Waking up before my family this Sunday, I decided to get a little LotR time in. My first-draft Noldor deck was such a blast to play, as was the quest, that the bits of free time I had throughout the day went into playing a little more until, lo and behold, I knocked out the entirety of The Grey Havens deluxe box.
The Deck
While I have played with Noldor heroes, I have not really made a true "Noldor" deck, fully capitalizing on the trait. Since I wanted to run Lindon Navigator against a sailing test quest, this seemed like the perfect time to explore the fair elves a bit more. I am sure that my resulting build is a bit on the amateur side. A quick search will likely
find similar decks that have been refined further and do not even bat an
eye at The Grey Havens box. But I found this deck to be a blast to play and ended up skipping my usual practice of changing decks between quests. It was nice to spend time getting to know a deck a bit more. One thing that stood out is that almost all opening hands are good ones, simply due to the amount of the deck you see initially and in the first few rounds. I did find it hard to hold back resources for events, though, but Henamarth helped me know exactly when I should make that call.
A.C.E.
Heroes
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Cirdan the Shipwright (The Grey Havens)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudar)
Allies
Elven Jewler x3
Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller) x1
Lindir x1
Sailor of Lune x3
Galdor of the Havens (The Treachery of Rhudar) x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Lindon Navigator x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x3
Guardian of Rivendell x3
Attachments
Light of Valinor x3
Silver Lamp x1
To the Sea, to the Sea! x2
Asfaloth x1
Lembas x1
Protector of Lorien x1
Steward of Gondor x3
Narya x3
Song of Wisdom x1
Events
A Test of Will x3
Elrond's Counsel x2
Fair and Perilous x2
Lords of the Eldar x3
Will of the West x2
A Good Harvest x2
Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Voice of Isengard
Trouble in Tharbad
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treachery of Rhudar
The Battle of Carn Dum
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens
Flight of the Stormcaller
RingsDB Link
Song of Wisdom always ended up in the discard pile. I found Arwen's ability + the cost reducing of To the Sea, to the Sea! worked for my lore needs. Will of the West was only played once and is another likely candidate for removal. What to add in? Well, threat is definitely an issue with this deck. I ended all three quests in valour. So maybe a preferred manner of threat reduction would be welcome.
Quest 46: Voyage Across Belegaer
Victory on the First Attempt!
A great mixture of choices vs. luck in this scenario. You can commit as many characters as you want to a sailing test, with an extreme over-commitment almost guarantying you'll get back on course and set up for a rough time the rest of the round. Most likely you will want to commit a conservative number and let the cards fall where they may. Once you're on course, you may have the option of choosing which waters you are sailing in (when it comes time to advance the stage) but you are still at the mercy of nature (as locations are revealed). This theme of options carries through to the end, with the ability to either quest past your enemies or destroy them.
Having an extra phase to get through is rough on the action advantage, but I found the powerful ships more than compensated for it. Narelenya was my second ship of choice (getting two as a solo player), which gave me essentially 5 resources/turn with Arwen (7 once Steward was down). I did let the high high hit points of the ships lull me into a false sense of security and was waiting to pay for it on the last stage. Narelenya ended up with 10 damage and the Dream-chaser ended up with 5. Nothing came out to really make me regret that choice during the final stage (helped by the fact that I purposefully kept a Fog Bank in the staging area to travel to).
Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 44
Total Damage on Heroes: 5 (Arwen 5, Erestor: 3)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -9 (Depature from the Havens, Cursed Mists, The Star's Guidance)
Total Score: 90
Quest 47: The Fate of Numenor
Victory on the First Attempt!
So I'm setting up the scenario, not having taken a peek at it, and read Calphon's ability. Caldphon + Lords of the Eldar? Yes, please! (It never happened, but it was nice to know it was there.)
I voltroned out Cirdan with most of his kit in round 1: To the Sea, to the Sea!, Narya, Light of Valinor. No Steward yet, but out it came in round 2 and with it came a tough choice. Most of my deck is Spirit, so it makes sense to always drop Steward on Cirdan. But the resources worked out that I could get out Gildor Inglorion if I put the Steward on Erestor. Would I have enough Lore & Neutral cards to make it work or would I end up with a useless pile of cash? I took the risk and it paid off. The last around or two saw a bit of a build up on Erestor, but not to the level that I regretted my decision.
I was regretting not using a copy of Will of the West once I saw my deck run out near the end. Then I traveled to Shrine of Morgoth and read the text: "players cannot draw cards or search their decks." And Glorfindel + all my copies of Lords of the Eldar in my discard? Yes!
Rambling around this lost island felt thematic. I was going blindly from location to location, hoping to discover the path I need and likewise hoping I was not stumbling right into a trap.
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x10: 70
Ending Threat: 47
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -5 (Shrine to Morgoth)
Total Score: 112
Quest 48: Raid on the Grey Havens
Victory on the First Attempt!
I am a big fan of scenarios where it feels like the encounter deck is "questing" against you, so the Aflame keyword seemed like it would be an enjoyable (and challenging) mechanic. The strategy right away seemed to be keeping an Aflame location around & exploring it as soon as it was almost lit. I practically did not have many locations to choose from at a time, so this was more of a theory. Two locations went under The Havens Burn relatively early on (at least too early for my taste) and I thought this would end up being the first of several attempts.
Another point of worry for me was the strength of Captain Sahir. Getting 5 due to the damage on The Dream-chaser + 1 from stage 2 + 4 from destroying an ally. In planning out my attack, I was focused on Sahir's 5 hit points and told myself the resources were basically like defense. They are not! His resources can stop you from affecting those hit points, but you are still removing 1 resource for every point of potential damage. I corrected this realization during my second combat phase with the Captain & had to go back and recalculate how many resources I had taken out (when I thought I had done 2 damage to him and yet retained all 10 resources).
The Havens were saved, the Captain was defeated, and Na'asiyah barely escaped with her life.
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x10: 70
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -5 (Captain Sahir)
Total Score: 41
Looking Back: The Grey Havens
The Grey Haven is a collection of three diverse quests telling a tight story and immersing the player in a theme of exploration. Sharing a medium level of difficulty means the quests will have a purpose beyond playtesting while not being so difficult that they are only re-visited when the player really wants a challenge. I'm going to write this one down as my favorite deluxe box so far and I look forward to future back-to-back run throughs.
Showing posts with label Favorite Quests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Favorite Quests. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Quest 42: Across the Ettenmoors
Victory on the Second Attempt!
The Deck
Mono-tactics victories, especially against trolls, have had a special place in my heart since I began my quest to achieve such a victory against Conflict at the Carrock. It took the combination of Hama + Thicket of Spears to make that possible. The Rohirrim Arrive by Some Sort is built around that same concept, but greatly benifits from the inclusion of Tactics Eowyn. Her + Theoden make this a deck that hold its own during the questing phase as well as the combat phase. Adding in a Song of Travel playset allows you to get all of the Spirit Rohan benifits while staying mono tactics with your heroes.
A typical Hama + Thicket build can be pretty loose with what allies it wants to include. I think a well-rounded selection was included here, with Bofur contributing some needed willpower and Legolas & Azain giving bonuses for all those enemies you will defeat. Beechbone is an inclusion I would like to see, simply due to the additional willpower and I would switch a x1 of him for one of the Bofurs. Resources can be tight in this deck, as is expected with tactics, so finding a way for the new Proud Hunters card would be worthwhile. But those are just small suggestions. This is a solid deck and only showed the quest a little mercy (thus the two attempts).
The Rohirrim Arrive
by Some Sort
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Hama (The Long Dark)
Theoden (The Morgul Vale)
Allies
Azain Silver Beard x1
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x3
Defender of Rammas x3
Grimbold x2
Honour Guard x3
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x3
Westfold Outrider x2
White Tower Watchman x3
Attachments
Golden Shield x3
Spear of the Mark x3
Song of Travel x3
Herugrim x3
Snowmane x2
Unexpected Courage x3
Events
Feint x3
Foe-hammer x3
Forth Englorias x2
Thicket of Spears x2
Elven-light x3
Sets Used
Core
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Long Dark
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Druadan Forest
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Land of Shdow
The Dread Realm
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Flame of the West
RingsDB Link
The Journey & Recap
If I had attempted this a few months ago, it would have gone down as an enjoyable quest but not one I would mark down as a favorite. That meaning has shifted for me over the years but right now it means a quest that presents a unique challenge or nitch for deck building. The size of the enemies in this one is a challenge in and of itself, but what really sticks out to me is the strong focus on side quests and almost always having one out. Thurindir, another recent release, means that this is challenge I want to spend time tackling in unique ways.
The deck I used held its own against the quest, but it was not foolproof. Things were going well during my first attempt, even with a copy of Scavenge for Supplies almost making Thicket of Spears unplayable. I finally added that side quest to the victory display, only to lose my hand to Lost in the Wilderness which caused me to loose Hama to a Ruthless Hill-Troll. Victory was still possible, and I almost cleared the quest, when Pressing Needs redirected my efforts and cost me the game.
My second attempt started off a bit uncertain, with neither Feint nor Thicket of Spears in hands, but quickly stabilized and marched on to a slow & steady victory.
Final Scoring
14 Completed Rounds x11: 140
Ending Threat: 46
Total Damage on Heroes: 5 (Eowyn: 2, Hama: 1, Theoden: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -30
Total Score: 161
Quest 41: Escape from Mount Gram
Victory on the First Attempt!
The Deck
I had a little time for a quick OCTGN game today and decided I would netdeck my first attempt of Escape from Mount Gram (I'll probably netdeck the rest of this cycle, actually). I had heard there was some element of loosing all your stuff and rescuing it going on here, so I did a quick Google search for recommended decks to tackle this one. The first result was Escape From Mount Gram Nightmare Deck Fun by Lecitadin. No hearts or stars, but it looked like it would be a blast to play for this one. The idea is to get Elrond loaded up ASAP with Strider & Resourceful, then start rescuing a capture deck full of allies.
Escape From Mount Gram Nightmare Deck Fun
by Lecitadin
Heroes
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Treebeard (The Treason of Saruman)
Allies
Ithilien Archer x2
Ithilien Lookout x2
Mirkwood Explorer x2
Mirkwood Pioneer x3
Mirdwood Runner x2
Warden of Healing x2
Robin Smallburrow x1
Arwen Undomiel (The Watcher in the Water) x3
Escort from Edoras x2
Galadriel's Handmaiden x2
Silvan Refugee x2
West Road Traveler x3
Snowbourn Scout x3
Warden of Helm's Deep x3
Defender of Ramas x3
Galadhon Archer x2
Honour Guard x2
Attachments
Resourceful x3
Strider x3
Events
Daeron's Runes x3
The Evening Star x3
Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobl
Return to Mirkwood
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Heirs of Numenor
The Druadan Forest
Encounter at Amon Din
The Dunland Trap
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Grey Havens
The Thing in the Depths
The Drowned Ruins
RingsDB Link
The Journey & Recap
And we've found another addition to my favorite quest collection. Escape has such a unique feel to it and opens up some very creative space for deck building. I had a blast, blew the deck away, and did that while seriously handicapping myself! The whole game I was waiting for the moment when I would get my out-of-play face-down hero back. Then I was thinking you only get 2 heroes the whole quest (which would be unique; not knowing which 2 you would be able to run). Then I re-read the rules and realized the hero not shuffled into my capture deck was supposed to be placed on top of it. Well I think we can safely say this deck is amazing for the quest when it can hold its own running one hero for four rounds and only two heroes for the remainder of the game.
With an early Strider and Resourceful x2 out on Elrond, I began slowly building up an army early on. The Evening Star was a great addition to help out in a pinch. Once I was down to only having two cards captured under stage 2, I began questing only for what was in the staging area and, once that was fully clear, not questing at all. The 1-3 threat per round was more than a fair trade for the opportunity to rescue a new ally. While I could have played this out a little more, I finally advanced to stage 3 and wrapped up the game in a few rounds with 12 allies living to tell the tale.
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x11: 110
Ending Threat: 38
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Treebeard)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 161
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!)
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!)
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Quest 37: Intruders in Chetwood
Victory on the Fourth Attempt!
The Deck
After trying out an amateur Caldara deck (next time I'll just steal with zeal from the big boys), I decided to throw a little firepower at the intruders. Not a refined, final-form deck, but it got the job done.
Home Security
HeroesEowyn (The Flame of the West)
Haldir of Lorien (Trouble in Tharbad)
Treebeard (The Treason of Saruman)
Allies
Derndingle Warrior x3
Dunedain Hunter x2
Ghan-buri-Ghan x2
Ioreth x2
Master of the Forge x2
Quickbeam x1
Robin Smallburrow x1
Warden of Healing x1
Wellinghall Preserver x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Attachments
Black Arrow x1
Bow of the Galadhrim x3
Ent Draught x3
Lembas x3
Song of Wisdom x1
Events
Feint x3
Foe-hamer x3
Daeron's Runes x3
Entmoot x3
Radagast's Cunning x3
Secret Paths x3
Side Quests
Gather Information x1
Decks Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
on the Doorstep
Trouble in Tharbad
The Ninin-Eilph
The Lost Realm
The Treason of Saruman
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Drowned Ruins
The Flame of the West
A Storm on Cobas Haven
RingsDB Link
The Journey
Player Setup
Set starting threat to 31. Reduce to 28 (Eowyn).
Draw: Black Arrow, Warden of Healing, Secret Paths, Feint, Song of Wisdom, Derndingle Warrior
Encounter Set Up
Stage 1A. Take control of Iarion. Add Orc War Party to the staging area. Search encounter deck and add Rugged Country to the staging area. Shuffle (encounter). Flip to stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (1), Haldir +1 (1), Treebeard +1 (1)
Draw: Ent Draught
Planning Phase
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Haldir (2), Iarion (1), Treebeard (2)
Total Willpower: 9
Reveal: Chetwood Forest
Total Threat: 8 (Orc War Party, Rugged Country, Chetwood Forest)
Play: Secret Paths (Haldir -1), choosing Chetwood Foret
Updated Threat: 5
Place 4 progress on stage 2B (4/30).
Travel Phase
Travel to Chetwood Forest. Choose and engage Orc War Party.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc War Party.
Play: Feint (Eowyn -1). Choose Orc War Party.
Raise threat by 3 (31) to ready Eowyn and give her +9 attack.
Eowyn declares an attack on Orc War Pardy, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Ready all.
Raise threat to 32.
Round 2
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (1), Haldir +1 (1), Treebeard +1 (2)
Draw: Lembas
Planning Phase
Play: Lembas (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebard.
Play: Ent Draught (Treebeard -1). Attach to Treebeard.
Play: Black Arrow.Attach to Haldir.
Quest Phase
Commit: Treebeard (2), Eowyn (4), Iarion (1).
Total Willpower: 7
Reveal: Angmar Orc. Choose to reveal an additional encounter card.
Reveal: Lost in the Wilderness. Place hand face-down underneath Lost in the Wilderness. Ready Iarion.
Total Threat: 4 (Rugged Country, Angmar Orc)
Deal 6 damage to Treebeard to give him +6 willpower.
Updated Willpower: 13
Place 3 progress on Chetwood Forest, exploringit.
Place 6 progress on Stage 2B (10/30).
Travel Phase
Travel to Rugged Country.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Haldir declares an attack against Agmar Orc. Add Black Arrow to the victory display (1) to give Haldir +5 attack. Agmar Orc is destroyed.
Refresh Phase
Ready all.
Raise threat to 33.
Round 3
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (2), Haldir +1 (2), Treebeard +1 (1)
Draw: Derndingle Warrior
Planning Phase
Play: Derndingle Warrior (Eowyn -2). Enters play exhausted.
Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Haldir (2), Treebeard (2), Iarion (2)
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Weight of Responsibility. Reveal 2 extra encounter cards.
Reveal: Angmar Captain
Reveal: Chetwood Forest
Total Threat: 6 (Angmar Captain, Chetwood Forest)
Discard Lembas to ready Treebeard and heal 3 damage (3/7).
Deal 3 damage to Treebeard (6/7) to raise his willpower by 3.
Updated willpower: 13.
Place 3 progress on Rugged Country, exploring it.
Place 4 progress on stage 2B (14/30).
No travel, engagements, or combat.
Refresh Phase
Ready all.
Raise threat to 34.
Raise threat to 35 (stage 2B effect).
Round 4
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (1), Haldir +1 (3), Treebeard +1 (2)
Draw: Wellinghall Preserver
Planning Phase
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Haldir -3).
Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Haldir (2), Treebeard (2), Iarion (2).
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Shrouded Hills
Total Threat: 8 (Angmar Captain, Chetwood Forest, Shrouded Hills)
Place 2 progress on stage 2B (16/30).
Travel Phase
Travel to Chetwood Forest. Engage Angmar Captain.
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Angmar Captain. Attachs! Derndingle Warrior defends. Shadow: Surprising Speed (+1 attack). Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior (1/3) to give him +3 defense. Derndingle Warrior takes 1 damage (2/3).
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal 1 damage from Derndingle Warrior (1/3).
Raise threat to 36.
Round 5
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (2), Haldir +1 (1), Treebeard +1 (3)
Draw: Ioreth
Planning Phase
Play Ioreth.
Spend 1 resource from Treebeard (2) and exhaust Ioreth to heal 3 damage from Treebeard (3/7)
Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Haldir (2), Treebeard (2), Iarion (2), Wellinghall Preserver (3)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Borders of Bree-land
Total Threat: 4 (Shrouded Hills, Borders of Bree-land)
Place 3 progress on Chetwood Forest, exploring it.
Place 6 progres on stage 2B (22/30)
Travel Phase
Travel to Borders of Bree-land
Encounter Phase
No engagements.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Angmar Captain. Attacks! Derndingle Warrior defends. Shadow: Orc Rearguard (no effect). Deal 1 damage to Derndingle Warrior (2/3) to give him +3 defense. No damage dealt.
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Wellinghall Preserver: Heal 1 damage from Derndingle Warrior (1/3).
Raise threat to 37.
Round 6
Resource Phase
Eowyn +1 (3), Haldir +1 (2), Treebeard +1 (3)
Draw: Daeron's Runes.
Planning Phase
Play: Daeron's Runes. Draw: Ioreth, Daeron's Runes. Discard Ioreth.
Play: Daeron's Runes. Draw: Wellinghall Preserver, Entmoot. Discard Entmoot.
Play: Wellinghall Preserver (Treebeard -3).
Spend 1 resource from Haldir (1) and exhaust Ioreth to heal 3 damage from Treebeard (0/7).
Quest Phase
Commit: Eowyn (4), Haldir (2), Treebeard (2), Iarion (2), Wellinghall Preserver (3)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Angmar Orc. Discard (exhausted) Wellinghall Preserver.
Total Threat: 4 (Shrouded Hills, Angmar Orc)
Deal 3 damage to Treebeard (3/7) to give him +3 willpower.
Updated Willpower: 16
Place 4 progress on Borders of Bree-land, exploring it.
Place 8 progress on stage 2B, clearing it and winning the game!
Final Score
5 completed rounds: 50
Ending Threat: 37
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Treebeard)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -1 (Black Arrow)
Total Score: 89
The Recap
This was a fun, "relaxing" quest that still had some bite to it. I had it pretty easy in this final attempt with my revealed enemies and never had a case where that side-quest sitting around hurt me. Both situations could have been very different.
Along with The Old Forest, this is another quest I am noting down as a great way to test questing-focused decks (while also making sure they can take on enemies when needed). And, as also with The Old Forest, this is a quest I would be glad to go through with more players who want a casual, fun night adventuring in Middle-earth.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Print on Demand 3: Stone of Erech
Victory on the First Attempt!
The Deck
Choosing a strong focus for my decks is a weak point. Solo play necessitates doing all things well and I want to accomplish this using all of the neat tricks at my disposal. Too often the result is a mess pulling in too many directions and doing nothing really well. The idea hit me to try a template, where I boil down the key things I want to do, and then branch out from there.
I was one of the many super-excited when Tactics Eowyn was revealed. Brewing ideas began popping up in my head, with the foremost one being the mass-slaughter of trolls at the Carrock. For some reason, pairing her up with Spirit Glorfindel seemed like a natural fit (probably because paring anyone up with Spirit Glorfindel is a good place to start for a strong deck). Doing a little bit of basic math, I realized I could add in Galadriel and still stay in secrecy (and be greatly aided in staying there). After throwing a few ideas around, I settled on my template concept and ended up with this:
Super Secret Tech (draft)
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Ally
Derndingle Warrior x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Elven Jewler x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachment
Rivendell Blade x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Ancient Mathom x3
Mirror of Galadriel x3
Unexpected Courage x3
Nenya x3
Resourceful x3
Event
Foe-hammer x3
Unseen Strike x3
Dwarven Tomb x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Power of Orthanc x2
Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap
Celebrimbor's Secret
Escape from Mount Gram
The Flame of the West
RingsDB Link
Does it accomplish every last thing I want it to? No. Light of Valinor is an obvious addition to make. But this is a good start that should be able to handle most things a quest will throw out. A strong focus was put on equipping Glorfindel and Eowyn with fancy attachments, mainly because I want Eowyn to swing as many times as possible during her final showdown with the trolls.
Now to make the changes!
Elven Jewler is there to help solve the issue of "dead" unique cards in my hand. We do not need three of her. Ally Arwen can help my Derndingle Warrior's block even better and a Westfold Horse-breeder might be able to help fetch those much-desired horses.
Attachments gets quite a shake-up. Unexpected Courage can get Eowyn readying, so one Warhorse will be fine. I'll switch in Snowmane since I need her willpower (especially in that final round) and Asfaloth for the fun of it (since Galadriel can lay down the Lore once she has her ring). With my low threat, one Rivendell Blade and one Dagger of Westerness would be a good arsenal for Glorfindel. Light of Valinor is still needed and Nenya, while a necessary part of the operation, should be easy to find with the Mirror of Galadriel. One attachment spot is still open, after getting rid of both Blades, but I feel pretty happy how things are looking in this section. Instead I'll give that spot to events and throw in a copy of Daeron's Runes to help find the pieces I need.
Finally, the rest of the events. The White Council is in here to help with readying and resource fixing in a pinch, but the main function is to help get cards back to be fished out with Galadriel's Mirror (especially if they were discarded due to the Mirror's fickleness). Will of the West can help with getting those cards in a well, so we'll put in one of those. Power of Orthanc, Fair and Perilous, and Ride The Down all have uses in a deck like this. The Mirror can grab them for us, then Dwarven Tomb can give multiple uses of the one we need most. And now for The Hammer-stroke. A big hope for this deck is eliminating all four trolls in one turn. To do that, they need to be engaged simultaneously. We'll drop out another hammer to make it the right tool fit.
Now is this deck any less of a mess than the attempts I used to make? I think so. Starting with a template and making strategic decisions creates more of a toolbox than a disaster. Or so I hope...
Super Secret Tech
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Allies
Derndingle Warrior x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x1
Elven Jewler x1
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Westfold Horse-breeder x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Dagger of Westernesse x1
Rivendell Blade x1
Rohan Warhorse x1
Ancient Mathom x3
Light of Valinor x1
Mirror of Galadriel x3
Snowmane x1
Unexpected Courage x3
Asfaloth x1
Nenya x2
Resourceful x3
Events
Foe-hammer x2
The Hammer-stroke x1
Unseen Strike x2
A Test of Will x1
Dwarven Tomb x3
Elrond's Counsel x2
Fair and Perilous x1
Power of Orthanc x1
Ride Them Down x1
Will of the West x1
Daeron's Runes x1
The White Council x2
Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Black Riders
The Blood of Gondor
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Land of Shadow
The Flame of the West
RingsDB Link
So how did it work out? Four less trolls in the wild lands of Middle-earth! Two Unexpected Courages, a Rohan Warhorse, and The White Council gave Eowyn the action advantage she needed to get the job done.
Not saying it went perfectly. I could not find Nenya for the first 3-4 rounds for the life of me, which significantly hurt my ability to blow past through the first stage at the rate I wanted. The staging area started getting a bit concerned, but that was easily solved once Nenya was back on the scene.
And even with a win there are changes I would want to make. Galadriel's Handmaiden is a great card, but Galadriel herself + Elrond's Counsel provided more than enough threat reduction for this deck. Celduin Traveler would have been more of a welcome sight, allowing me to get a few peeks at the encounter deck. I would fully switch those out. And instead of taking out a copy of Nenya, let's leave all three of those in and take out a copy of Resourceful.
The Recap
After an exhilarating victory at the Carrock, I wanted to seek out a new challenge for this deck. Finishing up the Ringmaker cycle was a natural choice, but I was also naturally too lazy to put the encounter deck together (a new storage solution implemented since then should eliminate this excuse). Stone of Erech was sitting on top of my collection and won by the wide margin of, "Why not?".
This quest was a blast. Stone has a counter-strategy for every strategy. Such as lowering willpower, blocking events, dramatically raising threat, etc. It comes off as very well-rounded in its approach to hinder your progress but did this without seeming too brutal. When it turned out I could not use Eowyn's ability on the final boss, it was more amusing than frustrating. But was it the quest I enjoyed or was I simply really enjoying my deck? Hard to tell sometimes!
The progression from Dusk to Eventide to Midnight is similar to the Time X mechanic from the Ringmaker cycle. Even though the progression to each new stage is permanent, I found it less punishing and not as much of a joy-killer as Time X.
The final victory was satisfying, featuring a battle quest with 29 attack committed (Fair and Perilous x3, due to two Dwarven Tombs and help from The White Council). It just took me a while to get there! I intended on letting loose during round 10, but revealed Haunted Valley and all of my heroes lost the ability to sphere-match for the round. Round 11? Haunted Valley. Round 12? Shadow Man, stopping me from playing events for the round. Revealing a Vale of Shadows, with seven quest points at Midnight, was actually a relief!
Final Scoring
12 Completed Rounds x10: 120
Ending Threat: 21
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Galadriel)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -6
Total Score: 138
The Deck
Choosing a strong focus for my decks is a weak point. Solo play necessitates doing all things well and I want to accomplish this using all of the neat tricks at my disposal. Too often the result is a mess pulling in too many directions and doing nothing really well. The idea hit me to try a template, where I boil down the key things I want to do, and then branch out from there.
I was one of the many super-excited when Tactics Eowyn was revealed. Brewing ideas began popping up in my head, with the foremost one being the mass-slaughter of trolls at the Carrock. For some reason, pairing her up with Spirit Glorfindel seemed like a natural fit (probably because paring anyone up with Spirit Glorfindel is a good place to start for a strong deck). Doing a little bit of basic math, I realized I could add in Galadriel and still stay in secrecy (and be greatly aided in staying there). After throwing a few ideas around, I settled on my template concept and ended up with this:
Super Secret Tech (draft)
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Ally
Derndingle Warrior x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Elven Jewler x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachment
Rivendell Blade x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Ancient Mathom x3
Mirror of Galadriel x3
Unexpected Courage x3
Nenya x3
Resourceful x3
Event
Foe-hammer x3
Unseen Strike x3
Dwarven Tomb x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Power of Orthanc x2
Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap
Celebrimbor's Secret
Escape from Mount Gram
The Flame of the West
RingsDB Link
Does it accomplish every last thing I want it to? No. Light of Valinor is an obvious addition to make. But this is a good start that should be able to handle most things a quest will throw out. A strong focus was put on equipping Glorfindel and Eowyn with fancy attachments, mainly because I want Eowyn to swing as many times as possible during her final showdown with the trolls.
Now to make the changes!
Elven Jewler is there to help solve the issue of "dead" unique cards in my hand. We do not need three of her. Ally Arwen can help my Derndingle Warrior's block even better and a Westfold Horse-breeder might be able to help fetch those much-desired horses.
Attachments gets quite a shake-up. Unexpected Courage can get Eowyn readying, so one Warhorse will be fine. I'll switch in Snowmane since I need her willpower (especially in that final round) and Asfaloth for the fun of it (since Galadriel can lay down the Lore once she has her ring). With my low threat, one Rivendell Blade and one Dagger of Westerness would be a good arsenal for Glorfindel. Light of Valinor is still needed and Nenya, while a necessary part of the operation, should be easy to find with the Mirror of Galadriel. One attachment spot is still open, after getting rid of both Blades, but I feel pretty happy how things are looking in this section. Instead I'll give that spot to events and throw in a copy of Daeron's Runes to help find the pieces I need.
Finally, the rest of the events. The White Council is in here to help with readying and resource fixing in a pinch, but the main function is to help get cards back to be fished out with Galadriel's Mirror (especially if they were discarded due to the Mirror's fickleness). Will of the West can help with getting those cards in a well, so we'll put in one of those. Power of Orthanc, Fair and Perilous, and Ride The Down all have uses in a deck like this. The Mirror can grab them for us, then Dwarven Tomb can give multiple uses of the one we need most. And now for The Hammer-stroke. A big hope for this deck is eliminating all four trolls in one turn. To do that, they need to be engaged simultaneously. We'll drop out another hammer to make it the right tool fit.
Now is this deck any less of a mess than the attempts I used to make? I think so. Starting with a template and making strategic decisions creates more of a toolbox than a disaster. Or so I hope...
Super Secret Tech
Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Galadriel (Celebrimbor's Secret)
Glorfindel (Foundations of Stone)
Allies
Derndingle Warrior x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x1
Elven Jewler x1
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Westfold Horse-breeder x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Dagger of Westernesse x1
Rivendell Blade x1
Rohan Warhorse x1
Ancient Mathom x3
Light of Valinor x1
Mirror of Galadriel x3
Snowmane x1
Unexpected Courage x3
Asfaloth x1
Nenya x2
Resourceful x3
Events
Foe-hammer x2
The Hammer-stroke x1
Unseen Strike x2
A Test of Will x1
Dwarven Tomb x3
Elrond's Counsel x2
Fair and Perilous x1
Power of Orthanc x1
Ride Them Down x1
Will of the West x1
Daeron's Runes x1
The White Council x2
Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Black Riders
The Blood of Gondor
The Voice of Isengard
The Dunland Trap
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Antlered Crown
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Land of Shadow
The Flame of the West
RingsDB Link
So how did it work out? Four less trolls in the wild lands of Middle-earth! Two Unexpected Courages, a Rohan Warhorse, and The White Council gave Eowyn the action advantage she needed to get the job done.
Not saying it went perfectly. I could not find Nenya for the first 3-4 rounds for the life of me, which significantly hurt my ability to blow past through the first stage at the rate I wanted. The staging area started getting a bit concerned, but that was easily solved once Nenya was back on the scene.
And even with a win there are changes I would want to make. Galadriel's Handmaiden is a great card, but Galadriel herself + Elrond's Counsel provided more than enough threat reduction for this deck. Celduin Traveler would have been more of a welcome sight, allowing me to get a few peeks at the encounter deck. I would fully switch those out. And instead of taking out a copy of Nenya, let's leave all three of those in and take out a copy of Resourceful.
The Recap
After an exhilarating victory at the Carrock, I wanted to seek out a new challenge for this deck. Finishing up the Ringmaker cycle was a natural choice, but I was also naturally too lazy to put the encounter deck together (a new storage solution implemented since then should eliminate this excuse). Stone of Erech was sitting on top of my collection and won by the wide margin of, "Why not?".
This quest was a blast. Stone has a counter-strategy for every strategy. Such as lowering willpower, blocking events, dramatically raising threat, etc. It comes off as very well-rounded in its approach to hinder your progress but did this without seeming too brutal. When it turned out I could not use Eowyn's ability on the final boss, it was more amusing than frustrating. But was it the quest I enjoyed or was I simply really enjoying my deck? Hard to tell sometimes!
The progression from Dusk to Eventide to Midnight is similar to the Time X mechanic from the Ringmaker cycle. Even though the progression to each new stage is permanent, I found it less punishing and not as much of a joy-killer as Time X.
The final victory was satisfying, featuring a battle quest with 29 attack committed (Fair and Perilous x3, due to two Dwarven Tombs and help from The White Council). It just took me a while to get there! I intended on letting loose during round 10, but revealed Haunted Valley and all of my heroes lost the ability to sphere-match for the round. Round 11? Haunted Valley. Round 12? Shadow Man, stopping me from playing events for the round. Revealing a Vale of Shadows, with seven quest points at Midnight, was actually a relief!
Final Scoring
12 Completed Rounds x10: 120
Ending Threat: 21
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Galadriel)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -6
Total Score: 138
Monday, July 25, 2016
Print On Demand 4: The Old Forest
Victory on the Second Attempt!
The Recap
Well I certainly have found my new go-to quest for testing decks with a strong location focus. A few similarities to The Hills of Emyn Muil here, but executed much better (and thus making that quest less likely to see any play, although I hear the nightmare version is fun). I want to come back to The Old Forest with a bag full of the location-focused tricks Lore and Spirit have been gathering.
My first attempt featured a lot of wandering around and a location lock. I worked around this on attempt two by adding Mr. Underhill and Old Bogey-stories to the victory display at a non-essential time, bringing me up to the needed five victory points to proceed onward. On both attempts, Wall of Trees was a fantastic starting location for a deck designed to quest strong right off the bat.
It took me two rounds to get through stage 3B. I saw the staging area, quested with all my might, then somehow missed the fact that the stage had 18 quest points! That honestly seemed like it was going to be game-over for me, with a few enemies and Old Man Willow in the staging area. But my band of hobbits survived by the skin of their teeth and onward we moved!
Now let's talk about the art of this set. Not everything here is jaw-dropping, but when it is those jaws just hit the floor. Just look at Swaying Without the Wind by Jake Bullock. This piece is hidden away as a treachery in a print-on-demand set? Shame for everyone without it (which was me up until recently) and joy for us!
But it is Romana Kendelic's art on Song of Sleep, Lost and Witless, and Ending and Failing that really caught my eye. I immediately though, "Hey, that's the Courage Awakened / Free to Choose artist!" but how little did I know. Doing a search at Hall of Beorn revealed how prolific Ms. Kendelic has been in her contributions to the game. Little did I realize that this artist I was appriciating is the very same one who produced the Merry I was using to go against the quest.
Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 35
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Sam 3, Frodo 1)
Note: Bill the Pony was in play, giving Sam that extra hitpoint.
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -7 (Mr. Underhill 1, Old Bogey-Stories 1, Withywindle 3, Deep Gulley 2)
Total Score: 82
I did not earn Old Bogey-stories on this victory attempt, not realizing the value in attacking Old Man Willow. Definitely an accomplishment I hope to make in the future as it is also a beautiful piece of art and will be useful in situations where I am drawing into cards that do not fit my exact situation (duplicate uniques, too much of the wrong sphere is a multi-sphere deck, that one missing combo piece, etc.).
The Deck
While reading The Secondhand Took's article on hobbit art, I was inspired to use Keen-eyed Took for a hobbit-themed discard deck. Ered Luin Miner is a card I have been itching to play with since opening him last month and this seemed like a perfect match. Ironically (or maybe not), the Took ended up being a pretty weak link the deck and was reduced to a one-of. While his ability + deck manipulation can help get the right card discarded, you're paying two resources for a privilege in a deck that has many other ways to grant the same favor.
Imladris Stargazer, Gildor Inglorion, and Wizard Pipe will help you in getting the right allies to the top of your deck for some Timely Aid, Expert Treasure-hunter(ing), or a reciting of A Very Good Tale. Good old Zigil Miner will dig up some resources for you in the meantime. You then have Elven-light, Hidden Cache, Ered Luin Miner, and Glorfindel who are begging to be tossed out with the trash.
Drop It Like It's Hobbit
Heroes
Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Allies
Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens) x1
Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller) x1
Imladris Stargazer x3
Kili x1
Zigil Miner x2
Barliman Butterbur x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Gelowine x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Mablung (Land of Shadow) x1
Mirkwood Explorer x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x1
Bill the Pony x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Fili x1
Keen-eyed Took x1
Ered Luin Miner x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1
Attachments
Expert Treasure-Hunter x2
Good Meal x3
Wizard Pipe x1
Events
Elven-light x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Timely Aid x3
A Good Harvest x3
Hidden Catche x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
Sets Used
Core Set
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived
RingsDB
This deck seems like a bit of a jumble, but so far it has been consistently spamming out allies once it hits its rhythm.
There is a lot of alteration that can be made here, if you are willing to let go of the amazing name. The Hobbit theme is honestly pretty optional. Take out Bill the Pony, Barliman Butterbur, Good Meal, and Frodo's Intiution. You now have 8 card spots free and can use any combination of sphere-relevant heroes. The entire Lore sphere is fairly optional as well. Expert Treasure-hunter is nice to have, but not fully needed.
The Recap
Well I certainly have found my new go-to quest for testing decks with a strong location focus. A few similarities to The Hills of Emyn Muil here, but executed much better (and thus making that quest less likely to see any play, although I hear the nightmare version is fun). I want to come back to The Old Forest with a bag full of the location-focused tricks Lore and Spirit have been gathering.
My first attempt featured a lot of wandering around and a location lock. I worked around this on attempt two by adding Mr. Underhill and Old Bogey-stories to the victory display at a non-essential time, bringing me up to the needed five victory points to proceed onward. On both attempts, Wall of Trees was a fantastic starting location for a deck designed to quest strong right off the bat.
It took me two rounds to get through stage 3B. I saw the staging area, quested with all my might, then somehow missed the fact that the stage had 18 quest points! That honestly seemed like it was going to be game-over for me, with a few enemies and Old Man Willow in the staging area. But my band of hobbits survived by the skin of their teeth and onward we moved!
Now let's talk about the art of this set. Not everything here is jaw-dropping, but when it is those jaws just hit the floor. Just look at Swaying Without the Wind by Jake Bullock. This piece is hidden away as a treachery in a print-on-demand set? Shame for everyone without it (which was me up until recently) and joy for us!
But it is Romana Kendelic's art on Song of Sleep, Lost and Witless, and Ending and Failing that really caught my eye. I immediately though, "Hey, that's the Courage Awakened / Free to Choose artist!" but how little did I know. Doing a search at Hall of Beorn revealed how prolific Ms. Kendelic has been in her contributions to the game. Little did I realize that this artist I was appriciating is the very same one who produced the Merry I was using to go against the quest.
Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 35
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Sam 3, Frodo 1)
Note: Bill the Pony was in play, giving Sam that extra hitpoint.
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -7 (Mr. Underhill 1, Old Bogey-Stories 1, Withywindle 3, Deep Gulley 2)
Total Score: 82
I did not earn Old Bogey-stories on this victory attempt, not realizing the value in attacking Old Man Willow. Definitely an accomplishment I hope to make in the future as it is also a beautiful piece of art and will be useful in situations where I am drawing into cards that do not fit my exact situation (duplicate uniques, too much of the wrong sphere is a multi-sphere deck, that one missing combo piece, etc.).
The Deck
While reading The Secondhand Took's article on hobbit art, I was inspired to use Keen-eyed Took for a hobbit-themed discard deck. Ered Luin Miner is a card I have been itching to play with since opening him last month and this seemed like a perfect match. Ironically (or maybe not), the Took ended up being a pretty weak link the deck and was reduced to a one-of. While his ability + deck manipulation can help get the right card discarded, you're paying two resources for a privilege in a deck that has many other ways to grant the same favor.
Imladris Stargazer, Gildor Inglorion, and Wizard Pipe will help you in getting the right allies to the top of your deck for some Timely Aid, Expert Treasure-hunter(ing), or a reciting of A Very Good Tale. Good old Zigil Miner will dig up some resources for you in the meantime. You then have Elven-light, Hidden Cache, Ered Luin Miner, and Glorfindel who are begging to be tossed out with the trash.
Drop It Like It's Hobbit
Heroes
Merry (The Wastes of Eriador)
Pippin (The Black Riders)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Allies
Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens) x1
Glorfindel (Flight of the Stormcaller) x1
Imladris Stargazer x3
Kili x1
Zigil Miner x2
Barliman Butterbur x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Gelowine x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Mablung (Land of Shadow) x1
Mirkwood Explorer x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x1
Bill the Pony x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Fili x1
Keen-eyed Took x1
Ered Luin Miner x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1
Attachments
Expert Treasure-Hunter x2
Good Meal x3
Wizard Pipe x1
Events
Elven-light x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Timely Aid x3
A Good Harvest x3
Hidden Catche x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
Sets Used
Core Set
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived
RingsDB
This deck seems like a bit of a jumble, but so far it has been consistently spamming out allies once it hits its rhythm.
There is a lot of alteration that can be made here, if you are willing to let go of the amazing name. The Hobbit theme is honestly pretty optional. Take out Bill the Pony, Barliman Butterbur, Good Meal, and Frodo's Intiution. You now have 8 card spots free and can use any combination of sphere-relevant heroes. The entire Lore sphere is fairly optional as well. Expert Treasure-hunter is nice to have, but not fully needed.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Quest 35: Celebrimbor's Secret
Victory on the sixth attempt!
The Deck
From the story section of The Nin-in-Eliph, I knew I would be going up against Orcs this time around. Great! Time to break out the tactics orc-hate! I put in Legolas and a few other Tactics-centric ways to get progress out. I did not realize how much questing strength this quest would actually require. Coming just 1-2 progress sort of clearing The Secret Chamber, I lost momentum and could not get that final progress on before the chamber was destroyed.
Separately, I have been working on some decks for my wife and I to use. After a crushing defeat vs. Shadow of the Past, I decided to do a bit of play testing to make sure the decks actually work well before we make another attempt. She's a fan of Elves so I went for a Silvan theme (even though two of the heroes are Noldor). While my eventual intent was to simply splash some spirit into my tactics deck for the next attempt of Celebrimbor's Secret, this seemed like as good a time as any to playtest the Silvan deck I was building for my wife.
Silvan Survival
Heroes
Celeborn
Galadriel
Glorfindel
Allies
Naith Guide x3
Orophin x2
Galadhrim Weaver x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Defender of the Naith x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Attachments
Cram x3
O Lorien x3
Light of Valinor x2
Mirror of Galadriel x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Nenya x2
Events
Feigned Voices x3
Sneak Attack x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Fair and Perilous x3
Island Amid Perils x3
Sets Used
Core Set
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Druadan Forest
The Blood of Gondor
The Dunland Trap
The Three Trials
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
Across the Ettenoors
The Treachery of Rhudar
RingsDB Link
You're looking for Nenya or Mirror of Galadriel in your opening hand, along with 1-2 allies to get you started. Then bounce things, boost things, and recover things (via Galadriel's Handmaiden and the shuffle from Mirror of Galadriel).
The Recap
I do not mind loosing against a quest the first time. My goal is to take a deck I think will function well in most circumstances, combine it with a quest I know little to nothing about, and see what beautiful child they create. Usually it's a monstrosity.
I do take issue with miss-plays: Missing a line of text or keyword that results in a playthrough being invalidated. The above six attempts represent one standard failure (using mono tactics with low willpower), three missplays, one error in judgement (letting locations freely stack under The Orc's Search), and a victory.
Let's talk about the error in judgement, because I think it has some relevance to others going up against this one. My second attempt was a pretty handy win, but I realized I neglected to set out a location of my choice (I was playing on OCTGN and forgot that set up pieces with player input like that do not automatically generate). Figuring attempt three would be easy as well, I allowed a couple of locations to be damage unto destruction and placed in The Orc's Search. In fact, I encouraged it several times! My thought was that it would clear up the staging area (which it did) and I would rush to victory so fast that the increased threat of Bellach and the increase in my own threat at the end of the round would be negligible. Wrong! Very wrong. Painfully wrong. One of the biggest tips I can give is, as far as it is within your power, do not let locations build up under The Orc's Search. Fully prevent it if you can! With that, I wonder how brutal this particular quest becomes as you add players. The last thing I ever wanted was more encounter cards to be revealed, giving me either locations to be damage or effects to cause the damage.
This is a fresh and exciting quest for me. While the Time X keyword is used almost too much in the Ringmaker Cycle, I like that it has a bit more of an optional consequence here. Is it bad to run out of time? Depends. How does your staging area look? I also love the creativity of the encounter deck "questing" against you. Who will explore a location first? Will the enemy discover The Secret Chamber before you? And then it wraps up with a good old boss fight.
This does seem like a solo quest to me, though. Not that multiplayer can't win (or have fun). But if I am ever in a playgroup that wants to throw down Celebrimbor's Secret, I am likely going to cluck under my teeth, wrap my fingers on the table, take a deep breath, look my fellow players in the eye and tell them, "I need you to accept the fact that you're likely going to die." And be they willing, we will ride to ruin.
The Deck
From the story section of The Nin-in-Eliph, I knew I would be going up against Orcs this time around. Great! Time to break out the tactics orc-hate! I put in Legolas and a few other Tactics-centric ways to get progress out. I did not realize how much questing strength this quest would actually require. Coming just 1-2 progress sort of clearing The Secret Chamber, I lost momentum and could not get that final progress on before the chamber was destroyed.
Separately, I have been working on some decks for my wife and I to use. After a crushing defeat vs. Shadow of the Past, I decided to do a bit of play testing to make sure the decks actually work well before we make another attempt. She's a fan of Elves so I went for a Silvan theme (even though two of the heroes are Noldor). While my eventual intent was to simply splash some spirit into my tactics deck for the next attempt of Celebrimbor's Secret, this seemed like as good a time as any to playtest the Silvan deck I was building for my wife.
Silvan Survival
Heroes
Celeborn
Galadriel
Glorfindel
Allies
Naith Guide x3
Orophin x2
Galadhrim Weaver x3
Galadriel's Handmaiden x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Defender of the Naith x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Attachments
Cram x3
O Lorien x3
Light of Valinor x2
Mirror of Galadriel x2
Unexpected Courage x2
Nenya x2
Events
Feigned Voices x3
Sneak Attack x3
Valiant Sacrifice x3
Fair and Perilous x3
Island Amid Perils x3
Sets Used
Core Set
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Druadan Forest
The Blood of Gondor
The Dunland Trap
The Three Trials
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
Across the Ettenoors
The Treachery of Rhudar
RingsDB Link
You're looking for Nenya or Mirror of Galadriel in your opening hand, along with 1-2 allies to get you started. Then bounce things, boost things, and recover things (via Galadriel's Handmaiden and the shuffle from Mirror of Galadriel).
The Recap
I do not mind loosing against a quest the first time. My goal is to take a deck I think will function well in most circumstances, combine it with a quest I know little to nothing about, and see what beautiful child they create. Usually it's a monstrosity.
I do take issue with miss-plays: Missing a line of text or keyword that results in a playthrough being invalidated. The above six attempts represent one standard failure (using mono tactics with low willpower), three missplays, one error in judgement (letting locations freely stack under The Orc's Search), and a victory.
Let's talk about the error in judgement, because I think it has some relevance to others going up against this one. My second attempt was a pretty handy win, but I realized I neglected to set out a location of my choice (I was playing on OCTGN and forgot that set up pieces with player input like that do not automatically generate). Figuring attempt three would be easy as well, I allowed a couple of locations to be damage unto destruction and placed in The Orc's Search. In fact, I encouraged it several times! My thought was that it would clear up the staging area (which it did) and I would rush to victory so fast that the increased threat of Bellach and the increase in my own threat at the end of the round would be negligible. Wrong! Very wrong. Painfully wrong. One of the biggest tips I can give is, as far as it is within your power, do not let locations build up under The Orc's Search. Fully prevent it if you can! With that, I wonder how brutal this particular quest becomes as you add players. The last thing I ever wanted was more encounter cards to be revealed, giving me either locations to be damage or effects to cause the damage.
This is a fresh and exciting quest for me. While the Time X keyword is used almost too much in the Ringmaker Cycle, I like that it has a bit more of an optional consequence here. Is it bad to run out of time? Depends. How does your staging area look? I also love the creativity of the encounter deck "questing" against you. Who will explore a location first? Will the enemy discover The Secret Chamber before you? And then it wraps up with a good old boss fight.
This does seem like a solo quest to me, though. Not that multiplayer can't win (or have fun). But if I am ever in a playgroup that wants to throw down Celebrimbor's Secret, I am likely going to cluck under my teeth, wrap my fingers on the table, take a deep breath, look my fellow players in the eye and tell them, "I need you to accept the fact that you're likely going to die." And be they willing, we will ride to ruin.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Quest 51: Temple of the Deceived
Victory on the Second Attempt!
Talk about "semi-chronological," eh? Skipping from quest 34 to 51!
I, and I trust I do not stand alone in this, have been itching to get my hands on Temple of the Deceived since it was first announced. That is a very rare occurrence for me. There are other quests that have grabbed my interest but it is usually the player cards I am chomping at the bit for. Temple had such a unique, board-game like feel to it that I wanted to stop my blog in its tracks and take a crack at this one.
The Deck
There's a level of satisfaction in using cards that come with a quest to tackle that quest. Rohan horses is an archetype I have been playing around with a bit this year, so hero Elfhelm made me justifiably excited to return to that archetype. Adding in Tactics and Spirit gives quite a few horse to choose from, with the Charge of the Rohirrm and Westfold Horse-breeder being natural accompaniments. I wrestled with how many Rohan-centric cards to add in and went with Astonishing Speed, since a massive and dramatic questing phase would be needed to wrap up the quest. Oh, it's worth noting that this draft of the deck was made after my first play-through. The initial deck was brimming with cheap Rohan allies and cheap allies are not favored in this quest (there are still a few in the below decklist, though).
I considered using the new dwarf, Ered Luin Minder, as he fulfills the needs of 3-cost allies (this scenario punishes you for allies costing 2 and under), multi-sphere resource management woes, and a chance of combing with A Very Good Tale. In the end I went with an (almost) pure Rohan course, with the exception of Beorn for fun.
Pretty basic goal with this deck: Get a horse on everyone, load up Eowyn with resources, and pump out allies. Chumping with allies will allow Eomer (equipped with a mount) to take out any enemy that pops up. Save at least one Astonishing Speed for an astonishing last round.
You Get A Horse
Heroes
Elfhelm (Temple of the Deceived)
Eomer
Eowyn (Core)
Allies
Cerol x2
Eothain x2
Beorn (Core) x1
Deorwine x2
Westfold Outrider x3
Eomud x2
Gamling x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Westfold Horse-breeder x3
Attachments
Amored Destrier x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Snowmane x1
Steed of the Mark x2
Events
A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Charge of the Rohirrim x3
A Test of Will x3
Astonishing Speed x2
Elven-Light x3
A Good Harvest x3
Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
Return to Mirkwood
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived
RingsDB Link
The deck actually miss-fired. Steward of Gondor did not show up until the final round. A Very Good Tale and Elven-Light never made an appearance. Yet the deck more than held its own, which probably speaks more to the strength of Eowyn and Eomer than anything else. Elfhelm's contribution was welcome, and it was fun to use him, but I likely would have done just as well with Spirit Theoden.
The Recap
For my first attempt against Temple of the Deceived I messed up at the set-up. Being told to use the Ruins of Numenor encounter set from The Grey Havens, I picked out all the Lost Island cards that had the Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. The problem? Just take a look at the Lost Island cards that come with Temple of the Deceived. What do you see on their Lost Island side? The Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. They all have it! Their actual expansion symbol is on the back of the card. Told to set up all 15 Lost Island cards, I simply dealt out the appropriate number and chalked it up the extra four cards to intended randomization and set them aside. Fortunately one copy of Cursed Island was a part of the map I built (the other one was set aside). After beating the quest, I asked around on the appropriate subreddit and was shown the error of my ways. Now removing any The Fate of Numenor cards (goodbye Shrine to Morgoth!), I reset the map and began anew...
For my second attempt, the encounter deck kind of handed me a victory. I flipped to reveal aJungle Path Jagged Cliffs* in the upper left and a Cursed Temple in the lower right during the opening set-up. Starting at the Jungle Path (a great location to start at), I discovered a Winding Caverns bridging the two locations. Taking my time and building my forces, I went down to the Cursed Temple, dispatched the Temple Guardian (I had two ways to chose from by that time, allowing me to keep one in reserve for future use), made my way back to the Winding Caverns and jumped three spaces over to a Drowned Graves. With two Rohan Warhorses on Eomer and a few allies to expend chump blocking, three undead foes were easily removed. Using the Gate Key I found that the adjacent Temple of the Deceived card was The Grotto's Entrance. Ran over, took a chump block from the Temple Guardian, and quested like crazy (thank you Astonishing Speed) for a victory.
I usually pay little attention to the difficulty level, but this seemed far easier than I felt it would be. Seeing the "DL = 4" made sense: The quest is not a total breeze but you will not be wracking your brain on how to beat it. On future attempts I actually intend up the challenge by mirroring my erroneous setup: Placing one Cursed Temple in the card pool and one to the side, I will randomly deal out the appropriate number of Lost Island cards with The Fate of Numenor included. I will also place a stipulation on myself that the heroes cannot win if the Temple Guardian is still in play. Does this massively increase the difficulty? No, but it will have an impact. Honestly, I got pretty lucky and even reshuffling the encounter deck might give me all the difficulty I need. Temple of the Deceived is decent as a 4 but I would love it even more as a 5 or 6.
*Note: I actually had a Jungle Path in the upper left and miss-read what "not considered to be in the staging area" implied in terms of travel. Figured a re-do was needed, but checked the cards and Jagged Cliffs would have played out exactly as reported. We'll fudge that for now. But this does show that simply re-shuffling the island may give the added complexity I want.
Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Elfhelm 4, Eowyn 4)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 135
Talk about "semi-chronological," eh? Skipping from quest 34 to 51!
I, and I trust I do not stand alone in this, have been itching to get my hands on Temple of the Deceived since it was first announced. That is a very rare occurrence for me. There are other quests that have grabbed my interest but it is usually the player cards I am chomping at the bit for. Temple had such a unique, board-game like feel to it that I wanted to stop my blog in its tracks and take a crack at this one.
The Deck
There's a level of satisfaction in using cards that come with a quest to tackle that quest. Rohan horses is an archetype I have been playing around with a bit this year, so hero Elfhelm made me justifiably excited to return to that archetype. Adding in Tactics and Spirit gives quite a few horse to choose from, with the Charge of the Rohirrm and Westfold Horse-breeder being natural accompaniments. I wrestled with how many Rohan-centric cards to add in and went with Astonishing Speed, since a massive and dramatic questing phase would be needed to wrap up the quest. Oh, it's worth noting that this draft of the deck was made after my first play-through. The initial deck was brimming with cheap Rohan allies and cheap allies are not favored in this quest (there are still a few in the below decklist, though).
I considered using the new dwarf, Ered Luin Minder, as he fulfills the needs of 3-cost allies (this scenario punishes you for allies costing 2 and under), multi-sphere resource management woes, and a chance of combing with A Very Good Tale. In the end I went with an (almost) pure Rohan course, with the exception of Beorn for fun.
Pretty basic goal with this deck: Get a horse on everyone, load up Eowyn with resources, and pump out allies. Chumping with allies will allow Eomer (equipped with a mount) to take out any enemy that pops up. Save at least one Astonishing Speed for an astonishing last round.
You Get A Horse
Heroes
Elfhelm (Temple of the Deceived)
Eomer
Eowyn (Core)
Allies
Cerol x2
Eothain x2
Beorn (Core) x1
Deorwine x2
Westfold Outrider x3
Eomud x2
Gamling x2
Hama (The Treason of Saruman) x2
Westfold Horse-breeder x3
Attachments
Amored Destrier x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Rohan Warhorse x3
Snowmane x1
Steed of the Mark x2
Events
A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Charge of the Rohirrim x3
A Test of Will x3
Astonishing Speed x2
Elven-Light x3
A Good Harvest x3
Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
Return to Mirkwood
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Land of Shadow
The Dread Realm
The Thing in the Depths
Temple of the Deceived
RingsDB Link
The deck actually miss-fired. Steward of Gondor did not show up until the final round. A Very Good Tale and Elven-Light never made an appearance. Yet the deck more than held its own, which probably speaks more to the strength of Eowyn and Eomer than anything else. Elfhelm's contribution was welcome, and it was fun to use him, but I likely would have done just as well with Spirit Theoden.
The Recap
For my first attempt against Temple of the Deceived I messed up at the set-up. Being told to use the Ruins of Numenor encounter set from The Grey Havens, I picked out all the Lost Island cards that had the Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. The problem? Just take a look at the Lost Island cards that come with Temple of the Deceived. What do you see on their Lost Island side? The Ruins of Numenor expansion symbol. They all have it! Their actual expansion symbol is on the back of the card. Told to set up all 15 Lost Island cards, I simply dealt out the appropriate number and chalked it up the extra four cards to intended randomization and set them aside. Fortunately one copy of Cursed Island was a part of the map I built (the other one was set aside). After beating the quest, I asked around on the appropriate subreddit and was shown the error of my ways. Now removing any The Fate of Numenor cards (goodbye Shrine to Morgoth!), I reset the map and began anew...
For my second attempt, the encounter deck kind of handed me a victory. I flipped to reveal a
I usually pay little attention to the difficulty level, but this seemed far easier than I felt it would be. Seeing the "DL = 4" made sense: The quest is not a total breeze but you will not be wracking your brain on how to beat it. On future attempts I actually intend up the challenge by mirroring my erroneous setup: Placing one Cursed Temple in the card pool and one to the side, I will randomly deal out the appropriate number of Lost Island cards with The Fate of Numenor included. I will also place a stipulation on myself that the heroes cannot win if the Temple Guardian is still in play. Does this massively increase the difficulty? No, but it will have an impact. Honestly, I got pretty lucky and even reshuffling the encounter deck might give me all the difficulty I need. Temple of the Deceived is decent as a 4 but I would love it even more as a 5 or 6.
*Note: I actually had a Jungle Path in the upper left and miss-read what "not considered to be in the staging area" implied in terms of travel. Figured a re-do was needed, but checked the cards and Jagged Cliffs would have played out exactly as reported. We'll fudge that for now. But this does show that simply re-shuffling the island may give the added complexity I want.
Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Elfhelm 4, Eowyn 4)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 135
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Quest 33: Trouble in Tharbad
Victory on the first attempt!
The Deck
This deck started off with some brainstorming on the combination of Erestor and Cirdan the Shipwright. What could I do with four cards per turn (seeing five)? I've also been wanting to try out Tale of Tinuviel as well as Fair and Perilous. Core Aragorn (Coragon?) is most un-creative inclusion for Tale of Tinuviel that came to the top of my mind. Card draw + Aragorn made me think that maybe this is time to try out the new Arwen as well (Cirdan will have his day). The idea of Erestor accompanying Aragorn & Arwen on an outing was amusing to me.
Armed with my first draft of heroes and spheres, I started pouring over cheap inclusions: Zero-cost cards, allies that can be put into play for free, allies that put other allies into play for free. I also looked for cards that could take advantage of discard: Protector of Lorien, Steed of Imaldris, Lindon Navigator. With Arwen's ability to add a resource to any of my chosen heroes, two-cost cards were on the table. I did worry that the deck was sacrificing quality cards for cheap cards, but it felt right that what this deck wanted to do was to spit out a ton of small things that would add up to a large effect.
The deck ended up being a blast to play, allowing me to get utilization out of almost every card in my hand. While I'm usually keeping track of quests I would like to return to, this is actually a deck I look forward to coming back and tweaking some day.
Chaperone
Heroes
Aragorn (Core Set)
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Allies
Herald of Anorien x3
Fili x1
Kili x1
Elven Jewler x3
Curious Brandybuck x3
Lindon Navigator x3
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Quickbeam x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x2
Cram x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Spare Hood and Cloak x2
Light of Valinor x2
Steed of Imladris x1
Healing Herbs x3
Protector of Lorien x1
Events
Legacy of Numenor x2
Tale of Tinuviel x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Fair and Perilous x2
Dwarven Tomb x2
A Good Harvest x2
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Voice of Isengard
Trouble in Tharbad
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treacher of Rhudaur
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens
Now, before we get started, here is the funny thing: I would not have taken this deck on this quest if I knew what I was going up against. It's not that I had particular challenges, it's that knowledge of this quest would have encouraged me to experiment in some other directions. Massive orc hate + secrecy is something I would love to play around with, for instance.
The Journey
Player Set-Up
Set starting threat to 31.
Draw: Erebor Hammersmith, Herald of Anorien, Dunedain Warning, Curious Brandybuck, Dunedain Warning, Celebrian's Stone
I'll go for the keep. Still unsure exactly what I want this deck to do. Might normally mulligan in the hopes of getting some more zero costs items, but I know I'll be drawing four more cards.
Encounter Set-Up
Set Bellach and The Crossing at Tharbad out of play. Put one copy of Spy from Mordor in the staging area. Make The Empty Mug the active location. Gain control of Nalir. Flip to side 1B. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Spare Hood and Cloak, Elrond's Counsel. Lindon Navigator
Herald of Anorien into Lindon Navigator sounds like a solid plan. Curious Brandybuck might make it to the table if I can blow past The Empty Mug and reveal a new location.
Planning Phase
Arwen: Discard Dunedain Warning to add one resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Light of Valinor (Arwen -1). Attach to Arwen.
Play: Spare Hood and Cloak. Attach to Erestor.
Play: Elrond's Counsel (The Empty Mug: No threat reduction). Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower.
Shame to not get the threat reduction, but something is better than nothing.
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2). Give it Doomed 2 (raise threat to 33) and put Lindon Navigator into play.
I did debate getting Celebrian's Stone down instead, but two allies will give me some versatility to work with.
Quest Phase
Commit: Arwen (4; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust).
Total Willpower: 8
Reveal: Hidden Allyway
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on The Empty Mug (3/4).
Lindon Navigator: Discard Dunedain Warning.
Drat. Just a bit too low to travel and play my hobbit for free.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engaged by Spy from Mordor
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4). Herald of Anorien defends. shadow: Cornered (+1 attack). Herald of Anorien is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy from Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 34.
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Kili, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Envoy is really my all-time MVP, making it into most of my decks.
Arwen: Discard Healing Herbs to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Play: Kili (Arwen -3). Search deck and put Fili into play.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (2), Arwen (3), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Envoy (1)
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Seedy Inn
Total Threat: 6
Place 1 progress on The Empy Mug, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (4).
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 32.
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 29. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from game.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hidden Allyway (no enemies in play = no threat increase). Add 1 time counter to stage 1B (3/4).
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 30.
Ready all. Raise threat to 31.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Celebrian's Stone, Elvish Jewler, Cram
Planning Phase
Play: Celebrian's Stone (Aragorn -2). Attach to Aragorn.
That's the nice thing about passing on this early: I'm burning through my deck so fast that I was likely to see it again. Not guaranteed, though, so it is still a welcome sight.
Arwen: Discard Light of Valinor to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Play: Elvish Jewler (Arwen -2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Aragorn.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elvish Jewler (1), Envoy (1).
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Spy from Mordor.
Total Threat: 5
Place 5 progress on Hidden Alleway, exploring it.
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 28.
Travel Phase
Travel to Seedy Inn. Search encounter deck and add Orc Hound to the staging area.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hound Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Hound. Attacks! Arwen defends. Shadow: Ruins of the Second Age (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard Cram to ready Aragorn.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 29.
Ready all. Raise threat to 30.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Curious Brandybuck, Cram, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Erestor.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy of Pelargir #1 (1), Envoy of Pelargir #2 (1)
Total Willpower: 16
Spend one of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Streets of Tharbad
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on Seedy Inn, exploring it.
Place 8 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 22.
Rounds 1-3 helped me get set up for success and now it is time to plow through stage 1.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
Travel to Streets of Tharbad.
Put Curious Brandybuck into play.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spy from Mordor.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 40. Place four time counters on stage 1B. Curious Brandybuck defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Curious Brandybuck is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy From Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 23.
Ready all. Raise threat to 24.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4)
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Herald of Anorien, Erebor Hammersmith, Legacy of Numenor
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 21. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from play (The Empty Mug's effect).
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2).
Arwen: Discard Legacy of Numenor to add one resource to Erestor's pool.
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Erestor -2). Add Healing Herbs to hand.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1), Envoy #2 (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1)
Total Willpower: 17
Reveal: Orc Hound. Surge.
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/4).
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on Streets of Tharbad, exploring it.
Place 14 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 7.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Engaged by Orc Hound. Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hound attacks. Arwen defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 1 damage to Arwen.
Orc Hunter attacks. Herald of Anorien defends. Shadow: Constant Tail (no effect). Herald is destroyed.
Discard Cram to ready Erestor. Exhaust Erestor and Spare Hood and Cloak to ready Aragorn. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to Aragorn.
Aragorn + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Discard shadow card.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 8.
Ready all. Raise threat to 9.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4)
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (3), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Steed of Imladris, Fair and Perilous, Tale of Tinuvil, A Good Harvest
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Get That Dwarf! Surge (no enemies).
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 30. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Total Threat: 2
Place 11 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 0.
That stage worked out pretty well. Now I'm waiting for an unexpected slap in the face from stage 2.
Advance to stage 2A. Add Bellach and The Crossroads at Tharbad to the staging area. Shuffle encounter discard into the encounter deck. Discard: Spy from Mordor. Add to the staging area.
Flip to side 2B. Place 3 time counters on stage 2B.
Actually, that's not bad. Really the same general philosophy: quest like crazy.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Steed of Imaldris.
No Travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hunter attacks. Envoy of Pelargir #2 defends. Shadow: Constant Tail. No effect. Envoy is destroyed. Forced (Stage 2B): Raise threat to 2.
Orc Hound attacks. Erebor Hammersmith defends Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 2 damage to Erebor Hammersmith (2/3).
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, and defense for the phase.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Erestor +Nalir declare an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Arwen: Discard A Good Harvest to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 3.
Ready all. Raise threat to 4.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/3)
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (4), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: A Good Harvest, Protector of Lorien, Fair and Perilous, Dwarven Tomb
Planning Phase
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Arwen -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to my hand.
Play: Protector of Lorien (Erestor -1). Attach to Arwen.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelargir (1).
Total Willpower: 16
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Orc Skirmisher
Total Threat: 10
Exhaust Aragorn and Spare Hood and Cloak. Ready Erestor. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to him.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower: 19
I could go Dwarven Tomb -> Tale of Tinuviel to get two more willpower, but I need three and I would rather hold onto the resources for now.
Place 9 progress on The Crossing at Tharbad (9/12).
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard A Good Harvest.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Skirmisher. Deal 3 damage to Erestor (3/4).
I could sacrifice an ally, but I don't care too much about my score and would rather have all the willpower I can keep for next round. Especially since I'll likely need to loose my Navigator this round
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Skrimisher. Attacks! Lindon Navigator defends. Shadow: Cornered (+2 attack). Navigator is destroyed. Raise threat to 6.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Arwen -1). Choose Erestor to add his 2 willpower to his attack for the phase.
Aragorn + Erestor declare an attack on Orc Skrimisher, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 7.
Ready all. Raise threat to 8.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (1/3)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Tale of Tinuviel, Healing Herbs, Herald of Anorien, Dwarven Tomb
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelagir (1).
Total Willpower: 14
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Decrepit Rooftops
Total Threat: 8
Won. Time to win more.
Protector of Lorien: Discard Healing Herbs and Herald of Anorien to give Arwen +2 willpower
Updated Willpower: 16
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Aragorn. Ready Erestor, giving him +2 wilpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated Willpower: 18
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Aragorn -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to hand.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower; 21
Place 13 progress on The Crossing and Tharbad (21/12), exploring it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x70: 70
Ending Threat: 8
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (1 on Arwen, 4 on Erestor)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4
Total Score: 78
The Recap
I am a bit torn on how to classify this quest, in terms of it being a favorite or not. I had a blast playing it due to the deck I was piloting but not necessarily due to the quest it self. Now the mechanic of trying to get to zero threat on stage 1 opens up the possibility for some fun deck design, specifically allowing you to use secrecy cards (eventually) without limiting your starting threat (Shadow and Flame does this as well). That makes me want to come back to this one and do some deck testing, but there was little else about the quest itself that really stuck out as memorable. Still, making it to the list of quests I want to come back to is merit enough to earn it a spot on the Favorite list. Because when the itch to get up to some crazy secrecy shenanigans hits me, I'll be looking to stir up some trouble in Tharbad again.
The Deck
This deck started off with some brainstorming on the combination of Erestor and Cirdan the Shipwright. What could I do with four cards per turn (seeing five)? I've also been wanting to try out Tale of Tinuviel as well as Fair and Perilous. Core Aragorn (Coragon?) is most un-creative inclusion for Tale of Tinuviel that came to the top of my mind. Card draw + Aragorn made me think that maybe this is time to try out the new Arwen as well (Cirdan will have his day). The idea of Erestor accompanying Aragorn & Arwen on an outing was amusing to me.
Armed with my first draft of heroes and spheres, I started pouring over cheap inclusions: Zero-cost cards, allies that can be put into play for free, allies that put other allies into play for free. I also looked for cards that could take advantage of discard: Protector of Lorien, Steed of Imaldris, Lindon Navigator. With Arwen's ability to add a resource to any of my chosen heroes, two-cost cards were on the table. I did worry that the deck was sacrificing quality cards for cheap cards, but it felt right that what this deck wanted to do was to spit out a ton of small things that would add up to a large effect.
The deck ended up being a blast to play, allowing me to get utilization out of almost every card in my hand. While I'm usually keeping track of quests I would like to return to, this is actually a deck I look forward to coming back and tweaking some day.
Chaperone
Heroes
Aragorn (Core Set)
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Allies
Herald of Anorien x3
Fili x1
Kili x1
Elven Jewler x3
Curious Brandybuck x3
Lindon Navigator x3
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Quickbeam x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x2
Cram x3
Dunedain Warning x3
Spare Hood and Cloak x2
Light of Valinor x2
Steed of Imladris x1
Healing Herbs x3
Protector of Lorien x1
Events
Legacy of Numenor x2
Tale of Tinuviel x3
Elrond's Counsel x3
Fair and Perilous x2
Dwarven Tomb x2
A Good Harvest x2
Sets Used
Core Set
Conflict at the Carrock
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Voice of Isengard
Trouble in Tharbad
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
Across the Ettenmoors
The Treacher of Rhudaur
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens
Now, before we get started, here is the funny thing: I would not have taken this deck on this quest if I knew what I was going up against. It's not that I had particular challenges, it's that knowledge of this quest would have encouraged me to experiment in some other directions. Massive orc hate + secrecy is something I would love to play around with, for instance.
The Journey
Player Set-Up
Set starting threat to 31.
Draw: Erebor Hammersmith, Herald of Anorien, Dunedain Warning, Curious Brandybuck, Dunedain Warning, Celebrian's Stone
I'll go for the keep. Still unsure exactly what I want this deck to do. Might normally mulligan in the hopes of getting some more zero costs items, but I know I'll be drawing four more cards.
Encounter Set-Up
Set Bellach and The Crossing at Tharbad out of play. Put one copy of Spy from Mordor in the staging area. Make The Empty Mug the active location. Gain control of Nalir. Flip to side 1B. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Round 1
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Spare Hood and Cloak, Elrond's Counsel. Lindon Navigator
Herald of Anorien into Lindon Navigator sounds like a solid plan. Curious Brandybuck might make it to the table if I can blow past The Empty Mug and reveal a new location.
Planning Phase
Arwen: Discard Dunedain Warning to add one resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Light of Valinor (Arwen -1). Attach to Arwen.
Play: Spare Hood and Cloak. Attach to Erestor.
Play: Elrond's Counsel (The Empty Mug: No threat reduction). Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower.
Shame to not get the threat reduction, but something is better than nothing.
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2). Give it Doomed 2 (raise threat to 33) and put Lindon Navigator into play.
I did debate getting Celebrian's Stone down instead, but two allies will give me some versatility to work with.
Quest Phase
Commit: Arwen (4; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust).
Total Willpower: 8
Reveal: Hidden Allyway
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on The Empty Mug (3/4).
Lindon Navigator: Discard Dunedain Warning.
Drat. Just a bit too low to travel and play my hobbit for free.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engaged by Spy from Mordor
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4). Herald of Anorien defends. shadow: Cornered (+1 attack). Herald of Anorien is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy from Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 34.
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 2
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Kili, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Envoy is really my all-time MVP, making it into most of my decks.
Arwen: Discard Healing Herbs to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Play: Kili (Arwen -3). Search deck and put Fili into play.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (2), Arwen (3), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Envoy (1)
Total Willpower: 10
Reveal: Seedy Inn
Total Threat: 6
Place 1 progress on The Empy Mug, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (4).
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 32.
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 29. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from game.
Travel Phase
Travel to Hidden Allyway (no enemies in play = no threat increase). Add 1 time counter to stage 1B (3/4).
No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 30.
Ready all. Raise threat to 31.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (2/4)
Round 3
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Light of Valinor, Celebrian's Stone, Elvish Jewler, Cram
Planning Phase
Play: Celebrian's Stone (Aragorn -2). Attach to Aragorn.
That's the nice thing about passing on this early: I'm burning through my deck so fast that I was likely to see it again. Not guaranteed, though, so it is still a welcome sight.
Arwen: Discard Light of Valinor to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (2).
Play: Elvish Jewler (Arwen -2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Aragorn.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elvish Jewler (1), Envoy (1).
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Spy from Mordor.
Total Threat: 5
Place 5 progress on Hidden Alleway, exploring it.
Place 3 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 28.
Travel Phase
Travel to Seedy Inn. Search encounter deck and add Orc Hound to the staging area.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hound Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Hound. Attacks! Arwen defends. Shadow: Ruins of the Second Age (no effect). No damage dealt.
Discard Cram to ready Aragorn.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 29.
Ready all. Raise threat to 30.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4).
Round 4
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (1), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Curious Brandybuck, Cram, Envoy of Pelargir, Healing Herbs
Planning Phase
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Erestor -2). Add 1 resource to Aragorn's pool (2).
Play: Cram. Attach to Erestor.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy of Pelargir #1 (1), Envoy of Pelargir #2 (1)
Total Willpower: 16
Spend one of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Streets of Tharbad
Total Threat: 5
Place 3 progress on Seedy Inn, exploring it.
Place 8 progress on stage 1B. Cancel and reduce threat to 22.
Rounds 1-3 helped me get set up for success and now it is time to plow through stage 1.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
Travel to Streets of Tharbad.
Put Curious Brandybuck into play.
Encounter Phase
Engage Spy from Mordor.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Spy from Mordor. Attacks! Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 40. Place four time counters on stage 1B. Curious Brandybuck defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Curious Brandybuck is destroyed.
Aragorn + Arwen + Nalir + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Spy From Mordor, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 23.
Ready all. Raise threat to 24.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (3/4)
Round 5
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Elrond's Counsel, Herald of Anorien, Erebor Hammersmith, Legacy of Numenor
Planning Phase
Play: Elrond's Counsel. Reduce threat to 21. Choose Arwen to get +1 willpower. Remove card from play (The Empty Mug's effect).
Play: Herald of Anorien (Aragorn -2).
Arwen: Discard Legacy of Numenor to add one resource to Erestor's pool.
Play: Erebor Hammersmith (Erestor -2). Add Healing Herbs to hand.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1), Envoy #2 (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1)
Total Willpower: 17
Reveal: Orc Hound. Surge.
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/4).
Total Threat: 3
Place 1 progress on Streets of Tharbad, exploring it.
Place 14 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 7.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Healing Herbs.
Travel Phase
No travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Engaged by Orc Hound. Exhaust Nalir.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hound attacks. Arwen defends. Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 1 damage to Arwen.
Orc Hunter attacks. Herald of Anorien defends. Shadow: Constant Tail (no effect). Herald is destroyed.
Discard Cram to ready Erestor. Exhaust Erestor and Spare Hood and Cloak to ready Aragorn. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to Aragorn.
Aragorn + Lindon Navigator declare an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Discard shadow card.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 8.
Ready all. Raise threat to 9.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 1B (1/4)
Round 6
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (1), +1 Arwen Undomiel (3), +1 Erestor (1)
Draw: Steed of Imladris, Fair and Perilous, Tale of Tinuvil, A Good Harvest
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Envoy #1 (1)
Total Willpower: 13
Reveal: Get That Dwarf! Surge (no enemies).
Reveal: Orc Hunter. Remove final time counter from stage 1B. Reduce threat elimination level to 30. Place 4 time counters on stage 1B.
Total Threat: 2
Place 11 progress on stage 1B. Cancel. Reduce threat to 0.
That stage worked out pretty well. Now I'm waiting for an unexpected slap in the face from stage 2.
Advance to stage 2A. Add Bellach and The Crossroads at Tharbad to the staging area. Shuffle encounter discard into the encounter deck. Discard: Spy from Mordor. Add to the staging area.
Flip to side 2B. Place 3 time counters on stage 2B.
Actually, that's not bad. Really the same general philosophy: quest like crazy.
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard Steed of Imaldris.
No Travel.
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Hunter.
Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc Hunter, Orc Hound.
Orc Hunter attacks. Envoy of Pelargir #2 defends. Shadow: Constant Tail. No effect. Envoy is destroyed. Forced (Stage 2B): Raise threat to 2.
Orc Hound attacks. Erebor Hammersmith defends Shadow: Orc Skirmisher (+1 attack). Deal 2 damage to Erebor Hammersmith (2/3).
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, and defense for the phase.
Aragorn declares an attack on Orc Hunter, destroying it.
Erestor +Nalir declare an attack on Orc Hound, destroying it.
Arwen: Discard A Good Harvest to add 1 resource to Arwen's pool (3).
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 3.
Ready all. Raise threat to 4.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (2/3)
Round 7
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (4), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: A Good Harvest, Protector of Lorien, Fair and Perilous, Dwarven Tomb
Planning Phase
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Arwen -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to my hand.
Play: Protector of Lorien (Erestor -1). Attach to Arwen.
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Lindon Navigator (2; does not exhaust), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelargir (1).
Total Willpower: 16
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Orc Skirmisher
Total Threat: 10
Exhaust Aragorn and Spare Hood and Cloak. Ready Erestor. Attach Spare Hood and Cloak to him.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower: 19
I could go Dwarven Tomb -> Tale of Tinuviel to get two more willpower, but I need three and I would rather hold onto the resources for now.
Place 9 progress on The Crossing at Tharbad (9/12).
Forced (Lindon Navigator): Discard A Good Harvest.
No Travel
Encounter Phase
Engage Orc Skirmisher. Deal 3 damage to Erestor (3/4).
I could sacrifice an ally, but I don't care too much about my score and would rather have all the willpower I can keep for next round. Especially since I'll likely need to loose my Navigator this round
Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Skrimisher. Attacks! Lindon Navigator defends. Shadow: Cornered (+2 attack). Navigator is destroyed. Raise threat to 6.
Play: Fair and Perilous (Arwen -1). Choose Erestor to add his 2 willpower to his attack for the phase.
Aragorn + Erestor declare an attack on Orc Skrimisher, destroying it.
Refresh Phase
Forced (Nalir): Raise threat to 7.
Ready all. Raise threat to 8.
Discard hand.
Remove 1 time counter from stage 2B (1/3)
Round 8
Resource Phase
+1 Aragorn (2), +1 Arwen Undomiel (2), +1 Erestor (2)
Draw: Tale of Tinuviel, Healing Herbs, Herald of Anorien, Dwarven Tomb
Play None
Quest Phase
Commit: Aragorn (4), Arwen (3; does not exhaust), Erestor (2), Fili (1), Kili (1), Elven Jewler (1), Erebor Hammersmith (1), Envoy of Pelagir (1).
Total Willpower: 14
Spend 1 of Aragorn's resources to ready him.
Reveal: Decrepit Rooftops
Total Threat: 8
Won. Time to win more.
Protector of Lorien: Discard Healing Herbs and Herald of Anorien to give Arwen +2 willpower
Updated Willpower: 16
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Aragorn. Ready Erestor, giving him +2 wilpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated Willpower: 18
Play: Dwarven Tomb (Aragorn -1). Return Tale of Tinuviel to hand.
Play: Tale of Tinuviel (Arwen -1). Exhaust Arwen. Ready Aragorn, giving him +3 willpower, attack, defense for the phase.
Updated willpower; 21
Place 13 progress on The Crossing and Tharbad (21/12), exploring it and winning the game!
Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x70: 70
Ending Threat: 8
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (1 on Arwen, 4 on Erestor)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4
Total Score: 78
The Recap
I am a bit torn on how to classify this quest, in terms of it being a favorite or not. I had a blast playing it due to the deck I was piloting but not necessarily due to the quest it self. Now the mechanic of trying to get to zero threat on stage 1 opens up the possibility for some fun deck design, specifically allowing you to use secrecy cards (eventually) without limiting your starting threat (Shadow and Flame does this as well). That makes me want to come back to this one and do some deck testing, but there was little else about the quest itself that really stuck out as memorable. Still, making it to the list of quests I want to come back to is merit enough to earn it a spot on the Favorite list. Because when the itch to get up to some crazy secrecy shenanigans hits me, I'll be looking to stir up some trouble in Tharbad again.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Quest 32: The Three Trials
Victory on the seventh attempt!
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!
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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