I killed the troll (with the forest snare) and rushed onto quest card 2. Please confirm my understanding; Each quest phase I am drawing 2 encounter cards (3 if there is a surge), yet the enemy is not engaging, though I can choose to engage him. S

So it's a race to get to the 16 progress tokens and then a huge battle will ensue. Though location cards will still be being played as normal.

If all the monsters are defeated I win.

Should I imagine that the monsters are lining up on the river's edge waiting for me to land?

Thanks for any tips you can provide for this stage. I am soon to achieve my rite of passage.

Regards.

So start with, I don't know which sets you are using but in solo it might be rather hard just with the core set.

Some advises: try to keep the staging clear so make optional engagements if possible, and try to explore locations. Northern Trackers might help you on this. In solo you shouldn't worry too much of the final fight it only reveals the final 2 cards. Which is just as much as in phase 2. The quest is mainly won by killing the troll in phase 1 and keeping control over phase 2.

Next to that I could try to build some decks for you, but I think that's an area of expertise you should try to explore yourself.

Just in case, you draw 1 more encounter time for each surge.

Just one tip: Muster a Giant army before you kill the troll. Then powerquest through 2nd stage as soon as possible. Then win.

Thanks very much for the advise.

I was a bit overwhelmed after the defeat of the troll and moving on to part 2. The monsters were stacking up, as were locations and the threat count was hitting 15 per round I was making about 11 or 12 to counter it. Slowly I was driven up to 50 on the threat counter. I used Northern Tracker (and the other one) to remove locations asap. I also had Dunhere to attack the staging area, so I did do some damage. I have some expansions and adventure packs (more on order). I really want to complete this quest before trying some of the others like in; Khazum Dun and Over Hill and Under Hill.

Here are some straight solo decks using cards from 1 Core set only that I have used to defeat Journey Along the Anduin: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/108837-solo-player-one-handed-1-core-set-only-50-card-deck-that-defeated-journey-along-the-anduin/. The second deck has had a better success ratio for me.

I always aim to first defeat quests only with the cards that were available at the time the quest was released. Makes things more challenging, but it's definitely feasible.

It's so difficult. Yesterday I tried several times. AT best I had both Hill Trolls in forest snares but was still going to lose.

I took a day off today and will try again tomorrow!

http://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/beorns-path/

This series got me through the first adventures very nicely.