just in case

Quest Phase
Commit: Ori, Bifur, Bilbo, Erebor Hammersmith, Erebor Record Keeper, Longbeard Map-Maker
Total willpower: 14
Reveal: Secret Entrance
Total threat: 13
Successful questing!
Add 1 progress to Smaug the Golden (3/6) and make a burgle attempt.
Discard: Weighed Down
Discard: Croaking Crows (discard 1 card, matching sphere and type)
Shuffle player deck. Reveal: Untroubled by Darkness
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (raise threat to 42) to add 1 resource to Bilbo's pool
Add Untroubled by Darkness to hand (Bilbo -2) and reveal: Protector of Lorien
Discard: Protector of Lorien
Successful attempt!
Take the top treasure: Thror's Hunting Bow
Well...that's not the best for my solo dwarf efforts...
Advance to stage 3A
Set Smaug the Golden aside, out of play
Add Smaug the Magnificent and A Bare Patch to the staging area
Advance to 3B

Travel Phase
Attempt to travel to Secret Entrance
Exhaust Dain and name: Treachery. Reveal: Hidden Path. Attempt failed.
Now here's the nice thing about this. I have one copy of Dawn Take You All in my hand. If my attempt succeeds, then I make questing easier the next turn. If my attempt fails, then I know Smaug's shadow card and whether I need to use Dawn Take You All or not. This turn the answer is: not.

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Smaug the Magnificent
The rulebook specifically states that shadow cards are dealt face down (even going so far as to bold the text). So even though Hidden Paths was revealed and is currently face-up, I now turn it face down and place it under Smaug. Which may possible prove important, because Dawn Take You All only affects face-down shadow effects.
Smaug attacks. Fili defends. Shadow: Hidden Path (no effect). Fili is destroyed.

Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 43

Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (7), +1 Head (2), +1 Bifur (5), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Protector of Lorien
Draw: Longbeard Map-Maker
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Dain (9)

Planning Phase
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Ori -2). Draw: Long Beard Elder
Move Protector of Lorien from discard pile to hand.
Play: Protector of Lorien (Bifur -1). Attach to Bifur.
Play: Longbeard Elder (Dain -3). Draw: Legacy of Durin
Play: Gandalf (-4 Dain, Bifur -1)

Quest Phase
Commit: Ori, Bifur, Bilbo, Erebor Record Keper, Longbeard Map-Maker, Erebor Hammersmith #1, Longbeard Elder, Gandalf (does not exhaust).
Keep Erebor Hammersmith #2 and Dain ready
Look at: Belching Fire. Reduce Longbeard Elder's willpower by 1
Total willpower: 20
Reveal: Belching Fire. Smaug attacks! Erebor Hammersmith #2 defends and is destroyed.
Discard Mithril Shirt, Thror's Hunting Bow, and Protector of Lorien to trigger Protector of Lorien's ability and increase Bifur's willpower by 3.
Updated willpower: 23
Spend 3 Lore resources (Bifur -3) to boost Longbeard Map-Maker's willpower by 3.
Updated willpower: 26
Total threat: 16 (Smaug: 6, The Lonely Mountain: 6, Hidden Path: 3, Secret Entrance: 1)
Place 10 progress on stage 1B (10/20)
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (increase threat to 44) to add 1 resource to Bilbo's pool (2)
I could use this to move to the Hidden Path next turn, but I actually want to store up some resources to play my second Gandalf since I'm just about to loose the first one.

Travel Phase
Attempt to travel to Secret Entrance.
Exhaust Dain. Name: Treachery. Reveal: Desolation of Smaug. Failed attempt.

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Smaug the Magnificent
Play: Dawn Take You All (Dain -2) to discard the shadow card.
Smaug attacks. Gandalf defends and is destroyed.

Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 45

Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (1), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (1), +1 Bilbo (3)
Draw: Kili
But no belt to put him in play with!Shame.
Draw: Miner of the Iron Hills
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Dain (3)

Planning Phase
Exhaust Bilbo's Magic Ring (increase threat to 46) to add 1 resource to Bilbo's pool (4)
Play: Gandalf (Bilbo -4, Ori -1)

Quest Phase
Commit: Ori, Bifur, Erebor Record Keeper, Longbeard Map-Maker, Longbeard Elder, Gandalf.
Look at: Pretending to Sleep. Lower Longbeard Elder's willpower by 1.
Total willpower: 16
Reveal: Pretending to Sleep. Surge.
Smaug the Golden is not in play, so I'm disregarding the rest of the cards text. Or, technically, I can't put one progress on him since he is not in play and thus need to spend 0 Baggins resources.
Reveal: Belching Fire. Smaug attacks! Erebor Hammersmith defends and is destroyed.
Spend 1 Lore resource (Bifur -1) to increase Longbeard Map-Maker's willpower by 1
Discard Legacy of Durin, Kili, Longbeard Map-Maker to trigger Protector of Lorien's ability and increase Bifur's willpower by 3
Updated willpower: 20
Total threat: 16
Place 4 progress on Inside Information (14/20)

Travel Phase
Attempt to travel to Secret Entrance.
Exhaust Dain. Name: Treachery. Reveal: Secret Entrance. Failed attempt.
Nice! No chain of Smaug attacks to worry about.

Encounter Phase
No engagements
Play: Lure of Moria (Dain -3). Ready all dwarf characters.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Smaug the Magnificent
Smaug attacks. Longbeard Elder defends. Shadow: Secret Entrance (no effect). Longbeard Elder is destroyed.
Declare an attack on Smaug with: Ori (5 attack), Bifur (2 attack), Bilbo (4 attack), Gandalf (4 attack), Longbeard Map-Maker (2 attack). 17 attack vs. 8 threat = 9 damage on Smaug.
Smaug has 11 remaining hit points; stage 3B has 14 progress on it. Discard Smaug the Magnificent from Play.
I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Now to put 6 progress stage 3B without threating out.

Refresh Phase
Ready all
Raise threat to 47
Raise threat to 49 to keep Gandalf in Play

Round 9
Resource Phase
+1 Dain (1), +1 Head (1), +1 Bifur (1), +1 Bilbo (1)
Draw: Ancestral Knowledge
Draw: Narvi's Belt
Nice to see you
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Dain (3)

Planning Phase
Play: Longbeard Elder (Dain -3). Neglect to draw my extra card.
Play: Miner of the Iron Hills (Dain -2). Neglect to draw my extra card.

Quest Phase
Commit: Ori, Bifur, Bilbo, Erebor Record Keeper, Longbeard Map-Maker, Longbeard Elder, Miner of the Iron Hills, Gandalf
Look at: Dragon-Spell. -1 willpower to Longbeard Elder
Total willpower: 19
Reveal: Dragon-Spell. Attach to Bilbo Baggins.
Updated willpower: 17
Total threat: 10
Place 7 progress on stage 3B, clearing it and winning the game!

Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 49
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 129
Treasure Claimed: Mithril Shirt, Thror's Hunting Bow

Psst! Here's two tips I thought about while playing my final game, but never actually used:

• Don't be too hasty in searching for Glamdring or Orcrist (assuming you included them and also assuming they don't just throw themselves into you hand). Is the card revealed during you burgle attempt not one you want to draw next turn? Spend a Baggins resource to search for one of these legendary weapons then shuffle your deck for a mini-mulligan.

• Gaining Strength can help temporarily negate the effects of Dragon-Spell on Bilbo for you, at least as it concerns willpower. Bilbo can discard two of his resources, but he cannot add three resources to his pool, thus giving him zero resources and no willpower reduction.

The Recap

Will I be coming back here? You bet you. I have three more treasures to burgle! Most likely, I'll attempt to get 3 then 4 an then go for the whole deal (probably not with thematic or even dwarf decks necessarily).

But is this going down as a favorite quest? No. It's certainly thematic (to a point), with Bilbo's initial burgling leading to Smaug's wrath. But there is a swingyness to stage 3B and the battles with Smaug the Magnificent that I'm just not comfortable with. I showed one way to go at it (Dawn Take You All) and there are other possibilities to explore (Shadow of the Past, A Watchful Peace, Risk Some Light), but that dragon can just mess you up. And that make sense. He is a dragon after all. So when I want to fight a dragon, I'll be back. When I want to just kick back and enjoy a fun game, I'll pick another quest.