How did you beat Return to Mirkwood in 3 turns? Isn't that impossible?

I was questing to a ridiculous degree (due to a low amount of enemies turning up but a stupid amount of treachery cards which added threat one way or the other). I know I seemed to be going through the mission at a heck of a rate so I may have done something wrong.

I was questing to a ridiculous degree (due to a low amount of enemies turning up but a stupid amount of treachery cards which added threat one way or the other). I know I seemed to be going through the mission at a heck of a rate so I may have done something wrong.

The earliest you'd be able to beat it is during turn 4 cause there are 4 quest stages.

That would be pretty goddamn difficult though....

The quest points for each stage are 12, 3, 7, 2. Between a big quest rush, some luck, and Legolas' ability, I don't see why a 3 round game can't happen on occasion. It would be extremely unlikely to pull off (and may require more of the cardpool), but it seems possible to win during the 2nd round if you get a first turn Blade of Gondolin on Legolas: First turn, spam cheap willpower effects to clear stage 1. In combat, hope for a bat to kill and make the progress for stage 2. Quest with what's still in play on round 2 to clear stage 3 and then hope for another weak enemy for Legolas to kill to win. As mentioned, this will only happen once in every 1,000 games or so, but it can be done!

The quest points for each stage are 12, 3, 7, 2. Between a big quest rush, some luck, and Legolas' ability, I don't see why a 3 round game can't happen on occasion. It would be extremely unlikely to pull off (and may require more of the cardpool), but it seems possible to win during the 2nd round if you get a first turn Blade of Gondolin on Legolas: First turn, spam cheap willpower effects to clear stage 1. In combat, hope for a bat to kill and make the progress for stage 2. Quest with what's still in play on round 2 to clear stage 3 and then hope for another weak enemy for Legolas to kill to win. As mentioned, this will only happen once in every 1,000 games or so, but it can be done!

Hmmmm I think once every 1,000,000,000,000 game you mean? Especially considering if there is a SINGLE other enemy in play on stage 4 you cannot win till you kill it

Yup. I shouldn't have made it sound so hopeful, since I doubt I'll ever get a victory in that manner.

But I do think Silverthorn's victory is perfectly reasonable in a treachery-heavy draw from the encounter deck.

Yeah, it can be done.

Round 1 - Quest halfway through first quest stage.

Round 2 - Finish stage 1 of quest, go on to stage 2. Legolas defeats an enemy, and with Gondolin Blade attached (or some other effect, like Ravens of the Mountain), finish stage 2 and go to stage 3.

Round 3 - Quest through stage 3.

Round 4 - Quest through stage 4 and defeat all enemies. Even if you hold everyone back for combat, Legolas can clear the stage by himself after defeating an enemy.

Game ends on round 4, so 30 points from turns (as reported above). Would be fun to watch this game in action, very lucky indeed!

Yeah 3 turns is Doable, 2 is some insane insane luck

All the encounter cards were either enemies who Legolas could kill with two Blades of Gondolin or Treachery/Shadow cards which increased my Threat (by the end of the game I was sick as a parrot about the threat increases).

GAME 109 - ESCAPE FROM MORIA

Heroes:Eowyn, Gimli, Legolas

This game seemed to take longer than it did. Other than a distinct lack of Tactics card draws (boy was I glad I put the HoG on Eowyn) things went according to plan.

Turns (5): 50

Threat: 37

VP: 7

Total: 80

GAME 110 & 111 - THE REDHORN GATE

Heroes: Eowyn, Gimli, Legolas

The first time I tried this quest I made the error of counting Caradhras's WP penalty while it was in the Staging Area. Once I realised that I started again and had a lot more luck. The game was not much of a challenge.

Turns (5): 50

Threat: 34

Damage: 2

VP: 5

Total: 81

GAME 112 - ROAD TO RIVENDELL

Heroes: Elladan, Elrohir, Eowyn

Replacing Legolas & Gimli with the brothers seems to have worked well. I placed a Horn of Gondor straight onto Eowyn and that (alongside the bonus resources added by Arwen) allowed me to pay for the high number of Spirit allies I was playing

Turns (10). 100

Threat: 39

Total: 139

GAME 113 - THE WATCHER IN THE WATER

Heroes: Elladan, Elrohir, Eowyn

This mission seemed to have taken less turns than I had thought. Getting Arwen out early on bolstered Elrohir's defenses and Elladan killed about half a dozen tentacles (or is that the other way around). All in all, the current hero combo seems strong.

Turns (7): 70

Threat: 34

Damage: 2

VP: 3

Total: 112

Triple Entante or E3.

GAME 114 - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (NIGHTMARE)

Heroes; Celeborn, Haldir of Lorien, Legolas

This all-Silvan deck worked well, if slowly (I managed to draw enough high--Threat locations that I was on 37 threat at the end of turn two). Once the deck started rolling I was putting a lot of allies into play (despite being tri-sphere).

Turns (11): 110 + Threat: 39 - VP: 4 = 145.

GAME 115 - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (NIGHTMARE)

Heroes: Beregond, Eowyn & Legolas

My new plan is to try and complete all the quests (other than the Hobbit ones since two of the heroes weren't born then) with the same hero combo. In this case the quest went well, although I wound up having to deal with Ungoliant's Spawn (thankfully, I had a Black Arrow in place on Legolas).

Turns (5): 50 + Threat: 32 + Damage: 2 = 84.

GAME 116 - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (PROGRESSIVE VERSION)

Heroes: Eowyn, Gimli, Legolas.

Trying the old idea of completing quests using decks from sets created at the time, this deck worked better than I had expected.

Turns (5): 50 + Threat: 35 + Damage: 3 = 88.

GAME 117 - JOURNEY DOWN THE ANDUIN (PROGRESSIVE VERSION)

Heroes: Eowyn, Gimi, Legolas.

Due to a lot of early high threat Locations and a couple of the cards which increase threat for every character who isn't questing (not a fun card when Eowyn was doing the bulk of questing), I hit 48 threat on turn three and Eowyn spent most of her resources from that point paying for Galadhrim's Greetings and towards a couple of late-game Gandalf's to kill off a second Hill Troll who popped up on turn 13. All. in all a real struggle to complete the mission (and Journey isn't even the hardest mission in Core Set).

Turns (14): 140 + Threat: 40 + Damage: 1 - VP: 8 = 173.

GAME 118 - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (NIGHTMARE)

Hereos: Beregond, Eowyn, Legolas.

This is probably the worst run of luck I've ever had in a game of LOTR LCG. By the end of turn one, Legolas was dead from the unfortunate combination of losing a Defender of Rammas to a Hummerhorns shadow draw which meant that the follow-up attack from a East Bight Patrol was going to kill one of my heroes and the game went downhill from there. I lasted as far as the combat phase of turn two when three enemies killed my other two heroes with undefended attacks. All in all, not my best hour of playing.

GAME 119 - PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD (NIGHTMARE)

Heroes: Beregond, Haldir of Lorien, Legolas.

This quest was not as difficult as the final score I achieved may make it look. I probably hit every location in the deck, pushing the amount of turns it took to grind through them higher and higher. I also had to do the 'Beorn's Path' option, then hit the Ungolients Spawn o half-way through that.

Turns (14): 140

Threat: 40

VP: 4.

Total: 176.

GAME 121 - A SHADOW OF THE PAST

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Eowyn & Glorfindel (Spirit) and Elladan, Elrohir & Legolas

Going back to a working combination of decks for arun through of all six Fellowship quests. The two decks worked well, with Aragorn's heroes questing hard and Legolas's team killing anything which showed up. In the end Gandalf's Delay and Mister Underhill were added to the Campaign Log. After 8 rounds the scores were 115 for Legolas's team to 117 for Aragorn's team.

GAME 122 - A KNIFE IN THE DARK

Heroes: Aragorn (Lore), Eowyn & Glorfindel (Spirit) and Elladan, Elrohir & Legolas

This went badly. I couldn't kill Bin Ferny fast enough and I wound up with 4 Ringwraiths and the Witch-King at Weathertop. Everybody died. I need to either rebuild my decks from the ground up or start over with new hero combos.

I've decided to go back to my old-school decks with the same heroes which is on http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/104951-two-handed-decks/page-2 . These were ridiculously good decks so I'll give A Knife In The Dark without changing them and see how they hold up before I make any modifications.

GAME 123 - SHADOW OF THE PAST

Heroes; Aragorn (Leadership), Beravor & Theodred and Dunhere, Eomer & Eowyn.

This combo of heroes seemed to work well. The quest went well and I completed the game in 7 or 8 turns (for some reason the post I posted didn't make it as far as this page). Mister Underhill & Gandalf's Delay were added to the Campaign Pool.

GAME 124 - A KNIFE IN THE DARK

Heroes; Aragorn (Leadership), Beravor & Theodred and Dunhere, Eomer & Eowyn.

I was swamped at Weathertop. I may have to change the decks a little.

GAME 125 - A KNIFE IN THE DARK

Heroes; Aragorn (Leadership), Beravor & Theodred and Dunhere, Eomer & Eowyn.

After the disappointment of the last game this one went a lot better. Everybody had at least one wound on them but no heroes died and I managed to complete the quest. In the aftermath Eowyn gained the Warrior trait and Theodred became a Ranger.

GAME 126 - FLIGHT TO THE FORD

Heroes; Aragorn (Leadership), Beravor & Theodred and Dunhere, Eomer & Eowyn.

Another game I just won. Again, every hero was wounded and I was lucky to only gain two new Burdens, Overcome By Terror and Panicked, to the Campaign Pool. The problem with these missions has been the high stats on the Nazgul. At least with the Road Darkens there should be less Nazgul to fight.