I choose X, as I don´t own any lord of the rings sagas (but the hobbit ones)and the 3rd and 4th of Angmar awakend.

Then I only could choose the seventh level, which I have played most of all the quests I own (together with A journey along the Anduin, but seventh level is the same danger every time I play it, while Anduin is different).

It sounds like 1 might interest you? If you choose X you will not get to pick the quest!

But the Seventh Level is the quest I want to paly least of all, and the chanses of getting that one in random is not so high.

And both Elladan, Elrohir and Boromir in the same game against seventh level is too easy.

This is a great idea!

Also I wouldn't mind taking a crack at #14

Not sure when I'll get around to it, but I'll take 11.

As it turns out, my evening opened up, so I gave the challenge a go (apologies in advance for the not-overly-coherent report...)

Quest: Over the Misty Mountains Grim

I built decks as Balin, Faramir and Beravor, and Halbarad, Imrahil and Gimli.

Given that I almost always play spirit in some form, this was a bit out of my comfort zone - I tried to use the opportunity to play some cards I've never used before.

I built around disposable allies to fuel Imrahil. That led to including horn of gondor, and allies such as Galadriel, Gandalf/Sneak attack, vassal of the windlord, etc.

With two leadership heroes in each deck, I predominantly focused on leadership cards, with cheap cards of from lore/tactics in the other decks.

Given the absence of spirit, I needed to cover threat reduction and action advantage.

I added Wingfoot for beravor, so that I could quest and still draw cards. I aimed to leave an enemy engaged to so that halbarad could quest, and I added Naith guide to allow some questing without exhausting.

Celebrians stone went on Imrahil, who readied every round with cheap allies being discarded as chump blockers.

I defender with gimli on the first turn, taking four points of damage, to make him the best attacker.

Given the number of enemies with low hit points, I included expecting mischief (first time I've ever played that), to kill enemies when they are revealed.

For most of the game, I engaged enemies with the halbarad deck, and used faramir to make ranged attacks to help out. I took on two stone giants early on, killing one and leaving the other engaged, gradually building damage on it.

Warden of helm's deep did sentinel duty from the other side of the board, aiding Veteran of Osgiliath in the halbarad deck. At one point I used White Council to ready faramir and add a resource to halbarad, which gave me enough resources to play a second white council to ready gimli, so that faramir and gimli could do a second attack on one round to finish off a second stone giant.

I progressed quickly to the second part of the quest, and got lucky with the discard (3 baggins resources brought the revealed cards down to three, two of which were treacheries that had no effect at that point). I killed the great goblin the turn he entered play, and then took about three more rounds to quest to victory.

I didn't keep track of the rounds, but I'd guess it was about 8. Threat was 38 and 43.

Overall, quite fun. deckbuilding with some predefined constraints is interesting.

Edit: Included quest name in post.

I choose X, as I don´t own any lord of the rings sagas (but the hobbit ones)and the 3rd and 4th of Angmar awakend.

Then I only could choose the seventh level, which I have played most of all the quests I own (together with A journey along the Anduin, but seventh level is the same danger every time I play it, while Anduin is different).

It sounds like 1 might interest you? If you choose X you will not get to pick the quest!

But the Seventh Level is the quest I want to paly least of all, and the chanses of getting that one in random is not so high.

And both Elladan, Elrohir and Boromir in the same game against seventh level is too easy.

X. The Druadan Forest Aragorn (Lo) Fatty Bolger Brand Dori Bifur Bard

Quest: Across the Ettenmoors

Heroes: Eomer, Dori, Imrahil, Dunhere, Denethor, Grima

Deckbuilding thoughts: Seeing Eomer and Imrahil together made me start off focusing on allies leaving play to make use of their abilities. But Denethor and Dori and built to defend, so chump blocking with allies would waste their defense stats. Also, Eomer and Imrahil would want to be paired together in a combat deck, but I wanted to pair Eomer and Dunhere to maximize the use of Westfold Horse Breeder and Quick Strike.

I decided to actually look at the quest to see what I was up against. The first thing I noticed is that almost all of the enemies have high engagement cost. There was some doomed, but I thought it would be possible to avoid engaging enemies. So, I decided to keep some chump blocking allies, but to really focus on making Dunhere a beast.

Deck 1: Eomer, Dori, Dunhere

This deck had three purposes: (1) Make Dunhere a monster, (2) Keep threat low, and (3) provide questing allies. Key cards included Spear of the Mark, Dagger of Westernesse, Galadhrim's Greeting, Secret Vigil, Unexpected Courage, and 2-cost, 2-wp allies.

Deck 2: Imrahil, Denethor, Grima

The second deck focused on healing and keeping enemies in the staging area. Key cards were Warden of Healing, Ranger Spikes, Poisoned Stakes, Dunedain Mark for Dunhere, and sneak attack Gandalf.

Quest Stage 1

I decided I was going to give it one try only, as long as it wasn't over by the second round. Luckily, I had a pretty good setup. The starting side quest was Lie Low, so I avoided the side quests that punish you for spending resources. The Dunhere deck started with a Spear, a Dagger, and a Horse Breeder, which grabbed Arod. The lore deck started with Henamarth, a Warden of Healing and Dunedain Mark. So right off the bat Dunhere was set up to attack the staging area for 8.

I figured I probably wouldn't have to engage enemies and my willpower was pretty low, so I ended up questing every turn with Eomer, Dori, and Amarthiul. It took a couple turns to get through Lie Low, but thankfully not too much threat came out. Henamarth Scouted a Cruel Mountain Troll that I was able to catch in Poisoned Stakes, so he died 5 turns later (with a Secret Vigil attached). I also caught a Ruthless Hill Troll in Ranger Spikes, effectively neutralizing him. The combination of Dunhere with Arod and a couple Snowborne Scouts even let me clear a couple locations from the staging area. By the 4th or 5th turn I cleared my second side quest (Scavenge for Supplies) and advance to stage 2.

Quest Stage 2

On this quest stage you need to reveal an extra encounter card unless you are at a safe location. The good news was that I had 2 safe locations available. The bad news was that I didn't have enough willpower to quest through those safe locations and make any significant progress on the quest cards. Forage for Food was one of the side quests, so my heroes kept getting damaged whenever they spent resources. Make Camp and Lost in the Wilderness came out too, so I was often at 3 side quests and one turn had 4. Thankfully, Denethor was able to avoid 2 copies of Weight of Responsibility (reveal 1 encounter card per quest).

I revealed a few Colds from Angmar (damages heroes and blanks text boxes) and Biting Wind (damages questing characters), so I was constantly fighting the damage attrition. My one Warden of Healing was very busy, and I even had an Honour Guard and Raven Winged Helm on Dori that got used almost every turn. I felt like I was treading water and my threat was creeping up, but thankfully I was able to use 3 Galadhrim's Greetings and all 3 Secret Vigils (at 3 threat each) to keep both decks in the low 30's. Eventually the spirit deck got a few questing allies and I was able to power through the rest of the quest stage.

Quest Stage 3

The last quest stage was a breeze as I was questing for 20, Dunhere was attacking for 9 with Unexpected Courage, and Denethor was blocking for 6 with sentinel and Burning Brand, although he only had to block once the whole game. I won at 34 and 30 threat after probably 12-15 turns.

Highlights

- No allies ever left play, so I never used Eomer or Imrahil's ability. Imrahil quested every turn and Eomer quested each of the first ~10 turns.

- I was worried about keeping my threat low, so I never used Grima's ability.

- Dori is useless, so I never used his ability except for sentinel for the purposes of playing Raven-Winged Helm. He contributed his 1 willpower to the quest every turn.

- I only had to block 2 attacks from the low threat, 2 attack enemy. I knew the shadow card did nothing for the first attack and blocked the second one with burning brand.

- Denethor's ability was amazing, saving me at least 5 additional encounter cards and ensuring my Poisoned Stakes and Ranger Spikes hit prime targets.

- Dunhere killed 5 or 6 trolls from the staging area. Even with 8+ attack, they each took 2 or 3 swings to kill.

- I actually used Fresh Tracks effectively. It kept a Ruthless Hill-Troll in the staging area where Dunhere could kill him.

- I was able to drop a combined 38 threat with 3x Galadhrim's Greeting and Secret Vigil and 2.

Thanks for the challenge! It made me think outside the box a bit. I was mostly just amused that I was questing with Eomer and Dori every turn and I wasn't using any of my heroes' abilities besides Dunhere and Denethor.

I choose X, as I don´t own any lord of the rings sagas (but the hobbit ones)and the 3rd and 4th of Angmar awakend.

Then I only could choose the seventh level, which I have played most of all the quests I own (together with A journey along the Anduin, but seventh level is the same danger every time I play it, while Anduin is different).

It sounds like 1 might interest you? If you choose X you will not get to pick the quest!

But the Seventh Level is the quest I want to paly least of all, and the chanses of getting that one in random is not so high.

And both Elladan, Elrohir and Boromir in the same game against seventh level is too easy.

X. The Druadan Forest Aragorn (Lo) Fatty Bolger Brand Dori Bifur Bard

As I said Before, I don´t own lord of the rings saga or 3rd/4th of Angmar Awakend, so I can´t use Fatty or Dori.

Sign me up for #1, please.

As I said Before, I don´t own lord of the rings saga or 3rd/4th of Angmar Awakend, so I can´t use Fatty or Dori.

Sorry about that! I am very bad at remembering which heroes belong to which expansions.

Does this one work?

X. The Stone of Erech Frodo Baggins Glorfindel (Lo) Haldir Aragorn (Lo) Idraen Brand

I am surprised by the great turnout! I have added 5 new options to the list. Option 18 can be considered extra credit .

Great reports so far! I liked the notes on your deckbuilding choices. Interesting to see people including underused cards that happen to be good against certain quests. Other than that, don't forget to include the name of the quest in your report.

NathanH and Caffeine, glad to see you got use out of Faramir (Lo) despite all the naysayers.

Jimby, I was looking forward to seeing Dori in action! I guess it really says something about the hero when his best use is for questing .

As I said Before, I don´t own lord of the rings saga or 3rd/4th of Angmar Awakend, so I can´t use Fatty or Dori.

Sorry about that! I am very bad at remembering which heroes belong to which expansions.

Does this one work?

X. The Stone of Erech Frodo Baggins Glorfindel (Lo) Haldir Aragorn (Lo) Idraen Brand

Sounds great!

I love Lore Glorfindel and still thinks he is the "real" Glorfindel.

Like Brand too. And now, his will power is needed.

Now I only need to make the decks...

7th Level NM

Heroes: Frodo, Faramir, Elrohir, Elladan, Boromir, Gimli.

That setup doesn't give much of a choice – it's Trisphere and my beloved MonoTatics, no hesitation. The idea was simple: quest as much as possible with Trisphere, set Elrohir as a main defender, kill everything in sight with MonoT. Then, in some forgotten corner of Cardgamedb deckbuilder I stumbled upon something called MTNA and the fun began; it was MonoTacticsNoAllies, Hama based deck built sometime around Druadan Forest premiere and not played once, I suppose.

So I took it and updated a little bit.

Some stretching at Normal level showed that lack of Ranged hero on the red side might seriously slow down killing, so I took out Quick Strikes, Swift Strikes and Close Calls in favor of Legolas ally, Arod and Hands Upon the Bow x3. Now it is MonoTacticsAlmostNoAllies deck and it's quite funny. OK, it's crazy funny; except for the moments when your hand consists of second copy of Captain of Gondor, 2xGondorian Disciplne, 1xHUtB and there's no Legolas around.

Trisphere required some resource management to pay for all those cheap spirit allies and I sticked to the simplest of solutions by shoving Song of Travel on Faramir whenever it appeared.

I played the quest ten times, tweaking decks a little on the fly. Here's how it went:

1. Onsight win! Score 170. At least that's what the notes say, don't remember any details.

2. Lost due to threat. Balin's doom that surged into Western Hall in round 10. Combo of Pit Goblin + Deep Mines + Western Hall is sneaky good; one is mostly happy with encounter of non-surging enemies and locations when playing Nightmare. Not in this case. And that doesn't even take into concern the possibility of Taskmaster lurking around.

3. Won in twelve rounds. 171.

Hello Encounter Deck, taste my combo for a change! Devastatingly good things happen when Legolas kills something with his toys. Draw a card, progress on location, progress on quest. Bazinga!

4. Two Pit Goblins, Taskmaster and Western Hall (among others) with nothing to reliably counter with. Tactics got 48 threat at the beginning of round three, enough said. LOST!

5. Won in twelve rounds, 223. Tactics threated out, but I got lucky at the engagement draw and somehow quested for the win last two rounds. This one showed most of the soft spots that these decks have; Song of Travel showed up at round 10, so I ended the game with 14 spirit cards on hand; Double Back was drawn at the beginning of round twelve; Elrohir got sentinel about round 6, which forced me to block with Boromir and that didn't exactly help with Tactics' threat woes. I might deserve some permanent Grievous Wound for that kind of win.

6. Watch out man, that will be a cakewalk! Tri-sphere's starting hand contains LoV, Song Of Travel, Gandalf and Campfire Tales, let's see… Nope. Conceeded at round four due to rules error – I did not add resources on Goblins in proper manner. Just another way to suffer a loss.

7. This one showed that there's a lot of relativity in „good starting hand” concept. There was nothing particularly interesting in the beginning besides Elven Mail and Song of Travel, but I won in round 13, score 185.

Tactics guys tend to pile up resources and dead cards. I adressed the cards by adding Protector of Lorien to the Trisphere deck with Elladan being the beneficiary, since his duty is mainly questing. Resources might be good fodder for Gondorian Fire or some Envoy tricks, but I'm not ready for breaking the „Almost No Allies” rule. By the way, Sword-Thain for Legolas would be bonkers good.

8. Elrohir died at round five due to ill-timed shadow effect and Western Hall in staging area pretty much guaranteed that my lousy willpower didn't stand a chance. Side note: no shadow effect is „well-timed” when defending hero has 1 life remaining.

9. That one has Lynch-like start: two Taskmasters, then oh so predictable Troll among two Pit Goblins. No success of course, Elrohir and Boromir died at round 4.

10. Not-so-epic, but WIN nevertheless. 12 rounds, score 188. It was rather escape through some rathole than stomping over mutilated bodies of enemies since there were six enemies alive and kicking engaged and in staging, but a win is a win. I expected a much better score this time, but resources piled up a little on Goblins due to Chamber of Records effect, the Taskmaster came to visit along with his old pal Cave Troll, so it took some time.

5 lost, 5 won, enormous amount of fun. Thanks, Seastan!

Did you run Keeping Count in your MTNA deck? If you were ever going to use it, that was the time.

Tried it for a moment but:

- it can't be attached to Legolas

- Boromir and Gimli usually go head to head

- Foe Hammer and Goblin Cleaver work a bit better with weapons.

On the other side, I might try it against NM FoS and generally in my Ranged Rangers deck. Good idea, thx!

Player 1 (Deck 1)

Heroes (starting threat: 31)
Bard the Bowman
Beregond
Brand son of Bain
Allies (16)
1x Beorn

2x Bofur
1x Boromir
1x Defender of Rammas
3x Dúnedain Hunter
2x Eagles of the Misty Mountains
1x Gwaihir
3x Knight of Minas Tirith
1x Landroval
1x Rúmil
Attachments (20)
1x Black Arrow
3x Book of Eldacar
2x Citadel Plate
3x Dagger of Westernesse
3x Gondorian Shield
2x Great Yew Bow
2x Mighty Prowess
3x Secret Vigil

1x Thicket of Spears
Events (14)
3x Behind Strong Walls
3x Feint
3x Foe-hammer
3x Hands Upon the Bow
2x Quick Strike

Player 2 (Deck 2)

Heroes (starting threat: 28)
Bifur
Damrod
Glorfindel
Allies (18)
1x Anborn
1x Dori
3x Erebor Hammersmith
2x Gildor Inglorion
1x Gléowine
2x Haldir of Lórien
3x Wandering Ent
2x Warden of Healing
3x Gandalf
Attachments (22)
3x Asfaloth
2x Elf-stone
3x Forest Snare
2x Ithilien Pit
3x Lembas
3x Ranger Spikes
3x Scroll of Isildur
2x Thror's Map
1x Wingfoot
Events (10)
2x Advance Warning
3x Daeron's Runes]
2x Forest Patrol
3x Mithrandir's Advice

Scenario: Return to Mirkwood (AKA Hunting for Attercop, Attercop)

Synopsis of Decks

I made these two decks to deal with the big threats that Return to Mirkwood throws at you. I planned to trap enemies so that I could get set up without worry and advance quickly so that threat would not be an issue due to some of the cards raising your threat by quite a bit in this scenario. My main goal was to search for some of the big threats with Dunedain Hunter, trap them with Forest Snare before they get a chance to attack and then know that I probably won't reveal anything too tough during the staging step. I thought I might get unlucky and see no enemies at all when I searched, or worse yet, see Mirkwood Bats but I thought the risk would be worth it. Little did I know, Dunedain Hunter was out for blood. Sweet sweet Attercop, Attercop blood [blood?].

I also included Asfaloth (no shiz Sherlock) to deal with locations since most of them have only 2 quest points, Warden of Healing to deal with Mirkwood Bats, Citadel Plate for Hummerhorns, and the various Tactics events (Quick Strike, Feint, and Hands Upon the Bow) to deal with enemies before they attack which is especially useful against Wargs in this scenario.

Erebor Hammersmith and Anborn are included in order to recycle traps as necessary.

I included Book of Eldacar and Scroll of Isildur because there is a treachery that forces you to discard all events from your hand (ouch).

Lastly, all of my allies (except for a select few) have more than 1 HP so that I wouldn't lose them to Mirkwood Bats. A very important consideration when building decks for this scenario. So let's see how it plays out!

Set Up (Turn 1)

Player 1

First starting draw: Landroval, Knights of Minas Tirith, Black Arrow, Hands Upon the Bow, Dagger of Westernesse, Book of Eldacar [Mulligan]

Second starting draw: Foe-hammer, Knights of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Gondorian Shield, Dunedain Hunter

Player 2

First starting draw – Erebor Hammersmith, Anborn, Gandalf, Haldir of Lorien, Thror’s Map, Wandering Ent [Mulligan]

Second draw: Warden of Healing, Gandalf, Lembas, Wingfoot, Gleowine, Erebor Hammersmith

Encounter Deck

Choose Player 1 to Guard Gollum and to be first player.

Revealed Wasted Provisions [Treachery]

Player 1 discards – Foe-hammer, Hands Upon the Bow, Knights of Minas Tirith, Citadel Plate, Gondorian Shield, Boromir, Book of Eldacar, Book of Eldacar, Mighty Prowess, Eagles of the Misty Mountain. Player 2 now Guards Gollum.

Revealed Woodman’s Glade (2) (Location).

Resource Phase

Player 1: Draw Great Yew Bow (Current Hand - Foe-hammer, Knights of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Gondorian Shield, Dunedain Hunter, Great Yew Bow)

Player 2: Draw Mithrandir's Advice (Current Hand - Warden of Healing, Gandalf, Lembas, Wingfoot, Gleowine, Erebor Hammersmith, Mithrandir's Advice)

Plays Mithrandir’s advice (draws Thror’s Map, Asfaloth, Forest Snare)

Planning Phase

Player 1 plays Dunedain Hunter (Attercop, Attercop, Caught in a Web, The East Bight, The Spider’s Ring, and Dry Watercourse) putting Attercop Attercop into play engaged with him, plays Gondorian Shield (free on Beregond), and plays Great Yew Bow on Bard (costs 2). Player 1 triggers Bifur's response transferring his remaining resource to Bifur.

Player 2 plays Forest Snare onto Attercop, Attercop (Cost is reduced by 1 and Player 2 gets to draw 1 card because of Damrod - I apologize but I forgot to log what I drew here or just forgot to draw something altogether...) and plays Wingfoot onto Damrod

Questing Phase

Commit Glorfindel, Damrod, Bifur (7 Willpower). Player 2 exhausts Wingfoot and names “Enemy”.

Revealed Woodman’s Glade (2) and Marsh Adder (3) combined with the initial Woodman's Glade (2) [7 Threat]. Ready Damrod.

Travel Phase

Exhaust Damrod to travel to Woodman's Glade.

Encounter Phase

Player 1 optionally engages Marsh Adder. Attercop Attercop switches engagement to the player guarding Gollum (so currently engaged with Player 2).

Combat Phase

Defend Marsh Adder with Beregond raising threat by 1. Resolve shadow card [Hummerhorns] dealing 1 damage to each character Player 1 controls. Beregond (6) successfully defends Marsh Adder (4)

Player 1 attacks with Brand, Bard, Dunedain Hunter for 9 damage against 8 total defenses (health and defense combined) of Marsh Adder and adds to victory display. Player 1 exhausts Great Yew Bow to trigger Foe-hammer (draws Foe-hammer, Feint, Dagger of Westernesse).

Refresh Phase

No optional actions.

End of Round: I choose to keep Gollum Engaged with Player 2.

Turn 2

Resource Phase

Player 1 (33 Threat): Draws Bofur (Current hand - Knight of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Foe-hammer, Feint, Dagger of Westernesse, Bofur)

Player 2 (32 Threat [See Gollum]): Draws Erebor Hammermisth (Current Hand - Warden of Healing, Gandalf, Lembas, Gleowine, Erebor Hammersmith (2), Thror’s Map, Asfaloth)

Planning Phase

Player 1 triggers Bifur's response.

Player 2 plays Asfaloth and Warden of Healing. Player 2 exhausts Warden of Healing to heal Beregond and Dunedain Hunter.

Player 1 plays Dagger of Westernesse onto Bard the Bowman (saving one resource).

Questing Phase

Commit Glorfindel, Bifur, Damrod (7),

Player 2 exhausts Wingfoot naming location

Encounter deck reveals Great Forest Web (2) and Mountains of Mirkwood (2) combined with Woodman's Glade (2) for 7 threat. Readies Damrod.

Player 2 exhausts Asfaloth to explore Mountains of Mirkwood (4 threat now) and each player searches his top 5 cards. Player 1 takes Secret Vigil. Player 2 takes Elf-stone.

4 Threat to 7 questing so the active location (Woodman’s Glade) is explored lowering Player 1’s threat by 2 (31) and the one extra progress is placed onto the current quest.

Travel Phase

Exhaust Damrod to travel to second Woodman’s Glade.

Combat Phase

Attercop Attercop still cannot attack (Forest Snare) and so Player 1 attacks Attercop Attercop with Bard the Bowman and Brand Son of Bain (8 damage and -2 Defense) against Attercop Attercop’s 10 total defenses destroying it. Player 1 plays Foe-hammer exhausting Great Yew Bow and draws (Mighty Prowess, Feint, Dunedain Hunter).

Refresh Phase

No optional actions.

End of Round: Gollum goes to Player 1.

Turn 3

Resource Phase

Player 1 (Threat 32): Draws Feint (Current hand - Knight of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Feint (3), Bofur, Mighty Prowess, Dunedain Hunter)

Player 2 (Threat 36 because of Gollum): Draws Scroll of Isildur. (Current hand - Warden of Healing, Gandalf, Lembas, Gleowine, Erebor Hammersmith, Thror’s Map, Asfaloth, Elf-stone, Scroll of Isildur)

Planning Phase

Player 2 exhausts Warden of Healing to heal Bard and Brand.

Player 1 plays Dunedain Hunter (Mirkwood Bats, King Spider, Attercop Attercop, The Brown Lands, and The East Bight) choosing Attercop Attercop engaging it and plays Bofur. Player 1 ransfers 1 resource to Bifur.

Player 2 plays Erebor Hammersmith (retrieving Forest Snare), and plays Forest Snare on Attercop Attercop (Cost reduced by 1) and draws Advance Warning.

Questing

Commits Bofur, Brand, Bard, Dunedain Hunter, Dunedain Hunter, Glorfindel, Bifur, Damrod (15) and names enemy. Here I figured I could handle most locations with Asfaloth but with everyone being exhausted I might need Damrod ready in the event of revealing an enemy. Unfortunately...

Encounter deck reveals Caught in a Web and Player 2 attaches it to Damrod and the encounter deck reveals The Brown Lands (5) [7 Threat total]. Sot not only did I not reveal an enemy, but I attached Caught in a Web to Damrod thinking I might eventually ready him and he could quest and ready on future turns due to Wingfoot.

Player 2 exhausts Asfaloth to clear The Brown Lands so only 2 threat remains.

Compare 15 [Willpower] to 2 [Threat] = 13 total progress. Two of the progress clears the Woodman’s Glade lowering the threat of Player 2 to 34 with the remaining 11 progress combined with the 1 on the current quest being enough to clear the current quest card. Stage 2B is now active (The player Guarding Gollum cannot commit characters to the quest).

Travel Phase

Cannot travel to Great Forest Web because Player 2 has no heroes ready.

Encounter Phase

Nothing to engage and Attercop Attercop is already engaged with the player guarding Gollum.

Combat Phase

No actions taken. No enemies attack (Attercop Attercop has Forest Snare).

Refresh Phase

No optional actions and Damrod does not ready because of Caught in a Web. Player 1 keeps control of Gollum.

Turn 4

Resource Phase

Player 1 (36 Threat) draws Dunedain Hunter (Current Hand - Secret Vigil, Feint (3), Knights of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Mighty Prowess, Dunedain Hunter)

Player 2 (35 threat) draws Ranger Spikes (Current Hand - Elf Stone, Erebor Hammersmith, Thror’s Map, Gleowine, Gandalf, Lembas, Scroll of Isildur, Advance Warning, Ranger Spikes)

Player 1 trigger's Bifur's response.

Planning Phase

Player 2 plays Ranger Spikes (for 1) and plays Gleowine leaving 1 resource on Damrod.

Player 1 plays Dunedain Hunter (The Brown Lands, Attercop Attercop, Hill Troll, The East Blight, and Goblin Sniper) choosing and engaging Attercop Attercop and plays Secret Vigil onto Attercop Attercop (the one without Forest Snare) saving one resource on Brand.

Questing Phase

Because of Stage 2B the player guarding Gollum cannot commit characters to the quest.

Commits Glorfindel, Bifur, Erebor Hammersmith, Gleowine, Warden of Healing (8).

Encounter deck reveals Hill Troll (1) (attaching to Ranger Spikes so 0 threat). Player 2 draws Ranger Spikes. Encounter deck reveals Mirkwood Bats (1) [surge] and Caught in a Web attaching it to Brand.

Compare 8 Willpower to 3 Threat. 5 progress is enough to clear the current quest.

Travel Phase

Player 2 exhausts Asfaloth to clear the Great Forest Web.

Encounter Phase

Player 1 optionally engages Mirkwood Bats dealing 1 damage to all his characters.

Combat Phase

I would love to play Feint here but cannot because of the current quest.

Player 1 defends Mirkwood Bats with Dunedain Hunter [No shadow effect so successful defense]

Player 1 defends Attercop Attercop with Beregond. This was probably needlessly risky as there is a shadow effect that ignores the defending character's defense. The shadow effect was Wasted Provisions (Must discard top 5 cards of my deck). I discard Defender of Ramus, Hands Upon the Bow, Great yew Bow, Landroval, and Behind Strong walls. Beregond takes 2 damage from the attack (1 remaining health).

Player 1 attacks Mirkwood Bats (2 total defenses) with Bofur (2) and attacks Attercop Attercop with Bard the Bowman (5), Dunedain Hunter (3), and Dunedain Hunter (3) for 11 total attack destroying it reducing both player’s threat by 2 due to Secret Vigil.

Refresh Phase

No optional actions.

End of Round

Player 1 keeps control of Gollum.

Turn 5

Resource Phase

Player 1 (38 threat) draws Eagles of the Misty Mountains (Current hand- Feint (3), Knights of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Mighty Prowess and Eagles of the Misty Mountains).

Player 2 (34 threat) draws Asfaloth (Current hand - Elf-stone, Erebor Hammersmith, Thror’s Map, Gandalf, Lembas, Ranger Spikes, Advance Warning, Scroll of Isildur, and Asfaloth)

Planning Phase

Player 1 triggers Bifur's response saving 2 resources on Brand in case I want to ready him and 1 resource on Beregond. I can't play cards this turn anyway.

Player 2 plays Ranger Spikes (costs 1) and plays Erebor Hammersmith allowing deck 1 to retrieve Secret Vigil.

Player 2 exhausts Warden of Healing to heal Beregond and Dunedain Hunter.

Questing Phase

Commits Glorfindel, Bifur, Bofur, Erebor Hamersmith (2), Gleowine [Please note I edited my post and it messed everything up so I lost this data and am not sure I quested with these characters. I know I quested for 10 Willpower however]

Encounter deck reveals Gollum’s Anguish and Player 1 must raise his threat by 8 (46) and must choose Player 2 to guard Gollum and reveals Goblin Sniper attaching to Ranger Spikes so Player 2 draws Wandering Ent.

Compare 10 Willpower to 0 Threat in the staging area to my 10. The current quest clears.

Stage 4B is now the current quest which makes all enemies engage the player guarding Gollum at the beginning of combat and the players cannot win while any enemies are in play (2 total progress required).

Encounter Phase

No optional engagement since the current quest forces all characters to engage the player guarding Gollum at beginning of combat (Although technically Attercop Attercop engages the player guarding Gollum during the encounter phase).

Travel Phase

No traveling (no locations).

Combat Phase

All enemies engage player guarding Gollum (Player 2). Player 1 plays Feint on Hill Troll (paying from Beregond's resource pool so Brand still has 2 resources in his pool). Player 1 defends the Goblin Sniper with Beregond (There is no shadow effect) so Beregond (6) defends Goblin Sniper (2) successfully.

Player 1 attacks Goblin Sniper with Brand Son of Bain (3) destroying it and readies Glorfindel.

Player 2 attacks Hill Troll with Glorfindel (3) and Bard the Bowmen (4 and -2 defense) joins in dealing 6 damage to the Hill Troll (3 remaining health). Attercop Attercop with Forest Snare is still remains.

Refresh Phase

Brand Son of Bain pays 2 resources to ready (Damrod does not). Warden of Healing to heal Beregond and Dunedain hunter.

Player 2 retains control of Gollum (in case of anther Gollum’s Anguish).

Turn 6

Player 2 (38 Threat) draws Lembas (Current hand - Gandalf, Lembas (2), Elf-stone, Scroll of Isildur, Advance Warning, Asfaloth, thror’s Map, Wandering Ent).

Player 1: (47 Threat) draws Hands Upon the Bow (Current hand - Eagle of the Misty Mountains, Feint (2), Knights of Minas Tirith, Thicket of Spears, Behind Strong Walls, Mighty Prowess, Hands Upon the Bow).

Planning Phase

Player 1 transfers one resource to Bifur.

Player 2 plays Gandalf reducing his threat by 5 and plays Lembas on Brand Son of Bain.

Questing Phase

Commits Bifur, Gleowine, Bofur (5).

Encounter deck reveals Wargs (2), Mirkwood Bats (1) [surge], and Dry Watercourse (2).

Player 2 exhausts Asfaloth to explore Dry Watercourse.

Player 1 plays Hands Upon the Bow exhausting Brand Son of Bain (4 total damage to kill Wargs).

Compares 5 Willpower to 1 Threat so 4 progress (this is enough to satisfy the requirement on Stage 4B but I still must defeat all enemies).

Bats engage the player guarding Gollum (Player 2) dealing 1 damage to all his characters (killing Warden of Healing). This is when I realized I did not damage Gollum the last time a Mirkwood bats engaged earlier so I placed 2 damage on Gollum.

Player 1 plays Feint on Hill Troll.

Player 1 defends Mirkwood Bats with Beregond [There is no shadow effect].

Player 2 attacks Mirkwood Bats (2 total defenses) with both Erebor Hammersmiths (2 total attack) against Mirkwood Bats (2 total defenses) destroying it.

Player 2 attacks Attercop Attercop with Gandalf (4), Glorfindel (3), and Brand (3) joins in (after using Lembas) with 10 total damage destroying Attercop Attercop Gandalf readies (from Brand).

Player 2 attacks Hill Troll with Gandalf (4) and Bard the Bowmen (4 and -2 defense) joins in destroying it and adding it to the victory display. (it was previously damaged) All enemies have been defeated and there is enough progress on Stage 4B for completion so victory was accomplished! Ending threat was 47 and 33.

Conclusion: This scenario was really fun and I got to use some new cards I had never used (Dunedain Hunter mainly). Not only did he prove to be extremely useful, but he made me realize the power of pulling large threats out of the deck when you choose to versus being surprised by them when you are unable to deal with them. It seems Forest Snare and Dunedain Hunter go hand and hand and I was quite surprised at how well it worked because I figured I would not draw one of the two. I did seem to get lucky by drawing all three of my Dunedain Hunters but I really did not expect to see Attercop, Attercop the third time I played my Dunedain Hunter despite how funny I thought it was.

Wow, 10 attempts! Didn't expect anyone to go that far. I appreciate you reporting on the losses as well - I'm glad this game is posing difficulty some of the time at least

Eagles and Traps looks like a very nice pairing. I like how the odd combination of heroes inspired you to try to get a use out of Great Yew Bow . Thanks for the very detailed playthrough, complete with links! Ever thought of starting a playthrough thread or blog?

I just want to add that if you do run a blog, youtube channel, etc, feel free to post your report there and just link to it here in a post.

Wow, 10 attempts! Didn't expect anyone to go that far. I appreciate you reporting on the losses as well - I'm glad this game is posing difficulty some of the time at least

Eagles and Traps looks like a very nice pairing. I like how the odd combination of heroes inspired you to try to get a use out of Great Yew Bow . Thanks for the very detailed playthrough, complete with links! Ever thought of starting a playthrough thread or blog?

Haha, Yeah, it's actually quite comedic that the only use I got out of Great Yew Bow ended being for Foe-hammer (and honestly, just for that it was probably worth it). I really thought being able to use Bard to make ranged attacks into the staging area would be useful benefiting from the -2 defense. It may have too if I trapped a little diddly enemy onto a Ranger Spikes allowing me to recycle the Ranger Spikes for something more threatening. Turns out I only ranger spiked a Hill Troll which is about as good as it gets

Regarding the blog or whatever, probably not for now but I do think I might enjoy it (I am quite obsessive about the things I enjoy ). Time is just the issue. It actually took more time than I anticipated to log the details and post it. I had Columbus day off so I had the time to make it detailed but not sure how it would work out if I didn't have the extra day off. It might be easier to do a video series but I'd have to invest in a camera and such because I dislike OCTGN's interface. I am not sure if I've learned all the ins and outs of OCTGN's interface to make things easier, but it feels so rigid given my current level of proficiency.

Poor Bard, I really feel sorry for him whenever someone tries to make some use of him and his bow. Great idea, great art, but way too expensive in terms of resources and threat.

Back on topic:

Seastan, I'd like to try nr.18. Mono Spirit hobbit staging area attack deck is what I've been dreaming of for years. I suppose it would take significantly more than 10 tries just to reach stage 2...

Bard is poor? He is one of my strongest picks in the multiplayer. It's like boasting a 5 attack ranged hero from the get go.

Bard is poor? He is one of my strongest picks in the multiplayer. It's like boasting a 5 attack ranged hero from the get go.

I think a lot of people are thinking from a single-player perspective which makes his ability nearly useless. I do agree he is a great hero for multi-player. -2 defense is kind of insane

Agreed, but Legolas plus Rivendell Blade does the same for 2 less threat adding progress to quest in the process.

Agreed, but Legolas plus Rivendell Blade does the same for 2 less threat adding progress to quest in the process.

Yup, Legolas outclasses both Bard and Brand. I think if they ever release a tactics attachment that works well with Bard for 1 cost (or maybe even 2) his usefulness in certain scenarios will trump Legolas'. Right now, the reason he lacks usefulness is because of a lack of useful attachments for him. Imagine if he had an attachment that was for him like Firefoot/Eomer.

I find that if you are running a tactics deck then you are going to want lots of weapons anyway for stuff like Foe-hammer and Goblin Cleaver. And it's no question that the best weapons for a ranged hero are Rivendell Blade, Rivendell Bow, and Bow of the Galadhrim. So although I think Bard is great, Legolas (or Haldir) normally wins out over Bard for me.

Seastan, I'd like to try nr.18. Mono Spirit hobbit staging area attack deck is what I've been dreaming of for years. I suppose it would take significantly more than 10 tries just to reach stage 2...

I was wondering if anyone would pick this. AJtR with no lore? Good luck!

Since you already made a report don't feel obligated to type up another one, but I would like to hear how it goes!

Don't worry, I'll let you know how it went. In many not exactly polite words, I suppose.