Hi Guys,

I'm at my wits end with the first scenario of the Khazad-dûm expansion. I can get through it pretty easily with good mix of cards from different groups, but I really want to go through the scenarios in a thematically consistent way. I'm trying to play these scenarios with a dwarf deck and so far I've had no success whatsoever. As well as the core set I have the first two cycles and both Hobbit expansions so I think that covers all the dwarf cards currently available. I feel like I'm just playing over and over waiting for the cards to fall in such as way that allows me to win, but that obviously takes all the fun out of it. Playing the 'easy' version of it seem to make little difference.

Has anyone managed to get past this first scenario just using dwarves? I've had the most success with Spirit/Tactics with Gimli, Thalin and Nori.... but often don't get past the first quest stage.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated as always..

You definitely want Dain in a dwarf deck.

Hey gavin,

It is pretty possible...

I remember I played thru sometime with a Dwaves Deck... store yoru deck at www.cardgamedb.com, and link or paste here, let us see what are you doing exactly, and I am sure we can help..

Bet regards

ket

when I use dwarf decks, (which I think are the most powerful) I use Dain, oin, and ori. this is a three sphere, which is good and bad. but you have oin to quest for three, dain to defend for three, and with, for instance, a dwarrowdelf ax on ori, he has 4 attack

I recently played through the KD quests using a single mostly Dwarf deck. The only cards I have are Core x3, Mirkwood, and KD (no Hobbit saga expansions… hence the inclusion of a few non-Dwarf allies).

The following deck had a 2/9 success rate against Into the Pit (22%), 1/5 against The Seventh Level (20%), and 3/6 against Flight from Moria (50%):

Heroes (starting threat: 29)

Thanks guys, I've had a little more success with a Leadership/Spirit deck using Dain.. still not cracked it yet though. This is what I'm using at the moment, any advice for improving this would be greatly appreciated!

Hero: (3)
1x Dain Ironfoot (Return to Mirkwood)
1x Dwalin (Khazad-dum)
1x Nori (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Ally: (17)
2x Bofur (The Redhorn Gate)
2x Brok Ironfist (Core Set)
3x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)
3x Longbeard Elder (Foundations of Stone)
3x Gandalf (Core Set)
2x Fili (Over Hill and Under Hill)
2x Kili (Over Hill and Under Hill)

Attachment: (15)
3x Ever My Heart Rises (The Long Dark)
3x Unexpected Courage (Core Set)
3x The Favor of the Lady (Core Set)
1x Miruvor (Shadow and Flame)
1x Hardy Leadership (Shadow and Flame)
2x Boots from Erebor (Khazad-dum)
2x Song of Kings (The Hunt for Gollum)

Event: (18)
3x Untroubled by Darkness (Khazad-dum)
3x The Galadhrim's Greeting (Core Set)
2x Hasty Stroke (Core Set)
2x A Test of Will (Core Set)
3x Durin's Song (Khazad-dum)
1x Lure of Moria (Road to Rivendell)
3x Fresh Tracks (The Long Dark)
1x Ever Vigilant (Core Set)

Gavin,

FIrst I wann tell you that I REALY made your deck, and played twice now...

So ready?

First, you are not using one of the MOST powerfull cards from Leadership, that is the Steward of Gondor.

So we need to find space for it...

So, I am taking out the Fresh Tracks for them, too conditional card, you have to play it in Event phase and expect a enemy show up, and when it shows, just 1 damage and not engage option... too much condition and random factor for too little...

Ok, now sit tight... lets replace a hero, lets get Thalin to replace Dwalin! YES! We have Tactics sphere now...

Take now the 2 Songs of Kings, and the MIruvor, and lets put 3 diferent songs:

1x Song of Kings

1x Song of Travel

1x Song of Battle

Okay, lets remove Longbeard Orc Slayer and Put in Veteran Axehand.. kinda same stats, half cost..

Ever My Heart Rises... Really?

Too much conditional... and just to reduce threat by 1, AFTER a travel.. too much for too little.. OUT! Lets bring more dwarves... Erebor Battle Master in the house now.. 3x...

Ok.. now lets equip better those small guys... Boots or Erebor? +1 HP.. nah.. lets go to +1 HP and 1+ Shield... yep.. Ring Mail... and lets for now remove that 1x Ever Vigilant...

Last move for now... Untrobled By Darkness... too much for too little... lets remove those 3x, and put here some weapons for our small guys... 3x Dwarvenelf Axes...

Ok! PACK, shuffle and try again... seems better now...
But still more room for improovements... gotta go now.. will try more later..

Ket

Guys, why are you playing songs? If you are doing dwarf decks, and have KD, why play songs when you have Narvi's belt? I always put narvi's and steward of Gondor on either oin or bifur depending upon who I'm playing. Songs just take up So much space in your deck. you can also easily get dud cards and have to wait half a game before you can get the right song. if you have dwarves, always go with Narvi's belt.

Also, I would suggest putting in oin from second hobbit instead of Nori. you will most likely be questing with Nori most of the time sense you have dain for defence, so questing with oin is just as good. I would argue with ketaros about ever my heart rises. it is one of my personal favorites, but I only ever use it in the KD quests. they are so full (except maybe 7th level) of underground locations. also, that would fix any issue you have with threat reduction because of no Nori.

Honestly man, you have a lot of good things going for you, here. this is almost exactly like the decks I design for these quests. thumbs up.

One more thing. Sneak attack! Never go anywhere without this card. I love leadership and this is one of the main reasons why. you get gandalf in for one resource, and you get him back into your hand. If your worried about threat, sneak attack can help you with that.

other than that, do what Ketaros said -songs, +narvi + ever my heart rises

Why songs? In my case, because they are neutral cards that anyone can pay for. If you want to get Narvi's Belt in play, you need to be in a position to pay 2 Leadership resources, which means that (using the deck I posted above), even if you start with Narvi's Belt in hand during set-up, it will take you at least two rounds to get it into play if there is no Song of Kings in the deck/hand, three rounds minimum if you try to get Steward of Gondor in play before Narvi's Belt… and I've had situations where I was just as stuck waiting for either Steward or Narvi to show up as I would have been waiting for the right combination of songs.

I've had several occasions where I was able to put Steward of Gondor in play on the first turn because I played Song of Kings in round 1. Gimli spends one resource to give one resource to Bifur (who now has 2), Bifur then buys Song of Kings with one of his 2 resources and attaches the song to himself, and then Bifur and Dain can purchase Steward of Gondor together… which will go to either Bifur or Dain, depending on what my hand looks like. That extra leg up in round 1 has at times been key to achieving victory.

I find that in straight solo play, the key to winning Into the Pit and Seventh Level is to be able to quest really hard when you need to (note: the deck I posted above has no Spirit cards, so all "quest power" must come from Leadership and/or Lore)… and if I use Narvi's Belt during the Planning Phase, then you can't use it again to play events or pay for actions (e.g., Longbeard Map-Maker and Erebor Record Keeper, or even Sneak Attack) in subsequent phases… and there have been times where being unable to do so cost me the game.

I do think that Narvi's Belt does have its uses in certain decks and may be a better choice in certain quests, but my strictly solo play KD experiences with the limited card pool at my disposal have led me to conclude that there are times when the greater freedom provided by songs (compared to Narvi's Belt) is worth the greater deck space they occupy, and the risk that you might not draw them quickly enough. YMMV.

Reminder again that at present I don't own either of the Hobbit saga expansions or any APs from the Dwarrowdelf or later cycles...