Quest 003(r): Escape From Dol Guldur

Opening Thoughts

By my fifth attempt of this quest, I was feeling pretty frustrated. I had just recently made a post proclaiming that the campaign boon additions helped even out some of the rough edges of this quest and yet I was still struggling with it. Not much else to say, but I'll return back to this topic after the break...

The Decks

My goal for the final two attempts was to do two-handed with two-sphere decks that used the opposite combinations from the ones in the player guide. But Lore did not have as many cards that I wanted to splash as it had high-cost cards with good effects. The final decision was to use the Lore deck from the core and then build a tri-sphere deck.

Heroes

Aragorn

Eowyn

Legolas

Allies

Faramir x1

Snowbourn Scout x3

Silverlode Archer x3

Guard of the Citadel x3

Wandering Took x3

Gondorian Spearman x3

Veteran Axehand x3

Gandalf x3

Attachments

Celebrian's Stone x3

Steward of Gondor x3

Unexpected Courage x3

Horn of Gondor x2

Blade of Gondolin x2

Events

Valiant Sacrifice x3

Sneak Attack x3

Dwarven Tomb x3

A Test of Will x3

Feint x3

The Quest

Setup

Valor on Glorfindel and Legolas. Beravor is captured! Appointed by Fate on Aragorn. Bad starting hands that mulligan into worse hands. Hopefully the setup is easy.

Gandalf's Map is guarded by: Necromancer's Grasp

Dungeon Torch is guarded by: Driven by Shadow, which surges into Caught In a Web (attaches to Aragorn)

Shadow Key is guarded by: Enchanted Stream

Okay, that's a pretty good start. Only one thing in the staging area and it's a location (and not the worst one out there). 

Round 1

Miner of the Iron Hills goes down, getting Caught in a Web off of Aragorn. Eowyn claims Gandalf's Map, putting Mendor back into play. 

Start off questing for 10. Aragorn spends a resource to ready. Reveal: Necromancer's Pass, King Spider. Each team pitches a card to Eowyn and gets five progress on the quest. Lore then discards two cards traveling to Necromancer's Pass.

The King Spider engages Lore and Denethor defends. No damage. Legolas, with Valor on, takes out the King Spider and completes Necromancer's Pass.

Round 2

Gandalf comes down for the Leadership/Tactics/Spirit team (LTS) and draws them three cards. I quest with Eowyn and Gandalf for eight, revealing the Reach and Under the Shadow. 8 will vs 4 threat, putting 4 on the quest and advancing to stage 2. Each team gets a card from Mendor, then the group travels to the Enchanted Stream.

Round 3

Celbrian's Stone goes on Aragorn and Henamarth Riversong comes down. Henamarth shows a King Spider coming up as the next card. I quest with Aragorn and Eowyn for a total of 8, then spend a resource to ready Aragorn. Reveal: King Spider, Cavern Guardian. The Enchanted Stream is completed and four progress goes on the quest. Beravor is rescued and the Nazgul enters the staging area.

Lore takes on the King Spider, LTS optionally takes on the Nazgul, and Lore gets the Cavern Guardian. Feint is played on the Nazgul. Denethor defends against the King Spider, taking no damage. Beravor defends against the Cavern Guardian, taking no damage. Glorfindel, with Valor, defeats the King Spider. Aragorn and Legolas get three damage on the Nazgul.

Round 4

LTS plays another Gandalf, getting four more damage on the Nazgul. Lore plays Lorien's Wealth to draw three cards, then puts a Protector of Lorien on Beravor. Henamarth shows a Necromancer's Pass coming up. Gandalf, Eowyn, Aragorn, and Beravor quest for 14. Aragorn spends a resource to ready. Reveal: Necromancer's Pass and Endless Caverns, which surges into Caught in a Web (attaches to Aragorn). One card is pitched to Eowyn. Lore raises their threat by four to attach the Dungeon Torch and Shadow key to Glorfindel. Quest advances to stage 3. LTS discards two cards to travel to Necromancer's Pass. 

The Nazgul attacks and Aragorn defends. No shadow effect. The Cavern Guardian attacks and the Miner of the Iron Hills defends, taking one damage. Glorfiendel defeats the Guardian. Legolas and Mendor defeat the Nazgul, clearing Necromancer's Pass. 

Round 5

Lore gets Gelowine down. Aragorn is still exhausted, but a Steward of Gondor goes on him and exhausts for resources. Questing all in for 14. Reveal: Dol Guldor Orcs (damage goes on Denethor) and Lingering Venom, which is negated by A Test of Will. Lingering Venom surges into Dungeon Jailer.14 v 4 puts more than enough progress on the stage and the scenario is won!

Resolution

Mendor joins the campaign pool. Each team has Valor and Mendor's Support. Lingering Venom is the only burden I accumulated. 

Score: 117 (both teams had 36 threat, a total of 5 hero damage, four rounds, and nothing in the victory display).

Parting Thoughts

So I do feel the campaign addition does take away the rough edges of this quest. Lord of the Rings is the type of game where a 25% win rate is acceptable for a harder quest. Escape from Dol Guldur can still beat you right off the bat with a bad set-up, but 'picking' (depending on how the last quest went) your captured hero + having extra resources and extra damage goes a long way towards evening out the playing field. Still, the final quest of the Core box retains its original purpose: teaching you that this game can just be flat out brutal.

Quest 003(r): Escape From Dol Guldur FAILURE

Opening Thoughts

Not every failed attempt is going to get it's own post, but this one was special. Escape from Dol Guldur is something I have always viewed as a horrible inclusion in the core set. It is one of the most difficult quests, with an unpredictable handicap in the beginning (loosing a random hero) and a three card staging area possibly loosing you the game right away. So the test with this first playthrough was: does the campaign smooth some of the rough edges of this quest and make it a better part of the core experience? Let's find out...

The Deck

The top deck in the RingsDB Hall of Fame is Back to Basics - A Killer Deck Using Cards From 1 Core Set by Xanalor. When building the deck, Xanalor felt a 44 card build was the most appropriate with the cards provided in the original core box (1s and 2s of the best cards). With 3x of every card for every sphere in the revised core, I decided to fill out the build with six additions:

Henamarth Riversong x1

Steward of Gondor x1

Unexpected Courage x2

A Test of Will x1

Sneak Attack x1

So here is a 50 card version of the Back to Basics deck:

Hero
Beravor

Eowyn

Theodred

Allies

Beorn x1

Erebor Hammersmith x2

Faramir x2

Gandalf x3

Gleowine x2

Guard of the Citadel 3

Henamarth Riversong x2

Miner of the Iron Hills x2

Northern Tracker x2

Snowbourn Scout x3

Attachments

Forest Snare x2

Steward of Gondor x3

Unexpected Courage x3

Event

A Test of Will x3

Dwarven Tomb x1

For Gondor! x1

Hasty Stroke x2

Lore of Imladris x3

Sneak Attack x3

Stand and Fight x3

The Galadhrim's Greeting x2

Will of the West x2

The Quest

Setup

I decided to pick Beravor as the prisoner because Leadership is pretty important to how this deck functions. I do assign the keeper of Valor randomly and it is Beravor, so both of those cards go upside-down. Mendor goes upside-down due to the campaign set up. Appointed by Fate goes on Theodred (since he can help get resources onto others).

Gandalf's Map: guarded by Dol Guldur Orcs (when revealed effect does nothing!)

Dungeon Tourch: guarded by Great Forest Web

Shadow Key: guarded by The Necromancer's Reach (when revealed effect also does nothing!)

My opening hand is about as good as it can get: Steward of Gondor, Gandalf, Sneak Attack, Faramir. Nothing too special for the other spheres, but I am not letting go of this.

Round 1

Steward of Gondor goes on Theodred and is activated immediately. Snowborn scout goes down, putting one progress on Great Forest web. 

At the start of the Quest Phase, I sneak attack Gandalf and deal lethal damage to the Dol Guldur Orcs. Then I raise my threat by two to attach Gandalf's Map to Eowyn, allowing Mendor to be freed (with one damage). Eowyn, Mendor, and Gandalf quest for 9. Reveal: Dungeon Jailer. I put six progress on the quest, return Gandalf to hand, and exhaust Theodred to travel to Great Forest Web.

I'm going to leave the Dungeon Jailer in the staging area. I don't expect to fail questing and I only have one ally down to chump with not a lot of attack ready.

Round 2

I get Gandalf down again, putting four damage on the Jailer, then quest for five. Reveal: Caught in a Web, which goes on Theodred. I'm able to progress through the Great Forest Web and complete stage 1, readying Mendor and getting me a card.  

Dungeon Jailer is optionally engaged and the Scout is thrown in front of it, dying quickly. Gandalf then finishes off the Jailer before heading to the discard pile himself.

Round 3

Faramir comes down. I commit Eowyn and Mendor to the quest for 5. Reveal: Hummerhorns. Hopefully another Gandalf surfaces soon! I exhaust Faramir to add +2 willpower, getting 6 progress on the quest and Beravor back with one damage and adding the Nazgul to the staging area. I exhaust Beravor to draw two cards.

Round 4 

Beravor is exhausted to draw two cards, then I commit 6 to the quest. Reveal: King Spider. I pitch a card to Eowyn, then use Stand and Fight for X=1 to get a Snowborn Scout in play. Failed questing & raise my threat by 1. 

The King Spider engages me and destroys the Scout.

Round 5

Gleowine goes down Unexpected Courage goes on Beravor. I exhaust Beravor to draw two cards, then unexhaust her with Unexpected Courage.

Questing for eight this time, I reveal an Endless Caverns which surges into a Dungeon Jailer. Faramir is exhausted and a card is pitched to Eowyn to raise my willpower by 5 and get five progress on the quest.

I travel to the Endless Caverns, then sneak in a Guard of the Citadel who is destroyed by the King Spider. 

Round 6

Beravor draws some cards and readies, then I go in for 8, revealing a Cavern Guardian. I pitch a card to Eowyn to break even. 

The Guardian and the Dungeon Jailer engage me. Dungeon Jailer is undefedned and gets Dol Guldur Orcs as it's shadow card, giving it +3 attack. I choose to sacrifice Beravor.Guardian is undefended but does not get a buff and I put the two damage on Theodred. The Spider is defended by Faramir who takes 1 damage.

Round 7

Unexpected Courage goes on Theodred and I quest for 6. No way to get out of this without loosing both heroes. I have made poor life decisions.

Parting Thoughts

This was a much better and more satisfying way to loose to Dol Guldur: Some sub-optimal decisions and flips that did not work out in my favor. That is how I expect most losses to occur for a higher-difficulty scenario. There was not at all a feeling of auto-loss. So, in my opinion, the inclusion of the campaign element does a tremendous amount to redeem Escape from Dol Guldur's inclusion in the core box.

Quest 002(r): Journey Along the Anduin

Opening Thoughts

Journey Along the Anduin is my favorite quest in the core box. It gives a better picture of the difficulty level that the average quest has in the remainder of the game. It's also a quest you need to go into with a plan (after your first attempt): How am I going to deal with that Hill Troll?

Re-joining on my journeys is Awkward Aragorn. This guy took hold of my heart in the Goodwill toy bin years back. My kids often ask me why I never take him out of his package. The reason is that it is easy to just plop the container down at the edge of the table. But I agree that it would be fun to put his accessories on him. So break free, awkward little buddy...

The Decks

Now that I tried out a few of the mono-sphere decks (which is just shuffling everything up), I wanted to see how the suggested dual-sphere decks play. These can be found on page 27 of the "Learn to Play" guide in the revised core. Each of the decks includes what I would consider the strongest cards from their spheres (A Test of Will, Steward of Gondor, Feint) and look balanced. Both look like they will do questing, defending, and fighting just fine. When playing two-handed, you can set up both decks to do everything well or have each deck really lean into a strength (such as questing or combat). The second method can backfire if that deck is forced to do an activity it is not focused on (such as taking on a tough enemy).

Here are the decklists for those with older collections:

Leadership & Spirit Deck
Heroes

Aragorn

Theodred

Eowyn

Allies

Gandalf x3

Faramir x2

Guard of the Citadel x3

Longbeard Orc Slayer x2

Silverlode Archer x2

Snowborn Scout x3

Son of Arnor x2

Lorien Guide x3

Northern Tracker x2

Wandering Took x3

Events

Grim Resolve x2

Sneak Attack x3

Valiant Sacrifice x3

A Test of Will x3

Dwarvent Tomb x2

Stand and Fight x2

The Galadhrim's Greeting x2

Attachments

Celebrian's Stone x3

Steward of Gondor x3

Unexpected Courage x3

Lore & Tactics Deck
Heroes

Beravor

Denethor

Legolas

Allies

Gandalf x3

Gleowine x3

Henamarth Riversong x3

Daughter of Nimrodel x3

Erebor Hammersmith x3

Miner of the Iron Hills x3

Gondorian Spearman x3

Veteran Axehand x2

Events

Radagast's Cunning x3

Secret Paths x3

Blade Mastery x3

Feint x3

Quick Strike x3

Attachments

Forest Snare x2

Protector of Lorien x3

Horn of Gondor x3

Blade of Gondolin x3

The Quest

Setup

Looking at the campaign card, I really want to boon (Valor) and really, absolutely do not want the burden (Scarred). I know from experience that Escape from Dol Guldur is going to be a rough ride. Gaining an extra threat for each of my chump blockers will add up super quick. So I know going in that one goal is to try and not lose anyone to a hill troll.

My starting hand for Lore/Tactics has a feint. I'm not ecstatic about the rest, but I need to see that card about a Hill Troll. Spirit/Leadership gets me a Steward of Gondor (one of the most powerful cards in the game), a Sneak Attack (another top card), and a few allies. Easy keep for that one.

Initial set up gets me two enemies (Dol Guldur Beastmaster and Wargs) plus the Hill Troll. Not a staging area I'm crazy about.

Round 1

Lore/Tactics (LT) draws Mendor's Support, which is fantastic to see. I think this is going to let me get the troll in one shot, which is exactly the type of play I need to avoid that burden. 

Steward goes on Aragorn, each team gets an ally down, and then I quest for seven. Flip: Evil Storm (no affect) and Driven by Shadow). Nothing extra added to the staging area is very good for what I am hoping this round to me. I pitch a card to Eowyn to match the eight total threat.

LT takes on the Wargs and Spirit Leadership (SL) takes on the Troll. LT targets the Hill Troll with Feint. Henamarth Riversong is declared as a defender against the Wargs, who take him out before retreating to the staging area. Mendor's Support is played and Mendor, Legolas, Aragon, Theodred, and a Guardian of the Citadel go in at the Troll for lethal. The un-revealed shadow was the Lingering Venom burden which is now in the discard. Very happy about how that round went.

Copies of Valor go on Legolas and Aragorn, who I expect to be the primary attackers for both teams.

Round 2

A few more allies down, including Farimir for the SL team. An all-star guy I'm excited to see now that my goal is to push hard with questing. Horn of Gondor goes on Legolas. Not sure about that play. Maybe Eowyn is a better target?

Initially questing for 10 (with Farimir held back to add another 5). The goal is for LT to take out the Wargs and possibly draw some cards with Beravor. Reveals: Treacherous Fog (no effect) and Necromancer's Grasp. You hate to see it. Fortunately everyone on SL has two or more hitpoints and lives. LT looses Riversong 2.0. Willpower is still 9 and I pitch a card to Eowyn, getting 6 points on the quest. I could put Farmir in, but this board state looks like it will allow me to take out the Chieftain.

LT engages the Chieftain and SL takes on the Wargs. Denethor defends against the Chieftain, who has two shadow cards with no effect. The Wargs go after Farimir. I'm going to switch around my plan to get the Chieftain within Quick Strike range for Legolas and remove the Wargs, who can be a pain. Blade Mastery goes on Beravor, who attacks the Chieftain alongside a Miner of the Iron Hills and gets three damage down. Legolas one-shots the Wargs, advancing the quest. Each player draws a card thanks to Mendor. I miss-remembered that enemies returned to the staging area for stage 2 and I am glad to see that is not the case. We'll take out that Chieftain real soon.

Round 3

IA Test of Will and Radagast's Cunning are in hand now, so the plan is to conserve resources and keep these up. Team SL gets another Guard of the Citadel down. 

Questing for 12 to start with, with Faramir held back again. Aragorn gets Theodred's questing resource and uses it to ready. Three reveals this time: Necromancer's Pass, Dol Guldur orcs (Aragorn takes the damage), Gladden Fields. I use Faramir to add +5 willpower and get 9 on the quest. I could use Eowyn & Radagast's Cunning to get three more on, but I miscalculated and would need to get five more to put it within Legolas' range. 

Travel to Gladden Fields. Team SL optionally engages the Dol Guldur Orcs. A Longbard Orc Slayer is sneak-attacked in to deal one damage to both Orc enemies. The Longbeard blocks the Orcs, taking one damage. Aragorn blocks the Chieftain, taking one damage. Legolas takes out the Orcs, putting two progress on the active location. Denethor and the Miner of the Iron Hills take out the Chieftain. Longbeard goes back into hand.

Raise threat by two each (Gladden Fields) and ready.

Round 4

Team LT gets down a second Miner and a Gondorian Spearman. Beravor gives Team SL two extra cards. Snowbourn Scout, Lorien Guide, and Lonbeard Orc Slayer go down. The Scout's resource complete The Gladden Fields.

Reveals: Pursued by Shadow (which gets negated by A Test of Will), Misty Mountain Goblins, Pursued by Shadow. LT raises threat by 5 and SL raises threat by 3. A card is pitched to Eoywn to complete stage 2. Mendor readies and we each get a card.

Now I need to reveal two cards per player, defeat all enemies, and we are done. Team SL gets a Wolf Rider, which surges into Necromancer's Pass, and a Massing at Night which reveals an Evil Storm and a Storm of Crows. The Evil Storm deals lethal damage to Aragorn, Faramir, Snowbourn Scout, a Guard of the Citadel, and the Gondorian Spearman. The Crows surge into Enchanted Stream. Team LT gets the Brown Lands and Banks of Anduin. 

LT optionally takes the Wolf Rider. Then SL gets the Crows and LT gets the Misty Mountain Goblins. Crows go undefended and put one damage on Theodred. Goblins go undefended and put two damage on Beravor, Wolfs are defended by Denethor and do no damage. Mendor takes out the Crows, Legolas takes out the Goblins, and the two Miner's take out the Wolf Rider. Quest complete!

Resolution

No copies of Scarred obtained! With the amount of cards dealt that final round, I was dreading flipping another Hill Troll into the staging area. I did a peek afterwards and it was almost at the bottom of the encounter deck.

Whoever has the most damage is the prisoner in Escape Dol Guldur. I am going to use a modified version of the Back to Basics deck that utilizes one core. That uses Beravor and Theodred, both of who have three damage on them. I'll do some randomization on who gets Valor and then who gets taken prisoner. 

Score: 117 (36 threat and 5 hero damage for LT, 36 threat and 5 hero damage for SL, 30 for three completed rounds, 12 for Deadagorn, -7 for the victory display). 

Parting Thoughts

That was a blast. It's been a while since I've taken on "The Hill Troll Quest." As the medium quest of the core, it has ways to really throw a wrench in your best-laid plans (the Lore/Tactics deck had a 'flip two cards' turn into six cards!). Times like those really emphasize my preference to play it through. Even though a ton of cards were in the staging area, I only ended up with three enemies and all were very manageable. Moments like those also show why I am not following the +1 threat and dead heroes rules for the campaign. Heroes are a resource. At the end of a quest, it may be the best choice to take some heavy undefended attacks, put the damage on questing heroes, then finish off the baddies with whoever is still left. But I concede this is not thematic (unless you head-cannon that they 'fainted').