Quest 27: The Morgul Vale

Victory on the eleventh attempt!

The Deck

I played one attempt of The Morgul Vale and realized instantly that this thing is a beast. Going up against The Blood of Gondor and The Massing at Osgiliath at the same time left me a bit uninspired to tackle this guy. Heading over to BoardGameGeek, I came upon Tracker1's decklist and some good advice from glowwrym about going heavy on the direct damage (as part of a two-handed strategy). Both had strong questing power built in and/or threat reduction. At first, I planed on simply using Tracker1's deck, but at the last minute I wanted to give it a crazy mono-Tactics shot and see how far I could get.

Stage 3. The very beginning. That's how far I could get.

Starting with attempt 8, I switched out Theoden with Merry as my main quester. This was a big risk, as a revealed Forest Bat during staging would destroy Merry. But, while other situations led to a few more losses, I never revealed a Forest Bat during my time questing with Merry.

Bear vs. Nazgul

Heroes
Legolas
Beorn
Merry

Allies
Gondorian Spearman x3
Knights of the Swan x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3
White Tower Watchman x3
Vassal of the Windlord x3
Westfold Outrider x3
Gandalf (Core) x2

Attachments
Rivendell Blade x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Black Arrow x1
Spear of the Citadel x3

Events
Goblin-cleaver x3
Rain of Arrows x3
Swift Strike x2
Feint x3
Hands Upon the Bow x3
Thicket of Spears x3
Hail of Stones x3
Quick Strike x3

Sets Used
Core
The Dead Marshes
Road to Rivendell
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
On the Doorstep
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Druadan Forest,
The Morgul Vale
The Black Riders
The Voice of Isengard


The Journey

Player Setup
Starting Threat: 27
Draw: Hands Upon the Bow, Rain of Arrows, Rohan Warhorse, Westfold Outrider, Knights of the Swan, Goblin-cleaver
Mulligan: Rivendell Blade, Thicket of Spears, Spear of the Citadel, Swift Strike, Hail of Stones, Rohan Warhorse

Encounter Setup
Set Lord Alcaron, Nazgul of Minas Morgul, and The White Bridge to the side.
Add To the Tower, Murzag, and 1 copy of Morgul Vale to the staging area.
Flip to side B

Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Legolas (1), +1 Beorn (1), +1 Merry (1)
Draw: Hail of Stones

Planning Phase
Play none.

Quest Phase
Commit: None
Reveal: The Master's Malice (only Tactics characters in play; no effect)
Total threat: 5
Raise threat to 32

Travel Phase
Travel to Morgul Vale

Encounter Phase
Engage Murzag

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Murzag
Play: Thicket of Spears (Legolas -1, Beorn -1, Merry -1).
Legolas + Beorn + Merry declare an attack on Murzag, destroying him. Place 2 progress on Morgul Vale (2/3). Advance to stage 2. Place Lord Alcaron in the staging area. Flip to side B.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 33.

Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Legolas (1), +1 Beorn (1), +1 Merry (1)
Draw: White Tower Watchman

Planning Phase
White Tower Watchman (Legolas -1, Beorn -1, Merry -1)

Quest Phase
Commit: Merry. Total willpower: 2.
Reveal: Terror Drives Them. Place 1 progress on To The Tower (1/10). Surge.
Reveal: Morgul Bodyguard
I hate seeing this guy! Really puts a crimp in a fast strategy.

Travel Phase
No travel

Encounter Phase
Engage Morgul Bodyguard, Lord Alcaron

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Morgul Bodyguard, Lord Alcaron
Lord Alcaron attacks. Place 1 progress on To the Tower (2/10). Beorn defends. Shadow: Orc War Camp (+1 attack). Deal 4 damage to Beorn (4/10).
Phew. I'm not a fan of multiple attacks from Alcaron (although I've taken a string of three with Beorn standing strong...yet very injured). 
Morgul Bodyguard attacks. Beorn defends. Shadow: Orc Vanguard (deal 2 additional shadow cards). Shadow #2: Forest Bat (raise threat to 34). Shadow #3: Morgul Spider (no effect). Deal 1 damage to Beorn (5/10).
Legolas + Beorn declare an attack on Morgul Bodyguard, destroying it. Place 1 progress on Morgul Vale, exploring it. Place 1 progress on stage 2B (1/0).

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.

Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Legolas (1), +1 Beorn (1), +1 Merry (1)
Draw: Knights of the Swan

Planning Phase
Play: Rohan Warhorse (Legolas -1). Attach to Legolas.
Play: Knights of the Swan (Merry -1).

Quest Phase
Commit: Merry. Total willpower: 2.
Reveal: Orc Vanguard
Total threat: 2

Travel Phase
No travel

Encounter Phase
No engagements

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Lord Alcaron
Lord Alcaron attacks. Place 1 progress on To the Tower (3/10). White Tower Watchman defends. Shadow: Forest Bat (raise threat to 38). Deal 2 damage to White Tower Watchman (2/3).
Legolas + Beorn attack Lord Alcaron, destroying him. Advance to stage 3. Place Nazgul of Minas Morgul and The White Bridge in the staging area. Flip to side B.
Reveal: Morgul Sorcerer.
Play: Hail of Stones (Beorn -1). Exhaust Merry. Deal 1 damage to Nazgul of Minas Morgul (1/5).

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 39.

Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Legolas (1), +1 Beorn (1), +1 Merry (1)
Draw: Goblin-cleaver

Planning Phase
Play: Rivendell Blade (Legolas -1).
Play: Spear of the Citadel (Beorn -1, Merry -1). Attach to Knights of the Swan.

Quest Phase
Commit: Merry. Total willpower: 2
Reveal: Watcher in the Wood (raise threat to 40).
Total threat: 9
Raise threat to 47

Travel Phase
Play: Hail of Stones (Legolas -1). Exhaust White Tower Watchman to deal 1 damage to Nazgul of Minas Morgul (2/5)

Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Vanguard, Morgul Sorcerer, Nazgul of Minas Morgul

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Vanguard, Morgul Sorcerer, Nazgul of Minas Morgul
Play: Goblin-cleaver (Exhaust Spear of the Mark). Deal 1 damage to Nazgul of Minas Morgul (3/5)
Nazgul of Minas Morgul attacks. Knights of the Swan defends. Deal 1 damage to Nazgul of Minas Morgul (4/5). Shadow: The Dead City Looms (+3 attack). Knights of the Swan is destroyed.
Orc Vanguard attacks. Undefended. Shadow: The Master's Malice (no effect). Deal 8 damage to White Tower Watchman, destroying it.
Morgul Sorcerer attacks. Beorn defends. Shadow: Orc Arbalesters (+2 attack). Deal 4 damage to Beorn (4/9).
Beorn declares an attack on Nazgul of Minas Morgul, destroying it and winning the game!

Final Scoring
3 Completed Rounds x10: 30
Ending Threat: 47
Total Damage on Heroes: 9 (Beorn)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 85


The Recap

At first glance (and attempt), this quest was hard and frustrating. In actual practice, it was a blast! I liked the challenge of quickly dispatching three "boss" villains. It felt like timed race. Eleven attempts at anything is a lot, but the majority of them were 10-15 quick runs that ended with me threating out one round short of dispatching the Nazgul. And I'm fine (and enjoy) frequent close calls like that.

There are some pretty brutal treachery and enemies here, but all-in-all this is a quest I highly recommend. I'll love coming back with a variety of decks and seeing how else to dispatch the forces gathered in the Morgul Vale.