Wow so far out of the 6 Nightmare quests we have for this deluxe box and matching cycle I have beaten ONE quest. The Stewards Fear.

I thought I would be able to beat Druadan Forest, Peril in Pelargir and Encounter at Amon Din within a few attempts but so far I have racked up about 4 losses against Druadan Forest, 3 losses against Encounter and 2 losses against Peril in Pelargir. Into Ithilien and Siege of Cair Andros I dare not even touch yet. Also with Steward I had INSANE luck all the way through, god like starting hands and plenty of strategy.
Now yes this is only a handful of attempts against each but from these few games I can already tell it may take MANY many attempts to beat Druadan Forest or Peril in Pelargir. I was unable to advance from stage 1 on any of the games I did for these two quests, with Encounter at Amon Din I was able to get to stage 2 at least.

Druadan I get UTTERLY clobbered, Encounter is **** hard but probably the least nasty of the three and Peril is also insane as unless you clear the Leaping Fish first or second turn you are in for some serious hurt. Like I said I have not tried Into Ithilien or Siege of Cair Andros but both look utterly diabolical. I can only imagine what Nightmare Assault on Osgiliath, The Blood of Gondor and The Morgul Vale will be like....!

Essentially I have found that they are far far harder than the nightmare quests for the first and second deluxe box/cycles. Towards the end of the Dwarrowdwelf cycle the last two Nightmare quests are pretty difficult and I have thus to win a game against either but the first 7 nightmare quests for that deluxe/cycle I was able to beat fairly quickly or eventually over several attempts. As well as this Shadow and Flame is legitimately already a very hard quest so the nightmare version should be that difficult, as for Foundations of Stone if you play with more than one player it is hard because you get separated at the end and because my two decks (two handed) compliment each other so well they suffer quite badly on their own so it makes sense that this particular nightmare quest is extremely hard for me.

This cycle of Nightmare decks however just seems substantially harder from the very get go with the very first quest and only gets harder.

Now yes Against the Shadow and Heirs are some of the hardest quests in the game on their own minus Nightmare play so it makes sense that these nightmare decks would be the hardest so far but I'm starting to think that some of them can only be beaten by Dwarves, Outlands or Elrond/Gandalf/Spiritfindel or potentially by playing solo. I'm struggling to see how I could potentially beat them (without resorting to using one of these types of decks which I will not do) and am finding them less fun and challenging than usual and instead just way too punishing. Often first or second turn you get some truly nightmarish encounter reveals that you KNOW you cannot come back from unless you get the perfect hand (and even then stand little chance!!!) and it is fairly disheartening to feel so helpless and doomed that quickly especially after SO MUCH set up time (especially for nightmare) and getting player decks and your playing space all ready. There also seems to be even more surge than usual in the new nightmare quests and a few even feature (no jokes) more nightmare cards than regular cards in the encounter deck....

I really hope that this is BECAUSE this deluxe and cycle are already the hardest of any to date (including Ring Maker which has its difficult quests but does not have anything like Morgul Vale, Into Ithilien or Siege of Cair Andros) and so the nightmare versions are also the hardest of any to date and that it is not just an overall increase in the general difficulty of nightmare quests.

I really really love the art, mechanics and theme of all nightmare decks released to date even including these new uber hard ones and love the challenge as well but really hope it goes back to being much tougher quests that take several more attempts than the normal quest (except for the hardest few quests in a cycle, the nightmare version to these can still be extremely difficult, this makes far more sense) to beat rather than these insanely hard uber nightmare packs. I'll still get and play them either way but the game is already hard enough please put nightmare back to nightmare difficulty and save this double nightmare stuff for POD like Lake Town.

Have you used a generic deck against those, or built specificly against them?

I've beaten Nightmare Into Ithilien with a purpose built deck (https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/breaking-news-giant-bear-dominates-in-battle-none-surprised/) and I just beat Steward's Fear Nightmare this weekend in a two-player game. My deck was Aragorn (Tactics), Mablung and Halbarad and my friend's deck was Haldir, Glorfindel and Galadriel. For both scenarios, it came down to the last round (do or die) and in neither case was it my first attempt, but it is doable. I have a feeling that Nightmare Drúadan Forest will end up being the hardest of the bunch, though the chaining shadow in Encounter is pretty ridiculous as well. I'm really enjoying the latest Nightmare decks, they push even the strongest decks to the breaking point.

What prevents you from going as an extreme resource-generating setup on Drudan?

Have you used a generic deck against those, or built specificly against them?

Generic decks against them all however fairly strong generic decks that can beat most quests (including most nightmare to date). I think this may be my problem though, it seems as though most nightmare quests may require specific deck builds from here on out.

Garden of Poisons in staging at the start of the game stops resource gains through player card effects for at least the first turn/until you can explore it and it also costs resources to travel there.

I thought Druadan would be the easiest of the nightmare decks but it is easily the hardest.

Insane amounts of threat gain, archery and prowl and once you run out of those initial 5 resources on each hero you are screwed and cannot trigger anything that requires you to pay resources like Garden of Poisons and similar cards.

Very very hard to balance the resources you spend on player cards and the resources you spend/save for encounter cards and their effects.

I thought Druadan would be the easiest of the nightmare decks but it is probably easily the hardest.

Omit the word "probably" and you'd be right on the nose.

good catch! fixed

Consider decks using heroes like Gloin, Mablung, Theodred and Bifur when playing against Nightmare Drudan. Grima and Gandalf might fit in too.

I've beaten Nightmare Into Ithilien with a purpose built deck (https://hallofbeorn.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/breaking-news-giant-bear-dominates-in-battle-none-surprised/) and I just beat Steward's Fear Nightmare this weekend in a two-player game. My deck was Aragorn (Tactics), Mablung and Halbarad and my friend's deck was Haldir, Glorfindel and Galadriel. For both scenarios, it came down to the last round (do or die) and in neither case was it my first attempt, but it is doable. I have a feeling that Nightmare Drúadan Forest will end up being the hardest of the bunch, though the chaining shadow in Encounter is pretty ridiculous as well. I'm really enjoying the latest Nightmare decks, they push even the strongest decks to the breaking point.

I gave nightmare into Ithilien a try and got utterly destroyed.... then I decided to give nightmare Siege of Cair Andros a try...

And somehow won!!!! I guess my patience and chain of devastating losses eventually had to give way to a lucky win

I love HON Nightmare! Will make videos about soon!

PiP is a lot of fun with the new NM cards especially multiplayer so that when treacheries come out moving the scroll there is more likely to be an enemy in play. Into Ithilien NM just makes the quest so much more theamatic! all the archery and haradrim running around. Honestly HON comprise my favorite quests and the NM box just makes it the best by far. Just ordered EaAD, AoO, TMV and TSF NM. Can't wait to try, because this cycle was definitely the best followed closely by KD cycle.

Hall of Beorn Card Search now has text spoilers for the rest of the Against the Shadow Nightmare decks.

Enjoy!

http://hallofbeorn.com/Cards/Search?CardSet=Assault+on+Osgiliath+Nightmare&Sort=Set_Number

http://hallofbeorn.com/Cards/Search?CardSet=The+Blood+of+Gondor+Nightmare&Sort=Set_Number

http://hallofbeorn.com/Cards/Search?CardSet=The+Morgul+Vale+Nightmare&Sort=Set_Number

I got all 6 packs today!

Play EaAD quest twice with my Caldara mono spirit deck (inculuded some new cards from last expansions).

One lost one win.

Now this quest become interesting, is not easy anymore as original and villagers mechanic now have a point. I like the way how FFG improve this quest! Cannot wait to play anothers

I got all 6 packs today!

Play EaAD quest twice with my Caldara mono spirit deck (inculuded some new cards from last expansions).

One lost one win.

Now this quest become interesting, is not easy anymore as original and villagers mechanic now have a point. I like the way how FFG improve this quest! Cannot wait to play anothers

Vid, vid, vid, video!!

For now I played Peril in Pelargir 3x (3 victories, and it seemed easier than normal, less random.). Played 1x Into Ithilien, victory despite we were lucky. Amon Din 1x, Victory.

Summary:

2p Peril --> win

2p peril --> win

3p Peril --> win

2p Ithilien --> win

4p Enc. at amon Din --> win

Too bad we haven't lost yet.

I call big luck.

I've played them all at least once so far. The most difficult to me, at least in solo, seems to The Steward's Fear and The Morgul Vale.

I've played them all at least once so far. The most difficult to me, at least in solo, seems to The Steward's Fear and The Morgul Vale.

Not Druadan Forest? What is this insanity?!

I've played them all at least once so far. The most difficult to me, at least in solo, seems to The Steward's Fear and The Morgul Vale.

Not Druadan Forest? What is this insanity?!

Heh, that one is definitely tough, make no mistake, but you can undercut it with the right build (resource generation and location control).

I thought Assault on Osgiliath was kinda tough. I had bad luck with when Relentless Assault would pop up, and a few games in a row I had two sitting there dumping the encounter deck on me every round. It was fun and obviously much improved though from the normal version.

Steward fear and E at AD is crazy difficult solo. I cannot even survive couple if rounds with my Gandalf deck in Stewart fear nightmare. Feels like dol-guldor nightmare for me. I didn't try other quest but those 2 feels like almost impossible….

Right now I have 2 out of 5 winds against TSF, 1 out of 2 against EAD, 2 out of 3 against AoO, and 2 out of 2 against Morgul Vale. Overall these NM quests for HON are amazing and so thematic. Perfect really.

Right now I have 2 out of 5 winds against TSF, 1 out of 2 against EAD, 2 out of 3 against AoO, and 2 out of 2 against Morgul Vale. Overall these NM quests for HON are amazing and so thematic. Perfect really.

You mean solo play? And if yes what kind of deck you use?

No I play 2 handed, I used, Tactagorn, Elladan and Beravor. Elrohir, Halbarad and Idraen. Grey Company decks.