Quest 40: The Wastes of Eriador

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

Alright, so my attempt to elicit feedback on my Three Hunters attempt did not take off. And that is on me! Updating a blog every 1-2 months and not really participating in the game's community is not a winning strategy to get people engaged.

So I decided to take the as-is deck out for a blind spin against The Wastes of Eriador. This was my first time heavily utilizing cards from The Sands of Harad and I, unsurprisingly, found that Unlikely Friendship was as amazing as it seemed like it would be. The regular cost of keeping Legolas and Gimli in their prime (one resource and one card) proved to be an unfounded fear, often thanks to Friendship and Elven-light. Once everyone had a little bit of kit on them (defense for Gimli, willpower & attack for Legolas, a lot of willpower and a little attack for Aragorn), questing heavily and surviving combat was not a concern. Having such strong heroes made it beneficial to reserve cards for their use and being more thoughtful in how many resources to hold back (vs. just trying to play out my hand). This philosophy also gave credit to my theory that Inspiring Presence can do some great work in this deck. While the card is best for multi-player, you'll often have all three heroes ready for combat and being able to pull off a stronger defense and attack for even one combat can come in handy.

For this specific quest (and possibly for this cycle?), A Test of Will and Dunedain Remedy would have been great inclusions. Captain's Wisdom is a great card I debated but ultimately did not miss. Maybe a great early play but its benefit would have decreased sharply as the scenario went on. I won, but it was often a matter of having exactly the amount of action advantage I needed to keep my head above water.

While Aragorn was usually pretty skilled at readying himself, I did forget that Gimli and Legolas can ready any hero (just without the willpower or attack bonus). Note to self for future decks with them. They're just so good together that it's easy to get a bit myopic!

The bottom line is that this deck performed well, was a blast to play, and will probably hit my table again down the line.

The Journey

My opening hand honestly should have been a mulligan: Celebrian's Stone, Inspiring Presence, Dunedain Mark, Faramir, Gandalf, Dunedain Warning. I should have looked for Unlikely Friendship, Elven-light, or Steward of Gondor. Especially since my strategy was to take advantage of Gimli & Legolas' abilities. But on we went.

Excited to get rolling and let my heroes' skills shine, I revealed my starting encounter card: Cold from Angmar. Wut. Someone needs to get nerfed right off the bat? Not in the plan. The weakest ability at this point is Gimli's, so on him the damage goes and Cold gets attached to what looks like it will be a very long quest stage.

It takes me until round 6 to get through stage 1, somewhat due to a Sudden Darkness coming up an throwing off my rhythm. By this point Gimli is a defense beast with two Dwarven Shields and a Duendain Warning. Legolas has a Mirkwood Long-knife and Aragorn has Celebrian's Stone, The Sword That Was Broken, Steward of Gondor, and a Dunedain Warning. The machine is alive!

Locations lock never hits me and enemies are usually by themselves. Moving onto stage 3 was a bit harry, with a Blood-thirsty Warg, Wolf of Angmar, and the Pack Leader engaging me (and exhausting three of my characters). Sneaking in Gandalf for a Wolf of Angmar kill saved me loosing a hero (but man it was hard to not use all 4 of his damage points). The next turn I drew into Fili who fetched Kili and gave me some bodies to use as chumps while I wreaked face on the Wolf of Angmar, finishing him off (and winning the quest) by laying down Gandalf again at the start of the next round.


Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x11: 110
Ending Threat: 48
Total Damage on Heroes: 6 (Gimli: 3, Legolas: 1, Aragorn: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -3 (Pack Leader)
Total Score: 161



The Recap

Nightfall & Daybreak is an amazing mechanic. Often new mechanics just bring an extra layer of punishment to the game (looking at you, Time X). But here we have a real threat (an extra encounter card, deadlier enemies, and often other negative effects) alternating with a bonus (space to quest hard, weaker enemies, and additional benefits like willpower). This made even bad Nightfall rounds just a setback to endure with hope around the corner. Switching from day to night and back also gave the quest more of an epic feel for me. This was not simply a few rounds of smashing face, but a race with our heroes surging forward during the day & fighting off the hoards at night.

We've got a big winner here in my books. Big enough to (hopefully?) get me playing a bit more frequently. Other "lifestyle" games have been taking the majority of my time lately. Wastes has reminded me that, while still challenging, Lord of the Rings: the Card Game can be an absolute blast as well. My only regret is that I still have quite a backlog to work through and probably shouldn't spend the next month or so just replaying this quest.

(Note: And I finally got around to playing against an encounter card illustrated by Preston Stone!)