Could use some suggestions for getting through the Hobbit Saga Lonely Mountain quest.

I'm a relative newcomer to the game -- played with the Core Set for a while to get an initial handle on it, then moved on to the Hobbit Saga (my favorite Tolkien book). I play solo, single handed (I've tried double handed, just haven't quite gotten the hang of both yet).

My goal was to make it through the Hobbit Saga with basically the same list, while keeping it fairly thematic. I've succeeded in the first four quests with the list below (admittedly, occasionally by the buttons on my vest, but that's what makes it fun!

Deck:

Then I get to Lonely Mountain ... and I'm getting crushed, usually by having threat in the staging area grow out of control from locations (plus Smaug and Lonely Mountain) to the point where I can't mathematically make progress. Looking for suggestions on:

(1) Strategy. Proceed to stage 3 after only a single treasure, or try to clear Lonely Mountain (risking Stage 4) before going to stage 3? I've been trying for multiple treasures to provide time to build up allies ... and the locations build up too fast, plus partial clearing of Lonely Mountain leaves a lot more threat in the staging area.

(2) Deck composition. Most of my allies only contribute 1 willpower, so with Smaug the Golden they can't contribute to the quest. Should I be picking up 2 willpower allies? Or other deck mods? I'm beginning to think that this deck is only capable of winning with fantastic luck, so I'd be open to mods provided they stay thematic (dwarves, mostly -- certainly no Gondor or Rohan cards), and are from expansions I own. I have Core, OHaUH, and OtD ... plus Khazad-dum, FoS, and TWiTW that I haven't opened yet.

That's the second quest right? Just quit? You don't need the treasures to succeed and they don't even help that much during BoFA so...

It's a tricky quest to beat thematically with a limited card pool, since Smaug can attack many times in a row. To avoid mounting threat from the Lonely Mountain while you build up, you can avoid questing successfully or even fail a burgle test and take an attack from Smaug the Golden. There are few cards that would probably help your deck:

-Longbeard Elder (FoS): good willpower

-Erebor Record Keeper (KD): cheap, useful

-Legacy of Durin (TWitW): amazing card draw

-Durin's Song (KD): flexible boost

-Daeron's Runes (FoS): cheap, excellent draw

Ancestral Knowledge (KD) is situational, but would help against this quest, and Secret Paths is pretty good. With Cram and Erebor Record Keeper, Healing Herbs (FoS) might be better than Lore of Imladris. Boots from Erebor (KD) might help.

It's usually better to only have 1 or 2 copies of unique allies. After adjusting your deck, you might want A Very Good Tale if you don't have too many repeating unique allies.

If you include Narvi's Belt (or swap Ori and Bombur for Óin and Bifur), you could include some good Tactics and Spirit cards: Bofur, Dwalin, maybe Veteran Axehand, Dwarrowdelf Axe, Unexpected Courage, Feint, A Test of Will, and maybe Foe-hammer, Goblin-cleaver, Khazâd! Khazâd!, Hasty Stroke, or even a copy of Untroubled by Darkness. Don't include more than 10-12 Tactics and Spirit cards if your only way to play them is Narvi's Belt.

You're missing Dain, which would tip the scales significantly in your favor, but Dain's not a thematic hero choice in this quest. I did a 2-player thematic playthrough of The Hobbit saga boxes, but I did make thematic concessions with the deck composition (usually for me heroes are the most important piece of a thematic deck).

I would probably use the OHaUH Gandalf for this scenario for the consistent willpower. You lose the Sneak Attack + Gandalf combo, but you'll need the willpower. Then I would build the deck with the aim of getting as many allies out as quickly as possible. A Very Good Tale can help speed this up. And yeah I would try to fit more of the 2-willpower allies in. Unfortunately, for dwarves with no Dain, there are few. Maximum willpower on the table from dwarf allies is 12 (Longbeard Elder x3, Bifur x1, Bofur x1, Gloin x1) and you're very unlikely to actually get that many on the table (and Brok Ironfist doesn't count). And we probably have to remove Bofur because there's no thematic tactics dwarf hero for this set.

So then what? Then I suppose I'd turn to willpower-boosting effects. Burglar Baggins and Durin's Song are your only thematic options and they are temporary. Still, they would work well for this scenario. You could also come at it from the other end and add a couple of Secret Paths to nullify some location's threat for a turn.

After that, fill with dwarves with some utility (Erebor Record Keeper) and those who can contribute to fighting Smaug (expensive, but Longbeard Orc Slayer, then maybe Kili/Fili for weight in numbers). Some readying to make use of Thorin's stats (Cram), some healing maybe (Healing Herbs) but honestly I think you'll be chump blocking more than anything else. So maybe swap that for To Me! O My Kinsfolk! There's no good way to boost Bombur's defense, so he's not going to be much use here. Still, he helps you draw cards and get resources that much sooner, which is important (a lot of people don't like Bombur, but I've used him quite a lot and love him). I also did include the Miner of the Iron Hills in case you get one of those nasty conditions on you.

Here's what I came up with. Using your card pool, I think you might have a devil of a time beating this scenario with a solo thematic deck. You might have more luck if you play it 2-handed. In that case I would do Oin/Bombur/Ori paired with Thorin/Balin/Nori. That is the combination I used myself when doing a thematic playthrough. In any case, here is the deck I made, give it a try maybe?

Deck Created with CardGameDB.com The Lord of the Rings Deckbuilder

Total Cards: (50)

Hero: (3)

1x Thorin Oakenshield (Over Hill and Under Hill)

1x Ori (Over Hill and Under Hill)

1x Bombur (On the Doorstep)

Ally: (24)

3x Longbeard Elder (Foundations of Stone)

3x Bifur (On the Doorstep)

3x Gloin (On the Doorstep)

3x Gandalf (Over Hill and Under Hill)

3x Erebor Record Keeper (Khazad-dum)

2x Kili (Over Hill and Under Hill)

3x Fili (Over Hill and Under Hill)

2x Longbeard Orc Slayer (Core Set)

2x Miner of the Iron Hills (Core Set)

Attachment: (12)

3x King Under the Mountain (On the Doorstep)

3x Cram (Over Hill and Under Hill)

3x Healing Herbs (Foundations of Stone)

3x Legacy of Durin (The Watcher in the Water)

Event: (14) 3x Durin's Song (Khazad-dum)

3x Burglar Baggins (Over Hill and Under Hill)

3x A Very Good Tale (Over Hill and Under Hill) 3x Daeron's Runes (Foundations of Stone)

2x Secret Paths (Core Set)

Side Quest: (0)

I tried several times with this deck and didn't win. Closest I got was stage 3 with 10 progress on the quest. With the right luck you could probably pull it off. It doesn't really have the combat prowess to deal with Smaug, so you'll be trying to quest through. You just need 21 progress on the quest to win.

I figured out that with this deck the best strategy (so far) was to fail burgle attempts and stay on stage 2 as long as possible. When Smaug attacks, Bombur can take a hit, as can Gandalf. If Gandalf is wounded you can let him leave play -- maybe using him for A Very Good Tale during the refresh phase -- and play another copy. If you get forced onto stage 4 you'll probably have to start over. Once on stage 3 your mission is to quest to victory. Smaug will pick off allies so you have to leave some ready defenders, and hope for non-burgle shadow cards. Save the willpower-boosting events for a big quest push on stage 3.

It would also be thematic to include Bard and his Black Arrow in this deck if you don't mind trying something totally different. Although we're not doing the Battle of Lake-town, you could look at this quest as kind of a hybrid since the dwarves certainly didn't do battle with Smaug at the Lonely Mountain. Then you'll have more combat power with access to Tactics and you could put Oin and Ori in for the other two dwarves. The lack of a repeat defender against Smaug is a big weakness though.

Haven't had a chance to replay yet -- still considering the ideas, though.

Do you think OHaUH Gandalf vs Core Gandalf? The furthest progress I made, stage 3 w/8 damage on Smaug, was accomplished by hoarding Sneak Attack so that I could sneak in Core Gandalf in the Quest phase, throw 4 damage on Smaug then Quest. If it weren't for not enough dwarf questing and too many locations, I think this might have worked because Gandalf was allowing me to simultaneously make quest and damage progress.

Unfortunately, Gandalf's 4 damage doesn't work against Smaug because he's immune to player card effects. The only way to damage him is to attack with more than 8 attack, so if you're not running heavy attack (which usually requires Tactics), 21 progress on the quest is the way to go,

The only way to damage him is to attack with more than 8 attack,

more than 5 if you get that Bare Patch on him!

Ah, good to know -- I did not catch that and was playing it wrong. Guess OHaUH Gandalf it is!

Success! Thanks for all the suggestions. I succeeded at The Lonely Mountain quest today after modifying my list to:

Approach:

I shifted my strategy and went to Stage 3A immediately after my first successful burgle attempt rather than trying to clear the Lonely Mountain-- after one unsuccessful attempt, plus a few break-even quest phases, so I'd built up my ally pool to include all the Willpower dwarves available plus a few for blockers.

With 10 dedicated threat in the staging area, I could generate 12 Will without Bilbo (16 with Gandalf) so I put Gandalf into play and quested, pulling some bats. That put 4 progress on the quest, and a successful burgle attempt got me Bare Patch on Smaug. Killed the bats, defended Smaug with Bilbo (luckily no burgle card drawn and used the Ring to negate the damage), threw Cram from Thorin to attack with Gandalf, and put some damage on Smaug. I repeated this basic tactic, accepting the threat increase from keeping Gandalf in play and defending with Bilbo, until I had 14 progress and drew a Burgle card with Smaug's attack and lost Gandalf, but luckily had drawn him again to be able to place him back in play (having had to chump block Smaug along the way, and accept some undefended attacks from Crows). At that point I luckily pulled Secret Paths, Raven of the Mountain, and spent King Under the Mountain to put Burglar Baggins in my hand. I asked the Ravens for guidance, and they revealed Hidden Paths (three more progress -- 17 and one away from Smaug out of play!) and let me know my next round would be manageable, so I put Burglar on Bilbo, and maxed my available questing for 17 Will and blocked the location with Secret Paths, giving me enough progress to push Smaug from play and finish the quest! With 46 threat, I was probably going to lose on the next turn as I couldn't afford to defend with Bilbo again, and keeping Gandalf in play would have put me 1 threat from losing at the end of the refresh phase. (I'm going by memory on the Will and progress numbers, so they might not be an mathematical match above -- I wasn't taking notes during the game.)

The Dwarves successfully regained the Lonely Mountain, with Smaug having departed; Bilbo gained a Mithril Shirt that he stole during one of his trips down the secret passage.

---

Analysis:

There was certainly a much higher element of luck than skill involved; the game nearly went south early on when I flipped up Dragon-Spell and had to put it on Bilbo, but luckily I could put a Miner of the Iron Hills into play to remove it. Secret Paths and Ravens of the Mountain came into play at a key time, though there was significant luck involved in having those and Burglar Baggins available simultaneously, plus I had a good run of pulling low-risk, non-Burgle Shadow cards for Smaug's attacks.

I was feeling the effects of not having Core Gandalf available to reduce my threat, though; with threat going up by three to six each turn for several turns to either defend with Bilbo and the Ring, keep Gandalf in play, or both, chump-blocking when necessary with the 0-Willpower allies to keep threat increase low, I felt like I was on a mad rush to 50 threat.

I'm happy to have succeeded, though I lost my goal of making it all the way through the Hobbit with the same deck -- but I didn't have to break theme or break open a non-Hobbit expansion to do so. So that's a partial victory.

On to the Battle of Five Armies!

Edit: ... and this deck went down in flames against the Battle of Five Armies. Use of Gandalf did well in getting me through the three simultaneous stages, but I couldn't handle the three Bodyguards of Bolg that showed up in stage 5. Looks like time for another tweak.

Congrats! Always satisfying to squeak out against the odds. And you were able to retain the same heroes, that's a nice accomplishment.

RE: Battle of Five Armies.

Third time pays for all. After modifying my deck to the below (keeping my heroes), after two failed attempts at the quest I had a lucky series of draws early with mostly locations, treacheries, and bats going to stage rather than constant surging orcs. I was able to make initial progress on all three quests quickly -- Dale, then Ravenhill, then Eastern Spur -- though I had some nervous moments as finished stages were dropped back to unfinished (clear Eastern Spur, clear Dale, back to Eastern Spur, clear Ravenhill, back to Dale). Didn't get Gandalf until late but was enough with aggressive questing to finally clear Dale and begin to stage 5, then Forest Snare the Bodyguard of Bolg and kill him while blocking Bolg's attack -- Fili fell valiantly defending Thorin with body and shield. The next round, under a swarm of bats, I was able take defend Bolg's attack with Gandalf (who survived, badly wounded) and dwarf-piled Bolg with the remaining company to win the Battle of Five Armies!

Winning deck:

Aftermath:

So though I did have to modify the deck twice (first for Lonely Mountain, next for Five Armies) and had a lot of failed attempts along the way, I was able to ultimately make it through the entire Hobbit Saga solo with the same heroes (Thorin, Ori, Bombur) using a predominately thematic deck drawn from only the Core, Over Hill and Under Hill, and On the Doorstep expansions. Success!

Bilbo will now head for Hobbiton.

Now I'll have to decide if I want to repeat the attempt with a different deck (perhaps picking up Sting this time), go back to try and beat Escape from Dol Guldur, or open up one of the additional expansions I have waiting and tackle something a little different.

Thanks for your posts, I needed some ideas. I got consistently battered by this quest, usually losing all characters to Smaug the Magnificent thanks to those pesky burgle shadow cards. I'd tried to keep the deck strictly Hobbit themed but decided this was next to impossible for this quest so brought in Dain Ironfoot for his questing/attacking boost. Finally got through today with this deck: