A New Stand-alone Scenario Is Now Available for The Lord of the Rings

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5203

For people that have played all of the POD quests (Massing at Osgiliath, Lake Town, Stone of Erech, Old Forest, and Barrow-downs), how would you rank them and why?

More Saga quests? Yes please! Order submitted.

For people that have played all of the POD quests (Massing at Osgiliath, Lake Town, Stone of Erech, Old Forest, and Barrow-downs), how would you rank them and why?

Lake Town is easily the hardest. It remains as the only non-nightmare quest I haven't beaten. I haven't made decks specifically for it however and using decks that aren't specifically built for it pretty much means an instant loss.

Stone of Erech I had great difficulty with and I think it is very hard indeed and the second hardest POD, many others think it is a walk in the park. How this is the case with the uber nasty quest stage effects, King of the Dead etc I have no idea. Probably like Lake Town this is due to decks built very specifically for the quest with really high willpower and willpower boosts to offset the Spectral keyword.

Next I would say Massing at Osgilith if you don't have that many player cards or a limited player card pool. If you have all the player cards to date (and/or a second core set) it becomes much much easier. If you have all cards then I would actually rank it as the easiest. Playing with only cards that were released when it come out it is the third hardest though in my opinion. Like Stone of Erech there are some pretty nasty quest stage effects and the Witch King is pretty badass. I have actually personally never lost a single attempt against this quest. I did have all player cards up to (but not including) VOI by the time I got my hands on it though making it far far easier.

After Stone of Erech I would say The Old Forest simply because of how easily you can get location locked and how much location management is needed. Plus stage 2 constantly changes and if you get the nasty stage that removes a location from the victory display too often it can stop you from advancing to stage 3 for a fair while or at all! Old Man Willow also raises threat like crazy so you have to finish the final quest stage quite fast.

Lastly I would say Fog on the Barrow Downs. I do have decks that are very reliable combat wise however so most quests that feature difficult combat as the main threat are usually not too hard for me. I was able to beat this quest pretty easily as the Wights were not an issue.

Keep in mind I have played Massing, Stone and Lake town a whole handful of times each (lots of games of Massing) whereas with the Old Forest and Fog on the Barrow Downs I've only played a handful of times until I was able to beat them. Really need to go back and play these two some more (especially Fog) as they are both fun and challenging.

So yeah in order of hardest to easiest:

Battle of Lake Town

Stone of Erech

The Old Forest

Fog on the Barrow Downs

Massing at Osgiliath (third hardest not last if you don't have all the player cards and only have cards released before this was)

These are obviously just my opinions and everyone will have different ones considering how different player decks and strategies can be.

Thanks for the info. How would Massing and Fog on the BD compare to NM quests? Are they hard like, say, NM RtR or tougher? I recently found a place that brought a single copy of each in my country and it is a rare opportunity for me pick them up, however I have anough trouble beating all but the easiest NM quests right now.

When Massing first came out it seemed insane. Not so bad now though.

If you own all or most of the cards through Nin, Massing and Fog are much easier than most NM quests if you play solo. They get harder as more players are added. I happened to play both scenarios with 4 players at our Fellowship Event last month. Fog was pretty rough with 4 players, Massing wasn't too bad. Difficulty aside, I enjoy both quests simply for their content alone.

Thanks for the info. How would Massing and Fog on the BD compare to NM quests? Are they hard like, say, NM RtR or tougher? I recently found a place that brought a single copy of each in my country and it is a rare opportunity for me pick them up, however I have anough trouble beating all but the easiest NM quests right now.

I would say as long as you have all the player cards Massing is probably easier than most nightmare quests. Fog on the Barrow Downs really isn't too difficult either. Also both are incredibly flavourful, fun and challenging in a good way. You should be able to beat both eventually. I would stay away from Stone and Lake Town until you're a little more confident. Old Forest isn't THAT hard but may just take a fair few attempts.

'Lost and Witless' seems Enya: ^^

definitely getting this.. these small expansions seam to be my favorite quests in the game. Absolutely LOVED Stone of Ench .. I think it was one of the best quests ever made.

definitely getting this.. these small expansions seam to be my favorite quests in the game. Absolutely LOVED Stone of Ench .. I think it was one of the best quests ever made.

Really? For that quest worse one from POD

Narr I loved it. I felt it was one of the best. It is fairly weak when playing solo. You need 2 plays to really see it shine. I just loved the mechanism that added time to the game. I thought that was so awesome and wish time was in the base rules somewhere. Seams kinda auto include for a quest type game. I have been talking about time in this game for years.. so a quest that has it.. shoots up for me.

Thanks for the info. How would Massing and Fog on the BD compare to NM quests? Are they hard like, say, NM RtR or tougher? I recently found a place that brought a single copy of each in my country and it is a rare opportunity for me pick them up, however I have anough trouble beating all but the easiest NM quests right now.

If you get them let us know how you go =)