I absolutely love this game: its brilliant mechanics, gorgeus art and how well it conveys the LOTR flavor. When I play some quests I cannot help but think they're simply awesome and wish I could share this opinion with other people who enjoy this game as much as I do, so here it goes: if you've ever felt the same, this is the place for you! :-D

Besides this, I'm curious of knowing which quests are considered the best by the community: from what I can see there is a lot of fine strategic talk going on in this forum, but it seems to me that 'metagame' discussion is a bit lacking. If I'm wrong, feel free to point me some good thread!

So, here are my favorite quests and why!

The ones I've played so far:

Core Set + SoM: all

Khazad-dum + Dwarrowdelf : none, due to KD being unavailable until recently.

Heirs of Numenor + Against the Shadow: all except The Steward's Fear (unavailable).

Voice of Isengard + The Ring-Maker : all

Saga: none (I already have my hands full with regular ones, will surely play them threafter)

POD: Massing at Osgiliath, Battle of Lake-Town, Stone of Erech

Nightmare: Passage through Mirkwood, Journey along the Anduin, Conflict at the Carrock (the last one bought following the advice from TftC)

The ones I liked the most are all those from the Heirs expansion, a couple from the RM cycle and the POD ones. Other favorites are JatA, RtM and to Catch an Orc. The Nightmare ones are very good too.

Passage through Mirkwood: I like the flavor a lot and it's quick, so it's good for when you want a lighter game. Nightmare version improves it, but it's not spectacular.

Journey along the Anduin: truly a classic! this quest is very funny, balanced (since it covers all the aspects of the game) and rewarding. By far the one I played the most, very ingenuous! The final showdown after being Ambushed on the Shore is always a tense moment.

Escape from Dol-Guldur: too hard for solo entirely due to setup; the theme is off, looking forward to playing NM since it seems like it vastly imrpoves the theme.

Conflict at the Carrock: one of the first quests I've played. Good, but I'm not a fan of it. NM improves both mechanics and theme, but it still doesn't impress me as other quests even though I like it.

Return to Mirkwood: unfortunately I played it the first time only after playing the quests from HoN due to availability issues, so I found it a bit underwhelming with the current card pool but it seems a well made quest. Looking forward to NM for this one too.

All in all, the only quests that stands out for me from the CS+SoM is JatA.

Peril in Pelargir: a very very good quest! I love it. I remember well when I first played it I expected to beat it quite easily as it had the fame of being the easiest of the HoN quests; as it turned out, it's not easy at all! I managed to beat, but only after some intensive deckbuilding. The only complaint I have is with the Scroll mechanic, which doesn't really add any tension. Having seen NM cards for this, it seems like this is going to be completely fixed though.

Into Ithilien: another quest I love! it surely is punishing at times, but the constant risk I'm facing makes every moment memorable. One of my top 5 quests.

The Siege of Cair Andros: this probably is my favorite quest in the whole game - I love the mechanics and I really feel like I'm trying to resist while facing unsormountable odds! when I get to the Last Battle I feel a mixture of relief and resolve as I prepare for the fight.. wonderful!

Assault on Osgiliath: solo is pathetic, but after playing it with 3-4 players thanks to OCTGN and some fellow gamers I met there, I completely changed my mind: very funny, and one I'd really like to play again. The only criticism I have is that it's not quite as hard as I expected, as the "chief" enemies are not very challenging. And the quest itself having Battle, too: would have made much more sense.

Blood of Gondor: very good quest, I like a lot the flavor and the mechanic. Challenging to play too, it requires quite a peculiar playstyle.

The Morgul Vale: ouch! This one is brutal: it basically forces you to go Spirt heavy to keep your threat low and be able to quest yourself out the horrible spot you're in at the start of the game. Once one understands that you have to avoid combat as much as possible it becomes a lot easier (but still hard). I don't really want to know how playing it NM version will be like! :-D

HoN+AtS is my favorite cycle so far: I loved the idea of battle/siege since it makes it harder to just pump out questing power and rush to the win, especially since many quests switch from one mode to another during the course of the game; it forces your deck to be varied and to consider all stats of allies/heroes you have, also providing a much-needed break from mass WP spirit ally-armies.

I really hope this is a mechanic we're going to meet again in the future, as it helps keep the game fresh for me and seems very appropriate thematically.

To Catch an Orc: nice quest, very tense. Not one of the best due to the random factor invplved in the Search mechanic: the game can last way too long if Mugash is near the bottom.

The Three Trials: wonderful quest, both from a thematic and mechanic point of view: creepy theme and artwork, and an excellent concept. The best from VoI+RM, imo.

The Nin-in-Eilph: this is a controversial quest from what I've read, but I really like it. In fact, for me it is in par with tTT: I love the flavor (marshes have always intrigued me) and I love how the gameplay reflects the flavor of the quest: even the best deck will feel like crawling, being constantly hindered until the final confrontantion. Brilliant! not a quest you can play with every deck though.

The Antlered Crown: I was hoping for a Battle keyword. Not that funny, a lot of counters and both location heavy and draw-hate: too narrow for my tastes.

I liked the Time mechanic and think it might be useful even for future quests, even though it sometimes feels a bit out of place, since I think there could be other ways of putting pressure on players. Do not mistake me: I think a game like this lives upon creating a sense of urgency for the players, I completely dislike when I'm being able to bide my time and defeat the encounter deck by waiting it out.

Massing at Osgiliath, Stone of Erech, Battle of Lake-Town: all wonderful scenarios, both flavorful and great gameplay-wise. I think the designers really made a good job with these, and I'm hoping to see more stuff of this quality in the future!

I particularly like SoE for its flavor, while BoLT really feels like a long, tiring, terrible fight against a fearsome enemy. When I finish I feel like "Whoa! Made it!".

A question: when you say "very funny," do you mean to say "very fun?" I can't say that Journey Down the Anduin or Assault on Osgiliath made me go "hah hah hah!"

Back on topic, I tend to gravitate toward the moderate difficulty ones. My favorite quest to date is Fog on the Barrow-downs. It is dripping with theme, represents a very creepy moment from the books, and does a fantastic job of employing the 'separated party' mechanic that we also see in a few other quests. In the Barrow-downs, getting separated is a variable and not a fully predictable part of the quest, unlike each other quest with this mechanic. The quest also forces you to defend with your willpower, but you're not totally locked into doing so. It's just the North Downs location that makes you do it, so Thror's Key or some location control or even encounter deck manipulation (Out of the Wild) can let you use your defense stat, making this a quest that tolerates a few more deck types than quests with Siege, Battle, or a keyword like Spectral from the Stone of Erech.

Oh yep, I'm a non-native speaker, please be patient with me! I got confused between the two: I'll correct the mistake!

Good to hear it's a very good quest, I own it but I haven't played it yet.

Quests like SoE or BoLT do require very specific deck building but I am ok with it considering they're not from any cycle, so they do not break the sense of unity you usually feel when playing quests in the same cycle.

Journey Anduin, because is the less special, no need special decks neither special technics. It is good to test new decks

My experience may have been coloured by playing 'progression' style (only with cards available at the time of the release of the adventure) and always two player, as well as only having played both Hobbit boxes + Core through to Road to Rivendell.

While I've enjoyed Anduin, Rhosgobel, Return to Mirkwood quite a lot, and the first hobbit quest immensely (it was the first quest we attempted post Anduin), my answer might be a little surprising: The Lonely Mountain. Not really for any play experience, or replayability - but way it played on our greed as players and got harder the greedier we were was just so *perfect*. All of the quests tell a story - some with more success than others - and some of the villains are superbly crafted (Caradhras, for one), but making it so our biggest enemy was, quite literally, ourselves... it made me think about what games like LOTR can do in general very differently.

I'll keep this short, but on a per cycle basis, it would be the following:

Core+Mirkwood: Journey down the Anduin. Good mix of questing and combat, very intense throughout.

Khazad Dum and Dwarrowdelf: Lots of quite good ones, none really great. Favourite is probably Foundations of Stone.

Heirs + Against the Shadow: Into Ithilien. Tough, but nowadays doable, tends to be very close, and I just love the theme.

VoI + Ringmaker: Haven't played these enough for a definite opinion, but the front runner is Antlered Crown. The next favourite quests are probably Three Trials and the Fords of the Isen.

Hobbit Saga: Battle of the Five Armies. Very cool and unique questing mechanics, still not too easy. Runner-up: Riddles in the Dark. Requires some extra book-keeping, but makes for a fun quest.

LotR-saga: Knifes in the Dark: Just tell me you ever play this quest without being afraid of the big fight in the end. Journey in the Dark is a close second for the very same reason.

Steward's Fear. Because REASONS!

I was going to make the same thread but with your least favorite as well, so I'll just make a thread for that.

Anyway, I think my favorite quests would be: (1) JDtA, which IMO holds up so well, mostly because of it's simplicity in setup and mechanics and that it's challenge still holds up pretty well. Great scenario to test decks. (2) Morgul Vale, which is my favorite boss quest. (3) A Knife in the Dark, my favorite in the Black Riders. I love this quest.

That's the ones off the top of my head.

Quests like SoE or BoLT do require very specific deck building but I am ok with it considering they're not from any cycle, so they do not break the sense of unity you usually feel when playing quests in the same cycle.

Oh and to be sure, I don't mind deckbuilding for a specific quest, and enjoy feeling like I "beat" the encounter deck when my deck handles it well. But I also like to be able to come back to a quest and get a different play experience from it, but still have a chance at winning. If a quest requires one type of deck it ends up feeling more or less the same each time I play it.

@Grand Spleen

Your reasoning makes a lot of sense, though I think I have a differnt perspective: I focus on how much enjoyment I get from a quest as an experience in itself. This means that if a quest is makes me feel like I was really there, say, battling Smaug for me it doesn't matter much if it will feel the same the next timr I'm playing it. To a certain extent, I think almost every quest feels always the same, what may change is the deck you're attempting it with. While having the option to use different decks is surelt good thus I would not welcome a cycle in which you have to use built-on-purpose decks, if specialisation allows for a deeply thematic experience I'm in for it, provided we do not have too many quests like that. IMO POD format works very well for this kind of stuff.

As an aside, I rate higher quests which have both strong theme and mechanics: there are many quests that excel in one of the two but not both: while I enjoy them I prefer the other, more complete ones.

Finally, I've realised playing quests with decks that are too powerful makes fully appreciating them harder than I thought: I'm seriously considering trying "progression series". This might have a big impact upon CS+SoM.

BTW, I also realised I was a bit too critic towards CatC NM: it's a very good quest.

There are just so many awesome quests that make up this game, it's so difficult to choose! However, Hills of Emyn Muil has forever been my favourite, for the sheer epic scope of the thing. For me, there isn't another that recaptures that sense of a journey from the source material quite like this one.

That said, Angmar Awakened is perhaps set to change that.

A while back I started this thread which is pretty similar:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/107343-your-favorite-5-quests-and-why/

Would be interesting to run another poll now that the Ring Maker cycle is complete, The Road Darkens is around and many new nightmare quests also exist now!

Nice, thank you for the link and would like to see a new poll as well!