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

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!

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!

Saga Quest 12: Breaking of the Fellowship

Victory on the First Attempt!

The Deck

I wanted to use Tactics Aragorn but was not a fan of the Aragorn/Gandalf/Sam decks I was coming up with. Knowing one hero was likely to be leaving my fellowship at this point, I decided to take the threat bump and switch out Gandalf with Boromir. From there it was a pretty basic Boromir build (Gondorian Fire, Gondorian Shield, Steward of Gondor) plus my favorite ally defending combo of Derndingle Warrior + Honour Guard. Sneaky Gandalf was possible again and the rest was filler to help balance resources, draw cards, and bump certain stats in a pinch.

Bye Bye Boromir

Heroes
Aragorn (The Lost Realm)
Boromir (The Dead Marshes)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Allies
Derndingle Warrior x3
Honour Guard x3
Gandalf (Core) x3
Envoy of Pelargir

Attachments
Gondorian Fire x3
Gondorian Shield x3
Celebrian's Stone x2
Steward of Gondor x3
Song of Battle x1
Fellowship of the Ring x1

Events
Feint x3
Foe-hammer x3
Halfling Determination x3
Proud Hunters x3
Quick Strike x3
Captain's Wisdom x2
Sneak Attack x3
Wealth of Gondor x2
Frodo's Intuition x3

Sets Used
Core
The Dead Marshes
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
Assault on Osgiliath
The Black Riders
The Road Darkens
The Lost Realm
The Wastes of Eriador
Escape from Mount Gram
The Thing in the Depths
Race Across Harad

RingsDB Link

The Journey & Recap

Going into this blind felt like a mistake right out of the gate. The threat of death by archery damage was pretty constant and the only healing I brought were my Honour Guards. Each of the three copies of Wooded Shoreline spent at least one combat phase in the staging area, with one there for two rounds (due to skipping the travel phase while transition between stages 1 & 2). Damage kept piling on and my threat kept increasing faster than I would like. I really hate Overcome by Grief and was convinced I would be seeing it attached to a hero once I used an ally as an archery soak. Much to my surprise, I actually ended up making it through the entire quest without a single character being destroyed.

While stage 1 is a nice call back to Journey Down the Anduin, with enemies potentially massing along the river, I only had a single Uruk-hai Archer sitting in the staging area by the time I transitioned to stage 2. Most of the enemies I faced throughout the remainder of the game were ones optionally pulled out due to travel effects, allowing me to situate the board to my advantage most of the time.


There was a Gondorian Shield in my opening hand and I chose to add Glamdring, so combat was pretty easy & straightforward throughout the scenario. Three archery damage sitting on Bormir at the end did put a little risk to the final few defenses.

Boromir did not end up falling into evil and the company was victorious, but the big highlight of the quest for me was Seat of Seeing. Did I mention that I hate Overcome by Grief? Because I really hate that card. It was actually a big reason I delayed getting around to playing Breaking of the Fellowship and moving forward with my campaign in general. A permanent condition attachment that significantly affects action advantage. This makes me feel pigeon holed into needing Spirit or Lore to function properly as well as needing steer my deck away from chump blocking. The whole idea of continuing a campaign for 12 more quests did not have an appeal to it. I was hoping the designers eventually included a way to mitigate particularly nasty burdens and, right after a scenario where you are picking up 2-4 of them, here we are!

As with any scenario where Boromir really does his thing, it would be a significant challenge to get through this without him.

Final Scoring
10 Completed Rounds x10: 100
Ending Threat: 44
Total Damage on Heroes: 10 (Aragorn: 4, Boromir: 3, Sam: 2, Frodo: 1)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -4 (Sarn Gebir, The Argonath, Parth Galen, Seat of Seeing)
Total Score:150

Campaign Resolution
+1 starting threat
Boromir is taken captive.
Boon: Phial of Galadriel attached to Sam.
Burden: Ill Fate added to campaign pool
Removed:  Burden: Overcome by Grief added to campaign pool

Previous Campaign Resolutions

Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Boon: Old Bogey-stories (added to starting hand)
Boon: Ho! Tom Bombadil! (added to starting hand)
Boon: Noble Hero attached to Sam Gamgee
Boon: Sting
Boon: Mithril Shirt
Boon: Glamdring
Boon: Anduril
Burden: Gandalf's Delay added to staging area
Burden: Panicked added to campaign pool
Burden: Shadow of Fear added to campaign pool

Campaign Catch-Up

For my own enjoyment and feeling of truly completing the campaign experience, I decided to re-play A Knife in the Dark through Journey in the Dark. These are all quests already beaten and will not be added to my tally of cumulative plays nor discussed in detail. Below is a quick summary of these recent attempts as well as any resulting campaign resolutions.

Previous Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Boon: Old Bogey-stories (added to starting hand)
Boon: Ho! Tom Bombadil! (added to starting hand)
Burden: Gandalf's Delay added to staging area

A Knife in the Dark

With greater knowledge of the need to dispatch Bill Ferny ASAP, this was a single run-through that survived a few twists of the encounter deck and saw my mighty Hobbits sweep a solid victory.

Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Noble Hero attached to Sam Gamgee


Flight to the Ford

One nail-biting race lost when The Enemy is Upon Us! stalled out my progress, leading to Frodo's death, and one non-nail biting race that was a clean sweep. Looking back at my write-up the first time around, I think I miss-read the thematic level of this one. It truly captures an urgent rush to get Frodo to Rivendell before he succumbs to the Witch-king's wound.

Campaign Resolutions
Burden: Panicked

Note: I forgot that I slightly miss-played this one the first time around (having multiple copies of the unique elf-stone in play), so I'll up my number of attempts by 2.

The Ring Goes South
Took me a few more attempts than I'd like to admit, primarily due to my desire to use Gandalf, Aragorn, and Sam as my heroes. A lot of ground is covered in these three stages, taking you all the way from the safe haven of Rivendell to the battle against the Watcher in the Water at the Doors of Durin. The designers did well here and improved greatly over the Watcher in the Water quest.

Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Sting
Boon: Mithril Shirt
Boon: Glamdring
Boon: Anduril


Journey in the Dark

Really wanted to get a thematic win here by destroying the Balrog, but gave up on that dream after a few attempts. I decided to push through before he appeared and victory was mine with one damage token remaining on Doom, Doom, Doom.

Campaign Resolutions
Burden: Shadow of Fear
Burden: Overcome by Grief

And I'm all caught up again! POD saga quests are folded in and accounted for in my campaign pool and the quests are all fresh in my mind. Now time to beat the final quest in The Road Darkens.

Print on Demand 5: Fog on the Barrow-downs

Victory on the Third Attempt!

The Recap

After a peaceful round in the house of Tom Bombadil, Fog on the Barrow-downs has your heroes travel within sight of the Hollow Circle. This piece, despite being set in broad daylight, gives off a sinister feel and seems like something out of a colorized Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Maybe it's the muted tones. Maybe it's the birds for scale.

So there are thematic hits in the fifth Print-on-Demand* pack, but there are also slight misses when it comes to the wights themselves. I say "slight," because it does not feel thematic to be facing powerful wights right off the bat but we do not know what Sam, Merry, and Pippin faced when it came to the wights. Were they attacked directly? Were they lulled to sleep and then entombed? We meet them in the story after the fact and the only bit of wight we see is an arm. So as a direct relation of the novel there is a miss, but as a plausible "what if" there is no thematic issue. And I'm unsure about the strength of the wights, who are powerful and feared but basically keep to themselves. Enemy power vs. hero power is an issue that often comes up for me. Strong enemies do force players to put a lot of thought behind their deck and their decisions, which is a plus. 

*Note: I did not title this Fellowship 2014 simply because I was not able to attend that event. Thus this is either A) A passive sign of protest and resentment or B) The result of the fact that I simply have nothing to say about the event itself. 

Now a note on strategy. My second attempt was pretty close to a victory but repeated visits to Stage 4 stalled me out and allowed the high number of threat-increasing effects in this quest to do me in. While your deck may not be able to deal with revealing a Great Barrow during the quest stage, you can hold off the start of that chain by avoiding travel to the Standing Stones until you have 16 quest points on stage 3. This will greatly increase you chances of only 1-2 trips to stage 4.

Fog on the Barrow-downs is tough. This is to be expected for a Fellowship quest. Community gatherings such as GenCon and Fellowship events are going to attract a higher concentration of established players and those players are likely going to bring strong decks. This is not a pack to pick up if you are a casual player looking for a quest to try out a quirky deck idea. If you are looking for strong, but not crushing, challenge then you are looking in the right place.

Final Scoring
9 Completed Rounds x10: 90
Ending Threat:44
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -12
Total Score: 122

Campaign Resolution
Boon: Ho! Tom Bombadil! (added to hand)

Previous Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Boon: Old Bogey-stories (added to hand)
Burden: Gandalf's Delay added to staging area


The Deck

Sometimes I'm happy with my deckbuilding skills and other times not so much. Part of the blame is not taking the time to dive into the wider community. People have been brewing up powerful decks for LotR since the game's inception and there are some fun interactions and combos I have been missing out on. Fog on the Barrow-downs seemed like a good starting point for exploring a few highly-rated decks.

The goal this time around was to stick with my campaign heroes of Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Looking at the RingsDB Hall of Fame, the second option on the list met what I was looking for: Sting Like a Bee by Tales from the Cards. At its heart, this deck is a pretty straightforward Black Riders hobbit build. The path taken here is to get out large allies ASAP while keeping a low threat. My only additions were my campaign boons & burden, along with Frodo Baggins (Land of Shadow).

In hindsight, this is a great deck but not the right one for this quest. Fog on the Barrow-downs is not friendly to amassing allies nor keeping a low threat. I realized this after my first attempt with the deck an was considering switching to Beorn's For the Shire! to get much-desired access to the spirit sphere. Threat reduction and Thror's Key would have been fantastic! I also considered adding in a little more card draw via Rod of the Steward or Frodo's Intuition. But I ultimately figured it was worth it to give the #2 another shot and I ended up walking away with a victory.

Sting Like a Bee is indeed a well-tuned take on the hobbit deck. Worth taking for a spin when you want to leave the Shire and hit the road.

Deckbuilding: Let's Use Spirit Pippin!

Three weeks ago I began a fantastic, brand new job that involves an hour-long commute each way.  It has been years since I last listened to Rob Ingles' amazing unabridged reading of The Lord of the Rings. The last time was on a road trip and I remember how enhanced the scenery around me seemed as I listened to Tolkien's rich descriptions of Middle-earth. My knowledge of the trilogy has grown a bit rusty since then and this new commute seemed like the perfect time to dive back into the world of hobbits and goblins.

And what better time to re-start my saga campaign? It was almost two years ago that I first began working through The Black Riders and, despite 5/6 saga boxes being out yet, I still have not finished the final quest of The Road Darkens. I won't spend a whole lot of time going over fresh attempts at quests I have already written up (nor will I really keep track of the number of attempts it takes), but I will put up the decklists and any memorable moments. I am still deciding how to break this up, but I will likely go through a saga box and then alternate with a deluxe expansion or a cycle. That should keep me making progress on getting caught up with the current releases while helping my campaign
stay exciting for me.

(P.S.- This was also a great time to begin listening to The Grey Company's book club, which I do on the drive home, and I highly recommend the series for those working through the books, the saga quests, or both).

A Shadow of the Past

My goal going into A Shadow of the Past was to be as thematic as possible. No Bill, no daggers, no Gandalf, no Merry. And this was to be a pure sprint, with our heroes having no time and no interest in taking on the Black Riders. So who to call on when you do not want to engage everyone? Who can help save the day when you fail a hide test? Who do I have a hard time coming up with situations where I would ever want to use him? That's right! His time is here!

Let's Use Spirit Pippin!

Heroes
Pippin (Encounter at Amon Din)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Frodo Baggins (The Land of Shadow)

Allies
Celduin Traveler x3
Elven Jewler x3
Escort from Edoras x3
Silvan Refugee x3
Farmir (Core) x3
Rivendell Scout x3

Attachments
Ancient Mathom x3
Unexpected Courage x3
Celebrian's Stone x3
Good Meal x3
Resourceful x3

Events 
Children of the Sea x2
Courage Awakened x2
Ride Them Down x2
Timely Aid x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
A Good Harvest x3
Hobbit-sense x3

Sets Used
Core
A Journey to Rhosgobel
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
The Steward's Fear
Th Druadan Forest
Encounter at Amon Din
The Black Riders
The Blood of Gondor
The Three Trials
Trouble in Tharbad
The Nin-in-Eilph
The Antlered Crown
Escape from Mount  Gram
The Land of Shadow

RingsDB Link

My first attempt with this deck was to build in all the hobbit shenanigans with Hobbit Pony (not the most thematic), Hobbit Pipe, Elevenses, and Smoke Rings. The goal was to portray our ill-equipped band strolling across the Shire and suddenly realizing their need to hide from the Black Riders. I also wanted to limit my allies to Noldor and a splash of Dunedain. It wasn't able to quite cut it, especially with 3-4 riders in the staging area. The next draft, above, featured some unthematic changes (Faramir, Celebrian's Stone, etc.) that still kept the general theme of the deck going and made it actually able to compete against the quest. Props to The Grey company for talking about Ride Them Down! in the context of The Black Riders. While it did not appear in my hand during this attempt, it was a solid addition to the deck and gave me a more thematic way of dealing with a Black Rider or two (meaning using willpower; not meaning the use of horses). The real all-star of this deck was the Celduin Traveler, though. Two of them coming down back-to-back in rounds 1 and 2 allowed me to quest just right to remain in the shire and get an early upper hand.

Hide tests really keep the game interesting. Even with overwhelming willpower, I still had to take a calculated risk on most rounds. Especially true for the round where I knew a Nazgul was coming up (thanks to the Timely Aid of the third Celduin Traveler), which would require a Hide 2 test, and yet I needed to make an additional Hide 3 test to get to Buckleberry Ferry.

Final Scoring
7 Completed Rounds x10: 70
Ending Threat: 28
Total Damage on Heroes: 0 (despite two copies of Have You Seen Baggins? out!)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 2 (Bag End, Mr. Underhill)
Total Score:100

Campaign Resolution
Choose Gandalf's Delay (burden)
Choose Mr. Underhill (boon) to stay attached to Frodo.



The Old Forest


My initial idea here was to use Spirit Pippin, Tactics Merry, and Frodo. Sam was going to be relegated to his ally form. This would allow me to get the martial benefits of tactics combined with secrecy benefits (and continue trying to make Spirit Pippin work). I was able to get to stage 3 and damage Old Man Willow enough, but the staging area soon got the best of me and it was a downhill battle from there. I played around with improving on this initial idea and ended up deciding to work on modifying Drop It Like It's Hobbit, the deck I used to first tackle The Old Forest. Spirit Merry was switched with his Tactics variant and Lore Pippin was swapped with Spirit. Lore cards were removed and a splash of Tactics cards were put in their place. This was just an initial draft, to be tested once and then refined, but it ended up making short work of The Old Forest.

Drop (Spirit Pippin) Like It's Hobbit!

Heroes
Merry (The Black Riders)
Pippin (Encounter at Amon Din)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)
Frodo Baggins (The Land of Shadow)

Allies
Beorn (Core) x1
Derndingle Warrior x2
Legolas x1
Bilbo Baggins x1
Glorfindel x1
Imladris Stargazer x3
Kili x1
Zigil Miner x2
Bill the Pony x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Fili x1
Keen-eye Took x1
Ered Luin Miner x3
Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill) x2
Treebeard (The Antlered Crown) x1

Attachments
Dagger of Westernesse x3
Good Meal x3
Wizard Pipe x1

Events
Unseen Strike x3
Elven-light x3
A Very Good Tale x3
Timely Aid x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
A Good Harvest x3
Hidden Cache x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hills of Emyn Muil
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
Foundations of Stone
Over Hill and Under Hill
The Steward's Fear
Encounter at Amon Din
The Black Riders
The Morgul Vale
The Road Darkens
The Antlered Crown
The Treason of Saruman
Escape from Mount Gram
The Dread Realm
Flight of the Stormcaller
Temple of the Deceived


RingsDB Link

The decks performance this first time around could be due to its actual strength or just due to the luck of the draw.  Here is how the planning stage of round 1 went: Played A Good Harvest, picking Spirit. Played Kili from my hand, fetching Fili and putting him into play. Shuffled. Played Timely Aid and put Treebeard into play (exhausted). Shuffled. Played A Very Good Tale, exhausting Fili and Kili. Discarded Ered Luin Miner (putting him into play), Imladris Stargazer, and Derndingle Warrior (put both of them into play, with the warrior exhausted).The next two subsequent rounds saw Beorn and Gandalf joining the team.

Strength aside, there is obvious room for improvement. At least one more Wizard Pipe and/or the return of Gildor Inglorion is required to help with moving needed cards from my hand to the top of the deck. An Elven Jeweler or Steed of Imladris would help make use of any dead cards in my hand (which I had plenty of by the end of the game). But I am a "win more" type of player (thus Land of Shadow Frodo is my ringbearer of choice) and this playthrough scratched that itch.

Final Scoring
4 Completed Rounds x10: 40
Ending Threat:36
Total Damage on Heroes: 0
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: 4 (Withywindle, Mr. Underhill, Old Bogey-stories)
Total Score: 80

Campaign Resolution
Earned Old Bogey-stories (boon)

Previous Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Burden: Gandalf's Delay added to staging area


Spirit Pippin Evaluation

The basic summary is that Spirit Pippin is as bad as you think he is.In A Shadow of the Past, he simply served as an emergency button for failed hide tests. In The Old Forest, he was there just for his sphere and to keep at least my hero selection thematic. And that's about it. I made these decks with him just to see what it was like but this beautiful art will likely sit in my binder until some errantra comes along.

Up Next: Let's tackle some Barrow-wights! The next step in the campaign and a quest I have yet to attempt.

Campaign Progress Update: Journey in the Dark

The Recap

As I documented in my post on Journey in the Dark, I was not satisfied with my deck or experience playing Journey in the Dark earlier this year. Sure, I won, but I accumulated all four burdens and had a pretty "meh" time playing. Hoping to improve both my experience with the quest and my campaign pool, I went at it again a few weeks ago with a new version of my "Hot Mess for Moria" deck. It was a blast! Now, I did not have reveal after reveal of Mines of Moria, so that helped ease the frustration of the quest. The deck got out quite a few allies until my horde by the end was pretty sizable, giving the Balrog little chance of survival. I did sacrifice Gandalf and earned that thematic satisfaction.

This quest was beaten fair and square previously, so I am not going to increase the number of attempts it took me to beat it, but I am going to update my campaign pool with the new adjustments:

Boons
Mr. Underhill (attached to Frodo Baggins)
Noble Hero (attached to Sam Gamgee)
Anduril, Mithril Shirt, Sting, Glamdring (one in opening hand, others shuffled)

Burdens
Gandalf's Delay (setup)
Overcome by Terror (shuffle)
Overcome by Grief (setup)
Shadow of Fear (shuffle)

Fallen Heroes
Gandalf

The Old Forest and Fog on the Barrow-Downs have made their way into my collection recently. I plan on tackling them with the heroes and campaign pool I had accumulated at that point (which means I can go with Merry/Pippin or Merry/Pippin/Sam). If I earn the accompanying boons, I will add those to the campaign pool moving forward.


The Deck

Another Hot Mess for Moria

Heroes
Aragorn (The Watcher in the Water)
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Sam Gamgee (The Black Riders)

Allies
Dori (Over Hill and Under Hill) x1
Galdor of the Havens (The Treachery of Rhudaur) x1
Gildor Inglorion x1
Henamarth Riversong x1
Mablung (The Land of Shadow) x1
Quickbeam x1
Warden of Healing x2
Anborn (The Land of Shadow) x1
Bill the Pony x1
Eldahir x1
Erestor (The Long Dark) x1
Faramir (Core) x1
Gimli (The Treason of Saruman) x1
Ingold x1
Beorn (Core) x1
Envoy of Pelargir x3

Attachments
Celebrian's Stone x1
Steward of Gondor x1
Sword that was Broken x1
Elf-stone x2
Expert Treasure-hunter x1
Fast Hitch x2
Gandalf's Staff x1
Good Meal x3
Narya x1
Shadowfax x1
Wizard Pipe x1

Events
Captain's Wisdom x3
Timely Aid x3
Heed the Dream x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
A Good Harvest x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Dead Marshes
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
Over Hill and Under Hill
Heirs of Numenor
On the Doorstep
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders
The Road Darkens
The Nin-in-Eilph
The Treason of Saruman
The Wastes of Eriador
The Treachery of Rhudaur
The Land of Shadow
The Grey Havens
Flight of the Stormcaller
The Thing in the Depths

RingsDB Link

Get some allies out. Heed that dream. Destroy the monster. Rescue the princess Istari something.

Saga Quest 11: Journey in the Dark

Victory on the 4th attempt!


The Deck

There are a lot of things I wanted to do with this deck. I wanted a Ancestral Knowledge + Miner of the Iron Hills combo. I wanted Sneak Attack + Faramir + Ever Vigilant + Valiant Sacrifice. I wanted Erebor Hammersmith + A Good Meal/Ranger Provisions/The Long Defeat (as well as proving more Ancestral Knowledge support). I wanted Gandalf + Expert Treasure-Hunter + Protector of Lorien. And I wanted to see my heroes readying like crazy with Wingfoot + Shadowfax + Cram + Fast Hitch.

And then I ended up with a hot mess.

Not wanting to raise my starting threat, the main flexibility I had was in switching out Aragorn. Plenty of options to be had there! My first two attempts (one back in February and one last month) were simply tackling the quest with the same deck I used on The Ring Goes South. Fun, informative, but not wins. I then tried using Core Aragorn, focusing on some of the deckbuilding ideas I had for the Fellowship Event, but stalled out with a heavy location lock on stage 3. I became a bit obsessed about this and focused heavily on locations for the next build, returning to Loreagon. But I didn't go 100% in and maybe I should have. Instead of picking one strategy and really running with it, I wanted to mash up 3-4 complementary strategies. Other than crazy card draw (Expert Treasure-Hunter) and nothing to do with it, there was no strong combo focus realized. I think I was feeling the pressure of single-handed solo.

Going up against a quest with a single deck, the full burden for every element (questing, defending, attacking) rests on you. There are some fun, nitch little thing that I would like to give a shot, but I often worry about getting clobbered in the area my deck is weakest in. And Journey in the Dark demands that you deal well with all three of these areas (high-threat locations, high-attack enemies, and Archery). I made adjustments to shore up weak areas and in the process took away the power of any real combos or synergy I could have had.

There's a lot of "should've, would've" with this deck. I would have liked a better performance against the quest (with the Balrog either out of play or defeated), but I actually want to put this one behind me, take the win, and head off to the next build and the next quest.

Hot Mess for Moria

Heroes
Gandalf
Sam Gamgee
Aragorn (The Watcher in th Water)

Frodo Baggins (The Road Darkens)

Allies
Treebeard x1
Ranger of Cardolan x2
Envoy of Pelargir x2 
Gimli x1
Bill the Pony x2
Faramir x2
Snowbourn Scout x2
Naith Guide x3
Bombur x1
Quickbeam x1
Elrond x1
Miner of the Iron Hills x2

Attachments
Song of Kings x1
Song of Wisdom x1
Shadowfax x1
Gandalf's Staff x1
Good Meal x3
Celebrian's Stone x1
Sword that was Broken x1
Steward of Gondor x1
Wingfoot x1
Protector of Lorien x1
Expert Treasure-Hunter x3

Events
A Good Harvest x2
Rear Guard x3
Word of Command x1
Secret Paths x3
Ancestral Knowledge x3
Frodo's Intuition x3

Sets Used
Core Set
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil 
Khazad-dum
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
The Long Dark
On the Doorstep 
Heirs of Numenor
The Steward's Fear
The Black Riders The Treason of Saruman
The Dunland Trap
The Nin-in-Eilph 
The Antlered Crown
The Road Darkens
The Wastes of Eriador

RingsDB Link

Rear Guard is fun, but really should have been Sneak Attack with all of the high-cost allies I had. The Songs both came into my hand and never made the board, so +1 to A Good Harvest or +1-2 to Ranger Provisions would have been much more welcome.


The Journey

Card draw and high willpower was to be had in plenty this run-through. But, alas, I was not able to escape the mines before The Balrog's appearance. Not confident in my ability to defeat him, I ran for the hills and took my burdens with me.

Previous Campaign Set-Up
Attach Noble Hero to Sam Gamgee.
Attach Mr. Underhill and The One Ring to Frodo Baggins (The Road Darkens).
Add Anduril to hand. Shuffle Glamdring, Sting, Mithril Shirt into player deck
Add Gandalf's Delay to the staging area.
Shuffle Overcome by Terror into encounter deck.

New Campaign Set-Up
Shuffle Pursued by the Enemy and Shadow of Fear into the encounter deck.
Add Grievous Wound and Overcome by Grief to the staging area.

Player Set-Up
Set Starting Threat to 34
Draw (5; Gandalf's Delay): Naith Guide, Faramir, Expert Treasure-Hunter, Celebrian's Stone, Frodo's Intuition
Top Card: Expert Treasure-Hunter
Not totally crazy about this opening hand, wanting to see either A Good Harvest or a Song, but starting off with Expert Treasure-Hunter x2 bods well for me getting most things I want fairly quickly.

Quest Set-Up
Set The Balrog, The Great Bridge, and Chamber of Mazarbul aside out of play.
Add Doom, Doom, Doom to the staging area. Place 10 damage tokens on it.
Choose and add Darkened Stairway to the staging area.
Always struggle between getting rid of the four-threat location or the quest-stalling Mines of Moria first. Hoping to get a little progress on the quest right away, Darkened Stairway it is.


Round 1
My Expert Treasure-Hunters start digging up the gold. Orc-Chieftain comes out right away, limiting the progress I can get out at first and creating a frustrating situation where I need to keep him alive until stage 2 (or fight him again).

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Expert Treasure-Hunter
Top Card: Wingfoot 

Planning Phase
Play (from top of deck): Wingfoot (Aragorn -1). Attach to Aragorn.
Top Card: Shadowfax
Play: Expert Treasure-Hunter. Attach to Sam.
Play: Expert Treasure-Hunter. Attach to Aragorn.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Aragorn (2), Sam (4).
Total willpower: 9
Response (Wingfoot): Name "Enemy."
Reveal: Orc-Chieftain. Ready Aragorn (Wingfoot).
Total threat: 8
Place 1 progress on stage 1B (1/14).
Response (Expert Treasure-Hunter #1): Name "Attachment." Discard Shadowfax (add to hand).
Top card: Sting
Response (ETH #2). Name "Attachemnt." Discard Sting (add to hand).
Top card: Anduril
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (9/10).

Travel Phase
Travel to Darkened Stairway

Encounter Phase
Engaged by Orc-Chieftain. Ready Sam.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc-Chieftain. Attacks! Frodo defends. Spend 1 fellowship resource (Frodo -1), exhaust The One Ring, and raise threat to 36. This attack will deal no damage. Shadow: Moria Archer (no effect).
Aragorn + Sam declare an attack on Orc-Chieftain, dealing 1 damage (5/6).
I'll whittle him away a bit, but I don't want to take him out quite yet.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 37.


Round 2
Progress is placed, the Orc-Chieftain is kept at bay, and the march goes on...

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (2), +1 Sam (2), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Anduril
Top Card: Faramir 

Planning Phase
Play: Celebrian's Stone (Sam -2). Attach to Sam.
Play: Shadowfax (Gandalf -2, Aragorn -1)

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6), Aragorn (2), Frodo (2).
Total willpower: 13
Response (Wingfoot): Name "Enemy"
Reveal: Darkened Stairway
Total threat: 4
Place 2  progress on Darkened Stairway, exploring it. Discard: Overcome by Terror (no effect).
Place 7 progress on stage 1B (8/14)
Response (ETH #1): Name "Ally." Discard:  Faramir (add to hand).
Top Card: Secret Paths
Response (ETH #2): Name "Event." Discard: Secret Paths (add to hand).
Top Card: Song of Wisdom
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (8/10).

Travel Phase
Travel to Darkened Stairway

Encounter Phase
No new engagements

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Orc Chieftain.
Add Mr. Underhill to the victory display. Choose Orc Chieftain to not attack.
Discard shadow card (Deep Fissure)

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 38.


Round 3
Gandalf takes some heavy damage (a Grievous Wound, if you will) but the Orc-Chieftain is dispatched.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (2)
Draw: Song of Wisdom
Top Card: Secret Paths


Planning Phase
Play: Sting (Gandalf -1, Sam -1). Attach to Frodo.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6)
Total willpower: 9
Reveal: Ancient Guardroom
Play (from top of deck): Secret Paths (Aragorn -1). Target Ancient Guardroom.
Top Card: Naith Guide
Total threat: 0
Place 2 progress on Darkened Stairway, exploring it. Discard: Moria Orc.
Place 7 progress on stage 1B, exploring it.
Advance to stage 2A. Add Chamber of Mazarbul to the staging area. Flip to stage 2B.
Response (ETH #1). Name "Ally." Discard: Naith Guide (add to hand).
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (7/10).

Travel Phase
Travel to Chamber of Mazarbul. Search encounter deck and add Moria Orc to the staging area.
Exhaust Shadowfax to ready Gandalf.

Encounter Phase
Engage Moria Orc

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Orc-Chieftian, Moria Orc.
Orc-Chieftain attacks. Frodo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard (encounter): Uruk from Mordor (threat: 2). Deal 2 damage to Orc-Chieftain (3/6). Spend 1 fellowship resource, exhaust The One Ring, raise threat to 40. This attack deals no damage. Shadow: Deep Fissure (no effect).
Moria Orc attacks. Undefended. Shadow: Thy Are Coming! No effect. Deal 3 damage to Gandalf (3/5). Attach Grievous Wound to Gandalf.
Gandalf + Aragorn declare an attack on Orc-Chieftain. Deal 1 damage to Gandalf (4/5).
A bit risky here, but there are no encounter cards that will directly damage Gandalf in this on (optional is a different story) and I want to see this orc dead.
Orc-Chieftain is destroyed. Place 1 resource on Stage 2B (1/3).
 
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.


Round 4
Locations are explored & traveled to and another orc is destroyed. No actual progress is made on the stage, though.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (2)
Draw: Gimli
Top Card: Mithril Shirt 

Planning Phase
Play (from top of deck): Mithril Shirt (Frodo -1). Attach to Frodo.
Top Card: Treebeard
I had some other plans for my resources next turn, but I think I need to make way for an Ent.

Quest Phase
Commit: Sam (6), Aragorn (2).
Total willpower: 8
Response (Wingfoot): Name "Enemy."
Reveal: Fool of a Took! Doomed 1 (raise threat to 42). Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (6/10).
Reveal: Moria Archer. Deal 1 damage to Sam (1/3). Ready Aragorn.
Total threat:4
Place 4 progress on Chamber of Moria, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (5).
Response (ETH #1): Name "Ally." Discard: Treebeard (add to hand).
Top Card: Mine of the Iron Hills
Response (ETH #2): Name "Ally." Discard: Miner of the Iron Hills (add to hand).
Top Card: Elrond
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (5/10).


Travel Phase
Travel to Ancient Guardroom. Discard: Mines of Moria (threat: 2). Raise threat to 44.

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Archery 2 (Moria Archer). Deal 1 damage to Sam (2/3). Deal 1 damage to Aragorn (1/5)
Deal shadow card to Moria Orc. Attacks! Frodo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: Many-Pillard Hall.(threat: 1). Deal 1 damage to Moria Orc (1/3). Shadow: Moria Archer (no effect). No damage dealt.
Aragorn declares an attack on Moria Orc, destroying it.


Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 45.
Use Aragorn's ability to reset threat to 34.
Tough call on using this now or waiting one more turn. I would just hate for some strange combination to raise me past 50. 



Round 5
The third enemy is defeated, but not enough progress on the stage to advance. Doom draws nearer...

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf  (2), +1 Sam (2), +1 Aragorn (2), +1 Frodo (2)
Draw: Elrond
Top Card: Gandalf's Staff

Planning Phase
Play: Miner of the Iron Hills (Aragorn -2). Discard: Grievous Wound.
Play: Treebeard (Gandalf -2, Sam -1, Frodo -1).

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6)
Total willpower: 9

Reveal: Shadow of Fear. Doomed 1 (raise threat to 35). Surge.
Reveal: Many-Pillared Hall.

Total threat: 2
Place 3 progress on Ancient Guardroom, exploring it.
Place 4 progress on stage 2B (4/9).
Response (ETH #1). Name "Attachment." Discard Gandalf's Staff (add to hand).
Top Card: A Good Harvest
A fantastic card to see with all of these expensive cards in my hand!
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (3/10).

Travel Phase
Travel to Many-Pillared Hall.

Encounter Phase
Engage Moria Archer. Ready Sam.
Exhaust Shadowfax to ready Gandalf.

Combat Phase
Archery 2. Deal 1 damage to Miner of the Iron Hills (1/2). Deal 1 damage to Tree-Beard (1/5).
Deal shadow card to Moria Archer. Attacks! Frodo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: Moria Orc (threat: 2). Deal 2 damage to Moria Archer (2/3). Shadow: We Cannot Get Out (assign 1 damage to a character). Assign 1 damage to Treebeard (2/5). No damage dealt.
Gandalf + Aragorn declare an attack on Moria Archer, destroying it. Place 1 resource on stage 2B (3/3).

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 36.


Round 6
Stage 3 is achieved, but The Balrog is just around the corner.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (2), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (2), +1 Treebeard (1)
Draw: A Good Harvest
Top Card: Snowbourn Scout

Planning Phase
Play (from the top of deck): Snowbourn Scout (Gandalf -1). Place 1 progress on Many-Pillared Hall (1/6).
Top Card: Rear Guard
Play: Naith Guide (Sam -2). Choose Frodo to not exhaust to quest this round.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6), Aragorn (2), Frodo (3; does not exhaust).
Total willpower:14
Response (Wingfoot): Name "Enemy." 
Reveal:We Cannot Get Out (Assign 3 damage among characters). Assign 1 damage to Sam (2/3). Assign 1 damage to Treebeard (3/5). Assign 1 damage to Aragorn (1/5).
Total threat: 0
Place 5 progress on Many-Pillared Hall, exploring it.
Place 9 progress on stage 2B, clearing it.
Advance to stage 3A. Add The Great Bridge to the staging area. Reveal: Many-Pillared Hall. Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (2/10). Flip to side 3B.
Response (ETH #1): Name "Event." Discard: Rear Guard (add to hand).
Top Card: Ranger of Cardolan
Response (ETH #1). Name "Ally." Discard: Ranger of Cardolan (add to hand).
Top Card: Ranger of Cardolan
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (1/10).

Travel Phase
Travel to The Great Bridge

No Engagements or Combat
Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 37.


Round 7
A Balrog is Come! And he takes out the first character of the quest (a Snowbourn Scout). And then he takes out the second character. This is going to happen a lot.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (2), Treebeard (2)
Draw: Ranger of Cardolan
Top Card: Song of Kings

Planning Phase
Play: A Good Harvest. Name: "Leadership"
Play: Faramir (Gandalf -1, Aragorn -1, Frodo -2)
It was tough deciding to play A Good Harvest this round, or hold out for the next one to get Faramir + Gimli out. Wanting to get my maximum 5 progress on stage 3B each turn, I opt for Faramir now.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6), Aragorn (2), Treebeard (2), Naith Guide (1).
Total willpower:14
Response (Wingfoot). Name "Enemy."
Reveal: They Are Comming! Doomed 2 (raise threat to 39). Shuffle encounter discard into deck. Discard: Darkened Stairway, Fool of a Took!, Grievous Wound, Moria Archer. Add Moria Archer to the staging area.
That was fitting treachery card.
Total threat: 3
Place 5 progress on The Great Bridge, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (9). Place 5 progress on stage 3B (5/15).
Response (ETH #1): Name "Attachment." Discard: Song of Kings (add to hand).
Top Card: Ancestral Knowledge
Response (ETH #2): Name "Event." Discard Ancestral Knowledge (add to hand).
Top Card: Steward of Gondor
Remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom, Doom (0/10). Add The Balrog to the staging area. Engages the first player (ready Sam).
The Balrog attacks! Deal shadow card. Snowbourn Scout defends. Shadow: Shadow of Fear (defender does not count defense). Snowbourn Scout is destroyed.
Attach Overcome by Grief to Sam. Exhaust Sam.
Seven rounds in and I just lost my first character. Not too shabby.

Travel Phase
Travel to Many-Pillared Hall.

Encounter Phase
Engage Moria Archer.
Exhaust Shadowfax to ready Gandalf.

Combat Phase
Archery 2. Deal 2 damage to Faramir (2/3).
Deal shadow cards to The Balrog, Moria Archer.
Moria Archer attacks. Frodo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: They Are Coming! (no threat). Shadow: Darkened Stairway (no effect). No damage dealt.
The Balrog attacks. Miner of the Iron Hills defends. Shadow: Ancient Guardroom. Miner of the Iron Hills is destroyed.
Spend 2 of Treebeard's resources to ready him.
Gandalf + Treebeard declare an attack on Moria Archer, destroying it.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 40.


Round 8
The Balrog continues his destruction, now aided by and Uruk from Mordor.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (2), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1), +1 Treebeard (1)
Draw: Steward of Gondor
Top Card: Ancestral Knowledge

Planning Phase
Play: Steward of Gondor (Sam -2). Attach to Sam.
Exhaust Steward of Gondor +1 Sam (2).
Play: Naith Guide (Sam -2). Choose Frodo to not exhaust to quest this round.
Play: Gandalf's Staff (Gandalf -1, Aragorn -1). Attach to Gandalf.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (3), Sam (6), Aragorn (2), Frodo (3; does not exhaust), Treebeard (2)
Total willpower: 16
Response (Wingfoot): name "enemy."
Reveal: Uruk from Mordor. Makes an immediate attack. Deal shadow card. Frodo defends. Exhaust Sting. Discard: Overcome by Terror (no threat). Shadow: Moria Orc (raise threat by 1). Threat: 40. No damage dealt.
Ready Aragorn.
Response (ETH #1): name "Event." Discard Ancestral Knowledge (add to hand).
Top Card: Bombur
Response (ETH #2): name "Ally." Discard Bombur (add to hand).
Top Card: Word of Command.
Total threat:7
Exhaust Gandalf's Staff to add 1 resource to Frodo's pool (2).
Play: Frodo's Intuition (Frodo -2). Each hero gets +1 willpower. Draw (2): Word of Command, Ancestral Knowledge
Top Card: Good Meal
Updated willpower: 20
Place 6 progress on Many-Pillared Hall, exploring it. Place 5 progress on stage 3B.

Travel Phase
No Travel.
Exhaust Shadowfax to ready Gandalf.

Encounter Phase
Engaged by Uruk from Mordor.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to The Balrog, Uruk from Mordor.
The Balrog attacks. Naith Guide #2 defends. Shadow: Many-Pillared Hall (+2 attack). Naith Guide is destroyed.
Uruk from Mordor attacks. Naith Guide defends. Shadow: Deep Fissure (no effect). Naith Guide is destroyed.
Gandalf + Aragorn + Faramir declare an attack on Uruk from Mordor, destroying it.
Woops! Forgot to have the Balrog attack at the end of the quest phase. We'll say Faramir met his end at the hand of one of these enemies. The Uruk would have taken 3 additional damage from Gandalf + Aragorn, priming him to be wiped out by Sting next round (if combat had happened).

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41.


Round 9
Fancy footwork in the planning phase scores me a massive willpower boost that takes the stage by storm. The game is won, but at the cost of a four-burden addition to my campaign pool.

Resource Phase 
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Treebeard (2)
Draw: Good Meal
Top Card: Envoy of Pelagir
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Sam (3).

Planning Phase
Play (from top of deck): Envoy of Pelagir (Gandalf -1, Sam -1). Add 1 resource to Sam's pool (3).
Top Card: Sword that was Broken.
Exhaust Gandalf's Staff to ad Sword That Was Broken to hand.
Top Card: Bill the Pony
Play: Sword that was Broken (Sam -3). Attach to Aragorn.
Play: Word of Command (Aragorn -1). Exhaust Gandalf. Search deck and add Frodo's Intuition to hand. Shuffle.
Top Card: Quickbeam
Exhaust Shadowfax to ready Gandalf.
Play: Good Meal. Attach to Frodo.
Play: Frodo's Intuition (discard Good Meal). All heroes get +1 willpower. Draw (2): Quickbeam, Rear Guard
Play: Quickbeam (Treebeard -2). Deal 1 damage to Quickbeam to ready him.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf (5), Sam (8), Aragorn (4), Frodo (5), Treebeard (3), Quickbeam (3)
Total willpower: 28
Reveal: Moria Archer. Deal 1 damage to Quickbeam (2/3).
Total threat: 6
Place 5 progress on stage 3B, clearing it and winning the game!

Final Scoring
8 Completed Rounds x10: 80
Ending Threat: 41
Total Damage on Heroes: 7 (4 Gandalf, 2 Sam, 1 Aragorn)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -9
Total Score: 129

Campaign Resolution
Burden: Overcome by Grief (setup)
Burden: Grievous Wound (setup)
Burden:Pursued by the Enemy (shuffle)
Burden: Shadow of Fear (shuffle)
Phew. That is going to hurt later on! As well as necessitate a Conditional Attachment focus in future decks.

Previous Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Boon: Noble Hero attached to Sam Gamgee
Boon: Anduril, Mithril Shirt, Sting, Glamdring
Burden: Gandalf's Delay (setup)
Burden: Overcome by Terror (shuffle)


The Recap

The emotional feeling of the actual play-through has a major impact on how I view the quest. I didn't really care for my deck this time around, so that takes a bit of a shine away from Journey in the Dark. But would that have mattered? There was variation here (three ways to take on The Balrog resulting in two possible campaign resolutions) and the tricks of the encounter deck (Mines of Moria!!!) were enjoyable during my second run-through. I do take issue with quest elements that are fully up to the randomization of the deck and not player skill. In this one, it is waiting for three enemies to come out before you can advance past the second stage. There are player cards to deal with this (Shadow of the Past, A Light in the Dark), but it is a bit frustrating for the average deck.

Final verdict: Not going down as a favorite quest, but not a terrible one. Something to go up against with decks that do all things really well.

Saga Quest 10: The Ring Goes South

Victory on the fourth attempt!

It's been a long time. Not only since I posted, but since I had time to sit down and complete one of the new (to me) quests in my collection. I'll save more for the recap, but it was worth the wait and I had a blast!

The Deck

Being allowed the ability to freely switch out characters made the deck-building wide open for this quest. At first, I tried keeping Merry & Sam, switching only Pippin out for Aragorn (Watcher in the Water). It didn't work. In fact, I got slaughtered twice in a row. In hindsight, I would suggest switching out Merry for Legolas.

Then I read on a forum (sorry, it's been a while and I can't remember which post) the opinion that this quest wanted to steer you towards Gandalf, Sam, and Aragorn (Core). I'm not sure how Sam figured into that equation, but questing for four (having the Noble Hero boon attached) gave him an automatic spot in any deck I was going to go for. I just wasn't tickled about the idea of a starting threat of 34.

I looked over my leadership cards (since this build would necessitate at least the majority of cards coming from here) and saw two cards I never really used to their full ability: Grave Cairn and Rear Guard. Grave Cairn + Sneak Attack + Gandalf (Core) is a great combination, but not viable if I'm using hero Gandalf. After my two defeats, I knew some serious questing power would be needed for this one and thus Rear Guard would be a perfect fit to include.

Next I thought about attachments. There were so many I wanted to include! But so many of those were unique, or limited to 1/character (Wizard's Pipe). Could I get away with including x1 of such great cards? If I included Galadriel x3, maybe so. Master of the Forge would be great for that strategy as well, but I would have to move him to the top of my deck and wait until Gandalf had two resources. But wait! Why not include Herald of Anorien? Going for Doomed 2 with an already high threat is risky, but this deck was meant to be fun so let's have fun.

Even with high willpower, there are some terrible high-threat locations and enemies that can come jumping out. Enemies I can at least take care of in one turn. Locations might build up in the staging area. In goes Secret Paths. Once again, can I guarantee getting it to the top of my deck for Gandalf to use (ironically, it ended up in exactly that spot during attempts 3 and 4)? Let's put in one copy of Song of Wisdom as a back-up.

I think we're ready to rumble.

Heroes
Gandalf (The Road Darkens)
Sam Gamgee
Aragorn (Core)

Ally (21)
Galadriel (The Road Darkens) x3
Master of the Forge x2
Bill the Pony x3
Envoy of Pelargir x3
Herald of Anorien x3
Naith Guide x3
Snowborn Scout x3
Faramir x1

Attachment (17)
Wizard Pipe x1
Sword that was Broken x1
Good Meal x3
Gandalf's Staff x1
Celebrain's Stone x1
Heir of Mardil x1
Dunedain Mark x3
Dunedain Warning x2
Steward of Gondor x1
Song of Kings x1
Song of Wisdom x1
A Burning Brand x1

Event (12)
Flame of Arnor x3
Secret Paths x3
Frodo's Intuition x3
Rear Guard x3

Sets Used
Core
The Hunt for Gollum
Conflict at the Carrock
The Hills of Emyn Muil
The Redhorn Gate
The Watcher in the Water
Shadow and Flame
Heirs of Numenor
The Black Riders
The Road Darkens
The Dunland Trap
Trouble in Tharbad
Celebrimbor's Secret

Note: Master of the Forge is definitely an all-star here,  working great with Gandalf's abilities and Galadriel (before or after she is played). 



The Journey

Set starting threat to 34

Campaign Set-up
Switch out Merry and Pippin for Gandalf and Aragorn (Core).
Add Anduril to my hand. Shuffle Sting, Mithril Shirt, and Glamdring into my deck.

Quest Set-up
Set Lust for the Rings, Redhorn Pass, Doors of Durin, and Watcher in the Water to the side. Shuffle encounter.

Starting Hand
Naith Guide x2, Wizard Pipe, Mithril Shirt, Good Meal
Top card: Bill the Pony
I considered doing a mulligan, but Wizard Pip + Anduril is going to be a great combination during stage 1. And two rounds of Naith Guides is nothing to sneer at.
Flip to side 1B

Round 1
After getting Anduril on Aragorn for free, I blaze past Redhorn Pass and take out both of the Hound of Sauron's that pursued me.


Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Bill the Pony
Top Card: Naith Guide
Well, three rounds of an unexhausted Gandalf will be nice.

Planning Phase
Play: Naith Guide from top of deck (Sam -1, Gandalf -1). Choose Gandalf to not exhaust to quest this round.
Top Card: Herald of Anorien
Play: Bill the Pony
Play: Good Meal. Attach to Frodo.

Play: Wizard Pipe (Frodo -1). Attach to Gandalf.
Exhaust Wizard Pipe to switch Anduriel (from hand) with Herald of Anorien (from deck)

Stage 1B Forced Effect: Put Anduril face-up in front of me. Choose to play it for 0 cost. Attach to Aragorn.
Top Card: Glamdring
Choose to shuffle Lust for the Ring into the encounter deck.
Threating out is what did me in during attempt #3. While any boon is one to regret, I'll just have to work around it.
Proceed to stage 2. Make Redhorn Pass the active location.
Reveal (encounter): Hound of Sauron. Surge.
Reveal: Hound of Sauron. Surge.
Reveal: Storm of Howls. Choose to give each Warg enemy -20 engagement cost.
Flip to side 2B.

Quest Phase
Commit Gandalf (does not exhaust), Sam, Aragorn, Frodo to the quest. Total willpower: 12.
Ready Aragorn (Aragorn -1).
Reveal: Eregion. Total threat: 5
Place 6 progress on Redhorn Pass, exploring it and adding it to the victory display (1). No damage on card.
Place 1 progress on stage 2B (1/8).

Travel Phase
Travel to Eregion.

Encounter Phase
Engage Hound of Sauron #1. Place 1 damage on Eregion (1).
Engage Hound of Sauron #2. Place 1 damage on Eregion (2).

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Hound of Sauron x2.
Hound of Sauron #1 attacks. Naith Guide defends. Shadow: Howling Warg (+1 attack, 1 damage on active location if character is destroyed). Naith Guide is destroyed. Place 1 damage on Eregion (3).
Hound of Sauron #2 attacks. Aragorn defends. Shadow: Howling Warg (+1 attack, 1 damage on active location if character is destroyed). Two damage dealt to Aragorn. Exhaust Anduriel to declare an attack on Hound of Sauron #2 with Aragorn, destroying it.

Gandalf and Bill the Pony declare an attack on Hound of Sauron #1, destroying it.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 35.


Round 2
Holding back allies to avoid loosing them via Eregion's leave-play effect, I make a little progress on the quest and take out one of the two additional Hounds that came at me this turn.

Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Glamdring
Top Card: Dunedain Mark

Planning Phase
Play Dunedain Mark from top of deck (Gandalf -1). Attach to Gandalf.
Top Card: Bill the Pony
Play: Glamdring (Sam -1, Frodo -1). Attach to Gandalf.

Quest Phase
Commit Sam, Aragorn, Frodo, Bill. Total willpower: 10
Ready Aragorn (Aragorn -1).
Reveal: Hound of Sauron. Surge.
Reveal: Hound of Sauron. Surge.
Reveal: Hills of Holin.
Total threat: 4
Place 4 progress on Eregion, exploring it. Must discard 3 allies. Discard Bill the Pony (no other allies in play).
Place 2 progress on stage 2B (3/8).

Travel Phase
Travel to Hills of Hollin

Encounter Phase
Engage Hound of Sauron. Place 1 damage on Hills of Holin (1). Ready Sam (+1 willpower, attack, defense).

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Hound of Sauron. Attacks! Gandalf defends. Shadow: Crebain from Dunland (no effect). Place 1 damage on Gandalf.
Aragorn declares an attack on Hound of Sauron, destroying it.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 36


Round 3
Trying to balance strong questing vs. holding back enough blockers to handle Great Warg Chief + Hound of Sauron + one additional warg, I fail advancing the quest by 1 progress. I compensate by taking out the Hound of Sauron.

Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Bill the Pony
Top Card: Envoy from Pelargir

Planning Phase
Play: Envoy from Pelargir (Gandalf -1, Frodo -1). Add 1 resource to Sam's pool (2).
Top Card: Dunedain Warning.
Play: Bill the Pony
Play: Naith Guide (Sam -2). Choose Gandalf to not exhaust to quest this round.

Quest Phase
Commit Gandalf (does not exhaust), Sam, Aragorn, Frodo, Naith Guide. Total willpower: 13
Ready Aragorn (Aragorn -1).
Reveal: Redhorn Foothills. Total threat: 5
No! I knew there would be a risk of a 4-threat location or enemy, but I was really hoping for a 3 at most. It was risk between questing with one more ally vs. having one more ally to defend during stage 3.
Place 4 progress on Hills of Hollin, exploring it. Raise threat by 1 to 37.
Place 4 progress on stage 2B (7/8)

Travel Phase
Travel to Redhorn Foothills.

Encounter Phase
Engage Hound of Sauron. Place 1 damage on Redhorn Foothills (1). Ready Sam (+1 willpower, attack, defense).

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Hound of Sauron. Attacks! Bill the Pony defends. Shadow: Hills of Holin (no effect). Bill is destroyed.
Aragorn declares an attack on Hound of Sauron, destroying it.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 38

Round 4
Questing heavily, I advance to stage 3 and defend against Great Warg Chief + Howling Warg with no ability to damage them this time round. Master of the Forge makes it into play and the mining of attachments + re-arranging of the player deck begins!

Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Dunedain Warning
Top Card: Master of the Forge
Exhaust Wizard Pipe to exchange Mithril Shirt for Master of the Forge.

Planning Phase
Play: Mithril Shirt (Frodo -1). Attach to Frodo.
Top Card: Secret Paths
Play: Herald of Anorien (Sam -1, Aragorn -1). Give Doomed 2 (raise threat to 40) to put Master of the Forge into play.

Quest Phase
Commit Gandalf, Sam, Aragorn, Frodo. Total willpower: 12
Reveal: Tree-Crowned Hill. Total threat: 3
Place 5 progress on Redhorn Foothills, exploring it. Randomly discard (put both cards face down and used a dice program, assigning even/odd): Dunedain Warning
Place 4 progress on stage 2B, clearing it. Advance to stage 3.
Search encounter deck and add Great Warg Chief.

Travel Phase
Travel to Tree-Crowned Hill

Encounter Phase
Engage Great Warg Chief. Place 1 damage on Tree-Crowned Hill (1). Discard (encounter): Snowdrifts, Storm of Howls, Howling Warg. Put Howling Warg into play, engaged with me. Add 1 damage to Tree-Crowned Hill (2).

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Howling Warg, Great Warg Chief.
Howling Warg attacks. Place 1 damage on Tree-Crowned Hill. Herald of Anorien defends. Shadow: Hills of Holin (no effect). Herald is destroyed.
Great Warg Chief attacks. Bill the Pony defends. Shadow: Redhorn Foothills (no effect). Bill the Pony is destroyed.
Exhaust Master of the Forge to look at my top 5 cards and add Dunedain Mark to my hand. Shuffle deck.
Top Card: Sword That Was Broken


Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41

Round 5
Aragorn becomes the Steward of Gondor and I take out the Great Warg Chief. 

Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Sword That Was Broken
Top Card: Steward of Gondor

Planning Phase
Play: Steward of Gondor (Gandalf -1, Sam -1). Attach to Aragorn.
Top Card: Frodo's Intuition
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Aragorn (3).
Play: Naith Guide (Aragorn -2). Choose Gandalf to not exhaust to quest this round.

Quest Phase
Commit Gandalf (Does not exhaust), Sam, Aragorn, Frodo. Total willpower: 12.
Ready Aragorn (Aragorn -1).
Reveal: Redhorn Foothills. Place 1 damage on it (1). Total threat: 4
Play: Frodo's Intuition (discard Good Meal to lower cost by 2 to 0). Updated willpower: 16. Draw: Rear Guard, Rear Guard.
Top Card: Flame of Arnor.
Place 6 progress on Tree-Crowned Hill, exploring it. Exhaust 3 characters: Naith Guide x2, Envoy of Pelargir.
Place 6 progress on The Hunt Is Up! (2/12).

Travel Phase
Travel to Redhorn Foothills.

Encounter Phase
No engagements.

Combat Phase
Deal shadow cards to Howling Wargs, Great Warg Chief.
Add Mr. Underhill to the victory display (2). Choose Great Warg Chief not to attack this round.
Howling Wargs attack. Place 1 damage on Redhorn Footills (2). Gandalf defends. Shadow: Regiments of Crows (undefended damage goes on active location). No damage dealt.
Play: Flame of Arnor from top of deck (Frodo -1). Ready Gandalf. Discard: Bill the Pony to give Gandalf +2 attack.
Top Card: Herald of Anorien.
Gandalf + Aragorn declare an attack on Great Warg Chief, destroying it.
Exhaust Master of the Forge to search the top 5 cards of my deck and add nothing to my hand. Shuffle deck.
Top Card: Snowbourn Scout

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 41

Round 6
Galadriel + Sword That Was Broken makes a great combo. Advancing to stage 4, I temporarily lose Frodo and then lose two allies to Howling Wargs x2. Ignoring the wargs, I get six damage on the Watcher and Frodo rejoins the gang.

Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (1), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Snowbourn Scout
Top Card: Good Meal
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Aragorn (3).
Exhaust Master of the Forge. Search top 5 cards of my deck and add Gandalf's Staff to my hand. Shuffle.
Top Card: Galadriel.
Yes! Exactly what I was hoping for. Attempt #3 featured Sword That Was Broken + Galadriel as well.

Planning Phase
Exhaust Wizard Pipe to switch Sword That Was Broken with Galadriel.
Play: Galadriel (Sam -1, Aragorn -2). Look at top 5 cards. Attach Sword That Was Broken to Aragorn. Put remaining cards back in the following order (top to bottom): Envoy of Pelargir, Galadriel, Good Meal, Master of the Forge.
Play: Envoy of Pelargir (Gandalf -1, Frodo -1). Add 1 resource to Sam's pool.

Quest Phase
Commit Sam, Aragorn, Frodo, Galadriel. Total willpower: 16
Ready Aragorn (Aragorn -1). 
Reveal: Howling Wargs. Total threat: 2.
Place 5 progress on Redhorn Foothills, exploring it.  Discard 2 random cards (using dice again for 5 cards, rerolling on 6): Gandalf's Staff, Rear Guard.
Place 9 progress on stage 3B, clearing it. Advance to stage 4.
Make Doors of Durin the active location.
Add Watcher in the Water to the staging area. Flip Frodo (+attachments) upside down and add under Watcher in the Water.
Flip to side 4B

Travel Phase
No travel

Encounter Phase
Engage Howling Wargs. Place 1 damage on Doors of Durin (1).

Combat Phase
Deal shadow card to Watcher in the Water, Howling Wargs x2.
Watcher in the Water attacks. Envoy of Pelargir #1 defends. Shadow: Eregion (discard attachment). Discard Wizard Pipe. Envoy of Pelargir is destroyed.
Howling Wargs #1 attacks. Place 1 damage on Doors of Durin (2). Envoy of Pelargir defends. Shadow: Snowdrifts (no effect). Envoy of Pelargir is destroyed.
Howling Wargs #2 attacks. Place 1 damage on Doors of Durin (2). Naith Guide #2 defends. Shadow: Lust for the Ring (no effect). Naith Guide is destroyed.
Gandalf + Aragorn + Naith Guide #1 declare an attack on Watcher in the Water, dealing 6 damage (11 attack vs. 5 shield).
Regain control of Frodo, exhausted with 1 damage on him.

Refresh Phase
Ready all. Raise threat to 42.
Discard Galadriel from play.

Round 7
Sword That Was Broken + Rear Guard x2 (goodbye Snowbourn Scouts!) allows me to blow past the staging area and place 22 progress tokens on the Doors of Durin. Victory!


Resource Phase
+1 Gandalf (1), +1 Sam (2), +1 Aragorn (1), +1 Frodo (1)
Draw: Galadriel
Top Card: Good Meal
Exhaust Steward of Gondor. +2 Aragorn (3).
Exhaust Master of the Forge. Look at top 5 cards and add Good Meal to hand. Shuffle deck.
Top Card: Rear Guard.

Planning Phase
Play: Galadriel (Sam -2, Aragorn -1). Look at top 5 cards. Put Song of Wisdom into play, attached to Aragorn. Put remaining cards back in the following order (top to bottom): Snowbourn Scout, Rear Guard, Galadriel, Envoy of Pelargir.
Play: Snowbourn Scout from top of deck (Gandalf -1).
Play: Snowbourn Scout from hand (Aragorn -1).
Play: Good Meal. Attach to Sam.

Quest Phase
Commit: Gandalf, Sam, Aragorn, Frodo, Galadriel, Naith Guide. Total willpower: 22
Play: Rear Guard (Aragorn -1). Discard Snowbourn Scout to give each hero +1 willpower. Updated willpower: 26.
Play: Rear Guard (discard Good Meal to lower cost to 0). Discard Snowbourn Scout to give each hero +1 willpower. Updated willpower: 30.
Reveal: Eregion. Total threat: 8.
Place 22 progress on Doors of Durin, exploring it and clearing the stage.

Final Scoring
6 Completed Rounds x10: 60
Ending Threat: 42
Total Damage on Heroes: 4 (1 Gandalf, 2 Aragorn, 1 Frodo)
Threat of Defeated Heroes: 0
Victory Display: -2
Total Score: 10

Campaign Resolution
Boon's Anduril, Mithril Shirt, Sting, and Glamdring earned (one added to hand and the rest shuffled into player deck each quest)
Lust for the Ring is not attached to a hero and thus not earned!

Previous Campaign Resolutions
Boon: Mr. Underhill attached to Frodo Baggins
Boon: Noble Hero attached to Sam Gamgee
Burden: Gandalf's Delay added to staging area
Burden: Overcome by Terror shuffled into the encounter deck

Sweet victory!

With this sight being especially sweet.

The Recap

What's not to love? A great helping hand to start with (a boon-in-hand and a card in play for solo players). two rounds of vicious fights against the wargs, and a face-off against the Watcher and the Doors of Durin. Plenty of variety and fun for this player! And it was challenging. After getting destroyed twice, I had to sit back and put some good thought into the right deck. Once I had that, it wasn't a guaranteed win but I wasn't slaughtered either.

Thematically? I think this was a home-run. The first stage features tough decisions for multiplayer or simply a great bonus for solo players. Looking at the perspective of the fellowship vs. the perspective of Frodo, that fits. The next two stages have locations that increase in danger the longer you hang around, with wargs making those locations only more threatening. The wargs themselves seem well-balanced to me (I'm much more inclined to think a evil wolf from the forest could possibly take Aragorn out vs. some shady thug in a bar). But the fourth stage is really where the designers were tested. They already tackled the Watcher before. Yet this time, having only one stage to work with, I think they got much closer to the mark.

The riddles in the original Watcher in the Water quest required a very specific build, deck/encounter manipulation, or good luck to win. Likewise, you could go all-out and simply kill the watcher (or you can cheat with Black Arrow + The Fall of Gil-Galad + Flame of Arnor for the most unthematic victory ever!). Was that ever really a realistic option for the fellowship? No. Here, you have to rescue Frodo from the Watcher (thematic) without being able to kill the watcher (thematic) and overcome the challenge of the doors (thematc). It would have added more theme to remove all warg enemies, have Frodo start taking damage, and still incorporate some sort of riddle into the Doors. But you can't have it all and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

The Black Riders had a great opening followed by two quests that were okay. The Road Darkens likewise has opened strong and I'm eager to see how good the follow-up is.