I finally got to play Trouble in Tharbad. Man this quest is awesome! It feels so thematic, especially locations have a very thematic feel. It also isn't too hard so even if I lose it doesn't get frustrating. Instantly in my top quests!

And Haldir is just amazing in this quest. :3

My only concern with this quest it doesn't challenge you at all, if you play any hard questing deck. You will win the quest, you don't need any combat at all, which makes it somewhat boring. Played it in 1,2,3 player mode.

I finally got to play Trouble in Tharbad. Man this quest is awesome! It feels so thematic, especially locations have a very thematic feel. It also isn't too hard so even if I lose it doesn't get frustrating. Instantly in my top quests!

And Haldir is just amazing in this quest. :3

My only concern with this quest it doesn't challenge you at all, if you play any hard questing deck. You will win the quest, you don't need any combat at all, which makes it somewhat boring. Played it in 1,2,3 player mode.

It can always be a little concerning when quests are too easy, but it would be very hard for FFG to keep making quests that really challenge you every time in different ways. If nothing else, it is always good to have quests that allow for less power-packed decks and more 'fun-oriented' decks to play.

I finally got to play Trouble in Tharbad. Man this quest is awesome! It feels so thematic, especially locations have a very thematic feel. It also isn't too hard so even if I lose it doesn't get frustrating. Instantly in my top quests!

And Haldir is just amazing in this quest. :3

My only concern with this quest it doesn't challenge you at all, if you play any hard questing deck. You will win the quest, you don't need any combat at all, which makes it somewhat boring. Played it in 1,2,3 player mode.

I like it because it feels unique. And I got your point, with quesiting deck you really can win easily, so I tend to build deck that doesn't have a ton of willpower. So I still lose because of that.

The quests I don't like are the quests where you just take a stroll and don't need to do anything.

The most fun one so far has been the Khazad-Dum quests where you have to dig yourself out. The quests can drag on - we're going up the stairs, aaaand down again... and uuuup, and down - but it's something different at least.

The troll-fight is also quite fun, and to be honest: most quests are. As long as it's distinct.

But like someone indicated before, some quests just get broken by certain cards. You can't always have counters. "Sleeping Sentry", if not prepared for, can just **** you. I once had one to start the game with (exhausting everyone before it even started), and a second one as a shadow effect. Kinda unbalanced as it happened on a Goblin Spearman, immediately killing the defended pre-attack, and the attack bonus almost killing another of my heroes. Luckily that happened near the end and I was able to complete the objective, but in specific situations that can just wreck you so much to the point you're not playing the quest without the counters and the hero with the counter-effect. And enforcing specific cards shouldn't be the point of the game. That said, they don't need to nerf it or something, but let's just keep it more balanced in the future (for instance: only discard exhausted allies).

Best Quest:

To Catch An Orc

A Knife In The Dark

The Stone Of Erech

Return To Mirkwood

The Morgul Vale

A Journey To Rhosgobel

I don't like:

Druadan Forest

Into Ithilien

We have very different tastes caesar since i hate to Catch an Orc and Journey to Rhosgobel. Return to Mirkwood isn´t in my top ten either and Into Ithilien is one of my favourite quests. But everyone has it´s opinion of things.

Top 5 best quest

1.Journey Along Anduin: Lots of victory points (which i like), pretty long quest, all-around quest, challenging but not too hard, good for testing decks.

2.Foundations of Stone: Many options where you will be washed after stage 3b, nameless enemies are very unpredictable, different and killing them rewards you with victory points and contains extra objectives that you don´t neccesery need to complete this quest

3.The Siege of Cair Andros: Best battle quest i have, full of enemies to play with, shadow cards are crazy and very unpredictable and battleground mechanic is great.

4.Into Ithilien: Optional ranger objectives, i like story and theme of this quest and again it´s challenging but not too hard.

5.Steward´s fear: Underworld mechanic is good, 3 different plots and villain enemies makes quest always different and you have to prepare to everything and theme is also great.

Top 5 worst quests

1.Escape from Dol Guldur: No space for writing so i just say that i HATE this quest. Especially when playing solo...

2.The Hills Of Emyn Muil: Booooriiing and too easy.

3.To Catch an Orc: Search mechanic annoying if you´r trying to get high scoreand 2 player games are too hard for us (don´t ask me why too long story).

4.Into Fangorn: Quest and hope that Huorns won´t kill you = WIN.

5.We Must Away, Ere Break of Day: I don´t like quest´s which you have to be carefull for making too much progress, Wind-Whipped Rain (i hate that card even more than Sleeping Sentry) and searching of Troll Key, Troll Purse and Troll Camp before advancing to the next stage is very annoying.

• The Redhorn Gate: thematic, atmospheric, cold and cool

I didn't like that quest. Unless I'm missing something, you need to somehow find one of the two mountains hidden in the deck. If 'unlucky', this could last ages. Maybe you can include stuff like the Black Arrow in your deck and hope you run into the 'stairs', but apart from that, you're just playing the waiting game.

But I do agree it's thematic and atmospheric.

So far of the ones i have played, solo one deck only (includes Core & Mirkwood, Khazad & Dwarrowdelf, Isengaard & Ringmaker, Hobbits sagas, Black Riders)

Favourite quests :

Seventh Level

Redhorn Gate

Passage to Mirkwood (with a bit of nightmare added in)

Journey along the Anduin

Watcher in the Water

Journey to Rhosgobel

Ruins of Belegost (with tweaked rules)

Worst Quests :

We Must Away

To Catch An Orc

Dungeons Deep & Caverns Dim

The Lonely Mountain

Celebrimors Secret

Escape from Dol Guldur

In terms of deluxe 3 quest boxes overall i give a big round of applause for Khazad Dum & Black Riders and a sigh of general frustration for Hobbits Over Hill and Voice of Isengaard (largely hating the time mechanic).

I dont like: Dunland Trap, Nin-in-Eliph, Fog-Barrows, Rhosgobel, 3 Trials.

Rather than just making a list, which I have done before and will do again, I want to answer yhe question with quest mechanics and themes that work and don't.

Best:

Quests that are simple, straightforward, and fast. They require the least time because deckbuilding needs are not exotic and playthrough almost never drags on into dreariness. These quests incluse: Seventh Level, Road to Rivendell, Amon Din

Quests that are particularly thematic or unique without being overly punishing or tedious. These quests include: Trouble at Tharbad, Escape from Mt. Gram, Stone of Erech

Quests that have particularly epic challenge and feel, especially with a replayability that makes you want to go back and relive the grand moments again and again

These quests include: The battle of 5 armies, Helm's Deep

Worst:

Quests with mechanics that can cause frustrating delays that end up making the quest slog on and on, especially with a deck not teched to avoid the slog

These quests include: To catch an Orc, Nin Il Elth

Quests that turn out to be painfully easy because you can just ignore all threats and speed quest through, often beating it in 3 turns. The designers needbto test for max questing.

These quests include: Dead Marshes, Into Fangorn

Quests with lots of clerical work (can you say time counters, uuugh) or otherwise tedious/boring activities such as shuffling a lot.

These quests include: Antlered Crown, Riddles in the Dark

The lists are not exhaustive and sometimes yhere are other issues like "surprise you lost!" randomness that is so lame. Most quests are a mixed bag of both good and bad, and many are uneven, sometimes great and other times miserable. Overall, the game is great and by cycle Mirkwood is uneven, Dwarrowdelf good, HoN great, Ringmaker aweful, Angmar good, Stormcaller great. Almost all the standalone quests are great and saga stuff is uneven.

Rather than just making a list, which I have done before and will do again, I want to answer yhe question with quest mechanics and themes that work and don't.

Best:

Quests that are simple, straightforward, and fast. They require the least time because deckbuilding needs are not exotic and playthrough almost never drags on into dreariness. These quests incluse: Seventh Level, Road to Rivendell, Amon Din

Quests that are particularly thematic or unique without being overly punishing or tedious. These quests include: Trouble at Tharbad, Escape from Mt. Gram, Stone of Erech

Quests that have particularly epic challenge and feel, especially with a replayability that makes you want to go back and relive the grand moments again and again

These quests include: The battle of 5 armies, Helm's Deep

Worst:

Quests with mechanics that can cause frustrating delays that end up making the quest slog on and on, especially with a deck not teched to avoid the slog

These quests include: To catch an Orc, Nin Il Elth

Quests that turn out to be painfully easy because you can just ignore all threats and speed quest through, often beating it in 3 turns. The designers needbto test for max questing.

These quests include: Dead Marshes, Into Fangorn

Quests with lots of clerical work (can you say time counters, uuugh) or otherwise tedious/boring activities such as shuffling a lot.

These quests include: Antlered Crown, Riddles in the Dark

The lists are not exhaustive and sometimes yhere are other issues like "surprise you lost!" randomness that is so lame. Most quests are a mixed bag of both good and bad, and many are uneven, sometimes great and other times miserable. Overall, the game is great and by cycle Mirkwood is uneven, Dwarrowdelf good, HoN great, Ringmaker aweful, Angmar good, Stormcaller great. Almost all the standalone quests are great and saga stuff is uneven.

I agree with a lot of this. Frustrating delays on quests can be seriously annoying. A good example (for me) of a quest that avoids this but adds a delay (in a sense) is the saga quest with Shelob. You have to deal with Shelob for ages, and you can't just smack Shelob with a mega-hit the first time you meet, but at the same time Shelob does not hit so hard that the delay is annoying or cheesy (just a challenge) and the overall effect is excellent. Nin In Eilph, on the other hand, annoyed me no end. I am also generally less keen on quests that mess around too much with your deck (I'm looking at all the sorcery in Angmar). A little would be fine, but discarding cards constantly from the deck got so...boring, actually.

Quests with lots of clerical work (can you say time counters, uuugh) or otherwise tedious/boring activities such as shuffling a lot.

These quests include: Antlered Crown, Riddles in the Dark.

To Catch an Orc takes a ton of set-up, as does Misty Mountains Grim and Ruins of Belegost (although that one is cool enough to be worth it). The other 2, I've almost never beaten just because I don't feel like resetting after I lose.

I usually enjoy all quests except something annoys me . That includes:

-TIME PRESSURE. It's the worst thing for me. It was ok when you just had some locations, which shouldn't take to much damage. Got worse when they introduced time counters and finnally came to the flight of the stormcaller. I like to play "late-game", aka stabalising and then smashing he encounter deck (ofc not always the case ). Time mechanics don't allow for that. Ofc you should be taken out of your comfort zone every once in a while, but I prefer quests that just get worse, just because you give it time to develop as well. Anyway this results in some "unloved" quests: Journey to Rosgobel, VoI + Ringmaker, Flight of the stormcaller.

-DELAYING. It is so annoying when you have victory in reach just to be set back again and again, because of what ever effect. 15 minutes later you win anyway, but had to flip some Cards to be 100% sure. Examples: The old forest, Nin-Il-Elth​, to catch an orc, the fate of numenor (trying to find morgoth temple)

-SEARCHING/EXTREME RANDOMNESS. this means looking for specific Cards from the Encounter deck. It is so demotivating to see Cards like athelas or clues as shadowcards or getting discarded. Recently played Murder at the prancing Pony and I checked the Investigation deck like 15 times and found only 2 hideouts. I just don't like it if you can't advance (safely), because something doesn't Show up. Examples: Murder a tthe prancing Pony, Rosgobel, Hunt for Gollum, Riddles in the dark (still don't know how These "riddles" can be fun, either you build your deck to fit and it's no Problem or you don't and guess like Gollum )

I don't really care about set-up time and also find quests at the Ends of the difficulty Rating (top and bot) entertaining (Mount gram, amon din, Carn Dum etc.)

My favorite quests are thematic (hello saga ), epic (Carn Dum, Lake-Town) or simply unique (Mount gram, morgul Vale)

I usually enjoy all quests except something annoys me . That includes:

-TIME PRESSURE. It's the worst thing for me. It was ok when you just had some locations, which shouldn't take to much damage. Got worse when they introduced time counters and finnally came to the flight of the stormcaller. I like to play "late-game", aka stabalising and then smashing he encounter deck (ofc not always the case ). Time mechanics don't allow for that. Ofc you should be taken out of your comfort zone every once in a while, but I prefer quests that just get worse, just because you give it time to develop as well. Anyway this results in some "unloved" quests: Journey to Rosgobel, VoI + Ringmaker, Flight of the stormcaller.

-DELAYING. It is so annoying when you have victory in reach just to be set back again and again, because of what ever effect. 15 minutes later you win anyway, but had to flip some Cards to be 100% sure. Examples: The old forest, Nin-Il-Elth​, to catch an orc, the fate of numenor (trying to find morgoth temple)

-SEARCHING/EXTREME RANDOMNESS. this means looking for specific Cards from the Encounter deck. It is so demotivating to see Cards like athelas or clues as shadowcards or getting discarded. Recently played Murder at the prancing Pony and I checked the Investigation deck like 15 times and found only 2 hideouts. I just don't like it if you can't advance (safely), because something doesn't Show up. Examples: Murder a tthe prancing Pony, Rosgobel, Hunt for Gollum, Riddles in the dark (still don't know how These "riddles" can be fun, either you build your deck to fit and it's no Problem or you don't and guess like Gollum )

I don't really care about set-up time and also find quests at the Ends of the difficulty Rating (top and bot) entertaining (Mount gram, amon din, Carn Dum etc.)

My favorite quests are thematic (hello saga ), epic (Carn Dum, Lake-Town) or simply unique (Mount gram, morgul Vale)

I would add Flight from Moria into the Delaying category. I played it last night in nightmare mode and I had a solid game going with a dwarf deck but I had to go round after round until a quest mode that allowed me to win (without abandoned tools which which would not show up) appeared. I believe there are only two quest cards that allow you to actually finish the game and with nightmare mode requiring you to shuffle bypassed quest cards rather than place it on the bottom it becomes a very luck-based game. I did end up winning and I wouldn't even argue that it is overly difficult, but it is frustrating that despite everything in the game going right you cannot end the game because of win conditions you have very little control over. I wouldn't rate it as one of the worst (non-NM Hills of Emyn Muil gets that IMO), but given the randomness it is not going to be one I play very often, if at all.

My favorites in no particular order:

Journey to Rhosgobel (I remember really liking the theme to this one, and I love eagles, it just stood out as different in a good way which I always appreciated)

Seventh Level (NM) - Really like this quest, especially with more than one player as the encounter deck can really combo with itself in a way that is not too frustrating.

Flight of the Stormcaller - long setup, played it wrong a number of times early, but it is still a very thematic and fun quest.

Fords of Isen - Probably the quest I have played the most. It was really different at the time and although i might not have liked the time mechanic overall, it did lead to different deck builds.

Encounter at Amon Din - easy but fun

Siege of Cair Andros - did not appreciate this quest (or any of HoN quests at the time) - however, as time goes by I think this quest is very thematic and has a good level of difficulty.

Favorites:

I have to say that one of my favorites is flight from moria. Having to search through the quest deck for the right cards, while trying not to get too many victory points (dreadful gap is one of the most annoying cards in the deck) provides a great play experience.

Journey down the Anduin is of course a great quest. It has become basically a testing ground for decks. If it can beat JdtA then it might be playable.

I really like Return to Mirkwood. Having to rush through the quest praying you don't run into an attercop or hill troll makes a great play experience.

I actually really like the first hobbit quest We Must Away Ere Break of Day. Although it is very easy to win normally, the challenge comes when you try to get the treasures. Even with my amazing dwarf decks I had to retry it multiple times to be able to get them.

Least Favorites:

As for bad quests, I found Into the Pit kind of tedious. It can be fun, but most of the time, it's just boring.

Hills of Emen Muil is also boring, I'm sure quite a few people agree with me.

The seventh level is a quest I have grown to hate. In multiplayer it is quite fun provided you have good combat decks, however in solo, it is really annoying and random. You can go from 1 enemy to 5 in two turns, and unless you are using tactics boromir, you are basically screwed. Also it is a 30 card encounter deck with two cave trolls and a chieftan of the pit.

Although I haven't had any difficulty with the Long Dark (due to really good luck), I can see how it could be really annoying because of the insanely low number of pass cards.

Shadow and Flame is a weird quest. With the wrong deck it is impossible, but if you have galadriel, or hama feint, or even nori, it becomes really easy. I can't say I liked it, but it wasn't the most disagreeable quests.

The lonely mountain is also a bad quest just because of the chance that smaug wipes out all of your heroes in one turn before you have the chance to even try to win.