Quest 005(r): The Caves Nibin-dum

Opening Thoughts

Time for my first crack at The Caves of Nibin-dum. The core set introduced the game with an easy quest, then ramped up the difficulty, and ended with a frustrating nightmare. It will be very interesting to see how much the difficulty ramps up here. Does it feel appropriate for a beginner with a starter pool of cards?

The Decks

Precon Gondor and Dwarves are back! Like The Oath, I'll be keeping these as their stock versions to start with. We'll start getting fancy with the ingredients moving forward. Dwarves pumped out a solid ally swarm last time I ran these decks and Gondor struggled to keep up. Let's see if the pattern repeats. 

The Quest

setup
Goblin Chieftain and Cracked Pillar set aside. Cave Torch attached to Prince Imrahil (Gondor set as first player). Proceed to 1B. Gondor picks Collapsed Mine to add to the staging area and the Dwarves pick Goblin Dungeon.

Gondor hand: Steward of Gondor, Visionary Leadership, and a few allies. Definitely a keeper.

Dwarf hand: Some allies that don't have great synergy at present (Erebor Hammersmith)z. Doing a mulligan here. Still nothing crazy (and Hammersmith is back), but Narvi's Belt and Erebor Record Keeper will come in hand.

Round 1

Resources and cards! Gondor: Heir of Mardil. That'll add some spice to my Steward of Gondor timing. Dwarfs: Lure of Moria. A great card that will definitely come in handy.

Steward of Gondor goes on Boromir (Denethor wishes!). Steward is exhausted and Soldier of Gondor is played, finding Faramir in the first five cards and adding him to hand. Erebor Record Keeper goes down for the Dwarves.

Prince Imrahil, Mabling, Ori, Bifu, and Erebor Record Keeper quest. Total Willpower: 12.

Gondor reveals: Wild Warg
Dwarves reveal: Goblintown Scavengers. Gondor discards Valiant Sword and Dwarves discard Ered Nimrais Prospector, giving the Scavengers +3 threat.
Total threat: 11. One progress placed on the quest. The gang travels to the Goblin Dungeon, revealing Evil in the Dark. Doomed 1 (Gondor 33, Dwarves 27). Gondor will raise there threat by 2 (35) and Dwarves will discard the Erebor Record Keeper.

Gondor engages the Wild Wargs (resource added to Mablung) and Dwarves engage the Goblintown Scavengers. Shadow cards are delt. Wild Wargs attack and the Soldier of Gondor defends. Shadow: None. Soldier of Gondor takes one damage. Goblintown Scavengers attacks undefended. Shadow: +2 attack (3 total). Three damage goes on Dain. Boromir attacks the Wild Wargs, dealing two damage. Dain attacks and kills the Goblintown Scavengers. 

Cave Torch is exhausted to put three progress on the Collapsed Mine. Discard: Crumbling Ruin. That's a treachery I'm very happy to see gone.

Ready. Raise (Gondor: 36, Dwarves 28). Pass first player token to Dwarves.

Phew. I'm already feeling the increased toughness in this one!

Round 2

Resources and cards! Dwarves: We Are Not Idle. Gondor: Envoy of Pelagir. 

Narvi's Belt goes on Bifer. Erebor Hammersmith comes down. Valiant Sword returned to Gondor's hand. Mablung pays for Envoy of Pelagir, gets a resource back, and plays for Defender of Ramas. Steward of Gondor is exhausted and Faramir comes down.

Cave Torch is exhausted to explore the Collapsed Mine. Discard: Goblin Runners.

Questing: Bifur, Ori, Mablung, Prince Imrahil, Envoy of Pelargir. Total Willpower: 11 (can be bumped to 14 by Faramir). 

Dwarves reveal: Obsidian Arrows. Two damages goes on Erebor Hammersmith.
Gondor reveals: Goblin Sniper. 
Total threat: 3.
Exhausted Faramir to add +3 to Willpower. Five progress placed on Goblin Dungeon. Dwarves look at the top five and put Dori into play. Six progress placed on 1B.

Gondor engages the Goblin Runners (resource added to Mablung's pool). Shadow cards are dealt.

Goblin Runners attacks Soldier of Gondor. Shadow: Will make an additional attack with an additional shadow. Soldier dies. Prince Imrahil readies. New shadow dealt to Goblin Runners and it attacks, with Defender of Rammas doing it's namesake. No effect. No damage dealt.
Wild Wargs attack and Prince Imrahil defends. Shadow: Cancel all combat damage Wargs would receive. Bromir kills the Goblin Runners.

Dwarves deal a damage to Dori and Gondor deals a damage to Envoy of Pelargir. A resource is moved from Mablung to Bifur. Ready. Raise (Gondor 37, Dwarves 29). Pass token to Gondor.

Round 3

Resources and cards! Gondor: Defender of Ramas. Dwarves: Miner of the Iron Hills, Ered Luin Miner (thank you for the extra card, Ori).

Steward of Gondor exhausts. Visionary Leadership goes on Boromir. Heir of Mardil goes on Mablung. One resource stays in Bormir's pool for reasons. Narvi's Belt exhausts to make Bifur a leader. Gloin is played and two resources are added back to Bifur. Erid Luid Miner enters play.

Questing: Prince Imrahil, Mablung, Ori, Bifur. Total Willpower: 10. 
Gondor reveals: Lost in the Dark. Choice is made to exhaust the Cave Torch. Discarded: Branching Paths (not added to staging area).
Dwarves reveal: Goblin Tunnels. 
Total Threat: 4.
Stage 1B is history. Advance to stage 2A. Goblin Chieftain added to the staging area.  Goblintown Scavengers and Great Cave Troll added to the staging area. Advance to 2B. 

The gang travels to the Goblin Tunnels.

Dwarves engage the Goblin Chieftan. Great Cave-Troll engages Gondor (Mablung gains a resource and readies, exhausting Heir). Goblintown Scavengers engage the Dwarves. Shadow cards are dealt.

Busy, busy boardstate

Great Cave Troll attacks and Envoy of Pelagir defends. Shadow: Deal 1 damage to a character I control (Faramir). Envoy dies. Prince Imrahil readies. 
Wild Wargs attack and Defender of Rammas defenders. Shadow: +1 attack. No damage dealt.
Goblin Chieftain attacks. Ered Luin Miner defends. Shadow: None. One damage dealt and the Goblin Chieftain returns to the staging area.
Goblintown Scavengers attack and Dori defends. Shadow: None. No damage dealt.
All of Gondor unites to strike down the Great Cave Troll.
Dain and Gloin take out the Goblintown Scavengers.

Goblin sniper puts a damage on Faramir and Dori. 
Ready. Raise (Gondor 38, Dwarves 30). Token passes back to Dwarves.

Round 4

Resources and cards! Dwarves: Gloin, Lonbeard Elder. Gondor: Feint.

Dwarves lay down a Longbeard Elder. Gondor gets a second Defender of Rammas and a Valiant Sword is put on Boromir. Steward exhausts to give Bormir two resources, one of which is transferred to Bifur. 

Dwarves are questing with six characters. Longbeard Elder peeks at the encounter deck and sees a Cavern Warg, reducing his willpower by 1 and promising another week of winter. Gondor quests with Mablung and Prince Imrahil. Total Willpower: 20. 

Dwarves reveal: Cavern Warg (whaaaaat). Gondor reveals: Crumbling Stairs. Total threat: 9. Faramir exhausts to increase willpower by 6. 7 progress placed on Goblin Tunnels, exploring it. 8 progress placed on 2B (which currently has 16 quest points...to be remedied shortly). 

The gang travels to the Crumbling Stairs. Gondor engages the Cavern Wargs (resource & ready for Mablung). Shadow cards are dealt.

Cavern Warg attacks a Defender of Rammas. Shadow: Deal 1 damage to defending character. Prince Imrahil readies. The attack of three is now undefended. Dori sacrifices himself to take the damage.
Wild Wargs attack the other Defender of Rammas. Shadow: Discard an ally if attack is undefended (it is not). No damage dealt.
Boromir and Mablung defeat the Cavern Warg. Prince Imrahil defeats the Wild Wargs. 

2B now has 8 quest points and 8 progress. Advancing to 3A! Goblin Chieftain is set aside and Cracked Pillar is added to the staging area. Advance to 3B. 

Goblin Sniper places a damage on Gloin and Mablung. Ready. Raise (Gondor 39, Dwarves 31). Pass token to Gondor.

Round 5

Cards and resources! Gondor: Need Drives Them. Dwarves: Hidden Cache, Thror's Map.

Steward gives Boromir two more resources. One is transferred to Bifur. Thror's Map goes on Ori. 

Gondor quests with Mablung. Dwarves quest with Ori, Bifur, Gloin, and Longbeard Elder. A peek at the encounter deck shows as Lightless Passage, so Longbeard's willpower stays. One progress goes on the Crumbling Stairs. 

Gondor reveals: Lightless Passsage.
Dwarves reveal: Crumbling Ruin. Dwarves exhaust Erebor Hammersmith, planning on loosing it. Narvi's Belth is discarded and Erebor Hammersmith (one hitpoint left) is discarded. The only thing that could defeat Boromir (5 hit points) is Gandalf. Two in the deck. I just can't take the risk. I exhaust Defender of Rammas. discard Valiant Sword and discard the Defender. Boo.
Total threat: 8. Crumbling Stairs is explored. Discard: Collapsed Mine, which is added to the staging area.

Discard Thror's Map to make Cracked Pillar the active location.

Gondor engages the Goblin Sniper. Ready & resource for Mablung. Shadow card is dealt.

I play Pillar of the Kings to raise Gondor's threat to 40 and draw a card (Soldier of Gondor). 

Goblin Sniper attacks and Prince Imrahil defends. Shadow: Return enemy to staging if a characgter is destroyed. No damage dealt. Faramir destroys the Goblin Sniper. 

Exhaust Cave Tourch to put 3 progress on  Lightless Passage. Discard: Great Cave Troll, who gets added to the staging area.

Ready. Raise (Gondor: 41, Dwarves: 32). Pass token to Dwarves.

Staging area is starting to get pretty full.

Round 6

Resources & draw. Dwarves: Durin's Song, Longbeard Elder. Gondor: Errand-Rider.

One resource transfers from Boromir to Bifur. Dwarves get Gandalf down and draw three cards (Longbeard Elder, King Under the Moutain, Cram). Cram is played on Boromir. Gondor plays Soldire of Gondor, finding Soldier of Gondor and Squire of the Citadel in the top 5. Another Soldier goes down, finding Angbor the Fearless and Envoy of Pelargir. Envoy of Pelargir goes down, adding a resource to Boromir. Steward is exhausted to add two resources to Boromir. Angbor the Fearless and Squire of the Citadel go down.

Cave Torch is exhausted to explore the Lightless Passage. Goblins are Upon You is discarded and not added to the staging area.

Angor amd Mablung quest for Gondor. Ori, Bifur, and Gloin quest for the Dwarves. Total Willpower: 15. 

Encounter deck is shuffled.
Dwarves reveal: Goblin Dungeon
Gondor reveals: Lost in the Dark. I choose that no progress can be placed on the quest until the end of hte phase (lol).
Total threat: 10. Two progress placed on Cracked Pillar. Advance to 4A. Goblin Chieftain is added to the staging area. Advance to 4B. 

Opting out of travel. We're out of here next round.

Dwarves engage Goblin Chieftain and Gondor engages Great Cave Troll. Mablung gets ready and gets a resource. Shadow cards are dealt.

Goblin Chieftain attacks and Gandalf defends. Shadow: +3. Three damage placed on our Wizard pal. Chieftain returns to the staging area.
Great Cave-Troll attacks and Squire of the Citadel defends. Shadow: None. Squire is obliterated. One resource added to Boromir's pool. 

Boromir, Prince Imrahil, and Mablung destroy the Great Cave-Troll.

Discard Gandalf (by-e). Read. Raise (Gondor 42, Dwarves 32). Token passes to Gondor.

Round 7

Resources and card-os. Gondor: Pelegir Ship-Captain. Dwarves: Ered Luin Miner, Gandalf.

Exhaust Steward to give Boromir even more cash-money. Play down Pelegir Ship-Captain (move a resource from Boromir to Bifur). Transfer another resource from Boromir to Bifur. Dwaves put down another Longbeard Elder.

Everyone goes all in questing (just wait for it), except Dain and Faramir. Total Willpower: 35. Peeking at the top of the encounter deck shows a Goblin sniper, so both Longbeard's loose a willpower (now 33).

Gondor reveals: Goblin Sniper
Dwarves reveal: Wild Wargs
Total Threat: 13. 20 progress is placed on the quest.

Gondor plays Need Drives Them, readying all their characters. Dwarves play Lure of Moria, readying all Dwarves.

No travel.

Gondor engages Goblin Chieftain and Dwarves engage Wild Wargs. Obsidian Arrows is discarded and not added to the Dwarves' engagements. Shadow cards are dealt.

Gondor plays feint to prevent Goblin Chieftain from attacking.
Wild Wargs attack. Ered Luin Miner defends. Shadow: No effect. Miner is destroyed.

Gondor rains hell down on the Goblin Chieftain and victory is achieved!

Final Score: 137 (60 for rounds completed, 41 threat Gondor + 1 hero damage, 32 threat for Dwarves + 3 hero damage, nothing in the victory display).

Parting Thoughts

Now that felt like an appropriate quest to end a beginner's set with. Tough, but able to be beaten with a good deck and keeping your wits about you. I am very thankful these two quests did not remain locked behind the Two-Player Limited Edition Starter. My recommended order for a new player would be:

1. Passage Through Mirkwood
2. The Oath
3. Journey Down the Aundin
4. The Caves of Nibin-dum
5. Escape from Dol Guldur

Saga Quest 15: The Road to Isengard

Victory on the fifth attempt!

The Recap

Finally! The third quest of the third box is done, bringing me to the halfway point of the saga quests (halfway, due to the print on demand quests?). And I continued the pattern of taking a small eternity to get the final quest of each box knocked off.

This one took a bit for me to figure out, then in hindsight I wonder why it did. It requires power in the questing department (no real way to get around that) and the ability to take some punches. That still leaves a nice selection of archetypes that I would enjoy taking down this round. 


The Journey

The Road to Isengard was a reminder of the drastic difference the right type of deck can make. I began with a Tactics Boromir/Gimli/Legolas build that, for all of Legolas' help in progressing through locations, ultimately threated out shy of victory. Attempts 2-3 mixed up the sphere but continued to try this hero line up with unfavorable results. The idea was in my mind to switch Tactics Boromir out for Tactics Eowyn, but I really did not want to take yet another permanent threat increase in my campaign (even though Eowyn would actually bring me to a net -1 threat until her attack is triggered). I played with the idea of backing up to Helm's Deep and re-trying with Eowyn (even though Boromir was a life saver there). But consistent willpower was a real need and I rarely needed Boromir's readying ability for combat. I finally bit the bullet, took the threat, and in Eowyn went! This resulted in a victory on attempt 4, but not a clean one. I had neglected to reveal an extra card with Orthanc's ability (which actually may have helped me, since locations were a bit lacking during stage 2). I re-set, re-loaded, and took attempt 5 to victory.

The first goal was to get two copies of Ent of Fangorn on my side. This went down successfully over two rounds on attempt 4. This time, I was able to get one Ent and a few resources on another. Now for the tough choice: Better to move on and be thankful for what I have or try one more round of attempts and add a third encounter card to the staging area? The decision was to move on, but it was not a comfortable decision. Two ents really did a lot of work during the fourth attempt and I was feeling the pain of not having that benefit this time around.

An early Anduril and Captain of Gondor on Aragorn helped make combat fairly easy. He eventually had The Sword that was Broken and Banner of Elendill, making this pretty much a voltron Aragorn deck more than anything else. This combined with Light of Valinor on Legolas gave me a bonus of seven willpower with no actions needed (five for most of the game, since The Sword that was Broken did not come out until a bit later). Eowyn's 4-6 (depending on the stage in the game) made questing a relative breeze and I was thankful for the extra three points she gave me.

Damage was plentiful and neither copy of Dunedain Remedy made a showing. There was at least one point where heroes would have to start dying if certain encounter cards were revealed, but an ally or two would come out beforehand for the sacrifice. This quest is challenging even with a decent deck.

Eventually my band of heroes made it to the final stage at the beginning of the quest phase. Enough progress was placed the following round to travel onto Orthanc and take out the many-coloured wizard (and Eowyn never even had to attack).

Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 43
Total Damage on Heroes: 10 (Gimli: 3, Legolas: 3, Eowyn: 2, Aragorn: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -1 
Total Score:132
 
Campaign Resolutions
+1 starting threat
Palantir of Orthanc added to campaign pool


Previous Campaign Resolutions
+1 starting threat
Boon: Ho! Tom Bombadil! (added to starting hand)
Boon: Sting
Boon: Mithril Shirt
Boon: Glamdring
Boon: Anduril
Boon: Beyond All Hope attached to Sam Gamgee
Burden: Shadow of Fear added to campaign pool
Burden: Ill Fate added to campaign pool


The Deck

The first question for any relevant deck: Who does Steward of Gondor go on? If you get Narvi's Belt early, Gimli all the way. That would be plan A, but is a bit fragile with only one copy of the belt. If Steward takes a while to appear and you have Sword that was Broken in hand (or already on Aragorn), then you could consider Aragorn as a viable option. I wouldn't put it on Aragorn over Gimli if you only have Celebrian's stone. Whoever it is should likely also get Shield of Gondor.

You have a few artifacts to get onto Aragorn and three copies of Light of Valinor to put on Legolas. This should give you 3-7 willpower for "free," while still having some good defense & attack power. Eowyn will always be questing, popping up to attack a big baddy when needed. Gimli will main be on defense, but he has the quest power if you have the coin cards.

Voltron-up your heroes a bit, get a few utility allies down, and get 'er done.

Take No Hobbits

Heroes
Gimli (Sands of Harad)
Legolas (Sands of Harad)
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Aragorn (The Flame of the West)

Allies
Errand-rider x1
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Skinbark x1
Envoy of Pelargir x2
Gandalf (Core) x3
Ranger of Cardolan x2
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1

Attachments

Celebrian's Stone x1
Dunedain Remedy x2
Dunedain Warning x1
King Under the Mountain x1
Narvi's Belt x1
Steward of Gondor x3
Sword that was Broken x1
Light of Valinor x3
Mirkwood Long-knife x1
Captain of Gondor x1
Gondorian Shield x1
Rivendell Blade x2
Banner of Elendil x2
Anduril x1
Glamdring (The Road Darkens) x1

Events
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
Unlikely Friendship x3
Tides of Fate x3
Goblin-cleaver x3
Hands Upon the Bow x3

RingsDB Link

Quest 57: The Long Arm of Mordor

Victory on the second attempt!


The Deck


The original build for this deck was eagle-heavy, which switched to ally good stuff prior to my first attempt. Combat was no issue and my heroes were handling questing just fine. But once I became location locked in stage 3, I realized I had almost no allies who could help out with the questing. The focus this time around was to blend the first two iterations of the deck with high-questing allies. Bofur is an odd inclusion, due to the lack of weapons, but two willpower for three cost in Tactics is value in and of itself. Mablung was the original third hero, but money was no issue during my second attempt so I went with Merry to get a little bit of a threat decrease and the addition of Halfling Determination to help even more with the willpower issue.

Red Menace

Heroes
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Hirgon
Merry (The Black Riders)

Allies
Beechbone x1
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Defender of Rammas x3
Descendant of Thorondor x3
Eagles of the Misty Mountains x3
Grimbold x2
Gwaihir x2
Legolas (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Marksman of Lorien x2
Rumil x2
Soldier of Dol Amroth x3
Vassal of the Windlord x3
Winged Guardian x3
Yazan x2

Attachments
Book of Eldacar x3

Events
Close Call x2
Feint x3
Halfling Determination x3
The Eagles Are Coming! x3
The Hammer-stroke x1
Wait no longer x3

RingsDB Link

The deck performed as expected, with no card feeling wasted in my hand. Location lock was not a problem and all enemies were dispatched ASAP.


The Journey

Focusing on willpower-heavy allies pared with the already attack-heavy Tactics sphere made a big difference this time around.


Set Up and Round 1

I pick Firyal as my objective hero. The opening hand has two Soldiers of Dol Amroth, a Vassal of the Windlord, Eagles of the Misty Mountains, and Halfling Determination. A solid start! I play Marksman of Lorien, planning to take an undefended attack from the Sauron's Enforcers in the staging area and finishing it off. Enemy lock is another trap I do not want to fall into. Southron Boma hits the staging area, bringing me to two threat which still allows me to get a progress on stage 1B and get Eowyn back. I do take that undefended attack from the Enforcers, placing the damage on Hirgon, then take him out with the Marksman and move on.

Round 2
I put a Vassal of the Windlord down just to get more of an ally presence. I could have played a Soldier of Dol Amroth, then a Vassal for free, but I need a resource to travel to the Sothron Boma. Questing for 7, I reveal another Boma and get 3 progress on stage 2B. Not quite enough yet. I spend my spare resource to travel to one of the Bomas.

Round 3
Using Firyal's peeking ability, I see a Uruk of Mordor on top of the encounter deck and choose to discard it. No allies with two willpower to defend against it right now. A Mordor Warg is revealed, so some combat will be necessary. Three progress goes on the active Southron Boma. I engage the Warg and chump with the Vassal, revealing Overrun by Orcs and splitting two damage between the Marksman and Eowyn. The Marksman gets one damage on the Warg and I move on.

Round 4
I lay down a Soldier of Dol Amroth followed by a second Marksman of Lorien. No resources to travel to the Southron Boma in the staging area, but I prefer the increased ally support for now. I quest for 7 and let a Forest Clearing resolve. The final progress is placed on the active Southron Boma and another progress on stage 2 (4/5). Forest Clearing becomes the active location. The Warge attacks the soldier, doing one damage to him, and is defeated by a Marksman.

Round 5
The Eagles Are Coming! nets me Vassal of the Windlord + The Eagles Are Coming!, which gets me Gwalhir. Another Soldier of Dol Amroth goes down, followed by a free Vassal.  I quest with Fryal and Eowyn, seeing an Uruk of Mordor and deciding to discard it. Village Hut comes out. I have enough willpower to clear the Forest Clearining and stage 2, getting Hirgon back. Sauron's Enforces is selected to guard Merry. Traveling to the Village Hut gets me a Winged Guardian. The enforcers are taken out by two Marskman and a Soldier (after destroying another Soldier). The Savage Attack shadow effect puts an Uruk Warg-Rider into the staging area.

Round 6-10
Now it is just stalling and building my army. I try to guesstimate just enough questing to clear locations & keep my threat from increasing, while aiming low enough to stay at stage 3.

Round 11
I've kept the staging area clear enough that questing with a modest 9 is enough to launch me into the final stage. I could have quested with left, but I try to always quest with Hirgon to get is discount. Yazan comes in play thanks to that discount this round! Now I have a Sauron's Enforcers and the Uruk Chieftan to deal with. It's not a question of if I can, but how I want to do it. I sacrifice a Vassal to the Chieftan (adding that Vassal to my pump-up Eagles of the Misty Mountains) and a Soldier of Dol Amroth to the Enforcers, then take out the Enforcers with Yazan and Legolas and the Chieftan with two Marksmen (but isn't it a woman?) of Lorien, a Vassal (which will be added to the mega-Eagle) and Bofur.

Round 12
Now time to super-quest! I play Wait No Longer, hoping not to wiff, and pull out a Sauron's Enforcers. Knowing exactly what I have to deal with, I put everyone into questing and blow past stage 4. Victory!

Final Scoring
11 Completed Rounds x10: 110
Ending Threat: 32
Total Damage on Heroes: 2 (Hirgon: 2, Eowyn: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 144



The Recap 

One hero. 3 resources.  1 threat already in the staging area. Two men mixture of men/women/creatures enter, one man or woman or creature leaves.

There is quite a disadvantage at the start of this scenario, with a 3 willpower hero at most trying to quest past the Enforcers to get that first progress on the stage. While it never happened to me, I bet there have been quite a few negative play experiences where all hope was lost after that first quest phase (perusing forums proves that to be true). Since I never had that experience, this was actually enjoyable for me. I liked slowly building my forces up, both ally and hero. The end was just tough enough the first round (one copy of Wait No Longer or Hammer Stroke in hand would have put victory in my lap). The second attempt was a push-over, but I don't know if there would be a way to account for that without some other demoralizing inclusion. This quest felt tough, balanced, and enjoyable.

Quest 56: Desert Crossing

Victory on the second attempt!

The Deck

I am an Outlands fan. I know; I'm a terrible person. But extreme synergy appeals to me. This preference has made the Haradrim deck one I have really wanted to try out, even though the deck is not "complete" yet (with two more packs still to be released as of this writing).

Unlike the ally swarm of Outlands, the goal here is to simply have a few very strong allies pared with action advantage. Elrond was a no-brainer hero of choice, allowing me to pair with Kahliel to get Harad allies out much faster. This also allowed me to throw in Ally Arwen to beef up Jubayr's defense of three. Faramir was included to increase the action advantage of my allies.

Then we have Core Gandalf, Daeron's Runes, and Heed the Dream for card advantage. A huge strength of the Harad deck is having a use for duplicate unique cards in hand, which are usually dead cards you can only hope to get rid of with Daeron's Runes or a Noldor discard outlet. Now you have action advantage!


Strong Allies for Strong Heroes

Heroes
Elrond (Shadow and Flame)
Faramir (The Land of Shadow)
Kahliel

Allies
Firyal x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Kahliel's Tribesman x3
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x2
Jubayr x3
Yazan x3
Southron Refugee x3


Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Dunedain Remedy x2
Haradrim Spear x3
Steward of Gondor x3
Kahliel's Headdress x3
Vilya x3

Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Heed the Dream x2 A Very Good Tale x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3

RingsDB Link

I held onto the Headdress for a few rounds, focusing on getting allies down, and loved it once it hit the table. One possibility for a future version of this deck is switching out Faramir and adding in Leadership Aragorn + Sword that was Broken for ridiculous willpower.

Dunedain Remedy never hit the table and would have been more desirable in hindsight than Ioreth. I would remove her and add a third remedy. I would also cut down Vilya to at least a two-of, maybe even a one of. Additional copies of Captain's Wisdom and Gandalf would be likely inclusions, although Ever Vigilant may have a place here.

The Journey

My first attempt began on a terrible foot. I thought I had the encounter deck licked at the start with with two Sneak Attacks, two A Very Good Tales, and Jubayr + another ally in my opening hand. Except I whiffed on A Very Good Tale two times in a row, only getting a Kahliel's Tribesman to the table and ruining my early advantage. Now low on resources and cards to spend them on, I gave the quest a team try but was quickly overwhelmed by enemies that I did not have the means to deal with.

Attempt #2 was more cautious. When I began whiffing with Vilya, I shut down that strategy and focused my efforts elsewhere. Sneak attacks where held in hand to get Jubayr where he was truly needed: defending (until I had enough stored up to pay for him). Once I had the Big Three down (Firyal, Jubayr, Yazan), the encounter deck still stood a chance but was at a significant disadvantage.


Final Scoring
5 Completed Rounds x10: 50
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Faramir)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 93

The spice must flow!

The Recap

Once again, it was the small thematic elements that sold this quest for me: Temperatures rising, desert creatures that felt well balanced, locations that were often punishing but still needed to be passed through. I truly felt like my heroes were traveling across the deadly lands of Arrakis. And there was an interesting variety in the various stages: Increasingly hot weather was always detrimental, but in unique ways. I look forward to undertaking this deadly journey again.

Quest 55: Escape from Umbar

Victory on the third attempt!

The Deck

Argalad is a hero I have played with before but wanted to use more effectively. I see the key to him as A) keeping enemies in the staging area enough to knock them out over a few rounds or B) having a variety of ways to damage enemies while in the staging area and using Argalad as an additional point of that. Flipping through my binders this weekend, Fastred caught my eye. I know I recently gave him a mediocre review. This was due to feeling his three defense would lead to him being an ineffectual blocker and thus not useful for consistently throwing enemies back to the staging area. Consider me converted to the cause! A little buffing (Gondorian Shield, Captain of Gondor, Ally Arwen) and he works like a charm. While a quick perusal of RingsDB will see Fastred teamed with Dunhere (a great combination), I wanted to use him + Spear of the Citadel to tag-team enemies with Argalad. With the usually low amount of enemies appearing in a solo game, this should take care of attacking. The best offense is a good defense, right? I think that's how it goes.

Now to deal with questing. Argalad "kind of" quests, in removing the threat of an enemy (if there is one). Throw Light of the Valinor on him and he will often be pulling double duty. Since I wanted access to tactics for a few reasons (Fastred's equipment + Bow of the Gladhrim for Argalad), Tactics Eowyn was a no brainer. She can carry a chunk of the early questing and help out if a big attack is needed in a pinch. Add in Silvan Refugee to help with questing (since we hopefully won't be loosing anyone along the way) and Warden of Healing to help with the archery damage, then we're off to the races!

Take You With Me

Heroes
Argalad
Eowyn (The Flame of the West)
Fastred

Allies
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Water) x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Honour Guard x3
Henamarth Riversong x2
Ioreth x1
Ithulien Tracker x3
Warden of Healing x2


Attachments
Ranger Bow x3
Bow of the Galadhrim x2
Captain of Gondor x2
Gondorian Shield x2
Spear of the Citadel x2
Light of Valinor x2
Unexpected Courage x2





Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Secret Paths x2
Goblin Cleaver x2
Hail of Stones x2
A Test of Will x3
Tides of Fate x3
A Good Harvest x3


RingsDB Link

The deck worked as desired. Enemies were fairly neutralized, threat was lowered, and a quest was won. But there are some major changes I would make for attempt #3 with this one. Being tri-sphere, I was very reserved in my resource costs. I ended up with a fairly light hand and some very rich heroes. While I may regret removing A Good Harvest, I would at least take it down to a one-of. In would go two copies of Arrows from the Trees. I would also add one or two high-cost Lore & Spirit allies and replace Hail of Stones with Hasty Stroke. Those changes should help firm up the key Argalad/Fastred strategy. Oh, and OG Gandalf. He is right there with the direct damage theme.



The Journey

My first attempt at escaping from Umbar was done alongside my wife, after a long hiatus of co-oping Lord of the Rings. While we had fun, the enemy swarm + archery damage finally did us in. My two attempts tonight were done IRL without my computer open (on purpose), so this is more of an overview than a true write-up.

On both solo attempts, I went for Port of Harad as my stating location. Hopefully I would have no more than one enemy engaged with me at any time, letting me deal as little damage as possible due to the Port's travel effect. This worked. Umbar Square came up right behind it, several times, and I opted to deal with the travel effect and keep moving forward. Same with Haradrim Estate. My willpower did not have a ton of room for growth so avoiding location lock was a priority.

On my first attempt, I would only keep Fastred up for defense. Then I dealt with a Southron Soldier at the start of stage 2 who made an immediate attack (since there were no resources to remove) and was dealt Enemy Pursuit as a shadow card (granting another attack). Shoot. While Fastred was able to bounce the Soldier back to the staging area, thus avoiding a third attack, I still had the second attack to deal with and no hero who could survive the attack. Eowyn had not used her ability yet, so I readied her (though it pained my heart) and had her defend. She survived, but victory was not to be had that attempt.

I wizened up on the second attempt and always tried to have at least one ally up (a usually strategy for me, but I was getting cocky). It also helped that I drew two Honour Guards, although they primarily served the purpose of removing archery damage and then soaking some up themselves. That was the kicker this time around. I ended up only putting one progress on stage 2 the final quest phase, which is all I needed. If that had not worked out, it was time to start looking heroes to archery damage.

Both quests featured terrible moments with Enemy Pursuit. This card always seemed to come up when I had 13-14 progress on stage 1 and was anticipating strolling onto stage 2. With the squishy heroes and light allies I'm packing in this, removing the progress is the only real choice. The first attempt did feature a satisfying moment where Enemy Pursuit removed all progress and I was still able to progress to stage 2 the following round.

Final Scoring
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 30
Total Damage on Heroes: 7 (Argalad: 3, Eowyn: 2, Fastred: 2)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 137


The Recap

My first gut is that this quest felt very thematic. But how much of that is just in my head? What was really different here than the typical quest? Enemies and locations came out, enemies were fought and locations were explored. This is usually the type of thinking I have before taking a break for a bit (which is not the plan now). Despite that pessimistic viewpoint, this really did feel like the theme was there. Maybe it was the type of enemies (with the focus on archery and removing your progress). Maybe it was the type of locations (bringing out more enemies or temporarily averting the threat while you squeeze through a narrow alleyway). Like most games (such as Halo that I have fired up right now), the core elements of the game are basically the same and it is the nuances and shading that brings out the different themes. Escape from Umbar did this from me and I will look forward to fleeing this city again in the future.

Quest 53: A Storm on Corbas Haven

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

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

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

Spirit Pippin Goes Sailing
by Seastan

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

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

Attachments
Good Meal x3

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

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

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


The Journey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


The Recap

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

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

Quest 54: The City of Corsairs

Victory on the Fifth Attempt!


The Deck 

I decided a few weeks ago that I would take on The City of Corsairs using a brand-spanking new netdeck destined to cause errata...

Solo combo deck +90% win rate, usually on turn one
by Rouxxor

Heroes
Bifur (Khazad-dum)
Bilbo Baggins (The Hunt for Gollum)
Denethor (Flight of the Stormcaller)

Allies
Erebor Hammersmith x3
Erebor Record Keeper x3
Ered Nimrais Prospector x3
Dwarven Sellsword x3
Gloin (On the Doorstep) x1
Gandalf (Core) x1*

Attachments
Legacy of Durin x1
Scroll of Isildur x1
Rod of the Steward x1
Tome of Atanatar x1
Good Meal x3

Events
Daeron's Runes x3
Deep Knowledge x3
Heed the Dream x2
Lorien's Wealth x3
Mithrandir's Advice x2
Ravens of the Mountain x1
Out of the Wild x1*
Gaining Strength x1
Legacy of Numenor x3
Lure of Moria x2
Second Breakfast x1
We Are Not Idle x3
Justice Shall Be Done x1
The Seeing Stone x3

Sideboard
Heed the Dream x1*
Mithrandir's Advice x1*
Erestor (The Treachery of Rhudaur)
Legacy of Durin x2
Lore of Imladris x1
Needful to Know x1
Risk Some Light x1
The Evening Star x3
Durin's Song x1
Gaining Strength x1
Song of Battle x1
Song of Travel x1
Dunedain Pathfinder x1
Born Aloft x1

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Blood of Gondor
The Morgul Vale
The Voice of Isengard
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Drowned Ruins
A Storm of Cobas Haven

Check out notes from Rouxxor and others at RingsDB
RingsDB Link

And read the detailed deck notes at Hall of Beorn
Hall of Beorn Link

Rouxxor has set up a masterpiece of a deck that can beat almost any quest. But here's the catch: This one falls in the "almost" category. To beat The City of Corsairs, you need to destroy Captain Sahir. On my first attempt I got up to that point with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. Then I counted how much attack strength I had on the board. Then I just looked a little sad.

As is, this deck can muster only 13 attack. The absolute best-cased scenario requires 14 to defeat The City of Corsairs. Fortunantly Rouxxor included a sideboard with two options for you: Dunadain Pathfiner and Gandalf. Gandalf is designed to be combined with Song of Battle and Born Aloft for an infinite damage loop, but we just need to play him once. This can get us up to 18 attack strength in a best-case scenario. My first attempt was not a best-case and I ended up with 9 resources on Captain Sahir, requiring 21 attack strength to destroy him. This is why I also added in the sideboard card of Out of the Wild: To eliminate all but one card from the encounter deck and skip dealing shadow cards. 

Another route would be to leave the deck as is, not play Justice Shall Be Done, and defeat Captain Sahir during round 2. A great theory that I personally was not able to pull off. Justice Shall Be Done provided cruicial resource acceleration for me. But that might just be a skill-level limitation.

The Journey

Rouxxor built his deck well and you tinker with it at your own risk. I had no problem establishing the initial combo settings (empty deck with Tomb of Atanatar in my hand, all dwarfs out, and the necessary cards in my discard pile) both times I ran the deck as-is. After my adjustments, it took me three attempts before I could successfully re-establish the combo setting. Maybe this could happen under other circumstances, but it certainly seemed like a correlation to me. 

Since you only truly care about stage 3 &4, I recommend seeing if you can get the combo set up before even bringing out the encounter deck.

Now, once your deck is empty and everything is in it's place, begin implementing the infinite resource combo. I went through the entire combo a single time, to make sure I understood it and to see it in action, and then acted as if I did it X times (where X = infinity).

Time to play Gandalf and get that threat down a bit (not that it should matter).

And now for the infinite progress combo. As above, I did this once then clicked through the quest stages and arranged the staging area & encounter decks as each stage directed. For stage 3A, pick a Corsair Infiltrator as your raider (they don't have an ability to gain extra resources). Add 1 resource. Pick Streets of Umbar as your location. For stage 4A, pick another Corsair Infiltrator as your raider. Add 1 resource to each raider and to Captain Sahir. 

Now, start looping Out of the Wild. Follow the same instructions given in looping Ravens of the Mountains (skip step 5&6 which is built around readying Bifur). As with both of the above, do this loop once and then add all but one encounter card in the deck to your victory display. I picked a second Streets of Umbar to remain.

Your staging area should have: Streets of Umbar, The Shattered Monument, Corsair Infiltrator (2 resources), Corsair Infiltrator (1 resource). The encounter deck should just have Streets of Umbar (or whatever card you picked).

Proceed to the quest phase. Quest with just enough power, then loop Tomb of Atanatar / Second Breakfast / Lure of Moria to ready everyone. 

The Infiltrator's engage you. No shadow cards dealt. Sacrifice the Prospector's to enemy attacks. Destroy both Infiltrator's, adding their resources to Captain Sahir (who should have four total), then loop Tomb/Breakfast/Lure to ready everyone and attack the captain for 17.

Proceed to victory dance.

Final Scoring
0 Completed Rounds x10: 0
Ending Threat: 39
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -1 (Justice Shall Be Done)

Total Score: 38


The Recap

Let's be honest: This was more of a deck test than an play through that gave a real feel for the quest. But playing this deck is a game in and of itself. While the combo is there, just waiting to be unleashed, you do need to find the right order to play your cards in to get the initial conditions set up.


Still, I was able to appreciate what I saw of the quest while moving at super-speed. Mixing up sailing & sea warfare with a land battle keeps the player on their toes (and brings in interesting challenge to deckbuilding). Corsairs are nasty enemies and I can see that, with any deck that is not a turn-one victory, this would be a quest to bring your best well-rounded deck to.

(note: posted out of order, but it is taking me forever to sit down and finish the other write-up)

Quest 52: The Drowned Ruins

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

The idea of taking on a modern quest with just the core set (and a single core at that) has intrigued me ever since I heard of Xanalor's deck. I tried this deck out towards the end of the Angmar Awakened cycle and was stomped by the encounter deck. This time around I stomped back.

This deck is a great reminder of how many cards in the core set are still relevant in decks today. Guard of the Citadel is really the only card I would not consider putting in a modern deck, and even that may have a place in a dedicated Gondor build (which I have not experimented with much).

It was funny to be expecting additional copies of cards, having owned two cores since the first month of the game and three since last year. I had three Gandalf's in my hand near the end of the game and was waiting for my "final" Sneak Attack to come up, forgetting that I had already played the only two in the deck.

Back to Basics - A Killer Deck Using Cards From 1 Core Set
by Xanalor

Heroes
Beravor
Eowyn (Core)
Theodred

Allies
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Gelowine x2
Henamarth Riversong x1
Miner of the Iron Hills x2
Eowyn x2
Faramir (Core) x2
Guard of the Citadel x3
Beorn (Core) x1
Gandalf (Core) x3
 
Attachments
Forest Snare x2
Unexpected Courage x1
Steward of Gondor x2

Events 
Lore of Imladris x3
A Test of Will x2
Dwarven Tomb x1
Hasty Stroke x2
Stand and Fight x3
The Galadhrim's Greeting x2
Will of the West x2
For Gondor! x1
Sneak Attack x2

Check Xanalor's notes on the deck at RingsDB
RingsDB Link


The Journey

Round 1

Thought I was toast right away and almost scooped. First quest phase had an Ancient Depths revealed, causing a Twisting Hollow to enter the staging area. Loosing one ally each turn seemed unbeatable, but then I realized I could keep in the staging area and quest around the threat. Location lock was a real thing (especially now that I had three double sided locations) and I hoped I could start building up some serious forces.

Round 2
I had taken a hand full of two-drops and no Steward. Pretty risky for a deck I had not had success with before. The pay off came this round when I was able to drop Gleowine, Unexpected Courage, Sneaky Gandalf (for card draw), and put a resource on Captain Sahir. I was able to get over the initial threat of location lock and Beravor began filling up my hand with sweet cards.

Round 3
Steward finally makes it to the table, as well as a few more allies (another Guard and a Northern Tracker). Another resource on the Captain. I'm still keeping locations on their Grotto side with the hopes of building up an ally army before progressing to stage 2.

Round 4
More allies, another resource on the Captain, but this time I decide to flip the active location over and reveal a Sunken Temple.

Round 5
Sneaky Gandalf comes in to drop my threat and help my team quest for 21, moving the Sunken Temple to the victory display!


Round 6
Gandalf is gone, but Faramir drops in so willpower has basically become a non-issue and location lock is not a threat hovering over me. My first enemy, Throngs of the Unfaithful, comes out and surges into a Curse of the Downfallen that does some damage to most of my allies (and kills off Riversong). Na'asiyah easily defends the Throngs (This is a great enemy for a Dunadain deck to go against, btw).

Round 7
Another Curse of the Downfallen decimates my ally forces, but Faramir (and the very high willpower Captain Sahir) comes through for me. Two locations in the victory display!


Round 8
The third location gets added to the victory display and Captain Sahir, my questing all-star and steady resource sink, shows his true colors and takes out Faramir. A Drowned Dead comes out to cause trouble as well.

Round 9
Faramir #2 hits the table and Gandalf shows up to one-shot the Drowned Dead (Modal Gandalf should be the name of this play-through). Shrine to Morgoth gets 15 progress on it.

Round 10
It's just a matter of seeing if a nasty surprise comes off the encounter deck at this point. No surprise and victory is mine!

Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Eowyn)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -11
(Sunken Temple: 2, Sunken Temple: 2, Twisting Hollow: 2, Shrine to Morgoth: 5)
Total Score: 123


The Recap

Like Temple of the Deceived before it, The Drowned Ruins keeps you on your questing toes. And, also like the preceding quest, choices are given to how you proceed through the quest. Yet both quests feel very distinct and thematically separate in spite of that. I'm a fan of variety, including having the encounter deck hamper me in creative ways, so this was an enjoyable one to tackle. Definitely one for the questing decks, at least based on my play through.

Saga Quest 14: Helm's Deep

Victory on the first attempt!

The Deck


Building a brand new deck for a quest usually gives me pause: Will the basic fabric of this quest and the deck I'm building even be compatible? Fortunately I went with a three four hunters build that did not include Tactics Legolas (who would have gone to waste here). Still a very tactical build, even if there is a rainbow of spheres present. A big goal here is to get two additional races out (Ents being a one) and play The Free People's for value. Only one trick, but a fun one to pull off.


Emo Helm

Heroes
Boromir (The Dead Marshes)
Gimli (The Sands of Harad)
Legolas (The Sands of Harad)
Aragorn (The Treason of Saruman)

Allies
Bofur (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Derndingle Warrior x2
Skinbark x1
Arwen Undomiel (Watcher in the Wather) x1
Warden of Healing x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x2

Attachments
Captain of Gondor x1
Gondorian Shield x3
Rivendell Blade x2
Narvi's Belt x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Light of Valinor x1
Unexpected Courage x2
A Burning Brand x1
Banner of Elendil x1

Events
Foe-hammer x3
Hands Upon the Bow x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
Unlikely Friendship x3
A Test of Will x3
The Free Peoples x3


Sets Used
Core
Conflict at the Carrock
The Dead Marshes
Khazad-dum
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Foundations of Stone
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
TheAntlered Crown
Escape from Mount Gram
The Land of Shadow
The Thing in the Depths
The Flame of the West
The Sands of Harad
Beneath the Sands

RingsDB Link



The Journey

Note: I thought I had kept my OCTGN notes on this one somewhere, but apparently I was wrong...

This was a good example of reaping rewards for persevering just a little bit more even when the game seems over. Due to being a bit over-eager with my Boromir use, I came super close to threatening out. I was about to fold & start over, when Gandalf poked his little grey head out. He gave me just enough threat reduction to make it through one more quest stage, get the last progress on The Defense of Helm's Deep, and see those sweet words for a Boromir deck: "If there are no enemies in play, the players win the game." While Boromir won the day, the general victory felt thematic with Ents + The Free Peoples pulling some serious weight.


Final Score
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 49
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Aragorn: 3, Boromir: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 0
Total Score: 133





The Recap

Changes in the basic mentality of the game are always welcome to me, so reversing who is trying to advance the quest (you or the encounter deck) was a neat twist. Definitely not a quest for decks trying to win by speeding through!

Quest 50: The Thing in the Depths

Victory on the Fourth Attempt!

The Deck 

Knowing this was going to be more of a tactical quest, I was looking for a Dunedain deck to try out. I kind of found one. The Eagles Comeback Album has a few Dunedain in the line up but is, as the title hints, primarily an Eagles deck. It developed a nice board state rather quickly, but the questing power wasn't quite what I needed (or at least what I was able to use effectively). A.C.E. was up to the willpower challenge, but not the tactical aspect. Ally swarm had my focus. Quad Sphere Dwarf Swarm caught my eye...until I realized it had done so last month. Then I came across a deck I had heard mentioned several times: Seastan's Everything* Costs 2. Exactly what I was wanting!

Everything* Costs 2

Heroes
Arwen Undomiel (The Dread Realm)
Beregond (Heirs of Numenor)
Galdor of the Havens (The Grey Havens)

Allies
Bilbo Baggins (The Road Darkens) x1
Ethir Swordsman x3
Galadriels' Handmaiden x2
Zigil Miner x3
Galadhon Archer x3
Honour Guard x3
Mithlond Sea-watcher x2
Erebor Hammersmith x2
Ered Nimrais Prospector x2
Gleowine x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3

Attachments
Unexpected Courage x3
Raven-winged Helm x2
Spear of the Citadel x2
Protector of Lorien x2
Ranger Spikes x2

Events
Elven-light x2
Will of the West x2
The Evening Star x3
Hidden Cache x3

Sets Used
Core Set
Khazad-dum
The Long Dark
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Nin-in-Eilph
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Dread Realm
The Grey Havens


RingsDB Link

The Journey

Attempt 1 was a reminder of how brutal location lock can be. I let a few slip past me and then, largely due to Quarter Deck, found myself in a hole there was no digging out of. At least combat went well!

Attempt 2 was death by tentacles. Learning (part of) my lesson on location lock for this quest, I dashed into battle with the beast. Things were looking like they might work out after all, until the following quest phase occurred - Reveal: Eye of the Beast. Surge. Reveal: Crushing Arm. Surge. Reveal: Lashing Tentacles.

Attempt 3 was a lesson in learning the wrong lessons. So wary of location lock, I forgot that this deck has more of a tactical weakness and rushed passed the first stage. While A.C.E. can start spitting out the allies, The Thing in the Depths can spin up tentacles much faster. As with attempt 2, there was a slight glimmer of hope that was quickly crushed.

Attempt 4 was a return to my Attempt 1 strategy, with the exception that this time I kept the locations moving. And my threat! I spent so much time building my army that I let myself get into the low 40's before moving on. Even then that first battle vs the tentacles was tense. I had five ungrapple from a Quarter Deck and enter the staging area at once. Two were Crushing Arms which attacked immediately (and one attacked an additional time) and two were Grasping Arms that tapped down two of my allies. I was able to take the eight attacks and take down two of the Grasping Arms. After that, it was more a matter of watching my threat climb each round and hoping I could get to 11 damage on the Thing before I reached 50. Revealing a From the Depths and not hitting a single enemy was a bummer. Then a Thrashing Arm came out and victory was mine!


Final Scoring
12 Completed Rounds x10: 120
Ending Threat: 45
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -15 (Helm of the Stormcaller: 5, The Thing in the Depths: 10)
Total Score: 84


The Recap

The Thing in the Depths really brings out the puzzle aspect this game can have to it. Exactly how much willpower should you bring to the table? How much attack & defense? How many allies? You can answer all of those by bringing a deck that excels in all three areas (the route I took) or try to find a deck that hits that balance just right. Might be a fun challenge some day.

Quest 49: Flight of the Stormcaller

Victory on the Second Attempt!

The Deck

After taking a break for a little over a month, my return via Flight of the Stormcaller started off rough last night. The netdeck I was trying out was based around a combo that never showed. Then the encounter deck decided to throw out just about every stop possible. I had all three copies of Sahir's Escort in play by the time I advanced to stage 3 and I was fully off course. Not an enjoyable experience.

While I do want to stretch my deck-building muscles again soon, my highest priority was getting my excitement for the game started. A.C.E. was such a fun deck for me during The Grey Havens box that I decided to make a few minor tweeks (switching out Song of Wisdom for a second copy of Elrond's Council) and give it another run.



The Journey

With Gandalf in my starting hand, the start was explosive. I prioritized staying on course, then blew past the first stage. I decided to go off-course during Round 2 when Sudden Storms arose, but committed four characters + the Dream-chaser turned up three positive results for the sailing test and got me back to calm seas.

The Stormcaller just crawled along the whole time. During both Round 1 & 2, the discarded encounter card was a treachery. A far different play than attempt #1!

Final Scoring
2 Completed Rounds x10: 20
Ending Threat: 29
Total Damage on Heroes: 3 (Arwen: 1, Cirdan: 1, Erestor: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display:0
Total Score: 62



The Recap

Flight of the Stormcaller really helps show me how much a certain play experience can color my overall opinion of a quest. After attempt #1, I felt this quest had too many moving parts and was frustrating to crack. After attempt #2, I felt it was an enjoyable challenge for a quest-heavy deck with an optional path to try a deck that can quest well and fight very well (a path I would not mine exploring one day in the future).

This quest hit a lot of points for me: Strong theme overall and in key card,s (Jagged Reef is amazing), different victory paths the player can choose, and a moderate level of difficulty. I'm not going to mark this one down as a favorite yet, mainly due to the trauma of last night's attempt, but look forward to making more of a martial attempt in the future as well as seeing if my questing-focused decks can get the job done faster than the Stormcaller.

Saga Quest 13: The Uruk-hai

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck


The first big decision I had was to keep Sam or not to keep Sam. Thematically he should not be here, but he is not specifically excluded in the rule book and I only get one free hero addition. Sam + a hero + Aragorn I can see working. Another hero + Aragorn with no Sam does not seem like it would be setting me up for success. Eventually I want Legolas & Gimli to join the party. I go with Legolas to increase the attack value of the party and help with location removal & quest resolution.

The next step is to figure out where I want the deck to go. Playing some of the top decks on RingsDB gave me a greater appriciation for card draw and resource acceleration. I tried to cram as much of that in as possible and had almost no room for allies.My first real draft of this deck was a bit of everywhere, with a lot of 2x cards and not enough of a clear strategy.This is the second version and tightens down on a few of the resource and draw paths while still keeping a healthy amount of allies in the list.

Hunt with a Hobbit

Heroes
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Legolas (Core)
Aragorn (The Treason of Saruman)

Allies
Bill the Pony x2
Dwarven Sellsword x2
Errand-rider x2
Gimli (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Skinbark x1
Gandalf (Core) x3
Steward of Orthanc x3

Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Heir of Mardil x1
Steward of Gondor x3
Sword that was Broken x1
Black Arrow x1
Blade of Gondolin x3
Rivendell Blade x2
Banner of Elendil x1
Keys of Orthanc x2

Events
Captain's Wisdom x3
Legacy of Numenor x3
Sneak Attack x2
Foe-hammer x1
Halfling Determination x2
Hands Upon the Bow x3
The Three Hunters x2
The Free Peoples x2

Sets Used
Core
Road to Rivendell
The Watcher in the Water
Shadow and Flame
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
On the Doorstep
The Black Riders
The Voice of Isengard
Celebrimbor's Secret
The Treason of Saruman
The Land of Shadow
The Thing in the Depths
The Drowned Ruins
The Flame of the West
Race Across Harad
Beneath the Sand


Rings DB Link

Note: I leave Mithril Shirt out, not having a Ringbearer to attach it to, and choose Glamdring to be in my starting hand.



The Journey

Love the campaign setup here! Big fan of getting Gandalf's Delay off of my chest.

Removed: Boon: Mr. Underhill
Removed: Gandalf's Delay
Removed: Burden: Panicked

Boromir is captive & my starting threat is raised by 1.


Round 1 
Got off to an explosive start. Keys of Orthanc on Sam, Legacy of Numenor played, Sword that was Broken on Aragorn, Glamdring on Legolas. One resource on Legolas with Hands Upon the Bow in hand! Ended up loosing Hands Upon the Bow to a revealed Snaga, but picked up another one due to Glamdring's card draw after defeating said Snaga. Only one enemy in play meant a minor increase of one to the pursuit value (now 11).

Round 2
Get a Steward of Orthanc and Dwarven Sellsword down, then blow past the first quest stage. Probably a little too quickly, since I have to deal with Ugluk now. I choose to put a Isengard Uruk, placing the damage on my allies, then take it out with Hands Upon the Bow & Legolas (reducing the pursuit value to 10). Aragorn has enough resources to ready himself and he defends against Ugluk, taking 3 damage.


Round 3
Black Arrow gets drawn and slammed down onto Legolas. I put a little progress on the quest and Grishnakh comes out to capture Boromir. Then I have a big decision to make: Do I use the Phial of Galadriel or loose a hero? I peeked ahead at the campaign resolution, so it really comes down to picking up a skill boon (Intimidation catching my eye the most) or getting Beyond All Hope attached to a hero. I can't let Aragorn die or I loose the quest. I need Legolas to defeat Ugluk. I could sacrifice Sam. This means loosing Noble Hero, Old Bogey Stories, and Phial of Galadriel. So Phial is leaving no matter what. I don't really utilize Old Bogey Stories, so that won't be missed. Beyond all Hope is an upgrade over Noble Hero, but I do like having the Noble trait on Sam. Intimiation + Glamdring on Legolas would make him a powerhouse but a Rivendell Blade would get the same job done (just at the cost of a resource and assuming I draw it). I would like to have a well-rounded Sam for the eventual move when I pair him up with Frodo, so whatever kills him will apparently make him stronger. Undefended attack, with damagae assigned to Sam & destroying him. Then Legolas then does 10 damage to Ugluk, destroying him in turn. Pursuit value is reduced to 9. Grishnakh then destroyes an Envoy, increasing the pursuit value back to 10.


Round 4
A few more allies come down and, boosted, by Aragorn, my willpower this quest phase is in the teens. A second Snaga came out, discarding Ho! Tom Bombadil! and resulting in only one threat in the staging area. Victory for our heroes & rescue for Boromir!

The pursuit value is only at 10. Samwise Gamgee is brought back, Beyond All Hope.

Final Scoring
3 Completed Rounds x10: 30
Ending Threat: 27
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (Aragorn: 3, Legolas: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 8
Victory Display: -4 (Black Arrow, Ugluk)
Total Score: 65

Campaign Resolution
Removed: Boon: Old Bogey-stories
Removed: Boon: Phial of Galadriel
Removed: Boon: Noble Hero
Boon: Beyond All Hope attached to Sam Gamgee

Previous Campaign Resolutions
+1 starting threat
Boon: Ho! Tom Bombadil! (added to starting hand)
Boon: Sting
Boon: Mithril Shirt
Boon: Glamdring
Boon: Anduril

Burden: Shadow of Fear added to campaign pool
Burden: Ill Fate added to campaign pool


The Recap

This seemed to go a lot smoother than it should have. To the point that I re-read every important card (quest cards, campaign set up, Ugluk) to make sure I was not missing something major (and I won't be surprised to realize one day I goofed up). While my deck was a blast to play, the quest was such a push over that it was not too memorable. This is a good example of why solo games work best when they lean towards the more difficult side of the spectrum (with medium difficulty being key for me).

I will say I spoke one quest to soon about the campaign mode. Taking away a set of boons & burdens and then giving a non-penalized hero addition made this deck building experience feel fresh and exciting. I am actually looking forward to continuing my campaign now!

Quests 46,47,48: The Grey Havens

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.