13 hours ago, TwiceBornh said:

Looking back at my sheets, looks like I only used Gimli when playing 2-handed.

Seems I beat the quest solo progression using Frodo, Aragorn (L) and Glorfindel (S)... but lost far more than I won, and that was the only lineup I tried. It's been over 2 years since I last played Lake-Town... I think either Aragorn (L) or Glorfindel (S), with Frodo and Gimli might also work solo.

I've not had another play yet but glorfindel (s) frodo and gimli is indeed my setup.

Another play. Lost.

The tactics seem to be working okay, not great and I bust threat. I hadnt got past stage 1 but had good progress and about 4 victory points.

I suffered from not getting Valinor on Glorfindel so he was expensive. Also, Gandalf(Hobbit) didnt seem worth his cost without the when-played effects as all he did was quest, so his ability didnt help (going to swap out for core).

Also, Northern Tracker and Lorien Guide came out and are expensive but didnt play well as there werent many locations in play at that point. So they didnt pay for themselves.

I think the theory is sound but not the best hand. Going to swap out Galdalf as I could really have done with the threat reduction of core (or card draw) then play another game later

Its really hard, and its tiring having so many hard quests in a row after HoN box, but its not as frustrating as HoN. If I can just get past this quest I am onto Hobbit-box-2 before the HoN-Cycle so should be a little breather. Just need to master this one

and another game and smashed again.

Not one turn did I have enough possibility at all to beat the threat in the staging area, not one single turn. It was still fun but nothing I could do at any turn.

I am going to redesign my deck. I have been thinking that Gimli is doing very little and IF I were to get to final combat, it would be quite difficult to get him damaged enough to fight without actually killing him. There is only the Dragon causing damage and he causes quite a bit which also cannot be relied on due to the many shadow effects. Gimli powered up and then playing Khazad Khazad would be such massive damage but can I actually get him injured enough without being dead? Whereas I am really struggling to quest well even with spirit as two heroes. No point having a good end-game plan if I cant get there.

So.. I have two main thoughts.

1: I remove tactics completely and replace with either Leadership (celebrians stone, steward of gondor, faramir and then loads of allies) or Lore (threat-reset-Aragorn plus loads of allies)

then the next thought:

2: Is Frodo worth keeping for the Dragon attacks rather than a chump blocker? Do I replace him with Eowyn to quest hard?

Build up the allies to quest and/or block and then hopefully have enough peoples to battle Smaug if I get to the end.

I think that playing both Frodo and lore-reset can be smart.

But if you don't play Frodo you must stay low on threat. The threat trouble is about not being engage so only get down one time with aragorn when you reach 35 (so you can't anymore escape from 2 out 3 dragon) is not enough. If you planned to be engaged with the dragon and sacrifice an ally each turn give up, there is no way you can win this .

Just had another game WOW!

Lost, but close.

I redesigned with Leadership in place of Tactics. Thorin as hero.

It was a battle all the way, really hard. Got Valinor and Celebrian and Steward of Gondor on Glorfindel. Got Unexpected Courage on both Thorin and Frodo.

Went really well but all a battle. Got a good few allies out but the 1-damage treachery kept thinning them out.

Got all the way to then end and killed Smaug, by this time Frodo was dead. Victory points: 30, Damage on Laketown: 33 arrgghh lost. The last few turns Laketown had taken bad overspill damage as Frodo had dies and thus chump blockers were left to defend. But it was so close.

If I had got a threat reduction out one or two turns earlier, Frodo would have survived as threat wouldnt have been too high to avoid saving him. One less "burn" damage card also would have made the difference. So it was soooooooooooo close, could have been a win.

I was lucky with the good cards I got onto the heroes, but it still played well and hard. Will stick with this deck for another try next time.

Another big loss, never got off the ground really.

Hardly ever had enough willpower to beat threat the whole game. Those 1 damage treachery and shadow cards really bashed my allies. My deck had cancellation but it just didn't come out.

I just trod water in stage 1 the whole time until my that busy from frodo taking dragon attacks.

Hard game.

and another play.

Loss

Long game but struggled all the way. Almost completed stage 1 before threat bust.

Never got Valinor on Glorfindel so threat was rising quickly. Tried to keep under control but nope.

Too much damage and not enough questing progress.

Very hard.

I know this is intended as a hard quest, but after playing the 3 HoN quests and then this, 4 of the hardest quests I have ever played is tough going. I can see why the internet records a large group of players quitting the game at this point in its history, there just doesnt seem much let-up. Im still enjoying it, but not as much as I used to. Right now, every card from the decks seems crucial, every decision a game-breaker. The win margin seems so slight and so dependant on draw, the relaxed fun of the game isnt there in these scenarios for me.

In one sense thats the way it SHOULD be in a dragon-attacked town, so its well designed, BUT I think released at a bad time. 4 hard quests in a row is simply soul-sapping. Either Laketown would have been better a little later, or HoN deserved one or two easier quests for its box I think.

I am going to stick with this scenario for now, I have hopes (low) to beat, but I think its days are numbered before I throw in the towel and move on (So far Dol Guldur is the only time I have done that). This saddens me, but I would rather keep enjoying my game then end up run down. The game needs to be challengin, but fun too. For me these 4 quests back-to-back are too brutal. I couldnt even dream to think of a thematic deck for these.

Ill carry on with my current deck as I think its capable of defeating the scenario, but I do have a side-though that I might try. Leadership and Lore (not sure if I would have enough questing) so that I could get Gloin with citadel plate to defend the dragon without raising threat.. Then Lore healers to get him back healthy (all the while generating big resource to get extra cards into play). Plate is expensive and this relies on getting out healer cards while maintaining a good questing score, so I dont know if it can work at all. Its just an initial thought.

Am i correct that your going to move on to On the Doorstep after this, and then AtS cycle? AtS cycle really switches things up, increases the storyline part of the game by massive amounts, and is the beginning of what I would like to call the version 2.0 of this great game. Looking forward to hearing more!

1 hour ago, Khamul The Easterling said:

Am i correct that your going to move on to On the Doorstep after this, and then AtS cycle? AtS cycle really switches things up, increases the storyline part of the game by massive amounts, and is the beginning of what I would like to call the version 2.0 of this great game. Looking forward to hearing more!

Yes as far as I know that's the correct progression order

Another loss.

Poor from the start

Turn one I got two allies out which drained my resources, then the first card killed them with no cancellation. So my hand was badly depleted and resources were zero. From there I grew into location-lock and lost out to threat eventually.

Not great, not so much fun either.

Im beginning to see my current deck is far too reliant on draw luck and the first go with it that almost won was far too lucky. I need to redesign my deck

I do not feel like moving on yet, but this run of hard quests is also not making me want to play numerous games in a row. Its too hard work. Feels like losing from the start and hoping for some luck to land.

Ill take a break from it and think about a deck redesign. So far my big problems are questing high and threat. I may use Lore Aragorn to try help the threat. As for questing, well thats a difficult one. My location allies havent been able to avoid location lock because of the Wharf card that keeps nullifying them, so they are expensive for what they are. I think try for more allies with raw questing power if I can.

Ive had enough and am throwing in the towel.

After a long break to clear my head I had a game at Laketown today with a new deck and didnt even get a single progress. It simply was not fun. Right now I am no longer actually enjoying the game as I just cannot figure out this scenario for my play and its become a chore for me as it is too hard for my abilities. If I keep going I will ruin my enjoyment of the game completely so now is the time to put aside Laketown and move on.

I will next go to On The Doorstep as this appears to be next release before the Stewards Fear. Hopefully I will have a better time at that. Maybe I will return to Laketown in the future with a bigger cardpool like I plan to do someday for Escape From Dol Guldur.

Defeated.

I support that. Lake-town requires specific deck building and can be frustrating even with proper deck. What worries me is that you go straight into On the Doorstep, which contains at least one quest annoying for similar reasons.

Come on, Alexbob, you can do it! I'm new here, but I've read this thread enthusiastically and am rooting for you! I'm buying and playing progression style, and Battle of Lake Town is next on the list. I understand if you feel done with this one, but I'd love to hear you've beat it.

As my play is progression, it seems On The Doorstep is next so thats the one I grabbed. If I get frustration with one I will move on again as I want to keep enjoying this game.

As for Laketown, I will come back to it one day but for now its stopped being fun and thats when to move on.

For the first quest of OTD I have picked one of the suggested decks from the instructions, which I think will be awful. But its a starting point for me to see where the scenario goes before deck building again.

8 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Come on, Alexbob, you can do it! I'm new here, but I've read this thread enthusiastically and am rooting for you! I'm buying and playing progression style, and Battle of Lake Town is next on the list. I understand if you feel done with this one, but I'd love to hear you've beat it.

Best of luck I really hope you beat it

Thanks!

6 hours ago, alexbobspoons said:

As my play is progression, it seems On The Doorstep is next so thats the one I grabbed. If I get frustration with one I will move on again as I want to keep enjoying this game.

As for Laketown, I will come back to it one day but for now its stopped being fun and thats when to move on.

For the first quest of OTD I have picked one of the suggested decks from the instructions, which I think will be awful. But its a starting point for me to see where the scenario goes before deck building again.

On the doorstep is next for me too, I plan to double hand it and use both suggested decks. I'm not good enough at the game to true solo it. I think.

4 hours ago, Ywingscum said:

On the doorstep is next for me too, I plan to double hand it and use both suggested decks. I'm not good enough at the game to true solo it. I think.

I don't think I am good at the game but so far solo single handed only laketown and dol guldur have beaten me. Sometimes it's just trial and error.

I found the previous hobbit suggested decks awful so am expecting the same and just see if as a starting point really.

Best of luck

Played a game of spiders and flies with the tactics and lore deck. Did well got to stage 4 before smashed.

Enjoyed it!

Don't think the decks worked well at all I played very few good cards. Bilbo got his ring thigh and that helped a lot.

So far, I think key things look to be good defending, good attacking, good questing. Some cancellation would be nice.

Also, maybe powering up individual hero's would be better than multiple allies due to then having less unconscious to fix. But then less to soak poison.

Well have a deck tweak before another go. Add more tactics combat tricks to shift spiders fast, then some questing cards. Might swap lore for spirit for questing, cancellation and threat reduction. Also defender of ramas is needed

Was nice to enjoy losing a quest again

In spider of flies you need to be a little bit lucky because when your entire board felt unconscious you can't deal well with enemies so if two enemies arrive right after you will die in almost every case or any deck.

In multiplayer I think that the key is to think in advance about the deck who will own Frodo when passing to the split stage. It must be the deck with good heroes, and absolutely not the deck with a lot of allies (who need to smashed tons of spider outside, waiting for him). A deck with tactics is often good with that (good heroes, not that much allies, event that help).

Just wanted to say I've really enjoyed reading the past 16 pages of your time with the game. I'm just coming back in myself and am also doing progression style. I first got the game about two years ago and played a ton of the core set, then eventually picked up the first cycle. Life happened and I only got through two of the AP's before having to set the game aside for a time. I'm looking forward to finally finishing off the first cycle and getting into the dwarves. Eventually I hope to have as complete a collection as you!

On 16/02/2018 at 9:02 PM, TheGuardian118 said:

Just wanted to say I've really enjoyed reading the past 16 pages of your time with the game. I'm just coming back in myself and am also doing progression style. I first got the game about two years ago and played a ton of the core set, then eventually picked up the first cycle. Life happened and I only got through two of the AP's before having to set the game aside for a time. I'm looking forward to finally finishing off the first cycle and getting into the dwarves. Eventually I hope to have as complete a collection as you!

That's fantastic thank you for your kind words and wow on getting through 16 pages. Life has me busy too right now but I am nearly back to playing again

Yay I had a great game today after big break.

I went to my box and found my desk was in bits following previous redesign thoughts, so looked at my last bits here and designed a new deck on my notes.

Double tactics with single spirit. Gimli, Legolas and Glorfindel (s)

Spirit I included threat reduction, cancellations, light of valinor, unexpected courage and arwen undomiel. Tactics I went combat orientated. Plus gandalf etc

It went really well. First draw I had valinor and bilbos ring. Great. Very lucky start.

Early on I got citadel plate onto gimli, wow he soaked poison. Got stuck when the great Web location meant we couldn't quest to remove location lock but arwen was drawn and played and we slowly removed it as she tipped the balance. That was a tough point. Unexpected courage went on gimli and things went good then.

From then on it was mainly combat and questing

Managed to quest through stage 3 and 4 to a win.

Stage 3 was the most difficult. At first because of unconsciousness but then later because even with all characters conscious, the Web location plus lots of poison meant I couldn't quest enough to clear the location (until arwen) so it was worrying at that point.

But it came good. Great game and close win.

Gandalf never appeared (slacker). Defender of Ramas was a trooper, Arwen saved my bacon, citadel plate on gimli was awesome.

Great game, enjoyed. I think I will use this deck a few times on this scenario for fun now before moving on to the next scenario.

A triumphant return

Well done!

Oh for goodness sake.

I had a game today of spiders and flies with my winning deck slightly tweaked.

It was going excellently but then on stage 3 everybody but Bilbo goes unconsious (thus losing poison) leaving Bilbo the only one conscious and as it happens with 1 poison.

First card out of the encounter deck is Crazy Cob which due to the 1 poison immediately attacks Bilbo with nothing I can do and Bilbo is dead.

Argh what a way to lose :(

Makes me think its not worth committing Bilbo to early quests so that he doesnt get poison for this eventuality, but then until stage 3 hes pretty useless in that case.

Grrr