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!
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