I love the concept of this card game, but I cannot get the actual play sorted out! I am simply trying to do the first scenario (Passage through Mirkwood) solo. I have constructed a deck (see below) which I thought might work on a stealth strategy.

It is Lore and Spirit.

Having made a number of attempts I do not seem to be setting anywhere. There are a number of enemies with a low threat level and I either get swamped by these or the shadow effects devastate things. There never seems to be enough resources, even with Song of Wisdom in play.

I am sure that there are lots of cards that would be better than the ones I have chosen, but this is a level 1 scenario so I am left to ponder....

Is the deck I have constructed really useless or am I playing the game really badly.

My question, if anyone has time to have a look is ..............

. Is my deck a sensible one that should be able to beat this scenario?

If it is then I know I need to work on my play skills, if it is just a no hoper deck then I can work on my deck building.

A bit of advise woyld help me stop banging my head against a brick wall.

Thanks

Deck

Without being able to really sit down and look, I think your biggest issue is a lack of attack power. Like you mentioned, this quest has a lot of 20-25 engagement level enemies, so Dunhere isn't going to be able to handle those very readily. You also have a lot of very expensive Lore cards for only running one Lore hero. Songs are going to be unreliable, even with 3 copies, so see if you can't wittle a few of those down. You've got some cards in there that are just plain bad too (Power of Earth, Gandalf's Search, Strider's Path) and should probably be removed. What card sets do you own? I'm not an expert but I'll help you if you'd like!

I couldn't tell for sure, but in case you think song of wisdom gives you extra resources, it doesn't. It just color fixes.

As already said, power in the earth is about as good as toilet paper. You need more attack and more allies, less events and less expensive cards. If you have the card, burning brand on Denethor will take care of shadow effects.

Don't get too discouraged, this game is crazy brutal hard. If you are having trouble with Mirkwood, just wait for the second quest :-/ This game has made a lot of people feel stupid. It's normal. If you stick it out, eventually you'll figure it out.

Hi,

Give this a read it might help. It's the top rated strategy post at BoardGameGeek site. Uses just core set cards for the deck, but discusses some strategies to keep in mind while playing.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1108855/back-basics-killer-deck-using-only-cards-single-co

When i started this game i struggled with every quest, yet although i am still rubbish i completed conflict at carrock on second go, so please please please dont give up.

My first success at passage through mirkwood used a deck containing all core leadership hero/cards. Worked ok and worth a try before deck mixing

Best of luck, you will will get it!!!

The thread level of the enemys in that mission is quite low (as said before) and the player cards in the core set are not that powerfull (good ones are in there, but not like 50 cards to build a complete deck) to build a specializied "hide/quest only/sneak around enemyes" deck. so I would suppose that your strategy will not work well.

Besides single cards which are bad to encounter (e.g. Hummerhorns) I guess that the biggest obstacle of that mission are managing the first two rounds in the best possible way. That is because in the the first round you allready will face at least one enemy and there is also a location (which is not threatening itself) but it rises the needed quest power. If you flip another location you'd be better invested more quest power, if it is an enemy you better had saved your heroes for attack/defend the both of them... So just try the first two round a few times to get a feeling for a good start and also a good starting hand. Then you will realize which cards are "blocking" your starting hand and you can replace them with other cards you would need more.

Dunhere is paired better with tactics, because he needs weapons to be powerfull alone. Probably Glorfindel or Beravor is the better choice.

And you should consider A Burning Brand. It is a realy powerfull card.

To get your song faster add Rivendell Minstrel

Thank you all for your replies, most helpful and encouraging.

I can see that the hide/quest strategy may not be best for this scenario, but I will stick with it for now.

I am going to redo the deck following some of the ideas you have provided.

I will certainly look at reducing the expensive Lore cards and swapping out Denhere for Glorfindel or Beravor.

As well as the basic set I have The Hunt for Gollum and Conflict at Carrock, so Burning Brand will be in there!

I will let you know how I get on!

Again thanks for the tips and the encouragement.