Time for a few house-keeping notes!
Formatting
I've noticed some major formatting errors in some posts (looking at you, The City of Corsairs). Just wanted to acknowledge that I've been seeing these and will work on going back and doing a little clean up in the near future. I may also take this time to add historic decks to RingsDB. TBD on that.
Community
Several months ago I saw that the links I had to various members of the community were gone. I likely clicked delete on that section without noticing it while doing a Stats update. The section is back and is starting to fill out more. Know some great resources I'm missing? Have a Lord of the Rings: LCG blog you run or are a fan of? Let me know and we'll get it on there!
Currently Tackling
Sometimes my updates come pretty rapidly. Other times not so much. This will give a quick description of what I'm currently working on in regards to LotR (or will serve as a general update venue).
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Re-Do: Quests 22-25
It was in early 2014 that I decided to get back into the game.
I had been on an extended break. After a decided drop off in the frequency Lord of the Rings was hitting my table, I had heard about the difficulty of Heirs of Numenor. This seemed like a good a time as any to cancel my subscription and stop playing. LotR was bought as a co-op game for my wife and I, but spending significant time to deck build, set up, and get crushed was not proving to be the casual & relaxing game night we had hoped. Fortunately I learned something from my previous times liquidating card games and decided to just shelve this one in case my interest was peaked in the future. As Against the Shadow came out, the word on the street was still that the difficulty had increased and I was glad to be out. Fast forward a bit and I'm in Thailand when the bug to try the game out again hits me. A visiting friend kindly brings over my collection as well as a large order I put in for everything I was missing up to that point. Latter in the year is when this blog began (only three years ago?).
The blog set out to document my solo play-throughs, but I still wanted to give the game a crack at also being a co-op experience for my wife and I. The first two quests of the Against the Shadow Cycle, The Steward's Fear and The Druadan Forest, were beaten with my wife well before I knew I even wanted to do a blog. I wrote up what I could remember of them and figured I would re-attempt them some day. Well now is that day! It would be great get caught up with the Haradrim Cycle releases and realize I am truly caught up with the non-saga quests. The third and fourth quests of Against the Shadow, Encounter at Amon Din and Assault on Osgiliath, will also be getting solo redos.
The Steward's Fear
Victory on the twelfth attempt!
Victory on the fifteenth attempt!
I forgot how truly hard this quest is! I'm pretty sure I beat it solo after a few attempts, but then failed attempt after attempt as I sought two decks that could consistently conquer this one. My goal was to find the perfect decks first and then invite my wife for an enjoyable, relaxed game. Pro tip: Relaxed + The Steward's Fear probably don't mix well! In any case, we eventually beat it together. Yet, despite knowing how many attempts I spend on The Steward's Fear, I still didn't quite remember the brutality this quest brings (at least for me). There are very few reveals from the quest deck that you are thankful to see.
After a failed attempt at a mono-leadership Gondor family build (Denethor, Faramir, Boromir), I went for a Lore/Leadership Denethor/Elrond/Glorfindel build that had a slight chance but was not looking good before I was called away and had to end the game. Then Libro Rojo posted about his newest creation, The Calephon's Dream, and I wanted to give it a shot. The deck rocked!
This final attempt did not feature the worst of the encounter deck and did feature pretty good draws from the player deck. There were not super-closed moments, but neither were there rounds where I felt the encounter deck didn't have a chance.
Notable moment:Playing A Test of Will to cancel the when reveled effect of Lurking in Shadows, banking on the fact that I could complete the quest the next round. I did beat it, but with one more threat in the staging area would have cost me the game.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat:47
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 127
Original Post
The Druadan Forest
Victory on the first attempt!
Victory on the second attempt!
Man I love the switch-up is at the end! Needing to use your entire stat line in fairly rapid succession is an awesome twist. Once again, felt like I had just the right amount of power to make it but I was never fully out of the woods until I was fully out of the woods.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Cirdan: 2, Denethor: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 127
Original Post
Encounter at Amon Din
Victory on the second attempt!
Victory on the third attempt!
As many have found out, this one feels like it should be a lot tougher than it ends up being. In this case, I did end up with an ally swarm that overwhelmed the encounter deck. Getting a bit cocky lead to more dead villagers than should probably have been allowed, but I was still within plenty of margin for the win.
Final Scoring
6 Completed Rounds x10: 60
Ending Threat: 32
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -5 (Gulat: 2, Secluded Farmhouse: 1, Gondorian Hamlet: 1, Burning Farmhouse: 1)
Total Score: 87
Rescued Villagers: 12
Dead Villagers: 5
Original Post
Assault on Osgiliath
Victory on the second attempt!
Victory on the third attempt!
Thought I would blow through this in two rounds, then my second staging step revealed a Ruined Tower. Round after round went by without something I could make active before the tower. A good number of strong enemies came out and right on their heal was Beorn to knock them off their rockers.
Had a good ally army starting to build, then The Master's Malice made short work of that. Nasty card. The choice came down to saving most of my allies or Denethor. Denethor won the day. Fortunately two Dunedain Remedy's came out to help Imrahil and Cirdan heal up.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 45
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 125
Original Post
The Deck
After failing twice to come up with good deck for the Stewards Fear, I saw a post in the Facebook group about a deck that had ripped its way through the Against the Shadow Cycle. Libro Rojo had come up with a Cirdan/Denethor/Prince Imrahil deck he was really enjoying (for non-Spanish speakers, Google Translate does a decent job with his blog). A version of Denethor was in both decks I had tried so far and Cirdan is in a few of my favorite decks. But most importantly, I have really been wanting to try out a Tactics Prince Imrahil build.
There's a lot to love about this deck. You're questing big, able to defend decently (very decently once you get a Gondorian Shield on Denethor) and popping allies in and out. It was such a blast to play, and handled the quests so well, that I may tackle the remaining Against the Shadow quests this next week just for the fun of it.
The Calphon's Dreams - Los Suenos De Calphone v.3
Heroes
Cirdan the Shipwright
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Prince Imrahil (The City of Corsairs)
Allies
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Glorfindel (The Flight of the Stormcaller) x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x3
Jubayr x1
West Road Traveller x2
Knight of the White Tower x2
Beorn (Core) x2
Boromir (The Road Darkens) x2
Defender of Cair Andros x2
Deorwine x1
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Marksman of Lorien x2
Attachments
Light of Valinor x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Dunedain Remedy x2
Heir of Mardil x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Gondorian Shield x2
The Red Arrow x1
Narya x3
Events
A Test of Will x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
A Very Good Tale x2
Feint x3
Sideboard
Galadriel's Handmaiden x2
Stand and Fight x2
Knight of the White Tower x1
Dunedain Remedy x1
Marksman of Lorien x1
RingsDB Link
Libro Rojo's Blog
I had been on an extended break. After a decided drop off in the frequency Lord of the Rings was hitting my table, I had heard about the difficulty of Heirs of Numenor. This seemed like a good a time as any to cancel my subscription and stop playing. LotR was bought as a co-op game for my wife and I, but spending significant time to deck build, set up, and get crushed was not proving to be the casual & relaxing game night we had hoped. Fortunately I learned something from my previous times liquidating card games and decided to just shelve this one in case my interest was peaked in the future. As Against the Shadow came out, the word on the street was still that the difficulty had increased and I was glad to be out. Fast forward a bit and I'm in Thailand when the bug to try the game out again hits me. A visiting friend kindly brings over my collection as well as a large order I put in for everything I was missing up to that point. Latter in the year is when this blog began (only three years ago?).
The blog set out to document my solo play-throughs, but I still wanted to give the game a crack at also being a co-op experience for my wife and I. The first two quests of the Against the Shadow Cycle, The Steward's Fear and The Druadan Forest, were beaten with my wife well before I knew I even wanted to do a blog. I wrote up what I could remember of them and figured I would re-attempt them some day. Well now is that day! It would be great get caught up with the Haradrim Cycle releases and realize I am truly caught up with the non-saga quests. The third and fourth quests of Against the Shadow, Encounter at Amon Din and Assault on Osgiliath, will also be getting solo redos.
The Steward's Fear
Victory on the fifteenth attempt!
I forgot how truly hard this quest is! I'm pretty sure I beat it solo after a few attempts, but then failed attempt after attempt as I sought two decks that could consistently conquer this one. My goal was to find the perfect decks first and then invite my wife for an enjoyable, relaxed game. Pro tip: Relaxed + The Steward's Fear probably don't mix well! In any case, we eventually beat it together. Yet, despite knowing how many attempts I spend on The Steward's Fear, I still didn't quite remember the brutality this quest brings (at least for me). There are very few reveals from the quest deck that you are thankful to see.
After a failed attempt at a mono-leadership Gondor family build (Denethor, Faramir, Boromir), I went for a Lore/Leadership Denethor/Elrond/Glorfindel build that had a slight chance but was not looking good before I was called away and had to end the game. Then Libro Rojo posted about his newest creation, The Calephon's Dream, and I wanted to give it a shot. The deck rocked!
This final attempt did not feature the worst of the encounter deck and did feature pretty good draws from the player deck. There were not super-closed moments, but neither were there rounds where I felt the encounter deck didn't have a chance.
Notable moment:Playing A Test of Will to cancel the when reveled effect of Lurking in Shadows, banking on the fact that I could complete the quest the next round. I did beat it, but with one more threat in the staging area would have cost me the game.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat:47
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 127
Original Post
The Druadan Forest
Victory on the second attempt!
Man I love the switch-up is at the end! Needing to use your entire stat line in fairly rapid succession is an awesome twist. Once again, felt like I had just the right amount of power to make it but I was never fully out of the woods until I was fully out of the woods.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Cirdan: 2, Denethor: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 127
Original Post
Encounter at Amon Din
Victory on the third attempt!
As many have found out, this one feels like it should be a lot tougher than it ends up being. In this case, I did end up with an ally swarm that overwhelmed the encounter deck. Getting a bit cocky lead to more dead villagers than should probably have been allowed, but I was still within plenty of margin for the win.
Final Scoring
6 Completed Rounds x10: 60
Ending Threat: 32
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -5 (Gulat: 2, Secluded Farmhouse: 1, Gondorian Hamlet: 1, Burning Farmhouse: 1)
Total Score: 87
Rescued Villagers: 12
Dead Villagers: 5
Original Post
Assault on Osgiliath
Victory on the third attempt!
Thought I would blow through this in two rounds, then my second staging step revealed a Ruined Tower. Round after round went by without something I could make active before the tower. A good number of strong enemies came out and right on their heal was Beorn to knock them off their rockers.
Had a good ally army starting to build, then The Master's Malice made short work of that. Nasty card. The choice came down to saving most of my allies or Denethor. Denethor won the day. Fortunately two Dunedain Remedy's came out to help Imrahil and Cirdan heal up.
Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 45
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 125
Original Post
The Deck
After failing twice to come up with good deck for the Stewards Fear, I saw a post in the Facebook group about a deck that had ripped its way through the Against the Shadow Cycle. Libro Rojo had come up with a Cirdan/Denethor/Prince Imrahil deck he was really enjoying (for non-Spanish speakers, Google Translate does a decent job with his blog). A version of Denethor was in both decks I had tried so far and Cirdan is in a few of my favorite decks. But most importantly, I have really been wanting to try out a Tactics Prince Imrahil build.
There's a lot to love about this deck. You're questing big, able to defend decently (very decently once you get a Gondorian Shield on Denethor) and popping allies in and out. It was such a blast to play, and handled the quests so well, that I may tackle the remaining Against the Shadow quests this next week just for the fun of it.
The Calphon's Dreams - Los Suenos De Calphone v.3
Heroes
Cirdan the Shipwright
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)
Prince Imrahil (The City of Corsairs)
Allies
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Glorfindel (The Flight of the Stormcaller) x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x3
Jubayr x1
West Road Traveller x2
Knight of the White Tower x2
Beorn (Core) x2
Boromir (The Road Darkens) x2
Defender of Cair Andros x2
Deorwine x1
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Marksman of Lorien x2
Attachments
Light of Valinor x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Dunedain Remedy x2
Heir of Mardil x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Gondorian Shield x2
The Red Arrow x1
Narya x3
Events
A Test of Will x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
A Very Good Tale x2
Feint x3
Sideboard
Galadriel's Handmaiden x2
Stand and Fight x2
Knight of the White Tower x1
Dunedain Remedy x1
Marksman of Lorien x1
RingsDB Link
Libro Rojo's Blog
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Looking Back: The Sands of Harad
Like The Grey Havens before it, Sands of Harad took the core fundamentals of the game and accentuated them with just enough thematic elements to place the player in the heart of the theme. Also like the last cycle, the new mechanic (temperature) was featured in the deluxe box but not excessively so.
Another feature I appreciated was the tendency of the encounter deck to have just the right answers for me, but not to the level where any style of deck was full prohibited (well, maybe a low will power, low ally deck for the final quest). I felt like I was playing against a competent player who new the meta and adjusted accordingly.
From a purely scenario mindset, The Sands of Harad is where I would point players to as the second box to attempt after the core.
Pro-tip: Make Dune references on your blog and the next day you'll find a motherload of Dune books at your local thrift store. Works for me 100% of the time!
Another feature I appreciated was the tendency of the encounter deck to have just the right answers for me, but not to the level where any style of deck was full prohibited (well, maybe a low will power, low ally deck for the final quest). I felt like I was playing against a competent player who new the meta and adjusted accordingly.
From a purely scenario mindset, The Sands of Harad is where I would point players to as the second box to attempt after the core.
Pro-tip: Make Dune references on your blog and the next day you'll find a motherload of Dune books at your local thrift store. Works for me 100% of the time!
Quest 57: The Long Arm of Mordor
Victory on the second attempt!
The Deck
The original build for this deck was eagle-heavy, which switched to ally good stuff prior to my first attempt. Combat was no issue and my heroes were handling questing just fine. But once I became location locked in stage 3, I realized I had almost no allies who could help out with the questing. The focus this time around was to blend the first two iterations of the deck with high-questing allies. Bofur is an odd inclusion, due to the lack of weapons, but two willpower for three cost in Tactics is value in and of itself. Mablung was the original third hero, but money was no issue during my second attempt so I went with Merry to get a little bit of a threat decrease and the addition of Halfling Determination to help even more with the willpower issue.
Red Menace
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Hirgon
Merry (The Black Riders)
Allies
Beechbone x1
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Defender of Rammas x3
Descendant of Thorondor x3
Eagles of the Misty Mountains x3
Grimbold x2
Gwaihir x2
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Marksman of Lorien x2
Rumil x2
Soldier of Dol Amroth x3
Vassal of the Windlord x3
Winged Guardian x3
Yazan x2
Attachments
Book of Eldacar x3
Events
Close Call x2
Feint x3
Halfling Determination x3
The Eagles Are Coming! x3
The Hammer-stroke x1
Wait no longer x3
RingsDB Link
The deck performed as expected, with no card feeling wasted in my hand. Location lock was not a problem and all enemies were dispatched ASAP.
The Journey
Focusing on willpower-heavy allies pared with the already attack-heavy Tactics sphere made a big difference this time around.
Set Up and Round 1
I pick Firyal as my objective hero. The opening hand has two Soldiers of Dol Amroth, a Vassal of the Windlord, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, and Halfling Determination. A solid start! I play Marksman of Lorien, planning to take an undefended attack from the Sauron's Enforcers in the staging area and finishing it off. Enemy lock is another trap I do not want to fall into. Southron Boma hits the staging area, bringing me to two threat which still allows me to get a progress on stage 1B and get Eowyn back. I do take that undefended attack from the Enforcers, placing the damage on Hirgon, then take him out with the Marksman and move on.
Round 2
I put a Vassal of the Windlord down just to get more of an ally presence. I could have played a Soldier of Dol Amroth, then a Vassal for free, but I need a resource to travel to the Sothron Boma. Questing for 7, I reveal another Boma and get 3 progress on stage 2B. Not quite enough yet. I spend my spare resource to travel to one of the Bomas.
Round 3
Using Firyal's peeking ability, I see a Uruk of Mordor on top of the encounter deck and choose to discard it. No allies with two willpower to defend against it right now. A Mordor Warg is revealed, so some combat will be necessary. Three progress goes on the active Southron Boma. I engage the Warg and chump with the Vassal, revealing Overrun by Orcs and splitting two damage between the Marksman and Eowyn. The Marksman gets one damage on the Warg and I move on.
Round 4
I lay down a Soldier of Dol Amroth followed by a second Marksman of Lorien. No resources to travel to the Southron Boma in the staging area, but I prefer the increased ally support for now. I quest for 7 and let a Forest Clearing resolve. The final progress is placed on the active Southron Boma and another progress on stage 2 (4/5). Forest Clearing becomes the active location. The Warge attacks the soldier, doing one damage to him, and is defeated by a Marksman.
Round 5
The Eagles Are Coming! nets me Vassal of the Windlord + The Eagles Are Coming!, which gets me Gwalhir. Another Soldier of Dol Amroth goes down, followed by a free Vassal. I quest with Fryal and Eowyn, seeing an Uruk of Mordor and deciding to discard it. Village Hut comes out. I have enough willpower to clear the Forest Clearining and stage 2, getting Hirgon back. Sauron's Enforces is selected to guard Merry. Traveling to the Village Hut gets me a Winged Guardian. The enforcers are taken out by two Marskman and a Soldier (after destroying another Soldier). The Savage Attack shadow effect puts an Uruk Warg-Rider into the staging area.
Round 6-10
Now it is just stalling and building my army. I try to guesstimate just enough questing to clear locations & keep my threat from increasing, while aiming low enough to stay at stage 3.
Round 11
I've kept the staging area clear enough that questing with a modest 9 is enough to launch me into the final stage. I could have quested with left, but I try to always quest with Hirgon to get is discount. Yazan comes in play thanks to that discount this round! Now I have a Sauron's Enforcers and the Uruk Chieftan to deal with. It's not a question of if I can, but how I want to do it. I sacrifice a Vassal to the Chieftan (adding that Vassal to my pump-up Eagles of the Misty Mountains) and a Soldier of Dol Amroth to the Enforcers, then take out the Enforcers with Yazan and Legolas and the Chieftan with two Marksmen (but isn't it a woman?) of Lorien, a Vassal (which will be added to the mega-Eagle) and Bofur.
Round 12
Now time to super-quest! I play Wait No Longer, hoping not to wiff, and pull out a Sauron's Enforcers. Knowing exactly what I have to deal with, I put everyone into questing and blow past stage 4. Victory!
Final Scoring
11 Completed Rounds x10: 110
Ending Threat: 32
Total Damage on Heroes: 2 (Hirgon: 2, Eowyn: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 144
The Recap
One hero. 3 resources. 1 threat already in the staging area. Twomen mixture of men/women/creatures enter, one man or woman or creature leaves.
There is quite a disadvantage at the start of this scenario, with a 3 willpower hero at most trying to quest past the Enforcers to get that first progress on the stage. While it never happened to me, I bet there have been quite a few negative play experiences where all hope was lost after that first quest phase (perusing forums proves that to be true). Since I never had that experience, this was actually enjoyable for me. I liked slowly building my forces up, both ally and hero. The end was just tough enough the first round (one copy of Wait No Longer or Hammer Stroke in hand would have put victory in my lap). The second attempt was a push-over, but I don't know if there would be a way to account for that without some other demoralizing inclusion. This quest felt tough, balanced, and enjoyable.
The Deck
The original build for this deck was eagle-heavy, which switched to ally good stuff prior to my first attempt. Combat was no issue and my heroes were handling questing just fine. But once I became location locked in stage 3, I realized I had almost no allies who could help out with the questing. The focus this time around was to blend the first two iterations of the deck with high-questing allies. Bofur is an odd inclusion, due to the lack of weapons, but two willpower for three cost in Tactics is value in and of itself. Mablung was the original third hero, but money was no issue during my second attempt so I went with Merry to get a little bit of a threat decrease and the addition of Halfling Determination to help even more with the willpower issue.
Red Menace
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Hirgon
Merry (The Black Riders)
Allies
Beechbone x1
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Defender of Rammas x3
Descendant of Thorondor x3
Eagles of the Misty Mountains x3
Grimbold x2
Gwaihir x2
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Marksman of Lorien x2
Rumil x2
Soldier of Dol Amroth x3
Vassal of the Windlord x3
Winged Guardian x3
Yazan x2
Attachments
Book of Eldacar x3
Events
Close Call x2
Feint x3
Halfling Determination x3
The Eagles Are Coming! x3
The Hammer-stroke x1
Wait no longer x3
RingsDB Link
The deck performed as expected, with no card feeling wasted in my hand. Location lock was not a problem and all enemies were dispatched ASAP.
The Journey
Focusing on willpower-heavy allies pared with the already attack-heavy Tactics sphere made a big difference this time around.
Set Up and Round 1
I pick Firyal as my objective hero. The opening hand has two Soldiers of Dol Amroth, a Vassal of the Windlord, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, and Halfling Determination. A solid start! I play Marksman of Lorien, planning to take an undefended attack from the Sauron's Enforcers in the staging area and finishing it off. Enemy lock is another trap I do not want to fall into. Southron Boma hits the staging area, bringing me to two threat which still allows me to get a progress on stage 1B and get Eowyn back. I do take that undefended attack from the Enforcers, placing the damage on Hirgon, then take him out with the Marksman and move on.
Round 2
I put a Vassal of the Windlord down just to get more of an ally presence. I could have played a Soldier of Dol Amroth, then a Vassal for free, but I need a resource to travel to the Sothron Boma. Questing for 7, I reveal another Boma and get 3 progress on stage 2B. Not quite enough yet. I spend my spare resource to travel to one of the Bomas.
Round 3
Using Firyal's peeking ability, I see a Uruk of Mordor on top of the encounter deck and choose to discard it. No allies with two willpower to defend against it right now. A Mordor Warg is revealed, so some combat will be necessary. Three progress goes on the active Southron Boma. I engage the Warg and chump with the Vassal, revealing Overrun by Orcs and splitting two damage between the Marksman and Eowyn. The Marksman gets one damage on the Warg and I move on.
Round 4
I lay down a Soldier of Dol Amroth followed by a second Marksman of Lorien. No resources to travel to the Southron Boma in the staging area, but I prefer the increased ally support for now. I quest for 7 and let a Forest Clearing resolve. The final progress is placed on the active Southron Boma and another progress on stage 2 (4/5). Forest Clearing becomes the active location. The Warge attacks the soldier, doing one damage to him, and is defeated by a Marksman.
Round 5
The Eagles Are Coming! nets me Vassal of the Windlord + The Eagles Are Coming!, which gets me Gwalhir. Another Soldier of Dol Amroth goes down, followed by a free Vassal. I quest with Fryal and Eowyn, seeing an Uruk of Mordor and deciding to discard it. Village Hut comes out. I have enough willpower to clear the Forest Clearining and stage 2, getting Hirgon back. Sauron's Enforces is selected to guard Merry. Traveling to the Village Hut gets me a Winged Guardian. The enforcers are taken out by two Marskman and a Soldier (after destroying another Soldier). The Savage Attack shadow effect puts an Uruk Warg-Rider into the staging area.
Round 6-10
Now it is just stalling and building my army. I try to guesstimate just enough questing to clear locations & keep my threat from increasing, while aiming low enough to stay at stage 3.
Round 11
I've kept the staging area clear enough that questing with a modest 9 is enough to launch me into the final stage. I could have quested with left, but I try to always quest with Hirgon to get is discount. Yazan comes in play thanks to that discount this round! Now I have a Sauron's Enforcers and the Uruk Chieftan to deal with. It's not a question of if I can, but how I want to do it. I sacrifice a Vassal to the Chieftan (adding that Vassal to my pump-up Eagles of the Misty Mountains) and a Soldier of Dol Amroth to the Enforcers, then take out the Enforcers with Yazan and Legolas and the Chieftan with two Marksmen (but isn't it a woman?) of Lorien, a Vassal (which will be added to the mega-Eagle) and Bofur.
Round 12
Now time to super-quest! I play Wait No Longer, hoping not to wiff, and pull out a Sauron's Enforcers. Knowing exactly what I have to deal with, I put everyone into questing and blow past stage 4. Victory!
Final Scoring
11 Completed Rounds x10: 110
Ending Threat: 32
Total Damage on Heroes: 2 (Hirgon: 2, Eowyn: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 144
The Recap
One hero. 3 resources. 1 threat already in the staging area. Two
There is quite a disadvantage at the start of this scenario, with a 3 willpower hero at most trying to quest past the Enforcers to get that first progress on the stage. While it never happened to me, I bet there have been quite a few negative play experiences where all hope was lost after that first quest phase (perusing forums proves that to be true). Since I never had that experience, this was actually enjoyable for me. I liked slowly building my forces up, both ally and hero. The end was just tough enough the first round (one copy of Wait No Longer or Hammer Stroke in hand would have put victory in my lap). The second attempt was a push-over, but I don't know if there would be a way to account for that without some other demoralizing inclusion. This quest felt tough, balanced, and enjoyable.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Quest 56: Desert Crossing
Victory on the second attempt!
Unlike the ally swarm of Outlands, the goal here is to simply have a few very strong allies pared with action advantage. Elrond was a no-brainer hero of choice, allowing me to pair with Kahliel to get Harad allies out much faster. This also allowed me to throw in Ally Arwen to beef up Jubayr's defense of three. Faramir was included to increase the action advantage of my allies.
Then we have Core Gandalf, Daeron's Runes, and Heed the Dream for card advantage. A huge strength of the Harad deck is having a use for duplicate unique cards in hand, which are usually dead cards you can only hope to get rid of with Daeron's Runes or a Noldor discard outlet. Now you have action advantage!
Strong Allies for Strong Heroes
Heroes
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Kahliel
Allies
Firyal x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Kahliel's Tribesman x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Jubayr x3
Yazan x3
Southron Refugee x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Dunedain Remedy x2
Haradrim Spear x3
Steward of Gondor x3
Kahliel's Headdress x3
Vilya x3
Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Heed the Dream x2 A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
RingsDB Link
I held onto the Headdress for a few rounds, focusing on getting allies down, and loved it once it hit the table. One possibility for a future version of this deck is switching out Faramir and adding in Leadership Aragorn + Sword that was Broken for ridiculous willpower.
Dunedain Remedy never hit the table and would have been more desirable in hindsight than Ioreth. I would remove her and add a third remedy. I would also cut down Vilya to at least a two-of, maybe even a one of. Additional copies of Captain's Wisdom and Gandalf would be likely inclusions, although Ever Vigilant may have a place here.
My first attempt began on a terrible foot. I thought I had the encounter deck licked at the start with with two Sneak Attacks, two A Very Good Tales, and Jubayr + another ally in my opening hand. Except I whiffed on A Very Good Tale two times in a row, only getting a Kahliel's Tribesman to the table and ruining my early advantage. Now low on resources and cards to spend them on, I gave the quest a team try but was quickly overwhelmed by enemies that I did not have the means to deal with.
Attempt #2 was more cautious. When I began whiffing with Vilya, I shut down that strategy and focused my efforts elsewhere. Sneak attacks where held in hand to get Jubayr where he was truly needed: defending (until I had enough stored up to pay for him). Once I had the Big Three down (Firyal, Jubayr, Yazan), the encounter deck still stood a chance but was at a significant disadvantage.
Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Faramir)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 93
The spice must flow!
The Deck
I am an Outlands fan. I know; I'm a terrible person. But extreme synergy appeals to me. This preference has made the Haradrim deck one I have really wanted to try out, even though the deck is not "complete" yet (with two more packs still to be released as of this writing).Unlike the ally swarm of Outlands, the goal here is to simply have a few very strong allies pared with action advantage. Elrond was a no-brainer hero of choice, allowing me to pair with Kahliel to get Harad allies out much faster. This also allowed me to throw in Ally Arwen to beef up Jubayr's defense of three. Faramir was included to increase the action advantage of my allies.
Then we have Core Gandalf, Daeron's Runes, and Heed the Dream for card advantage. A huge strength of the Harad deck is having a use for duplicate unique cards in hand, which are usually dead cards you can only hope to get rid of with Daeron's Runes or a Noldor discard outlet. Now you have action advantage!
Strong Allies for Strong Heroes
Heroes
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Kahliel
Allies
Firyal x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Kahliel's Tribesman x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Jubayr x3
Yazan x3
Southron Refugee x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Dunedain Remedy x2
Haradrim Spear x3
Steward of Gondor x3
Kahliel's Headdress x3
Vilya x3
Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Heed the Dream x2 A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
RingsDB Link
I held onto the Headdress for a few rounds, focusing on getting allies down, and loved it once it hit the table. One possibility for a future version of this deck is switching out Faramir and adding in Leadership Aragorn + Sword that was Broken for ridiculous willpower.
Dunedain Remedy never hit the table and would have been more desirable in hindsight than Ioreth. I would remove her and add a third remedy. I would also cut down Vilya to at least a two-of, maybe even a one of. Additional copies of Captain's Wisdom and Gandalf would be likely inclusions, although Ever Vigilant may have a place here.
The Journey
My first attempt began on a terrible foot. I thought I had the encounter deck licked at the start with with two Sneak Attacks, two A Very Good Tales, and Jubayr + another ally in my opening hand. Except I whiffed on A Very Good Tale two times in a row, only getting a Kahliel's Tribesman to the table and ruining my early advantage. Now low on resources and cards to spend them on, I gave the quest a team try but was quickly overwhelmed by enemies that I did not have the means to deal with.
Attempt #2 was more cautious. When I began whiffing with Vilya, I shut down that strategy and focused my efforts elsewhere. Sneak attacks where held in hand to get Jubayr where he was truly needed: defending (until I had enough stored up to pay for him). Once I had the Big Three down (Firyal, Jubayr, Yazan), the encounter deck still stood a chance but was at a significant disadvantage.
Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Faramir)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 93
The spice must flow!
The Recap
Once again, it was the small thematic elements that sold this quest for me: Temperatures rising, desert creatures that felt well balanced, locations that were often punishing but still needed to be passed through. I truly felt like my heroes were traveling across the deadly lands of Arrakis. And there was an interesting variety in the various stages: Increasingly hot weather was always detrimental, but in unique ways. I look forward to undertaking this deadly journey again.Sunday, September 10, 2017
Quest 55: Escape from Umbar
Victory on the third attempt!
The Deck
Argalad is a hero I have played with before but wanted to use more effectively. I see the key to him as A) keeping enemies in the staging area enough to knock them out over a few rounds or B) having a variety of ways to damage enemies while in the staging area and using Argalad as an additional point of that. Flipping through my binders this weekend, Fastred caught my eye. I know I recently gave him a mediocre review. This was due to feeling his three defense would lead to him being an ineffectual blocker and thus not useful for consistently throwing enemies back to the staging area. Consider me converted to the cause! A little buffing (Gondorian Shield, Captain of Gondor, Ally Arwen) and he works like a charm. While a quick perusal of RingsDB will see Fastred teamed with Dunhere (a great combination), I wanted to use him + Spear of the Citadel to tag-team enemies with Argalad. With the usually low amount of enemies appearing in a solo game, this should take care of attacking. The best offense is a good defense, right? I think that's how it goes.
Now to deal with questing. Argalad "kind of" quests, in removing the threat of an enemy (if there is one). Throw Light of the Valinor on him and he will often be pulling double duty. Since I wanted access to tactics for a few reasons (Fastred's equipment + Bow of the Gladhrim for Argalad), Tactics Eowyn was a no brainer. She can carry a chunk of the early questing and help out if a big attack is needed in a pinch. Add in Silvan Refugee to help with questing (since we hopefully won't be loosing anyone along the way) and Warden of Healing to help with the archery damage, then we're off to the races!
Take You With Me
Heroes
Argalad
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Fastred
Allies
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Honour Guard x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Ithulien Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x2
Attachments
Ranger Bow x3
Bow of the Galadhrim x2
Captain of Gondor x2
Gondorian Shield x2
Spear of the Citadel x2
Light of Valinor x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Secret Paths x2
Goblin Cleaver x2
Hail of Stones x2
A Test of Will x3
Tides of Fate x3
A Good Harvest x3
RingsDB Link
The deck worked as desired. Enemies were fairly neutralized, threat was lowered, and a quest was won. But there are some major changes I would make for attempt #3 with this one. Being tri-sphere, I was very reserved in my resource costs. I ended up with a fairly light hand and some very rich heroes. While I may regret removing A Good Harvest, I would at least take it down to a one-of. In would go two copies of Arrows from the Trees. I would also add one or two high-cost Lore & Spirit allies and replace Hail of Stones with Hasty Stroke. Those changes should help firm up the key Argalad/Fastred strategy. Oh, and OG Gandalf. He is right there with the direct damage theme.
The Journey
My first attempt at escaping from Umbar was done alongside my wife, after a long hiatus of co-oping Lord of the Rings. While we had fun, the enemy swarm + archery damage finally did us in. My two attempts tonight were done IRL without my computer open (on purpose), so this is more of an overview than a true write-up.
On both solo attempts, I went for Port of Harad as my stating location. Hopefully I would have no more than one enemy engaged with me at any time, letting me deal as little damage as possible due to the Port's travel effect. This worked. Umbar Square came up right behind it, several times, and I opted to deal with the travel effect and keep moving forward. Same with Haradrim Estate. My willpower did not have a ton of room for growth so avoiding location lock was a priority.
On my first attempt, I would only keep Fastred up for defense. Then I dealt with a Southron Soldier at the start of stage 2 who made an immediate attack (since there were no resources to remove) and was dealt Enemy Pursuit as a shadow card (granting another attack). Shoot. While Fastred was able to bounce the Soldier back to the staging area, thus avoiding a third attack, I still had the second attack to deal with and no hero who could survive the attack. Eowyn had not used her ability yet, so I readied her (though it pained my heart) and had her defend. She survived, but victory was not to be had that attempt.
I wizened up on the second attempt and always tried to have at least one ally up (a usually strategy for me, but I was getting cocky). It also helped that I drew two Honour Guards, although they primarily served the purpose of removing archery damage and then soaking some up themselves. That was the kicker this time around. I ended up only putting one progress on stage 2 the final quest phase, which is all I needed. If that had not worked out, it was time to start looking heroes to archery damage.
Both quests featured terrible moments with Enemy Pursuit. This card always seemed to come up when I had 13-14 progress on stage 1 and was anticipating strolling onto stage 2. With the squishy heroes and light allies I'm packing in this, removing the progress is the only real choice. The first attempt did feature a satisfying moment where Enemy Pursuit removed all progress and I was still able to progress to stage 2 the following round.
Final Scoring
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 30
Total Damage on Heroes: 7 (Argalad: 3, Eowyn: 2, Fastred: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 137
The Recap
My first gut is that this quest felt very thematic. But how much of that is just in my head? What was really different here than the typical quest? Enemies and locations came out, enemies were fought and locations were explored. This is usually the type of thinking I have before taking a break for a bit (which is not the plan now). Despite that pessimistic viewpoint, this really did feel like the theme was there. Maybe it was the type of enemies (with the focus on archery and removing your progress). Maybe it was the type of locations (bringing out more enemies or temporarily averting the threat while you squeeze through a narrow alleyway). Like most games (such as Halo that I have fired up right now), the core elements of the game are basically the same and it is the nuances and shading that brings out the different themes. Escape from Umbar did this from me and I will look forward to fleeing this city again in the future.
The Deck
Argalad is a hero I have played with before but wanted to use more effectively. I see the key to him as A) keeping enemies in the staging area enough to knock them out over a few rounds or B) having a variety of ways to damage enemies while in the staging area and using Argalad as an additional point of that. Flipping through my binders this weekend, Fastred caught my eye. I know I recently gave him a mediocre review. This was due to feeling his three defense would lead to him being an ineffectual blocker and thus not useful for consistently throwing enemies back to the staging area. Consider me converted to the cause! A little buffing (Gondorian Shield, Captain of Gondor, Ally Arwen) and he works like a charm. While a quick perusal of RingsDB will see Fastred teamed with Dunhere (a great combination), I wanted to use him + Spear of the Citadel to tag-team enemies with Argalad. With the usually low amount of enemies appearing in a solo game, this should take care of attacking. The best offense is a good defense, right? I think that's how it goes.
Now to deal with questing. Argalad "kind of" quests, in removing the threat of an enemy (if there is one). Throw Light of the Valinor on him and he will often be pulling double duty. Since I wanted access to tactics for a few reasons (Fastred's equipment + Bow of the Gladhrim for Argalad), Tactics Eowyn was a no brainer. She can carry a chunk of the early questing and help out if a big attack is needed in a pinch. Add in Silvan Refugee to help with questing (since we hopefully won't be loosing anyone along the way) and Warden of Healing to help with the archery damage, then we're off to the races!
Take You With Me
Heroes
Argalad
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Fastred
Allies
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Honour Guard x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Ithulien Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x2
Attachments
Ranger Bow x3
Bow of the Galadhrim x2
Captain of Gondor x2
Gondorian Shield x2
Spear of the Citadel x2
Light of Valinor x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Secret Paths x2
Goblin Cleaver x2
Hail of Stones x2
A Test of Will x3
Tides of Fate x3
A Good Harvest x3
RingsDB Link
The deck worked as desired. Enemies were fairly neutralized, threat was lowered, and a quest was won. But there are some major changes I would make for attempt #3 with this one. Being tri-sphere, I was very reserved in my resource costs. I ended up with a fairly light hand and some very rich heroes. While I may regret removing A Good Harvest, I would at least take it down to a one-of. In would go two copies of Arrows from the Trees. I would also add one or two high-cost Lore & Spirit allies and replace Hail of Stones with Hasty Stroke. Those changes should help firm up the key Argalad/Fastred strategy. Oh, and OG Gandalf. He is right there with the direct damage theme.
The Journey
My first attempt at escaping from Umbar was done alongside my wife, after a long hiatus of co-oping Lord of the Rings. While we had fun, the enemy swarm + archery damage finally did us in. My two attempts tonight were done IRL without my computer open (on purpose), so this is more of an overview than a true write-up.
On both solo attempts, I went for Port of Harad as my stating location. Hopefully I would have no more than one enemy engaged with me at any time, letting me deal as little damage as possible due to the Port's travel effect. This worked. Umbar Square came up right behind it, several times, and I opted to deal with the travel effect and keep moving forward. Same with Haradrim Estate. My willpower did not have a ton of room for growth so avoiding location lock was a priority.
On my first attempt, I would only keep Fastred up for defense. Then I dealt with a Southron Soldier at the start of stage 2 who made an immediate attack (since there were no resources to remove) and was dealt Enemy Pursuit as a shadow card (granting another attack). Shoot. While Fastred was able to bounce the Soldier back to the staging area, thus avoiding a third attack, I still had the second attack to deal with and no hero who could survive the attack. Eowyn had not used her ability yet, so I readied her (though it pained my heart) and had her defend. She survived, but victory was not to be had that attempt.
I wizened up on the second attempt and always tried to have at least one ally up (a usually strategy for me, but I was getting cocky). It also helped that I drew two Honour Guards, although they primarily served the purpose of removing archery damage and then soaking some up themselves. That was the kicker this time around. I ended up only putting one progress on stage 2 the final quest phase, which is all I needed. If that had not worked out, it was time to start looking heroes to archery damage.
Both quests featured terrible moments with Enemy Pursuit. This card always seemed to come up when I had 13-14 progress on stage 1 and was anticipating strolling onto stage 2. With the squishy heroes and light allies I'm packing in this, removing the progress is the only real choice. The first attempt did feature a satisfying moment where Enemy Pursuit removed all progress and I was still able to progress to stage 2 the following round.
Final Scoring
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 30
Total Damage on Heroes: 7 (Argalad: 3, Eowyn: 2, Fastred: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 137
The Recap
My first gut is that this quest felt very thematic. But how much of that is just in my head? What was really different here than the typical quest? Enemies and locations came out, enemies were fought and locations were explored. This is usually the type of thinking I have before taking a break for a bit (which is not the plan now). Despite that pessimistic viewpoint, this really did feel like the theme was there. Maybe it was the type of enemies (with the focus on archery and removing your progress). Maybe it was the type of locations (bringing out more enemies or temporarily averting the threat while you squeeze through a narrow alleyway). Like most games (such as Halo that I have fired up right now), the core elements of the game are basically the same and it is the nuances and shading that brings out the different themes. Escape from Umbar did this from me and I will look forward to fleeing this city again in the future.
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