Quest 53: A Storm on Corbas Haven

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

Yes, this Spirit Pippin Deck Soloed Cobas Haven was too intriguing a name to pass up. The deck was renamed in its later form, but I still knew which quest I would be using this one on.

My previous experience with Spirit Pippin was that he is good for a sphere match, is eclipsed by Spirit Merry, and is otherwise forgettable. But A Storm on Corbas Haven is actually the perfect quest to see this much-maligned hero card shine. Corsair enemies are a pain and having a way to semi-nullify the boarding keyword is a great tool to have in your bag of tricks. Trust Seastan to take a card I thought was pretty much useless and make it a key piece of my strategy!

Spirit Pippin Goes Sailing
by Seastan

Heroes
Bilbo Baggins (The Hunt for Gollum)
Pippin (Encounter at Amon Din)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Allies 
Anfalas Herdsman x3
Gelowine x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x3
Bofur (The Redhorn Gate) x1
Ethir Swordsman x3
Galadhrim Weaver x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Saruman x3
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1

Attachments
Good Meal x3

Events
Daeron's Runes x3
A Test of Will x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x3
Sneak Attack x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
The Redhorn Gate
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
Encounter at Amon Din
The Black Riders
The Voice of Isengard
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Treachery of Rhudar

Check out Seastan's notes on the deck at Rings DB!
RingsDB Link


The Journey

Set-Up
As Seastan recommended,  I chose Narlenya as my ship and Sea-ward Tower as my objective. It became guarded by the Coast of Anfalas.  Creative location that requires you to devote a ship objective to travel to or will punish you if you are not using your ships well and sail poorly.

Round 1
Daeron's Runes allow me to get another ally (Galadriel's Handmaden) in hand. I end up keeping her in hand for now but get Quickbeam and a Snowbourn Scout in play. Sailing for four succeeds! But questing for 9 fails by one point. With my threat slightly increase, I head for Cobas Haven (guarding The Beacon).

Round 2
The ally army grows with Errand-rider and Anfalas Herdsman. Sailing with 5 keeps in in fair weather and questing for 15 gets my heroes past Cobas Haven and onto...another Cobas Haven.

Round 3
More allies, more successful sailing, more successful questing. Now it's time to start getting tactical! I engage  a Scouting Ship and avoid the boarding (thanks, Cobas Haven!). Two damage goes on it right away (thanks, Stage 1B and fair weather!). No shadow effect and my team is able to put four more damage on it.

Round 4
I use The Beacon to get a Dol Amroth Warship on my side, then sail and quest almost past stage 1 (7/10 progress down). The Scouting Ship gets a little damage onto Narlenya before being destroyed.

Round 5
Ethir Swoardsman hits the table, I sail for five, and...fail! I am now one step off course. Questing on to stage 2, I am facing a Heavy Cruiser guarding The Beacon and I still have a Coast of Anflas guarding the Sea-ward Tower. It's time to free that guy up! Travel to the Coast then use two Sneak Attacks on Gandalf (Encounter and Combat phases) to get rid of the Heavy Cruiser.

Round 6
I drop my threat, preparing to let Spirit Pippin's abilities see some action. Questing all out for 8 and...FAIL! I did get one hit and am only at -1, but still not comfortable being in my second round of bad weather. Questing goes well and the Sea-ward Tower is now undefended, so hopefully future sailing tests will be smooth...sailing.

Round 7
I finally put Faramir down (I've had him for a bit). With the Dreamchaser and Sea-ward Tower on my side, I commit six characters/ships to the quest for a total of eight chances. Survey says...three hit! Back on course and ready to stomp face. The Raider's Assault comes out during staging, causing a Corsair Skirmisher to guard The Beacon. I engage the skirmisher. An Umbar Raider attempts to board me and is bounced back to the staging area. The skirmisher is defeated and commandeered by my team. Stage 2 is almost defeated (11/16 progress).

Round 8
I commit five to the sailing test, reaveal seven cards, and get the one hit that I need. My crew breaks through stage 2 and now has to Break Through the Fleet! The Umbar Raider attempts to come down to play and Spirit Pippin says "Nope." I take an undefended attack from the Raider Flagship, putting the damage on the Corsair Skirmsher, and advance to the next round.

Round 9
How should I break through the fleet: Quest or Battle? I have a sizable force amassed, but their strengths are definitely in the willpower area. First, let's make sure we stay in calm waters. I look at six encounter cards for the sailing test and...WIFF! One mark off course. Hopefully that won't bite me in the quest phase. I throw everything have at it and quest for 34. A wild Fog Bank appears (good thing I did not choose the tactical route), the threat in the staging area is raised to 8, and my forces break through to victory!

Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 37
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -1 (Belfas Islet)
Total Score: 116


The Recap

I love that you can engage and (try to) defeat the raider flagship as early in the quest as you would like. I mean, good luck with that, but it is possible.

The difficulty definitely seemed to ramp up with this one, especially with the sailing tests. Seastan put in his notes that he always tried to commit at least seven to each quest. I didn't always get there and began regretting that in the second half. This was actually refreshing! Sailing is a fun mechanic which I pretty much had licked, only failing the occasional test in previous quests. Now committing eight and still failing? That adds a nice level of tenseness to each round (and frustration if you did not pack enough allies).The haven definitely felt stormy here.